@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

ThreeSigma

@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online

Ex-professor, physicist, dad, gamer. I used to teach and do experimental particle physics; now I work on robotics software and deal with corporate culture shock. #exac #exacademic
Another birdsite refugee (@threesigma3).

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

knickish, to retrocomputing
@knickish@hachyderm.io avatar

v0.3 of Heffalump (a Mastodon client for PalmOS) is out now! This release (finally) adds the ability to view your own past toots, as well as replies (to both your own and others' toots).

You can grab the app and the conduit installer from the release here: https://github.com/knickish/heffalump_conduit/releases/tag/v0.3.0 or read more about Heffalump generally here: https://www.knickish.com/palm/rust/2023/09/12/a-mastodon-client-for-palmos.html

#retrocomputing #palmos #palm

A screenshot of a Mastodon post on Heffalump. The @ symbol in the bottom right can be clicked to show any available replies.
A screenshot of Heffalump while viewing a reply to the previously shown post (with replies). The @ button in the bottom right is inverted to indicate that replies are being viewed.

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@niavy @knickish for a min I thought you meant getting doom to run on fediverse.

Patricia, to random
@Patricia@vivaldi.net avatar

I have thought probably 20 times over the past few days “Patricia, this is very harsh and if it were you you would be very upset” and yes, I would. But I land at this every time:

The author I’m sure is very sensitive to criticism of their work, but their work is literally made to affect other people. To change their entire day to day. Teams broken up, folks losing their jobs, all sorts of pretty drastic changes. To coddle their feelings seems disproportionate to the effect they are actually trying to produce in the world.

If they are successful they will change the day to day of tens of thousands of people. So a certain level of honest analysis is not only fair, but to be honest, sorely lacking.

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@Patricia
Having read these sorts of books... to what degree do you think they contribute to the commoditization of tech workers? It's clearly the direction management and owners want, but is this helping it?

I've not managed to read a single basic book about agile stuff without losing interest after about 3 pages.

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@Patricia
Oh? I got the impression that at least some of the tech-org stuff came from the bottom-up, developers who had assembled teams. But that might be their hype, not the reality.

But absolutely management wants to got that way because the incentives are so huge. What I want to find is a way to replace management with temp workers...

janl, to random
@janl@narrativ.es avatar

Funny, in it is unnerving to use a library version that has not had a release in four days. https://social.vivaldi.net/@Patricia/112447339260051370

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@andrewfeeney @janl and JavaScript is the equivalent of unrefridgerated milk.

GottaLaff, to legal
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

starts HERE.
Please remember I don’t reply while live-posting. Plz use NFL (Not For Laffy, but no hashtag) so I can ignore those replies.

1/… Bower:

Trump enters the courtroom. Before arriving, he lingered for a moment in the doorway, talking to his lawyers, Emile Bove and Todd Blanche. He had a piece of paper in his hand, which he waved around as he spoke.

Wait for it….

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@GottaLaff
NFL: I note reporters don’t comment on what Trump or the male witnesses are wearing.

bud_t, to academicchatter
@bud_t@m.ai6yr.org avatar

This is insane! And they say this will make shared governance better lol


@academicchatter

Kentucky president proposes to strip faculty body’s power
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/shared-governance/2024/03/28/kentucky-president-proposes-strip-faculty-bodys

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@bud_t @academicchatter
As was carefully explained to my colleagues and I, shared governance means that faculty are allowed to make recommendations to administration, which administration does not have to listen to or acknowledge. Unstated: they also may use recorded votes to punish individuals who aren’t supportive.

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@bud_t @academicchatter This was “shared” because we did so much work in making the recommendations that could be ignored.

ElleGray, to random
@ElleGray@mstdn.social avatar

not really a morning person so sometimes it takes me until noon to choose violence

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@ElleGray I find that I can usually remember to choose violence the night before, so it’s all ready to go when go to work in the morning.

ElleGray, to random
@ElleGray@mstdn.social avatar

Someone's trying to tell me this is an explanation of the game of cricket but it's clearly a record of the failed sex positions of English men

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@ElleGray Everyone tag youself. I'm "mid-on".

ramikrispin, to python
@ramikrispin@mstdn.social avatar

(1/3) Here is one of the most frequent questions I get on most of my Python 🐍+Docker 🐳 tutorials - why use a virtual environment inside a container?

The short answer is that you don't necessarily need a virtual environment (VE) to set a reproducible environment inside a container. Docker takes care of both the environment isolation and reproducibility.

I see VE as more of a practical method to organize your Python environment inside a container.

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@ramikrispin
I’ve been struggling with this. How do you deal with the issue if running executables under a process manager like pm2 or systemd or cron? I’ve found that both miniconda and venv handle it all terribly, requiring elaborate wrapper scripts or mocking of user environments. And for interactive work, I’m starting to find it tedious to set up my environment every time I open a new terminal tab. What am I missing??

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@ramikrispin Then I'm even more confused. If the docker container is configured to be in one of the virtual environments by default, isn't that just the same as having a static environment for the purposes of using it?

I'm guessing you spend a lot more time on infrastructure (or someone does) than I want to.

niconiconi, (edited ) to Electronics

The history of electromagnetism is truly bizarre when you think about it. The theory was essentially 100% complete in 1873 in A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Well, supposedly complete - as nobody could really understand its content fully, not even the author. Maxwell introduced the displacement current as a small technical fix, but failed to realize it could generate E&M waves. The reanalysis of the book took physicists 10 to 20 years. Pupin traveled from US to Cambridge because he wanted to ask the question "WTF is the book?" personally to Maxwell. The young Heaviside said understanding this book was his life goal (realized during 1880-1890). During this period, nobody really knew for sure that E&M waves exist. Even after Hertz demostrated E&M waves, physicists all believed it was a short-range effect like light. Then in 1895 Marconi discovered a practical longwave ratio transmitter by random tinkering. After he heard telegraph transmitters are grounded, he tried it too, accidentally inventing the monopole antenna by sheer luck (and also made it the first case of "cargo cult grounding" in RF electronics, today still practiced by many technicians that should know better). Except that it actually worked for him spectacularly because of a quirk of the Earth's atmosphere. Physicists had absolutely no idea about it and the explanation at that time by physics guru Sommerfeld (the Zenneck surface wave solution to Maxwell's equation) was completely wrong. In 1905, there was already special relativity but still little understanding about antennas and waveguides in general. Some people actually argued that special relativity made E&M simpler...

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@niconiconi Wait, light is a short-range effect? I know some astronomers who are going to be very confused…

jenni, to random
@jenni@mastodon.social avatar

My fam and I are going to Chicago for spring break.

I would LOVE restaurant suggestions (we’re just going to be downtown and surrounding areas). My kid is pretty adventurous with eating. It’s his birthday that week as well, so I’m trying to make it special.

Also if you have any fun things to do besides the usual museums/parks/zoo, I’d love to hear that too!

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@jenni
The diner across from the Galloping Ghost is terrible but authentic blue-collar fare. But mostly it’s across from a huge retro arcade.

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

AI is a quintessential tool. For good or ill. Like a hammer that can be used to build someone a home -- or used to bash in a skull. The way AI is being deployed currently, the firms are pretty convincingly in skull bashing mode.

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@lauren
I’m unconvinced it’s a “quintessential” tool. Cruise missiles have few benign uses, and I think large ML models may fall into the same category. They are first and foremost bullshit generators: they produce output that is like but is not the product of intelligent thought.

I’m not saying you can’t find a good use, but it seems to me to be flawed at the root, since we don’t really need more bullshit, no matter how high quality.

Julie, to random
@Julie@social.coop avatar

It’s absurd that the Iowa Republican caucus is considered any kind of news story. It tells us about a small number of Republican voters in a state that doesn’t much resemble the country as a whole. The Iowa media circus is augury dressed as up as political analysis. The serious people on TV know this, but hope nobody else does. I hate that we’re playing these silly games when democracy is at stake, but we must be infotained at all times now.

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@Julie Yup. It’s the extreme of horse race journalism. If we diverted half of the spent on finding out who is winning to actually deeply understanding issues and policies we would have a very different society.

JenMorency, to firefox
@JenMorency@toot.community avatar

Commentary: Will rise like phoenix from the ashes in 2024? https://www.ghacks.net/2024/01/07/will-firefox-rise-like-phoenix-from-the-ashes-in-2024/ "The unlocking of full add-ons support in Firefox for Android may be the fire-starter that Mozilla needed." I wonder how many users will notice Manifest v3. I've used Firefox on PC for 20 years, but on Android I use Kiwi, a Chromium browser that blocks ads and supports many add-ons.

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@lauren @JenMorency

I don't think the complaints are "hyperbolic". More and more people are aware they are being commoditized in ways that don't benefit them, but benefit rich people. Spite is powerful.

mrcompletely, to physics
@mrcompletely@heads.social avatar

dear Mastodon, how seriously should I be paying attention to this current hype-attracting article? on the scale of "Michio Kaku is already working on a way to sell it to New Agers" to "if it proves out, warm up the Nobels"

Really appreciate access to professional wisdom here thank you 🙏

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v16/203

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@mrcompletely
I would say “meh”. It’s a good idea, worth pursuing just to find explore what latitude exists in the current theory. But it’s likely the theory won’t be testable, and therefore is just an intellectual exercise. Like strings.

maxkennerly, to random
@maxkennerly@mstdn.social avatar

Look at this garbage from the Texas Supreme Court's abortion order. Pure sophistry. Wholly meaningless drivel because they wanted to force a woman to carry a trisomy 18 pregnancy to term.

https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1457645/230994pc.pdf

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@maxkennerly
Have they just created the standard for the next case? Doctor just has to say those magic words? (Of course not, they’re horrible, they will just find another argument.)

amoroso, to retrocomputing
@amoroso@fosstodon.org avatar

An insigthful analysis on why there are no minicomputers anymore. More specifically it discusses why the minicomputer form factor, architecture, and vendors disappeared.

https://thechipletter.substack.com/p/why-are-there-no-minicomputers-any

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@amoroso I would argue that in terms of power and form factor, they are everywhere: a 4U NAS plus a couple of 2U VM servers, a UPS, take up about a half-height 19” rack. They need dedicated floor space and a small group of people using them to justify that usage.

Not all that uncommon.

parismarx, to tech
@parismarx@mastodon.online avatar

Yesterday Elon Musk told advertisers to go fuck themselves and threatened to send his mob after them if they pull their ads from Twitter/X.

Over the years, he built a reality where he was a genius who could never be wrong. But as his fantasy collides with the real world, Musk is melting down — and has the power to make us all feel the pain as he crashes back to Earth.

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/elon-musk-built-his-own-reality-now

#x

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@parismarx “Elon Musk is a man, as well as a character. But over the years the character has consumed the man…”

Naw. He was always a fraud, his persona always constructed. He isn’t a physicist. He didn’t make his own fortune from nothing. He isn’t a genius who drives his companies, his companies protect themselves from his idiocy.

The change is that he no longer feels the need to make his identity palatable.

ElleGray, to random
@ElleGray@mstdn.social avatar

You only have to switch your clocks back this weekend if you're a fool who believes that time is linear

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@ElleGray it’s clearly not linear if we have to change the clocks

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@ElleGray it’s clearly not linear if we have to change the clocks

GottaLaff, (edited ) to legal
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

pushes court to disallow cameras in election interference trial 1/…

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4293348-smith-pushes-court-disallow-cameras-trump-election-interference-trial/

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@GottaLaff @markrsmith
But what about the jury members or court staff? They will get identified,hounded, have their lives destroyed. There has to be a solution to that.

davidho, to random
@davidho@mastodon.world avatar

Despite the headline, this is actually a good article about solar radiation modification.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-engineer-the-sky/

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@davidho
I don’t understand why people aren’t discussing a fresnel lens at L1, which has the advantage if controllability and fewer unintended consequences.

This is the mental escape hatch I go to when thinking about climate change; things are so bleak and terrible I need believe in a bit of magic to keep from depression.

QasimRashid, to random
@QasimRashid@mastodon.social avatar

MAGA Logic:
-Abortion: Ban it
-Marijuana: Ban it
-Drag shows: Ban it
-Immigration: Ban it
-Public Schools: Ban it
-Dialogue on racism: Ban it
-Books by Black or LGBTQ authors: Ban it
-Guns: BANS DON’T WORK YOU SNOWFLAKES

ThreeSigma,
@ThreeSigma@mastodon.online avatar

@QasimRashid

But this is actually consistent. They don’t want to stop those things from happening, they want to punish people for doing them.

This is even more horrible, but I think it’s a necessary insight. They aren’t crazy, they honestly don’t believe the world can be better. They don’t think that you can get rid of guns, so bans just punish good people. Best explained by innuendostudios in the Alt-Right Playbook.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • GTA5RPClips
  • osvaldo12
  • love
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • khanakhh
  • everett
  • kavyap
  • mdbf
  • DreamBathrooms
  • ngwrru68w68
  • provamag3
  • magazineikmin
  • InstantRegret
  • normalnudes
  • tacticalgear
  • cubers
  • ethstaker
  • modclub
  • cisconetworking
  • Durango
  • anitta
  • Leos
  • tester
  • JUstTest
  • All magazines
    •