Jules the fairy @Jules@computerfairi.es

On May 6, 9, 20, and then early in the morning today (May 23), the VPS running this instance (scholar.social) has gone down, with the host citing an "extreme amount of disk IO."

It's only happened 4 times since I started up, and I haven't thought through very clearly how to diagnose the problem.

Before I start going too crazy, are any other mastodon admins also having this problem?

Thanks!

i can’t believe i’m saying this, but i’m 9 days from being homeless. no one will rent to us. we’re not being evicted, but have to be out of the place we’ve lived for 12.5 years at the end of the month. if anyone knows of a place where 3 adults can live that’s safe for a transgender woman in the NJ/NY area, please let me know.

I'm doing a lecture at a family medicine clinic, on meeting #trans ppl in a health care setting. I'd love some input on what you'd like my colleagues to know - good and bad experiences etc. This goes especially for enbies, since you make up a significant part of the trans population, but my personal experience is limited, being binary myself. Send me a message here on Mastodon, or email me at dimduningcanhazpdf@gmail.com. Thank you! Feel free to boost!

Wow, dieser Trailer (3:11 Minuten) für die SIGGRAPH2017 ist irre beeindruckend! Besonders die Simulation von Obamas Gesicht passend zu gelieferten Reden … wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YvIHREdVX4

Here is my #handspun cardigan with galaxy buttons :D #enbyknits https://witches.town/media/jRyjkTluLPB7KeAj4Sw

So we’re starting to hear folks in Congress talking about impeachment. In case anyone wants to understand what that would take, the Congressional Research Services has a good 24 page overview
http://cordeliayu.com/workspace/uploads/files/r44260.pdf

CRS is like a think tank within the LoC dedicated to providing nonpartisan research for Congress. Normally their reports are only available to Congress, but people in Congress can release it to the public.

And these few examples were all from the realm of neurodivergency, I didn't include examples of when physical disabilities are used as metaphors for bad things. Which is also very, very often, and not doing that needs to be one part of that very same process.

But if you don't actually mean to insult by drawing on ableist concepts and it's just the first word that came to your mind, then trying to find alternatives is a great process to start.

I mean, these are cosmetic changes that come from the idea that most people don't actually mean it that way. Just like with other changes of that nature, like avoiding calling people/things idiots, stupid, r*t*rded, schizophrenic (in the meaning of "contradictory" or whatever), crazy etc, if one's simply looking for a way to express an actual ableist sentiment behind it in less offensive words, that's still shitty.

Admittedly, German has an easier way out by simply using -feindlichkeit instead, but there are ways to do this differently in English as well.

Sadly my English is a bit shit and I don't have any idea which of the more often-propsed alternatives actually work well, but they're out there :)

Today is the day of seeing -phobia used for hate and discrimination, isn't it.

- it takes responsibility from the ppl doing the shitty thing (yes, _especially_ if you're going to argue "it's not referencing mental illness, it's like in 'hydrophobic'!" - oppression is not a force of nature) and misrepresents the mechanisms
- it's awkward to throw people with phobias in with all that
- it is often used to score easy points from more openly ableist beliefs, see "homophobia can be cured" etc.

This font may be of interest to kitty.town https://github.com/jpt/meow