germ's comments

germ | 4 years ago | on: Joke written by an AI: “A basic program walked into a bar ”

It really depends on the context and more importantly the intent. Make a mistake? Correct yourself and move on, try not to make a big deal of it. Intentionally misgender/deadname someone to hurt them? Not ok. And yes, there are people out there that will weaponise a deadname.

Honest mistakes happen, and that's fine! It's simply a defense mechanism that gets thrown up rather quickly from hostile interactions

germ | 4 years ago | on: Many clothing donations end up in African landfills

Time is half of the appeal though, the other half is randomness. If I had a nickel for every time I assembled an outfit or three around something so outside of my normal, I'd probably have a few bucks. It's delightful to find a funky 70s coat that you can work with and spend a few hours running around.

Also the cost factor is nice. My partner works at a local thrift and getting steep discounts on top of the already reduced prices is amazing. And whenever something outgrows my wardrobe it's back off to the donation bin (wear providing)

Sizing is tough though, you're right. My body is outside being sized for most clothes so a ton of otherwise good finds just won't do (but that's what traditional shops are for filling). Thankfully my partner has a similar sizer torso so we can share tops, jackets and whatnot style providing. Organizing two stuffed closets is a bit tricky however

There's always more stuff to dig through and finds to discover!

germ | 4 years ago | on: Sweden clears snow-covered walkways before roads (2018)

Bingo. Men/women, breadwinners/household labour and a few other axis tend to use a city much differently. By collecting the data that force was able to find gaps that were already existing in current structure and underlying assumptions about how it's used. Similar studies have found that most city planning is done around an able bodied cishetero men working typical hours and amenities to outsiders of that group tend to be applied patchwork after the fact which leads to a ton of troubles simply trying to get around.

Parents need to get their kids to school and daycare, navigate the environment with strollers and carriers and work around their kids needs. One example was trying to drop off a child at a daycare, a school and then making it to work. A trip that will need many transfers and sometimes doubling back on a route. If you're trudging through 15cm of snow and bus service is dodgy earlier in the day it's going to be a time.

If you want to learn more about this in a broader sense check out "Feminist City" by Leslie Kern, it's on audible if a long drive is part of your commute. It wanders a bit, but does a pretty good job surveying how women, gender diverse, disabled and other bodies navigate and cope with the environment. Check it out!

germ | 4 years ago | on: A different kind of keyboard

I swear FaunchPad has seen 3 Or 4 different input methods like this be developed, I'm not sure what it is about the hardware but I'm absolutely in love with what you all do with it.

Nice write-up OP! Excited to see where you go with Peggi :)

germ | 4 years ago | on: Chery QQ Ice Cream goes on sale in China – a modern electric car for $4,600

This. Regulating seasonal snow tire/chain usage in areas with lots of snow/ice is imperative to reducing collisions and improving safety. That and decent infrastructure for clearing snow in a fairly timely manner.

All seasons can't and _wont_ cut it in some areas, and having tires that only work 3/4s of the year for traction is dicey at best.

Source: I drive a Miata in winter up in Saskatchewan

germ | 4 years ago | on: My mouse driver is asking for a firewall exemption (2019)

Hardware drag scrolling, combos and snippets, more configuration then you can swing a stick at, layers and all of that. Half of the reason I use QMK boards is due to on-host configuration being so so terrible. At least if I bring my own hardware I _know_ it's going to work how I expect when I plug it in. That's a huge sell if you are jumping between computers all the time and have hardware that fits in your purse.

Also, the form factor and things like the Ploopy Nano are super cool. And because it's open source if you don't like the hardware/software you can easily change it. We use interface devices all day, everyday. Not having an ergonomic interface will catch up with you.

germ | 4 years ago | on: Squeezebox Keyboard

Sidenote: If you (or anyone else) has one to sell, I'd love to try QMK'ing one.

Those Hall effect switches and design are amazing.

germ | 4 years ago | on: Women's Pockets Are Inferior (2018)

Hot Take: A purse/bag is superior to pockets in most situations, stays organized and can handle the array of items needed for life much more gracefully then pockets. I don't need to completely unpack my purse at the end of the day and it's ready to go for the next. Hell if I want to change bags everything is in an organizer that can slip out and into a different one. Can't do that with pockets!

Also form fitting clothing is a pain with bulky devices. Nothing says fun like keys being jammed into your leg or trying to wiggle a phone in and out. Looser fits are almost needed.

But I agree with your final statement, let's not give people crap for choosing practical pockets. Wear what you will!

germ | 4 years ago | on: KDE Connect: Enabling communication between all your devices

Also can wake your monitors when you're connected to wifi! Took me a few months before I realized that my displays would sleep themselves if I was disconnected, walked in one day with wifi disabled, enabled it and my monitors popped up

germ | 4 years ago | on: All-new iMac features the M1 chip

I was just thinking this, as cool as having TouchID on a keyboard is, I'm not willing to keep a spare keyboard or ditch my GergoPlex for it.

Another user pointed out that a Watch can fill a similar void, but keeping one _just_ for authentication seems overkill.

Maybe binding the system password into the keyboard firmware is ok. Unless you need to worry about someone dumping FW or decamping chips or whatever.

germ | 5 years ago | on: Nobody designs for small iPhone devices anymore

I came here to bring this up, I use a Key2 daily and have used a UniHertz Titan for a time. Many applications don't handle odd screen aspects very gracefully. (Like Instagram opting for zooming stories instead of lettering).

But sticky headers are the bane of my existence.

germ | 5 years ago | on: System76 Launch Configurable Keyboard with Open Source Code

Heavy keys as well, and harsh bottom-out.

There's a ton of rethinking what a keyboard is that is going on in the ergo space right now as to what a keyboard _should_ be and how they should function. From physical layouts, curvature, keymaps, layering and combos it's interesting to see the experimentation going on. These devices are going to be used for the rest of our lives, they should at least be non-harmful over time.

Right now I'm using a GergoPlex, but my holy grail is a QMK'd DataHand. (And if you know who has one, please send them my way)

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