PSA for anyone with an #Amazon #Kindle or even just any #kindlebooks , they are about to permanently remove the ability to download books to your computer. Your last day to use this functionality is February 26, 2025, so you have about a week. There are no easy ways to grab it all at once, but it's worth it to me to be able to access my 500+ #ebooks so I'm clicking on them one by one anyway. Amazon has been very quiet about it, so spread the word.
That trans girl that you follow, the one that you see as amazing and cool and goals? The one that seems to have a ton of friends and followers? She's just a normal girl, with normal feelings and, more importantly, normal hidden struggles. Your interactions and kind words might actually make her day when she's feeling down, or insecure, or feeling the pressure of social interactions due to any number of things. Remember, there's always just a normal girl behind that screen.
I like to remind people periodically of one of my favorite days on the fedi:
A new person publicly asked, "Am I allowed to say Fuck TERFs here?"
And not only were they told it was okay, they spawned an avalanche of supportive folks all publicly proclaiming "Fuck TERFs!".
And unlike literally every other social network I could mention, not one person popped up to argue or complain or harass the person in question.
It was pretty awesome.
And so to this day I often say I'm on the "Fuck TERFs" side of the fedi. Like, if you can hear me, you're on the Fuck TERFs side of the fedi.
found the perfect stackoverflow question:
https://serverfault.com/questions/62316/how-do-i-list-loaded-linux-module-parameter-values
this question was asked fifteen years ago, has 127 upvotes, is two sentences long, and has seven answers, every single one of which has completely ignored half of the question.
Storytime: Queers make the world a safer place
A straight white guy friend was complaining about not being able to find any gaming groups for WoW that weren't full of MAGA assholes. He said he keeps joining guilds with older (60+) casual gamers like himself because he can't keep up with the kids, and he'll start to make friends, but then they will reveal themselves to be Trump-lovers. He asked, "What am I doing wrong?"
I said, "First of all, your screen name is Russian. Leftys are gonna be wary of that, and the Alt-right loves it.
Second, you should put some social signals in your bio, like pronouns."
"Okay, but how do I tell people I'm cool, but I'm not gay or trans?"
I explained to him what "cis" and "ally" mean. He had never heard of this before, which showed me what kind of online spaces he was landing in.
Next, I said, "Look for the furries."
"But, I'm not a furry?"
"Yes, but the presence of furries are like lichen. They are a sign of a healthy ecosystem."
This was about 3 months ago. Now, he tells me he joined a guild labeled as LGBTQ-friendly and has made several new cool friends. He says, "I thought they would be talking about sex all the time but it's just a regular group." He mentioned that there are many women and PoC in the group too, and "Everyone's so nice on dungeon runs, telling people they did a good job and being supportive, sharing loot."
I didn't tell him that this is what the whole world would be like without patriarchal toxic masculinity, because I think he figured it out himself.
Trans woman, bisexual, someone's fiancée, forever a programmer, poly, and former total mess