Friday, May 13, 2022

The Non-Binary Conundrum

Ok. So this is going to be unpopular opinion, but please just hear me out.

A lot of people say they are Non-Binary or NB due to not feeling they fit into what society says a man or a woman should be. 

But what if, instead of being a neutral gender... That we simply say fuck you to Heteronormative standards? Instead of being NB, I'm saying no, I too, am what a woman is. Let's broaden the definition of what a man is. Let's broaden the definition of what a woman is. I also, with my short hair and men's clothing, am a woman.

Don't erase your gender identity simply because you don't fit into someone else's box. Expand that box, to include you. You, also, are what a woman is. 

The younger generations aren't going to understand my GenX rationale but I had to put this out there. 

I also don't like the term "gender non-conforming" because to me it indicates that there's a difference. No. See past what they tell you that you should be. Make society bend to you, don't bend for them.


Sunday, May 8, 2022

Twitter Apps for Android

 As you know from previous entries, I enjoy reviewing apps from the Play Store on Android. Sorry, I do not have an iPhone so this is just Android.

I wanted to do a Twitter app review because it is interesting to see the different UI, features, layouts, etc on these apps. I have two twitter accounts, and enjoy tweeting my beligerance at the world once in a while. I mean, if something is wrong - tweet about it. I decided to keep my reviews to only 5 twitter apps - 4 of which are 3rd party, and the 5th is the official twitter app.

Albatross

Albatross has a rather clunky interface. This is the 2nd worst UI that I found out of these 5, because it looks like it was made in 2011 or something, and that they never updated it since then. It is cool, though, that you can change your accent colors, and it has a fingerprint lock. The Play store entry indicates the developer is always working hard on making the app great. 3 Stars.




Fenix 2

The interface is kinda basic, a little boring. Ugly UI. But you can change the font, which is cool. I was unable to change to dark mode, however. It may have just been a glitch. But no one wants a glitchy app. It has an interesting type of "conversation view" where you can see all the comments under a tweet, just by clicking onto that tweet. This allows you to see who said what, and when. 3 Stars



Official Twiter App

It seems like eventually everyone migrates back to the official app for some reason. Some of these 3rd party apps don't have the capability to send/receive DM's, and there may be other features you can only get with the official app. Now that Elon Musk has bought twitter, maybe we can see some improvements. Hopefully it's not going to be the other way around... I mean, he could probably afford to remove the intrusive ads right? 4 Stars




Harpy (free version)

Harpy has a very unique and beautiful UI. The free version gives you 3 really nice looking themes to choose from. Paid gives you more. There is no DM capability yet, and you can't use an @mention. I was told you used to be able to @ people but the capability is broken. So even though this twitter lacks a lot of features, it is currently in a Beta release for the pro version, and will likely include these things in a future update. Therefore, I give it 4 Stars.




Owly

This one is my favorite of the 3rd party apps. It has a very nice, clean UI that uses Material Design, and is easy to use/figure out. Pro version is just $2.99 one time fee which is so much better than having to pay for a subscription. As a result, I used some Google opinion rewards from surveys, to purchase the full version. it gives you themes and colors, as well as some other decent features that you may not find in some others. 5 Stars




In conclusion, I highly recommend Owly if you do not like using the official app. The official app is the best one for nearly every feature that is possible with Twiter, except for themes/colors. You're stuck with the UI of twitter's official app which means "suggested" tweets/users, and ads (if you dont have an ad blocker).. Fenix2 and Albatross were ok but nothing truly special. Navigation on these 2 were a little cumbrous. But you can't beat the UI of Harpy. When Harpy is able to offer more features, I feel like it will be the best one. I am unsure at this time, as to when they will update it. 






Redgloam Revisited

I started fiddling with making music on the computer in 2000. I called myself "Redgloam" and I had a lot of songs up on acidplanet...