Speaker For The Diodes - November 19th, 2013

05:24 am - QotD

"Debugging someone else's code is something that happens in one of the outer circles of Hell and Dante inexplicably forgot to include it in his descriptions. Even if it is code written by someone who is meticulous, a fair programmer, and a good commenter in general---there's always the vague sense of trying to force your thoughts to flow through or conform to someone else's neural pathways, which is just as uncomfortable as wearing gloves micro-tailored to someone else's hands." -- silmaril, 2013-11-14

[Happy birthday to aliza250!]

02:32 pm - Reminder: TDoR tomorrow

Transgender Day of Remembrance, to remember and mourn the way-too-many transgender people (mostly trans women of colour) killed for being who they were.</p>

In the US, 53% of all anti-TLBG murders of trans women (and 73% of anti-LGTB murders were of non-white victims). Race and age and other factors insulate me somewhat^[1], but it still comes down to the fact that every few days somebody is killed for being trans like me.

Obviously, for me this issue is personal. And I know that at least some of my cisgender friends take it personally too, because of me or because of other transgender friends and relatives. Of course, one doesn't have to take these murders personally to care that they happen, that the victims, too often treated as disposable in life, deserved better -- deserve to be remembered. That this should not be "just how the world works."

[1] I've been beaten once and threatened several times (not counting mere taunting and insults) simply for being visibly gender-nonconforming, despite being subject to a lot less risk of that crap than many other trans people. So OT1H I know this affects me, and OTOH I know it affects many of my sisters a whole lot more.