Esme Povirk @madewokherd@computerfairi.es

I needed to understand the angles on Threads federation in a more rigorous way, so I took a few days to think through and write up my sense of the benefits, risks, and available risk mitigations, along with loopholes that need closing and questions to discuss with fediverse administrators.

This is a blisteringly hot subject for me, so it's hard to keep my head cool enough to understand other people's trade-offs, but I'm trying.

https://erinkissane.com/untangling-threads

normal gamedev: all bugs must be squashed! this build is bug free. 🚫🐛
indie gamedev: yay a weird bug! i will gain its trust, befriend it, and make it a feature. ❤️🐛

Dropbox spooks users by sending data to OpenAI for AI search features

Feature opt-out by default bothers users who like to keep their files private.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/12/dropbox-spooks-users-by-sending-data-to-openai-for-ai-search-features/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

I really dislike the common line of reasoning that "being gay/trans isn't wrong because they were born this way/it's not a choice". That's not why it isn't wrong. It isn't wrong because it doesn't cause any harm to anyone. If being gay was a choice it'd be just as okay morally!
This is important because sexual attraction and gender identity can naturally change over the course of one's life. Under the framework of "it's only ok if they're born like this" that can be seen as problematic. It forces people to stay quiet about their experiences if their identity changes at all and especially if some external factor was a catalyst for that. And so what if it was? What if some experience "made you bi"? There's still nothing wrong with that!

When the invasion from the fourth dimension came, it had unexpected benefits. The new overlords were surprisingly mild. They only wanted the Earth for Qling, a substance we neither understood nor needed. They filled enormous eye-warping four dimensional tankers with a cargo we couldn’t even perceive, then left us in peace. A few stayed, having found human friends and even lovers.

My neighbour is one such. We met when xe returned my lost cat. “I don’t know how she keeps getting out”, I said, “all the doors and windows are shut”.

“What about that gap there?”

“Where?”

“Oh of course, it’s invisible in three dimensions. Here let me close it up.”

The cat is still furious about this.

#Tootfic #MicroFiction

This is your reminder to back up your fediverse account exports. Backup your followers, your mutes and blocks. Do it do it do it

Every time some corporate person I know announces their transition on LinkedIn, I almost want to congratulate them then I realize they mean career transition

"Drop" is probably the most useful concept that I don't think is widely understood outside the kink community but applies to SO MUCH STUFF in everyday life.

Drop is the shitty feeling you get after an intense experience (including an intense positive experience). It's sometimes immediate, but sometimes the day after or some other time. "Post-con depression" is a form of drop. In the kink community, we try really hard to stop drop from happening with aftercare, but outside of the scene you don't often get the chance to build in aftercare to intense experiences.

Different people find different things helpful for dealing with it. Rest is generally good, as is doing things you like, sugary foods, and recognising that you are in drop and not putting too much pressure on yourself.

allowing yourself to do what you need to get through drop is crucial (imo) to allowing positive experiences to stay positive, and to deal with the emotional effects of negative ones.

More examples of deep-rooted Great Plains native plants.
See that ridiculous scribble of barely-there roots on the very left? that's the grass they've been replaced with.
via @pzmyers 's blog https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2023/11/25/toughness/

Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective:

"... information transfer between autistic people may be more successful than information transfer between an autistic and a non-autistic person. ... autistic people effectively share information with each other. Information transfer selectively degrades more quickly in mixed pairs, in parallel with a reduction in rapport."

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361320919286

@Frances_Larina @magicalgrrrl @actuallyautistic And I think the way that happened for me was by pursuing specific interests that bring in both kinds of folks. But since that depends on what your particular interests are, it doesn't really work as advice. -Cole