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For weeks, one of the editors (janrinok) has been on my case for not posting a link in one of my comments. He hasn't done this to anyone else, there's no requirement anywhere to post links in comments (not here, not anywhere else that I know of), and now he's been sending me emails from noreply@soylentnews.org.

So I've flagged noreply@soylentnews.org as spam.

This has been going on for a while. He HATES that I don't always post links "to prove what I say". Before this latest outbreak, he was arguing that I HAD to, and I made it clear that if it's that important to someone, they shouldn't take my word for it, or even a link - they should do their own research. People post links that confirm their biases. It's basic human nature. I will post links from CBC and the Guardian, someone else will post links from The Daily Stormer and Breitbart. Bias is inevitable, so if it's important to you, do your own research. And if it isn't important to you, don't get your panties in a knot.

But janrinok has been using the fact that I don't always post links to attack me for a while, in various discussions. He doesn't do this to anyone else as far as I can tell, so it's targeted.

The latest outbreak started with my comment here - an on-topic post about the Covid-19 epidemic :

Anyone over 65 doesn't get a respirator even if they need it. They die. Triage can be a bitch, but with limited supplies, warehouses being converted to wards for the sick on camp cots, 12 years in jail if you break quarantine, panic is advised.

Two comments down, janrinok takes a shot at me with this:

Barbara doesn't believe in providing the evidence to back up her claims - she believes that the onus is upon you to find the evidence to support her statements. Trust me, don't go there, you might as well bang your head against a brick wall.

I go on to give my reasons, but no, he won't let it die. And it's over something that NOBODY ELSE seems to care about - that when Uber laid off it's first batch of 400 engineers, it came out in comments on the green site that they were trying to develop self-driving software using JavaScript because Javascript devs are cheap and it can be done quicker.

But for him, it's an "aha" moment. I have to provide proof. And this has been going on in various threads. He doesn't demand that of anyone else. So I'm thinking it's not that I didn't provide a link to the comments on slashdot, but that it's really about me.

How crazy has it gotten? Well, when I mentioned in a follow-up comment that there were plenty of stories on The Guardian about the ventilator shortage in Italy, he decided to attack me for not posting links to a specific story there too:

There's plenty of reports on the guardian. Go do your own research.

So presumably you have found the links - but you still refuse to provide them? Thank you for your invaluable contribution.

to which I replied:

The situation is changing hourly, and the site is updated much more often - why limit yourself to any link I post, which will be outdated withing an hour, when you can get fresh, up-to-date information just as easily?

Or are you really that determined not to continue peddling your silliness. Go back and re-read your excuse for not going to slashdot for the information. So childish. You want it from somewhere else "because". So you're cutting your nose off to spite your face. But it's still no skin off my nose.

Keep it up - I'm the one encouraging people to do their own research, and not trust anyone's links because people can be selective in the links they post. You're against this. Why?

Anyone who's worked for a search engine knows the limitations of even the biggest ones. Most stuff isn't findable via search, because algorithms and site limitations. I ran into google's 1,000 search results maximum a few times when looking for information that I knew existed, because they had it before, but it had been pushed out of the top 1,000 (have they fixed that "feature" yet?).

BTW, since you claim to be so smart, what was Uber using to develop their self-driving car software? c? ada? cobol? pascal? programmable fpga's? Java? Since you claim it's not javascript, as was revealed in the discussion threads on slashdot, you must know what it is. Or say you don't know, and it could be anything, including javascript.

The reference to not going to slashdot led to him illegally accessing slashdot with a script to scrape the headlines, ignoring the robots.txt file, but not the comments, which is where I said the information was. His reply is self-contradictory, to say the least.

As a founder member of this site which we created because Slashdot didn't want us - the majority here who remember those times are of the same opinion as I. As we say - 'Fuck Beta'. As an Editor we have to ensure that we cannot be accused of plagiarism - we do this by not visiting the site - period.

However, I have been through all of the story titles on that site which contain the word Uber or Javascript from Jan 2017 until today.

... blah blah blah ...

Part of my reply just under it:

Third, your status as a founder/editor looks like an attempt at argument from authority. It's kind of irrelevant, and you just contradicted yourself in this post:

we do this by not visiting the site - period.

However, I have been through all of the story titles on that site

Those two statements are contradictory. Either the first one is true, and the second one false, or vice versa, or neither is true, but most certainly they can't both be true. I'll do you the courtesy of letting you pick one of the three possible options, but I've got to say, it doesn't look good from here.

You can always prove me wrong (won't be the first time) by practicing what you preach - post a link with information as to what Uber was actually using when they laid off the first 400 engineers.

I'm not the one requiring any proof from you one way or another - but you're the self-appointed internet cop who says a link is necessary to back up a claim. You claim it wasn't javascript - prove it.

Or just drop it. Because WTF is wrong with you that this is so important anyway?

Of course what Uber was using isn't the issue. Neither is that I didn't post a link. People don't do such obsessive-compulsive crap for a missing link.

So he sticks his foot in it by admitting that he scraped the site with a script:

But you said there was a newspaper report and discussion - you did not demonstrate that it actually occurred or what was said. Hence the request for you to provide a link so that we can ALL see what was actually said.

Second, as someone else just pointed out here [soylentnews.org], burden of proof is not a thing.

I do not believe that the opinion of a single AC (who, let's be fair, could be you) should actually replace the standards that this site tries to maintain and which are common in all scientific or technical debate (my bold).

I have written a program in python-3 using selenium which I used to scrape all the titles from Jan 1 2017 until today. If Slashdot's own search cannot find it that is a fair indication that they haven't got it. I have not read any articles.

So, he's violating the robots.text standard and the Patriot Act section VIII while claiming to observe " the standards that this site tries to maintain and which are common in all scientific or technical debate".

Don't make me laugh.

And how he could mistake slashdot for the Guardian is way beyond me, as I make clear in my follow-up.

But you said there was a newspaper report

Another lame attempt at misdirection, this time with a TOTAL LIE ON YOUR PART.

It's you who has not thought this out. I have written a program in python-3 using selenium which I used to scrape all the titles from Jan 1 2017 until today. If Slashdot's own search cannot find it that is a fair indication that they haven't got it. I have not read any articles.

And again, another lame attempt at misdirection. You claimed that you avoid the site completely to avoid any claims of plagarism, and yet somehow scraping and reading the results is "completely avoiding the site." You're so full of shit at this point it's not funny.

You made the claim that I was wrong. That is also a claim. According to your opwn standards, you have to either back up your claim or retract it.

There's more in most of these comments, but I've had to edit them for brevity.

It was after this that he attempted to continue to justify himself offline with more lies, sent from noreply@soylentnews.org.

You can see my replies if you follow the thread.

Summary

This is obviously not about posting or not a link. He hasn't, to my knowledge, gone to such extremes with anyone else, so it's personal.

He's lied, he's misdirected, he's dissimulated, and his behaviour scraping the headlines of slashdot while claiming he never visits it was over the line, a violation of the robots.txt file on the site, and yet another attempt at misdirection, since I always said it was in the comments, which aren't indexed by any search engine that respects the robots.txt file.

I'm sure he'd be the first to complain if a slashdot editor scraped the last 3 years of stories from here. After all, soylentnews.org also has a robots.txt file.

Anyway, he can't email me from the noreply address any more, and if he tries to from janrinok@soylentnews.org, that too will be flagged as spam. Which will probably automatically make anything from soylentnews.org be flagged as spam, but such is life.

And as I've pointed out elsewhere, human behaviour fascinates me. So I look at it all more as entertainment and research than anything else. Just checked in the mirror - still no skin off my nose :-)

Enjoy.

Yep, the first day of spring, and it's beautiful. Sure, there was some idiot emailing me at 2 am to rag me, but the rest of the day is great.

1. Sure, there was a ton of rain, but also a lot of sun. And NO SNOW. They're calling for some snow sometime in the future, but that doesn't change how it's actual real spring weather today. Something that doesn't happen often enough.

2. I had planned out how to do the code I want to work on, and then my "better" eye bled again. It's one of the reasons I've stopped posting links to everything - one night I tried, and wasn't able to read anything, and thought "Why am I doing this? People can do their own research if they need to." I still post some links, but some stories, like COVID19, any link will be obsolete within hours, if not minutes. So I do what I can, and the rest isn't my problem.

3. The software I wanted to work on, I ran into a stumbling block - the actual development of the libraries requires a crapton of mixed-case and lowercase expressions, and my eyes are no longer up to it.

So, this morning, I realized that I was being stupid in trying to make something that was equally usable by sighted, low-vision, and no-vision users. By catering only to low- and no-vision users, I don't need to provide graphics capability. I also don't need to deal with expectations of things like web browsers, etc. And I don't need to worry about platform capability.

I had originally opted for Java to check all those boxes. But I've always preferred c. And if I ditch all those checkboxes, c is more than sufficient. Ditto a subset of c++ - keep only the parts I like, no STL, no templates. C with classes.

So I can start working on it again.

4. Turns out that new research is changing the profile of those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 - almost 40% of people who get it are below 54. Most people are going to get it at one point, so as long as you practice social distancing, be careful with what you touch, don't have stuff or food delivered (tv news reports that the CDC has determined it was the people bringing food to the shut-ins on the cruise ship that were the major vector for transmitting the virus among the passengers - makes sense - they'd be exposed to the infected people and then drop off meals for uninfected folks), get plenty of fresh air, maintain 2 meters between you and everyone else, and avoid any sort of crowds, you shouldn't pick up a heavy initial viral load, and your immune system will be able to cope. Unless you're a smoker or vaper, in which case your lungs are already fucked, so I don't know what to say, except STOP! And good luck.

5. Stupid eye is now able to sort of work despite more floaters and stuff. And it looks like the bleeding has stopped again. So while it might be on borrowed time, I'll take it :-)

6. Looks like my penchant for corny jokes is contagious. There are 4 of us who go in on Wednesday or Thursday to prep for the next week, and now everyone has a few jokes. Sample groaner:

Q. Why was the teacher cross-eyed?
A. He couldn't control his pupils.

Helps take the mind off the grim news in the outside world.

1. With Covid-19 doing the exponential growth thing

... I'm reminding people that we all need to do our imitation of Howie Mandel, washing our hands like someone with OCD. Or the Karate Kid 2020 - soap on, soap off ... soap on, soap off.

2. Unless you're Mike Pence, We've known that smoking kills

... but now we have evidence from China and Italy that smokers are much more likely to be infected and die. More in this thread. In a way it's poetic justice - we've known for 70 years that smoking isn't healthy, and all those smokers that set shitty examples for the next generations are now dying off. So, okay boomers, FOAD, like you've condemned future generations to.

3. All these sports events cancelled - oh my, what will I do?

Same as always, except with better programs on TV, because I could never see the point of rooting for professional sports teams, most of whom don't even live in the city they're "playing for." Good riddance, NHL. Playoffs well into spring? Yeah, yeah, it's all about the money ...

4. And speaking of absolutely useless, pointless sporting events - CANCEL THE OLYMPICS ALREADY.

It's not like I'm the only one saying it.

5 Finally, I'm happy to note that all those idiots saying that they're going on another cruise soon because way more people die of the flu have changed their tune

... too bad I can't rub it in because they're in isolation for two weeks from their most recent cruise. Why do people have a hard time understanding exponential growth anyway?

It's not that hard. Here's a question most people won't get, and will say it's a "trick question." It's from a Reader's Digest for kids book from 50+ years ago:

Q. A beaker contains one bacteria, that doubles every minute. It is full after one hour. At what time will it be half full?

Have fun trying to explain why their answer is wrong ...

6. Good things about the current outbreak part One

Less cold and flu going around as people wash their hands more, People are more aware. Hopefully, this will be at least one change that will "take".

7 Giving Away Hand Sanitizer

Last winter we got a few pallets of hand sanitizer, 70% alcohol. I ended up with 6 bottles over the course of the next few months, as did many of us. So a week ago today I had a meeting at a clinic, and I noticed that NOBODY was using hand sanitizer and people were going into the back offices for meetings several times a minute, and that door handle saw LOTS of action.

When I saw my social worker (she's helping me deal with life's challenges as someone with visual handicaps) I took the two bottles out, said "Take your pick - hand sanitizer, and they're both 70% alcohol." I mentioned that there are probably 200 people an hour using that doorknob, and no hand sanitizer. Told her that she can keep it, but that she should hide it because otherwise it's going to disappear really quickly. That's what happens when people share offices several days a week.

Personally, I'd have also brought my own spare mouse and keyboard. Or my own laptop, instead of using the office one. But I guess that's what phones are for, right? And hand sanitizer. And latex gloves. And (as someone pointed out), a piece of saran wrap when you have to use the keypad on an ATM or card reader to enter your pin. Or a plastic lunch bag.

I carry my own pen around all the time now, because you KNOW where those other pens have been. Ditto for utility knife (for boxes). Same with black marker.

8. Good things about the outbreak part 2 - Montreal Introduces Free Bus Rides

Today the mayor announced that passengers will enter and exit the buses by the rear door, and since there's no bus pass reader at the rear door, bus rides are essentially free. So unless you have to take the subway and go through the turnstiles, you are riding for free. Sucks if you already paid for a monthly pass, but great if you have a reloadable card for multiple individual trips.

This week's interesting shit.

1. The Trump-Trump 2020 ticket

Trump has never liked Mike Pence. He feels judged by Pence, with his goody two-shoes christian habits. He needed Pence in 2016 to give hime some acceptability among fundamental evangelicals back then, but a lot has changed.

The embrace by the fundies of Trump has done as even the Bible could have predicted, totally compromised them. "You can't serve both God and Mammon." With their absolutely hysterical, insouciant embrace of the Liar-in-Chief King Vulgarian, they can't turn against him now without having to do the biggest climb-down of their lives. And they won't do that. Their pride won't let them (and of course, pride comes before a fall).

However, the Dems have squandered the opportunity. By refusing to embrace a forward-looking vision, and instead putting forth Joe Biden, another geriatric with dementia and a history of really bad policies, they have thrown the 2020 election before the primaries finish.

So it will be the Republican pig in chief, who also suffers from dementia, against the Democratic hair-sniffer (what's up with that anyway? His handlers can't get him to stop?)

At least the Soviet genotocracy was able to get rid of the politburo members who lost their grip, mostly quietly. Here, getting rid of Trump under Article 25 would have led to Pence, the Armageddon-is-coming VP, having the ability to start the process of the end of the world.

So now that Trump doesn't need Pence, and evangelicals have no alternative to doubling down and voting for him again, what is Trump doing?

He might not be all there, but even he can smell the opportunity this provides. Put Pence in charge of Covid-19, and let him take the fall for the ensuing screw-up. After all, it's not like Pence has a great record on health ("smoking doesn't kill", halting a needle exchange program that led to the biggest outbreak of AIDS in his state as governor).

So he'll be able to ditch Pence with impunity. People will want a sacrifice, after all. And then Trump can announce that Ivanka Trump will be his running mate in 2020. Talk about an October surprise!

This sets up 4 terms for The Donald - 2 as president, 2 as vice president, all legal. And anyone criticizing it will be labelled a misogynist.

2. Will covid-19 spread be curtailed by summer?

Update: a few hours after posting this, Italy (pop. 61 million) locked down 16 million people , no weddings or funerals, no going to the movies, no public sports events, schools closed, etc. Welcome to the Twilight Zone.

For anyone counting on summer to make a difference in the spread of coronavirus, Italy is on the Mediterranean. We can't afford to hope for a "summer fix." Only time will tell.

3. Have you noticed changes in people's behaviour due to Covid-19?

While certain areas, such as Northern Italy, have failed to contain the coronavirus, there's still hope here. When I'm working with the public, I'm washing my hands every hour. Monday I'm bringing in my own bottle of hand sanitizer even though we have bottles hanging around - after all, everyone is touching those bottles. The odds are very low, but not zero, and we need to do everything we can to contain this for as long as possible. Especially since some of my co-volunteers will be coming back from cruises over then next couple of weeks.

One of the things my sister does is run adult dance classes. She has two cancer patients on chemo, so anyone who's left the country is barred from attending until they've been back in the country for two weeks. Doesn't matter if they have no symptoms, because we now know that some of the super carriers also had no symptoms.

She's also doing the hand washing thing. It's far more effective than hand sanitizer, but seriously, 20 seconds? Try two minutes. And use a nail brush. Adults are no better than kids when you tell them to wash their hands.

Have you noticed any changes in behaviour from covid-19?

4. Number of straight people in UK falls to 94.6% The guardian is reporting that the number of people who identify as straight in the UK has dropped below 95%.

In 2018, there were an estimated 1.2 million people aged 16 years and over who identified as LGB. Young people, aged between 16 and 24, were the most likely to identify as LGB at 4.4%.

Given the ongoing stigma, the true numbers are no doubt higher, everywhere in the world. Including the people around you. Or maybe you're in the closet and would like to say so anonymously?

5. Trudeau in trouble

The majority of Canadians are not impressed with Justin Trudeau. No surprise there.

6. The Yukon moves to year-round daylight savings time

The CBC is reporting that The Yukon is not going to roll back their clocks an hour in the fall. They join Saskatchewan in going to year-round daylight savings time.

Alberta and British Columbia are mulling the move.

(BC) Premier John Horgan has said he will wait to see whether neighbouring Washington, Oregon and California go with permanent daylight time before pushing ahead with the bill. Those states have taken steps to move to one time year-round, but still need approval from the U.S. Congress to make it law.

I'm sick and tired of winter sundown before 4 pm. If I'm going to get up in the dark either way in the winter, at least give me a bit of afternoon sunlight to look forward to.

Courtesy of FatPhil, n-gate.com take on FOSDEM

Hilarious. And reality-based, for a change. Some samples ...

The Selfish Contributor Explained
The speaker attempts to resolve the cognitive dissonance inspired by the repeated claims of "protecting user freedoms" despite all open-source programmers being employed by massive software companies. No solutions are provided, but some advice is promised regarding the maintenance of license-cult affiliation while conning some webshit company into paying you to mismanage your hobby projects.
Speaker's name anagram: MOTLEY TAME JOBS

How Containers and Kubernetes re-defined the GNU/Linux Operating System
A Greybeard's Worst Nightmare
A Red Hat arrives to try to convince other middle managers that this container stuff is totally different and somehow relevant to that 5G thing you keep seeing in TV commercials. It is not different, and it is not relevant to any specific radio communications technology, but Red Hat's not paying for the talk to make sense. Red Hat is paying for the talk to convince ISP operators to buy Openshift licenses.
Speaker's name anagram: NERDLIKE AI

LumoSQL - Experiments with SQLite, LMDB and more
SQLite is justly famous, but also has well-known limitations This talk, awkwardly shoved into the schedule at the last minute, sees the speaker claim that shitty fifty-cent on-device sensors are generating data faster than SQLite can store it. This is obviously horse shit, and the speaker hasn't actually got anything working yet, but the speaker needed some attention, which is the primary factor in whether one is allocated speaking time at FOSDEM.
Speaker's name anagram: SANE HARDER

dqlite: High-availability SQLite
An embeddable, distributed and fault tolerant SQL engine
An Ubuntu gets on the "SQLite, but better" bandwagon. Unlike the previous project, which combined SQLite with some code derived from academia to solve perceived flaws in the wrong layer, this project takes the revolutionary approach of combining SQLite with some code derived from academia to solve perceived flaws in the wrong layer.
Speaker's name anagram: A FAKE ARENA KEY

Open Source Under Attack
How we, the OSI and others can defend it
A Google, a Facebook, and a Linux Foundation (a trade organization representing Google and Facebook) lecture us about how hard we must fight to keep their employers from destroying our access to computer software.
Speakers' name anagrams: SNAZZY? RICH? SICK. and SMALL SIX with HI, MEGA-CLENCH!

The core values of software freedom
A bureaucrat would like greasy computer nerds to stop getting angry on the internet about Codes of Conduct, but is too much of a coward to just say that.
Speaker's name anagram: RETHINK RACISM HATS

Regaining control of your smartphone with postmarketOS and Maemo Leste
Status of Linux on the smartphone
Having failed to gain any traction in commercial telephony, Maemo is the natural place some programmers would turn when searching for a telephone interface to poorly copy. By combining bad clones of proprietary software, niche Linux distributions with no clear policies or mission, and vaporware hardware from a fly-by-night bad-computer vendor, you can have complete control of a telephone that doesn't exist, wouldn't boot if it did, and couldn't make phone calls if it booted. Rejoice, for your time is at hand.
Speakers' name anagrams: JEWEL, WARN MR. JIB! and ERR: BARB BITS

This is just a SMALL example of what awaits you. Enjoy, or blow a gasket.

I can breathe again, but not the best, and still sick, but able to function a bit, so I went in to volunteer today and asked my boss if she needed me or if I should go back home.

I had gone in last night, but there were only three of us, and we were working in different areas, so I wasn't putting anyone at risk of catching a sinus infection, pneumonia, or a damn wicked cold.

I got the usual "you should go to the hospital for your rib and the other stuff. You sound awful." I explained that broken ribs have to heal on their own, I'm a lot better than a few days ago, and that the last time I went there with pneumonia they kept me for 10 days over Christmas and New Years, so I try to avoid hospitals, especially during cold and flu season.

Everyone asked what's wrong, I told them that they don't really want to get close to me, sinus infection, pneumonia, and a cold. Then I said, "No, actually, I ate Chinese food and caught coronavirus." That got a laugh every time.

Which brings up a question: How long can the coronavirus survive in the environment?

how long can the new coronavirus linger on surfaces, anyway? The short answer is, we don't know. But if this new coronavirus resembles other human coronaviruses, such as its "cousins" that cause SARS and MERS, it can stay on surfaces — such as metal, glass or plastic — for as long as nine days, according to a new study. (In comparison, flu viruses can last on surfaces for only about 48 hours.)

In the new study, researchers analyzed several dozen previously published papers on human coronaviruses (other than the new coronavirus) to get a better idea of how long they can survive outside of the body. The authors found that these coronaviruses can linger on surfaces for over a week but that some of them don't remain active for as long at temperatures higher than 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius). The authors also found that these coronaviruses can be effectively wiped away by household disinfectants.

Hmmm ... not the best news.

It's possible that a person can be infected with the virus by touching a contaminated surface or object, "then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "But this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads."

I haven't seen anyone mentioning this on the news - it's all about direct contact transmission or from airborne droplets from sneezing or coughs.

When everyone resumes shipments of phones and laptops from China, you might want to consider sanitizing them really well before putting them near your face.

Or wait until next fall/winter when it goes from pandemic to endemic.

Broke the stupid rib again

In the last month, I must have re-broken the rib I broke in February of last year, because it hurt more than usual, and it was interfering with my breathing to the point that I was getting dizzy after an hour or so of light labour. Same as when I broke it and ended up with a hemothorax/pneumothorax.

I've been toughing it out. People say "why don't you go to the hospital", and I can think of two good reasons. (1) It's a rib - there's nothing they can du; and (2) no way am I going to the hospital ER during cold and flu season with a compromised lung. The last time I had pneumonia they kept me for 10 days. Only went the last time because I was hallucinating. As long as I can breathe, even with difficultly, I'll wait until it's safer.

The two cutest babies I've seen in ages

One of my co-workers showed up late and didn't come in. Turns out she had two REALLY REALLY cute infants in her car. I offered to take them on the spot, but they are already spoken for.

Big ears - would put Prince Charles to shame. Everything you expect from baby kangaroos and more. Really obvious when they're sucking away at their baby bottles (they're really young, after all).

They're amazingly soft, totally tame, and like being rubbed around the neck. Meeting them made my week, and it was completely by chance, because I had decided to stick around for a while, taking a break so I could catch my breath rather than go home.

I thought they were greys, but it turns out they're reds (yes, I am really colourblind). The father is 6 feet tall. Jody was taking them back to the Toronto zoo, an 800 km drive, which gets even longer when you have to stop for feedings, so it was a two-day trip.

Since Jody also volunteers with an animal rescue, I was hoping that these were climate change refugees needing a perma-home. Reds are too big, but I'd take a pair of greys.

Came close to going to the hospital after all

Turns out that always sleeping on the same side (to favour the broken rib) is a bad idea when you catch a cold - your sinuses don't drain properly, so I ended up with a sinus infection. Gross! Good thing I had some clindamycin left over from another series of hospital visits.

It worked, but it also seems to have unleashed the cold's full effects. I finally decided that if things didn't improve I'd go to the hospital because pneumonia is pneumonia, and needs to be treated.

Fortunately, by the middle of the next day I was coughing a bit less, though still out of breathe even when resting. Things continue to improve, and I should be whole sometime next week.

What a week! I still look at the kangaroo pictures from time to time, and they're still really cute. It would have been fun taking them for walks with the dogs. And as a bonus they'd be able to kick the shit out of anyone harassing me.

My next step with my discrimination complaint is in the mail system as of this afternoon.

It should reach the human rights commission Tuesday or Wednesday.

It's short, and so is the summary it starts with:

Summary of Complaint

The ministere du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale actively discourages doctors from finding people to have a long-term handicap.

My former ophthalmologist refused to fill in the forms, saying that “Quebec would laugh at him.”

This has deprived me of training to adapt to my current circumstances, job placement and employer assistance for an adapted work station, and disability payments. It has also deprived me of the chance to earn a living, and the economic and mental benefits that would have accrued.

In the body of the complaint, I go into more detail (but not too much more, don't want to bore them with details they don't need to initiate a proceeding).

I have discussed this with others in similar situations, so I know my case is not the only one. The ministere actively discourages handicapped people from receiving the help and benefits we’re entitled to by actively discouraging doctors to make such determinations, and this is discrimination by both the doctors and the ministre based on a handicap.

The doctor has already been found by the CUISS ombudsman to have discriminated against me in another matter, based on my gender identity, continually misgendering me as a man to a student in my presence, even though all my legal documentation (birth certificate, medicare card, hospital card, etc) clearly states that I am a woman.

For those who say I shouldn't go after the doctor as well, I've considered that, and here are my reasons for including him and a second doctor in my complaint:

1. If he had obeyed the law and filled in the paperwork as required, none of this would be necessary.

2. He admitted to that which he was caught dead to rights at, but nothing else.

He doesn't know that there's proof of two other things I had complained to the hospital about, and I'm pretty sure that this will be fairly easy to bring out at a public hearing.

3. If I only go after the ministry, they will just blame the doctor. If I just go after the doctor, he will just blame the ministry. So, "shoot them all and let god sort it out."

Let each one blame the other, and let the tribunal decide how to apportion blame and financial responsibility.

4. I am probably not the only one, so the right thing to do is find others who have been screwed over. That requires publicity.

That is why I included this:

It may prove beneficial to launch an inquiry into how many people have experienced the same discrimination. I will be taking steps over the next few weeks to locate others who have encountered similar discrimination.

They should receive it in the mail sometime this week, and in another week I'll email copies of the complaint to the media.

The 2010s have been the worst year of my life. I don't intend to let history repeat itself if I can help it.

And for all you haters who say I shouldn't do this, you have yet to give a single valid reason why. So screw off.

Now that Trump isn't going to be impeached, he has a good chance of winning the 2020 election. Canada has seen a large influx of refugees crossing illegally into the country from the USA. I expect that a Trump win in 2020 will only cause that to increase.

Anyone can cross over the border illegally (but not at regular border crossings) and claim refugee status. Most are accepted after an initial screening.

You might say "Why not at a regular border crossing?" That's because we have a treaty with the US that considers the US to be a "safe country", so you are required to make your refugee claim in the first country you arrive in.

But ilegal crossers? No problem, as this news article explains.

We've spent well over a $billion accommodating illegal immigrants from the US since 2016. I expect to see some minority groups to make refugee claims after Trump is re-elected.

Latinx, black, lgbt ... these are the groups most likely to continue to experience the sort of behaviour from others that would prompt a refugee claim that can't be dismissed out of hand.

But you have to actually be able to document that you have a reasonable fear for your safety. That's probably easiest for lgbt folks because there are bigots in all 50 states who are quite vocal.

The other options are legal immigration and marriage. Canada is experiencing a skilled labour shortage that has been going on for some time, and most provinces have programs to give preference to skilled workers willing to immigrate, even if the skill is just working in a restaurant (huge shortage of wait staff and other workers to the point that some restaurants can't even open new locations that they've already signed leases for).

Marriage ... well, that's going to draw closer scrutiny because too many foreign nationals have entered into marriages of convenience and then, once in the country, too bad so sad ... didn't work out.

I know two women who have gotten shafted that way, and it's not pretty.

But being trans, if I were in the Trump United States of Confusion, where the motto is "In Twitter We Trust", I'd be looking to get out too. The extreme polarization we've seen over the last 3 years will probably get a LOT worse.

I inherited a deskjet 9800 wide format printer when I worked as an office manager/receptionist while looking for a new coding gig.

Basically, the company had moved into the premises and nobody from the old business must have wanted the printer, because it was just sitting there. No ink. So I also inherited a bundle of 11"x17" paper as well.

The thing weighs a ton (okay, 23 pounds, but that's probably due to it's metal construction, except for the lid). A real boat anchor.

So over the next couple of days I need to print out some legal notices to sic the human rights commission on the government and my former doctor for discrimination*. My colour laser had given up the ghost a few years ago (needs a new imaging unit, which costs as much as the printer cost new), so I decided to see if the deskjet would work.

Bought a new black ink cartridge (unlike newer printers, it will work even if one of the cartridges is empty, and it doesn't matter how low the ink goes, it will pump it out until you can barely see it) and I'm surprised at just how good this old bugger is. No wonder they don't make it any more!

30 ppm for 8-1/2"x11", 20 ppm for 11"x17", can do up to 11.7"x 50", slightly slower for colour.

Sure, that's draft mode - but it's version of draft mode looks like my old laser's normal output. So screw it - I'm glad I didn't opt to buy another printer. 1200x1200 dpi is good enough - don't need the 4800 dpi "enhanced" mode. I doubt anyone will be able to tell.

What dissuaded me from just buying a new printer? New printers come with gimmicks - like missing toner and ink. And they want an internet connection to set up, and to run (hello, HP Instant Ink). Refilling a cart isn't rocket science, but refilled carts are so cheap ... by the time you add the 2 cents per page of the amortized cost of a new imaging unit on a laser, the inkjet is far cheaper. And with remanufactured carts, it's cheaper than even refilled toner.

No wonder they stopped making them. Doesn't need any special drivers under linux, does duplex printing, what's not to like?

* While he admitted to the improprieties that had another witness, he denied everything else. Too bad the medical records say he was in the wrong on other things he said never happened. When you only tell the truth about things you know can be proven, and lie about the other stuff, you don't deserve forgiveness.

It's taken me until earlier this week to come to this decision, since I don't like hassles, and I like the guy, but he screwed up, and that screwed me over to the tune of 6 figures to the left of the decimal point, as well as untold misery.