@zdl@mastodon.online
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

zdl

@zdl@mastodon.online

Half-German, Half-Chinese, Half-Canadian, all-bad at math, currently living to her consternation in the People's Republic of China.

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tristanls, to random
@tristanls@mastodon.social avatar

I'm starting to think there will be business opportunities that are branded as "AI-free" much like food is branded Organic.

I'm already starting to look for products like that.

It's the same rationale for why my refrigerator doesn't need to be connected to the internet. Or why my hammer doesn't need to ask me about my day when I take ot out of the toolbox.

Only Machine Inside™️

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@tristanls "AI-free breakfast cereal! These chocolate frosted sugar bombs are 100% devoid of any AI content!"

I'm calling this specific variety of such advertising NOW.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@tristanls I may have been channeling the gluten free ads for my idea, but I'll never cop to it!

zdl, to random
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/15/tech/uber-shuttle-airport-concert-annual-product-update/index.html

Techbrodudes reinvent something that's been around for ages, only making it worse.

You know, public transit has been around for AGES before you got your grubby little rent-seeking mitts on it and tore it down, you festering horde of goblins!

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

You know how I get to the airport in Wuhan? I take the subway. ALL THE WAY THERE.

You know how I get to the three train stations in Wuhan? I take the subway. ALL THE WAY THERE for two of them. (For the third I have a half-block's walk because of some geographical issues.)

You know how I get to pretty much any concert venue? I TAKE THE SUBWAY AND/OR THE BUS. All the way there.

This is what public transit does for you: stops rent-seeking assholes from making your life shitty.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

The list continues with public parks, temples, various markets (wet, dry, or super), shopping malls, university campuses, etc. etc. etc.

I haven't even owned a car in 20 years because it's a waste of money and time: public transit gets me where I need to be and, upon delivery of the subway, often faster than taking a car anyway.

And for those rare circumstances where I absolutely need a vehicle: the money I save from not owning one lets me hire at need for a net profit.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@lizzard It is indeed. That's why I love socialism!

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@nus @lizzard Ah. A "WELL AKSHUALLY!" guy spotted in the wild!

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@nus The only nerve you touched is the "WHITE DUDE BARGES IN TO TALK DOWN TO NON-WHITE WOMAN" bullshit that is endemic to American men everywhere, left or right.

So, you didn't take the hint. (Because American brodude: of FUCKING COURSE you didn't!)

Fuck. Off.

Was that clear enough you festering pile of shit?

We'll find out when you inevitably next reply because you can't help yourself: you're an American and CAN'T SHUT THE FUCK UP WHEN YOU'RE NOT WELCOME.

Prove me right.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@nus And there it is. An American who CAN'T SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Nobody has ever seen this before.

Buh-bye Reply Guy.

graveolensa, to random
@graveolensa@mathstodon.xyz avatar

https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.13750
/Quantifying Inequities and Documenting Elitism in PhD-granting Mathematical Sciences Departments in the United States/

Ron Buckmire, Carrie Diaz Eaton, Joseph E. Hibdon Jr., Jakini Kauba, Drew Lewis, Omayra Ortega, José L. Pabón, Rachel Roca, Andrés R. Vindas-Meléndez, Sam Zhang

abstract:
In this paper we provide an example of the application of quantitative techniques, tools, and topics from mathematics and data science to analyze the mathematics community itself in order to quantify inequity and document elitism. This work is a contribution to the new and growing field recently termed "mathematics of Mathematics," or "MetaMath." Our goal is to rebut, rebuke, and refute the idea that the mathematical sciences in the United States is a meritocracy by using data science and quantitative analysis. Using research and data about PhD-granting institutions in the United States, we quantify, document, and highlight inequities in departments at U.S. institutions of higher education that produce PhDs in the mathematical sciences. Specifically, we determine that a small fraction of mathematical sciences departments receive a large majority of federal funding awarded to support mathematics in the United States and that women are dramatically underrepresented in these departments. Additionally, we quantify the extent to which women are underrepresented in almost all mathematical sciences PhD-granting institutions in the United States.

(I know it's a replacement)

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@graveolensa Well that's a spicy line of inquiry! I'm sure it will be received with calm, scholarly demeanour and not displaying rage-machine output instead!

jemmesedi, to goodyearwelt
@jemmesedi@c.im avatar

I recently posted about my hatred for cargo pants.

I don't resile from that judgement, but some posts from @pixelcats expressive of her generosity of spirit reminded me that I need to take care not to be a curmudgeon:

https://apobangpo.space/@pixelcats/112470323675719164

https://apobangpo.space/@pixelcats/112470332426960177

So, in keeping with that more affirmative mode, I put it to you that the Chelsea boot is a thing of beauty and a joy for ever:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_boot

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@jemmesedi @pixelcats I prefer cargo shorts (not the full-length pants) over those boots, to be honest.

Cargo shorts are a huge part of cycling culture here.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@jemmesedi @pixelcats My objection to Chelsea boots is that they are 100% associated with the white middle class to me. That's all I ever saw wearing them in my youth and I just can't take them seriously as a result. 😆

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@jemmesedi @pixelcats Honestly almost any guy in lycra who isn't actively competing somewhere is grounds for giggling for me. Unless you're training for the Olympics (or equivalent) when cycling, lycra just makes you look like a buffoon as far as I'm concerned.

Lizards_cast, to DnD
@Lizards_cast@dice.camp avatar

Playing some board games on location today (at someone else’s house) cause the usual studio has no air and that just doesn’t work in Florida 🤣

….it’s weird not having dice to roll!!!

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@Lizards_cast I will never have the problem of not having dice to roll ever again.

https://pixelfed.social/i/web/post/692339582420261211

AnarchoNinaWrites, to random
@AnarchoNinaWrites@jorts.horse avatar

Naw seriously tho, as recently as five years ago I was having to tell people "no, fascist militias with guns and pepe badges are not "anarchists" and I expect that at some point I'll have to repeatedly explain that again the next time nazis try to pass off their bullshit as "the real leftism/punk/rebellion."

Thankfully, they haven't been successful, but once I saw "MAGA Communism" I pretty much gave up on the idea that we could invent words they wouldn't try to steal; successfully or not.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@AnarchoNinaWrites Every time I hear right-wing losers talking about how the "original punks" were, I get the urge to chain them to the wall and force them to listen to the soundtrack of my youth: The Adverts, The Clash, The Monks, The Runaways, The Slits, etc. and ask them between songs "WHERE'S THE FASCISM IN THIS!" after beating them over the head with a sturdy electric guitar.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@lkngrrr @AnarchoNinaWrites 🤣

RustyBertrand, to Israel
@RustyBertrand@vivaldi.net avatar

Bombs for the deaf.
#Israel
#gaza

image/jpeg

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@angiebaby @RustyBertrand For this kind of behaviour I have to reach for Chinese: 是恶魔，不是人！

randahl, to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

I certainly have had enough of some people claiming that we must cower to Putin, because he has nuclear weapons. And I am glad to see, I am not alone.

In a debate show on Danish national tv, foreign editor of Danish newspaper Weekendavisen, Anna Libak replied to yet another “But Putin’s has nuclear weapons!” by saying, “If Hitler had nuclear weapons, would we have given him France?”

Bingo! Of course we would not. And neither should Putin have Ukraine.

#SlavaUkraini🇺🇦

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@randahl Sadly I think if Hitler actually had had nukes, the other powers would have given him France.

Democracy brings with it a certain cravenness until there's no choice left. Then suddenly it's all RAWR! FIGHT!

mrundkvist, to PbtA
@mrundkvist@archaeo.social avatar

Listened to an episode of Ludonarrative Dissidents that helped me understand the point of rules being divided into "moves", little routines that you invoke like a spell. It's training wheels for insecure GMs. Apparently really effective wheels. I have been a messianic megalomaniac GM since I was twelve. I am not the target audience of these rules.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@mrundkvist That's very similar to my final conclusion on PbtA-style games: not for me. For very similar reasons.

b9AcE, to random
@b9AcE@todon.eu avatar

"Helicopter carrying Iran's President Raisi crashes in mountains, official says"
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/helicopter-iranian-presidents-convoy-accident-says-strate-tv-2024-05-19/

No comment.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@b9AcE Maybe some alt text to explain what this is?

zdl, to random
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

Finnish rednecks are the best rednecks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FamCoxSQxU0

There's something weirdly both eye-watering in the tension this channel evokes when they're doing their crazy stuff, as well as something almost sensual in the release when the inevitable happens.

t_l_wood, to random
@t_l_wood@mastodon.social avatar

Things I teach my kids:

• “No” is a complete sentence.
• If you’re not having a good time you can leave.
• Never make yourself smaller just to make other people more comfortable.
• It’s okay not to be okay.
• Don’t take criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice from.
• Other people’s opinions of you are none of your business.
• Speak as kindly to yourself as you would speak to others.
• Be your own greatest cheerleader, always.

It’s never too late to learn these things.
#SelfCare

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@t_l_wood

> If you’re not having a good time you can leave.

It took me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long to learn this lesson.

michael_albert, to random German
@michael_albert@mastodon.online avatar

Das muss man sich vorstellen: Ein Gericht verurteilt die Regierung wegen mangelndem Klimaschutz und tags darauf verwässert eben diese Regierung das Klimaschutzgesetz. Danach reist der Kanzler in ein Hochwassergebiet und verspricht den Opfern Unterstützung.

Es ist der blanke Zynismus.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@michael_albert Politicians? Cynical?

Huh.

Never heard of that before.

tintenteufel, to ODnD German
@tintenteufel@pnpde.social avatar

Ganz prinzipiell: warum sollte mensch ein System aus diesem Jahrtausend spielen, welches das Spielgefühl der 1970er Jahre vermittelt, anstatt ein System aus den 1970er Jahren?

Ich mag bspw. und sehr gerne, aber das ist eine der Fragen die ich mir durch meine Beschäftigung mit aka und schon stelle.


zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@tintenteufel In my case (were I interested in regression to the '70s) it would be because the old rules were written and communicated badly. We've learned a lot about game design since then, meaning systems can be more coherent and easy to follow, and standards of writing have improved, meaning actually understanding the rules is easier.

So you can have easier rules, better-communicated, that bring back the desired feel.

deinol, to DnD
@deinol@dice.camp avatar

Not to start a war, but the Shadowdark Facebook group I saw a link to a YouTube claiming Shadowdark “won” the OGL war.

First, you can never “win” open gaming. You can temporarily become dominant. If anyone has, it’s Paizo who often gets as much or more shelf space as D&D.

Second, while Shadowdark uses the 5e CC-BY SRD, but it contributes nothing to open gaming itself. It’s got a 3rd party license, and it’s fine enough, but that isn’t open gaming.

zdl,
@zdl@mastodon.online avatar

@deinol Oh, absolutely. I just like to remind people that gaming, in the end, lies with the gamers, not with the corporate machinery (whether cottage- or industrial-corporate).

We seem to forget that all too often to our detriment.

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