@tsturm@famichiki.jp
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

tsturm

@tsturm@famichiki.jp

Programmer, photographer and writer. Now go outside and look at the sky.

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simon, to random
@simon@simonwillison.net avatar

I got a good quote in this story about that dumb Zoom Idea to have "digital twins" attend meetings in your place https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/06/zoom-ceo-envisions-ai-deepfakes-attending-meetings-in-your-place/

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@simon But it's great for executives that want to have a nice large number of participants in their meetings to bloviate to. All they need is nodding heads that look awake. LLMs can do that.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Alright, lots of heavy discussions today, so let's talk about something silly!

What is a movie that always makes you laugh?

Personal pick:

Anything Mel Brooks, but Robin Hood: Men in Tights, it's just funny every time I watch it.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@RickiTarr @roens It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

It’s the perfect frantic insane comedy. Since it’s from 1963 some of the jokes are as inappropriate as all hell for modern sensibilities, but it’s still a masterpiece. And I struggle to think of a better showcase of human greed and shortsightedness. 😁

peterdrake, to random
@peterdrake@qoto.org avatar

So it's Godzilla Minus One "enjoyable" good or is it "accurately portrays the depth of human depravity and suffering" good? Because after 3 Body Problem and Furiosa, we're looking for something less grim.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@peterdrake Enjoyable good, but does depict a certain amount of general human suffering after the end of WWII in a bombed out Japanese city. Well, and Godzilla is doing Godzilla things.

clive, to random
@clive@saturation.social avatar

Pointillist bubble-wrap paintings

amazing what you can do with paint

bubble wrap

and a hypodermic needle

Item #1 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free to read and subscribe here here here 📬 : https://buttondown.email/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-20/

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@clive That's a great idea... it's always amazing when painters come up with a brand new way to create art like that.

My dad painted all his life and while he was doing mostly oil - and later acrylic - paintings, he sometimes branched out into wildly unusual materials. I guess it's part of the process to explore the edges of what's possible.

vik, to random
@vik@mastodon.nzoss.nz avatar

The Chang'e 6 lunar lander turns out to have deployed a rover camera. Shots of lander on surface, and onboard video of the prep and ascent of lunar samples : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnonHQ_s1p8

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@vik With this mission, China is really showing the rest of the world how this is done. Flawless execution so far and every step documented with cameras all over the place.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@vik Yeah, none of this "Our craft landed upside down, so it's a qualified success."

This is a show of confidence. They might be off by a year or two, but I would not be surprised if China lands a crew on the Moon by 2032.

tsturm, to random
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

The Sky Over Osaka

65dBnoise, (edited ) to space
@65dBnoise@mastodon.social avatar

That white-ish rock (https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/112527256691375965) has quite an interesting texture. Seen here with 's telescope.

Processed SUPERCAM_RMI
looking ENE (57°) from RMC 52.4312
Sol 1164, LMST: 12:00:08

Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01164/ids/edr/browse/scam/LRF_1164_0770272141_159EBY_N0524312SCAM01164_0010I6J01.png
Credit: /JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/65dBnoise

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@65dBnoise Whoaa!

stim3on, to random
@stim3on@fosstodon.org avatar

Look at those boulders!
Photographed yesterday by the Perseverance Mars rover while driving in the ancient riverbed of Neretva Vallis.

I assembled this panorama from 14 Mastcam-Z images captured on Sol 1162, the colors were processed to approximately match what the human eye would see on Mars.

Full resolution: https://flic.kr/p/2pTPFiU

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Simeon Schmauß

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@stim3on The almost-white boulder shows a lot of pebbly structure. Is there a closeup of that one?

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@stim3on @TMEubanks Looking at the original crop with our bright rock, there is one other rock in the same picture that seems to be of the same type. Could some process have turned over the really bright one and we are looking at its former underside?

tsturm, to random
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

To celebrate Towel Day, here is a special treat for fans of Douglas Adams.

Around 1994 I had a chance to see Adams live when he gave a reading in Munich. It was a fun evening with him being in a great mood.

Now several years ago I found a recording of that evening which was in a sub-folder of a totally different audio book. This recording seems to be completely unknown online with zero search results...
(1/2)

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

(2/2)
So here it is - I've uploaded it to the Internet Archive.

Enjoy Douglas Adams Live in Munich:

https://archive.org/details/douglas-adams-live-in-munich-03-last-chance-to-see-the-kakapos-on-new-zealand/Douglas+Adams+-+Live+in+Munich+-+01+-+Last+Chance+to+See+-+Meeting+the+Lemur.mp3

FlockOfCats, to random
@FlockOfCats@famichiki.jp avatar

I’m writing a Plane Language Summary, but it sounds a little flat 🫤

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@FlockOfCats I've also switched to shorts... it seems all the local men are waiting for the official announcement of summer before they make the switch. Poor guys! 😅

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

A movie where orcas and humans work together to save humankind from the uber wealthy. DO IT!

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@StillIRise1963 @JoBlakely “Willy Is Back And He Is Angry”

joesteel, to random
@joesteel@duck.haus avatar

Shy Kids has constructed two short films for OpenAI where it uses “VFX+Sora” with accompanying breakdowns of the source Sora output, and what they did to make the video clips “work” in their montage narrative. If you’re doing this much work to prop up the output, and it still looks bad, then what the hell is the point? To say nothing of how tone deaf it is to showcase this during a huge VFX industry downturn. Bananas that they’re proud of this.

https://youtu.be/mQG7vN8UYLU

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@joesteel I was just about to ask this - their end result would be way easier to achieve by starting with two real actors and just replacing the head with a balloon.

dan, to random
@dan@duck.haus avatar

Finally

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@dan Finally a chance to show off your t-shirt body. 😁

peterdutoit, (edited ) to random
@peterdutoit@mastodon.green avatar

IRI Temperature Probability Forecast for June-July-August:

"Regarding temperature, 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 for above-normal temperature are forecasted across most land areas throughout the forecast period." (Emphasis mine)

Where are you on the map?

Full forecast: https://iri.columbia.edu/our-expertise/climate/forecasts/seasonal-climate-forecasts/

What is a probability forecast? https://www.worldclimateservice.com/2021/09/08/probability-forecast/

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@peterdutoit We are in Japan, which looks not great in that map... although up to now I would say this year was actually cooler than normal here in Osaka. We'll see if that changes in June.

Jorsh, to random
@Jorsh@beige.party avatar

Merlins, flickers, woodpeckers, crows, chickadees... I love the morning chorus up here in Krestova.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@DemocracySpot @Jorsh @RickiTarr They are beautiful great tits.

kravietz, to Russia
@kravietz@agora.echelon.pl avatar

Today and play best friends forever and had been traditionally placed in the same “communist” basked as China. Some fun facts that especially tankies are getting completely wrong today.^1

Since 1950’s China and USSR were actually conflicted over each other’s interpretations of and in 1960’s the conflict nearly escalated into a full-scale nuclear war between the two countries.

China criticised CPSU (Communist Party of Soviet Union) over Soviet invasion of (1968)^2 and “Brezhnev Doctrine” which denounced any Marxism version outside of the Soviet one as “reactionary” (Marxist newspeak for “heresy”). This included both Czechoslovak reforms and Mao’s Cultural Revolution in equal manner. At that time China actually developed complex relations with Eastern Bloc countries such as Romania and Czechoslovakia behind Kremlin’s back.

Essentially, everyone called each other “reactionary” and claimed their Marxism is the correct one. Any resemblance to past religious wars is entirely incidental. 😉 In 1968 Chinese diplomat Zhou Enlai speaking in Romanian embassy in Beijing called Soviets for “fascist politics, great power chauvinism, national egoism and social imperialism”.^3

Does that ring any bells? 😉

Soviets and China had a number of unresolved border issues in Manchuria. In 1968 China started escalating these, actually killing Soviet border guards. Moscow, knowing of China’s nuclear weapons and Mao’s confrontative attitude preferred to deescalate… which only encouraged Chinese.

Does that remind anything from contemporary history? 😉

At the peak of the conflict in 1969 USSR found itself in the position of a country with high-tech army challenged by a low-tech army which relied on millions of conscripts and human wave tactics.

Does this ring any bells? 😉

In 1969 Soviet army managed to push back overwhelming several Chinese offensives near the island of Zhenbao in spite of their overwhelming numbers with ratios up to 1:10 Soviet to Chinese. That was possible primarily due to the technical advantage, such as then-advanced T-62 tanks.

A ceasefire was signed in 1969 - on Chinese side by the very same Zhou Enlai who called Soviets “fascists” only a year before, but the actual peace agreement was only signed in 1991. The conflict was only completely resolved in 2008 (!) when Russia ceded 340 km² of the disputed lands to China.

As you can see, contrary to the mythology carefully constructed by modern “geopolitical realists”, there’s nothing constant in Russian or Soviet policies. Russia can not always win armed conflicts, it can cede territories and in general conflicts can be won in spite of imbalance of power. Oh, and calling others “fascists” was used by everyone and Russia was both an user and a recipient of this nomination.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@kravietz Can confirm that the border between China and the USSR in 1989 looked like a war could break out at any minute. I crossed from Zabaikalsk to Manzhouli on the Transsiberian and I'd call the atmosphere at the border at that time... tense. Lots of soldiers on both sides, pillboxes and razorwire fencing on every hill on both sides.

As of what China is doing with Russia right now, my guess is that China wants a chunk of Siberia. Global Warming will force China to go north.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@rameshgupta @kravietz China looks at Russia being stuck in Ukraine’s bear trap as an opportunity. They don’t need Russia to win, they need Russia to be distracted.

All of eastern Siberia will be prime real estate once the permafrost has thawed out in about 30-50 years. And at the same time much of southern and eastern China will be frequently flooded and too hot to be livable. This is not hard to figure out.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@rameshgupta @kravietz That sentence was not a slight against you - I apologize.

But the fact stands - China will need to expand north for food production as the southern provinces are getting hotter and more flood prone. Siberia is right there and Russia will be weakened for decades after whatever they are trying to achieve in Ukraine.

virtualbri, to scifi
@virtualbri@mastodon.online avatar

https://youtu.be/RU1QyAYa60g

Any sci-fi trying to do something different gets my attention. Francis Ford Coppola self-financing his story for sure gets my attention.

I'm intrigued.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@virtualbri That trailer looks wild. It's one of those movies that will either magically work or fail in a spectacular and extremely colorful way.

Adam_Cadmon1, to random
@Adam_Cadmon1@mastodon.online avatar

That Blender is completely free is amazing.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@Adam_Cadmon1 Yes! It’s such an amazing tool. And it has an incredible amount of features… I find new things it can do even after years of using it..

djsundog, to random
@djsundog@toot-lab.reclaim.technology avatar

what's your favorite weird, non-conventional, absurd, sketchy, or otherwise interesting group of folks you ended up involved with, and what makes it your favorite?

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@djsundog The FidoNet community of the early 1990s. We had a fully community-funded global network over phone lines with world-wide and regional discussion groups. I ended up being one of the moderators of one of these global groups and it was exhilarating to exchange messages with people from around the world within 48-72 hours.

It was actually a very similar feeling to hanging out on Mastodon, but 35 years ago. 😊

lauren, to random
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org avatar

I think today's a good day to watch "Goldfinger" again. Of course, any day is a good day to watch Goldfinger again.

tsturm,
@tsturm@famichiki.jp avatar

@lauren Gert Froebe was so good as the villain. He really gave us a prototype for all future movie villains.

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