#this is for the programmers

[mug-of-beans]

“The old magic persists thanks to it’s unfathomable power.”

No, the old magic persists because the new magic can’t run the legacy spells I need to do my job, and keeps trying to install spirits I don’t want or need onto my orb.

[welcome2h]

Reminder to take very good care of yourself! You are not a robot, and even if you were, you'd need a break sometimes 💚

[ato-dato]

Piss off!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!!! :)))))

[kiragecko]

Things to make this safer (specifically focused on skills that might be weak in autistic and ADHD people)

Especially at the beginning, try to only take up 'your percentage' of the conversation:

Imagine that everyone in the group 'owns' a percentage of the group's time. In a larger group, the time is divided into smaller pieces; in a smaller group, you get more time. Try to keep the length of your comments similar to what the rest of the group is doing, and stay within the amount of time that is 'yours'.

Note: not everyone will follow this rule.There are a LOT of people out there that will monopolize a group. You have to accept that people won't treat you fairly, and this isn't about them. It's about the other people in the conversation, and how you want them to see you positively.

Including quiet people:

There will also be people who don't 'use up' their time. If you can read body language enough to recognize discomfort, feel free to ask them their opinion about something. If they seem to appreciate the attention, keep making spaces for them like that. But recognize that some people DON'T WANT attention. They may enjoy quietly listening to the group. They may be tired, or overwhelmed, and not want the stress of talking. So don't push people if they seem uncomfortable.

If someone is monopolizing the conversation and it's bothering you:

In the next free space, ask someone else in the conversation a question related to the topic. Use their name (so it's obvious the question is directed ONLY at them). Try to choose someone who has said at least a few things already, because shy people are more likely to get talked over by the monopolizer, and that doesn't help anyone. Don't try to bring your own comments in immediately, because it's easy to get sucked into a back and forth with the person talking too much and end up monopolizing the conversation together.

Staying on topic:

This is very difficult, because 'the topic' is often something very unexpected. Here is my breakdown of the types of things a conversation can be centred around - Subject, Emotion, or Energy:

Subject is the clearest topic. It's a specific type of information: university stories, politics, pets, a specific book, etc. To keep on topic, you need to talk about the same type of information. However, most conversations SEEM to be about a subject, but actually aren't.

Emotion is the most frequent topic, in my experience. While there may be a subject, staying on topic means matching the feelings of the other conversationalists. So if everyone is talking about pets, you need to see if they're talking about how much they love their pets, or how frustrating it is to visit someone with 4 cats when you're allergic to dander. Then you match the feeling. Straying slightly off the topic is fine. Talking about going to the zoo and how cute the wildcats are is usually acceptable to pet lovers. Or how your niece did exactly the same thing as the dog in the previous person's story, and it was SO CUTE. But don't bring in how annoying your brother's dog is - that doesn't match.

Energy is probably the most complicated topic to match on purpose. It's the amount of passion and intensity a subject has. If the conversation seems to be constantly switching subjects with no pattern, it's probably focused on energy. Conversations about politics or social justice are also often emotion or energy conversations in disguise. It can be VERY hard to join successfully, because the majority of the group will have to agree that your statement IS equally exciting/important to everything else. I don't usually join energy-based conversations with strangers. I'm passionate about too much, and people not agreeing feels AWFUL.

Special interests are dangerous when interacting with casual acquaintances:

A lot of neurodivergent people find their special interests to be black holes - they can't get out once they fall in. With closer friends, this can be okay. Especially blunt ones who are comfortable telling you to stop when it's their turn. Especially when it's a one-on-one conversation. But in a larger group, where you don't know people well, special interests make it REALLY hard to keep to your percentage of the conversation, or stay on topic. If your goal is building relationships, I suggest avoiding certain subjects until you know the people better. Not to hide who you are. But so that they can get comfortable enough to both interrupt you if it gets overwhelming AND care about you enough to want to learn about this subject you have so much energy for.

There still are people who act like it's 3rd grade:

But there aren't as many. Try to go into every conversation expecting people to be nice, but also respect the part of you that's trying to protect you. It's probably a bit paranoid, if you've had a lot of bad experiences, so don't always do what it says. But listen to it. Eventually, you'll learn how to recognize when it knows what it's talking about.

So at a party it is socially acceptable to just silently join a circle of people talking and contribute to the conversation when you feel like it as if you already know everyone in the circle, btw.

[mysharona1987]

[sayruq]

[some-douchey-techbro]

In programming, being killed and being executed mean the exact opposite things

[grickle14]

Seriously. 

[u3pxx]

thanks to everyone who suggested characters to practice chibification on :^] now compiled for your convenience pftt

[catinfroghat]

I think the biggest grievance I have with severance season 2 was they still gave reghabi absolutely nothing and I think this goes along with the no black writers criticism quite well because you have this morally grey genius neurosurgeon who is also an older black woman so of course she literally just turns up to help the protagonist out of nowhere acts mysterious and then disappears again. We know nothing about why she turned against Lumon how she developed the reintegration technique how she managed to get in touch with Petey/convince him to reintegrate. It's a mystery show and we don't need all the answers straight away but even just some interiority for her would have been nice what are her beliefs is she feeling anything after the murder she committed how about after accidentally killing a patient does she have a family where has she been living all this time if she's on the run what's her history with Cobel just a crumb please

[vyorei]

Live coverage of the 20th of February 2024 is now closed.

Here is a recap of today's major events.

It is 12am in Ireland now so I have to go to bed.

I'll be back to resume live updates on Thursday.

For continuous updates while I'm gone, click the link below:

[bunnieswithknives]

Dev thinks the Minecraft movie trailer is epic, I think.

He likes nfts and ai art too smh

[prettiestplatypus]

True story, heard it from my aunt who works at nintendo

This is the uncensored version of a page from my comic "The Prettiest Platypus" on Webtoon That you can read it here! <-

[gin-juice-tonic]

They should make programmers take an ethics course whose only lesson is just "dont help corporations fight adblockers you spineless wimp"

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

PnF Spirit Week Final Day: June 4th - Phineas and Ferb

Thanks for inviting us all to join in for another great summer vacation.

And thank you @animationnut and @pftones3482 for doing the PnF Spirit Week! ❤️💛💚💙💜