Posts by oddtail@meow.social
(DIR) Post #AVPtaSH09YqnOpMwM4 by oddtail@meow.social
2023-03-31T10:07:00Z
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I was going to keep if vague and not provide examples, but I want to illustrate how "is this person trying to build a relationship or assert dominance?" is valid when talking to a neurotypical person.If you point out an error, you want the person to know they can do better. A neurotypical person might do that to position themselves as better than you (hence, higher social status).If you apologise, it's likely b/c you feel bad. A NT may want to raise their status or avoid consequences.
(DIR) Post #AVPtaSxXbOsVWlGuf2 by oddtail@meow.social
2023-03-31T10:09:53Z
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Heck, here's one I understand on an intellectual level, but fail to apply to my own communication:If you explain your motivations, it's likely b/c you think there's been miscommunication, and are indicating good will. A NT may be uncomfortable with explicit discussion of motivations, and see it as an attack, b/c you might be implying *their* intent was not pure or as straightforward (therefore, they're bad), or implying they're too stupid to understand your actions.
(DIR) Post #AVPtaTen0bTNgtVS4W by oddtail@meow.social
2023-03-31T10:11:45Z
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More likely though, they will fail to register you do not know how to indicate your intent via implication, and will be intensely uncomfortable because of a social equivalent of the Uncanny Valley.And worst case scenario, you had no ill will but they did (remember - social hierarchies are VERY important to NTs), and they will notice an opportunity to put you down and thereby raise their own status. Neurotypicals can be pretty vicious on occasion, if they stand to gain socially.
(DIR) Post #AVPwcar7VwHqSXyU1Q by oddtail@meow.social
2023-04-04T07:56:51Z
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I just learnt from xkcd that one of the earliest pieces of writing was a complaint about a copper merchant.I know it's a cliché today to state the obvious - that people have not really changed all that much, and that one of the earliest pieces of writing preserved today is not that different from someone leaving a bad review on eBay or something - but in a weird roundabout way, it always warms my heart.We've accomplished so much, but we're still the same humans.
(DIR) Post #AVPwccYlBAmxkBOqgK by oddtail@meow.social
2023-04-04T08:00:15Z
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When we read old books and watch old plays, the language barrier makes it look like people of old were dignified or weird or very serious. But we forget we're reading what people wrote as fiction - they were using language or characterisation that were not necessarily realistic even for the time. Old fiction operated on Rule of Cool just like modern fiction does.Beneath that veneer? Consider these:
(DIR) Post #AVPwceGOqPI51opDLE by oddtail@meow.social
2023-04-04T08:03:20Z
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* Graffiti in Pompei wishing Marcus would get an STD, and another proclaiming the writer's love for some girl;* A play by Shakespeare including a "yo momma" joke.* Old (and I mean thousands-of-years-old) jokes about funny foreigners, sex workers and farting;* Government employees complaining in writing they are overworked and underpaid and nobody gives them their respect;* Intellectuals complaining about kids these days;* Stupid fashion fads throughout all human history.
(DIR) Post #AVPwcfuqhVEy9Yl21o by oddtail@meow.social
2023-04-04T08:10:29Z
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And I mean, even in fiction. The oldest major piece of fiction preserved is essentially a story about two superheroes fighting like a pair of assholes for no reason, becoming best friends, teaming up and having adventures together. The epic of Gilgamesh could be adapted into a modern comic book or an action-comedy movie without changing much in the plot. Probably starring Chris Pratt as Enkidu or sth.Humans can be shitty, but I kinda love some things about human nature.
(DIR) Post #AWIKfbcPudA6paY2uO by oddtail@meow.social
2023-06-02T21:44:08Z
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Warsaw, the capital of Poland, very commonly gets jokingly called "Default City" when people talk online about where they're from or otherwise about physical location in online spaces for people from all over the country.(no, we don't use a Polish phrase that means "Default City", we literally use the English phrase)And I'm kinda curious if any other country's online spaces use a similar phrase/joke.
(DIR) Post #AWIKfdZIfBrCsV6aKO by oddtail@meow.social
2023-06-02T21:47:18Z
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The phrase is a combination of people from Warsaw having a reputation of being stuck-up assholes that act like no other cities or towns (not to mention rural areas) do not count, and self-deprecation of people from Warsaw itself.It almost feels like Varsovians avoid using the word "Warsaw" directly because the city is not well-liked in Poland in general. But it could just be my perception.And I mean, the reputation for being assholes is not *completely* undeserved.
(DIR) Post #AWetMgPBzy3v12Lnk0 by oddtail@meow.social
2023-06-13T18:24:30Z
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(1/15)I was thinking about Empire State Building. And in a few minutes, hopefully you'll be too.Imagine a city builds something EXACTLY like the Empire State Building (henceforth I'll call it "ESB" for brevity), except as public housing.Technology to erect ESB is a century old, but let's assume that it'd cost as much as it did back then. It was 41 million USD, about 600M in today's money.(rest of thread unlisted to avoid spam)
(DIR) Post #AZUkj3ECo9O0mdlSAi by oddtail@meow.social
2023-09-06T15:39:00Z
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OK, so since estrogen's little informational leaflet included with the hormone doesn't say anything about dysphoria or anything like that and it's only explained as treatment for menopause......does that mean I'm allowed to claim I'm taking it to treat my menopause?"Yeah, it got pretty bad. It was so bad, in fact, that I grew a dick. I know, that's wild!"
(DIR) Post #AZUkj57BnCxidSUsVs by oddtail@meow.social
2023-09-06T15:39:27Z
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More like man-o-pause, am I right?
(DIR) Post #AbD1rGcOtYY6XcrOEa by oddtail@meow.social
2023-10-27T17:05:58Z
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How did we arrive at "vanilla" meaning "unremarkable to the point of being bland"?Vanilla has a distinct, interesting flavour. It's a popular flavour BECAUSE it has a lot of appeal.I suspect it might be the fact that people associate "the taste of vanilla" with artificial vanilla flavour via vanillin. Yes, it's as bland and inoffensive and... nothing as the connotations of "vanilla". But it's also at LEAST an order of magnitude cheaper to produce than actual vanilla, so it stuck around....yes, I'm grumbly about the metaphorical use of a word for a specific food. Hi, nice to meet you.
(DIR) Post #ActuCyVoC7Npf6mfgm by oddtail@meow.social
2023-12-17T12:20:41Z
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I have a question about exercise, specifically exercise for muscle growth. Because there's something that I never understood and that honestly made me stop exercising in that way after I was like, 18.Exercises meant to increase muscle strength and/or bulk are supposed to be done "to the point of failure". But I have no idea what that means.Does that literally mean to the point I am physically not able to do any more repetitions? It sounds like that's what it means, but I can tell you for a fact I would injure myself - badly - LONG before I was physically incapable of performing any exercise.I've overtrained in the past, and it rendered me unable to move properly either due to muscle soreness, or put too much strain on my joints. I know my limits... I think?But that point where I know I should stop because my elbows or knees or back will tell me "fuck you" in the morning, which I can't afford to happen, is WAY before I am actually physically incapable of continuing.That's why I just do cardio. Running is easy. I know when I'm exhausted it will still have a noticeable effect on my stamina. I don't have to like, faint from exhaustion. And I know what being exhausted MEANS.I have no idea what "reps to failure" mean. If I did that, I'd probably permanently cripple myself within a week. At most.So how the fuck am I supposed to train for muscle strength?
(DIR) Post #ActuD12UnYibV45nuq by oddtail@meow.social
2023-12-17T12:26:00Z
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And to clarify: an answer like "well, stop when it feels like you shouldn't do any more" or "stop if you feel any concerning pain anywhere" is useless, because I have no idea how to distinguish pain from good exercise from pain from my body yelling at me that I'm ruining it long-term.I have a high pain threshold. As far as I'm concerned, "concerning" pain happens pretty much immediately after I start any strength exercise and doesn't really ramp up much at all down the line. But I imagine I'm not supposed to stop after I lift up a dumbbell three times or something.(and if I take a lighter one, my elbow or whatever will give way LONG before I *must* stop physically.)
(DIR) Post #AcuEm6AjhjPKdcx9qS by oddtail@meow.social
2023-12-17T16:01:27Z
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I keep reading about sublingual estradiol administration and I've gone through like multiple Reddit threads and other discussions, and I'm honestly starting to wonder if I've gone to some alternate reality or everyone else has.A lot of people express concerns with "too much saliva being produced in the mouth" or "the pill dissolving too fast" and keep the pill in their mouth for like 10 or 20 or 30 minutes. One person described keeping the thing for 1.5 hours (!) at a time.And the pill dissolving is pretty much universally described as a "problem". With claims made that it shouldn't happen "before the pill is absorbed".I'll admit, I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure the pill dissolving in a liquid (i.e. saliva) is what makes the osmosis through cappilaries POSSIBLE. And I'm also reasonably sure that if the pill is theoretically meant to go into the stomach (even if it's a less effective method), full of concentrated hydrochloric acid, some weak enzymes in saliva (that is well over 90% water) will not break estradiol down.I take the pill under the tongue, I avoid swallowing or moving the pill too much, it dissolves in like 5 minutes, I wait a few minutes extra to be sure, than I'm done with it, swallow whatever excess saliva has accumulated in my mouth. To be on the safe side, I don't eat or drink for like half an hour.I certainly don't need half an hour for things to be absorbed if the pill is turned into liquid within minutes.I feel like I'm being gaslit by every single trans woman on the Internet, in online threads across 7 years. The claims and methods described sound wild and go against what little I know of absorption of chemicals through capillaries. I feel like I'm being gaslit, but everyone else can't possibly be wrong, so it has to be me?Help?Boost this?This makes literally no sense. None of this. And I haven't found ANY information to the contrary, and quite a few threads where the claims that nothing much even happens in the first 15-20 minutes are made.But that seems impossible.
(DIR) Post #AcuEm80srKiOLeMJlY by oddtail@meow.social
2023-12-17T16:12:22Z
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It's surprisingly difficult to find scientific information on this, but whatever papers even mention the speed of sublingual absorption use language that suggests this happens near-instantly, certainly on a time horizon of minutes rather than tens of minutes?Specific numbers are sparse, but phrasing like "rapid" and "immediate" and even "instant" can be found, and multiple articles I've seen point out that sublingual administration of drugs is useful when the speed they act is crucial.But, yeah, it's vague enough that I don't know what it means. Sure doesn't sound like 20+ minutes, though.
(DIR) Post #AdOvvrmsS3UAnLdTjk by oddtail@meow.social
2023-12-31T20:05:04Z
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So, I've started using Ubuntu and I'm in the process of installing whatever I need/want and uninstalling stuff on the Windows 7 partition as I go.I don't know my options well, and to my mild dismay, Paint.net does not have a Linux version.So far I'm leaning towards Krita for raster graphics (no idea how it will work out) and Inkscape for vector (luckily it exists for Linux, yay!).But I'm open to other suggestions, as well as for something that does a good job for pixel art. I can technically use whatever I end up using for raster graphics, but anything that is good for this focused purpose would be great as well. Bonus points if it's good for creating tilemaps, animation frames and whatnot.Also, please don't suggest GIMP. I know it has a lot of options, but I tried to get used to it more than once, and I just... couldn't.Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions <3
(DIR) Post #AdYIbmTkWdEbuKigDI by oddtail@meow.social
2024-01-05T14:08:06Z
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(pinging @LauraKBuzz , would love if you Boosted this)I'm left-handed. About 12% of all people are. That's roughly one in eight, so it's not a tiny minority.Statistically, among your close-ish friends and family, about 5 to 10 are.Who cares, right? But let's talk abt this for a second. I promise I have a broader point.My sister, late 40s now, was forcibly converted to right-handedness at school (well, ambidexterity. Still). There are people who remember going to a school at a time where they were more likely than not to be converted with outright verbal abuse and possibly physical violence. It's not ancient history.But, that's not the case anymore. At least not in my neck of the woods. So, case closed, right?Not really. I won't talk about left-handed experience in full, I'll just rattle off a few minor points to illustrate. Some highlights, if you will.1) Every object I interact with where handedness is relevant is not for me in small ways.2) When in a restaurant or at a dinner with more than 3 people, I always do the little dance to sit at a spot to the left of the table. Otherwise, both me and the person to my left are in for a bad time and a lot of elbow-bumping. It's almost nothing, but it's a constant. And that's just one such situation.3) When I learnt to write in school, I would smudge what I wrote a LOT. I didn't understand this was due to my left-handedness, because no-one ever bothered to think about it and tell me. And I never wrote with my right hand, because my left hand is very strongly dominant.4) Speaking of, my handwriting was terrible the first few years of school. To the point that my homeroom teacher gave me a hand-written note at the end of grade 3 and a book as a gift in acknowledgment of how many hours I put in to learn how to write legibly. We're talking 100s of hours on top of how many the usual student spends practicing their writing. I was a gifted student, so I had time for this, but still - I spent more time learning to write at age 7-10 than learning *all* school subjects, COMBINED. I doubt a less academically inclined student would have the time. But here's the secret that neither I nor my teachers understood (and they didn't adjust their teaching methods accordingly!) - when you write in the Latin alphabet and you're right-handed, your pen leads the text. When left-handed, it follows it. Hence the smudging, and hence the lack of immediate visual feedback as to the shape of the letters. If you think that's irrelevant, write a sentence in cursive with your eyes closed. Go ahead.5) I always knew scissors were a hassle, if their handle was not symmetrical. For obvious reasons. But I was, I think, 33 y.o. (!) when I realised most people can see the exact line along which they're cutting. Scissor blades aren't, CAN'T be, fully symmetrical. No effing surprise I always struggled with that, a bit.And like... one in eight ppl are left-handed, so are one in every 8 pairs of scissors left-handed? Hahaha, no. Most stores don't carry those. There are places to buy left-handed stuff, usually not for cheap.I don't struggle much. But it all adds up. Very "death of a thousand cuts". Even though I'm able-bodied (other than glasses) and privileged in multiple, MANY other ways.And if you're thinking "there are people who have much bigger issues and struggle more, and they receive no accomodation"?One, I'm glad you think abt those ppl, I almost guarantee you didn't until 5 minutes ago.Two, careful. You're getting perilously close to my point there, hun.#accessibility
(DIR) Post #AdYIboXMs9JkI8Qb8C by oddtail@meow.social
2024-01-05T14:21:34Z
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@LauraKBuzz Oh, and it's not just that there is no concessions made to 12% of the population.Link, the video game character, is canonically left-handed. Always has been.("Links" is German for "left", I don't know if it's intentional or coincidence, but I think it's cute)The first Zelda game to use motion controls had some lines of code added after it was completed. The only purpose of this addition was to flip the screen horizontally, because obviously a right-handed person would have trouble swinging a sword with their left arm.Which is fine. I get it. Most people playing the game will be right-handed. I don't mind. It's FINE.But, to my knowledge (and I'll be happy to be corrected), even though the game was already written in such a way that left-handed people would do better with it, the option was NOT left in after the screen-flipping, at least not initially.Let me rephrase that. After a change was (justifiably) introduced to accomodate the majority, they left out the option that accidentally made things easier for the minority.There was no reason for it other than the reflexive assumption that left-handed people don't matter.Think about it for a second.EDIT: how much do you wanna bet that if an option was introduced to make things easier for left-handed players for a character that was originally right-handed, quite a few people would instantly rediscover their passion for the franchise canon and say that this little change was inexcusable, because it goes against the original author's intent, who clearly made the character right-handed?Do you remember any such outrage about Link being right-handed? No, I didn't think you would.