Land of Leymoo

#pondery

This sort of thing is what makes me so uneasy about trusting Google with anything. It’s the same story: Google is “open” with the products that don’t make them money and closed with those that do, using “open” as a marketing buzzword against Apple and hoping nobody notices how incredibly closed and secretive most of their products and operations really are.

iOS is far more “closed” than Android, but at least Apple doesn’t try to bullshit me about it. They put it right out there. “We control everything because we think it’s better that way. If you don’t like it, there’s the door.”

And since they’re honest with me, I trust them more.

—

Marco Arment

Exactly.

I think I missed this when Marco reblogged me back in July, but he nailed Google’s bullshit on the head (thanks to Till Matthis Massen for bringing it to my attention). And with Google’s full-frontal assault on net neutrality, I’m experimenting with cutting my ties.

I’ve deleted my Google Apps account and one Google account, switched to Fever for reading news, and Skype for my work proxy phone number (it works great now that Skype can accept calls in the background on iOS 4 and doesn’t require minutes for phone calls, unlike Google Voice). I just need to drop Feedburner from 1FPS and Finer Things, and I can delete my personal Google account altogether.

(via chartier)

1 year ago · 9 notes · Source · Reblogged from chartier

#pondery

Kisty Kreme ♥: Reblog, what's so wrong about it?

The answer is there’s nothing wrong about it, Tumblr created it to share our content. It’s a great concept because people will reblog things they like and interesting, a lot of people will discover new things through reblogs.

Unfortunately, not a lot of people share the same idea as Tumblr….

1. I’ve found tonnes of cool people through reblog trails.

2. Cool people have found me through reblogs.

3. I feel reblogging is a much more community-based way of having comments - having normal comments makes each blog a self contained “ego bubble”, whereas reblogging allows people to reflect on content on their own blog… spreading the content to as many people as possible in the process.

4. If people think finding relevant stuff to them was useless then they’ve never had to use an estate agent, or employment agency…

2 years ago · 23 notes · Source · Reblogged from kistykreme

louisestrange:

fuckyeahfunnythings:

conor-ryan:

(via vintagesoulsneverdie)

Disney feminists throughout the ages.

I counter.

1986. Aliens.

Not believed woman decides to do the right thing anyway and leads a team that blast the aliens to hell.

^_^

Who needs Disney?

2 years ago · 538 notes · Source · Reblogged from louisestrange

Being ill-informed and loud is not the same as being forthright, or honest. It doesn’t make you independent or politically incorrect, and it doesn’t mean you’re in some way speaking truth to power. It just makes you sound like a mental fucking defective.

—

Lexie, on this article http://teenagemisanthropy.blogspot.com/2010/05/trendy.html

Radio talk- hosts and mid-market paper columnists take note, here.

2 years ago · 0 notes

We will promote better recording of hate crimes against disabled, homosexual and transgender people, which are frequently not centrally recorded.

— The Coalition Manifesto, in section 6: Crime and Policing. (Yay!)

2 years ago · 1 note

Q&A by mental health bloggers

I hold most of the writers in high regard, so I expect this to be good. Questions already asked include:

“I have my first ever appointment with a psychiatrist soon. What is going to happen? Do I need to take anything with me?”
“I’ve just found out that my best friend has depression. What the hell do I say?”
“I have recently been diagnosed with depression and I have been hiding everything from my friends/family/partner and putting on a brave face. I fear they won’t understand or believe me. How do I tell them?”

2 years ago · 0 notes

Mental: A History of the Madhouse

atwas:

Shocking enough there was a time when lobotomies and electro-convulsive therapy were routine treatments for mental illness. Even more shocking that it was common in Britain as recently as the 1950s, until the advent of pharmacological approaches- although ECT is still sometimes used today.

In some ways things have certainly improved compared to the Victorian-era lunatic asylums Emilie Autumn alludes to her works and music but in other ways, there’s still a long way to go.

I think it’s not quite so one-sided, but I’m sure the documentary will explain this. ECT is proven to work, with much stronger data than a good chunk of anti-depressants. Asylums, when with the anti-mental illness stigma were awful places but towards the end (1980s) became well, real places of asylum for people with mental illness. The removal was a budget-driven thing and not altruistic: we now get the case where acute cases require hospital admission and cannot get it due to a shortage of beds. There’s obviously a balance between the two somewhere, and I don’t think we’re there yet.

I recommend looking at these guy’s cartoons if you’re interested in this topic… here is the one on ECT

http://darryl-cunningham.blogspot.com/2010/02/electroconvulsive-therapy.html

2 years ago · 2 notes · Source · Reblogged from atwas

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic

2 years ago · 1 note

A little thought can make life a lot less distressing for people with dementia

A common problem for someone with dementia being cared for in a home is that they will want to go home to their husband/wife - the problem being is that said spouse died years ago. This can lead to locked wards, restraining, even routine sedation: not good at all. Link leads you to an interesting solution created in Düsseldorf: A fake bus stop outside the hospital. Wait for a while, and then the person forgets why they’re there, and will be very happy to follow a nurse back inside after the offer of a nice drink. If you follow through to the original talk there’s more detail.

2 years ago · 0 notes

#pondery

I'm purple today for these guys

2 years ago · 1 note

soupsoup:

efficiency:

Petrol taxes: Feel the spill

Um. What on earth happened in Turkey and Hungary?

2 years ago · 22 notes · Source · Reblogged from soupsoup

Ollie Lime: leymoo: ... Ah yes! I remember this point....

leymoo:
…
Ah yes! I remember this point.

http://www.readregular.com/english/regular.html

From: http://www.dyslexic.com/fonts

Gorgeous *and* designed for those with reading difficulties and general learning disabilities.

I also like how all this stuff goes out of the window…

Hello!

I apologise if I came across as aggressive: I didn’t mean to, this was a quick “type and hit go” post. I understand your reasoning with this subject - making sure documents are readable for children is an important thing, and I understand that documents are reused from year to year, so the same fonts will be used. All I’m saying is that there are plenty of free specialised alternatives now (compared to 10 years ago, especially), which when the documents/worksheets come up for renewal or updating, should be considered.

The site I linked to interestingly recommends Arial as an option as well, although I’d say that’s the best of what is out there that comes with PCs normally. Personally, I’d look for things like combinations of oa, oe, bd and see if they look confusing. Comic Sans has a slight difference between “b” and “d” (one of the slopes is slanted) and the letters are fairly widely spaced and I feel that is part of the increased readability.

2 years ago · Notes

slightly:

ophelian:

futurisms:

falseeeyelashes | (via scarlettohara)

I have a professor who uses Comic Sans on the take-home quizzes we have. I am in law school. What is this.

omg lol

I want to burn Comic Sans & Papyrus…

Sorry kids, but there’s a reason teachers use Comic Sans. It’s easier for children to read, especially those who find literacy difficult, or have a learning disability. There are certainly alternatives, but why should teachers give a shit if the fonts they use are hipster-credible? They have others things to worry about.

Ah yes! I remember this point.

http://www.readregular.com/english/regular.html

From: http://www.dyslexic.com/fonts

Gorgeous *and* designed for those with reading difficulties and general learning disabilities.

I also like how all this stuff goes out of the window when you study a science subject - most of my lecture handouts are in formats that cannot be changed into different fonts, and often that mangles the content. My exams are in a serifed font. I am however allowed to type my exam scripts, and pick what font I want to do so, which is good.

You *can* have form and function in documents using free-to-download fonts - using disability access as an excuse for poor layout choices is lazy, and outdated.

2 years ago · Notes

Abortion nuts:

jilllian:

dsfincannon:

As soon as you show me that you know how to treat all the “birthed” people in the world, I will accept that you might have something legitimate to say about how we treat the unborn.

I forget how much I take non-judgemental access to all family planning methods for granted sometimes.

2 years ago · 24 notes · Source · Reblogged from jilllian-deactivated20111206

Family planning not for kids according to ASA

Hulk. Smash.

2 years ago · 0 notes