D&F 9-26-21
The skies are cloudy and it’s a chill day in Oakland. I’m realizing I might need more long sleeve cycling outfits than I currently own, but at least riding harder and being sweaty won’t be as much of an issue.
Happy new Apple things week to those who celebrate. I got a new phone with which to photograph my cat, and a bunch of Skratch Labs electrolyte powders. Hooray! There’s a new macro function on the 13 that immediately gave me hopes of capturing cool plants, mushrooms, and Snorri’s nose. Today’s bike ride will include a lot of photo stops, I think.
With the Autumnal equinox behind us, the days are shorter, and Halloween is in the air. I hope you’re making spooky plans. My plan is to relax at home and watch something mildly frightening, like John Carpenter’s The Thing.
Another scary thing is how folks write radio button choices on forms. It’s enough to make you say “what the fuck”. My favorite is “felmale,” the fallen man. I get asked often how to do this sort of demographic surveying inoffensively, and usually my first response is “why do you need to know?” Unless you’re determining pay disparities or health outcomes, gender data is a checkbox you can probably do without. But if you must ask, I would say:
Gender:
- Male (Trans or Cis)
- Female (Trans or Cis)
- Non-binary
- Prefer not to say
- Other: _____
That selection gives you a pretty good breakdown, and ensures that you’re explicitly affirming the genders of your trans colleagues/subjects/etc. You could also whittle it down to:
Gender:
Sadly gender is in no way “over (if you want it),” so we’ll have many more decades to be angry about this shit until we’re all fighting over water and non-burned land. Fun!
If you’re curious how Gen-Z does things, rest assured, just like our parents and grandparents, thy have no idea where their files are. As I get older I’m reminded how much of a specialist skill “computer literacy” is. Regardless of your job, understanding how file systems work, how to troubleshoot issues, and general IT setup stuff is not a given. I’ve seen many a developer struggle with the most mundane IT task for lack of skill or interest. It’s wild. In the case of file systems, even the potential solution of “just search” requires some linguistic finesse and skill, not to mention a lot of hope that advertising and bot networks haven’t polluted the results to the point that they’re functionally useless (hi google).
Links
- Japan has the right idea for cooling:
- Collecting things is usually a fun hobby:
Closing
If you run out of things to do this weekend, I can recommend Squid Game on Netflix. It’s a weird combination of Battle Royale, and pseudo deal-with-the-devil things like Gantz. It’s gory at times, and rather brutal, but it’s also charming and funny throughout. Later in the season there are also the obligatory “weird rich foreigners,” a trope from anime I find hilarious.
It’s pumpkin spice season:
However you imbibe your pumpkin, I hope it brings you joy. I’m off to bike and have an beer. Have a fantastic day, and stay safe, space cowgirls~