Notices by Mariia Sydoruk (caoimhe@dragonscave.space)

Today I learned that rubber bands dry out over time and can break. I have no idea who might ever care about this, but it looked weird enough to surprise me when I saw it. So if there's someone who didn’t know, you're welcome! You now know one more useless fact.

@Fragglemuppet Mind sharing the link?

Is there a way to see which program drains my laptop battery the most? I have an Asus.

There is something I want sighted people to understand about blind people. If you see a blind person heading toward a wall, tree, bench, or any other object they might bump into and potentially get injured, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should immediately try to pull them out of the way. It's completely natural to feel concerned, but a better approach would be to just warn them and ask if they need help. While there are times when it's actually needed, it might also be that they are going toward a landmark they use for orientation, and as unfortunate as it is, you might unintentionally get them confused and disorientated. I often purposely look for such objects to better remember the route, and not all places are accessible enough for me to be able to get back on track if I take a wrong turn. Your help and concern are really appreciated a lot, but sometimes things are different from how they seem, and that's why it's always better to ask first.

The only time I forgot to turn on the screen curtain on my phone, people started reading out loud who was texting me and the messages themselves. It didn’t feel cool at all, so, lesson learned — my screen will remain dark.

Are there any accessible C compilers for Windows?

I find it really frustrating that people take the first attempts of disabled people to do something as an indication of whether they can do it or not, without realizing that anyone can fail when doing something for the first time just because they have never done it before. This is a huge double standard that I don't hear people talk about often for some reason. Today I saw a parent forbidding their blind child from cooking because she once accidentally spilled salt on the counter. The fact that the girl is rarely ever allowed to cook and doesn't have much experience somehow slipped their mind. Not to mention that such things can happen and do happen to literally anyone. I've also been in situations where people wouldn't let me go somewhere on my own, because they saw me get lost once. The fact that it's normal to sometimes get lost and not know the exact route if you have never been to that place before, again, slipped their mind. And God forbid if I tell them about this one time when I didn't get to the right place with Google maps. I keep being reminded of it every single time I want to go somewhere. I understand that those people are worried and everything, but damn. This only makes things worse because it's normal to learn from mistakes, and it's normal to make such mistakes. Maybe... I guess not for us.

I'm usually very picky about the authenticity of sounds in different media, except for chewing sounds. I just can't stand them, and it makes me so happy and grateful when they sound fake, no matter if it was done intentionally or not.

I didn't know it was so difficult to find a keyboard with the ANSI layout in Europe. I thought those were more common. Or is it just me who doesn't find the ISO layout very convenient?

@menelion @Kaliah Wow you like Slack? I used it for a few months, and even though it was fine, I can't really say that I like it. It was kinda clunky and confusing.

@KaraLG84 @FreakyFwoof Yeah there are also names like Ingrid, Tobias Jozef (our version of Joseph) Marta (our version of Martha) etc... I know people with these names.

@FreakyFwoof Some names that are considered old fashioned in the West are pretty popular in Eastern/Central Europe.

I'm reading an HP fanfic where Quirrell managed to steal the Philosopher's Stone from the bank, but it turns out the Stone has its own consciousness. Voldemort told it he wanted a new body and transformed into a cat because apparently, according to the Stone, that was the maximum his soul could handle, having been damaged by Horcruxes.
At the same time, Petunia Dursley, her new husband, and the kids moved to another house, and new tenants with a dog named Harry Oliver Oswald Potter moved to 4 Privet Drive. One day, Hagrid came there to invite Harry to Hogwarts, but instead of the boy, he saw a dog responding to the name Harry Potter. For some reason they thought it was the real Harry Potter, who just took his Animagus form due to mistreatment by the Dursleys.
They stole Harry the dog from his owners, gave him a magic wand, sorted him into Gryffindor, made him attend all the classes, and play Quidditch as a Seeker.
At one point, Dumbledore was deemed insane and was sent to a hospital. The dog was returned to its owners. However, Dumbledore's friend Alastor Moody decided to rescue the headmaster and took him from the hospital by bribing the doctors. Dumbledore was reinstated as the professor of Transfiguration. He found out that the dog was returned to his owners and was very upset because he still thought it was the real Harry Potter. So, Minerva McGonagall made Severus Snape brew a potion that turned Voldemort, who was the cat, into Harry the dog to comfort Dumbledore.

Thanks for reading. I just really wanted to share this nonsense with someone.

Should I keep on reading?

@menelion I don't know about BigBlueButton, but Jitsi is accessible. I've only used it a few times but didn't get any issues.

@Kaliah I had to record a song and had almost a month to do it. I finished it on the last day, literally 10 minutes before leaving the house. You're definitely not alone.

There should be Ctrl z for Ctrl z.

@GreenSkyOverMe Oh I really feel this. It was so bad here too that our windows were shaking because of the wind lol.

Originally on this laptop, I could use the f keys without pressing the fn key, but now I don't know how it happened, if I press any f key without using the fn key, it does some random actions like changing volume, brightness etc. Is it possible to change it back somehow?

Thanksgiving
image with no description.

Nah I wouldn't really be thankful for that...

Once when my English was terrible, my friend told me that a girl he liked had rejected him. For some reason my brain thought that "rejected" meant exactly the opposite of what it actually means, so I got very happy and started congratulating him, telling him how great it was, and how happy I was for him. It happened more than two years ago, but I still feel so terrible about it. It was probably one of the most embarrassing moments in my life lol.