@irene@discuss.systems

Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 28, 2026

Replying to @JessTheUnstill@infosec.exchange

@JessTheUnstill@infosec.exchange I hate it so much too because I did a lot of my growing up in Boston which has a toxic Puritan attitude plus all the Lutherans that @dan@discuss.systems and I are surrounded by.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 28, 2026

Replying to @JessTheUnstill@infosec.exchange

@JessTheUnstill@infosec.exchange oh no this is me https://www.sigops.org/2026/slow-software-the-case-for-high-latency-systems-development/

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 28, 2026

Replying to @tsturm@famichiki.jp

@tsturm@famichiki.jp @dan@discuss.systems yeah especially because our Siamese ones are so dog like

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 28, 2026

Ever seen a #cat chase his own tail? And fall over because he was chasing so hard? Now you have. #catsofmastodon

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 25, 2026

Replying to @joewo@mastodon.social

@joewo@mastodon.social I enjoyed this story about WW2. Sometimes it’s the little things. https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/citroens-genius-act-of-sabotage-against-the-nazis-in-world-war-ii/

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 24, 2026

Replying to @irene@discuss.systems

@neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org I just finished reading Careless people which is a totally unsurprising but trashy book about the choices made by Facebook when their product clearly has the potential to and then did kill people. Per the title, they just did not care. Although it would be more correct to say that they cared about other things, like stock price and growth rates more. It took me most of my 20s/30s to wrap my head around the fact that these people were not just dumb or racist or lazy or anything other than actively malicious. Because they don’t think of most people as people. ETA: actually it was more like my 30s since it probably started with the first Trump presidency.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 24, 2026

Replying to @neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org

@neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org this assumes that they care about killing people, especially women. The tech industry has demonstrated repeatedly that they do not care.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 22, 2026

So I went to an allergy specialist at UW medicine recently and in the most Asian twist of all time, HER parents don’t believe that allergies are real either.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 21, 2026

Replying to @ombialik@mastodon.world

@ombialik@mastodon.world loooool

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 21, 2026

Replying to @ombialik@mastodon.world

@ombialik@mastodon.world and how many years has it been since they’ve done any analysis of their own …?

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 20, 2026

Well, a surplus of fruit has made me go on an ice cream making spree. So far I’ve made a rainier cherry and lemon sorbet with rosé and blueberry, roasted cherry, matcha and butter pecan ice cream.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 20, 2026

Replying to @lukito@pelicanfly.fyi

@lukito@pelicanfly.fyi OMG I also have a Pixel and she is SO LOUD, despite being smol

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 20, 2026

Replying to @purplepadma@beige.party

@purplepadma@beige.party @fesshole@mastodon.social I mean at this point my cats are probably licking my lips while I sleep so I’ve just accepted it ..

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 13, 2026

RE: https://mastodon.social/@404mediaco/116909664008218378 This is what it’s like being a woman in America (or any authoritarian state)

Quoting

404 Media @404mediaco@mastodon.social

A Florida police officer met a woman on a TV set, surveilled her for weeks, stalked her, and nearly caused a head-on collision while chasing her to pull her over. https://www.404media.co/footage-shows-cop-stalking-woman-he-met-on-a-tv-set-after-surveilling-her-with-a-license-plate-reader/

Open quoted post

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 12, 2026

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@ferryoons/116872107250631458 Has America crossed the asshole threshold and will it inevitably lead to collapse? America was in the same situation in the 1890s and turned it around. “Millions of people who had every reason to conclude that honesty was for suckers instead went out and found the other cooperators.” Mastodon is how we find each other.

Quoting

Ferryoons @ferryoons@mastodon.scot

Sometimes you come across something that fascinates, and you wish you’d written yourself . Here’s one such. https://thegrimhistorian.substack.com/p/has-america-crossed-the-asshole-threshold?r=pt3y9&utm_id=97758_v0_s00_e0_tv4_a1dennhb6uf2c4&triedRedirect=true

Open quoted post

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 11, 2026

Replying to @plragde@mstdn.social

@plragde@mstdn.social I only just learned about it myself!

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 10, 2026

Replying to @irene@discuss.systems

You can read more about it here https://spectrum.ieee.org/untold-history-of-ai-invisible-woman-programmed-americas-first-electronic-computer

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 10, 2026

Thanks to SIGOPS for republishing my blog post on systems in the AI era. Possibly even more exciting, I found these photos of the women that programmed the ENIAC. While Ekhart and Mauchley got the credit for the ENIAC, it was the women — Jean Bartik, Kathleen Antonelli, Betty Holberton, Ruth Teitelbaum, Marlyn Meltzer, Frances Spence — that actually figured out how to implement their ideas for calculating ballistic trajectories. https://www.sigops.org/2026/slow-software-the-case-for-high-latency-systems-development/

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 08, 2026

New blog post on how to think about systems development in the age of AI. https://www.irenezhang.net/blog/2026/07/06/ai.html #slowsoftware

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 02, 2026

Replying to @skinnylatte@hachyderm.io

@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io I’m not sure what phone plan you have now but I’ve been super happy with T-mobile’s international roaming on my pretty basic plan. My phone just works everywhere and it includes 5GB of high speed data basically anywhere that I’d want to go.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 01, 2026

US politics, Supreme Court Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

RE: https://universeodon.com/@jaykuo/116845789468504056 I didn’t think that I could hate Brett Kavanaugh any more than I already did but when he “wrote that mass illegal immigration was “a new circumstance” the framers of the 14th Amendment “could not have fully anticipated” in 1868.” I lost it. WTF does he think this country was founded on??

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jul 01, 2026

RE: https://flipboard.com/@bbcnews/science-and-environment-s66ehoj8z/-/a-PDFTRvxiQtmjmAOhNlIBbQ%3Aa%3A3199692-%2F0 Beavers are so good.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 30, 2026

RE: https://mastodon.social/@verge/116840280971002207 What dystopian hellscape is this??

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 26, 2026

Replying to @paulk@writing.exchange

@paulk@writing.exchange is that his own child? (Not any less creepy given his comments about Ivanka when she was a child and speculation about whether he was abusing her)

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 26, 2026

Replying to @nddev@infosec.space

@nddev@infosec.space @feff@comicscamp.club @device@infosec.exchange nope, my response was not directly to you. Sorry it came off that way. I should have said, agreed!

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 26, 2026

Replying to @nddev@infosec.space

@nddev@infosec.space @feff@comicscamp.club @device@infosec.exchange yeah I’m sympathetic but a lot of things are hard and we do them anyway. For example, almost every woman that I know gets menstrual pain, for some of them it’s debilitating. So they can’t work or have to work through it for a few days every month. Imagine trying to do your job with a smile on your face while you are being stabbed in the stomach and bleeding onto your clothes and that’s probably happening for a non-zero number of the women that you are interacting with at any given time.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 26, 2026

Replying to @feff@comicscamp.club

@feff@comicscamp.club @device@infosec.exchange yeah that would be ideal. I think just aggressively trying to find and make sure all the women have been fairly considered is important. But there are probably an equal number of workplaces that refuse to consider soft skills. I’m not saying to hire someone totally unqualified but I’m saying that nepotism and shit like that flies way too often for white men.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 26, 2026

Replying to @device@infosec.exchange

@device@infosec.exchange @GeePawHill@mastodon.social whoops, meant to post this here. I can guarantee that no one who gets a job through the “old boys club” feels guilty about it so just don’t say anything. And when you say unsuitable, you actually mean unsafe. So make it safe or don’t hire women. I see you got some good ideas. I can also bet there are some men who are going to be grateful because the unsafe environment was “unsuitable” for them too but they just masked it. https://discuss.systems/@irene/116816966366927833

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 26, 2026

Replying to @GeePawHill@mastodon.social

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social everyone in this thread might want to read this. https://irenezhang.net/blog/2024/07/24/misogyny.html

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 26, 2026

Replying to @device@infosec.exchange

@device@infosec.exchange @feff@comicscamp.club honestly, I would just hire the woman. I know that even if she’s less qualified, she’s going to have better “soft” skills from a lifetime of being expected to do stuff for other people, she’s going to try twice as hard and if it doesn’t work out, it’s not so different from random dude giving a job to his buddy from the golf club.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 10, 2026

Replying to @lerxst@az.social

@lerxst@az.social @quinn@social.circl.lu one of my friends moved to an HOA subdivision where all the mailboxes are identical. Not the same color, literally identical.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 07, 2026

Replying to @Alleman@mastodon.world

@Alleman@mastodon.world I don’t get it. That’s clearly a turkey leg

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 05, 2026

RE: @amydiehl@mstdn.social

This is exactly the issue in academia and tech. It’s never going to change.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 03, 2026

Replying to @dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz

@dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz my PCP says he feels gabapentin is generally safer and better for long term use and it’s cheaper so he usually tries it first. If I feel like the gabby doesn’t work well we can try Lyrica later.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 03, 2026

Pixel’s vet today was telling me how happy she is that they have solensia now. Before solensia, cats were just in chronic pain and being prescribed gabapentin but it isn’t too effective for arthritis pain so they’d still be achy. Me with my #fibromyalgia being treated with gabapentin thinking … yes I know exactly what that feels like .. and would I get better medical care if I was a very large cat??

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · Jun 01, 2026

Replying to @koushiniku@hachyderm.io

@koushiniku@hachyderm.io @dan@discuss.systems yeah ours stopped taking the pill and I didn’t want to pill him so now it’s back to powdered. He seems to really like this flavor of this Calming Care probiotic the vet recommended for anxiety and it seems to hide some of the taste so we’re using it for now.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 12, 2026

Replying to @femme_mal@mstdn.social

@femme_mal@mstdn.social lol I live in Seattle so my vitamin D is bad. My bone density is quite good due to the skating

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 12, 2026

Replying to @Ashedryden@xoxo.zone

@Ashedryden@xoxo.zone @skinnylatte@hachyderm.io lmao, I broke both bones in my lower leg and required a rod and 12 screws in my ankle and they kept telling me that I probably just sprained my ankle.

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 10, 2026

Replying to @ireneista@adhd.irenes.space

@ireneista@adhd.irenes.space @dan@discuss.systems I suppose democratic women are more prepared to fight him if he tries to sexually assault them …

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 10, 2026

Do you read books by women and from the perspective of women? I’ve always thought that himpathy (a disproportionate level of empathy for men) was due to men simply not being able to imagine themselves as women, while women have been trained their entire lives to put themselves in men’s shoes. Highly recommend this article if you want to learn more. https://sorayachemaly.substack.com/p/26-its-not-only-the-violence-women

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 09, 2026

Replying to @irene@discuss.systems

She gets into this position by first circling around on my chest a few times and then turning her butt towards me, scooting back until only her front paws are on my chest and then sitting down. #cats #catsofmastodon #caturday

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 09, 2026

If you were wondering, no, this is not comfortable at all. #cats #catsofmastodon #caturday

discuss.systems

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 09, 2026

Great long article from the author of Rage Becomes Her about the consequences of decentering men. Even if you think of yourself as a feminist, this is a view into how men justify violence against women. https://sorayachemaly.substack.com/p/26-decentering-men-is-not-misandry

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 09, 2026

Replying to @Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange

@Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange HAHAHAH

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 08, 2026

Replying to @moira@mastodon.murkworks.net

@moira@mastodon.murkworks.net @elba@discuss.systems she is. She's also incredibly loud and likes to sit in the window seats glaring at the neighbors

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 08, 2026

Replying to @elba@discuss.systems

@elba@discuss.systems @moira@mastodon.murkworks.net is that what Muffin said??

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 07, 2026

Replying to @moira@mastodon.murkworks.net

@moira@mastodon.murkworks.net @elba@discuss.systems yup no sidewalks here!

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 07, 2026

Replying to @moira@mastodon.murkworks.net

@moira@mastodon.murkworks.net @elba@discuss.systems yeah I don’t know that Maple leaf was even a part of Seattle back then but my neighborhood is still really white. I’m the only POC on my block. TBF, it’s only 8 houses but still

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 07, 2026

Replying to @elba@discuss.systems

@elba@discuss.systems @moira@mastodon.murkworks.net it looks like everything north of the ship canal including all around UW were unofficial but enforced sundown neighborhoods, so neither of us could go outside after dark at our houses!

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Irene Zhang @irene@discuss.systems · May 07, 2026

Replying to @pencilears@mastodon.eternalaugust.com

@pencilears@mastodon.eternalaugust.com @moira@mastodon.murkworks.net ooo I have a (not particularly loud but could be modified to be) car.

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