Mastodon Feed: Posts

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
seanfobbe@fediscience.org ("Seán Fobbe") wrote:

I'll be honest, I don't intend to submit academic papers to US-based journals and conferences anymore.

1. Self-censorship of science at US universities and scientific organizations is in full swing and I see virtually no institutional resistance (although some individual scholars are protesting). I don't expect to get a fair hearing with human rights-oriented empirical legal research in peer review any longer.

2. The way this is going I would expect even currently neutral journals to fold within the usual timeframe of a paper review process. I don't feel like burning a paper in the hopes of getting it published before the door closes.

3. I prefer to submit my research to journals backed by institutions that support human dignity, diversity and the freedom of scientific research.

We've all seen where this went in Europe during the 1930s. I hope the US will learn from our history, but I am not optimistic right now.

#AcademicMastodon #ScienceMastodon

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
inthehands@hachyderm.io ("Paul Cantrell") wrote:

What's the difference between a burning Tesla and an apartment lease?
You can get out of a lease.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
GottaLaff@mstdn.social ("Laffy") wrote:

Don’t ever tell me pressure doesn’t matter.

“Target suffers eighth week of foot-traffic losses since caving on DEI

Costco, which resisted demands to end DEI, extends its streak of foot-traffic gains to 13.” https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2025/03/28/target-suffers-eighth-consecutive-week-of-foot-traffic-losses-since-caving-on-dei

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
billkimler@mstdn.social ("Bill Kimler") wrote:

"Nearly every modern medical treatment can be traced to research funded by the National Institutes of Health: from over-the-counter and prescription medications that treat high cholesterol and pain to protection from infectious diseases such as polio and smallpox.

However, the scientific work driving these medical advances and breakthroughs is in jeopardy."

2/2

Boosted by jwz:
_9CL7T9k8cjnD_ ("-0--1-") wrote:

Lololol! #TSLA This!

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

“the greater good” appears to be an alien concept to this administration

https://mstdn.social/@billkimler/114269700221994377

Boosted by jwz:
mwl@io.mwl.io ("Michael Lucas :flan_set_fire:") wrote:

using #firefox or a derivative? Setting browser.ml.chat.enabled=false turns off the brand-new AI features.

You're welcome.

(RIP my mentions, muting this)

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
TexasObserver@texasobserver.social ("Texas Observer") wrote:

Featured story: These legislative proposals mark the most significant effort by Republicans to allay concerns from patients and providers about Texas abortion law. But now advocates worry this "clarification " poses new dangers to pregnant people. https://www.texasobserver.org/republican-abortion-laws-texas-legislature-exceptions/

#politics #USpol #ReproductiveRights #abortion #Texas #TXlege #health #healthcare #women #news

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
b0rk@jvns.ca ("Julia Evans") wrote:

spotted this van today

Boosted by jwz:
PhineasX@mastodon.art wrote:

Hello people who are inexplicably following me here. It's possible you've noticed that the world is going quite entirely to hell, and with it a lot of my work drawing things for money has dried up. Gotta be honest, it's bad. So I am telling anyone doing less badly who wants to buy some stuff from me how to do that…

Original paintings, prints, etc: https://octophant.us/buy

Art Prints: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/phineas/

Shirts & Merch & Stuff: https://octophant.threadless.com/

Please to have a look won't you

Boosted by jwz:
QasimRashid ("Qasim Rashid, Esq.") wrote:

Guy worth $340B spending $25M in WI is like the median American worker who makes $39,982 a year spending $2.94.

Meaning, a $5 cup of coffee has a greater financial impact on a working American than $25M did on a maniac billionaire.

This is how democracies collapse.

TAX BILLIONAIRES OUT OF EXISTENCE.

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
valerie@social.lol ("valerie :prami_pride_ace:") wrote:

@adam I have an artist friend who last year found an AI model made specifically to mimic her work and style. I find it so frustrating that society has become accustomed to this feeling that art should be free, and have lost the respect for the amount of effort it takes individuals to make it. The person who made that model surely did it because they love her work, and not with the intent to do her harm, but that line of thinking is so disconnected from reality.

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
piccalilli@front-end.social ("Piccalilli") wrote:

Fantastic advice *and* a tangible call to action.

https://brilliantcrank.com/eject-disk/

taral ("JP Sugarbroad") wrote:

I'm going to guess that Matrix doesn't implement Byzantine consensus, even though my many years of experience with IRC say that it definitely will need it.

https://akko.erincandescent.net/objects/25eda234-9d88-4297-bafa-ec1e2fed1c27

Boosted by taral ("JP Sugarbroad"):
erincandescent@erincandescent.net ("Erin 💽✨") wrote:

A friend likes to say "distributed systems are a way to turn a single node failure into a multiple node failure"

Now, they weren't talking about Matrix, but they sure were talking about Matrix.

Boosted by jakedel@mamot.fr ("S. Delafond"):
santiago@framapiaf.org ("Santiago") wrote:

Just uploaded my first package to Debian via #debusine! 🍥 🏭 🎉 !

Take a look to the nice workflow (https://debusine.debian.net/debian/developers/work-request/74300/) that ended up as "Accepted pypdf 5.4.0-1 (source) into unstable" (https://tracker.debian.org/news/1634651/accepted-pypdf-540-1-source-into-unstable/)

And did you know that any DD can use it right now?

Kudos to the #debusine team!

#debian #debusine #freexian

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

There is a Star Wars quote that is perfect for this situation. “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.”

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/02/i-felt-a-great-disturbance-in-the-force-as-if-millions-of-voices-suddenly-cried-out-in-terror-and-were-suddenly-silenced/

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
andycarolan@social.lol ("Andy Carolan :prami:") wrote:

@adam Slop Quest! @stroughtonsmith

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

Mr Rogers said, "Look for the helpers." Israel says, "Look for the helpers, so you can execute them."

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/02/monstrous-2/

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
siracusa ("John Siracusa") wrote:

I really hope a part of the Nintendo Switch Welcome Tour is a visit to the Hall-effect sensors that power the JoyCon sticks…

adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:

My favorite thing from the Nintendo Direct? Koichi Kawamoto’s wonderful hand gestures.

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

I crashed a conference call, once. I'm a naughty person.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/02/secret-group-chatsin-2008/

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
ben@werd.social ("Ben Werdmuller") wrote:

On surviving: "Art brings us back to ourselves, helps us root in our own agency and creative power, makes space for the joy of craft and play, and reminds us of our purpose in the world." #Culture https://werd.io/2025/keep-moving

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
carlosefr ("Carlos Rodrigues 🪣") wrote:

This "Studio Ghibli" craze is a good example of how generative AI destroys (economic and cultural) value.

In a few weeks, when people get bored/sick of the memes, what would have become of the art style that those folks in Japan spent decades perfecting? And what does that mean for any future work they'll produce?

We've already seen this with several illustration styles, which have become synonymous with no-value AI slop even when drawn by a human hand.

#randomthoughts #ai #enshittification

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
DrALJONES wrote:

Interview: "Elon Musk’s Family History in South Africa Reveals Ties to Apartheid & Neo-Nazi Movements"

Elon Musk was born in 1971 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and raised in a wealthy family under the country’s racist apartheid laws.

"Musk lived what can only be described as a neocolonial life. If you were a white South African in that period and you had any money at all, you lived with servants at your beck and call.”

~ Chris McGreal

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/3/27/elon%5Fmusk%5Fsouth%5Fafrica

#musk #neonazism #apartheid .

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

“I am very worried about this: a government that has this little in terms of guardrails on it, and has appointed this many people who are manifestly unqualified – except that they’re loyalists to Donald Trump – to positions like the FBI. I don’t think you have to have a particularly active historical imagination to think that that can go very badly.” - Ezra Klein

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/apr/02/ezra-klein-on-trump-vance-and-free-speech-it-feels-like-we-are-in-one-of-the-darkest-imaginable-timelines

adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:

We’re rapidly losing the humanity in designing things for humans. Yeah, it’s very impressive—on a vapid, surface level—that we can say “make a recipe manager UI” and the magic parrot in the data center will cough one up for us. But where is the actual care for the human UX in that? It’s just a pretty picture.

“Oh, Adam, calm down. It’s just a way to generate some ideas.”

No. It’s a way to see everyone else’s ideas artificially reflected back at us. It’s stupid and lazy. We all deserve better.

adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:

[heavy sigh]

https://mastodon.social/@stroughtonsmith/114264655660039248

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

Elon Musk tried to buy an election, and failed. Unsurprising, in some ways: I'd be embarrassed to support this prancing, pandering clown.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/02/happy-news-from-the-state-next-door/

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
ghibli@beep.town ("Studio Gifli Bot") wrote:

Attachments:

• gifv: That's why I've never left this room.