February 2023

This is BIG. A new study in the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, has highlighted a regret rate of only 0.3% for gender-affirming surgeries.

To put that into context, the regret rate for knee replacements is around 20% and plastic surgery can be up to 65%. Gender-affirming surgery... 0.3% 🤷

Yet MORE scientific research debunking the misinformation that's spread about the trans and gender diverse community 🎉 Read more on this research below ❤️

https://www.gendergp.com/new-study-confirms-regret-rates-of-gender-affirming-surgery-are-non-existent/?ma=1

I have a heart full of give-a-damn but a body full of yeah-I-don’t-think-so.

Whine is the product of fermented gripes

I miss The Constantines. This song is pretty representative of their stuff: https://youtu.be/Dxw63pPq8Ts

In the words of Dr Ian Malcolm: “Life… finds… a way.”

Also, kids are way more ingenious than the adults trying to keep them from doing what they want.

https://hcommons.social/@ryancordell/109931704672643355

Last night the 11yo broke down the Google Slides middle school Chatroom for me:

1. At first they used a Google doc but the infinite scroll was too chaotic
2. In the slide deck each new slide is one “post”—some all text, some images, some both—
3. They use slides’ comments feature to “reply” to each other’s “posts”
4. This allows participants to easily flip between posts using the slide thumbnail navigation, so they can find the conversations they care about easily
5. He owns the file & if anyone spams it, deletes other people’s posts, or gets nasty, he can revert the file to its previous save state & remove the spammer’s access
6. He did share the file with me on purpose, I think because he was proud & wanted me to see what he’d made

Essentially they’ve created a chatroom with moderation in Google Slides, so they can get around the school’s ban on platforms like Discord. It’s kind of brilliant

Why are two bite brownies so stupid good?!

These trees… they’ve got to stop spraying their yellow herbaceous spunk about the countryside. Their floral bukkake has got to stop! Think of the children! And my sinuses!

At coffee this morning, the coffee shop played Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” which reminded me of Rheostatic's excellent cover (https://open.spotify.com/track/6ZMCEqH92WLAHKcr3XASSU?si=51d9ecc7f6d4461c). In looking for that one, I found ANOTHER excellent cover, this time by Punch Brothers! (https://open.spotify.com/track/3WUVzOFltfSz7AU648MGq4?si=62e0b9f6808f406a)

I love covers. A lot.

Mood:

Happy Tuesday to me! I just found out there's a sequel to Lovecraft Country and it's out now! I know what I’ll be reading next: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2578RCL

I’ve been having migraines recently and… that’s a new thing for me. What do you do to feel better, migraine sufferers?

My first political memory is that I was sad that President Carter wouldn’t have a house to live in after Ronald Reagan moved into the White House.

I’m glad Jimmy has a home and is there with his family.

Resting trying to get over bronchitis this weekend and watching The Climb on HBO. Climbers, y’all are weird, but I love you. I think the risk and danger results in the weird lexicon, kind of like fighter pilots or firefighters.

Just going to put this out there: you cannot vote for a Republican and pretend to care about LGBTQ rights. The two things are diametrically opposed. It's a party centered on restricting abortion, restricting LGBTQ rights, and that's pretty much it. If, in 2023, you're still ID-ing as a Republican or voting for Republicans, you don't get to pretend that you support these causes, because your actions speak much, much louder.

“You always told me it takes time. It has taken my father’s time, my mother’s time, my uncle’s time, my brothers’ and my sisters’ time, my nieces’ and my nephews’ time. How much time do you want for your ‘progress’?” —James Baldwin

#BlackFriday #Mastodon #BlackMastodon #JamesBaldwin

My wife introduced me to The Housemartins when we started dating. That was twenty five years ago. I just found out yesterday that Fatboy Slim WAS IN THE BAND. WHAT?!

I wrote yet another thing about layoffs. The feelings keep... on... happening... and I want to make sure I capture them this time so I can refer back to them the NEXT time this happens: https://lawver.net/2023/02/the-illusion-of-control/

Between Poker Face and Will Trent, are procedurals back? Or… oh no… am I just OLD?!?!

Someone called me “grounded” yesterday. I’m always kind of confused when confronted with my own maturity… it doesn’t match the childish imp I imagine myself as.

Behoooold, 450 calories of caramelized delight!

On my own for dinner so roasting a whole head of cauliflower. I looked it up and the olive oil I used has 240 calories, and the whole cauliflower has 210. Mind. Blown.

I already love @ivory for macOS. So smoooooth and speedy already.

Eeeeeek, I just submitted a talk for RailsConf!!! https://sessionize.com/railsconf2023

This is your annual reminder that Saint Valentine was executed for performing marriages the state did not approve of.

Yes.

Ok, here's a more ribald and up to date one I threw together in 2min

The past tense of screenshot is screenshat thank you for coming to my ted talk

I wrote another thing about layoffs, this time about how we deal with the suffering and stages of grief. https://lawver.net/2023/02/one-last-layoff-lament/

You really don’t have to worry about separating the art from the artist when they both suck.

🧠 Trying to switch off this weekend.

I wish they'd make a Hackers 2 where Dade Murphy is an eng manager somewhere fretting about OKRs

If you've been waiting for full-text #search on #Mastodon, please go to #TootFinder and sign in. The more, the merrier.
https://www.tootfinder.ch/

Thanks to @buercher for building it.

It's opt-in, not opt-out. It respects Mastodon culture and doesn't index accounts that don't sign in.

That means the index might be small if we don't spread the word.

#mastotips #feditips

“Put plainly, the attack on the dignity of transgender Americans is an attack on the dignity of all Americans. And like the battles for abortion rights and bodily autonomy, the stakes of the fight for the rights and dignity of transgender people are high for all of us. There is no world in which their freedom is suppressed and yours is sustained.”

Thank you for this, @jbouie.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/opinion/trump-desantis-transgender-rights.html

It’s fun to remember the days when interoperability was rare and no one had APIs for anything.

https://hachyderm.io/@timbray/109841604577143877

❤️ Layoffs aren’t fun. They trigger all kinds of unpleasant emotions and memories, and questions that you’ll never get answers for - which is the flaming turd cherry on top of a garbage sundae.

With Ruby, all bad ideas are possible… which is why I love it. You don’t like how Rails does it? Override it! Monkey patch it!

Your annual reminder that your monthly metrics will be down 10% in February because February is 10% shorter than January. Please do not contact your data team about it.

It costs nothing to be kind. It also costs nothing to be a huge asshole—just a world-class piece of shit.

I’m a big believer in being kind and empathetic, but the economic argument in favor of it isn’t the best argument to lead with, I’m just saying.

Do you know why you won't find any mention anywhere on the W3C website of #web3? It does not exist. BOOM! There is one web.

I wrote another thing… this one is about #layoffs because they’re top-of-mind: https://lawver.net/2023/02/the-layoff-line/

It was the best of times
It was the worst of times
It was the combination best of times and worst of times

I’m watching The Traitors and… these are the worst werewolf players ever. So bad. They should have just filmed a W3C plenary game.

There was a layoff at work today. While consoling a junior engineer, I recounted the many many many layoffs I’ve been a part of and I’ve been through so many that:

1. I’ve “survived” one (dozens)
2. I’ve had to lay people off.
3. I’ve been laid off.
4. I’ve even laid myself off.

They are the worst. You feel guilty no matter what part you played, and they’re always a failure of the organization and its leaders, never the people laid off.

a few months ago I wrote a post on my blog about how to write marketing copy without sounding like an asshole to your readers, and this tweet could be in the hall of fame for examples. I have read it several times and still am trying to figure out what they're trying to say.

I have broken out the Girl Scout cookies… I repeat… the Girl Scout cookies have been opened. Please plan accordingly.

#Queer #Family #LGBTQcommunity #QueerAndHere

I wrote a thing! I didn’t get to my 3 blog posts in January, but I did two, and here’s one fairly early in February. It’s a Black History Month reading list for white guys: https://lawver.net/2023/02/a-black-history-month-reading-list-for-white-guys-by-a-white-guy/

The fediverse has come this far despite being very capital-constrained.

What if that constraint were lifted?

If you have a project or idea (for- or non-profit) that helps build or grow the fediverse and would benefit from funding, I hope you'll apply here. Thank you!
https://bit.ly/fediverse-funding

Watching Alan Cumming camp it all the way to 11 is pretty great too.

📺 Watching the first episode of The Traitors and I really wish they hadn’t included established reality stars.

It is kind of fun seeing basically Werewolf as a show tho.

“Well Mr. Columbo—”

“Actually, it’s Lieutenant Columbo.”

“You’re Starfleet?”

“Star who now?”

#startrek #photoshop #columbo

“The thing we understand, which is proven in international research, is that providing housing for homeless persons is always more cost-effective for society than keeping people homeless…We did a study that showed when a former homeless person gets housing, even with support, the cost savings for society are at least €15,000/person per year.”

Canadian city learning from Finland.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-wants-to-eradicate-homelessness-here-s-how-finland-is-doing-it-1.6728398

I can’t stop thinking about what a fediverse-first version of Ficly (https://Ficly.com) would look like - distributed storytelling, where each instance could set their own content rules about genre, length, etc.

You could even do something like only allow memoir or biography.

Dammit, I might have to build it.

🎤 Nate Bargatze’s new standup special is excellent, especially if you’re an oldest child.

I watched The Menu this week and as a foodie who knew what a PacoJet was before I saw it… I loved it. I felt seen, then pointed and laughed at, and then I joined in. It’s ridiculously good.

It’s another thing Kevin’s late to! FIFA 22 is a ton of fun. It’s so much better than Madden it’s not even a contest. I’ve got a team, I love playing with formations, and messing with chemistry. It also has a great ramp up in difficulty and doesn’t force you to go up a level unless you want to.

Haven’t figured out why yet, but this week has worn me out. Can’t wait to sleep all weekend.

🔥 Did I buy the status.log app? Yes I did. Let’s go, making the web fun again.

I'm watching black history month shows and it made me realize I never heard the words "trauma" and "slavery" together before 10-15 years ago. US History courses glossed over it, even in college.

Once you hear it, the entire history of the American black experience makes sense. Slavery was unspeakably horrific and a segment of the population didn't just survive it, but daily effects continue 100s of years later in every aspect of life.

This is why they attack African American studies programs.

Do you lead an Employee Resource Group at work? How’s it organized? Like work or like a volunteer organization? I run the Parents ERG at Gusto and we’re launching an experiment to treat it more like a non-profit board than a “work team” … really hoping it works.

I never remember how important it is to be The One Who Does Not Freak Out until someone points out that my reactions to things are _very_ different from my less-aged peers.

💻 Recurring note to self: It's okay to write ugly code when you're learning.