billseitz

billseitz, 1 hour ago to random

It's only an ebook if it's an epub. Otherwise (PDF) it's a sparking printer-capture.

inquiline, 5 days ago to random

Serious question: when and in which contexts did calling people "individuals" emerge as a common practice, as a synonym for people? Or "an individual" for "a person"?

I ask because I'm noticing it in student writing, and I associate it with police-speak. I don't know if it's in some corners of social science or medicine too

??

kissane, 5 days ago to random

Hey it’s that time again.

The contention that using high-filtration masks to prevent transmission of respiratory disease is “unscientific” and “lacking evidence” when we have reams of aerosol and transmission studies is a display of either unawareness/scientific illiteracy (super fixable! non-shameful!) or of an intentional disregard of the evidence for emotional or ideological reasons (common but troubling).

billseitz, 14 days ago to random

"Culture AIs are designed to want to live, to want to experience, to desire to understand, and to find existence and their own thought-processes in some way rewarding, even enjoyable."
A Few Notes on the Culture - Iain M. Banks

billseitz, 15 days ago to random

I'd kinda prefer to see campus protests insisting on divesting from fossil fuel companies and the banks that fund them.

ben, 22 days ago to technology

"A local authority has announced it will ban apostrophes on street signs to avoid problems with computer systems." It's rare to see bad database security design advertised so openly! #Technology https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-68942321?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

thomasfuchs, 24 days ago to random

Oh no, it’s over, NYPD found proof that it was trained terrorists behind the protests and showing the manual they found when raiding Columbia university

publicvoit, 25 days ago to random

People using #Obsidian (and similar) don't even understand when I'm writing about #lockin situations.

If those services could be easily replaced by any Markdown edtor and a decent sync mechanism, why are they using those services in the first place? 🤷

I'm going to blog about that to make it more clearer.

#PIM

mcc, 29 days ago to random

For the last two years I've been semi-daily posting "What I'm Listening to Today" links here. Mastodon has some problems with threads containing hundreds of posts, so I re-create the thread once a year.

If you'd like to see, here's my "year two" thread: https://mastodon.social/@mcc/110266770603341546

Or, alternately, every song from year two in the least practical format possible: A 301-song, 38-hour YouTube playlist (note: video #1 contains flashing):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLIjft6ja7DM_kacOW8zo2vtr-aWpTNX6

And here's the thread for "year three":

nedbat, 29 days ago to random

My test suite has just one dot on the last line. What would you do?

• Delete one test
• Change the width of the terminal
• Keep it as a visceral reminder of the uncomfortably chaotic nature of the universe
• Write more tests

ben, 1 month ago to business

"Every worker has a stake in the company’s fortunes and a say in how it is run, and receives a share of the profits." I've always loved Mondragón; this is a lovely profile. #Business https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/apr/24/in-the-us-they-think-were-communists-the-70000-workers-showing-the-world-another-way-to-earn-a-living?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

luis_in_brief, 1 month ago to random

Data/surveillance/payment systems mystery:

1. Google's payment systems regularly require me to regularly re-identify myself to them at the "picture of passport" level. No other online payment provider has this problem with me.
   .2 The passport office, on my last renewal, required surprising-to-the-clerk, mysterious, time-consuming, additional checks with a system in DC.
   (🧵)

dangillmor, 1 month ago to random

The word "conservative" now means right-wing extremist, and news organizations should be clear about that. They should make a major point of explaining that the traditional definition of conservative no longer applies in today's common usage of the word.

They don't, of course, and this is undoubtedly a source of confusion for news consumers.

Another example of the willful imprecision of journalism...

brewsterkahle, 1 month ago to random

"No one buys [their] books" a report on the big publisher's court testimony.

wow:

"The DOJ’s lawyer collected data on 58,000 titles published in a year and discovered that 90 percent of them sold fewer than 2,000 copies and 50 percent sold less than a dozen copies. "

Yet, they sue to make sure libraries can not buy them (above and beyond copyright). They changed the laws so copyright lasts 95 years-- so no one can get to them.

good stewards of our cultural legacy?

https://www.elysian.press/p/no-one-buys-books

StefanThinks, 1 month ago to random

“Earth Day? How come there’s no Neptune Day?” – A Neptune rights activist

pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Goldface

#torino #faces

billseitz, 1 month ago to random

The "chronic absenteeism" panic in schools is bogus. They call it chronic to miss 10% of school days.
(And of course they don't care what grades the student is getting.)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/29/us/chronic-absences.html

kepano, 1 month ago to random

Miele Classic Plus · dishwasher

bought: 2019-06
cost per use to date: $2.16

I never thought I could love an appliance this much, an absolute joy to use every time.

Extremely well-considered in all its details · a cutlery tray is a zillion times better than a basket.

I have no reason to think this dishwasher won't last at least another 10+ years and reach ~$0.50/use or less. Most of all, this is machine provides such a time savings that the cost is worth the leverage it provides.
#buywisely

Miele Classic Plus dishwasher G4998SCVISF
Miele Classic Plus dishwasher G4998SCVISF

ntnsndr, 1 month ago to random

I'm sorry to say that I think religion is going to be an increasingly central theme in my work as I figure out how to do so.

ctietze, 1 month ago to random

Hey @pragprog do you still have the 1998 Tell Don't Ask article somewhere stashed away?

https://pragprog.com/ppllc/papers/1998_05.html

It's not even on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine ;(

KFosterMarks, 1 month ago to random

Reading Amy J. Ko's online book "Cooperative Software Development" and she writes:

"There are some approaches to specifying requirements formally. These techniques allow requirements engineers to automatically identify conflicting requirements, so they don’t end up proposing a design that can’t possibly exist. Some even use systems to make requirements traceable, meaning the high level requirement can be linked directly to the code that meets that requirement."

(❓ question in comments)