Mastodon Feed: Posts

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
harriet@pupy.cafe ("harriet!!!") wrote:

was not able to find a person to credit for this, but price per pound of cars vs cheese everybody

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Tariffs are working! China has agreed to a trade deal.... with Vietnam.

Uh, never mind.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinas-xi-meet-vietnam-leaders-kick-off-southeast-asia-tour-amid-us-tariffs-2025-04-14/

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

The metadata for this image claims it was shot at f/16. That's wrong; it was more like f/2.5 or so. This was an artifact of the too-clever-by-half way Leica M cameras estimate the f stop. There's no mechanical link between the aperture ring and the camera body, so instead they estimate the f-stop with a separate light sensor that's compared with the brightness of the recorded image. This works reasonably well, except when you use an ND filter (as here), which confuses it to no end.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Captured with a small full-frame camera and 21mm lens. A three second exposure smoothed waves and surf.

This was an exercise in tone, perspective, and convergence. The four major boundaries of the scene converge (approximately) near the center of the frame, forming a flattened X.

I moved around and composed this both with and without the driftwood in foreground, which interrupts the composition but, I decided, is helpful to anchor the frame.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Pescadero, CA, 2014

All the pixels, none of the fresh air, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/14832380095

#photography

Boosted by taral ("JP Sugarbroad"):
davidgerard@circumstances.run ("David Gerard") wrote:

Boosted by taral ("JP Sugarbroad"):
erictopol@mstdn.social ("Eric Topol") wrote:

p-Tau217 is a breakthrough blood test that can predict and may help prevent Alzheimer's disease.
https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-breakthrough-blood-test-for-alzheimers
Here's the rundown on it. Free, open-access.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
rjblaskiewicz@mstdn.social ("Bob Blaskiewicz 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🇬🇱") wrote:

@mattblaze

I wanted to be able to be able to honestly report to my students how an election was run and see how hard it was to hack an election. So I volunteered for the 2020 general election. I had a great time, celebrated democracy with people I generally did not agree with on much else, and was useful. It's a great civic experience, and I will do it again.

Boosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
evert@indieweb.social ("Evert Pot") wrote:

I just blogged: "Building multi-step login forms that work well with password managers" https://evertpot.com/multi-step-login-forms-for-password-managers/

Boosted by taral ("JP Sugarbroad"):
nullagent@partyon.xyz wrote:

Seattle cops have just activated their new 24/7 citywide AI surveillance camera network.

Cops at operations centers will be watching the video from over SIXTY HD cameras in three neighborhoods.

The cops are storing video for 30 days, or indefinably if a cop decides they want to keep it for "investigation".

Seattle residents tried to stop this dragnet, saying it will only empower Trump in our region.

https://stopsurveillancecity.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/spd-cctv-cameras-are-live/

#Seattle #SPD #ACAB #copcity #PNW #Privacy #surveillance #police

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

My tarantula seems to like to climb and stare out at the world.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/14/such-a-cutie-pie/

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@AnnieG @ronnylam @jhavok @ApostateEnglishman There absolutely are vulnerabilities in much of the technology used in US elections, which is why things like RLAs should be routinely done. But the alarming-looking “evidence” from “ETA” just doesn’t show the “smoking gun” of fraud in 2024 that they claim it does. It’s sloppy pseudoscience at best, deliberate misinformation at worst.

Boosted by taral ("JP Sugarbroad"):
interfluidity@zirk.us ("Steve Randy Waldman") wrote:

the same forces that pushed Obama to say “if you like your health insurance you can keep it” pushes an effective housing politics to concede “if you like your neighborhood, you can keep it”

in neither case is the constraint necessarily virtuous. perhaps it can be overcome. but it’s the same problem.

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

Trump is spending more money than Biden did, and all he's doing is destroying good science and America's reputation in the world.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/14/my-alma-mater-isnt-feeling-so-good/

chipotle@mstdn.social ("Watts Martin") wrote:

New post: "The robots have come for your em dashes" https://coyotetracks.org/blog/em-dashes/

There's a claim running around that em dashes are a sign of AI writing. That might say something bleak about the level of writing polish we expect from humans.

Boosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
PastaThief@indiepocalypse.social wrote:

Per-pound price comparison between various cars and cheeses.

isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:

What I love about this woman is how relentless and energetic she remains through the years of beating the drum of common sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqoyTSAF5g0

#physics #science

Boosted by xor@tech.intersects.art ("Parker Higgins"):
xor@tech.intersects.art ("Parker Higgins") wrote:

10 years ago today I published a blog post about the pomological watercolor collection, which you may know from @pomological. it changed my life in some surprising ways! take a little trip with me down memory lane https://parkerhiggins.net/2025/04/10-years-of-pomological-watercolors/

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

- My top suggestion: Become an election day poll worker! It's an important service and you'll learn a ton!

- This National Academies report is the best overall summary of election security which I'm aware, and despite being published in 2018 is still current: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25120/securing-the-vote-protecting-american-democracy

- Here's a paper outlining the technical issues and solutions: https://georgetownlawtechreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/4.2-p505-522-Blaze.pdf

- I gave a talk at Columbia last year on the state of election security: https://www.cs.columbia.edu/distinguished-lectures/2024-Fall/Matt%5FBlaze.mp4

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

I, too, refuse to date Pedro Pascal, unless it's to a really nice restaurant and he promises a lovely cuddle afterward

RE: https://www.threads.net/@eflind/post/DIXwu9rRCoW

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

Spot the cowards, oh wait, it's all of them

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-avoid-town-halls-congressional-recess-rcna200903

chipotle@mstdn.social ("Watts Martin") wrote:

Lately, every time I fill in a password with 1Password, it brings up a notification saying “fill this with 1Password next time to save time”. I am increasingly reading this as “ready to move to Apple’s system password manager yet?”

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
CelloMomOnCars ("CelloMom On Cars") wrote:

"“The sheep thrive. They absolutely love the panels during the summer – everywhere they go there’s shade. There’s constantly green food underneath them.”

The microclimate under the panels also retains moisture longer, giving grass a better chance to establish and persist through dry spells.

But Inder says he doesn’t just have happy sheep, the quality of the wool and the wool yield has improved."

https://reneweconomy.com.au/the-sheep-farmer-who-turned-a-1800-call-to-coal-giant-agl-into-a-major-solar-grazing-deal/
#agrivoltaics

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
QasimRashid ("Qasim Rashid, Esq.") wrote:

985,000 migrants entered the United States through legal means during the previous administration. They followed the rules just like they were told. They did everything right.

Today Trump unilaterally revoked their legal status.

Let me repeat. It was never about "legal" immigration. It was always about upholding white supremacy. This man is a fascist. The urgency of now to counter his fascism cannot be overstated.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
metacurity@infosec.exchange ("Metacurity") wrote:

Breaking news: The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage — a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China.
https://www.ft.com/content/20d0678a-41b2-468d-ac10-14ce1eae357b

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
Daojoan ("JA Westenberg") wrote:

Rationalists built an entire worldview on avoiding sunk cost fallacy, then refused to leave Twitter.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
futurebird@sauropods.win ("myrmepropagandist") wrote:

Everything made by AI looks like the lobby of the 3rd worst casino. So deeply tacky.

Imagine the guy who hangs up one of those fake AI "schematic" drawings of a fictional spaceship on his wall. From a distance you get a little excited to look at the diagram and see all of the compartments and machine systems.

But, when you look more closely none of it makes sense. It's a fake impression of curiosity, creativity, imagination.

Plastic gold-plated pastiche of "I'm creative & have ideas"

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

got an email alert today (the 14th)
letting me know a package was out for
expected delivery on the 10th

this does not enhance customer satisfaction

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

After great pain, a formal feeling comes —
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs —
The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’
And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’?

The Feet, mechanical, go round —
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought —
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone —

This is the Hour of Lead —
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow —
First — Chill — then Stupor — then the letting go —

— Emily Dickinson, prolific LLM user, 1862

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
bendystraw@jawns.club ("Becky Sweger") wrote:

Instead of the advent of code, I’m gonna start doing the lent of code, where you give up your favorite programming language or feature for 40 days