mcdutchie

18+ jack, 21 days ago to UKpolitics

Remember that only ~35 out of 107 councils will be counting overnight.

Beware hot-takes made overnight and in to the morning.

#UKPolitics #LocalElections2024

dorgaldir, 1 month ago to Autism Dutch

I feel this so hard. Why can't people just be clear about what they want?
#autism #actuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic
#feels

libreoffice, 1 month ago to foss

Look! A #LibreOffice feature you may not know about 😉 When exporting a #PDF the "Hybrid PDF" option embeds the original file. Then anyone with a PDF reader can view the file – and LibreOffice users can edit it too: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq/Writer/PDF_Hybrid#What_is_a_hybrid_PDF_file? #foss #OpenSource

pathfinder, 1 month ago to Autism

@actuallyautistic

I have often said, and largely it's true, that I'm fairly open about being autistic. There are a number of reasons for this, but mostly it's because I feel that it's important to be as open as I can be. That by doing so I am hopefully opening people's eyes to the fact that autistic's can be anyone, the bloke they stand next to in the pub, the one they work with, the person they've known for so many years. That we can be any age and anyone.

But, to put this in some context. I live in a smallish town and have done so all my life. For various reasons I am quite well known. I am also male, and single and old enough and secure enough in my life not to give a damn any more. So the risks for me being this open aren't the same as they would be for others. A fact and privilege I am very aware of. I have also masked in a way that, I think, is possibly different from others. I found a way to be essentially myself. To highlight the aspects of myself that were acceptable and submerge the elements that weren't. In other words, I didn't really try and hide the weird, only the true depth of it. So the leap from "it's Kevin" to "it's Kevin and he's autistic" doesn't appear to have been that great for a lot of people.

Having said this, though, it is still not easy. Dropping the mask is hard when you're not sure what is actually mask and what isn't. The internal masking, the ways I learnt to hide so much from myself, is perhaps the easiest, if not the most painless. But the external mask still has so many elements and not all of them are easy to forgo, or even possibly be part of a forged mask any more anyway. Maintain a way of being and doing something for over 5 decades and really where's the difference between you and it?

Much has been said though, about the effort of maintaining a mask over a long period of time. The effects it can have on us. The way the drain of it is more and more likely to lead to burnout. The way that restricting our natural movements and behaviour is harmful, especially in the long run and to our mental health. And I certainly don't argue with any of this. I can feel that strain, the cost of it for me. I also can't help thinking about how much of my aches and pains, the injuries I carry, the growing infirmities, aren't just age related, but caused by how much I've stifled and restrained my body from moving naturally over the decades and the cost of that.

But, as much as this is motivating and helping me to learn to unmask, there is, of course, the other side of the coin. I didn't learn to mask on a whim, it wasn't for laughs and giggles. I was the outlier, the strange, voiceless kid, who came within a hair's breadth of being institutionalised. I was the one who had to learn how to fit in and above all be safe. For that is what masking allowed me to do, at least as much as it could. And this, for those of us who are older, is perhaps one of the major problems with trying to unmask. It's very possible that one of the very reasons that allowed us to live so long without realising we were autistic, was that our masks worked too well. Not just in hiding us, but in allowing us to fit in, in so many ways, if not obviously in all.

And certainly for me there is a deep functionality in the way that I mask. It allows me to behave and to communicate with others in ways that they are comfortable with and understand. Not so much with set scripts, but more a menu of available options, of both body language and speech, that have proved to be viable and effective. It has allowed me to exist in their world and even though I'm essentially a foreigner to it, in ways that don't make that so obvious. But start dropping the mask and that illusion is quickly shattered and then it becomes a lottery how people react. Confusion, rejection, aggression, hate and dismissal. All of these I have experienced and even trying to explain that I am autistic, rarely makes matters better. In fact, it's more likely to make them double down on the necessity for me to do it their way.

For that is what mostly happens. Try not to speak and they insist that I do so. Be too weird in my movements and the most random of strangers will suddenly be up in my face over it. Try to be myself and have to watch the reactions and atmosphere change. Because the simple fact is that most people don't like having to do any of the work or put in any of the effort required to bridge divides, especially if they know, or suspect, that you are more than able to make it so that they don't have to. It will always be up to us, for so many of them. I'm not saying that this makes them bad people, although some of them are, just human and with perhaps too much on their plates already. Extra effort is sometimes hard to justify or find for a lot of people

But all of this simply makes unmasking even more difficult for me. It's hard and not always practical to forgo the functionality of it. And also the safety of it, the reasons why I began to do it so long ago. That difference is still so often a target for so many people, not something to be understood, but attacked and taken advantage off and age doesn't make any difference to that. Even as an older white male, I have to take that into account. The fact that unmasking simply isn't always safe, in so many places and ways.

So will I ever manage it? Will I ever reach the point of being truly open and maskless? The way I want to be. Given my age and how much of it is ingrained and, by now, a part of me. How much safer and easier it can simply make my life, I have to admit that I'm not sure. Let's just say that it's still a work in progress and a hope as much as a dream.

#Autism
#ActuallyAutistic

openculture, 1 month ago to random

How Photos Were Transmitted by Wire in 1937: The Innovative Technology of a Century Ago

https://www.openculture.com/2024/04/how-photos-were-transmitted-by-wire-in-1937-the-innovative-technology-of-a-century-ago.html

AndresFreundTec, 1 month ago to random

I accidentally found a security issue while benchmarking postgres changes.

If you run debian testing, unstable or some other more "bleeding edge" distribution, I strongly recommend upgrading ASAP.

https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/29/4

Uair, 2 months ago to actuallyautistic

@actuallyautistic

ABA.

https://www.the74million.org/article/americas-most-popular-autism-therapy-may-not-work-and-may-seriously-harm-patients-mental-health/

16MillionRising, 2 months ago to random

Hey Music Makers! If you're a #ProEU band or artist and you'd like your songs played on SMR, then simply send them into us in any format! 🎧

📩 email tracks, intros and bios to:
👉 sixteenmillionrising@outlook.com

csoriano, 5 months ago to random

One thing I saw in comments about the removal of xorg server is that some might not see how much work is/was to maintain xorg server. I understand is hard to see from outside, but maintaining xorg server with the standards we have in RHEL is not a small beast. Let me share some:

thatprivacyguy, 7 months ago to Youtube

Today I filed a formal complaint against #YouTube with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner for their illegal deployment of #adblock detection technologies.

Under Article 5(3) of 2002/58/EC YouTube are legally obligated to obtain consent before storing or accessing information already stored on an end user's terminal equipment unless it is strictly necessary for the provisions of the requested service.

In 2016 the EU Commission confirmed in writing that adblock detection requires consent.

CEDO, 7 months ago to random

RTL onderzoekt rascisme in proctoring software Proctorio:
https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/nederland/artikel/5408489/zwarte-mensen-vaker-niet-herkend-door-antispieksoftware-proctorio
Conclusie: het is discriminerende software.
#proctoring #proctorio #racisme #spieken

openculture, 8 months ago to random

Watch a Never-Aired TV Profile of James Baldwin (1979)

https://www.openculture.com/2021/06/watch-a-never-aired-tv-profile-of-james-baldwin-1979.html

FranciscovanJole, 8 months ago to random Dutch

Min of meer per ongeluk belandde ik zaterdag in de A12 blokkade.

Daar dacht ik het mijne van en dat heb ik maar even opgeschreven

https://www.bnnvara.nl/joop/artikelen/waar-ik-aan-dacht-toen-ik-de-a12-blokkeerde

stevesilberman, 8 months ago to Autism

One of the most crucial articles you could read about #autism research: How ridding research of ableist framings of what autism is leads to greater scientific accuracy, not less. Please spread this link. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1244451/full?utm_source=S-TWT&utm_medium=SNET&utm_campaign=ECO_FPSYT_XXXXXXXX_auto-dlvrit

semioticstandard, 8 months ago to privacy

You need to stop using Chrome NOW. It’s not hyperbole: Google just rolled out a change to Chrome that tracks the sites you visit, builds a profile, and shares that with any page you visit that asks.

This is real. It’s not tech bro conspiracy shit.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome

#privacy #google #chrome

CrimethInc, 8 months ago to random

Elon Musk has been working with open anti-Semites this week to mobilize people against the Anti-Defamation League, blaming declining advertising sales (caused by his efforts to welcome self-declared Nazis back to Twitter) on Jewish people.

Now, in dialogue with one of these bigots, Musk is promising to do a "giant data dump" on the ADL and other groups, with the presumable goal of enabling anti-Semites to harass, attack, and kill people.

In 2022, we warned that Musk took over Twitter with the explicit goal of seizing territory for the far right, but even we didn't expect it to go so far, so fast.

Background:

https://crimethinc.com/2022/11/25/elon-musk-bans-crimethinc-from-twitter-on-request-from-far-right-troll

Death to fascism.🏴

A screenshot from X, formerly known as Twitter: Libs of TikTok@libsoftiktok. 1h BREAKING: Elon suggests he will release all the data relating to the ADL and other organizations pushing to censor and silence X accounts We need a full list of which organizations pushed for censorship and which accounts were affected! THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET WILD Please consider releasing all communications and providing full transparency on the ADL & all other organizations who have pushed to censor certain accounts on Twitter/X. Sincerely, Thousands of users who have been suspended, throttled, silenced, and shadowbanned. Elon Musk & @elonmusk. 37m ADL has pushed hard for us to shut down accounts like Chaya's, even though it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, which is their supposed charter! Libs of TikTok@libsoftiktok 25m Elon, would you consider releasing some of the communications between X and the ADL so we can all see their true intentions? I'm definitely interested in seeing their requests to ban my account! Elon Musk X@elonmusk.2m Great point. A giant data dump would clear... Elon Musk @elonmusk. 1h Replying to @libsoftiktok That's for sure. Might take until next week, as we're short-staffed this week.

FranciscovanJole, 8 months ago to random Dutch

Hoe voorkom je dat automobilisten te hard rijden? Daar ben ik op gênante wijze achter gekomen.

https://www.bnnvara.nl/joop/artikelen/weg-met-de-adrenalineverslaving-leve-de-flitspaal

bagder, 8 months ago to random

"CVE-2020-19909 is everything that is wrong with CVEs"

A claimed "9.8 CRITICAL" flaw in #curl that does not exist.

https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2023/08/26/cve-2020-19909-is-everything-that-is-wrong-with-cves/

gwensnyder, 9 months ago to random

He's going to get people killed with this.

You know what Nazis used to do in my Twitter replies before I started mass blocking?

They'd give my home address out to OTHER Nazis in my replies who had expressed an interest in murdering my family and me.

MelsGarden, 9 months ago to random

Hello all,

I hate to say it but I'm close to giving up on Mastodon. 💔

Ever since the previous owner left & the server changed hands it's become frustrating to use.

For a while the problem was extremely slow load times (which was honestly really tedious). Now it's frequent error messages & trouble even logging in.

I'm not tech savvy. I've no idea why this server is having trouble. I've been hoping it would get better but it's just getting worse.

Please don't tell me to 'just migrate' like it's so simple. It may be easy for the tech folks but it was stressful & intimidating for me the one time I tried it. And with the fragmented & hyper-political nature of Mastodon I've no idea where I could even go that I would be welcome.

Anyway - just wanted to explain my absence. I feel so helpless & incredibly sad at this situation and I don't know how to make it better.

And I miss everyone here. I hope everyone is doing okay 💚

Screenshot of the "Network error" message showing the Mastodon icon in front of a computer showing "ERROR" on the screen.

BBCRD, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to sustainability

Modern TVs have dimming features that can adjust backlight power in specific parts of the screen, sometimes even at the individual pixel level.

We wanted to see whether adapting BBC content could make use of these features and reduce energy consumption.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2023-08-sustainability-energy-saving-radio-tv-led-graphics

#sustainability #television #technology #tech #broadcasting #LED #OLED #FALD

privacyint, 9 months ago to random

Big data analytics company Palantir approached the UK disabilities minister to pitch technology to crack down on benefits fraud.

It’s not the first time tech solutions target people with disabilities. 🧵

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/palantir-lobbied-uk-disabilities-minister-software-benefits-fraud

openrightsgroup, 9 months ago to random

As UK police forces ramp up use of facial recognition, let's remind ourselves of the harms it can cause because of errors from the technology.

Those errors form racist false arrests, which can be traumatic for those involved. This is illustrated by the case from the US of a pregnant woman arrested following a false positive from facial recognition software.

#facialrecognition #policing #precrime

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/business/facial-recognition-false-arrest.html

schratze, 9 months ago to random

I wanted to go to sleep but someone is singing fucking ABBA

bioluminescently, 9 months ago to random

Little bit belated, as I've not been able to get to many sessions this year, but just wanted to shout out to anyone else attending #Autscape, virtually or otherwise. I was at the Zoom workshop on diagnosis with Emma Taylor an Helen Marshall just now, and it was such a good discussion in the Zoom chat section as well. #ActuallyAutistic