ScottinSoCal 🇺🇦 🕊 🏳‍🌈 @ScottSoCal@computerfairi.es

I've been on Masto for several years, but not very active. I recently changed instances, and never did an #introduction post before, so here we go!

I'm a photographer based on Halifax, NS, Canada, though my day job is as a software developer. My main interests are, in no particular order, #photography, home #baking & #cooking, #programming, #security, #equality, and #cats. Many others, but yeah.

My own posts will be mostly photography focused, and with that, here's a photo of my fluffy boy.

@autism101 @actuallyautistic

Myself, my wife, and two children (who are all also autistic) are all animal people. We often have multiple pets and form relationships with them.

Personally, I find animals more predictable than NT people! At least I can usually figure out animal motivations (food, attention, fear, etc). NT humans, not so much. #ActuallyAutistic

@Binder I had the same problem. But when I asked my doctor he rudely said to shove them up my ass.

@SrRochardBunson @SallyStrange @mike I’m retired now, and was not especially good with money. The thing that saved my bacon was two union jobs that gave me pensions. Unionization is not just a living wage and accountable management, it’s the entire end of your life.

Tina Turner was the Queen of Rock N' Roll.

She was literally more important than Elvis. If you don't believe me, look through the entirety of her career.

Not only did Tina witness the birth of Rock N' Roll, she pioneered it.

Mick Jagger admits to cribbing his stage moves from her.

David Bowie worshipped the ground she walked on.

Her run in the 80s was the single greatest comeback of all time -- regardless of genre -- demonstrating that "old" people belong on centre stage.

Tina: a woman so badass she was the villainous in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

And. you know what? She did all this while combatting so many obstacles and trauma. But she never gave up. Hers was not a story of tragedy but triumph.

Thanks to @Deglassco@mastodon.social for sharing this. The world just lost a true icon 😢

RE: https://mastodon.social/users/Deglassco/statuses/110436308375211796

LGBTQ: It's pride month, are you an ally?
Brands: Of course!
LGBTQ: They're literally killing us, are you an ally?
Brands: No

The most common gender affirming surgery is breast augmentation -- in cis (non-trans) women.

The regret rate is around 20%.

Gender affirming surgeries in trans people have around a 1% regret rate.

Guess which people need approval from a mental health provider...

@cvwillegen @neuralex @actuallyautistic @jeanoappleseed same. Masking and upbringing both taught me that putting up with pain is “strong”. We were taught to grin and bear it. It’s only now I realise that it’s at the scale of excruciating that I would ask for help.

How do my #ActuallyAutistic comrades explain meltdowns to others?

#AskingAutistics @actuallyautistic @actuallyautistics

@ScottSoCal @actuallyautistic I have had lucid dreams my entire life but much more so when I was younger, probably late teens through late twenties. Once I realized it I knew if I woke up from a bad dream I could go back to sleep and change the outcome. Then after some of that I realized I could change a dream the first go round, as it was happening. I could also fly in dreams, very realistic feeling, which doesn't happen nearly as often now either.

Black folk and Black folk only:

The musician "Mariah the Scientist" *is* a scientist, even though she dropped out of her biology degree before graduating. A scientist is a person who studied science.

The word "scientist" was coined because men were gatekeeping Mary Somerville, a woman who was studying science. They said that she wasn't a "man of science," emphasis on man. So her friends coined the gender neutral term "scientist" to mean "a person who studies science" even outside a university.

[this is much fonneeness]

Trump has the charisma of a mortician’: Donald Jr confuses dad with DeSantis

In online show, former president’s son also accidentally says father’s energy ‘makes Jeb Bush look like an Olympian’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/26/donald-trump-jr-mix-up-desantis

The kids are going to be alright. They're fighting like hell for their future. Will you join them?

Orange County valedictorian calls on school board members to resign at graduation

“Our teachers get paid virtually nothing, yet they protect their student body to the highest standard possible. What do they get in return? They’re called groomers by parents on Facebook. Instead of our school board backing these teachers, they buy into the narrative and concern themselves more with depriving students of their basic freedoms, releasing policies to take away Black history and forcibly outing students who are not heterosexual,” Mthethwa said, calling on the immediate resignation of three members of the Orange County School Board."

https://dailyprogress.com/community/orangenews/orange-county-valedictorian-calls-on-school-board-members-to-resign-at-graduation/article_a1cbcf70-f9af-11ed-9eff-ff57adb96e35.html

#Antifa #Education #News

Another question for @actuallyautistic #AskingAutistics from an #ActuallyAutistic writer/psychologist

I'm compiling a list for diagnosticians of frequently asked questions following a diagnosis. What did you want to know? What should we make sure we can answer when disclosing the diagnosis?

i just got into bed, which is the highlight of my day on most days ​

BUT NOT TODAY!

#today, the highlight of my day was listening to @viralvulpes's cover of "someone like you" by #adele ​ ​

https://cutie.city/@viralvulpes/110433222355572214

it's SO good. listen to it. you won't regret it ​ ​

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers surprise commencement speech to Johns Hopkins https://apnews.com/article/fc3a8dbcad582cd050ba864914e764a5 This is striking. The aggressor can’t leave his own house for fear of arrest over war crimes. Meanwhile #Zelenskyy is enjoying Global Rock Star status.

My newest book on the shelf, alongside two far superior authors: David Foster Wallace and Irvine Welsh.

#books #bookstodon #writing #author #davidfosterwallace #irvinewelsh

Ok I am going to brag about my tattoo. The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system played a fundamental role in my PhD research, and I was PI on >40 hrs total observing time of the star with the VLA and ALMA radio telescopes.

Going across my arms are the star & all (known) TRAPPIST-1 planets, and when I hold my arms out their distances are to scale.

Sounds like a neat seminar topic.