What I'm Up To (April 2024)

My presentation was on, 'Centering Marginalized People: in a world of artificial intelligence'. The main gist of what I think on this is, 'why AI? why now? what are you trying to do?' and also 'maybe we can start by going back to basics: try to do things that center marginalized people and you'll get more accessibility AND better AI'.

We had a vet scare: Cookie is 15 years old this year. She suddenly stopped eating. We received excellent emergency veterinary care at SF AMC. It was pricy, like all emergency vet care, but our pet insurance went a long way. I don't think one should have senior pets in the US without good pet insurance. Anyway, the worst is over, but it was touch and go at one point. Cookie is all better, though she will always have a problem with her digestive system, but the worst is over and we found a way to keep her in a good state, for now. I even posted a retrospective of Cookie's life, but she survived. I'm not sorry: I am thankful for the miracle!

I've been working on some large projects at work. I can't talk about them yet, but they are impactful and significant. I like work. There's just a lot of it.

I've been enjoying my newfound Mastodon food influencer fame. Bit of a joke, but kind of not. There aren't really traditional influencers on Mastodon. But I get to pretend, and to do it in a way I prefer: nerdy, text-based deep dives into things that I really like.

For example, soy sauce. And tofu.

I love cashew curry. When I spent time in North India, I found I didn't love the food of the Hindi belt (I have a hugely biased preference for south Indian, mainly south Indian coastal cuisine). But. Cashew curry, I loved. So I cooked it. It will now be a regular dish in my repertoire.

Yes, it's arbitrary, and assimilationist. But I would not be able to have any of this life I now have, without queer marriage as an institution.

Re-upping my mango newsletter. How to buy and eat Indian mangoes. More recently: a list of tandoori restaurants, and a tandoori glossary. I have so many food-related projects now it's hard to keep track.