HN user
// Jane Bernhardt Painter, Programmer, Collagist, API-Gluer
jane@gboards.ca http://gboards.ca
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
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!
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!
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 :)
A little, you get used to it fairly quickly. Maybe I'm a bit jaded, both of my partners are non-binary and it's been natural for too long :P
No, it's a common way that non-binary people choose to be referred to that avoids gendered language.
Although foone borg collective would be amazing.
Heads up, foone uses they/them pronouns.
I love their write ups, I know whenever I see their posts on here to cozy up with a coffee because it's about to get fun.
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
UniHertz Titan (kind of janky, but has a good hacking community), BlackBerry Key2, fXtec Pro and a few others. There is an audience, and we're out here being weird!
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.
It's all open hardware, so you can run off your own if your so inclined and design wood enclosures.
The draw of these is that they are fully (properly) programmable and can run QMK.
Same, I have the keyboard sitting on a nearby shelf to my iMac for the TouchID feature. For anyone that uses some kind of keyboard a standalone TouchID device would be a godsend. :/
Good to see this project moving along, and if the team is monitoring this, give Brian a smack from me :P
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
I wish it was that easy! There's so many mechanical parts to consider and CAD is not my strong suit.
That being said, if someone wants to miniturise the LalBoard and rework it, I could design a PCB/firmware :)
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)
If you're going that route, go for GergoPlex with 12g switches :)
But you can do that by changing the default layer.
[0] !https://beta.docs.qmk.fm/using-qmk/software-features/feature...
I have a Titan set up with all my accounts for when My Key2 finally goes. It's beefier, but more modern.
I'm really hoping Onward doesn't botch the release of their new BlackBerry PKB. Because if that's half good, that Titan will just sit in the drawer :P
This. And don't underestimate how much a Keymap can be changed to fit your specific workflow. My Keymap (the default) [0] for GergoPlex is very Vim/i3/Linux orientated, but that's just because it's what I use. If you're not programming your keyboard, _why?!_
I get a ton of emails from people that wreck their hands from bad ergonomics/keyboards and are trying to find a solution. It's bloddy disgusting that we still use something like a 104/QWERTY on such a crucial input device.
[0] https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rRS_TOYuIQQ/XhRERox3moI/AAAAAAABE...
I use a Elecom Huge with drag-scrolling enabled (check xinput if you're curious!). For any kind of scrolling I just hold a sidebutton down and roll the ball, it's very handy and feels better then using a wheel, even if imprecise.
For exact scrolling I'll use the scroll wheel or dive for the scrollbar.
What I really want is a toggle bound to a button for enabling/disabling drag scrolling. Most of my flow is keyboard based so being able to toggle that on/off for a dedicated stroller would be great.
Now there's a name I haven't heard in a few years, used to listen all the time and even submitted a few episodes when I was young. It shaped the hell out of me that's for sure.
I think the beauty of HPR is the low barrier of entry to producing a interesting episode. Grab a Mic, and get a ramble :)
X Macros! Mostly because it's one of the more understandable and funky things you can do with the preprocessor. You can do some crazy stuff with them :)
https://blog.gboards.ca/2020/02/adventures-in-obscure-c-feat...
2600, It's always a treat to keep in the washroom magazine rack with a old DigiKey catalogue. Worth it just for the joy of finding it in my mailbox and reading the user submitted letters.
My setup is pretty close to yours, I've found this tool to be absolutely invaluable as an alternative to digging through menus :)
If you're willing to go down a rabbit hole, designing your own keymaps and hacking on a layout can go a long way to alleviating RSI symptoms. The author doesn't touch on it but QMK will change the way you interact with a keyboard and make those tiny 40% and smaller boards feel a ton bigger.
When I made the layout for GergoPlex[2] I designed it around Vim/i3/Programming and other uses secondary. But because you can easily change it for your specific workflow weakpoints that you identify can be dealt with.
Actuation force and travel probably matter more for RSI
I am not a doctor, but this matches my experience. I use 12g Low-Profile Kailh Chocs and noticed a good change in flare-ups as I kept driving it lower and switching to a non-MX switch.
I was able to get Kailh to manufacture lighter weighted Choc switches (gChoc, 20g Linear) for use on boards like GergoPlex and others. Reviews seem good across the board on those for people suffering from RSI, so I'll keep at it.
I'd argue that the main factors to be optimized for in decreasing order are: Split, Stagger, # of keys, layout, Spring weight, Travel distance. But getting there is a very, very strange time[1]
[1] https://blog.gboards.ca/2020/01/weird-keyboards-programmable...