@zrb@astrodon.social
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

zrb

@zrb@astrodon.social

Software engineer in astronomy. Interested in high-energy astrophysics, leftist theory, and permaculture gardening.

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zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

if I reject your request to follow me, it's likely because you have no posts. You won't get much out of fedi until you make more of an effort to engage with the community.

jacqueline, to random
@jacqueline@chaos.social avatar

> Just one quick question about your purchase! If asked, on a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?

I click 10 because I'm not a nark

> Wow, incredible! What's the reason for your score?

bro u promised me just one quick question :(

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@jacqueline just like post-call surveys; "how was your experience with [employee name]?"

nuh uh, you're not gonna trick me into giving you an excuse to pay your already-underpaid employee any less; I'm giving the guy I talked to a 10/10 even if he's rude and unhelpful

jpaskaruk, to linux
@jpaskaruk@growers.social avatar

If you are attempting to try out a desktop for the first time because you've had enough of Microsoft's shit but are feeling a need to scream in order to express just how frustratingly weird and annoying this operating system is...

I'm here for you. I promise to do my best to both validate your emotions and guide you towards the knowledge you need to be free.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@jpaskaruk and for anyone getting into Linux, remember that any desktop that you like and which works for you is perfectly fine, and don't let anyone pressure you into using a different one unless you're curious about others.

I'm looking at you, #GNOME-haters.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@jpaskaruk that being said, also don't be afraid to try new desktop environments! I didn't know how much I would love a tiling window manager until I installed and booted up !

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@oxiurus @jpaskaruk wow, thanks a bunch! I've been looking for an alternative to (the window manager itself is great, it's just that the community and maintainers are kinda toxic IMO).

I spent today switching to / configuring , and I gotta say I really like this infinite-workspace concept, and my setup worked out of the box.

timberwraith, to random
@timberwraith@mastodon.social avatar

I am once again mentioning that for 55 of my 55 years of life, I have largely not given a shit about sports.

But cis people being bigoted fucks about trans women in sports has forced an activity that I have always found to be loathsome and boring into my awareness.

And they've left me with the conclusion that far too many cis people are as loathsome and boring as their bigoted, obsessive opinions about sports.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@timberwraith the "trans women in sports" debate wouldn't even be an issue if we didn't segregate professional sports leagues in the first place.

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

I'm just saying, while a during this would likely destroy a lot of our electrical infrastructure, it would also basically eliminate light pollution in affected urban centers while drastically reducing our collective carbon emissions in the process.

That's why I'm voting for

sashin, to random Japanese
@sashin@veganism.social avatar

Does anyone use an MP3 player that they would recommend?

I'd want it to support bluetooth and use the not old usb-c port.

The one I'm currently using has the old usb port and when trying to charge it the cable keeps falling out

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@sashin perhaps the upcoming might be what you want, it's still in pre-production though

MichaelPorter, to Etymology
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

Regarding the pronunciation of “GIF”:

The creator of the format, Steve Wilhite, pronounced it with a soft “g.” Apparently this pronunciation is even specified in the tech specs for the format. He was riffing on a Jif peanut-butter advertising slogan, “Choosy mothers choose Jif,” by saying “Choosy programmers choose GIF.”

If you insist that “GIF” be pronounced with a hard g, because of some misguided insistence that acronyms must follow the pronunciation of the expanded phrase, missing the joke, AND ignoring the tech specs, for God’s sake, then I will insist that you also use the following pronunciations:

COVID: | ˌkōvīd | (“covyde”), as the “VI” is short for virus, with a long i.
SCUBA: | ˈskəbə | (“skubba”), as the U stands for “underwater,” which is pronounced with a short u.
LASER: | ˈlasir | (“lasseer”), as the A stands for amplfication (short a), the S for simulated (“sss” not “zzz”), and the E stands for emission (usually a long e, but debatable, okay)
YOLO: | ˈyōlwə | (“yole-wuh”) as the final O stands for “once”, with the o taking on a wuh sound.
POTUS: | ‘pätyo͞os | (“pot-use”) as the O stands for “office” (ah) and the U stands for “United” (you).

Captain America, looking pretty beat up, saying, “I can do this all day.”

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@MichaelPorter these are awesome pronunciations, I will start using them immediately

gerrymcgovern, to random
@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar

"ChatGPT consumes a lot of energy in the process, up to 25 times more than a Google search. Additionally, a lot of water is also used in cooling for the servers that run all that software. Per conversation of about 20 to 50 queries, half a litre of water evaporates – a small bottle, in other words."

AI is predicted to consume twice as much energy as the whole of France by 2030

Training GPT3, took 1,287 MWh (Megawatt hours) of electricity.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/world-all-news/1042696/chatgpt-consumes-25-times-more-energy-than-google

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@gerrymcgovern I've had tech bros in my replies saying data center water usage is "a nonsense stat" because the evaporated water "goes right back into the water cycle" https://qoto.org/@LouisIngenthron/112231723658590505

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@gerrymcgovern and, to be clear, just because the water is evaporated into the atmosphere does NOT mean it is instantly reusable.

If you draw water from an aquifer faster than that aquifer's recharge rate, the sediment surrounding the reservoir will compact and subside, leading to a permanent capacity reduction. This is already happening to aquifers around the world:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-41933-z

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

A non-Herald mage, entering the borders of Valdemar post-Vanyel: "imma do a magic"

Every vrandi in the area: 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

timberwraith, to random
@timberwraith@mastodon.social avatar

I just read that Applebee’s is closing a bunch of its locations.

I can't say that I ever had a memorable meal there as a vegetarian.

So... Goodbye, I guess. 👋

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@timberwraith honestly been a long time coming, seeing as they don't sell any apple-based or bee-based dishes, you can't lie to your customers forever

spacetelescope, to random
@spacetelescope@astrodon.social avatar

A new approach from astronomers seeks to use tidal disruption events—bright and fleeting phenomena—to locate and study the universe’s first stars, known as Population III stars, using the upcoming : https://bit.ly/3JP2spx

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@spacetelescope more like the universe's WFIRST stars, amirite

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

for a while now, when playing Mario Sunshine on the Switch, I've been frustrated by simple mistakes that have stymied my progress in the game, forcing me to retry the same levels over and over again.

Running off ledges, mistiming backflips, etc. I thought I was just bad, had lost my edge, or was just getting too old to still be good at 3D platformers.

It got to the point where I took a hiatus from playing on the Switch for a while.

[1/3]

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

just today, I watched a video on how to permanently fix "joycon drift" (apparently the joystick loses sensitivity over time and starts drifting?).

So, this afternoon I went downstairs and got my electronics screwdriver kit, disassembled the joycon, inserted a folded-up piece of paper, and screwed it back together.

And... after testing with Sunshine, I'm suddenly good at the game again, making every move perfectly and completing levels easily.

I wasn't bad; the controller had just degraded.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

this is proof positive that if you're making mistakes in a videogame, you should blame the controller.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

here's the video if anyone's interested https://piped.video/watch?v=Vid8lIXmZwE

zrb, to Bloomscrolling
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

panning view of a field of flowers planted in vibrant designs for the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but remember: you don’t need to use a sharp knife to cut an avocado. You can absolutely use a butter knife and a spoon. Stop slicing your hand open just so you can look like the chefs on Avocado Wars (or whatever it’s called I dunno I don’t have cable)

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

upward-facing shot showing the canopy of a live oak, covered in spanish moss and lit by light from the setting sun

QasimRashid, to random
@QasimRashid@mastodon.social avatar

REPORT: 99% of pro-Palestine protests at US colleges have been peaceful, despite remarks from Biden & other politicians calling such demonstrations as violent.

This misinfo is exactly how they’ve tried to derail every civil rights movement in US history.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/may/01/university-protests-pro-palestinian-demonstrators-arrested-latest-news?page=with%3Ablock-6633bff08f081efe1175c36c

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@Xergg I hope that someday, when you're not a child anymore, you're able to look back on these posts casually dehumanizing an entire nation and calling for violence and brutality on peaceful protesters, and appreciate how much you've grown and matured since then.

Right now, though, this is cringe. You shouldn't be proud of this.

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

It's that time of year again for me to be drawn, by a craving I can hardly articulate nor understand, to undiscovered lands and new worlds.

winter, to random
@winter@translunar.academy avatar

they are literally out here telling me to put olive oil and ethanol in people's eyes please make it stop

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@winter if you give everyone five contact lenses per eye they'll ablate away on contact with chemical weapons and also keep your eyes warm like a little wool coat

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@winter everything has to have a weakness, life emulates Pokémon types

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