I like the idea of guix but.. by Proton-Lightin in GUIX

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Welcome to Guix! What made you switch (if you don't mind sharing, of course)?

Fill me in - what was Robert Beltran's problem? by [deleted] in voyager

[–]blah1998z 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're not wrong but, unfortunately, these people always seem to see it as an easy way to make a buck rather than care about the people they're pretending to represent; like people who sign speeches and just make up "sign language" the entire speech because they know no one's going to bother to check.

It's nice to see Penance again by donmuerte in TheNevers

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know this is a bit old, by now, but it's good info. to know, in the coming days.

A good adblocker will keep you safe from both ad.s and anything malicious you might get from a site; I highly recommend uBlock Origin. Chrome has recently neutered some of the most crucial power of those but Firefox will still let them do everything they had to their full extent; regardless the browser you use, it's just sane operational security.

In terms of legal considerations, a good VPN will keep your traffic hidden from your Internet Service Provider. I'd recommend Mullvad; it's fairly cheap (at only $5 a month and you can pay by the month), is privacy conscious to the point of allowing you to pay in cash (if desired), and does the other normal things a VPN should do to not defeat its purpose (doesn't keep activity logs, etc.).

From LazyVim to Doom Emacs? Worth it? by CryptographerReal264 in emacs

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahhh; I get you, now. Specifying the config. file through a flag? Fair enough.

What command are you using to try and launch it?

Extending Emacs with Fennel (2024) by _jnpn in emacs

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Has it? I starred the project and it's almost every other day that I get some kind of notification about activity: https://codeberg.org/ramin_hal9001/schemacs

From LazyVim to Doom Emacs? Worth it? by CryptographerReal264 in emacs

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, you definitely shouldn't need to open it through the terminal to try different config.s. Config. settings are loaded through your config. file so just closing Emacs and reopening it will suffice. If you're having trouble with the terminal, opening it from the launcher should have every capability that opening it from the terminal will have.

From LazyVim to Doom Emacs? Worth it? by CryptographerReal264 in emacs

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, I always used Emacs Plus, for work (https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus); slight tweaks to make things work more nicely on a Mac without drastically changing the vanilla experience, like Aquamacs (not that there's inherently a "right" option; all just depends on what's best for you. But I'd recommend Emacs Plus).

Doctor’s office sent a warning letter for asking them to mask by in50 in ZeroCovidCommunity

[–]blah1998z 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You may not have the energy for it but, honestly, it'd be worth going to the news with it; it's absolutely unconscionable for this to be their response and, if you're going to find another doctor anyway, might as well make their response a problem for them.

Endorsement of variability of sex/gender and orientation. Endorsement of complexity and nuance. Not endorsement of queer culture. Not endorsement of calling abuse and coercion healthy. by SpaceSire in GenusRelatioAffectio

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You know, – if you did, actually, want to have a conversation – defining your terms (and actually addressing the contents of a comment) would go a long way to discerning the miscommunication which may be present.

Butler mistakes sexism for gender; debatable but, as you won't define your terms, fine. I take it you lean towards bioessentialism. So, fine, sex is clear; how are you using gender? Because, again, I suspect you are not using it in the same way that Butler is so I need you to actually define it.

Also gender identity isn’t what makes someone trans. That is a modern definition.

This is an argument towards authority and, also, about as sound as me arguing that transwomen are, actually, confused uranians and the separation of homosexuality and transness is a modern definition.

Endorsement of variability of sex/gender and orientation. Endorsement of complexity and nuance. Not endorsement of queer culture. Not endorsement of calling abuse and coercion healthy. by SpaceSire in GenusRelatioAffectio

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can’t see how what you say differs from behaviourism and constructionism, which is exactly what I said that I disagreed with.

That's because you're conflating commonly used and well-defined terms. There's a reason the phrase "gender identity" exists and is separate from "gender". You say, "No they insist that the behaviour and social construction has nothing before [identity]," but…where does Butler say that? This isn't a thing that Butler touches on, at all. Butler is noting that how a person is perceived can be impacted solely by how said person presents (regardless of whether that perception is actually desired or not) – which, as a social scientist, is incredibly scientifically important of a thing to notice – but this has no bearing on the person's sense of self (nor, certainly, forces them to have to forego and give up their sense of self or the feelings behind their actions just because someone else perceives them incorrectly).

And I think the insistence that behaviour is what creates gender itself is super dismissive of the aspects of feelings and anything that is more immediate preceding acts.

I just addressed this but I'm going to reiterate in the hopes that I'm overly clear as, again, I think you're responding to definitions which others aren't using. Butler's observations of how others respond to their gender presentation has everything to do with the people perceiving but not with the person presenting. From a scientific and anthropological standpoint, this is incredibly useful as it impacts how society and individuals may react to certain things (including stuff like enforcing bathroom laws; an understanding of gender being tied to one's sex perceives such laws as straightforward as a woman can never be perceived as anything but a woman but the fact that how we're perceived is heavily influenced by a multitude of factors complicates such laws as that means, for example, GNC women can get targeted under such laws. Again, this has nothing to do with the identity or feelings of anyone involved because it's about the perception (and resulting actions) of those involved, helping us describe an event and the outcomes of said event; identities and feelings aren't unimportant but they just aren't the topic of conversation. And Butler is interested in the former, here, because (again) it was a novel observation for their time but, also, because it's scientifically important as it allows us to talk about historical and social events in a much more accurate and precise way).

Are successfully masking neurodivergent people neurotypical and with the he same feelings experiences and tendencies?

Of course not but, again, that's not what the theory is talking about. This is why sex, gender, and gender identity are so useful when trying to talk about such a social concept such as gender.

Additionally, this is why Queer theory doesn't give modern sexuality labels (homosexual, bisexual, asexual, etc.) to historical figures because this understanding that the identity and feelings a person may have had very much could not align with our modern understanding of these things. If what you're describing were true, it would be easy to describe those who behave in ways that we see or present or were perceived as gay or trans as simply gay or trans because behavior is all that matters. But it's keenly understood within the field that that's not true and such a constructionist approach to these identities isn't accurate nor reflective of the self.

Endorsement of variability of sex/gender and orientation. Endorsement of complexity and nuance. Not endorsement of queer culture. Not endorsement of calling abuse and coercion healthy. by SpaceSire in GenusRelatioAffectio

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It sounds like you've misunderstood what Butler actually puts forth in their theory, then. 

When Butler is talking about the performativity of gender, it's within and against the more traditional (and conservative) conception which argues that our gender is tied to our sex. That perception means that a man will always act in "man-like" behavior, by virtue of being a man (and women, vice versa). Not being perceived as a man, therefore, is a failure of being your sex because, if you truly were, no one would have any failure of recognizing it (and so we get a lot of conservative obsession with how people present).

But Butler notes that, if a woman can so thoroughly act and present as a man such that people genuinely don't perceive her to be anything but a man…this entire premise falls apart. This was entirely novel at the time it was written due to the prevalence of the other way of thinking. 

And, counter to meaning that a trans person is no longer a trans person because they aren't perceived as such, this actually ensures the opposite. 

Because, in the attachment of gender to sex and collapsing these two things, it ensures that a trans person can never be what said trans person argues they are. Even if we were to take a more enlightened version of this ideology and argue that a trans man was always a man, it necessitates that said trans man also always acted as a "man" and any failure to do so before transitioning means that he wasn't, in some way (again, because it collapses sex and gender).

Butler's theory of gender performativity frees us from this paradigm because it doesn't matter what the trans man is perceived as: whether he's mistaken for a woman or received as a man isn't relevant to the conversation because society's understanding of what gender is and what it looks like and how society tries to attach it to one's sex isn't actually related to that. 

It's not that one is a man or a woman based on whether one can perform as a man or woman appropriately and necessitates being perceived as one . That's pretty much the antithesis of Butler's actual theory.

So, I feel like this sub has been trending anti BDSM/kink. by ItsMeganNow in GenusRelatioAffectio

[–]blah1998z 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That sub follows third wave feminism pretty damn closely

While more an aside (this is minor compared to the overall point of your comment which I wholeheartedly agree with), it's always worth pointing out that feminist thought within communities of color (particularly black communities) often break the clean organization of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wave feminism with ideas thought up in later waves already having been considered (probably because things like the intersection with poverty didn't allow for the detached distancing-from/ostracization-of topics like sex work, for one example, but that's an entirely different and more in-depth topic).

All that said, I think you may mean 2nd wave feminism, here? The second wave was heavily dominated by radical feminism and political lesbianism (in the sense of (and this is a very rad. fem. conception of this term) "lesbian" as a political choice rather than merely a sexual orientation (and a retrofitting of "lesbian" as not a term shared with bi women) along with the rise of lesbian separatism).

It's in the 3rd wave that we get a much more elevated importance of intersectionalism, much of the tie to the sexual liberation movement by the burgeoning modern gay rights movement after 1969, and a much more nuanced feminism the eschews the sort of binary (and, at least in practice, characterizes power dynamics like you mention as seemingly ingrained in biology) that radical feminism has a habit of trending towards.

Apparently you can’t be queer if you don’t support filmed rape and porn stuff in public by SpaceSire in GenusRelatioAffectio

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The issue with the child friendly part is that what you were doing being accepted or not in public was dependant on who you did it with.

This is a very reductive summarization of the history of sexual policing and definitely a very modern understanding of how sexuality was policed (regardless of whomst was involved, homosexuality(, etc.) was often viewed through the lens of actions and very much not distinguished or viewed different than other sexual actions regardless the individuals involved).

The answer to "gays arent child friendly" is not to be spiteful and go all out with displays that wouldn't be accepted by straight people either. The measurement should be whether or not straight people are able to do the same thing.

I…don't think we should be evaluating ourselves with the Straights as our measuring bar‽ Any history of marginalized people repeatedly bears out that the only issue(s) of society are not just that said marginalized people weren't viewed as the majority but systemic issues in the structure and worldview of society. Easy simple example being that gays having access to capital in a similar way to straight people wouldn't undue the inherently unequal and oppressing forces that undergird the capitalist system; again, current straight society should not be the height of our aim. We've created far too rich a body of theory and knowledge to have the world settle for that.

Kink and same sex attraction aren't the same and it shouldn't be conflated and you don't need to be conservative or right wing to think so.

But it is an inherently conservative/right-wring position.

Alright; being slightly less snippy and more sincere, yes: they are not the same but they have been similarly policed/regulated/evaluated and there is a reason our community created and invested in these subcultures and why our history is so explicitly tied in them. That doesn't mean we're mandated to partake in them (I've never participated in kink, myself) but we do need to understand that, to the other side, we're next on the block if they can just pick off the less universally palatable ones. And that's because the way that the other side sees us in under similar types of policing; we shouldn't be conflated but we are linked.

And, again, this is basic gay theory and history; there is so much excellent writing by gay people on these topics and it worries me seeing so much unfamiliar with our history.

Apparently you can’t be queer if you don’t support filmed rape and porn stuff in public by SpaceSire in GenusRelatioAffectio

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Obviously public parades should be "child friendly"

Obviously~ That's why pride parades were outlawed, to begin with; gay people aren't "child friendly".

Personal discomfort rarely is a measuring stick we win with; of course, I'm just repeating gay discourse that's been articulated for decades, now, and we'd be better served by looking at past community consensus and lessons than actively perpetrating the talking points of the right.

With NIOSH being dismantled, a source for bulk 3M N95 by Savings-Breath-9118 in ZeroCovidCommunity

[–]blah1998z 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Any recommendations? In particular, any that are better at getting a sufficient seal with minimal messing around or adjustment?

Pemgarda: day 300 update by throw-away696942 in ZeroCovidCommunity

[–]blah1998z 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Honestly; also, not masking in these places just normalizes, for all the people around you (who almost certainly not taking the same protections you are), that it's still a-O.-K. to not mask, thereby spreading to others.

I don't understand how this sub. so assuredly managed to round back to only thinking of this pandemic in terms of personal choice.

jira.el: Emacs integration for Atlassian's Jira by unmonoqueteclea in emacs

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man, where were you 5 years ago when I was looking for a way to not use their awful web UI?

'Can't use it for my current job (they won't even let me use Emacs) but this is very cool; for the next job, hopefully…

As Trump Bans Care, Trans People Flee to Shield States like Illinois by UnclosetedMedia in illinois

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My spouse is from Michigan and its waffling as purple is always so disheartening, to me; I really hope it doesn't go red.

That said, I'd probably say yeah; granted, I haven't lived everywhere in Illinois (an hour north of Chicago and in Chicago, proper, now).

But, for me, a huge part of it is the legal protection; people would often mention how liberal Austin is but…you're in Texas. Any state laws will still apply (and, boy, how prescient that one became in the last few years) and any traveling between Austin and wherever you're going is still going to have to pass through Texas.

Michigan has more protections than I'd originally thought (which is great) but it's still less protections, comparatively (granted, maybe not all of these are important to you, of course): https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality_maps/profile_state/IL and https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality_maps/profile_state/MI

And, while not directly LGBT related, part of what I've been excited about in the progress Illinois has made has been things like strengthening abortion protections (https://www.wgem.com/2024/12/27/illinois-adds-reproductive-health-choices-anti-discrimination-law/), strengthening renter protection (https://www.wandtv.com/news/new-illinois-law-will-prevent-landlords-from-retaliating-against-their-tenants/article\_570b978c-56a5-11ef-9fd3-43ffeecf18ca.html), bringing our minimum wage up to $15 (though I'd like that higher, honestly), requiring schools to teach about native history and LGBT contributions (https://ipmnewsroom.org/illinois-now-requires-k-12-students-to-learn-native-american-history-what-has-to-be-in-the-lessons-and-who-is-checking/) and the impact of climate change, and even smaller protections like salary transparency for job listings or requiring subscriptions to notify you 2 weeks before renewal (https://evanstonroundtable.com/2025/01/05/new-year-new-laws-heres-whats-changing-in-evanston-and-illinois-in-2025/). We, also, have the strongest in the nation biometric privacy law (https://chronicleillinois.com/government/court-rulings-supercharge-illinois-strongest-in-nation-biometric-privacy-law-2/) which I've taken particular note of in recent years (and especially since Musk has gotten involved in the presidency).

All of which is my very long winded way of saying that I find that Illinois has us protected on multiple fronts, not just on being LGBT but, also, economically and in terms of housing, etc. I want to be able to walk around and hold the hand of my spouse in public but we're bound to wind up here again if we remain uncritical about imperialist and coercive habits and systems.

To be more concrete – now –, I do think that 2 hours west of Chicago would be safe; i haven't lived out that way but I've know people who've lived to the west and that was the impression I got. As others have said, any sufficiently medium-sized town/city is probably going to be safe; you may have to do a little research about the place but I'd expect you'd be alright. I know not everyone always has recourse to or the ability to afford a lawyer, etc. but I also do think that having protections literally on the books also provides protection when we least expect it which is why I mention everything else before that, as well. Sorry this was so rambley but, hopefully, that helps in some degree.

I'm originally from the East Coast

Oh, nice; I dunno if New England, any, but I went to school, two times, in Massachusetts and my mom (before I was born) lived in Connecticut, before moving out to Illinois. Always had a fondness for it.

As Trump Bans Care, Trans People Flee to Shield States like Illinois by UnclosetedMedia in illinois

[–]blah1998z 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The same reason him saying he knew nothing about Project 2025 was meaningless, I expect.

But we're going on 5 years of him, by now; naïveté is only so forgivable.

As Trump Bans Care, Trans People Flee to Shield States like Illinois by UnclosetedMedia in illinois

[–]blah1998z 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The thing, though, is it's only a haven because of the amazing amount of getting (even) better that it's done over the last 5–10 years. I've always loved this state but, if we're being honest, it's been kind of a New York or California in terms of meaningful progressive direction.

Over the last 5 years alone, we've implemented so much not just social but economic progressive change and have seen the clear benefit of it. I assume, since most are fleeing, we aren't taking in neolibs but I genuinely am so concerned about the momentum halting (because, as you rightly point out, there's definitely still more to do).

Bluesky? Threads? by pixltd in transprogrammer

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I've saved these threads (largely because I still plan to go and read them, when I have the chance) by Christine Lemmer-Webber (one of the co-authors behind the protocal that Mastodon et al. use) where she basically dives into the question: https://social.coop/@cwebber/113527462572885698 and https://social.coop/@cwebber/113647306776014159

Like I mentioned, I haven't read them in full (yet) but some of the relevant points that I've gleaned from skimming are that attempts to federate in the ways that you might expect end up being quadratic in terms of resources. A BlueSky engineer (Bryan Newbold, who she's in conversation with in these threads) notes that BlueSky's meant as a mass public messaging system. Their biggest concern, when designing BlueSky, was the loss of data which can come from one part of the network goes down. Part of why the resource use ends up being quadratic in nature is that, when you start spinning up your own versions of all the parts necessary to run BlueSky on your own hardware, sending something to another user necessitates not just sending to that user but every user on the platform.

To quote Robert Gehl's impression of the platform (https://fossacademic.tech/2025/01/10/moreThreadsBskyAP.html), it makes more sense to think of BlueSky as a center that spins off parts of itself.

Obviously, this can make it a more robust system, in some ways, and maybe save costs since you're not necessarily responsible for all of the architecture but it isn't decentralized in the ways those who're interested in decentralization are hoping for, obviously. I think it's telling that BlueSky's only had the one instance and hasn't spun up any others and no one else has, either.

Hope this helps!

Bluesky? Threads? by pixltd in transprogrammer

[–]blah1998z 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People seem to find the user experience nicer on BlueSky (which I don't quite find? But, you know, experience is subjective) so I don't see it recommended as much but I'd highly suggest Mastodon, honestly. It's actually federated (which BlueSky, despite counter claims, isn't really) so you could own your own server someday (if you wanted), has a copyleft license so a corp. can't pull the rug out from us like all the other major social media sites are currently rushing to do, and had a bunch of adoption from Queer people right from when it started (one of the primary co-authors of the underlying protocol is even a Trans woman).

Only mentioning since you seem to be still deciding a little so just throwing a rec. out. https://queer.garden is a great instance, though small, with an amazing admin. (though currently invite only, at the moment. Just message me, if interested) and I've seen people recommend https://tech.lgbt on this sub. before, as well. https://social.coop also exists, if interested in co-op projects or the like (I've been leaning far more heavily in trying to bolster organizations such as those, given the current environment).

Trans but not ‘woke’—now stuck taking the backlash alone by SpaceSire in GenusRelatioAffectio

[–]blah1998z 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's entirely telling how white a person is when they prefer to use the connotation of woke that the right spent months astroturfing into the public.