Latest favorite anime

Been enjoying lots of anime lately so I figured I’d share my current favorites.

Aggretsuko – If you haven’t heard about Aggretsuko yet I assume you’re trapped under a rock somewhere.  I’m generally not that into Sanrio‘s art style, but the characters and story are just so good.  Retsuko is cute, mild-mannered and polite.  So how does she deal with a sexist boss and manipulative co-workers at her accounting job?  Death metal of course!

Love and Lies – One of the reasons I love anime is that there are so many more creative shows that ask “what if?”  Imagine a world where science determines your perfect mate. But what if you love someone else?  I can’t tell you too much without spoiling the plot, but it’s an earnest look at love, relationships and society.

Princess Principal – Take Charlie’s Angels (without Charlie), add a dash of Black Widow and a steampunk setting  Five young ladies from different countries complete missions in an alternate history where a large wall divides England into the Kingdom and Commonwealth. What more could you want?  A rare element that defies gravity?  You got it!

Girls’ Last Tour – Despite having been in the Army for a short time, I don’t usually seek out military stories.  Girls’ Last Tour is my go-to when I want to slow down mellow out, though.  Two young soldiers emerge from an underground labyrinth to find The War apparently over and the world a ghost town.  Alone, but with a durable vehicle they wander in search of other people.

What anime do you recommend?

On loneliness, misogyny and terrorism

In today’s installment of Understanding Shawn I want to talk for a bit about incels – which are the latest misogynistic monstrosity to have surged into the public consciousness.  Problem is, I absolutely understand the frustration they feel.  Who they blame and how they choose to react is myopic and disgusting, but I know this loneliness.

And I’m not alone.  ‘Unfuckable’ women don’t go on killing sprees is a good essay that much more accurately describes my feelings on this subject as well as my life experiences.  The incel concept strikes a cord with me because I’ve lived it all of my life. Unfortunately, like so many other things, it’s been hijacked and subverted by self-centered, sexist (and often racist) pricks who think they’re entitled to take whatever they want from others.

Originally, the phrase involuntary celibacy was coined by a young woman – as noted in the article linked above.  Because yes, there are many of us who feel chronically shunned, ignored and cast aside.  However:

1. These experiences are not limited by gender or sex.  Men, women (cis and trans), non-binary – all can suffer from this loneliness.
2. We don’t blame others. Sure, we ask “Why?!”, but we recognize that others don’t really owe us a damn thing.
3. Others are PEOPLE – fellow human beings. We may not understand them, may even be angry with them. But they are NOT things; “resources” to be consumed or destroyed.

So, to those of us who don’t get enough of the contact and connection you need know that you are a not alone, you are not broken and you are wanted.  To those of you who just want another excuse to abuse women, go fuck yourself.

Yes, 2nd story of woman pulled from bathroom is fake, but 1st one is very real

I was informed today that the latest bathroom story I shared earlier is a hoax – the story was made up with pictures from something else:

http://hoax-alert.leadstories.com/910969-transgender-woman-not-kicked-from-bathroom-arrested.html

So I went back to check the first story I’d heard about (which happened to a different woman) and the link I’d posted returned “Not Found.” However, the story is still being reported by The Advocate. The latest is that she’s filing a lawsuit:

A Detroit woman has filed a lawsuit against restaurant chain Fishbone’s after a frightening incident in which she was mistaken for a man and tossed out of a women’s bathroom, reports TV station WXYZ.

http://www.advocate.com/business/2015/06/17/detroit-woman-kicked-out-restaurant-bathroom-looking-man-sues

So, yes, I was taken in by the hoax, but the problem is VERY real.

(Originally posted on WithKnown)

Morality Police Attach Anti-nudity Clause to Much Needed Rape Kit Testing Bill

Today a friend shared this post about a new bill in WA State that seeks to address the massive back-log of rape kits that need to be tested. We should all be ashamed of the number of rape kits nation-wide that are – apparently – ignored after being collected. Something needs to be done, and this looks like a good first step.

Then I read this line:

“and imposing a small fee on admission to sexually oriented businesses, such as live adult entertainment clubs”

Wait, what? Why? Exactly how small is “small,” and how far does this extend?

According to the text of House Bill 2530, the fee

• consists of $4/person, collected at admission to the venue, and
• applies to “Adult entertainment,” defined as “any live exhibition, performance or dance of any type”

So the bill doesn’t appear to apply to stores like Lovers or Castle, but is defined so broadly that it could apply to any of the following:

• burlesque performances
• nude modeling
• caressing a dance partner’s buttocks

I want to support HB 2530 – the number of untested rape kits is deplorable, but this kind of bullshit gives me pause. We always seem to find money for building new stadiums and invading other countries.

Do your jobs, legislators – find that money and start treating women with the respect and dignity they deserve.

(Originally posted on WithKnown)

Automated phone scams? Yikes!

I just got a call from a phone number in South Carolina that I didn’t recognize. (As far as I know I don’t know anybody in SC.) This is Google’s transcript of the voicemail they left:

Angry as a way of thanking you for being one of our premier customers you qualify for our all inclusive promotion which covers your accommodations and all your food and drinks for up to 2 guess that’s right all you can eat all you can drink for 5 days and 4 nights. that’s valued at $1,800 also as a bonus you will receive a free 5 day 4 night magical Orlando get away that includes your accommodations and Disney tickets to any Disney Theme Park Which alone is valued over $800 just for taking advantage of one of our all inclusive exotic destination promotions, so I just need to ask you a few questions to see if you qualify is that okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you clearly so I just need to ask you a question to see if you qualify is that okay. Our records show that your at least 28 years or older and you still have a credit card or a debit card correct. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you clearly nowadays almost all resorts require credit cards Do you have a credit card that you can use on your trip? Okay, no problem. Sorry. I bothered you I hope you have a really good day.

Wow. “Do you have a credit card?” Are you sure? “Nowadays almost all resorts require credit cards.” How many people can this robo-caller fleece every hour, I wonder? Yikes.

(Originally posted on WithKnown)

Tooting my own horn: My work helped win “Best of Breed” award

Got a huge “thank you” today from a customer who just won the Best Integration of Legacy Systems or Line of Business Applications award at Microsoft’s Ignite conference. They’re using a beta version of the product I’m responsible for to integrate with their legacy/LOB system.

Few things are better than seeing your efforts get used and being useful 🙂

(Originally posted on WithKnown)

Old Man Kitty

We’ve noted for awhile that Oreo has been having some trouble with his stomach. It gurgles a lot and lately he’s been throwing up more and more frequently. This morning I heard a horrible "HAK!" sound from the bathroom and came out to discover that he’d thrown up across half the bed. Yuck 😦

So Katrina took him to the vet this afternoon. Apparently there are lots of things it might be, so they took some fluids to test. Also, a chart on the wall informs us that he’s now 56 in human years.

They still look like teenagers to me

(Originally posted on WithKnown)

Bad tutorials

Inspired by something a friend used to say and a recent discussion, I present a parody of a common type of frustration-creating tutorial…

How to create a ZIP file

Why: Sometimes you need to e-mail somebody just one file instead of a whole bunch. Maybe the files are large and you need to make them smaller. In any case, zipping up your files can be extremely useful. So, let’s get started!

Step 1: Find your files. For this you will need to locate where the files are. If you’re on Windows or Ubuntu try searching for them. If you know what folder they’re in use the file explorer – explore.exe on Windows.

Step 2: Gather all the files together. I find it’s useful to create a temporary folder as a staging area. Just right-click wherever you would like to create the new folder and select "New Folder" (or something like that) from the pop-up menu.

(Optional) You may also want to organize your files into sub-folders. Use the same technique described above to create as many folders as you need.

Step 3: Zip the file.

You now have a bunch of files perfectly packaged into one. You can e-mail this to somebody, copy it to a USB drive or just tuck it away for safekeeping 🙂

(Originally posted on WithKnown)

New blog, etc. addresses

I’ve been making some behind the scenes changes that will ultimately (I hope) help me be able to write and share more with all of you. As part of those changes I’ve got a couple of new web addresses – one for my personal WordPress blog and another for my new stream at WithKnown:

• Blog: blog.freyheim.net
• Everything: feed.freyheim.net

The previous addresses will continue to work, but I strongly recommend that you use these from this point forward. The systems that host this information may need to move, be replaced, etc., but the addresses above should never change.

(Originally posted on WithKnown)

Testing syndication to WordPress

This post should show up in my WordPress blog.

(Originally posted on WithKnown)