friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Mother-in-law took Katy and me out to a new restaurant for lunch today. The service was a tad slow and the prices a tad high, but the food was absolutely top notch. If you're in the downtown Kitchener area, like Salvadorian food, and accessibility isn't a major concern,* Pupusa City is definitely worth checking out. #KWAwesome #DTK

* Helping her up the (three-ish) stairs was tricky.

#kwawesome #DTK

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
LLMs and accessibility

So, I keep seeing people using LLMs to generate alt-text for images. From an accessibility standpoint, I guess this is better than no alt-text at all, but...

I notice that the descriptions they generate are... often technically accurate... I guess? It's just that they really seem to suck at infering from context what parts of the image are noteworthy and what aren't.

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

mastodon - Link to source

Ryan Robinson

re: LLMs and accessibility
To be fair a lot of humans are also very bad at writing alt text, if they try at all. I just hope the LLM assisted ones are a lot more coming from an attitude of "I can start from the generated text then learn to do it better" or at least "this is all I have time for and it's better than nothing" rather than "I don't have to think about this anymore because the computer will do it."
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Jonathan Lamothe

Par-ce que le message original ne tiends pas texte alternatif:

trois photos avec texte: le premier est d'un rottweiler avec la texte "J'attaque sur ordre de mon maître"; le deuxième est d'un bergier allemand avec la texte "J'attaque si mon maître est menacé"; le troisième est d'un chat avec la texte "J'attaque mon maître"

Because the original message lacks alt-text:

three photos with captions: the first is of a rottweiler captioned, "I attack on my master's orders"; the second is a german shepherd captioned, "I attack if my master is threatened"; the third is a cat captioned, "I attack my master"

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
differences in experiences with the health care system

So, one of my nieces told me a story today about how she went to the hospital in severe pain and they wouldn't even give her Advil.

I, on the other hand, went in—admittedly in pain, but it wasn't my primary concern—and was offered a morphine script (which I declined).

What??

I don't want to just jump to the conclusion that the difference is that I'm a white male, but...

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

mastodon - Link to source

JSkier

The irony of this statistical issue in healthcare is women typically have higher tolerance for pain than men, yet the opposite solution happens. A woman in pain really means they are in pain.

My wife has had pharmacists accuse her of med seeking. Shut up and fill the rx, she has a rare, deadly, and painful medical condition most doctors don't even understand, let alone a pharmacist 🫠 #veds

#veds

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

So since this morning I've been having this weird weakness in my arm. I figured it was possibly a result of the muscle relaxant I was prescribed last night, but I imagine that should be well out of my system by now. I called the telehealth system again and am currently waiting on a callback from a nurse—which should happen in the next couple hours.

It was suggested that I could use their online symptom assessment tool for faster advice, but after jumping through those hoops, all it tells me is "seek medical advice".

Umm... what exactly is it you think I've been doing all this time?

HeliosPi reshared this.

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

I'm sure everyone here has "the tech box": that box where you shove the miscelaneous cables and dongles and other crap that isn't currently being used but is too useful to just get rid of. In my case it had spilled over into multiple boxes and had just become a bit of a nightmare.

Anyhow, my parents were getting rid of this guy, so we took it home with us. Katy and I just spent the past hour meticulously going over every single item in our various tech boxes and cataloging them into a system inspired by the one described in @Cory Doctorow's book, Makers.* It's not quite so elaborate as in the book. It's just an org-mode document that tells me exactly which drawer each item is in—no fancy RFID tags, but they're not items with a lot of churn either, so it's fine. Got to admit, it was rather satisfying to my probably #AuDHD brain.

Anyhow, I present to you the new gay tech organizer.

* That system has lived rent free in my head since I read the book like a decade an a half ago.

Edit: I make one little edit to fix a typo (okay two typos) and then need like three more edits to fix the formatting errors those introduced. I'm fired.

a stainless steel framed storage cabinet with colourful plastic drawers, filled to capacity with junk... I mean, useful things
#AuDHD @Cory Doctorow
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

diaspora - Link to source

juliadream

Went on a short break with a friend last weekend.. They "forgot" the usb-c wire their stupid modern phone needs (mine is sensible micro usb like 99% of its era) .. They had to go find one in a very expensive tourist city... 2 hours later I found one still new complete with it's little wire tie lying on the street....... so now I have my own usb-c charging cable and nothing to plug it ..

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

My bulk mail folder sure has been a source of comedy gold lately. Just got an email offering to sell me a variant on a domain I already own for a mere USD 699. Apparently it's been offered to several other "matching businesses" and will be sold on a first come first served basis.

The best part: my registrar says it's available and I can have it for $17.99.

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Got an email from a recruiter this morning. I thought it was for a position at a well-established company, and despite the yellow flags I decided to at least look into it.

It's clearly a different company than I thought, with a prominent typo right on their landing page (apparently they're a "worldwid" organization).

Also, they have both 10+ years of experience and were established in 2024? 🤷‍♂️

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Welp, Nextcloud went sideways when I tried to upgrade it today. I am however happy to report that I have confirmed that my backup system works.

I'm probably gonna have to figure out how to do a manual upgrade again. I have to do this every few years, but not often enough that I can remember off the top of my head how. I just remember that it's a pain in the ass.

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