Sven Slootweg (soft-deprecated) @joepie91@pixie.town

I feel like a lot of the hype for "machines are conscious now" even by smart people is the wish to be part of something big that's not just the climate catastrophe and crumbling infrastructures. It's a weird kind of futurism.

remarkable to watch the curve of computing go from "it will do exactly, precisely what you ask of if" to "here's a few heuristics for less well-defined problems" to "self-driving is good enough, give us billions of dollars" to "we put autocomplete on our search engine to generate a whole fictional website about what you're looking for but we don't really know why"

did someone set the locale to unicode?

Seeking photo: Does anyone have a good photo of the National Library of Thailand, preferably inside (showing books) that they'd be willing for me to use on a blog post?

Hot take: So, #AmateurRadio is cool and all, but by having an easily accessible public registry containing names and addresses linked to call signs, it remains mostly off limits to folks who have legitimate concerns about stalkers, swatting, and violence.

I've thought about getting into it multiple times and keep being reminded that I need to agree to publicly dox myself to do it.

it's a small thing but the fact that you can set the "this instance is administrated by" account to one on another instance makes for some really weird dynamics

Adding something on sport and disability:

Don't ever force any disabled folk to practice any sport!

It really depends on each one of us. Even if we share the same disabilities as someone who can, we all live our chronic illnesses differently.

Sport can cause more harm, develop worse chronic pain...

A disabled person practicing a sport isn't better than one who doesn't.

Being able to practice a sport doesn't erase our disabilities either.

It's really important to keep all this in mind!

Capitalism does not "create new technology". *Workers* create new technology. Capitalism creates DRM, walled gardens, spyware, and subscriptions for heated seats

Is there a hashtag for people who've experienced tech layoffs to connect with each other, share resources, commiserate, etc? And for community to support?

Could also be used to share opportunities, like job openings, or people who want to form coops together, or people who want to organize against future layoffs.

If there's nothing yet...maybe #LayoffSolidarity or #StandUpToLayoffs or #LayoffSupport or #TechSupport or #TechSupporters idk I'm spitballing.

Just want to connect&help. <3

Who called it messaging in dark mode when inverse matrix was right there.

Pro tip:
Don't make snow angels in the dog park.

Customer: SENTIMENTAL REASONS
DMV: FUCK YOU

Verdict: DENIED

Hey managers, please don't ask for "mystery meat" conversations with your directs -- i.e., no "hey do you have a minute?" DMs, or surprise calendar invites with vague titles. Always include the topic: "hey, can we talk about client X? I need some information about the meeting last week".

Otherwise, many (most?) of your directs will immediately assume the worst: "hey, do you have a minute ... so I can fire you?" "Hey, can we talk ... about what a failure you are?"

More: https://jacobian.org/2021/oct/26/manager-microscope/

It seems like the majority of medically-recognised #Autistic traits are not autistic traits per se.

They are trauma responses common in autistic people.

I'm "more interested in things than people?" Maybe "things" don't turn hostile on me for unexplained reasons.

I'm dogmatically insistent that nobody can understand my mind but me? Maybe my entire childhood was spent resisting adults telling me they knew my mind better than I did.

This is also why "autistic traits" can seem contradictory. Both "talks about their interests all the time even in inappropriate settings" and "never talks about their interests" can be part of a diagnosis.

Because the latter is a trauma response to having the former shut down.

Is there an untraumatised autistic person?

I actually don't think so. So the map of what autism looks like to clinicians is shaped by our trauma.

And this probably compounds their impression that we're somehow defective, which in turn compounds the attitudes used to break us.

I just wanna be seen as a person.

@joepie91 so true. where the app idea to match for cleaning each others flats and become friends?

Appliances that aren't "smart" is a right-to-repair issue.

One of the biggest reasons why I don't want any appliances to require an app is that it introduces another way to force you into obsolescence and prevent you from repairing your stuff forever.

I'd always rather have an older repairable thing than a new thing I can't fix.

My kid is in a club at school, and they meet 4x a week for 4 hours. So all the parents chip in and stock a "snack cabinet" (granola bars, juice boxes, etc.) because teenagers are hungry goblins.
I went to fill the cabinet and noticed a padlock on it, apparently someone had been "stealing."
I admit, this triggered me.
I spoke to the coach and told him that perhaps he should talk to the kids and find out if one of them is food insecure instead of locking up some two dollar box of granola bars.
The look on his face, I could tell it kinda clicked, he didn't even think of that, just assumed it was some punk kid breaking rules.
People who grow up with wealth don't even realize that it changes the way they think. Luckily, he's a cool guy, and he was horrified that one of 'his kids' might be hungry at home. Sometimes it just takes one comment to open up someone's eyes to their privilege.

As I tell my own children: If you see someone stealing food, no you didn't.