@futurebird@sauropods.win
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futurebird

@futurebird@sauropods.win

pro-ant propaganda, building electronics, writing sci-fi teaching mathematics & CS. I live in NYC.

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futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

"I should start writing my year end student reports." I think to myself... and so braced and alarmed by the earliness of this thought I decide to take the weekend off in celebration of daring to even think about planning so early.

(From the chronicle of common teacher mishaps.)

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

See also: making a todo list, then bedding down for a nap because making the list was SO exhausting.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Has anyone read any good math and science history nonfiction books recently? (pop nonfiction please) Are there any really good ones out?

futurebird,
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@BsCreativeLife @drcaberry I’m always happy to hear about other Egan fans— the most math scifi.

futurebird,
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@msglincoln Was Buffon that guy who was wrong about everything? but in a very flashy way?

irizoris, to random
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@futurebird Brood XIX cicada and ants at my Nashville bus stop this morning

Cicada and ants

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@irizoris It’s a bounty for the ants and many other predators— the broods have so many interesting connections to the rest of the ecosystem.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I love the fedi only more for being the only place I know full of exasperated FORTRAN defenders. How can we insult the original word? Yea, when it was first written we were not yet even born! 🥰

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The ancients walk among us even now and boy are they cranky.

futurebird, to random
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Its always remarkable to me to think about Descartes and Galileo being contemporaries: so we know how the former reacted when the latter was imprisoned:

“I inquired in Leiden and Amsterdam whether Galileo’s World System was available, … I was told that it had indeed been published but that all the copies had immediately been burnt at Rome, and that Galileo had been convicted and fined. I was so astonished at this that I almost decided to burn all my papers … .”

futurebird, (edited )
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I think Descartes’ impact on math education and math communication is much more significant and interesting than his philosophy which always felt a little shallow to me— I think of him as a math teacher first and everything else second.

futurebird,
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@rayhindle No Thoughts? No Problems.

futurebird,
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@powersoffour

Also his math textbooks are readable and clear to this day! That’s incredible.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@anilmc I’m very suspicious of any philosophy that dismisses the unknown and possibly unknowable as nonsense simply because it’s hard to work with and disruptive.

But I understand the impulse if you are joyfully constructing a clockwork knowable model of the universe and eventually getting the model mixed up with the actual article.

St. Thomas isn’t so bad on this kind of thing — but Descartes is like Bertrand Russell … too dismissive of anything that isn’t math.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Thicc Descartes isn’t real and he can’t hurt me.

…

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@ptmesis Idk look at him

futurebird,
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@Sharksonaplane @ptmesis

… he ham.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Four more years?
or five more brain worms?

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@kellogh No RFK

KathyReid, to stackoverflow
@KathyReid@aus.social avatar

Like many other technologists, I gave my time and expertise for free to because the content was licensed CC-BY-SA - meaning that it was a public good. It brought me joy to help people figure out why their code wasn't working, or assist with a bug.

Now that a deal has been struck with to scrape all the questions and answers in Stack Overflow, to train models, like , without attribution to authors (as required under the CC-BY-SA license under which Stack Overflow content is licensed), to be sold back to us (the SA clause requires derivative works to be shared under the same license), I have issued a Data Deletion request to Stack Overflow to disassociate my username from my Stack Overflow username, and am closing my account, just like I did with Reddit, Inc.

https://policies.stackoverflow.co/data-request/

The data I helped create is going to be bundled in an and sold back to me.

In a single move, Stack Overflow has alienated its community - which is also its main source of competitive advantage, in exchange for token lucre.

Stack Exchange, Stack Overflow's former instantiation, used to fulfill a psychological contract - help others out when you can, for the expectation that others may in turn assist you in the future. Now it's not an exchange, it's .

Programmers now join artists and copywriters, whose works have been snaffled up to create solutions.

The silver lining I see is that once OpenAI creates LLMs that generate code - like Microsoft has done with Copilot on GitHub - where will they go to get help with the bugs that the generative AI models introduce, particularly, given the recent GitClear report, of the "downward pressure on code quality" caused by these tools?

While this is just one more example of , it's also a salient lesson for folks - if your community is your source of advantage, don't upset them.

futurebird,
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@KathyReid

Will this impact all of the "overflows" eg mathoverflow?

docpop, to random
@docpop@mastodon.social avatar

Okay, but when will Apple apologize for removing the 3.5mm headphone jack?

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@docpop

I hate to be that one... but I love bluetooth headphones... earbuds... ahhhh nothing can make me go back.

And what is disturbing is I only got on them because they took it away. It's sad really. I'm not proud.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@docpop

I like the air pods, but I'm a sicko who's into "fancy" earbuds like the Sony ones... but considering how much I use them I don't feel that bad.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@Pagan_Animist @docpop

I only use wired headphones at work... which ironically are really nice ones handmade by this headphone craft guy...

Keeping a pair charged at work for parent conferences is too annoying.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@docpop @AnneMacro

I just realize I need two pairs and keep switching them. Can't remember the last time I didn't have one ready to go.

They should just sell them in sets of four.

yurnidiot, to random
@yurnidiot@mstdn.social avatar

peer-to-peer Cat6 cabling

cat connected to wire walks under floor of deck and appears at other end where person is holding treats

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@yurnidiot

Cat6? where are the other 5?

elilla, to random
@elilla@transmom.love avatar
futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@elilla

I wrote a story kinda of about this. It's called "Bolting"

https://www.tumblr.com/futurebird/721488414873092096/bolting

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