@roadriverrail@signs.codes
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

roadriverrail

@roadriverrail@signs.codes

Signs & Codes Founder. I talk a lot about #ttrpg and especially #WorldOfDarkness (#WoD), #ham #radio, #edm, #retrocomputers, and all sorts of #foss stuff, especially systems software.

I'm #trans, #nonbinary, #transfeminine, #polyamorous, #kinky, and polymorphously #queer.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

Savvyhomestead, to random
@Savvyhomestead@mastodon.social avatar

The metric system is way more efficient, understandable and logical than the imperial system.
In the meantime we are stuck with an ancient system so to make the best of it here's some shortcuts for temperature conversion:

https://blog.prepscholar.com/convert-celsius-to-fahrenheit

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@Tweetfiction @Savvyhomestead In ordinary life tasks, I kinda am split on which one I prefer. I bake bread by metric because it's easier to scale. I prefer most cooking by imperial (if I even measure at all) because it means fewer measuring tools, faster measurement, and a more intuitive flow to the cooking.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@gdinwiddie @Tweetfiction @Savvyhomestead Really, the computers in our heads do all their arithmetic algorithms based on base 10. The advantage of base 2 is it's easier to make logic gates for it. But imperial also uses base 10. You can talk about "10 cups" and it's no problem. It just has the option to change units of measure in places other than the base. Metric's quite fine and lets you do plenty; imperial's just not as bad as it's made out to be.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@gdinwiddie @Tweetfiction @Savvyhomestead I'm a low-level systems engineer so I spend my day hopping around between decimal, binary, and hex. I agree with you that, if things were different, they'd be different, but it's also rather beside the point, and the point is that both metric and imperial use the same numeric base already.

And I do agree that many imperial measures allow for pleasant rapid conversion and approximation in many practical situations.

flexghost, to random
@flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

San Francisco Archdiocese is bankrupt

They face over 500 sexual abuse lawsuits
They shielded more than 30 known predator priests
…who went on to molest countless other children
They received PPP loan money - which was forgiven
…while paying over $87 million to keep survivors of abuse quiet

Money is the way to hurt the church

And the Catholic Church deserves to get fucked against its will.

https://hermanlaw.com/predator-priest-index/california/archdiocese-of-san-francisco/

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@flexghost It's a good start.

gabek, to random

I had a rare occurrence where I needed to manually type in a password I had in my password manager. It took me a bit to realize the password started with a space. I mean, I guess there’s no reason it can’t. But I thought I was going crazy when I kept typing it in wrong.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@gabek If memory serves, a number of UNIX systems would disable all cursor control on password entry, allowing passwords to consist of spaces, tabs, backspaces, deletes, page up/down, and escaped characters.

Tweetfiction, to random

In an effort to combat my fear that my friends are far more interesting than me, here are

  1. Played Bass in a local band for almost a decade...in my 30s.
  2. Installed hospital labs in 11 different countries. Including Liberia and Ghana.
  3. Done acid in two major American cities I didn't live in.
  4. Drove 15 hours to meet a girl I met on AIM when I was 19 for the express purpose of losing my virginity. Because she offered.
  5. Started my transition at 45 years old. 🤷‍♀️
roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@Tweetfiction Seems like a good time, so here's

  1. Made a music video for an ex-member of Marilyn Manson
  2. Traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles by bicycle
  3. Made a phone Michelle Obama used to call and congratulate the Teacher of the Year
  4. Demanded an in-person code review on a major open source project after traveling halfway across the world
  5. DJed an orgy
roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@Tweetfiction Actually, there weren't. The promoter just asked me to keep the vibe going. I was mixing a blend of melodic house & techno, deep house, and tech house, and just trying to keep the energy right. I was mostly mixing in a music trance; didn't even realize 4 hours went by. It seemed I did a pretty good job with it; a lot of the patrons came up and thanked me personally. One said I'd helped her mark off a line on her bucket list.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@jacobyaudio @Tweetfiction Oh, wow. The Toasters are the people who got me into first-wave revival ska and ska-jazz. I'd love to meet them, let alone play ball with them.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@Tweetfiction @jacobyaudio It'll happen. It's just a matter of time before it comes back around again. Granted, I'm very much a first-waver at this point, so I just listen to old Prince Buster records.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@Tweetfiction @jacobyaudio The third wave came along at a moment in musical history when, IMHO, A&R execs had absolutely no idea what to do. Too many pieces of captured talent from the early 90s were dead, chronically in rehab, or had become passe. Rock radio music at the time was pretty diverse and weird...Tool would be followed by The Refreshments. Indeed, Stefani ended up playing the pop star game, but the industry also pivoted heavy away from rock and toward pop. 1/2

Tweetfiction, (edited ) to trans

Hey peeps who are on HRT, I have a theory about our community in the Fedi. It seems to me that most of us are either what I call "Pandemic Boys and Girls" who started their transition during lockdown, or those of us who seem to be a few months in. I'm in that second group. It's like the pandemic started us off, but we didn't quite get there for some reason until recently. So let's do a little poll.

How long have you been on , or alternatively how long since your definitive egg crack?

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@Tweetfiction I'm curious why HRT is chosen as the means to measure time in transition.

JoscelynTransient, to random
@JoscelynTransient@chaosfem.tw avatar

Sure, sex is good and all, but have you ever tried talking to a hot, neurodivergent trans girl for five hours? That's the stuff right there 😏

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@JoscelynTransient But you could also do the latter, then the former, then the latter again.

timkmak, (edited ) to random
@timkmak@journa.host avatar

Are you finding Mastodon to be less vibrant/active?

I’m worried that we are not getting as much engagement on our Ukraine war reporting as we used to.

We’re trying to decide which social media platforms to continue posting on, given how much effort it takes to replicate across all of them.

If you want to send a signal to us that we should keep posting here, will you sign up for our newsletter? http://Counteroffensive.substack.com

I’m only asking Mastodon users today so we can gauge impact.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@timkmak I definitely do read you and typically do so here. I'd probably follow links to substack if you simply promoted things here. No biggie. It would definitely be a shame to lose you.

gabek, to random

Me: "Users shouldn't know or care what language your software was written in".

Rust developers: "I disagree".

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@gabek The Rust community sees writing software in Rust as a moral imperative, so of course it's critical to them that people know the software was written in Rust.

e_urq, to trans
@e_urq@journa.host avatar

New guidelines targeting trans youth in Virginia schools have proven, once again, that it is impossible to craft an anti-trans policy without hurting many more cis people.

In this case, the rule prohibiting nicknames that aren't "closely associated" with a child's legal name will inevitably impact cis children with different cultural or ethnic backgrounds more than white Americans.

https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/va-youngkins-anti-trans-school-rules-prohibit-uncommon-nicknames

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@e_urq @UncivilServant Yeah, I'm sure they'd let the middle name users slide. And the boys known as "Tripp". But having been raised in the south, practically every class of mine had a "Buddy" whose legal name was something like "Otis". And then there were all the football players known universally by the nicknames the coaches gave them...Spanky, Cologne, Chop... Nobody called Chop "Wendell". He had "CHOP" shaved into his fade for a decade.

I swear the cis have brainworms.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

So, what's your view on how we should legally think about AI art models that use copyrighted art for training data? I'm not sure there's a compelling analogy?

Clearly this is what human artists do all day long, of course. And the question is in what way is that different form having an AI do it. Any thoughts? I'm particularly interested in people familiar with the most relevant law.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@ZachWeinersmith So, two points-- no, it's not what human artists do because what machine learning models do is not mechanically what humans do. When a human artist creates art, they can explain their influences, interrogate the result, provide context for the process. ML models don't do this. They're black boxes, and the process of interrogating their process is actually pretty labor intensive. There are similarities, but it's not the same thing. 1/

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@ZachWeinersmith Well, I have great news! It's already possible to make a feature film in your basement, and it has been for practically decades.

eniko, (edited ) to random
@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar

Great that kickstarter has finally rolled back their dumbass blockchain shit now the bottom has fully fallen out of crypto and the next tech fad (AI) is on the scene

But they're the reason we couldn't do a kickstarter for Kitsune Tails (we refused to be culpable in crypto bullshit) and why we're trying to race towards the finish line now before our bank account fully reaches zero. Their stupidity and shitty CEO has caused us tremendous stress and hardship, so I don't know if we'll ever use them again, and Kitsune Tails will be smaller in scope due to what they did than we originally planned, with fewer side activities. Not none, because I felt they were still important enough to break my back for

Anyway if you'd like to help us in ways Kickstarter never did, or just reward us for taking a principled stance against crypto BS, giving to ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/sharkhugseniko) or pledging to my patreon (https://www.patreon.com/sharkhugseniko) goes a long way because basically every penny we have is going into development

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@eniko Ooh! There's a newsletter. I wishlisted months ago and had been wondering how to get updates!

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Linda Yaccarino’s vision for Twitter 2.0 emerges

Staff should be ready for "hand-to-hand combat" as company preps new ad offering.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/06/linda-yaccarinos-vision-for-twitter-2-0-emerges/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@arstechnica Please excuse me while I find my barf bag...

davidrevoy, to random
@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org avatar

Yesterday, users of mstdn.social instance lost their connections to artists at mastodon.art instance ( src: https://framapiaf.org/@Curator@mastodon.art/110570978375947500 ). I hope giving visibility to this issue will help them to restore the broken bridges.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@davidrevoy @amberage @MagicLike "Rebuilding" without accountability is the kind of denial that keeps a cycle of abuse alive.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@MagicLike @davidrevoy @amberage An apology is definitely part of accountability, so that's nice. But it also doesn't show a commitment to this not happening in the future. One useful example of how to do that would be to explore why stux was taking such an action on his own in the first place and to develop methods that help ensure this not happen again.

aral, to fediverse
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

Some fediverse instance admins: “How cool, Meta invited us to the adult table.”

Yes, they did.

Because you’re what’s for dinner.

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@MaryTheKnife @aral For the record, it was this person: https://mstdn.social/@stux

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@MaryTheKnife @aral I'm not familiar with mastodon.art. What's the story there?

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@noodlejetski @aral Appreciate the details. Also worth noting that the post you link blames them for this flap regarding Meta.

ActionRetro, to random
@ActionRetro@bitbang.social avatar

Did anyone order a UNIX pizza?

roadriverrail,
@roadriverrail@signs.codes avatar

@ActionRetro I really miss my Indigo2.

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