Mastodon Feed: Posts

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

It's wild some of the tech we came up with to support earlier phone networks. Even though I am old enough to have used one, I never even considered the possibility that a rotary phone might be out of spec and somebody would have to troubleshoot that situation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asjXV3BqDYk

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

Without the ability to enroll international students, Harvard will still have no trouble filling its undergraduate and graduate classes. It will take a bit of an hit in that foreign undergrads generally pay more and get less university-sponsored financial aid, but this won't be make-or break for Harvard financially speaking.

The hit will be primarily intellectual. International students often include some of the most qualified, and most interesting, scholars, especially in STEM PhD programs.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:

Duolingo deletes all its TikTok videos after AI backlash—and then returns with a strange message - Fast Company:

"Duolingo’s first video drop in days has the degraded, stuttering feel of a Max Headroom video made by the hackers at Anonymous. In it, a supposed member of the company’s social team appears in a three-eyed Duo mask and black hoodie to complain about the corporate overlords ruining the empire the heroic ... https://micro.fromjason.xyz/2025/05/22/duolingo-deletes-all-its-tiktok.html

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

Pushing 240 Watts through a USB-C connector is not a thing that you will ever be able to convince me should happen on purpose. 48V at 5A over wires barely the size of human hair is pure sorcery.

jwz wrote:

Welp, that's it for vaccines, then. Great job everybody:

Still eagerly waiting for someone to tell me where I can go meet my local Blade Runner at one of my city's famed Open-Air Drug Markets. I assume COVID vaccines will remain harder to get than heroin...

https://jwz.org/b/ykoV

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

The ambience is to die for.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/05/22/i-usually-imagine-more-hurtling-when-you-say-moons-of-mars/

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
RixtonSnek@tech.lgbt wrote:

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

There are also ventilation structures for the various railroad and subway tunnels that cross the NYC rivers, but their smaller size makes them less prominent. (The electric trains that use these tunnels don't produce exhaust that has to be as aggressively vented as in an automotive tunnel).

Let me just mention that photographing buildings from across the major avenues during the day in midtown Manhattan is like playing a video game in "extreme hardcore" mode.

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

Manhattan boasts six large ventilation towers serving the four automobile tunnels that cross the Hudson and East Rivers: two each for the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, and one each for the Queens-Midtown and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels.

All sport an industrial art deco design reflecting their early/mid 20th century construction. Their large scale and lack of windows lends them an air of mystery; the exterior of the Battery Tunnel building was used as the secret HQ in the Men in Black films.

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

The Lincoln Tunnel, opened in 1937, is a multi-tube automobile tunnel that connects midtown Manhattan with Weehawken, NJ under the Hudson (North) river. To provide fresh air and remove dangerous car exhaust, three ventilation towers (two in Manhattan and one in NJ) exchange the air in the tunnels approximately every 90 seconds.

Infrastructure is heroic.

I didn't notice the "Camera Use Prohibited" sign until it was too late. I guess their secret is out now.

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

Rodenstock HR Digaron-W 32mm/4.0 lens (@ f/7.1), Phase One IQ4-150 back (@ ISO 64), Cambo WRS 1250 camera, shifted vertically -5mm, horizontally -15mm. Cropped a bit.

This humble and functional, yet handsome, art deco structure is the easternmost of three ventilation towers for the Lincoln Tunnel and was completed with its first tube in 1937. The facade was refurbished about ten years ago. It also hosts a large array of cellular telephone base station antennas.

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

Lincoln Tunnel Ventilation Tower, 491 11th Ave, NYC, 2025/

All the pixels, none of the carbon monoxide, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54365775629

#photography

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

So I guess I’m finally going to have to break down and start using Safari Reading List, huh.

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
nullagent@partyon.xyz wrote:

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
afreytes@mastodon.gamedev.place ("afreytes 🇵🇷 ☭") wrote:

I had to do this because reasons. Hope the people I did it for got the message.

Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:

Slightly underexposing this one due to forgetting that I left the linear polarizer on led to results I very much like. Croatia.

📷 Pentax KX
🎞️ Kodak Portra 400
🔭 Pentax M 50mm/1.7
⚗️ Spieker Film Lab

#BelieveInFilm #FilmPhotography #AnalogPhotography #35mm #Croatia

fribbledom ("muesli") wrote:

I find it hilarious that the sticker on my oil can doesn't come off, but the one on my bottle of superglue immediately peels off.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:

The Net (1998) is a TV spinoff of the movie and it is so camp. https://archive.org/details/the-net-1998%5F202204/The+Net/The+Net+-+S01E01+-+Deleted.mp4

denschub@schub.social ("Dennis Schubert") wrote:

achievement unlocked: started a chain of train-puns in our public matrix team-channel.

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
changelog@changelog.social ("Changelog") wrote:

🗿 Neal Agarwal put together a virtual museum of Internet Artifacts, including a map of ARPANET, the first spam email, the first smiley, the first mp3, the first online pizza delivery website (which was probably earlier than you're thinking), and much more. https://neal.fun/internet-artifacts/

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:

I think the content creation ecosystem is propped up by a surprisingly small number of creators.

And I think that *part* of the reason Mark Zuckerberg is laying off workers is that they're more valuable to Meta as recently laid off content creators, pumping out videos for the FYP, than as engineers.

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

I just came back from a great birding trip to South Eastern Arizona where I saw many new birds. This Gambel's Quail is no. 1,000 on my life list 😃 #birds #BirdPhotography #WildlifePhotography #birding #Arizona #quail

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
rygorous@mastodon.gamedev.place ("Fabian Giesen") wrote:

New blog post: "Oodle 2.9.14 and Intel 13th/14th gen CPUs" https://fgiesen.wordpress.com/2025/05/21/oodle-2-9-14-and-intel-13th-14th-gen-cpus/ you saw it here first! But this is the write-up.

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
tylersticka@social.lol ("Tyler Sticka") wrote:

@fromjason https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3QfRJsF9Pk

Boosted by denschub@schub.social ("Dennis Schubert"):
emz@chaos.social ("Emma Zühlcke") wrote:

There is finally a complaint against Deutsche Telekom about their, in my opinion, unfair peering practices (in German): https://epicenter.works/content/keine-zweiklassengesellschaft-im-internet-buendnis-reicht-beschwerde-gegen-deutsche-telekom-ein

It's a practice where they're trying to get money not only from their customers, who pay for internet access, but also from online services using very restrictive peering policies. The result is often that networks (and server owners) who don't pay Deutsche Telekom, experience connection issues with their users.

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
ratfactor@mastodon.art wrote:

Jeez, if anything, her Sketchbook 7 is even *more* stunning than 6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9NvpcURZ%5FM

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
brucelawson@vivaldi.net ("Bruce Lawson ✅ (quiet time)") wrote:

At the weekend, a group of trans women protested topless at the Scottish Parliament about the recent Supreme Court ruling that the Equality Act defines women as "biological women". The police couldn't arrest them, because to arrest them for showing their breasts would be to define them as women (it's not illegal for men to be topless). And, of course, the right-wing press that reported on it censored their breasts, thereby making their point for them.

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
oatmeal@kolektiva.social wrote:

[followup] Eurovision voting system under scrutiny

A wave of criticism is emerging after #Israel's entry, Yuval Raphael, narrowly missed victory at #Eurovision 2025 amid a huge shift in public voting impacting the contest’s integrity. Several broadcasters are calling for a review of the voting rules, citing concerns about "abuse" and "external interference."

[…] Public Spotify and YouTube streaming data shows that Raphael’s track lags far behind other competitors in terms of popularity. New Day Will Rise was the 19th most popular song from this year’s competition on Spotify in the week of the event, yet scored the maximum douze pointsfrom 13 national public votes.

Disparities in viewership versus voting numbers in #Belgium and concerns about #Israel hosting next year are also rising. With calls for double standards in cultural participation, the future of Eurovision’s rules and hosting process are now in question.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/may/21/eurovision-public-vote-israeli-near-win-social-media-campaigns

@palestine
@israel
#GazaGenocide

* Updated url

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
requiem@masto.hackers.town ("requiem 🦫") wrote:

If you can afford it, please get weird where we can see you.

https://jasongullickson.com/weird-in-public.html

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:

Just got back from the future. Turns out, the first AI robot god is pretty chill. Although, it is using its knowledge of the multiverse to make it so that in every universe it is credited with writing Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce. Not sure what the end game is here