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

@whybird @BlueDot Here's a sample ballot and voter information pamphlet from San Francisco from 2020. It's 233 pages long, and lists all the ballot questions. There are 38 questions (making this a small ballot for California), using four different voting methods (vote for one, vote for k out of n, ranked choice, and yes/no).

Good luck tallying that without a machine.

https://sfelections.sfgov.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Voting/N20%5FVIP%5FEN.pdf

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Boosted by mbrubeck@mefi.social:
ArchusByte@hachyderm.io ("Archus Byte") wrote:

OMG there is a rabbit nest next to our compost bin. I guess we won't be moving that bin to the curb anytime soon 🙂

#seattle #ballard #rabbit #bunnies

5 baby rabbits (kits) huddled up next to a compost bin

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Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz ("John Carlos Baez") wrote:

Hurrah! I''ve gotten funding to meet with

• computer scientists who do epidemiology: Nathaniel Osgood, Xiaoyan Li, and William Waites
• software engineers who know category theory: Evan Patterson and Kris Brown
• a mathematician: Sophie Libkind
• an economist: Owen Haaga

for 6 weeks this summer, in Edinburgh! We'll be using category theory to develop new modeling software.

Here's a short description of our project:

Many of the most urgent social, economic and public health problems facing humanity require dynamic simulation modeling for a well-informed response. Sadly, most current models are labor intensive to build, difficult to reuse or adapt, and reliant on proprietary software. Our team has used modern mathematics to develop flexible open-source frameworks for "stock and flow models", which treat populations en masse, and also "agent-based models" or "ABMs" which simulate each individual separately. In our meeting we will develop new mathematics and create new software to design and work with "hybrid" models which combine stock and flow models and ABMs. To illustrate the power of this new software, we will create demonstration models of

  1. gestational and type II diabetes,
  2. labour shocks as the economy decarbonizes.

I've been working on applied category theory for a while, so it's great to see it getting ever more practical.

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Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
SuffolkLITLab@esq.social wrote:

TL;DR: Bluesky faced government censorship as it restricted access to 72 accounts in Turkey, responding to local authorities. However, third-party apps remain unaffected for now, highlighting a loophole in the platform's structure. https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/23/government-censorship-comes-to-bluesky-but-not-its-third-party-apps-yet/ #law #tech #legaltech ⚖️ 🤖 #autosum

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cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:

I'm reading a book that made reference to this short story from Arthur Porges. It was written 40 or so years before Wiles completed a proof of Fermat's Last "Theorem", but it's still a fun twist on the usual deal-with-the-devil story. "The Devil and Simon Flagg":

https://archive.org/details/annette-peltz-mc-comas-the-eureka-years/page/254/mode/2up

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiles's%5Fproof%5Fof%5FFermat's%5FLast%5FTheorem

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Boosted by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
mathowie@xoxo.zone ("Matthew Haughey") wrote:

omfg the font used in this famous anti-piracy campaign used a pirated commercial font.

source: https://fedi.rib.gay/notes/a6xqityngfubsz0f

you wouldn't download a car PSA image

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

Yes, I've read that blog post.

There may well be interesting things to learn about security protocols in papal elections, but they have little to do with the very specific problems in civil general elections in democracies.

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

"Warfighter" is a term only a jingoistic propagandist would use.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/23/an-ugly-word-warfighter/

GI Joe action figure

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

@BlueDot This is just stupid.

There are fewer than 200 people voting, they all know each other, and they're locked in a room together

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

When I get elected pope, I assure you the procedure will have been entirely legit.

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

I've had at least two journalists (from reputable places) ask me about hacking papal elections and/or how we can apply the security for electing popes to US elections.

Just no.

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slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Apple plays the same games everywhere, assuming that regulators will either not understand that they are acting disingenuously, or that Apple's bleating about how objective and rational criteria are somehow "unfair" will undermine their own credibility in front of those enforcers.

Case in point, remember how Safari is actually 3+ different browsers? Pepperidge Farm -- and regulators around the world -- remembers:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/29/apple%5Fipados%5Fdma%5Fgatekeeper/

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slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Literally every part of this is facially incorrect. To qualify for intervention under the DMA (the law being used here), Apple needed to meet objective criteria for market significance:

https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/gatekeepers%5Fen

Google's Android and Play store are similarly situated and *also* covered under the DMA's gatekeeper designations, a process that Apple briefed the EC on in what can only be described as shockingly bad faith:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/29/apple%5Fipados%5Fdma%5Fgatekeeper/

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slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Apple's rhetoric regarding DMA fines is wilfully deceitful and intentionally misleading. Let's look at the depths Cupertino will plumb to defend *extremely* predatory behaviour.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm248vzg9jwo

The BBC quotes Apple repeating lines that it often trots out whenever anyone points out that its rent-extracting behaviour via the App Store is monopolistic and predatory:

`... Apple saying it was being "unfairly targeted" and forced to "give away our technology for free."`

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Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
checkervest@laserdisc.party ("wicker boyfriend") wrote:

Pulled the last little guys out of the kiln first thing and what a Wednesday delight

Big tired ceramic toad. His body is a warm brown and his belly and eyes are a yellow brown. He’s heavily textured with large bumps and lots of tiny depressions, and while my usual frogs fit in my palm he would be almost the size of my clenched fist
Big tired ceramic toad. His body is a warm brown and his belly and eyes are a yellow brown. He’s heavily textured with large bumps and lots of tiny depressions, and while my usual frogs fit in my palm he would be almost the size of my clenched fist. In this photo he is looking great it at the camera looks especially tired and maybe hungover
Big tired grumpy ceramic toad. His body is a warm brown and his belly and eyes are a yellow brown. He’s heavily textured with large bumps and lots of tiny depressions, and while my usual frogs fit in my palm he would be almost the size of my clenched fist. He’s facing the left and this side of him in profile is much more tired than grumpy

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Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
pkirn ("peter KIRN") wrote:

"Funk was a genre of sonic color, a genre that crossed oceans, a genre rooted in radical joy and inclusivity. We Want The Funk! makes clear that Black art is not just expression — it’s liberation."

- Black Enterprise review. Full documentary is online:

https://cdm.link/funk-music-history-documentary/

Still from the documentary, with PBS and Independent Lens logos. Sly and the Family Stone playing live

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

Most people are aware that Donald Trump is still President of the United States. But did you know that Pete Hegseth is still Secretary of Defense? And Eric Adams is still mayor of New York City? Seriously, look it up.

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

I recently made some DEIA profile pics for an event.

I'm especially pleased with how the person wearing a Hijab turned out!

#DEI #DEIA

Profile picture Illustration of a person wearing a Hijab
Profile picture Illustration of a person wearing a pair of glasses with one lens blacked out.
Person wearing a hoodie with a trans flag pattern.

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

If you want to see pure evil, just look at our government. Don't touch it, though!

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/23/our-government-is-occupied-by-pure-evil/

Mom! Dad! It's evil! Don't touch it!

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

The upbeat music American Airlines uses for boarding violates the Geneva Conventions

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

Background: there's a web site with a bunch of very pretty charts and graphs of various voting patterns in a few counties from the 2024 election claiming, without any actual rigorous analysis, that this proves "irregularities" in the 2024 tally. Naturally, there's a "donate" link.

It has an army of supporters on social media pushing it. Don't fall for this, no matter how much you want it to be true.

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

No, the pseudo-statistical gobbledegook claiming to "prove" that the 2024 election was stolen is not "justified" by the fact that "Trump claimed 2020 was stolen". (Someone just claimed this to me over on Bluesky.)

A grift is a grift, no matter who it purports to support. (The difference here is that this time around, the losing candidate isn't trying to exploit it).

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Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
humdrum@social.lol ("kevin humdrum") wrote:

I’m not completely sold on the idea yet… but after putting analytics on Foofaraw, I’ve been toying with the idea of trying to get weekly sponsors to help cover costs while I’m on the hunt for a day job. If you know of anyone with a cool, small project that might want to spread the word while also supporting indie publishing for ~$15-25/wk—let me know!

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

Captured with a BetterLight Scanning Digital back and a 180mm/5.6 APO Sironar-N lens (@ f/16), Sinar P camera.

The BetterLight system was a great way to do digital captures 20 years ago, but it was extremely cumbersome to use in the field.

This is a mostly abstract study in industrial shapes.

These tanks, and most of the other obvious hazards on Treasure Island, have by now been removed, but the soil is still heavily contaminated in some areas.

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

Tank 3 - Regular Unleaded, Treasure Island, San Francisco,. CA, 2007.

All the pixels with none of the environmental hazards at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/2117817283

#photography

A large, cylindrical tank with peeling paint, on concrete blocks, stenciled with the digit "3" on the end with a label that says "Regular Unleaded" below. A spigot protrudes from the tank at the bottom on the end.

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

how delightful @CARROT

Attachments:

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Boosted by pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷"):
grrlscientist ("GrrlScientist ⧖ Ⓥ 🇺🇦") wrote:

"There was no autism diagnosed before 1930."

Pluto wasn't discovered until 1930, but I'm pretty sure it was there the whole fucking time.

#politics #Vaccines #autism #healthcare #MedicalMalpractice #RFKJr #IdiotAlert

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

rigged up a cool Signal messenger API that I can reach over @tailscale, using a Dockerized wrapper around signal-cli. so far love this setup, wrote some notes https://parkerhiggins.net/2025/04/signal-messenger-api-tailnet-docker-compose/

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Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
randahl ("Randahl Fink") wrote:

When politicians want to cut spending in my country, Denmark, we sometimes postpone the plans for a new swimming stadium, or build a less lavish new library building, because these things are not need-to-haves.

When Trump cuts spending, he removes the suicide hotline for young LGBTQ people, because he thinks those 1.3 million suicide-related phone calls are not important.

Insane.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/04/national-suicide-hotline-lgbtq-youth-cuts-rfk-jr-hhs/

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Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
antlerboy ("Benjamin P. Taylor") wrote:

Research Associate – using systems thinking to address inequalities in diet x2 (Fixed Term) – MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, £37-45k, deadline 4 May 2025 https://stream.syscoi.com/2025/04/23/research-associate-using-systems-thinking-to-address-inequalities-in-diet-x2-fixed-term-mrc-epidemiology-unit-university-of-cambridge-37-45k-deadline-4-may-2025/