Quitting problem sites with uBlock (or adblock if you prefer)

I figured out how to use uBlock to better block myself out of problem sites. I've had a bit of a problem with tumblr due to both high volume and noise. So diving into the world of Adblock filter syntax, I came up with the following. uBlock doesn't actually do a blanket site-wide rule. I had considered

The only necessary line is tumblr.com##body. This hides the content of the page (everything in the body html tag). The rest of the rules are there to help block files that are loaded by the header, scripts, and css. There are a handful of objects that get pulled in by an inline script.

Individual users can be whitelisted as username.tumblr.com as needed.

You can do the same thing with tumblr.com * * block in advanced mode, but you still need to block the body tag because uBlock will still render first page.

Similarly, when was the last time that youtube comments were actually useful: www.youtube.com###watch-discussion

Need some B52s.

One-swap sorting problem in common lisp.

One-swap sorting problem in common lisp.

Given an array of unique integers, determine if it is possible to sort the array by swapping two elements of the array. For instance, the array [1,2,6,4,5,3,7] can be sorted by swapping 3 and 6, but there is no way to sort the array [5,4,3,2,1] by swapping two of its elements. You may use O(n) time, where the array has n integers, and constant additional space.

Sex & Gender Identity: An Intro

Sex & Gender Identity: An Intro

From cisgender to transgender, the terminology associated with gender identity can be confusing. Here's a look at some of the most common terms defined.---Watch more videos on TestTube! | New Videos Daily!

Posted by TestTube on Monday, July 27, 2015

quick links

Quick links:

• Boy Scouts ends ban on gay adults | GLAAD. It's nice but I still feel very disconnected from scouting.
• Sexuality is fluid — it's time to get past 'born this way' - New Scientist
• Strange Bright Spots on Ceres Create Mini-Atmosphere on Dwarf Planet

Gamer Motivation Profile

This has been making the rounds this week. Quantic Foundry has expanded the Bartle Test looking a different factors. You can take the Gamer Motivation Profile or read about how they created it.

(Since I'm a creative/immersive/mastery gamer, here's moar truck:)

Yakety Max

It had to be done, so someone did it.

There's a hole in the cosmos...

The cold spot in Cosmic Microwave Backgrand data.

There's a hole in the cosmos
Dear Liza, Dear Liza
There's a hole in the cosmos
Dear Liza, a hole.

— BBC - Earth - The largest thing in the universe

And in other news, interstellar space has balls. (Buckyballs.)

Fermi visualization of blazar gamma ray flare...

More explanation: GMM: Fermi Spots a Record Flare from Blazar 3C 279

Interesting article on gender in children's games

Toca Hair Salon 2

“Research can bite you in the ass a little bit, because of what’s been popular so far. You can fall into the trap of ‘if I want to create something that girls are going to like, it’s gotta have pink, it’s gotta have baking, it’s gotta have princesses’,” she said.

— Debbie Sterling, GoldieBlox (Diversity in children's apps: "Gender depictions tend to be very stereotyped" | Technology | The Guardian)

Euro Truck Simulator 2

Number Puzzle: Racket Solution

A Number Puzzle | Programming Praxis Racket Solution

Gas Station Problem in Racket

Racket solution to the gas station problem:

Pluto flyovers from New Horizons Data

Water-ice mountains on Pluto. Astronomy Picture of the Day

Virtual Truck!

Jenner at ESPYs

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/IA9I8WUIXs

— ELIEL CRUZ (@elielcruz) July 16, 2015

TEDx: Bisexuality and Beyond

A nice TEDx presentation on bisexuality. Πsexual!

Pluto!

From Pixel Curious

Ordered words Problem

My racket solution to the Ordered Words Problem on Programming Praxis:

EDIT: A C++ solution.

EDIT EDIT: A Common Lisp solution.

bi-geek-pan linkspam 14 July 2015: OitNB, language documentary, factor, macros, african science fiction

bi

• Why Won't "Orange Is The New Black" Acknowledge That Bisexuals Exist
• Why Do I Sound So Gay? - The Daily Beast
• Bisexual Banter — Morgan talks about what he found most confusing as...

geek

• Factor, a practical concatenative language
• Fear of Macros a nice introduction to macro programming in Racket.

fan

• Why Africa is the new home of science fiction | Books | The Guardian

Don't be silly...

Last year, the New York Times published an article, “The Scientific Quest to Prove Bisexuality Exists“. Think about that for a second, and then imagine replacing the word “bisexuality” with aspects of your own identity — “The Scientific Quest to Prove Gay Exists” or “The Scientific Quest to Prove Black Exists” or even “The Scientific Quest to Prove Femininity Exists.” Kristal noted that a common thread she finds among the bisexual community is that their sexuality is flat out denied. “Almost all of the out bisexuals I know have been told they don’t know who they really are, that they don’t exist, that they’re really gay or really straight.” That they’re “selfish” or “greedy.”

— Don't Be Silly, You're NOT Bisexual! | Styleite

Related:

Boy Scouts

Well, they finally did it: Boy Scouts executive committee endorses ending ban on gay leaders - The Washington Post

Boy Scouts of America votes to end ban on gay adults - BBC News

It's about 20 years too late to get me hooked back into Scouting as an adult volunteer. Now if they stop discriminating on the basis of religion, I might start buying popcorn. I'm not currently an atheist but still don't feel comfortable with that policy.

Euro Truck Simulator 2: Loving the Portraits

As part of my disenchantment with combat games, I seem to be getting into sims. So when I saw there was a Euro Truck Simulator 2 demo, I had to try it out. (Yes, I'm a gaming bottom feeder, and a few years behind.)

A criteria I have for games is "do I get to wear pants" (as opposed to bikini mail)? I can't tell if I'm wearing pants in this game. But I do get a nice selection of character portraits that are not obviously fantasy material. I wonder, but can't confirm, that some of the icons might be members of the development team. Still, it's a nice change.

Programming Puzzle: Phonebook Problem in Racket and C++

My weekend puzzle, solutions to the Partitioning The Telephone Book problem at Programming Praxis.

• Racket code (pastebin)
• C++ code (pastebin)

(I'm an amateur, especially with C++. Do not emulate.)

Dr Who Series Trailer

Yes!

Shutter 13 Spoilers

Honestly, I've been on the fence when it comes to Shutter for a while. A lot of weird for the sake of weird that didn't seem like it was going anywhere (my love of Cassius the KitKat Clock/Robot aside). But first of all, we have Alain busting out of the frame after being put on the sidelines:

And then we have the big reveal...

Bi/Geek/Fan Link Post: Desiree Akhavan, Gender Duality, and Sense8

Bi

Desiree Akhavan

Desiree Akhavan (Inappropriate Behavior) discusses her lgbt-friendly film projects

A lot of people came in and did something on par with blackface—I call it "gayface": when straight actresses walk in with, like, a backward baseball cap and baggy jeans and do their impression of a lesbian, as though a lesbian would not be a real human being. So, that happened a couple of times, and I remember thinking, This is both hilarious and really telling of how most people approach films with gay protagonists.

Paganism

Humanistic paganism is hosting a series of guest posts on gender. Issues with Masculine/Feminine Duality in Paganism is of interest. I think gender duality is best abandoned personally.

Geek

Masculine Fragility in Games

I've been pondering a bit about my relationship to games, partly due to this article on masculine fragility undermining innovation in games. Two personal data points there, the ultra-macho, omnipresent Wildstar narrator and running into Scooter in Borderlands. Or maybe I'm just getting a bit tired of games based on killing dozens of mobs to reach the next objective, checkpoint, or cutscene.

Next Space Telescope

In other news, astronomers plan a 12-meter space telescope. The article hints that installation on the moon is a possibility. IMO the moon's potential as a base for astronomy is one of the best reasons to go back.

Fan

Sense8

Jamie Clayton (Nomi) and Miguel Ángel Silvestre (Lito) discuss character relationships in Sense8.

“The thing that I love about Nomi and Amanita’s relationship is it’s such a middle finger to anyone who has you know a more conservative view of what a relationship is supposed to look like,” said Clayton, who jokingly referred to the couple as Nomanita. “Their interracial, and they’re trans and they’re lesbian. And so it’s this new way of looking at healthy love and saying it doesn’t have to look like what you were taught it was supposed to look like. And I love that. I think it’s extremely important.”

— Jamie Clayton (Nomi)

“I thought it was real and beautiful. Love is like this,” he said. “I see that it really helps in the understanding of someone that can be away from these two couples to feel the connection and how close we are when it comes to love. So how close we are altogether because we are all looking for that kind of love, a pure love you know? So I really love it.”

— Miguel Ángel Silvestre (Lito)

Nomi and Lito talk positive LGBTQ relationships, being authentic, and the orgy scene from Netflix’s ‘Sense8′ | Brad Kutner @ Gay Richmond News

Sense8: Jamie Clayton and Miguel Silvestre on the show's relationships

“The thing that I love about Nomi and Amanita’s relationship is it’s such a middle finger to anyone who has you know a more conservative view of what a relationship is supposed to look like,” said Clayton, who jokingly referred to the couple as Nomanita. “Their interracial, and they’re trans and they’re lesbian. And so it’s this new way of looking at healthy love and saying it doesn’t have to look like what you were taught it was supposed to look like. And I love that. I think it’s extremely important.”

— Jamie Clayton (Nomi)

“I thought it was real and beautiful. Love is like this,” he said. “I see that it really helps in the understanding of someone that can be away from these two couples to feel the connection and how close we are when it comes to love. So how close we are altogether because we are all looking for that kind of love, a pure love you know? So I really love it.”

— Miguel Ángel Silvestre (Lito)

Nomi and Lito talk positive LGBTQ relationships, being authentic, and the orgy scene from Netflix’s ‘Sense8′ | Brad Kutner @ Gay Richmond News

Desiree Akhavan talks about filmmaking and bisexuality

Desiree Akhavan describes auditions for Inappropriate behavior:

A lot of people came in and did something on par with blackface—I call it "gayface": when straight actresses walk in with, like, a backward baseball cap and baggy jeans and do their impression of a lesbian, as though a lesbian would not be a real human being. So, that happened a couple of times, and I remember thinking, This is both hilarious and really telling of how most people approach films with gay protagonists.

— We Talked to Filmmaker Desiree Akhavan About Putting More Bisexual Women on Our Screens | VICE | United States

Two Programming Links

Two programming links:

NASA fixed a bug in New Horizons a week before it hurtles by Pluto. They're working with a nine-hour delay.

Grant Rettke discusses lisp, forth, and minimalist programming.

Dune at 50

Soon, Herbert’s research into dunes became research into deserts and desert cultures. It overpowered his article about the heroism of the men of the USDA (proposed title “They Stopped the Moving Sands”) and became two short SF novels, serialised in Analog Science Fact & Fiction, one of the more prestigious genre magazines. Unsatisfied, Herbert industriously reworked his two stories into a single, giant epic. The prevailing publishing wisdom of the time had it that SF readers liked their stories short. Dune (400 pages in its first hardcover edition, almost 900 in the paperback on my desk) was rejected by more than 20 houses before being accepted by Chilton, a Philadelphia operation known for trade and hobby magazines such as Motor Age, Jewelers’ Circular and the no-doubt-diverting Dry Goods Economist.

— Dune, 50 years on: how a science fiction novel changed the world | Books | Hari Kunzru @ The Guardian

An interesting 50-year retrospective of Dune.

Masculine Fragility and Gaming

“I want Fallout and Skyrim and Dragon Age and all the rest without the combat,” added user homieomorphism. “Why can’t I use magic to explore a beautiful world? Why can’t I use diplomacy to unite and pacify warring factions? I’m so sick of it, honestly. It’s to the point where I just [try to] minimize time spent in fights [so I can] enjoy the dialogue and art that much more.”

That particular conversation intrigued me, so I joined in. I added that I thought much of this discontent was founded in a fundamental inability to choose violence or non-violence. I want a choice in how to act in a video game. I want to be able to CHOOSE to be violent, but I also want to be able to choose NOT to be violent. I want both of those choices to be perfectly viable and nuanced. I want to be able to change my mind and my play style at any time. This is a part of true character customization, which should have as much to do with how you interact with NPCs as it should with customizing your avatar’s physical appearance. As one user wrote, “#we have barely scraped the surface of what video games are capable of.”

— Fight Club: How Masculine Fragility Is Limiting Innovation in Games | Sheva @ FemHype

The Advocate on Cara Delevingne

Bisexual advocates are calling foul on Vogue after a profile of model turned actress Cara Delevingne insinuated Delevinge’s sexuality might be a “phase.”

...

“The only way to combat this kind of misinformation is by calling out media outlets which repeat these stereotypes uncritically,” Julie Rodriguez, the bisexual woman who started the petition demanding an apology from Vogue, tells The Advocate. “I do think that Vogue's misstep in this article came from a place of ignorance, not hate — so my hope is that the petition helps educate the editors and writers of the publication, so they can do a better job of reporting on bisexual celebrities in the future.”

— Why Does Vogue Think Bisexuality Is a Phase? | Eliel Cruz @ Advocate.com

A link to the petition: Petition: Tell Vogue Magazine: Being LGBT Isn't a "Phase"!

Cisgender in the OED

In a small milestone of transgender progress, the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary have added the word "cisgender" to its pages. The venerable reference tool, generally considered the dictionary of record, now defines the word as "designating a person whose sense of personal identity corresponds to the sex and gender assigned to him or her at birth."

— The Word "Cisgender" Is Now in the Oxford English Dictionary | Bitch Media

Gender is like Calculus, Not Addition

tw:bullying, suicide

Two quotes by bi women this week...

Two quotes:

“The idea that queer women only form relationships with other women as a result of childhood trauma is a harmful (and false) stereotype that lesbian and bisexual women have been combating for decades…As a bisexual woman myself, I’ve experienced hurtful comments like this many times. People are quick to assume queer women’s identities are a ‘phase’ and to refuse to recognize the important relationships in their lives — an attitude which can cause depression, result in families rejecting their daughters (or forcing them into abusive conversion ‘therapy’), and even put young women at risk of suicide. Vogue should have taken this opportunity to combat negative stereotypes, not reinforce them.”

— Julie Rodriguez, quoted by inquisitr commenting on a Vogue writer's "just a phase" comment

"I don't want to have to deny my sexuality in order to be me. But I don't want to have to be defined by it. I'm fundamentally opposed to trying to edit myself to be palatable or popular. I don't give a f**k. I fight, but I shouldn't have to."

— Amber Heard quoted in Sunday World

I forgot where I got this but it's pretty cool.

Don't say this to your bisexual partner...

— Don’t Say This To Your Bisexual Partner @ Emphasize This

Yes, don't do that.