vacapinta

@vacapinta@mastodon.coffee

Mexican-American in Amsterdam. Citizen of the world. Ex Astrophysics student. Mostly talk about books, art, culture, language and living in Amsterdam. Speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch and Japanese - in order of proficiency. #Metafilter Mefite. Partner of claujours@mastodon.cloud

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peterrowlett, to random

My son: “I’ve spotted a little typo in Kyle’s book. He says natural logarithm, or L N for short, not N L.”

vacapinta,

@peterrowlett never thought about this until this post. I suppose from logarithmus naturalis but I can't find a reliable source.

vacapinta, to random

C. is learning Moden Greek and we are both blown away that there is no word for foot or for hand. Two things that seem obvious to us as separate body parts but then you realize...maybe not.

vacapinta,

@NatureMC But πόδι also translates as 'leg'

vacapinta,

@NatureMC

vacapinta,

@NatureMC if you loo k at the Wiki entry for foot and then look for other languages you will see like 100 other languages and a note that there is no entry in Greek!! (Ελληνικά)

kevbob, to random
@kevbob@xoxo.zone avatar

Flickr’s 5 billionth photo, from 2010. A Woodward’s Building collage in Vancouver, the city where Flickr was born.

Game Never Ending begat Flickr which begat Glitch which begat Slack, all here in Vancity.

Woodwards Collage https://flic.kr/p/8BQiNy

vacapinta,

@kevbob I'd say GNE begat Flickr and also begat Glitch.
I think one of my Flickr photos is the 1500th photo posted on Flickr!

pinskal, to random
@pinskal@sfba.social avatar
vacapinta,

@pinskal I grew up in SoCal but I wonder how many people around the world know that this is/was a real sign (w/o the text on the bottom of course)

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

😭 When you find amazing books but they only exist in languages you don't speak...

vacapinta,

@vicgrinberg a prolific japanese writer I wanted to read only had 1 or 2 books translated into English. But he had others translated into French and Italian which I can also read.
An extra benefit of knowing more languages is not just of course reading books in that language but reading books translated into that language!

vicgrinberg, (edited ) to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

Dear Dutch friends - if I want a "care package" delivered to a friend (say a nice card and chocolate and something cute, all preferably of the sustainable kind - but I'm flexible on what, just the chocolate is a necessity), what's the best place to put an order? Delivery within 1-2 days necessary. Please 🔄, bit of emergency.

[eda: thanks so much for all your suggestions - solved and bookmarked several possibilities for the next times!]

vacapinta,

@vicgrinberg You can try a local chocolatier such as Van Soest in Amsterdam: https://www.vansoest-amsterdam.nl/en/webshop/gift-boxes/

vacapinta, to Amsterdam

A beautiful thing just happened in our Amsterdam neighborhood. A beloved local lady, an original Amsterdammer, who was always out and about - passed away last week. Near the end, neighbors were taking turns walking her dog.
After her passing, neighbors got a local street artist to paint a little mural of her so we could all remember her. And there it is, her and her dog riding a leopard into the sky!

divbyzero, to random
@divbyzero@mathstodon.xyz avatar

I’ve been enjoying the NYT's Connections game, so I thought I'd make a couple of my own. Although the puzzle has math terms, the groupings may or may not be mathematical.

Since I've never made these before, it was hard to calibrate them for the right level of difficulty. I hope they are a little challenging but not unsolvable. Have fun!

My blog has solutions (hidden) and more info: https://divisbyzero.com/2023/11/05/connections-with-mathematical-terms/

PLEASE DON'T POST THE ANSWERS HERE!

KNOT, NUT, CRITICAL, MOBIUS BAND, NATURAL, LOG, TORUS, CONE, TREE, GRAPH, PRIME, MEAN, NEGATIVE, EVEN, IMAGINARY, IRRATIONAL

vacapinta,

@ColinTheMathmo @divbyzero The puzzle seems generic enough to me. It has been used by the Dutch/Belgian quiz show Slimste Mens ter Wereld (as the PuzzelRond) which predates OnlyConnect by a decade. Here's a video of someone in the UK doing a tribute to the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEzZfXDoBOU&t=871s

vacapinta,

@ColinTheMathmo @divbyzero There may be others. I do think OnlyConnect did it best and there should have been something said. But the NYT lawyers probably wouldnt let them.

mcnees, to random
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was born in 1910. He established an upper limit on the mass of stable white dwarf stars, and made numerous contributions to astrophysics and relativity.

Above the Chandrasekhar Limit – about 1.44 solar masses – stars eventually explode and then collapse into a neutron star or black hole.

Photo: Stephen Lewellyn / AIP

vacapinta,

@mcnees The good news is that today all us Astro undergraduates study the Chandrasekhar Limit and its elegant derivation - it is fundamental - so Chandrasekhar does have the legacy he deserves.

mathowie, to random
@mathowie@xoxo.zone avatar

Feel like there's a 50/50 chance Marc Andreessen tries to become L. Ron Hubbard by the end of the decade

vacapinta,

@mathowie The Nietzche references literally made me eye-roll. Like, wasn't a Fish called Wanda already poking fun at these types in 1988?

vacapinta, to AncientHistory

This carved figure of a Sleeping Lady dates from around 3000 bc. It was found in an underground complex in Malta and very little is known about the culture that produced it.
It sits in the National Archaelogical Museum of Malta. Strangely the megalithic complexes are crowded with tourists but few people come to see one of its greatest treasures.

HeavenlyPossum, to random

About 4,000 years ago, at a site called Pingliangtai in eastern China, Neolithic people had to deal with frequent and unpredictable flooding, driven by summer monsoon rains. These stone age people responded very resourcefully: they built a wall around their community, surrounded by a moat to capture rain water; they dug ditches around their homes; and, most impressive, they built an elaborate system of ceramic drainage pipes, made of interconnected clay segments.

And they did it all without any indication of state authority.

1/

vacapinta,

@HeavenlyPossum Reminds me a bit of the Dutch water boards here which are a collaborative power structure which exists parallel to the actual government. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_board_(Netherlands)

paulakirby, to random

One for my fellow linguists. Everyone who translates will relate to this at once. It comes from the translator's note to Dante's Inferno and is couched in appropriately poetic terms.

vacapinta,

@vicgrinberg @paulakirby It is the John Ciardi translation

mathowie, to random
@mathowie@xoxo.zone avatar

I hate it when you follow a link to a really great blog post and you're two paragraphs in thinking oh my god this is really good but then a modal popup window from substack asks you to subscribe to this newsletter and you have to hit "continue reading" to finish and then you wonder if this great blog entry will last on someone else's service that may not be around in a few years

vacapinta,

@mathowie I had a blog from 2003-2008 on blogspot and, surprisingly, the whole thing is still there! Its such a good record of a certain time and place for me so I had it print-on-demand'ed and it now sits as a book on my bookshelf.

stux, to cryptocurrency
@stux@mstdn.social avatar

"Worldcoin" is one of the most terrible ideas from recent times

They use so called "orbs" to scan your Iris so you "login anonymously" to certain crypto websites :nkoFacepalm2:

DO NOT fall for this bs! ⚠️

Never ever trust a "crypto company" with super personal data like a scan of your iris, ever

#Worldcoin #Cryptocurrency #scam

vacapinta,

@stux There's strange stores that scan your Iris to create Art for you. One is called EyeMazy and they have stores in the Netherlands. This seems fishy to me. Why the sudden interest in Irises?

brainwane, to random
@brainwane@social.coop avatar

New York's digital vaccine record wallet app is being discontinued later this week.

https://covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/excelsior-pass-update

"As of July 28, 2023, the Excelsior Pass Plus (EPP) and the NYS Wallet Apps will no longer be available."

"Following the reduced demand for access to digital COVID-19 test and vaccine records through the epass.ny.gov portal and the official end of the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, 2023..."

vacapinta,

@brainwane Here in Europe all the certificates and apps are being discontinued this year. But the ostensible reason they say is that WHO is establishing some global protocol? https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/coronavirus-response/safe-covid-19-vaccines-europeans/eu-digital-covid-certificate_en

christianp, (edited ) to random
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

What do you think is the furthest you've ever been from any living people?
Order of magnitude will do: 100m, 1km, 10km, 100km?

I think solo pilots or sailors will boss this, but I'm also interested in the answer for plebs like me who rarely travel solo.

vacapinta,

@christianp have driven solo on highway 50 across Nevada. Even then there are trailers and lonely gas stations I suppose.

notjustbikes, (edited ) to random
@notjustbikes@notjustbikes.com avatar

After my last lifestream to the "knip" in Weesperstraat, several right-wing trolls were saying I was a lying WEF shill for "avoiding" the Kattenburgerstraat; the street with such crippling traffic due to the knip that the VVD are demanding an immediate stop to the 6-week project.

So this morning at rush hour I visited the Kattenburgerstraat and as it turns out, the right-wing press are lying.

Shocking, I know.

Here's my livestream of my visit to Kattenburgerstraat:

https://youtu.be/F7X7g4KPsFc?t=951

vacapinta,

@notjustbikes I live in a street near the Weesperstraat. We are definitely getting more traffic on our little sidestreet as cars look for alternate routes. But the "knip" isn't the problem. Cars are the problem. I'd like to see even more streets closed to traffic.

mathowie, to random
@mathowie@xoxo.zone avatar

I started getting TikTok style reels at Instagram of “Amazing Places to Visit in Oregon!!!” and sometimes I’ve been to the spots hundreds of times before and though it’s cool to see the enthusiasm of their first visit their advice on what to do or eat is clearly based on five minutes of being there as they miss menu classics or perfect sunset views.

vacapinta,

@mathowie Same here in Amsterdam. By now everyone knows the TikTok places as they are crowded with tourists and in all cases a local could take you someplace better.

notjustbikes, to Amsterdam
@notjustbikes@notjustbikes.com avatar

Does someone know the correct way to report a problem area with the gemeente Amsterdam?

There's a section where a lot of drivers are starting to drive over the curb to cut through a neighbourhood to avoid traffic. A bollard would solve the problem, by I need to know where to report it.

Thanks! 👍

vacapinta,

@notjustbikes https://meldingen.amsterdam.nl/incident/beschrijf

vacapinta, to random

Great show last night at the Carré! Science and Music. I wish my classes had been like this. Thanks @markmccaughrean for the entertaining and informative presentation! Metropole Orchestra and Twan Huys too!

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