Mastodon Feed
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/arc-prize-2024/
this seems misguided to me
Mastodon FeedMastodon Feedjsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
how very cool:
“…extracting 4,500-year-old dormant yeast samples from ancient Egyptian baking vessels and reviving them…”
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-bread-did-ancient-egyptians-eat
Mastodon Feedjsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
good
Mastodon FeedReblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
exchgr@mastodon.world ("elle mundy") wrote:
it’s finally here: my new website is launched! 🎉 grab your nearest web browser or RSS reader and check it out. (built with @eleventy, among others!)
Mastodon Feedfromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
Obama’s social networking was the real revolution NYT (2008):
"More profoundly, while many people think that President-elect Obama is a gift to the Democratic Party, he could actually hasten its demise. Political parties supply brand, ground troops, money and relationships, all things that Obama already owns."
Kind of sounds like what happened to the Republicans 8 years later with ... https://micro.fromjason.xyz/2024/06/13/obamas-social-networking.html
Mastodon Feedcollinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
Dear Pharrell,
Per your prompt to "clap along if you feel like a room without a roof": I don't really feel qualified to say what that feeling is, and it would therefore be disingenuous of me to engage in clapping. I also feel "happiness is the truth" is a little too vague to warrant an unequivocal answer. For that matter, I'm also not really sure what happiness is to me, either, so I think it's best I abstain from clapping for the time being until further clarity is achieved on my part.
Mastodon Feedcstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
I just remembered that part of the motivation for developing Starlink was that SpaceX needed customers.
"But the reverse is also true: SpaceX’s reusability quest depends on Starlink. The company’s ability demonstrate rapid reuse of boosters requires a demand for launches of them that has come primarily from Starlink. Last year, when SpaceX performed 96 Falcon launches, 63 of them were devoted to Starlink. "
Which is cute, but perhaps circular?
Mastodon Feedcstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Of course, we're not even talking about the externalities. Like in my LB:
Mastodon Feedcstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Also, I've said this before, but I'm still struggling to believe that throwing satellites into decaying orbits is a more cost effective way to provide internet access in the long run than a proper investment in fiber and related infrastructure. It feels like this makes sense only from a capitalist seeking returns on investment perspective assuming monopolistic capture of a market.
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
nemeciii ("Matti Järvinen") wrote:
Megaconstellations like Starlink will increase atmospheric aluminum oxide amounts to 646% over natural levels ( +360 metric tons / year ).
It will take up to 30 years for the aluminum oxides to drift down to stratospheric altitudes, where 90% of Earth's ozone is located.
Once there aluminum oxide will act as a catalyst with chlorine harming the ozone layer.
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-satellite-megaconstellations-jeopardize-recovery-ozone.html
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
futurebird@sauropods.win ("myrmepropagandist") wrote:
Who had that mighty arm? That split the stone, pulled loose the blade? For on a rocky shore, a crack describes this feat of strength.
The lichen split those rocks, my lord, & made the soils from the stone.
And where now is that blade? In this Lichen’s hand, our future king? Where now lives a hero who the ancient rocks must fear?
Seek the crustose crown of ivory foam, fruticose tendrils ring the dome— in golds & greens:a regal mold.
1/
Mastodon FeedReblogged by keul@fosstodon.org ("Luca Fabbri"):
leaverou@front-end.social ("Lea Verou") wrote:
A historical day for CSS 😀🎉
If you write any components used and/or styled by others, you know how huge this is!
background: if(style(--variant: success), var(--green));
Even if you don’t, this will allow things like:
padding: if(var(--2xl), 1em, var(--xl) or var(--m), .5em);GitHub issue: https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/10064
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Mastodon Feedpzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
We have to hit them with a cartoon hammer. The real hammer comes later.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/06/13/the-time-for-subtlety-is-long-gone/
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
lawprofblawg@mstdn.social ("Lawprofblawg") wrote:
Company: Pick a password.
Comp: No, a stronger PW.
Comp: Stronger!
Comp: You used that PW 8 years ago.
Comp: Finally. Now do 2FA and select pics that don't show monkeys.*Five minutes later*
Comp: We regret to inform you your data has been breached and posted to the dark web.
Mastodon Feedpzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
I hope Clarence Thomas and his adoptive son can be reconciled, they have so much in common.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/06/13/fathers-and-sons/
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by andreu@andreubotella.com ("Andreu Botella"):
leaverou@front-end.social ("Lea Verou") wrote:
Group photo of (part of the) CSS WG in A Coruña, Spain, taken yesterday. At the front, its mascot, Zoe. 😀
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
lol, lmao even
this is ART
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Mastodon Feedkeul@fosstodon.org ("Luca Fabbri") wrote:
Just clicked on a link to a project and I ended up on sourceforge.net.
I was not aware this was still a thing - #Memories
Mastodon FeedReblogged by keul@fosstodon.org ("Luca Fabbri"):
sio@livellosegreto.it ("Sio") wrote:
Che fortissimi i cani che parlano wow bau
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Mastodon Feedcollinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
I'm sick of roguelikes.
I'm sick of luck.
I'm sick of "challenges" that are just retrying over and over, waiting for the perfect combination of unlikely events.
I'm sick of situations where it's not possible to win; where no amount of skill or preparation will ever matter.
It's not fun. It's not interesting.
Just going through the motions, hoping chance lets you by this time. But it never does.
Another all-but-hopeless restart.
Maybe tomorrow.
Life shouldn't be so much of a roguelike.
Mastodon FeedReblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
NanoRaptor@bitbang.social wrote:
A monitor portrait on a portrait monitor.
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
davidaugust@mastodon.online ("David August") wrote:
Star probably go boom by September. We we can probably see it just by looking up in the right place in the sky at the right time.
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
gemlog@tilde.zone ("Kermode") wrote:
Free portable air conditioners are in BC, Canada too.
https://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/residential/rebates-programs/savings-based-on-income/free-air-conditioner.html?gad_source=1Available for income qualified households and individuals referred by regional health authority programs
If you live in an income-qualified household and/or have received a recommendation letter from your regional health authority's Home Care Program you may be eligible for a free portable air conditioner (AC).
This program is available year-round. If you apply during the winter and fall, you'll have your evaluation completed and receive your unit sooner than during warmer months. Homeowners can also choose to self-install their units, which may help in receiving a unit quicker, during the summer.
Mastodon FeedReblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
Lana@beige.party ("𝐿𝒶𝓃𝒶 "not your token"") wrote:
In 1978, a woman launched a global microchip revolution, and then disappeared from history.
Lynn Conway was born in Mount Vernon, New York on January 2, 1938. She was a shy and introverted child who did well in math and sciences. However, she was also assigned male at birth and struggled with intense gender dysphoria.
Conway entered MIT in 1955, earning high grades but ultimately leaving in despair after an attempted gender transition failed due to the medical climate at the time. After working as an electronics technician for several years, she went back to school at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science, earning her B.S. and M.S.E.E. degrees in 1962 and 1963.
The following year, she was recruited by IBM and was soon selected to join the architecture team designing an advanced supercomputer. The project, called ACS, which stood for Advanced Computing Systems, has been described by historians as the world's first superscalar design, a computer architectural paradigm widely exploited in modern high-performance microprocessors.
In 1968, Lynn heard about the pioneering research of Harry Benjamin in healthcare for transgender women. And, realizing that gender affirmation surgery was now possible, Conway sought his help. Suffering from severe depression from gender dysphoria, Conway contacted Benjamin, who agreed to provide counseling and prescribe hormones. Under Benjamin's care, Conway began her medical gender transition. After the success of the ACS project, Lynn had hoped to be able to transition on the job, but IBM fired Conway immediately after she revealed her intention to transition.
So, in 1968, Conway restarted her career in computing, this time entering the field as a woman. She took a job at Computer Applications, Inc, then at Memorex, and then finally at Xerox in 1973. In her words, she was now in "stealth mode," under the not unfounded assumption that, should her past be discovered, she would be fired again.
In 1973, collaborating with Ivan Sutherland and Carver Mead of Caltech, Lynn co-developed a revolutionary new method of microchip design that allowed billions of individual components to be integrated into one chip with relative simplicity. Her design was called VLSI - or Very Large Scale Integration, and the importance of this invention cannot be understated in the modern world. Billions of digital devices worldwide, from iPhones to electronic cars to computerised coffee machines, were all made possible in part by her ideas. As the University of Michigan put it in 2014: "Thank Lynn Conway for your cell phone."
In 1978, she left Xerox and took a position at MIT, teaching a now famous course on VLSI design. While there, she co-authored "Introduction to VLSI Systems", with Carver Mead - a groundbreaking work that soon became a standard textbook in chip design, selling over 70,000 copies, and appearing in nearly 120 university curriculums by 1983. Basically, if you are in IT, and got your degree anywhere in America during the 80's you learned your trade, and owe your livelihood, in part, to a trans woman.
Following up on this, Lynn continued to be on the forefront of new technologies. The problem she was now trying to solve was how to cope with the increasing complexity of chip design. As the number of transistors per chip doubled every two years, keeping up with this required new ways to design and manufacture new microchips. In 1981, she invented dimensionless, scalable design rules that greatly simplified chip design, as well as a new form of internet-based infrastructure for rapid prototyping of new chip designs. This new infrastructure was called the Metal Oxide Semiconductor Implementation Service, or "MOSIS", and was funded in part by DARPA. Only two years into its success, Mead and Conway received Electronics Magazine's annual award of achievement. Since then, MOSIS has fabricated more than 50,000 circuit designs for commercial firms, government agencies, and research and educational institutions around the world.
Leaving MIT for DARPA, she became a key architect of the Defense Department's Strategic Computing Initiative, which was a research program studying high-performance computing, autonomous systems technology, and intelligent weapons technology. Working under Dr. Robert Cooper, Director of DARPA and Assistant Secretary of Defense, Conway led the effort that produced the Strategic Computing Plan published in November 1983.
Conway then joined the University of Michigan in 1985 as professor of electrical engineering and computer science and associate dean of engineering. It was here that, in 1987, Lynn met the man who would become her husband - Charles "Charlie" Rogers, a professional engineer who shared her interest in the outdoors, including whitewater canoeing and motocross racing. They started living together, and soon bought a house with 24 acres of meadow, marsh, and woodland in rural Michigan in 1994.
In 1998, Conway quietly retired from active teaching and research as professor emerita at Michigan, and four years later, on a beautiful bright day in August, Lynn and Charlie were married.
On June 9th of 2024, just 3 days ago, Lynn Conway passed away from a heart condition at her home in Jackson, Michigan, at the age of 86.
Lynn was a brilliant engineer and computer scientist, who never sought fame or recognition for her achievements and global contributions to the modern world. But, slowly, that recognition is coming to pass anyway. In 2009, she received an award from the engineering trade group, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE). In 2020, IBM finally apologized for firing her 42 years earlier. And, this past October, just 8 months before she died, Lynn Conway was inducted into the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame as the co-creator of VLSI – some 14 years after Carver Mead received the same honor.
Tell our stories.
#PRIDE #TransHistory
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
So apparently the city of Portland is giving away free air conditioners this summer? You have to qualify under a household income threshold but it looks like you've got at least a 1 in 3 change of qualifying https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/portland-free-air-conditioning-units-311/283-24361b3a-f195-4c31-82d6-481a6533345e
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
clasticartistic@sunny.garden ("-clasticartistic-") wrote:
Noclip - Wipeout 2097: The Making of an Iconic PlayStation Soundtrack
https://youtu.be/-nwWpQJFGp8?si=vBk8WZ9dPW-Pj4gO
Also Tim Wright/CoLD SToRAGE's soundtrack on bandcamp
https://coldstorage.bandcamp.com/album/wipeout-the-zero-gravity-soundtrack
#noclip #retrogaming #retro #ps1 #playstation #sega #segasaturn #music #gamedev #CoLDSToRAGE
Mastodon FeedReblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
I think the thing I find most frustrating about programming languages is that there is no standard way to refer to the length of an array.
Python, go: len(array)
Java, JavaScript: array.length
Rust: array.len()
C++: array.size()
C#: array.Length
PHP: sizeof($array)
Perl: scalar(@array) (lmao)
Swift: array.count
Kotlin: array.sizeLike, seriously? Can't we agree on just this one thing???
#programming #rustlang #golang #cplusplus #php #swift #kotlin #perl #java #javascript #python #csharp
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
danmccullough ("Dan McCullough") wrote:
This Twig Mimic caterpillar, is doing a fantastic job of… looking like a twig.
I glanced down and exclaimed, “Why is there a TWIG on my chair armrest?!”
It enjoyed the compliment so it’s been in this pose for nearly an hour.
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Mastodon FeedReblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
Meetup in London! I'll be talking about #RustLang's paradox of promising safety while allowing unsafe code.
Mastodon Feedpzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Spider "invaders"? You make it sound like that's a bad thing. 🧪
https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/40/4/article-p995D.xml
Attachments:
- (136) Survey of Landscape Influence on Spider Migration into Homes Carol O’Meara *Colorado State University, BioAgricultural Science and Pest Management, Longmont, CO, 80501 Claims of disproportionate numbers of spiders in certain homes and public demand for non-pesticide means of pest control fostered a closer look at whether landscaping and the manipulation of yards can have an influence on spider migration into homes. Typically, spiders are unwanted houseguests, and homeowner concern over potential contacts with spiders poses challenges to acceptance of these beneficial animals. A 2-year survey was conducted to determine if the complexity of landscaping surrounding a home influences the diversity and abun- dance of spiders entering houses. The survey consisted of simple and complex landscapes in a regional area. Complexly planted yards had significantly higher numbers of spiders and greater diversity of spider taxa in houses, suggesting a correlation between landscape density and spider invaders. Species data include those that are synanthropic throughout the United States as well as species that are seasonal home invaders. In all, 804 spiders were collected, with 26 species and 31 genera. Results of this 2-year survey will be presented. (remote)
