autistic electronic music and free software nerd. proud weirdo. use your favorite pronouns and keep your drama away from me.
512
where to start with learning how to code?
there are many pathways, all equally valid
I started with one of Al Sweigart's "Invent with Python" books. There are several, and you can pick the one that interests you the most: https://inventwithpython.com
Only problem with Python is that it's fairly different from other languages, in ways that make it more pleasant to program in most of the time, but might teach you bad habits. If you'd rather learn "the hard way", it might be better to start with Java (which is what my uni teaches), C, or Rust.
If even Python seems like too steep a learning curve, Scratch is a good way to learn the basic theory of programming without jumping straight into a full-on programming language: https://scratch.mit.edu/ - once you have the hang of making games and animations in Scratch, the logic of a more advanced programming language like those mentioned above should make more sense. Scratch is intuitive enough that it's possible to figure out just through trial and error, but if you still want set projects to work through, Al Sweigart also has a book on it (http://inventwithscratch.com/)
Congratulations, mortal! You have answered 1999 questions on this site. In order to ascend into Retrospring godhood, you must answer every question that can possibly be generated by the "Generate Question" button. Good luck!
Here's the list that Retrospring uses to generate those questions. I've gone through and answered every question, including ones that were removed (mostly for very good reasons).
Bonus round! Questions removed from the list:
Do you know latin?
Only the phrases everyone knows. Inter arma enim silent leges. Modus operandi. Ad hominem. Non sequitur. Modus ponens. Modus tollens. ni li toki Lasina ala. sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. What about the droid attack on the Wookies?
quick asks & boundaries
Quick asks
0/📱 current status
1/🎹 music recommendation (i recommend, but do not require, that you send me one as well!)
2/📺 video recommendation (don't send me recommendations back, i won't have time to watch them)
3/💽 cool open-source software or services (you may specify a type of software/website you are looking for)
4/👽 Star Trek character (one I associate you with, or just random if I don't know you well enough)
5/🖖 Star Trek episode (you may specify a type of episode you are looking for, or ask for a way to get into the series)
6/🔣 Random fact (most likely about one of my interests)
--
Boundaries
If you involve yourself regularly with drama or queer community/fandom/social justice discourse, you may interact, but I will probably not follow back and may mute you if it is pervasive enough. You are encouraged to talk to me about controversial topics if and only if you are willing to accept that I may disagree with you, and hear me out. In return, I will keep an open mind to what you are saying. If you intend to cut me off, harass me, or go after my friends if I'm not convinced of your position, don't bother asking in the first place.
Non-sexual flirting is okay, but ask before making overtly sexual comments. Since I allow followers under 18 and Retrospring does not yet support content warnings, it may be best to move those conversations to another venue. Feel free to ask for my contact information on other platforms.
˗ˏˋ 🌊 ࿐࿔ R ⁺ S QOTD ⸝⸝⸝ #6
₊˚⊹ — are you afraid of being cringe?
not just on retrospring, but as a person? it could be bad enough to the point of a fear—perhaps one of many anxiety disorders— or as simple as making active choices to change things about yourself, in an attempt to avoid people perceiving you this way. or does it even matter how others perceive you? it could be yourself you’re scared of disappointing…
or maybe you don’t change yourself, yet fear it anyway? or vice versa, you change for the sake of the norm, yet in reality despise the concept of judging someone like that?
if you don’t, did it take time to get to that point? or vice versa, what led to you worrying about things like that?
if you do think you’re “cringe”, is there something in particular you do to feel like that? —
Largely depends on who I'm with. Among "normies" I tend to worry about coming across as cringe or annoying, and among "weirdos" I tend to worry about coming across as boring or fake. Either way, the worry is that I don't belong anywhere.
On one hand I have a weird accent, I visibly stim and talk and sing to myself in public, I get super passionate about certain things and infodump. I can think of many occasions in my life where, in retrospect, someone was probably really annoyed at me and just pretending to care while I infodumped at them. On the other hand, I have a formal, grammatically precise writing style, I tend to appear very laid-back and calm, I'm very conflict-averse, and my media taste, while oddball at times, is arguably that of someone 20 years older than me. It shocks me that no one has ever questioned my right to appear in queer spaces because I often feel like I should come across as a boring cishet.
It's odd that I have this worry because I don't have the trauma that would normally cause it. I was hardly ever bullied in school, and no one has ever told me I'm cringe or that I'm boring, quite the opposite actually. But I guess just hearing about hatred for people kinda like me, even in a negative light, was enough for me to internalize it. My intrusive thoughts do things to me that my conscience finds absolutely despicable.
In any case, "being myself" and authenticity have always been more important to me than conformity and conflict avoidance, so I don't change much about myself consciously. Definitely a bit unconsciously, though, and enough that it's caused me tons of distress.
happy valentines day to the rest of the world except Brazil since valentines day here is in
june.. (cry :( and yes I’m brazillian)
you can still celebrate american valentines day by buying someone a gun, several american flags, a health insurance card, and the most straight and/or consumerist possible valentine you can find with a fun size Milky Way
how do you open up about yourself and your interests ? im allergic to vulnerability i think . every day i am afraid of being hunted for sport xoxo
i cannot give you advice here. i can only tell you my understanding of my own psyche, with the disclaimer that i am not very mentally healthy, so i might be doing a few things wrong.
for one, i both hate lying (even subtly) and am very afraid of conflict, so i've developed a lot of social strategies to balance the two, basically saying what's on my mind but in a way that makes an adverse reaction less likely. i will only outright lie when i feel i am in genuine danger, but i do bend the truth sometimes to get around a potential conflict. also, weirdly enough, my feelings in this regard are almost exactly the same online as offline, anonymous or not.
i also seem to have a different response to social adversity than others. one of my greatest fears is that people only interact with me because they have misidentified me as a good person. i deal with that by being as honest and vulnerable with friends as i can, so i know they know who i really am. i get embarrassed occasionally, and the memories torment me for years afterwards. but i use that to hone my strategies for avoiding embarrassment while staying honest. (also to develop new complexes and worsen my self-hate, but that's beside the point.) in situations where others would find a reason to hide themselves and their interests, i rarely find those reasons compelling. and sometimes i find new reasons to open up.
that probably isn't helpful (and remember the disclaimer: this might not be healthy), but i hope you get better about vulnerability. it's not as hard or dangerous as it seems. outside of the internet, most people aren't assholes, and the assholes are easy to spot. hiding is not as necessary as you think.
how do you explain linux to someone like me who doesn't have that much knowledge of it?
Linux is an operating system - the basic software that makes a computer function, or the same sort of thing that Windows, OS X, and Android are. In order to maximize its users' control over the operating system, nearly everything to do with the OS's development is open-source (like Mastodon), completely transparent, and interoperates with other programs. This makes Linux great for specialized uses, so it's the dominant operating system for pretty much everything except personal computers and smartphones.
There's no single entity developing Linux; rather, it's pieced together from a lot of different programs created by different people with similar goals. Some of these programs have overlapping uses, and as such Linux can be pieced together in numerous different ways, creating different versions called "distributions" or "distros." The only program every Linux distribution must have is that way on a technicality - the Linux kernel, because it's the namesake of Linux. You pretty much have to make your own choices at every level of the operating system, which is great for users' freedom and control, but not as good for ease of use - and that's the root of pretty much everything good and everything bad about Linux.
Sorry if this is long, but this is what you get for asking an autistic person about his special interest. If you need clarification, please feel free to reply to this or DM me on Mastodon.
I keep seeing more and more signs that I'm autistic. I've scored high on several of the official tests. Is it valid to "self-evaluate," or do most of you go and get an in-person evaluation?
self-diagnosis and self-evaluation are valid, but be careful about it. you could massively improve your mental health, or ruin it. so do your research and don't take extreme measures.
whether you want an official diagnosis is up to you; all it really does is give you something you can show to prove you need accomodation. it also has the downside of potentially denying you rights on the basis of your disability or leading to abusive treatment regimes. it depends on your circumstances whether the positive or negative side shows more, for me it's about neutral.
what's really important is that you accept yourself regardless of diagnosis and don't spend your life trying to conform to social norms that are slowly killing you.
What do you think they're saying on number stations?
"man, i really like the song magnetic fields part 1 by jean michel jarre. i'm just gonna keep playing it over and over again while repeating this message in british intelligence code."
"dammit kevin you're supposed to be spying on the egyptians, not promoting popular french electronic artists! now change that intermission tone to something normal, like the beatles' come together."
"look we all know these stations are useless anyway. we have computers now! we have top secret post-quantum asymmetric encryption algorithms we could be using! why the hell are we talking over radio? back to jean michel jarre."
"KEVIN I SWEAR. you're fired."
okay but the article it's from is really interesting
it's an analysis of memes and social media from a time when those things were genuinely new
If I did, I probably wouldn't tell you.
In any case, I don't have the same degree or kind of romantic feelings that most people do, so I'm unsure what would count as a crush.
♥︎ᴗ ᴗ) Qotd! ~ ⟢
✙ Who are 5 fictional characters that you would go on a trip with ? (๑ > ᴗ < ๑)˳
gonna make this harder by choosing five different fictional universes... otherwise I'd just pick five Star Trek: The Next Generation characters
geordi la forge (star trek), hatsune miku (vocaloid mascots), konqi (foss mascot-verse), bill (pokémon), ema skye (ace attorney)
yes, they're all tech nerds. i like hanging out with like-minded people.
What was it like to live through the Agricultural Revolution? (assuming it did, in humanoid form)
Did they massacre 14th doctors hair or am I crazy? It was perfectly fine when David was 10th, but now he has the metal gear rising raiden cut..
I think it makes some sense for him to look a bit more grizzled given that he's even more tortured than Ten. Ten's dealing with all the guilt of the Time War and the fear of it coming back, but he's coping for the time being. Fourteen just dealt with the Time Lords being erased again, on top of having Chris Chibnall retcon his backstory, so he's at the breaking point.
Which is your favourite s3rl tune?
never heard anything from him. any recommendations?
Probably the doctor, overall.
The businessperson is obviously out. Especially if they were part of a larger business, they'd almost certainly be stuck in an individualist mindset that is least helpful in this situation and most likely led us here.
The engineer would be a kindred spirit in some ways, as I too am a techie. But I hope he isn't too much of a kindred spirit, because I'd need someone who has the low-level knowledge to do engineering in a post-apocalyptic world. In other words, someone who's studied post-collapse computing. I also don't know what kind of person he is - engineers can be great people, but they can also be uncaring individualists much like businesspeople.
The doctor would have the most helpful mindset. They'd want to work collectively to save people. I still don't know whether they have the skills to practice medicine in this situation, but even if they don't, I think their profession would be a good sign that they won't betray me to better their own situation.
˚⠀ 𓏲𝄢⠀ Question
⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Of The Day.ᐟ⠀ 𓂃⠀
❝Which Social Media
⠀ App Do You Hate.ᐣ❞
pretty much all of them
but facebook, twitter, and tiktok especially, for their toxic culture and terrible privacy practices
the narrator
Ooga booga
awooga
regarding shipping discourse
i've muted two people who I previously interacted with on occasion, who sent asks saying "DNI if you are neutral on proshippers", and will probably mute several more later. an attitude in which neutrality, or a nuanced position which doesn't belong to either team, is equated to supporting the enemy, is incredibly toxic, no matter the context. it treats discourse, which should be a collective search for truth, as an all-out war between The Good Ones and The Bad Ones, where reason is only allowed in service of one's chosen team, not to doubt one's own team (or worse, the entire framing of the situation), and the smallest deviation in ideology renders you as one of The Bad Ones. it creates an implicit threat that discourages people from thinking independently and critically. yes, beliefs can be harmful, but we cannot know that they are harmful without being able to think critically, which requires being willing to understand and engage with the full nuance of those beliefs.
in case it is relevant to people's DNIs, here is my opinion, without any of the discourse buzzwords: i think it's okay to depict harmful things in fiction as long as you aren't endorsing them. in cases where harmful things are endorsed, or fiction causes real harm, it is important to point it out and criticize it. fiction can be criticized as morally good or bad, but censorship and harassment create more problems than they solve, especially considering that "endorsement" of something in fiction is rarely a clear-cut thing. i am willing to argue these points, or indeed any of my opinions, in a civil manner, and keep an open mind, but i refuse to choose a team in a pointless discourse war, and will not engage with threats, personal attacks, drama, or attacks on beliefs i do not hold.
Another day of state exams :P
Jupiter didn’t wanna help this time and we’re more drained today foe whatever reason… so it didn’t go as well as we hoped
We still probably passed, but we feel icky
-✨
remember that exams usually turn out better than they feel
Is UNDERTALE actually a bullet hell game? I had no idea
it's an RPG. the battle system is turn based, but you can dodge attacks by surviving a sort of bullet hell minigame.
📺 What are some other good animal singing videos?
I would recognize that URL anywhere. I've heard Never Gonna Give You Up more than enough times, so I didn't bother clicking on it. It's a great song though. If it weren't a meme it'd still be a synth-pop classic.
Instead, I listened to Never gonna Meow you up, which just confirmed how legendary this song is. Rickrolling will never get old.
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