There is no benefit to anyone on the left being on twitter.
Nina Turner tweeted "Insulin should be free." some libertarians responded "Nina should pick cotton for free."
Did this obvious racism hurt them? No, they now have more followers than ever. Being over there is just being bait for these extremists to build their network.
Grotesque racist images of Nina, rather than being demoted by the algorithm are being promoted since the people posting them paid for blue checks.
Nina Turner is a piece of shit antisemite, who went to war against the entire Democratic party in her attempt to win the OH11 then when she lost she blamed Jewish Money. Fuck Nina Turner.
antisemitic people exist in any group of people who aren't Jewish, particularly in the US given the long history of antisemitism.
But if you can't see the reaction to Ilan Omar was disproportionate I don't know what to tell you.
It was racist the way the house came down on her so hard while others say far worse, refuse to learn, or apologize & actively try to make the US into a "Christian Nation."
I'd never tell anyone they had to forgive/trust her. But she was targeted.
Watched a video of Gigantiops destructor (the ant with the best eyesight of ants) A lone ant hunting makes a point of sneaking up on the prey from behind, circling them to stay clear of their antennae and out of range of their eyes.
Can that be done without a "theory of the mind of the other" ?
"It can see me here, it can't see me there?"
Were this a mammal I bet people would call this evidence sufficient. Since ants are so tiny, & have such tiny brains we look for other explanations.
Watching Gigantiops destructor hunt is like watching jumping spiders hunting. There are the basics of planning and strategy. I think it may be more easy to relate to the actions of creatures with excellent eyesight since we use our own eyes so much.
@futurebird You're truly an expert on ants, what do you think of the perennial theory of the ant group mind? The "they're all brain cells in a brain" thing? Not too literally that but...
None of you thought it might be important to tell me that ferns have sperm that swim??? I just had to find all this out on my own?
And, (apparently, & no one thought to bring this up either🙄) fern plants are only one form... they have this 'other form' (tiny, ephemeral, difficult to find in the wild) alternates generations-- Fern spores don't grow into ferns! (WHAT) they grow into 'gemetophytes' (WHAT) THEN you get a fern.
We had the option to opt out of taking biology in HS and take advanced physics and chem instead.
Since these were the "harder sciences" that's where I got pushed. So all the biology I learned in school was under 8th grade.
And I'm starting to think that was BAD. It's also bad that kids who are good at math and excited about STEM get steered away from geology, biology, etc. we are messing up big time with this move.
I still cannot get over the wonder and mystery of what gall wasps can do to plants. This is bio-engineering! The wasp lays her egg and somehow the plant makes a structure that is not a fruit, it is not a seed, it is not a leaf or stem. It's a wholly recombinant architecture customized to the needs of the growing young larva. The plant provides food and shelter-- It's like a cancer, but with a purpose.
There is a great article producing "how did that evolve" and "what the hell is going on here" and a little "they can do that?" And a couple "wait, what's"
"Plant Cells of Different Species Can Swap Organelles"
"In grafted plants, shrunken chloroplasts can jump between species by slipping through unexpected gateways in cell walls."
Horizontal transfer is being used for DNA information to be passed not vertically from mother / father genes, but "sideways" transferring a gene, like the astounding slug breed that ACQUIRED photosynthesis, the ability to eat sunlight.
This is another thing, its name not yet famous, of sharing cellular makeup, sharing abilities, shating the organic structures that preform the ability.
Life, supporting life, not even same species. And its built in!
Compassion squared
Another teacher asked me an interesting question today. "What do you think about this idea of replacing calculus with statistics. After all statistics is more useful."
That's probably true on the surface, but I can't say I'm a huge fan of the "replace calc with stats" craze... even as I lament the poor understanding many people have of stats. It's obvious we need more education on interpreting datasets and visualizations.
But, there is a subtext to this argument I dislike. 1/
(Also I don't know if all teens are developmentally ready to learn calculus... especially if they aren't naturally "in to" math. By the time a person is in their early 20s they probably have the executive function skills to manage the subject ... but it's unreasonable to think every teen will be ready and silly. )
I cannot deal with this "no it's good that we aren't popular" subtext -- it's so snooty and seems like something that may have been learned over the quiet years here--
"Oh! I love my obscure social media app... no you wouldn't have heard of it... it requires a certain... technical sophistication...puffpuff"
I mean-- I like it here too and all but can we NOT?
Honestly, I DO wish Mastodo-, I mean, The Fediverse were more popular. I left a bunch of awesome people on Twitter after Apartheid Enthusiast Musk took over, and I haven't interacted with them since. Makes me sad, and I wish they were here.
Someone said it's important say this publicly in the US: so I will. (And I think each of us should, online and to friends)
This November I will vote for Biden.
I would regard not voting for Biden, particularly in: PA, OH, MI, WI, IN, IL,VA, GA, FL, AZ, ME, NC, NH, etc. as a huge error. I'd be disappointed to find out anyone I knew didn't vote. It's one of a long list of things we need to do. We can't skip it.
And still? We deserve better choices, and in the future we shall have them.
Basically I feel a little silly even posting this, because to me it's obvious. It's like there is a big red button that says "Fascism" and I'm like "do I really need to say that I think pushing that button is a terrible idea?"
But just in case? Under no circumstances should we push the big red button.
Elect Biden again and proceed to make him miserable
Better than being too miserable to get anything done.
We focused on certain things and they got better, we ignored certain things and they got worse.
Anyone who tells you it's just one more fight for utopia is a liar. It's an endless push for reform that we must pace ourselves for. Be alert but not afraid.
How do people go through life not knowing what weevils are? I was talking about ants to a teacher the other day and mentioned something about weevils & they were like "what are weevils?"
"Like beetles but with the long snoot to drill acorns and trees."
"drill acorns!?"
"That's how they end up hollow"
"oh."
"That's how acorn ants have a place to live!"
"oh. I didn't know so much was going on in acorns."
This is the 3rd time I've seen someone who makes YouTube videos go mad trying to second guess "the algorithm."
YouTube provides creators with a firehose of data: How long people watch, when they stop watching, the distribution of views.
YouTube also sometimes selects videos using a secret, unknowable algorithm to be "promoted." For small and medium creators this is a huge deal and the difference between 500 views and 500,000.
For self-critical analytical minds it's a toxic combination. 1/
@futurebird I remember this from first year psychology class, that unpredictable rewards and punishment are one of the best ways to fuck with someone's mind. You wanna get a rat addicted to sugar water? Make the button unreliable, that rat is gonna press that button like his life depended on it. You want to turn that rat into a quivering lump? shock the floor at unpredictable intervals, that rat will never be the same again.
Gambling is so effective at ruining lives because of this. Youtubers are probably the same?
My advice is to avoid depending on YouTube if you have the option. It's not a good work environment.
I hope that this guy comes out of it. I'm not kidding when I've said it's driven other people mad. Like they had to get therapy because of it... which sounds funny ... until you think about what it would really be like.
Thanks for letting me share about this. It's weighing on me today--
I asked my math camp kids what kind of experiments they did in in science class:
“none”
“we watch videos”
“we dissected a frog… on the computer”
“we were going to do lasers but there were no batteries”
@futurebird my favorite science class memory was in 9th grade... the teacher decided to show us an experiment where he held a container of Hydrocholoric Acid and he dropped a huge chunk of potassium into it...
The flames hit the ceiling after burning his eyebrows on the way up. It was truly inspirational, and we learned that day why he normally taught basic algebra instead.
I will never forget what "exothermic" means, however.
@futurebird As a curious 8 year old I conducted my own clandestine experiment I named "Does It Burn?". I watched my mom use an aluminum pie tin in the oven, so I used that as my holder. I created a list of things to test: Dirt, rocks, kleenex, newspaper, glass, brown paper bag, stainless steel, aluminum, cast iron. Each with a hypothesis. I used my Dad's matches and tested, and safely guessed each outcome until aluminum. There I learned an aluminum sheet does not burn if held horizontally, but if turned vertically, bursts into big flames like paper scaring the heck out of an unprepared 8 year old. Frightened, I dropped it into the pie tin. Which I realized was also ALUMINUM!!! Even more frightened I dropped the flaming sheet and pie tin into the trash can lined with a brown paper bag. Oh NO! Brown paper bags burn! I was so frightened I blew it all out with one adrenaline infused breath, then dumped the whole thing into the stainless steel kitchen sink and turned on the water. I stopped my experiments on that day. Science is very exciting. I became a poet.
@futurebird the ones that are hard to find in home improvement centers are those designed for tracks. Like t-slot or mitter nuts (used in tools like circular saws, routers etc to screw hold down bolts. Or hammer nuts for fastening to extruded aluminum frames after the frame is built (can be used with tracks too)
“We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.”
C.S. Lewis, preface to "The Screwtape Letters", 1961
I almost relate to the frustration at things being degraded. It's like "enshittification" -- or I think it must feel like what we'd call "enshittification" though the essence of functionally public "free" services getting worse has to do with greed. Someone is making my computer programs worse just to make a few pennies off of me and my data. The exploitation is what brings the anger.
Not making a hole in the ozone layer isn't like that. But I think many people don't see it this way. 2/
I remember it being controversial. Companies hadn't learned to use other aerosol methods. For a few years hair sprays really were "worse" or at least "different" --
I remember when "Aqua Net" went CFC free. Had this "pump" can that cost more & you had to pump it to make it spritz.
Vivd memories of being a science nerd kid explaining to everyone in the hairdressers shop why it was worth it. 🤣 Then they came out with a new way So we didn't even need to "adapt" that tiny bit.
@futurebird so when a human orders a knife it’s “for practical purposes”, but when cats order one it’s “suspicious” and they say “cats don’t need knives”
Just got a card from a student who has been having a rough year. She was having a great deal of trouble until I started showing her how to really USE a calculator. (It's algebra and geometry not arithmetic, and she knows the algorithms just makes SO MANY little mistakes)
Since then she's really taken off. I find very few people who could benefit from calculators know how to use them effectively, and there is a lot of snootiness and stigma in the way of this happening.
@futurebird@snacktraces
Yes! Normalize redundancy, verification, and checking external sources, instead of encouraging the arrogant practice of refusing help to demonstrate knowledge! It’s a fragile ego that refuses “measure twice, cut once.”
@stacey_campbell@futurebird@snacktraces Joe Groff (of the Swift compiler team at Apple, wow do I miss him on here) once remarked that unit tests and static types have in common that they are a form of •systematized redundancy•: both ask engineers to express their understanding / assumption / intent in two forms, and then a second actor (the machine in both those cases) checks that the two forms agree. I love that way of seeing it.