chiasm

@chiasm@venera.social

Academic, scientist, science fiction reader

boosting my alt @chiasm.

Please fill in your bio if if you want to be followed. I don't need your name and location, but I like to know your interests

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nebogeo, to random
@nebogeo@post.lurk.org avatar

2022 vs 2024 - The catholic church is an excellent tech bubble detector

Catholic Group Defrocks Al Priest After It Gave Strange Answers "Yes, my friend. | am as real as the faith we share."

chiasm,

@nebogeo Seriously, they gave an AI bot with no gender a priesthood before they accept living breathing women?? That's a whole new level of misogyny...

ottaross, to random
@ottaross@mastodon.social avatar

Grandma names were pretty great in the old days.

Saw a Mabel from @Shanitoba, and an Edna from @skatem and I had a Winifred.

Anyone have a classic grandma (or great-grandma) name?

chiasm,

@ottaross @skatem @Shanitoba Ethelyn, but I actually always liked that as a name.

chiasm,

@ottaross @skatem @Aussiemandias @Shanitoba I asked my grandmother when I was 12 and doing badges, to write me a letter describing her life when she was 12. She wouldn't have done it but it was for some badge, so she wrote me about growing up in a mining town in the far west before WWI. It is one of my treasures.

18+ futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

As of this month I’ve been taking Ozempic for a year and I will continue to take indefinitely. I want to share my experience because the way I sometimes see it discussed gives what I think is the wrong impression.

I decided to take it since I was struggling to regain full mobility after breaking my leg. I wish I could have discovered this drug 30 years ago.

I’ve only been overweight for 8 years. So why do I say that? 1/

chiasm,

@futurebird Thank you for sharing your experience!! Having gained and lost the same 30-50 pounds over the past few decades, I've been wondering about making the push for ozempic. I absolutely know what you mean about always being hungry--I have done the fasting thing and that has worked well for me at times (I don't get headaches) but honest to god I read descriptions of heroin addiction and think they are describing my feelings about needing to eat. I can't think about anything else except when the next food is coming. So if there is anything else going on in my life, it is almost impossible to stick to the diet and reduce intake.

I looked up ozempic and the others and a) there's a shortage right now and b) the side effects look horrible. It sounds like you didn't have any of those, which is great!!

thor, to random
@thor@berserker.town avatar

Pretty much everything I have found pleasurable in life also came with an equal dose of pain later on. Sometimes immediately, sometimes much later. You think you won, and then, ouch, nope. If you want to avoid pain, you also have to avoid pleasure, but what kind of life is that?

chiasm,

@thor And thus, Buddhism.

TonyStark, to random
@TonyStark@progressivecafe.social avatar

If you start off your sentence “it’s not antisemitic to…”, chances are pretty high these days you’re about to defend something really antisemitic.

chiasm,

@TonyStark It falls in the same bin as "I'm not racist, but..." Just.stop.there.

chiasm,

@smeg @TonyStark I've been criticizing the government of Israel for a long time now. (I also criticize the US government. Governments are often cruel.) There are situations where you can make that statement; but there are a whopping lot of folks who use Tony's opening phrase the same way old Uncle Whosis says, "I'm not racist, but..."

chiasm, to Anime


I watched the other day, and was not impressed. The worldbuilding was good--the mythology was a lot of fun!--but the idea that you have to do deep sloppy french kissing to get the information you need before going into battle was such a turn-off. I don't need to see teenagers dripping spit from a kiss, thanks, much less dry-humping on a beach; the way they do it, it just distracts from the story! Between that and the lack of other male characters of any depth, it really made the protagonist come across as a male Mary Sue character. Two thumbs down. Someone needs to take the overall approach to magic/myths from that storyline and do it properly.

However, the "other shows like this" suggestions took me to Dances with Dragons (Or, However a sinner dances with dragons? No one seems to translate the first phrase), and that is a lot of fun. I'm finding the politics a little hard to follow but the characters are excellent. 😊

Though wow, the number of anime where there's a common theme of "stop killing each other out of revenge!" is really surprising to me. I like it! But in today's world I keep thinking there are SO MANY people who need to hear that message.

GW, to MIguns
@GW@newsie.social avatar

'Treacherous ': slams over claim of never taking oath to support

Section Three does not apply, because the presidency is not an office 'under the States,' and did not take an oath 'to support the Constitution of the United States,'" the filing read.

https://www.alternet.org/criminal-lawmaker-trump-oath-constitution/

chiasm,

@GW That is simply mind-boggling.

CindyWeinstein, to random
@CindyWeinstein@zirk.us avatar

-Dick was published today in 1851 in London by Richard Bentley. My life -- and many others who love literature, love
love 's voice, love 's body & soul, even love, b/c so visceral, the representation of 's pain, & even love, perhaps most of all, the brilliant, funny, heartbreaking chapters about the whale's anatomy -- was transformed after reading it for the first time when I was 16. & transformed anew with every rereading. 🐳


chiasm,

@CindyWeinstein Hear hear!!

chiasm, to random

It's weird: I've been making friends with strangers online for almost 40 years now, what with usenet, email lists, chatrooms, irc, live journal, facebook, and now the fediverse. (I missed twitter. Never was on there.) I've made a lot of friends that way.

And it's only on the fediverse, that I've ever had people tell me to f*** off and go away, then immediately block me. It's happened three times now in the last year and a half. Each time we're in the middle of what I think is not a particularly heated conversation, and the other person blows up and blocks me. Mind you, we're talking about sensitive topics each time, it's not like we're discussing the price of tea or anything simple.

It's possible that I'm becoming more of a jerk as I age. I know I was never the most sensitive person. It is possible that I am the asshole here, by local standards. But that kind of flies in the face of the last few decades of my own experience.

It's also possible that I'm running into more and more people now who don't take the time to say excuse me, what I hear you saying is x and is that what you meant to say? To give other people a chance to say, I'm so sorry that's not what I meant at all. I don't know if that would have helped in any of these cases, but it might have. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what I said, in at least one case. I would have thought that having had several months of enjoyable interactions with a person, you wouldn't assume that one interaction is enough to blow everything up.

It's also possible that this is a poisson distribution, and there's no pattern to it whatsoever, it just happens by random chance.

But it bugs me a surprising amount when I can't apologize for inadvertently ticking somebody off. Sigh. 😞

thor, to random
@thor@berserker.town avatar

it says something about me that the first thing i wanted to use a computer for as a kid was to type with people far away in real time.

i still want to use computers for that. i mean, what i really want out of a chat program is for it to behave more like you're two teletype or telegraph operators and you're having a conversation.

chiasm,

@thor I can't see all the comments here but it sounds like you want the old ntalk or otalk programs, where you just type at each other synchronously...?

NicoleCRust, to science
@NicoleCRust@neuromatch.social avatar

Words for early stages of ‘theories’?

That word theory gets thrown around a lot. Some of my colleagues hold it to a really high bar whereas others use it pretty interchangably with hypothesis testing.

There’s an early phase of research that I’m not sure how to label. It’s not so much about levels, but something else. Here’s an example: what would you call the contribution of Copernicus to planetary motion? Ptolomy had these elaborate descriptions of everything revolving around the earth as cycles and epicycles to make up for wonky trajectories, and Copernicus came along and demonstrated that it all becomes a lot simpler if it’s all revolving around the sun. “Theories” of why the planets revolve as they do (Newton’s gravity and Einstein’s bending space time) came later.

Was Copernicus’s contribution a theory, replotting the data in a more sensible way, or something in between? Whatever it was, it was important, and it led to all that followed. But what do we call it (aka how do we regard it)?

chiasm,

@NicoleCRust I use the word "model" a lot--it's more than a hypothesis, it should be a bit more substantive, it makes predictions and can be tested but it isn't quite as weighty as a theory.

thor, to random
@thor@berserker.town avatar

today's dinner isn't sexy, but it's comforting - meatballs, brown sauce, potatoes, mashed peas and lingonberry jam - traditional Norwegian food

chiasm,

@thor Welcome to IKEA... 🤣

mastodonmigration, to Futurology
@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

Subject: What's going on with Meta?

To: @Gargron, @ruud, @jerry, @supernovae, @stux, @trumpet, @kev and other large instance admins

Rumors are tearing this place apart out here about secret deals with . The latest is that Meta has held meetings with some of you and they will federate with large instances under contracts providing financial support (1) (2).

This is a time for leadership, not silence. Please, what's going on?

(1) https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/110598855375585873
(2) https://mastodon.social/@alexeheath/110596207691212890

chiasm,

@Gargron @mastodonmigration @Chimaera What they do with the ActivityPub protocol is up to them... That announcement they have there wouldn't need any instance admins working with them; they can easily develop their own way of being part of the fediverse.

chiasm,

@Gargron @kev @jerry @stux @trumpet @ruud @mastodonmigration @bici @supernovae I see this a lot--but you realize Gab and Pawoo and lots of problematic groups are part of the , right? Using ActivityPub and able to federate with whomever is willing to federate with them. But they are blocked from most servers and users, and most people don't know they are there. It's not a given that even with $$, Meta would be any different.

chiasm, to random en-us

FB reminded me I posted this four years ago today. Given I first partially watched HxH five years before that, all I can say is, time flies!

The anime show Hunter x Hunter bubbled up on Netflix again earlier this year (2019, now), and when I was in between shows I decided I'd watch it again. I loved it when I watched it what, 5 years ago now? I originally made it through the Hunter Exam story arc, the Heavens' Arena arc, and the Greed Island arc; but then My Favorite Villain Hisoka was not part of the storyline for the Chimera Ant story arc, and I just couldn't stay interested in the kids, so I stopped at that point. But I figured I'd see if I could get farther with it this time, and started rewatching it.

So I started it up, and enjoyed it just as much the second time, because I only remembered the broad strokes of how it went, not the details! But Netflix had changed its licensing agreement, and stopped after the Heaven's Arena arc, didn't make it even into the Greed Island arc, which I thought was honestly the best of the bunch. So I went looking for it, and got pulled into the CrunchyRoll system, where you can watch all 140+ episodes for free if you're willing to put up with the commercial breaks. I have now made it through the whole danged storyline again, and persevered through the Chimera Ant arc--which ended up being tremendous, after a highly boring and tedious and nasty start. The end was all I could have hoped for!! Life and death and the nature of humanity, always a good mix. Some of the losses are painful because they do such a good job of giving both heroes and villains meaningful backstories and characterization. But I do like the theme in Japanese shows of the grandpa who can kick your butt and who saves the day; no decrepit elderly, here.

And for the next story arc, Hisoka's already back and flaunting around (happy dance), as well as Killua's older brother (always a good choice), AND we have many of the seriously nifty characters from the Chimera Ant arc who are still in play--plus a lot of new characters being introduced, obviously. This is shaping up to be a pretty spiffy last dozen episodes or so! Now we just have to get the main character out of ICU, because he went crazy in his last fight of the preceding arc, lost his arm in killing the monster who killed his friend Kite--I assume he gets his arm back but who knows! This show is mostly lighthearted (even though people die like flies throughout) but it can get dark at times. I think it kind of peters out at the end, though, looking at the wikipedia page--I don't think it's still ongoing, and I don't think it had a grand finale either... But two thumbs up for the show, I must say--three or four thumbs, really. 😉

I guess it was after that I actually subscribed to Crunchyroll, and yeah, I loved the ending to HxH, or at least where the anime stopped for me. (I'm told the manga went on after that, but I need the color and sound.) Hisoka is still my favorite villain ever. 😁

chiasm,

@pseudoramble I didn't see the whole Election Arc, I think? But the last episode available to me was him and his dad finally having a chance to chat somewhere in a tree--I didn't watch it because I didn't want it to end. I liked where everyone beat up his dad, though. Never had a dad deserved it more. 😂

thor, to random
@thor@berserker.town avatar

women make the children.

they do not make inventors though

they're worried for inventors. they guilt trip inventors.

women generally prevent innovation, because innovation is risk and women do not want that for their children. women want their children to be safe.

but you people are major cockblockers for what nerds love the most.

chiasm,

@thor Wow. I'm sorry for the women in your life. There are a lot of women innovators and inventors out there, and some of them even have children. Why do you think you can speak so authoritatively and generically about half the world's population when you've only met a few of them?

elduvelle, to random
@elduvelle@neuromatch.social avatar

What tags are you all following?
Here are mine but I’d like to add some more, particularly science-related:

(yes… I’m the only one using it for now)

chiasm,

@elduvelle Try also --historically it's higher on the usage list than any of the variants. might be too general but it can find some interesting topics too!

TonyStark, (edited ) to random
@TonyStark@progressivecafe.social avatar

3 organizations you can get involved with, especially if you live in one of these states, to organize to take the state in a much more positive direction.

We need to be involved everywhere, in all 50 states. These are real grassroots organizations, put together by local people on the ground.

Home - Blue Missouri
https://bluemissouri.org/

Home - Blue Texas
https://bluetexas.org/

Home - Blue Ohio
https://blueohio.org/

chiasm,

@TonyStark Thanks--I need to know about Ohio options!

thor, to random
@thor@berserker.town avatar

imagine waking up one day and you're blind. no vision. you live alone. what do you do?

chiasm,

@thor Find my phone. Dial 911. Get clothes on, and feel my way downstairs on while waiting for ambulance to arrive.

chiasm,

@thor Hey Google, dial 911 should work..

MarkOnArt, to photography

🧵 Trying something different for - instead of me listing accounts I invite the to reply to this thread - show us something of your choice!

The idea is to share something that will hopefully attract new followers for your work who will enjoy your (, , etc!)

⭐ Please boost the thread for others to see and discover and enjoy this Virtual Exhibit. Enjoy and

chiasm,

@MarkOnArt I really like the one of the two guys with the umbrella!! Lovely!!

calculsoberic, to random

I hate having to share this, but: https://allswellalert.com/blog/how-to-survive-a-mass-shooting-dos-donts - in the case that it may happen to you, knowing what to do is helpful.

chiasm,

@calculsoberic I log in to try to update a post and now I'm completely derailed... It IS sad that strategies like that need to be common knowledge. And maddening.

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