marjaerwin | Recent Entries

I really, really, really hate that quote that implies that the Nazis were evil because they lacked pure blood, that "evil is a lack of pure blood."

Now I have to assume "pure blood" meant something different at the time. But "pure blood" seems intended to include one group, and exclude all others.

I'm autistic. We tend to have trouble understanding allistic people. So we're said to "lack pure blood." And allistic people have a lot of trouble understanding us. So, again, we're said to "lack pure blood." We do tend to care about other people. So either that's irrelevant to whether we "have pure blood," or it's another way we "lack pure blood." If anything, I think we may have a harder time knowing-not-knowing, and dismissing people's humanity because they're not our in-group. And maybe caring too much and too freely will be defined as "lacking pure blood." Some people will insist that, really, we "have pure blood," but I don't see the point in arguing for it; better to drop the whole idea so that no one will be condemned for "lacking pure blood."

P.S. Whoops, the word was "empathy," not "pure blood." Not that it changes anything. It's still implying that some people are born good, and others born evil, and it's still subject to arbitrary redefinitions to define the out-groups as born evil. It probably didn't imply that in 1945, but in my experience, it does in 2025.

I've seen a lot of people opposing immigration, and often hurling slurs against immigrants. And I've never seen any plausible ethical counter-argument against free immigration.

And actual American immigration restrictions were originally based on racism and eugenicism. And there have been attempts to rework these, remove the blatant racism, etc. but they're still continuations of many of the same policies, the same institutions, etc.

An actual argument is that immigration sometimes reduces wages, but the immigration restrictions, which leave people vulnerable to exploitation, also reduce wages. I really doubt that free immigration would reduce wages in America, if immigrants can join unions, etc., and I think it would increase wages globally, and eventually in America.

And I think violence against human beings, such as deportation, razor wire on the river-banks, imprisonment, extraordinary rendition, etc. needs stronger justification.

The most common "argument" is that free immigration is politically unpopular. But that's not an argument that it's wrong, or that the current cruelty is somehow not wrong.

A similar "argument" is that "every other country restricts immigration," or even that "every country has a sovereign might to restrict immigration." But again, that's not an argument that free immigration is wrong, and I don't think a government can have rights.

Another "argument" is that free immigration would somehow lead to more human smuggling, but it's the restrictions that force people to turn to smugglers.

Another "argument" is that allowing immigrants into the country is somehow comparable to allowing all of them into our home. Which just doesn't make sense to me. Current restrictions literally keep people from visiting friends and family who have invited them into their homes.

Another "argument" is that it's some kind of conspiracy or invasion. Which is blatant nonsense, and allows people to dismiss thical arguments, and encourages violence against immigrants and refugees and, in the case of the Pittsbugh Synaogue shooting, against people who support immigrants and refugees.

Another "argument" is that they're "poisoning the blood" of America. Which is worse.

P.S. I don't feel any responsibility to steel-man these arguments.

If this were an abstract discussion, maybe, but these anti-immigrant policies have hurt and killed people. So it feels sick to try to argue for them.

And plenty of other people offer their versions of these arguments every day.

It's bad enough when drivers fire flashing lights when they're *stopped*, making it that much harder for sighted people to see if anyone's coming from that direction.

It's even worse when they fire flashing lights, and pairs of flashing lights, when they're still moving at full speed, making it that much harder for sighted people to see that they're coming.

https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/12/02/russia-lgbtq-bars-raid/

10 years ago, the Russian gov't introduced anti-lgb and anti-t censorship, supposedly to protect children.

Now it's mass arrests, mass surveillance, and the very real threat of mass murder.

And Florida and other parts of the United States have similar censorship.

And parts of the United States and temporarily-United Kingdom are attacking trans kids.

What can we do to prevent mass murder?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF8do4irdEo

https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/12/03/liz-truss-new-law/

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2023/11/22/floridas-dont-say-gay-law-could-be-coming-to-workplaces-next/71679139007/

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/03/rightwinger-calls-for-eliminating-transgenderism-but-says-he-didnt-mean-killing-people-no-one-is-buying-it/

I seem to be allergic to either wheat or gluten. I have been avoiding both since September, and some of my health issues have already resolved. Others may be getting better, but it's hard to be sure. If it is celiac disease, that can cause migraines, epilepsy, and other neuro issues. And explain why things didn't start immediately after any of my concussions. I suspect that it is a combination of celiac diseae and post-concussion syndrome.

I made it to the library last month, sorted out disability access ofter ears of contacting the library online, and getting referred to county disability services, and vice-versa.

It looks like green subglasses help reduce the flash effect from turn signals, etc. I hope yellow ones do more. That'll make it easier to cross the stroads, possibly make it safe to take the bus, too.

In addition, grey and blue ones reduce the flicker from long-bulb flourescent lights.

I heard from my game developer, yesterday. Unfortunately, there were major mis-matches between the maps I have and the maps they have. I think it should be possible to fix their maps. There are too many issues to rewrite the scenarios, redo the counters, etc. to match their maps. I still don't know how this mix-up happened.

I’ve been hit by 2 cars, and I’ve been struggling with a strobe sensitivity, noise sensitivity, balance issues, migraines, and other symptoms.

I’ve been having a lot of trouble just crossing some of the local stroads. I don’t expect to be able to bike on them. But I need to get around, and I often need to take long detours to reach safe crossings without too many safety signals, so I figure the bike can help with that. I got a pair of trainer/stabilizer wheels so that, if I’m hit by turn signals/car horns/etc. from the stroads, I probably won’t fall.

But even with them it’s frustrating and nerve-wracking to try to learn to bike all over again.

If his idea of "religious freedom" allows judicial murder of alleged clerics of of supposed religious minorities, it's not freedom. Theres little evidence that there was such a religion, but one etymology derives witch, and wicce/wicca, from PGmc *wiho, meaning cleric or priest: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/w%C4%ABh%C3%B4

I can’t make it to the courthouse, not with my disabilities, but I hate this ruling.

It attacks basic bodily autonomy, it will kill pregnant people, and it follows a pattern of disregard for the 9th and 14th amendments.

And of course I hate how the right-wing judges handed the presidency to George W. Bush, letting him pack the court with more right-wing judges, and also letting him launch the unprovoked invasion of Iraq.

Okay.

These are on shared fora. No, say, replies to specific blog posts.

Question 1:

Someone else compares one act of violence to another. I mention that the other can be lethal. They start insulting me for bringing up “bullshit.” I explain that this is a personal trauma. They then switch from insulting me for bringing up “bullshit” to complaining they can’t talk about the one type of violence because, whatever comparison they use, people will start talking about the other kind of violence...

Now I get the impression that they really don’t want discussions to wander what they consider “off-topic.”

And I ... I expect most discussions to wander into related topics, and I am offended by what came off as a dismissal of the other violence, and by the insults.

Now we seem to have very different ideas of how to discuss things. How can I address this?

Question 2:

Someone else uses a favorite insult. I mention that the insult is associated with forced sterilization campaigns. They double, triple, or quadruple down, and sometimes I’m banned from the forum.

Question 3:

Someone links to a harmful site. I mention the migraine, or seizure, risks, as appropriate. Things go downhill, and sometimes I’m banned from the forum.

Not really a question. Just a vent.

Okay, I’m kinda wondering if this is related to an objection to “off-topic” matters... and if so, how can I point out that these attitudes, and policies and practices which reflect them, still hurt people?

P.S. I’m using the meta tag because this is a meta discussion. Nothing to do with that Zuckerburg thing.

Imagine, for a moment, that most miracles and religious experience come, not directly, but indirectly, through sometimes-misguided spirits. Some might come from older and hopefully wiser worlds. Some from our own world, like saints and boddhisatvas. Human population growth would gradually replace visions of inhuman spirits, like wheels of fire, with those of human ones.

Their psychologies might differ from ours. Some might find oaths and sacrifices help them stick to what is right, and never make them stick to what turns out to be wrong. Some might find power relationships harmless, and think a little kindness will make them work for us. Some might find crowding harmful, and think a good long time in the wilderness or on the top of a pillar will help everyone. Some could have very different ideas of gender and sexuality. Some might not recognize the risks of viviparity.

So they could have unsuitable teachings for some or all human beings, and humans who follow them too closely could carry on those teachings.

So as always, we have to think for ourselves.

Not rely on revelation or a cult of tradition.

P.S. I should add that we as human beings can have very different ideas of some of these, and can be naive about others, which can result in unsuitable teachings for other human beings without, you know, aliens.

There are 2 ways to interpret the verdict.

The 1st is if it is consistently applied. In this case, if there’s a shoot-out, whoever wins the shoot-out can always claim self-defense. Even if they’re the only one shooting.

Seems the point of having laws and courts is to avoid this situation, not to create it.

The 2nd is if it is inconsistently applied in favor of far-right shooters.

So Zimmerman and Rittenhouse get a license to kiill, while Reinohl gets gunned down without trial. For the state, the point of laws and courts is to protect itself and its supporters, not to rein them in.

I'm going to define this as the ratio between the straight-line distance for a trip and the actual walking distance. [Or chair distance, not sure the appropriate terminology.] This will, of course, vary from person to person and day to day. and doesn't take more enjoyable routes into account.

So today, I only had to go 1 km one way. Which works out to about 2,500 steps round trip.

But I had to detour to avoid a busy highway, to avoid some dangerous intersections, to avoid 2 batteries of high-powered strobe lights, and to avoid 3 dogs. Which made it 13,876 steps round trip.

Walkability Ratio 18%.

Hi,

I'm strobe-sensitive. A lot of flashing lights make me sick. Strobe lights, turn signals, hazard lights, etc. They can hurt, blind me with the flash, disorient me, make me fall down or stumble into the street, make me lose awareness, leave me with migraines afterwards, and even leave me vomiting, among other symptoms.

I have seen a number of neurologists and an occupational therapist about this, but they can't do much about this.

I've noticed that some of the traffic lights at some intersections have more flashing lights than before. And they're higher up, so they're harder to avoid, and I just can't cross the stroads at intersections with these.

I contacted the local department of transportation explaining that I can't safely cross with these lights and have to detour to intersections without them, and got a pain call back explaining that they can't help because this is the new standard and they're replacing all the lights at all the intersections.

What can I do? I need to be able to cross the stroads, and not all the stroads have safe crossing places, without too much traffic, out of line of sight of any traffic lights.

P.S. I have also contacted the federal department of transportation.

i recently signed a petition calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies. It included tax breaks among these, and I'm ambilvalent about that.

On one hand, taxation is a form of state power.

On the other hand, selective non-taxation of favored businesses is also a form of state power.

On the third hand, the fossil fuel industries are destroying the climate, and their continued existence threatens us all...

Hi,

I run into a lot of accessibility problems, especially online.

I get sick from flashing, other animation, animated gifs, animated pngs, animated status notifications, blinking cursors, zooming, smooth scrolling, carousel, marquee, that slight zooming you may not notice because you don’t get a migraine and nausea from it, animated position:sticky headers, foregrounds scrolling in front of non-scrolling backgrounds, columns scrolling alongside non-scrolling columns, stickies not scrolling with scrolling content, etc.

I also have trouble seeing standard-sized text, or seeing light text on dark backgrounds, so I need to switch font sizes, and colors, and it helps to switch fonts too.

I can and do fix a lot of these with my browser and add-ons.

Problem 1.

I am not a programmer, and don’t know much about the technical details, and can’t code fixes. I try to do what I can to describe the practical results though.

Problem 2.

I may not be able to use “safe mode” or a “clean profile” without getting badly hurt. I have to skip reporting steps because of this.

Problem 3.

I am not be able to read documentation, especialy if it has non-scrolling sidebars, and may not be able to find my way through the documentation I can read. I hope I can help with some of the documentation I can read, though.

Problem 4.

I am usually struggling with a lot of pain and frustration when I file my bug reports, and when I try to test variations, e.g. to bibisect them.

Can anyone suggest ways I could be more helpful, both for the coders, and for other users/readers with similar disabilities?

Thank you!

... rgh, migraine.

Okay,

1st of all, lockdowns can work. And they have worked in Tasmania and New Zealand and they can slow things down elsewhere.

2nd, less drastic social distancing can slow things down.

3rd, mass gatherings tend to speed things up.

4th, vaccines can work, they aren’t absolute protection, but they reduce the risk and severity of infections. Not everyone can get vaccinated, not everyone who can’t can get through any special bureaucracy, but those of us who can get vaccinated should to protect those who can’t.

5th, apart from health-care workers, it’s more important to get vaccines to poorer countries than 3rd booster shots in richer countries.

That said, the cops shouldn’t be beating either side up.

Trigger warning for police violence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkAgAQ39mOo

If I disagree with some of their decisions, it doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t understand their infallibly wise wisdom. It can mean I have the benefit of hindsight.

Their great wisdom led to the spread of slavery. That, and the senate, led to the Missouri Compromise, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and as a result, the Civil War.

Such wisdom.

Some people periodically announce that "stupid" people are having more children than "smart" people, so human intelligence must gradually decline. Apparently a certain movie-- involving Brawndo-- repopularized this a while back.

*sigh*

Eugenicists have been saying that, one way or another, since the 19th century.

In practice eugenicists often used social status as a proxy for intelligence, leading to mass sterilizations of minority communities. And also worthless data.

That idea inspired forced sterilization campaigns here in the united states, it inspired anti-immigrant laws which tried to exclude groups they considered inferior, it inspired Aktion-T4, and it continues to shape transplant eligibility rules, safety standards, social security policies which cut off certain payments if people marry, and and policies which sterilize prisoners and detainees, or force iuds on people under guardianship.

So it's ethically wrong.

And it's factually wrong too.

Birth rates vary with social circumstances, tend to decline with increasing wealth, and tend to decline for all classes with increasing wealth in the demographic transition. Brain development varies with childhood nutrition, alcohol exposure, lead exposure, etc. as much as genetics.

He’s immune to criminal prosecution because of the olc memo, and because the executive stonewalls on his behalf.

He’s immune to civil liability and because the executive stonewalls on his behalf.

He’s immune to impeachment because one part will support him.

And people insist this is a democracy? And insist this has a rule of law other than “some are above the law and some are beneath it”?

Yes, I know they’re routinely used as safety signals. That doesn’t make strobes safe.

If it’s already a dangerous situation, even blinding and disorienting people makers it more dangerous, other effects such as falling down, vomiting, or seizures make it much much more dangerous.

Yes, I know the gun is more lethal. That doesn’t make strobes safe.