Harena @Harena@toot.cat

Me: O Deep MATE, great computer -- can you copy these 50 GB or so of files from one drive to another?
Deep MATE: YES. I CAN.
Me: [small sigh of relief]
Deep MATE: BUT I'LL HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT.
Me: How long will it take?
Deep MATE: IT WILL TAKE SEVEN AND A HALF MILLION YEARS
Me: Seven and a half million years? Just to copy a few gigabytes???
Deep MATE: ...TO FIGURE OUT HOW MANY FILES THERE ARE BEFORE I START COPYING
Me: [eyes rsync]
Deep MATE: Oh wait, here, I can start copying now. IT WILL TAKE... FIFTY AND A HALF MINUTES!!!
Me: [quietly vows to go straight to Caja's source code with a very large axe compiler and give it a reprogramming it'll never forget... when I can get around to it... probably in about seven and a half million years]

Today is international Trans Day of Visibility. I'm trans, so I thought I should be visible! Ask me anything (or "#AMA", as the kids say on Reddit). If I have enough to say in response, maybe we'll do a video!

Here's some background: I discovered I was trans in 2000, but didn't have the funds to begin transition until 2016. I met my cis-female / nonbinary partner Sandy* (on the left in the photo) in 2001, and we have lived together since ~2003 raising her kids from her last marriage.

Did You Know:

1. Some people claim "cis" is a slur? It's not; it's just a scientific term that means "not trans".
2. The "epidemic" of transitioning, especially among trans men, is largely due to the de-stigmatizing of transness in the last decade or so. This is a good thing.
3. Gender is a social construct, and biological sex is a multidimensional continuum. Grade-school biology is accurate as far as it goes, but leaves out a lot of edge-cases; trans people are among those edge-cases.

Hopefully that's enough to get some friendly conversation started. ^.^

* better known here as @Harena

So far, all of the responses have been positive (names omitted for privacy):

1

I saw President Biden's statement this morning. So glad this administration supports all Americans. Thanks for your offer of sharing info!

I'm not actually sure what statement she's talking about, but ok!

2

While I can’t pretend to understand all of this, I celebrate your freedom to be who you are and hope for you a life free of judgement.

3

Thank you for sharing your lives & happiness. Understanding concepts of gender & sex from your perspective is so helpful, Woozle. At least we all can understand the words. "We don't have to agree on everything to be kind to each other." 💞

4 (same person)

For "binary" people, i.e. males & females with a "traditional" perspective, the meaning of words, especially "sex", "gender", and other kinship relations, also have important and valid but different physical, social, cultural and moral meaning(s). I hope we can all negotiate the distinctions in our views, and contextual uses of words and meanings over time, without acrimony. Peace be with you! 🙂🙃😍

5

Thanks for this post! As a parent of a child who has come out as Trans within the past year there’s a lot that I’m learning and I appreciate the awareness you are bringing to this topic.

Happy International Trans Day! (unironically)

This hand-dyed yarn by @beccabadger is gorgeous :O Eco-friendly (no synthetics, no superwash, local breeds) <3 https://www.bluebellyarns.co.uk/ #Yarn #Wool #CreativeToots #MastoArt

I think I should add a Patreon tier which says "I will sing any TMBG song you request in a Kermit the Frog voice."

...or will that just scare people away?

#21cIdioms

"That really boosts my toot!" "I'll boost that toot!"

@kestra
#NotCaturday

I just love it when web sites set up their login page so web browsers don't recognize the password field, and I have to go look up my password because the browser won't fill it in.

Sometimes they even disable pasting.

Both of these make me inclined to use a less-secure password, so I can remember it and type it easily.

Nice #securityTheatre, guys.

#softwareGripe

#TootCat turns 4 today! 🍰 🎉 ​

Here's hoping I'll get caught up with the upgrading soon... >.>

-- @woozle

One of my favorite #GoonShow dialogue snippets, which I think of whenever anyone mentions "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps":

Seagoon: Eccles, stand on my shoulders and then pull me up!
Eccles: right.
both: grunting/straining sounds
Eccles: I'd like to see them do this on television.

Cat and Astrocat

(no relation)

cc: @kestra

I feel like this should be a socialist slogan or something.

&quot;I think I'll pass. These days I have a hard time feeling comfortable in crowded bars with loud music and lots of shouting.&quot; --me, after the pandemic, but now for a second reason

Some things I'd been thinking about for a long time finally came together in my head this morning...

Draft proposal -- The Software Development Corps: a non-profit co-operative in the public interest

Comments invited! ^.^

#SDCorps

🎵 It was 20 years ago today... 🎵

Today is the 20th anniversary of @Harena's first email to me ^.^ 💚 ​

#NowListening #LP #vinyl

@Ardmass I should have mentioned:

The LP is my dad's copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which I remember him playing in the living room as early as maybe 1969? I would get into the big orange spinny-chair and spin around as fast as I could during "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite".

He gave me all of his LPs about 15 years ago, and this was one of them -- complete with gatefold and cardboard-cutout insert (uncut).