Notices by Joelle (joelle@social.joelle.us)

So you joined PSF (Python Software Foundation) as a supporting member because they gave up money for the sake of inclusion. Great! Donated? That's great too!

I'd also encourage you to look at The Carpentries and give them some money. They did the same thing. And they do good work!

https://www.carpentries.org

I finished my annual autism top-off. Make sure to keep your autism full!

(I got a COVID and flu shot, this is satire because of course they don't cause autism, nor do any other shots, but some people believe in a flat earth and vaccines causing autism...)

Privilege:
Not being blamed for what someone else does.

For instance, if a white cis dude does something bad, that in no way impacts all other white cis dudes. But if a trans person does something wrong, all other trans people have rights restricted as a result.

Hell, in some cases a cis dude does something bad and trans people get their rights restricted.

This is how privilege functions.

The next time you hear a politician talking about how there isn't money for pedestrian or public transit infrastructure, look up what an intersection with traffic lights costs to build (at least hundreds of thousands of dollars). Then look up what a freeway interchange costs (millions).

When was the last time you heard a politician ask if a traffic signal or an interchange will bring in enough revenue to self-fund?

@ireneista
Ideally, a device will support a kid saying <description of sex assault>. Or "I am gay" without a potential abuser or unsafe person knowing. This is really important.

The kid should also be able to say "fuck" to another kid and laugh at how naughty it is during recess out of teacher earshot.

@ireneista
IMHO, text to speech or speech to text used by disabled people should have "no" and "fuck" in the most minimal vocabulary option.

What do you do if a kid hits "fuck" over and over and over again and laughs? Probably the same thing you'd do to a non-disabled kid who says fuck over and over again.

The next most important thing on devices is privacy. Too many devices have logging modes that log communication without user consent. Disabled people (inc. kids) should have some privacy.

"AI is great for accessibility!"

Also: Google's AI-based autocaptions won't transcribe "fuck".

We are not all children. But, as @ireneista points out, even if we are children, accessibility requires the same rights for disabled people as non-disabled people.

The lack of cussing, the lack of vocabulary for sex (beyond, if we are very lucky, clinical body part names, menstruation, and reporting abuse) and other "adult" things in our devices is infantilizing.

https://adhd.irenes.space/@ireneista/statuses/01K4GZCAQVNQNBEJGX0Z91YZC4

You know what I'd love to see from the Dems?

Countering the narrative.

Have a trans-positive commercial with a trans kid playing with her friends saying in voice over "While the GOP is focused on trying to take Emma's childhood away, I want Emma to enjoy her childhood...and to be able to afford to buy a house when she grows up."

Seriously, confront this bullshit.

If there is one thing I wish I could take from Perl and give to the current hot languages, it's the importance of not breaking shit when you release new versions of stuff. If someone's code worked yesterday with your library, it should also work today after you add a new feature.

Yet, apparently, this is not the way we do code. We expect every developer to be so devoted to a random library that they keep track of all the breaking changes and are excited about them.

Please stop that.

Old Voight-Kampff test: "Tell me about your mother."

Improved Voight-Kampff test: "Say a swear word, any swear word."

That'll catch AI nearly every time.

The reason Texas is part of the USA is that Mexico made slavery illegal.

Remember the Alamo? A lot of white people don't know is that what the "brave" people in the Alamo were fighting for was slavery.

That's also why it took two years after the civil war ended for enforcement of anti-slavery in Texas. (it wasn't because of slow communication, as is told in revisionist histories, it was because white people willfully defied the law).

Freedom is always worth fighting for.

So Elon Musk wants us to know he has drug-free urine?! I’d just say that there are 100 ways to pass a urine test (and more if you’re a billionaire), but if he really isn’t taking drugs and this is his natural personality and character, just wow, that’s fucked up. Drugs were the charitable explanation.

Colorado Trans+Autistic folk: if you are interested in a trans+autistic peer support group (not therapy, no cost to you), we'd love to have you there (I'm one of the facilitators). You can get info at http://transautistic.org/ . We do ask you email the facilitators at meetings@transautistic.org to get the zoom link.

It helps expedite things if you tell us:

1) You have a connection of some kind to Colorado
2) You are trans/questioning
3) You are autistic/questioning (self-dx ok!)
4) You are 18+

A day in the life of America:

Explaining to someone: "No, I can't fly American airlines to visit, they connect in places I can't pee."

Learn about women's history.
Learn about Black history.
Learn about Latine history.
Learn about queer history.
Learn about Ukraine history.
Learn about Palestinian history.

Why? Simple: Trump and Elon don't want you to. That should be enough encouragement.

Here's a message for parents: If your kid is autistic *TELL THEM*.

I get so sad reading stories of people who struggled thinking they were morally broken until they found out they were different, only to discover that others had the word that explained things, but didn't want to share it.

Nobody catches autism by being told they are autistic. It doesn't make you more autistic. It just lets you know you are different, not defective.

I pointed out that I'm going to swap my Model M keyboard for a Model F keyboard, and they mentioned that they didn't know keyboards had a gender, in jest.

So I'm sticking with this, I transitioned, so I need my keyboard to do so too!

One can schedule a Tesla test drive online.

Just posting info for Tesla lovers. I would never suggest people book appointments that will fill up the Tesla calendar and then not show and/or that will make salespeople wait around for nobody.

https://www.tesla.com/drive

@RainofTerra I guess I am claiming my gender is “Enola Gay” now. After all, didn’t the pope compare trans folks to nuclear weapons?

USA - Trans travelers using visas or non-USA passports that don't match their sex assigned at birth should use extreme caution visiting the USA. You may risk permanent ban and/or temporary detention.

https://travelwhiletrans.com