Notices by Shaula Evans (shaulaevans@zirk.us), page 3

Such fascinating answers so far. Thank you for joining me in this thought experiment.

I'm not going to "evaluate" the answers, that's not the point here, but I will ask a follow up question:

You may have replied with a form of assistance or accommodation. Do you feel it qualifies as an "assistive device", where "assistive" and "device" are both important? The crux of this question is what do and don't you consider to be a device, and from there an assistive device. 2/2

I've been thinking about how most people do not think of glasses as assistive devices because they are so common, and people who wear glasses are not generally considered disabled.

Are there other assistive devices that aren't popularly thought of that way, similarly to glasses, because they are in such widespread use? 1/2

When we talk about mutual aid and surviving hard times, etc., the focus is often on asking for help.

That's important, sure, but it only works if people show up for each other. Giving support is the less discussed part of the equation.

Don't make people ask. Offer help when you can.

Understand people in crisis may be inarticulate.

Respect others' boundaries & autonomy. Center them, not you.

If you're asked & must decline, make connections with other avenues of support if possible.

None of the cultures I have lived in (of which there are a few) seem to have social protocols for how to respond when someone is facing a difficult situation that will not end quickly or possibly ever resolve into a good (or even neutral) outcome.

I was not ever taught how to be a good friend in that kind of situation, and I have rarely witnessed anyone else handle it well.

Random thoughts apropos of nothing as we live through a mass disabling / mass trauma event.

@skye Pants. It's all about the pants.

I mentioned earlier that work needs to create a private forum for a project (Thanks to all who replied), and left to their own devices, they'll default to Facebook. I have explained in the past why this is a bad (!) idea, and they asked me for alternatives.

But we are strapped for time, budget and energy...

We use #Trello for project management. I'm wondering if a dedicated Trello board could work for a v. small group.

< 10 ppl, light posting

Are there pitfalls I'm missing?

@aral Yes, please.

I had a great work call with my boss today in which the recurring refrain was "let's do this the easy way".

Regardless of my job description or what I'm technically paid for, much of the time my biggest contribution is just validating my boss's survival instincts (which encompass helping our team members survive, too).

If a total cure were found for COVID and Long COVID tomorrow, my life would not "go back to normal", because I would still have to deal with having seen how people have treated the vulnerable (including me) in this era, and how people have revealed themselves to be selfish, ignorant, and willing to bring harm to others.

No medical cure can erase this horror, trauma and moral injury.

I don't know how we will deal with this (ever).

@olap Good guess but no, I don't think it' them. It's a different popular Mongolian folk-rock band. The one I'm thinking of includes raditional and modern instruments, a throat singer, a light-skinned musician from near the Russian border, and a woman.

*This is like an absurd game of charades, isn't it? lol

I'm trying to track down a specific song to share with a friend, and I am blanking on both the name and the band, so I'm asking Mastodon, here goes:

Does anyone recall the name of the song by the contemporary Mongolian folk/rock band about a guy who loves his tractor?

Wow. This brave new world of climate change + the current heat wave means my new electric bill is 5x higher than last month's.

Don't need tips on cooling a house, already on top of it. It's just really that hot and I'm trying not to get cooked alive. (As, I'm sure, are many if not most of you.)

If anyone would like to buy one of my audiobooks or put a little love in my tip jar, it would really help this month.

https://adaraastin.ck.page/223e08bb72

https://ko-fi.com/shaula

@audiobooks @romancelandia 1/2

I offered to record a personal story for a friend's sick little boy today. She reported back that listened to it, asked her to thank me for the story, then promptly rolled over and fell asleep. Victory!

I have won an award for audiobook narration but this sort of thing is the mos satisfying work I ever do. 🥰

What doesn't kill you not only doesn't make you stronger, quite often it makes you weaker in ways like shredding your immune system, using up your external resources, or depleting your strength, energy and resilience that all make it more likely that the next thing that comes along /will/ kill you — and at some point we need to collectively reckon with this like rational, responsible adults.

Before anyone decides to come into my mentions to smear toxic positivity all over me, just don't. This is a post for clear-eyed, informed, intelligent adults. If that's not you, take your normalcy bias with you on your way out.

I am going to die of something, someday, hopefully not soon, and yet if it is all possible I would prefer not to die of excessive heat / extreme weather events, an unchecked pandemic, lack of access to food, lack of access to water, lack of timely access to healthcare, or political instability due to rising fascism and mass population displacements due to climate change.

And yet...

I look at the world around me and yikes.

"'Queer' not as being about who you're having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but 'queer' as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live."

bell hooks

Mastodon Hivemind, I have an extremely niche question for you:

Is there such a thing as a (small) submersible UV sterilizer light that does *not* have plastic parts?

*This is not for an aquarium, but a no-plastic aquarium light would be fine, if it exists.

#PFAS #Plastic #UVC #aquarium

Related thought: I guess now Signal app and any other encrypted message systems are no longer functionally secure if the person I am communicating with happens to be running Signal on desktop with Windows 11 / Recall / Copilot.

DAMMIT.

The best workaround I can think of is to switch from text to voice notes as much as possible.

I cannot articulate how much I hate this.

Question for security-minded people:

How are you handling video calls in light of Win 11 Recall / Copilot?

I do not consent to other people randomly recording me. How on earth do I vet everyone's operating systems for work calls?

Right now I am angry & thus not framing the question elegantly. For the love of all that's holy, do not lecture me about asking the wrong question or in the wrong way.

If you have mandatory work call, how are you handling this yourself?