This blog is now open source
I have now published publicly for the first time the code that powers this website.
melkat.link
DeepL Translate
Translations with DeepL feels more accurate and more natural. I am looking forward to a browser extension.
🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ pitch tracker for femme voices
Hey I just wanted to share that I open sourced a weekend experiment I made a few weekends ago to track pitch frequencies. It’s not the best, but I learned so much in building it within a few constraints: using React Hooks and must work on mobile Safari as well as desktop browsers.
Video Games Have To Reckon With How They Depict The Police
Don’t trust anyone who wants to depict pigs as anything other than violent and bigoted. Not Spider-man. Not Andy Griffith. No one gets to ignore this.
‘Neopets’: Inside Look at Early 2000s Internet Girl Culture
As a girl who learned web development on Neopets, this is very much true and close to my heart.
Disability is not good for Facebook says: ‘Facebook’.
The audio clip on the article is HORRIFYING. Seems TikTok is not alone in their actions.
TikTok Admits It Suppressed Videos by Disabled, Queer, and Fat Creators
While we're criticizing TikTok for hiding "ugly" and "poor" people from their platform, they have also admitted to discrimination of other protected groups.
TikTok Told Moderators: Suppress Posts by the “Ugly” and Poor
Earlier today it was falsely going around that TikTok was banning Black Lives Matter from their platform. Let's take a look at which groups they are actually preventing from using their platform.
Quick Assist in Windows 10
Sometimes you need to help your family out from miles away. I had no idea this feature was in Windows, for free. Oh, and did I mention it just works?
LumaFusion
I’ve been looking at this app for a while, but it really feels like the closest thing to Final Cut Pro on the iPad (or iPhone?) I was able to take a hour long video and chop it up almost instantly.
My name is only real enough to work at Facebook, not to use on the site
This post is nearly five years old and yet still as relevant as ever, as Facebook still does not like that queer people use their website. This doesn't stop fake accounts or harassment, obviously. The alt-right trolls still attack people daily and use the site to plan attacks on innocent people.
Looking At Guns In Virtual Reality
I think about this video from Polygon a lot. I can’t say I will be able to do justice the gun epidemic in the United States here. Guns are horrifying. I’ve played in VR. Games with guns and people attacking me in VR make me too uncomfortable to ever want to do again. I remember trying Robo Recall for the first time, and I was panicking. When I was 19 I had a gun shot at my father and I. I am very much against guns of all kind. Even in VR. It’s one of the main reasons I don’t like VR.
~80% of Steam games earn under $5K in first two weeks
It also appears no one makes a living on Steam, a platform built upon a race to the bottom of sales.
No one makes a living on Patreon
Every once and a while Patreon doesn something bad and then I can't help but remember this article from before The Outline laid everyone off recently.
Visual Studio Live Share
A new plugin from Microsoft for their code editor allows people to collaborate in real time on projects. This looks so fun.
Adam Ruins Everything - Why People Think Video Games Are Just for Boys
Adam Conover explains the history on Nintendo’s push to push women out of gaming. This is from the episode Adam Ruins Summer Fun of Adam Ruins Everything.
No girls allowed
Tracey Lien’s 2013 piece for Polygon reminds us that Nintendo invented the myth that games are for boys.
Amazonians United Wins PTO for all Amazon Workers
> "Amazon did not “give” us PTO — we took our PTO from Amazon’s greedy hands. And we have to keep fighting so that Amazon gives us our PTO on top of the sick time we already have."
Nintendo explains philosophy behind Animal Crossing’s big changes, such as gender expression and terraforming
Maybe Nintendo is finally growing up? They should fix Zelda and Mario now.
App Developers at Glitch Vote To Form Union
Congratulations to the employees at Glitch! I hope to see this come to a company near me!
Rage Against The M FEAT.Hatsune Miku
"Don't touch my phone / No touch my heart” A fun Miku music video from BIGHEAD, apapico, caseif, and Incept
corellium/projectsandcastle
This is pretty wild! Android apps on iOS? This is something to keep an eye on for sure.
The Curious Worldview of Michael Schur's Television
Grace Robertson digs in to why the politics and self-congratulatory nature of Michael Shur's television shows trip him up and make for awkward television.
Seven Seas Has a Type with License of WHAT THE FONT?! A MANGA GUIDE TO WESTERN TYPEFACE
Anthropomorphic fonts.
Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos
pbs.org •
A *two* hour documentary about the horrifying truth that is Amazon.
Kickstarter Employees Win Historic Union Election
vice.com •
Congratulations to the employees at Kickstarter! I hope to see this come to a company near me!
Blizzard's Long History of Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls and Fear of Women
vice.com •
Nico Deyo comes in holding no punches: 'The inhuman coloration to their skin and general lankiness denotes an otherness, but everything else feels oriented towards sexiness, creating a line of mean, angular villainesses—like fuckable Lamborghinis.'
A Short Hike
This game was a surprise delight! If you’re a fan of Animal Crossing or Night in the Woods you will definitely love this game as much as I do. You can reach the ending in around 2 hours, but there’s so much about this delightful game that will keep you coming back, even after you’ve finished the story.
Well it's an essay about Jon
A lot of people talk about 17776 by Jon Bois, but I was initially introduced to his work through this: a non-linear essay about Jon Bois that is probably more than 17776 words long by Colin Spacetwinks.
one night, hot springs
npckc is probably one of my favorite indie game creators. npckc rose to popularity with this game about taking your trans friend to a onsen, and it’s just so good.
The Pious World of Christian Sonic the Hedgehog Fan Art
This was such a fun read from Colin Spacetwinks about how Sonic is cool enough to fit in to any mold you want.
Hatsune Miku Project DIVA MEGA39
Hatsune Miku comes to Switch! I’m so excited!!! No word on the western release quite yet except that it comes out this year. I’m importing the collectors edition, of course lol
Website Carbon Calculator
A few days ago I was pondering what the environmental difference in buying an ebook from amazon versus buying a physical book was. A day later I found this tool to determine what the environmental impact for visiting a website is.
Combos, a podcast
Ash and Molly mix two great tastes together for one great podcast. I love this podcast so much and I am happy to have it in my podcast app thingy.
MYHOT.PICS - The hottest animated gifs on the internet
Around maybe five years ago I launched a gif management system for myself. I finally rewrote it to be fast and no longer hosted on a computer in my home. Phew!
Pocari Sweat and Hatsune Miku want you to stay hydrated 「Nechusho No!No! feat. 初音ミク＆MEIKO」
Reporting from live from News39, it's Hatsune Miku, Meiko, and other virtual youtubers reminding you to stay hydrated on behalf of a Japanese bottled water company. Music by producer Mitchie M.
SIMON WECKERT: Google Maps Hack
This is amazing. Ever wanted to clear out major streets in your city? It just takes 99 phones, and you can safely walk anywhere you want.
It Took Nearly 10 Years to Finish ‘Kentucky Route Zero,’ But It’s Done
vice.com •
It’s fascinating to hear from the people behind this game. To me it was always mysterious game from a mysterious source that would mysteriously get new chapters. I never demanded anything from them, but I always enjoyed getting more.
'Kentucky Route Zero' Pays Off on Nine Years of Hope and Doubt
vice.com •
I’ve been loving every bit of Kentucky Route Zero since it came out 7 years ago. I’m so excited to get to play the ending!
Playdate Pop Up - Welcome to 2020
It’s good to see Panic shamed in to doing right by the game pop up after throwing their weight around like nasty bullies. It’s a shame they needed to be shamed at all, they should be better than that.
Rae the Doe
A webcomic about a gay disaster, a punk skunk, and lots and lots of puns. Created by Olive Rae Brinker. Updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
byte - creativity first
byte.co •
vine 2.0 is here, and it’s called byte. out now for iphone and android. i don’t know how to link to my account but i’m ‘melkat’ — please follow me
Temtem
crema.gg •
This Pokemon-like MMO came out in early access this week. From what I’ve played it’s pretty solid for a very eary-access game. It focuses on 2v2 battles and unique creature types. You can also make queer characters! Choose from (limited) pronouns, and the main rival in the game is even non-binary! (extra props: they ban transphobic players!)
full list of starbucks trans medical benefits (effective oct 1, 2019)☕️💗 - sofie halili 🛒 on Twitter
I can’t stop thinking about this tweet from Sofie Halili on Twitter showing Starbuck’s full list of benefits for people working 20 or more hours a week. The insurance comapnies might still deny it, but I wish my job offered this!
Melanie Kat
Hi my name is Melanie. This is my webpage with links to a lot of things that I do.