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Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your weary 'net denizen"):
thalia@discuss.systems ("Thalia Archibald") wrote:

My SIGGRAPH paper is now published!

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3799885.3816010

#retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #graphics

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
LaChasseuse@mastodon.scot ("Lilly Hunter") wrote:

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

RE: https://techhub.social/@BrentD/116953338928425143

I was on a hilltop near the Korean DMZ, and we watched a grainy B&W picture broadcast from a Japanese TV station.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
BrentD@techhub.social ("BGDon 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 👨‍💻") wrote:

57 years ago was a day where you remember where you were and what you saw - from the Moon!

American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth walks on the surface of the moon. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/armstrong-walks-on-moon
#Space #NASA #Moon #NeilArmstrong #MoonLanding #MoonWalk #Apollo11 #ApolloProgram #ThiDayinHistory

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
AndorianSoup ("Sci Fi Brickyards 🚀") wrote:

Happy #MoonLanding Day 🌜

Boosted by aredridel@kolektiva.social ("Mx. Aria Stewart"):
HeavenlyPossum@kolektiva.social wrote:

Proponents of capitalism have explained to me repeatedly that market competition drives prices down and that capitalists cannot possibly collude to raise prices, because one of them will inevitably defect to undercut the others.

Anyway:

“The states and federal government accused Cal-Maine Foods, Versova and Hickman’s Egg Ranch of a behind-the-scenes arrangement to ‘artificially inflate the daily price quotations for eggs’ between June 2022 and March 2025. In particular, their investigation found that the companies coordinated on what bids they would submit to Urner Barry Publications, a company that runs an index key to determining how much grocery stores, restaurants and others pay for billions of eggs each year.”

https://apnews.com/article/egg-prices-collusion-settlement-d32b05892541613df3f4e4932109ee0c

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
bich@apobangpo.space ("Bich Nguyen") wrote:

"The Trump administration terminated dozens of health research grants this week, telling grantees it is shifting priorities to issues like the 'overmedication of children' and autism, according to a prominent research organization.

The cuts hit projects at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, many of them multiyear awards that had already been indefinitely delayed."

https://rollcall.com/2026/07/17/hhs-research-agency-ends-funding-for-dozens-of-health-studies/

#healthcare #HealthSystems #science #research #grants #funding #HHS #AHRQ #USpol

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

even by its usual low standards it has been absolutely fucking shit today.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
robintw@mastodon.me.uk ("Robin Wilson") wrote:

For those of you who didn't manage to make it to my talk about light, wavelengths, spectrometry and satellites - the recording is already out at https://media.ccc.de/v/emf2026-51-1-lights-spectrometer-action#t=0 (good work video team!) #emfcamp

Boosted by glyph ("Glyph"):
jalefkowit@hachyderm.io ("Jason Lefkowitz") wrote:

RE: https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116953514894220813

Computers have made many disciplines that used to require lots of specialized knowledge accessible to a much broader public: photography, audio production, video production, graphic design, journalism, music engineering, etc etc etc. Things that used to require a lifetime of study you can now get into with some off-the-shelf software.

But that doesn't mean the specialized knowledge is totally useless! Even just knowing the very basics can be the difference between doing the thing in a noticeably rough fashion, and doing the thing in a way that feels polished and confident.

The world could use more resources along the lines of "here are the five most basic things you need to know to not just do [X], but look great doing it."

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

i thought i didn't know how to do this thing but it turns out apparently i do because i'm spotting where the damn bot's maths doesn't add up

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

But still, ~6 years ago, I invested <$100 in the _absolute_ cheapest possible USB microphone, boom arm, shock mount, and pop filter, I carefully make sure I am recording in zencastr or equivalent whenever I am on a show, and I still routinely (as recently as last week!) get unsolicited compliments on my audio quality from both clients on teleconference calls and podcast listeners when I do guest spots, because the floor is just that low

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

I feel awkward giving this advice because my own audio is what I would consider “bare minimum” acceptable, not particularly great; my office has both my spouse & kid next to me, I have recorded podcasts with my spouse working next to me with audible typing sounds in the background, there is some echo in here, the state of my sound treatment is … kind of hilariously bad.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
ben@werd.social ("Ben Werdmuller") wrote:

I know it's not the biggest or most important thing about what's happening in UK politics today, but it drives me bananas that all these politicians are making statements on X. Even Instagram would be a better choice. What will it take for people to leave that hateful site?!

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
CNN@flipboard.com wrote:

CNN speaks to Larry the Cat on the UK’s new Prime Minister
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/20/world/video/uk-pm-cat-stewart-live-0720-10a-seg1-ctw-cnni-world-fast?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into World News @world-news-CNN

cwebber@social.coop ("Christine Lemmer-Webber") wrote:

guy whose opinion is always whatever the trendy new opinion is in tech: "heheh, bet you didn't expect that opinion did you? I'm pretty subversive ;)"

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
nemo@mas.to (":awesome:🐦‍🔥nemo™🐦‍⬛ 🇺🇦🍉") wrote:

Proton says its Proton VPN transparency report update shows 47 legally binding data requests from Swiss authorities in H1 2026—every one was denied. Proton says its no-logs policy means it doesn’t retain connection data that could identify users. 🔒🛡️📄 https://cyberinsider.com/proton-says-it-rejected-all-47-data-requests-targeting-vpn-users-in-2026/ #Privacy #VPN #Cybersecurity

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
samlitzinger@journa.host ("Sam Litzinger") wrote:

“The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that Washington is already on track to borrow nearly $2 trillion this year. Interest payments on the debt are projected to top $1 trillion — equal to Pentagon spending. A decade ago, the GOP was obsessed with balancing the budget and paying down the debt. Since Trump rose to power, however, party leaders have largely abandoned that goal.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/07/20/four-competing-priorities-bogging-down-republicans-ahead-november-elections/

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

RE: https://chaos.social/@vogelchr/116953057618621110

amusing… what? no X10?

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

I've provided product links for convenience but these are in decreasing order of importance, and the MOST important thing you can do is to get the raw audio and put your face close to your microphone. If you have $0, stacking up a bunch of books underneath your laptop to get it closer to your face, saving a local copy of the recording, and maybe putting a pillow on each side of the computer will be a bigger step-improvement to the quality of your audio than $1000 of studio gear

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
xkcd@mastodon.xyz ("XKCD Bot") wrote:

Most coffee shops have a descendant of Sophia of Hanover on staff for this, but just as I was about to ask for help, a previously unknown heir of Uther Pendragon who was ordering a muffin tripped on my laptop cord.
https://xkcd.com/3274/

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

If you really can't be gluing stuff to your walls, you can always get an "isolation shield" which will mitigate things a lot even if your environment is a concrete garage or something https://amzn.to/4bnzJq7

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

When officials say a jail is “crumbling,” the answer is almost always treated as obvious: build a newer, bigger cage.

But organizers in Atlanta, Massachusetts and Illinois are showing there are other answers.

Join us on Wednesday to discuss how communities are fighting jail and prison expansion.

6pm ET / 5pm CT

RSVP: https://actionnetwork.org/events/how-to-stop-a-jail/?clear%5Fid=true

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu ("European Commission") wrote:

We have fined AliExpress €550 million for breaching its obligations under the Digital Services Act.

The company failed to assess and mitigate risks related to the sale of illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products on its e-commerce platform.

Read more: http://link.europa.eu/GxJQbc

#DSA

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

5. Echoey recording environments sound bad. Acoustic foam is also cheaper than you might think. It's also a purchase where the quality doesn't matter much; absolute bargain-basement acoustic foam will not perform much worse than fancy specialized stuff. Even just adding a few pillows and carpets to your room will improve things a bit. Again, if you make a habit of listening to your microphone, you can hear this yourself without needing to suffer through hours of playback https://amzn.to/4frucju

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

(It helps _more_ in situations where you are using something like a lav mic, and you need to make sure you're not making rustling sounds, than ti does when you are using a desktop mic, but it can still help you hear things like whooshing noises if you have a fan or a vent pointed at the mic, or if you unintentionally punch the microphone while gesturing with your hands)

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

4. If you have a real microphone, it will have a "monitor" port, where you can plug in headphones and hear, in real time, what your voice will sound like like in the recording so you can make corrections. If you've ever looked at in-person podcasts and thought people looked silly because they were wearing headphones even though they were physically in a studio with their guest and didn't need to be listening to the other end of an audio call, this is why they were doing that. It can really help.

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

3. You should also really consider a pop filter, because if you're addressing the microphone correctly (i.e. it's right up in your grill) sibilants and plosives are gonna be reaaal harsh. These are even MORE affordable, literally just a few dollars, e.g. https://amzn.to/4vHCHwR

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

2. If part of your job is appearing as a guest, you need to have a real microphone, and it needs to be close to your face. You don't need a live mixer, you can just get yourself a relatively cheap USB microphone (if you want to thank me for this advice, feel free to use this affiliate link) https://amzn.to/4fb1AMm .

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

There are a couple of concrete suggestions here:

1. If you're hosting an interview podcast, do not screen-record your Zoom sessions and ship that as the audio. Use a tool that records locally on both ends so you can edit it together later. I believe that Zencastr is some popular software for this, but you can also just use native platform tools for recording (QuickTime Player) and have your guests send you the raw audio from their end. Zoom codec robot noises on a prerecorded show are agonizing