@davoloid@qoto.org
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

davoloid

@davoloid@qoto.org

Just another worried little citizen of this modern-day Pompeii. Techie at UCL, moving towards Process Automation with MS Power Platform. Scatterbrain, interested in education, languages, Space and lots of disparate things. sorry.
Keeping my space toots at @astrodad as an experiment in self-moderation :)

*Background banner is a photo Yorkshire flag in blue and white, in front of a classic bell tent, in a field of similar tents at a festival.

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

robb, (edited ) to random
@robb@social.lol avatar

โญ Heat Death of the Internet https://www.takahe.org.nz/heat-death-of-the-internet/

"The photos on the page look weird. The hands are disfigured. There is no image credit."

I love this and hate this in equal measure.

๐Ÿ“Œ https://rknight.me/links/heat-death-of-the-internet/

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@robb Even the URL is getting in on the act!

OrbitalGardens, to random
@OrbitalGardens@spacey.space avatar

Sometimes historical research is annoying. I found a reference to experiments on tomato seeds that had been stored on the Mir space station for 6 years.

I have found the results of those experiments. I have found out which spacecraft took them to Mir, and which one brought them home.

I have found out that of the "agricultural seeds" involved, only the wheat and tomato survived the experience.

But can I find out which other seeds they sent? No, I cannot. ๐Ÿคฏ

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@OrbitalGardens More importantly, was that research published?

danfuzz, to random
@danfuzz@mastodon.social avatar

Different conservative groups "all disagree about who should be in charge, but they all agree that some people are ordained to rule, and that any 'artificial' attempt to overturn the 'natural' order throws society into chaos." โ€” @pluralistic

(FWIW, I got my go-to definition of conservatism from an essay by Phil Agre: "Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.")

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/27/for-the-little-people/

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@danfuzz @pluralistic The reason we have these "unnatural" mechanisms to define who is in power (which we loosely call "Democracy" is because of millennia of these types of people imposing that "natural order" and getting others to kill each other when they couldn't decide who was right.

LouisIngenthron, to random
@LouisIngenthron@qoto.org avatar

Why is it that kids so often like bread with the crust cut off while adults so often love the crust to the point where we buy shit like french bread?

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@LouisIngenthron Show me the child who enjoys a ciabbata and I'll show you a future hipster artisan baker.

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

This line is really easy to re-activate. Most of the track is active, you only really need to sort out this bridge at the edge of Coevorden
https://mastodon.online/@bahnoev/112325989155560007

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@jon That appears to be a swing bridge:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/dQeFp1qFBh6KXwnb6

pluralistic, to random
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

Anyone who says "If you're not paying for the product, you're the product" has been suckered in by Big Tech, whose cargo-cult version of markets and the discipline they impose on companies.

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/22/kargo-kult-kaptialism/#dont-buy-it

1/

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@pluralistic I've been seeing many responses to this in my feed and must admit I was like "Wait, what?" with your opening statement. That's definitely had its day as a useful maxim.

rasterweb, to Milwaukee
@rasterweb@mastodon.social avatar

Visit Milwaukee has a new logo so I wrote about it...

โžก๏ธ https://rasterweb.net/raster/2024/04/18/visit-milwaukee-logo/

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@rasterweb I used to really enjoy the logo reviews at Under Consideration, but sadly they're now subscriber only. Amazing how much subtle changes can refresh a brand... or send it towards indistinguishability.

fulelo, to random
@fulelo@journa.host avatar

- attack: Central Asian migrants hit by backlash in Russia
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68665896

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@fulelo This is the kind of thing that will push these countries further away from Moscow's sphere of influence.

Eka_FOOF_A, (edited ) to baltimore
@Eka_FOOF_A@spacey.space avatar

The main center spans of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in has collapsed. A large ship hit one of the main bridge supports, and all of the center spans fell.

Video: https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/baltimore-bridge-collapse-03-26-24-intl-hnk

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/26/1240857704/francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-baltimore

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@Eka_FOOF_A Bad luck or a symptom of the national crisis in infrastructure maintenance?

davidallengreen, to random
@davidallengreen@mastodon.green avatar

Why the inquiry announced into potential war crimes is interesting โ€“ very interesting.

Me back on 15th December 2022.

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/why-the-inquiry-announced-today-into

Suggest you (re-)read this for background, for something coming up soon.

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@davidallengreen Are we going back to this period?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/aug/01/campaigners-mod-court-afghanistan

davoloid, to random
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@lowqualityfacts Before Netflix and fast broadband, the only way you could watch movies online was via Terminal. Someone has recreated that experience for posterity.
https://ascii.theater/

Sample from Ascii Theatre showing several scenes from movies rendered in ASCII, in a 69x420 (heh) mac SSH terminal. We can see scenes from The Shining, Pulp Fiction, Shrek and the 20th Century Fox ident.

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@freemo @lowqualityfacts I guess because VT100 didn't support stereo.

PatrickoftheG, to random
@PatrickoftheG@mastodon.social avatar

The double standard on this.

Imagine the screams of bloody murder if America were held accountable for its war crimes because "democracy"?

Do you have any idea how many people Kissinger killed? Remember 9/11. No, not the NYC one but the one America did to Chile? Is the world allowed to carpet bomb NYC?

Ditto imagine if every time the IDF killed the innocent, if that justified vengeance against Israeli citizens because democracy? Evil.

Madness.

Credit to @DrALJONES

https://www.juancole.com/2024/02/innocent-civilians-palestinians.html

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@Benaresh @DrALJONES Aah, I know that term via MalcomX but have never heard of Fanon, will have to read more, he seems to have been hugely influential in such a short space of time.

clacke, to random

Is there such a thing as a soup pot with a cast-iron bottom?

I don't want to buy non-stick pots and inevitably get micro teflon in my food as it deteriorates, and I really like how my cast-iron frying pan works.

I suppose there are full cast-iron pots, but those would be super heavy and also easy to burn yourself on.

I suppose it's not possible to make something like this without getting a seam that would inevitably leak?

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@RandomDamage @clacke Yep, I've got a set with thick bottoms, been using them for 22 years and still come up brilliant when cleaned. Brabantia don't seem to do those any more but there are others. They weren't even that expensive at the time.

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@feld @RandomDamage @clacke Valid point, hadn't considered that. There are apparently some tests you can do. https://wilmax.com/pages/how-can-you-tell-if-stainless-steel-is-good-quality-try-this-test

davoloid, to random
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

Real story here is that a passenger got paranoid and caused himself and all his fellow passengers unnecessary delay. With knock on effects, no doubt.
Good work fella!
https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/virgin-atlantic-flight-canceled-missing-bolts-wing-777642-20240123

rasterweb, to art
@rasterweb@mastodon.social avatar

Anchors away, whatever that meansโ€ฆ

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@rasterweb Also an utterly bonkers movie from 1945 that I really enjoyed as a kid. Gene Kelly dancing with Frank Sinatra
https://youtu.be/0YtzygXLmn4?t=164
and... Jerry Mouse?
https://youtu.be/jHCsOFWuIb4

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

The next time, the so-called tech leaders throw up their hands, asking, "What more could we have done?" I'll point to bullshit like this - where inclusion takes a backseat, and even the fucking girls' club is run by the boys' club.

To Blackbird let me just say this: the standard you walk past is the standard you accept.

When you read this investor memo, were you proud of where your money is going?

https://joanwestenberg.com/blog/dear-blackbird-women-in-tech-are-not-corporate-girlies

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@Daojoan I think the heartwarming story of how they started was a giveaway. Though I think we can all identify with the trauma of having to throw your $20k life savings away at age 20.

image/png

andycarolan, to random
@andycarolan@social.lol avatar

There were some Kia EVs parked outside a local mall yesterday. How did cars become almost ยฃ60k each?

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@Wifiwits @andycarolan Hybrids seem clunky to me but have their place. In-laws got one last year and saw immediate reduction in fuel spending. And obviously local emissions reduced as it tends to use the battery.

OTOH - weight and increased damage on roads is another factor to consider.

davidallengreen, to random
@davidallengreen@mastodon.green avatar

The Post Office scandal is shockingโ€”but not surprising

The systems failures that led to this miscarriage of justice are all too familiarโ€”and without some remarkable stokes of legal luck they might never have come to light

By me, at Prospect

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/64464/post-office-scandal-mr-bates-law

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@davidallengreen What galls me is the "come to light" aspect. Private Eye (maybe other organs as well) have been highlighting the problems and then the scandal for almost all this time.

RustyBertrand, to random
@RustyBertrand@mastodon.social avatar

Watching these two movies on a sleepless night inspires dread.

Cheney did it on instinct
Cummings did the math

Distil fear into hate, change the wording, build a media, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Pathetic little men, idiots even, changing the course of history.

Children (and people) need to know how stupid people in government (power) are, not awe-inspiring, but pageantry and props, spur of the moment decisions, money and petty tyrants, a mix of pretentious calculation and dumb acquiescence.

image/jpeg

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@Grootinside @RustyBertrand Saw that at the cinema at the time and it was just too close to home. Lot of good political comedies around that time: Bob Roberts, Bullworth, Primary Colours come to mind.

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

@Grootinside @RustyBertrand Anon seemed like an interesting concept that ran out of road.
If you've not seen that show, Black Mirror have pretty much done all the dystopian tech stories over the last decade or so. And yet we still didn't learn.

davoloid, to ChatGPT
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

Just threw a fairly simple query at and it came up with straight out lies, and then doubled down on the lies.

There's a few cast members in For All Mankind who were also in The Americans. It got me wondering if the visual style, production design and the timeline continuity was due to crew, writers or production team in common. 1/n

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

So my initial query was:
Which members of the "For All Mankind" production team also worked on the TV show "The Americans"? Include writers, directors, producers, casting directors, cinematography and production designers.

Not hard, you would imagine. A simple cross-match of wikipedia or IMDB. But no! 2/n

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

Claiming that Joel Weisberg (The Americans) and Ronald D Moore (FAM) worked on each others' shows, despite no record of this being the case, ChatGPT conitnued:
"These individuals brought their expertise from "The Americans" to contribute to the development and production of "For All Mankind," enriching the storytelling and execution of the series."
3/n

davoloid,
@davoloid@qoto.org avatar

So I tried again:
"Compare the cast and crew for the TV shows "The Americans" and "For All Mankind". List the individuals who have worked on both shows and their roles on each."

Result: Same BS answer, in a 2 point list format. Didn't even recognise the cast members that were in both.

"While there might be other individuals who have worked behind the scenes on both shows, these are two prominent figures who have contributed significantly to both "The Americans" and "For All Mankind.""

4/n

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