Notices by Jen (jetlagjen@geekdom.social)

@WeirdWriter if they want a toggle that makes the main character invisible, they should called it the Bi switch. Either that or a Transition toggle so that she becomes a trans man.

It's so good to see the ban on polystyrene being effective. It's been in place for over a year now and the last time I saw food served in polystyrene was... Today.

@michael_w_busch @inthehands as I understand it, a lot of those terrible things are already happening, or are going to happen very soon. It's all such an unmitigated disaster for so many people that going nuclear may be the only viable option.

I do wholeheartedly agree with everyone suggesting backups, even if they're technically illegal due to being on a drive in someone's basement. "Finding" them could be the only route to functionality.

@inthehands All. Creative. Work.

I see it in intricate metalwork dug up after hundreds of years lost. It's in cave paintings, moai statues, and Nascar lines. Creativity in a million guises echoes through the heart of every human who has ever lived.

We can create ever more complex tools to support our creativity, but they can never replace it.

@inthehands @jasonkoebler being part of a community orchestra gives me so much.

I can immerse myself in a community based on a shared interest. I collaborate and connect with them in a way that trandcends language. I can focus on a skill that isn't about survival, but about joy. I get to be competent at one of the few things long covid hasn't stolen from me. It gives me self-worth and self-confidence when both are suffering.

And this is just a tiny slice of my experience of music.

@GossiTheDog assuming it actually did cancel the contract, rather than just claiming confidently that it did.

@inthehands the people who own platforms could do a/b testing on that last question.

Randomly select a sample of users. Make half of their ads based on their current profile, the other half based on a null profile. Count the clicks.

Of course, those who own the platforms also have a vested interest in selling their super-effective micro-targeted ad space, so they never would in case they were wrong.

@jeromechoo @mekkaokereke my preferred way of expressing it is not at all. If asked a direct question, it's an opportunity to dismiss the rest of what whoever says by referencing how rare it is they say something reasonable.

@sanfierro

- attention by use of trope, underlining the repetition, reinforcement that it's a message everyone needs to hear
- yes
- yes
- yes

What purpose does your response serve?
Is it a good purpose?

@cstross @irina @davidtheeviloverlord we use LibreOffice for working on clients' Word files when we help them publish. We rarely have any issues with it. 60k words, a few chapter headings, 200 tracked changes? Easy.

But occasionally, we do have issues, and it's always really big, complicated files, with lots of additions like many tracked changes or tables or hundreds of footnotes. So we have to have Word available.

@ryanc yes.

Boys over the age of 8 are *far* too cool (read: indoctrinated into toxic masculinity) to do anything fun, or be seen in the presence of a parent.

#LongCovid energy crash day.

Today I have:

- collapsed and was unable to move for over an hour

- had physical help to go to the toilet (including holding me up while I adjusted clothes)

- slept for a total of several hours

- eaten only when I was helped to sit up and the plate was put in my hand

- had a ten minute conversstion, by the end of which my words were slurred

- typed a couple of toots

- nothing else

I "don't seem #disabled" because you don't see days like this.

1/3

@venite @inthehands I've been eyeing up e-trikes. If it can give me the independent, no-car range I used to have walking before I got covid, that would be incredible. I could go to the local shops!

I had decided I couldn't justify the cost. But then I found out I'm due some inheritance money from Granny, which is roughly the price tag of the one I like. I think she'd be thrilled at the idea of me riding around on something so utterly ridiculous yet completely practical.

@nathans BUTTONS!

Buttons and dials that I can work purely with my fingers while my eyes continue to do the important job of *watching the road*.

@ryanc I'd quite like to see one where the only evidence supplied is a "before" picture of them looking thoroughly uncomfortable and an "after" picture of them living their best life. That should be plenty proof that they've made the right choice.

@geonz @inthehands yeah, very similar.

I'd say the key difference is intention. Giving someone the runaround implies a deliberate intention on the part of the actors. In an accountability sink, all the individuals involved may have good intentions and be doing their best, but the result is the same because of systemic problems / intentions.

@inthehands I recently came across the phrase "accountability sink" which I think applies here.

It's a process, person, body, etc that accepts feedback but has limited to no power to act on it or pass it on in meaningful ways. A Customer Service Desk is the classic example.

@inthehands ewww.

I wonder if they'd "accept feedback without becoming angry or defensive"?

@inthehands

My first couple of weeks of uni was utter confusion. I was given a stack of paper several inches thick and left to it. I had to figure out how and where to register for my course, how to pick and register for a subsidiary, how to find my way around a whole new city... I mentioned to someone how bewildering it all was and got brushed off with "it's all in the docs," "others manage" and "you're not at school now, we're not spoon-feeding you."

I coped only because I knew a 2nd year.

@emily oooh! You've just reminded me that WikiHow exists!

The taxi section seems to be focused on hailing a cab rather than pre-booking, but it could be a good start on a lot of things.