It has turned out that the world just does not suffer significantly from the kind of problem that our research was originally intended to solve.
this is pretty titanic and sums up so much of what is wrong with software and computer science: just because a problem is theoretically interesting and/or rigorous and/or fun to work on *has no bearing whatsoever* on its usefulness in the real world. none. theyre unrelated. sometimes they overlap, cool, but they are not correlated.
you have to do a kind of analysis that engineers are not equipped to do. its a kind of design research that involves understanding your intended audience and their challenges. its deeply human and subjective and i was only exposed to it when working towards my MFA.
something about one of the titans of thought of computer science working for decades only to realize his formal systems -- while intellectually thorough and interesting! -- didnt solve anyone's problems. he just assumed they would. but he never asked. something about that to me feels like The Whole Story.
Since Calvin and Hobbes are popular right now, please know that the entire archive is available online, searchable, for free. This includes ALL the strips, including some that didn't make it into the various anthologies:
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes
And if you are insistent on using alt text but are (like me) sometimes not motivated to type out the dialogue, there's even a 'transcript' button in the three-dot submenu. It's short on describing images, but it's thorough on the text.
@ifixcoinops (And toner spills. A lot of toner spills.)
@ifixcoinops ... freedom comes with responsibilities I suppose 🙃
i'm thinking about inventory systems because there is no way i could keep track of extremely similar looking hard drives and SSDs which have different levels of wear and usability (at this point i already forgot 🫠 and also other computer parts stuff i guess)
but like, what software do i even use for that then? writing CSV by hand sounds like a management hell, does anyone on fedi know of like inventory system software things?
@Ashedryden (I also found the tech part of the writing to be a bit weird, in the same way that tech writing in TV shows tends to be questionable, but realistically that's probably not something that's going to bother non-nerds)
@Ashedryden I've found the "Aces High, Jokers Wild" series by O.E. Tearmann (fiction, sci-fi, hopepunk) to be an interesting series with a surprising amount of accessible practical inspiration, even though it doesn't 100% map onto my personal views.
re: uspol, suicide mentioned/discussed, please open
@joepie91 @mynameistillian Exactly. Not everyone can, or even needs to be, on the protest front. To put it in MMORPG terms, we need support classes as much as we need fighters and tanks.
re: uspol, suicide mentioned/discussed, please open
@joepie91 yes. with how liberals and democrats have proven themselves useless, we need all hands we can get.
re: uspol, suicide mentioned/discussed, please open
@mynameistillian I'd add to that: no matter how useless or unhelpful you think you are... you're not a burden, you're a needed comrade, even if it's not yet obvious how. In times of hardship, those can look very similar.
uspol, suicide mentioned/discussed, please open
the first thing to understand is you absolutely MUST NOT kill yourself about this. please don't do that. i understand why you want to, but that is what these fascists want. it's convenient for them if the opposition self-exterminates, that way they won't even have to move a finger. stay alive and fight. it's harder but if everyone gives up then we are truly done for. we need you and we need each other. i love you
re: fascists and centrists
I'd be a lot less salty about this sort of thing if it weren't for the fact that exactly 0% of the people I am talking about here have ever acknowledged their error or shown any kind of retrospective reflection on how they got it wrong and how they might learn from that in the future
subtoot
@inherentlee Thinking about it is only better if it leads to some action or change! Otherwise it's just sparkling self-centeredness!
Hey, cis folks? And especially men? If you want some low effort trans ally actions you can take, put your pronouns everywhere.
Like, everywhere.
On here, in your profile. On your other social media. On your own website. On your GitHub profile. On your resume. In your email ‘From:' header. Your email signature. Your business cards, if you have those.
Basically everywhere you introduce yourself, in other words. Make it pervasive, normal, set an example.
Then take your privilege, wield it like both sword and shield, arguing for gender neutral language everywhere you can. Legal documents, the works.
Let us see you fight for it ✊🏻
fascists and centrists
Thinking of the many, many, *many* times I tried to warn someone years ago (online or in person at eg. Revspace) of the fascist leanings of a supposedly "centrist" or "objective" or "neutral" podcaster or whatever, and those warnings were ridiculed because I was "seeing ghosts", and oops now it turns out they're all basically fascists
Technical debt collector and general hype-hater. Early 30s, non-binary, ND, poly, relationship anarchist, generally queer.
- No alt text (request) = no boost.
- Boosts OK for all boostable posts.
- DMs are open.
- Flirting welcome, but be explicit if you want something out of it!
- The devil doesn't need an advocate; no combative arguing in my mentions.
Sometimes horny on main (behind CW), very much into kink (bondage, freeuse, CNC, and other stuff), and believe it or not, very much a submissive bottom :p
My spoons are limited, so I may not always have the energy to respond to messages.
Strong views about abolishing oppression, hierarchy, agency, and self-governance - but I also trust people by default and give them room to grow, unless they give me reason not to. That all also applies to technology and how it's built.