@tg9541@mas.to
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

tg9541

@tg9541@mas.to

Engineer, trying to kick the habit by doing humanities and science - doesn't really work but I like it. Not a specialist to "follow" for a single subject - but I might know how some things are connected. Very high Reading-to-TV ratio.

Naturally attracted to #complexity through the lens of #philosophy and #pragmatism, e.g., #cognition #history #ideology #institutions #life #linguistics #logic #neurology #phenomenology #psychology #semiotics #SociologyOfKnowledge #stochastics #technology #truth.

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gimulnautti, (edited ) to SpaceX
@gimulnautti@mastodon.green avatar

Why does the SpaceX Dragon capsule look like the ’klan hood? 😮

#space #spacex #KuKluxKlan #elonmusk

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@gimulnautti Maybe it doesn't?

Form follows function, as engineers say. What's the function? What are the operational constraints?

Engineering is an art. But not that art.

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@gimulnautti I feel that you're assuming a lot, essentially you're projecting your own imagination on an organization, a group of people functioning to solve complicated questions regarding risk and knowledge at the limit of normal engineering. This group of people is a poor surface for your psychological projection. A certain mogul maybe is a better surface but that doesn't remove the reality of engineering. That's why your post should tell anyone more about your believes than about SpaceX.

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

When Maxwell realized in 1862 that light consists of waves in the electromagnetic field, why didn't anyone try to use electricity to make such waves right away? Why did Hertz succeed only 24 years later?

According to 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘹𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴:

"Since he regarded the production of light as an essentially molecular and mechanical process, prior, in a sense, to electromagnetic laws, Maxwell could elaborate an electromagnetic account of the propagation of light without ever supposing that ether waves were produced purely electromagnetically."

In 1879, a physicist named Lodge realized that in theory one could make "electromagnetic light". But he didn't think of creating waves of lower frequency:

"Send through the helix an intermittent current (best alternately reversed) but the alternations must be very rapid, several billion per sec."

He mentioned this idea to Fitzgerald, who believed he could prove it was impossible. Unfortunately Fitzgerald managed to convince Lodge. But later he realized his mistake:

"It was FitzGerald himself who found the flaws in his "proofs." He then proceeded to put the subject on a sound theoretical basis, so that by 1883 he understood quite clearly how electromagnetic waves could be produced and what their characteristics would be. But the waves remained inaccessible; FitzGerald, along with everyone else, was stymied by the lack of any way to detect them."

In 1883, Fitzgerald gave a talk called "On a Method of Producing Electromagnetic Disturbances of Comparatively Short Wavelengths". But he couldn't figure out how to 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 these waves. Hertz figured that out in 1886.

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@johncarlosbaez The 1st issue of "Electric Experimenter" feautures an article on the history of producing and detecting radio waves. Another Maxwellian played a major role: J.A. Flemming, the inventor of the vacuum tube, was his student.

WikiPedia:<He was among the "two or perhaps three University students who attended Maxwell's last Course". Maxwell's lectures, he admitted, were difficult to follow. Maxwell, he said, often appeared obscure and had "a paradoxical and allusive way of speaking">

realsimon, to random German
@realsimon@mastodon.green avatar

Please tell me I'm wrong, but if the bot infestation on social media gets worse, the platforms will have no other choice but to confirm every users identity with a government ID. Because that's pretty much the only thing you can do, right?

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@realsimon Well, one could limit access to social media to a some kind of "government ID". That might help. But there might still be lots of bots with a government ID (e.g., from other countries, engaged in hybrid warfare). Restricting access to government IDs from "friendly countries" works rather well for totalitarian regimes.

lionelb, to random
@lionelb@expressional.social avatar

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) growing wild!

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@lionelb I found some here in the neighborhood - growing wild, too. One of its German name translate to "gardener's death". Especially when flowering the bulbs are highly poisonous.

tg9541, to Germany
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

#germany #countryside #may #happy

mjgardner, to Facebook
@mjgardner@social.sdf.org avatar

Dear : Pretty sure would call you a “tryhard”

https://www.facebook.com/share/Z1vK8XkDH1Hc7xQD/

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@mjgardner Now "social media marketeers" have veered from a simulacrum of discourse (comments to something selected by an algorithm) to social coercion (fully assuming regression into teenage angst). Such a simulacrum of closeness deserves a "strong avoid" rating. Why not just leave it altogether and have a chat with a neighbor?

tg9541, to Plants
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

LJ, to random
@LJ@zirk.us avatar

Guess what I'm doing today?? (Hint in the alt text!)


tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@LJ my grandfather did quite some grafting in his days. His method for stone fruit trees was to look for suitable small trees in a wild plum thicket, graft whatever he fancied right there, and collect the trees some time later. Besides, many apple trees in the family orchards still have two, three or even four cultivars.

nyquildotorg, to random
@nyquildotorg@fedia.social avatar

"If we had a trillion humans, at any given time we'd have a thousand Mozarts" makes a lot of sense if you're hoping to sell the work of more Mozarts to more humans.

Makes zero sense otherwise.

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@nyquildotorg I agree, the statement is wrong. For example, creativity doesn't scale nearly as well as mediocrity. 990 billion out of a trillion humans wouldn't be interested in any of the 1000 Mozarts, and a few dominating companies would make quadrillions of dollars selling run-of-the-mill trash (while making sure that non of the 1000 Mozarts gets in their way).

tg9541, to oklahoma
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

I guess that there are many posts with photos right now - here is one more from a place in the Choctaw reservation in . We were lucky with the weather - the totality was awesome!

kzodasnowman, to random Japanese
@kzodasnowman@spore.social avatar

@inquiline

I messed around with that anti-scam poster. Sorta unreadable, but a fun little project. I do plan to do a comic or something similar for use with our elders!

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@kzodasnowman @inquiline Technically the phrase "Official websites for shopping services and goods will never ask you for immediate payment or your information." is correct.

In the case of and Instagram, however, their policy applied just the tactics you describe here (unless you insist that doesn't actually offer "shopping services and goods", which is debatable), or that their "thratening" consists of blocking access to the services they promised would "always be free".

lisabortolotti, to philosophy
@lisabortolotti@fediscience.org avatar

“What if we reclaimed as an integral part of human agency? We do not need to accept them as true beliefs about the world or the speaker. But we can stop assuming that they are where goes to die. Remaining curious about the speaker’s perspective, where it comes from and what it means to them, is always the best policy.” https://iai.tv/articles/delusions-shape-our-reality-auid-2772 @philosophy

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@lisabortolotti @philosophy That's an interesting perspective - but I fear it has to be applied with caution since when we're entering the domain of the political it's the place were conspiracy theories and cults thrive.

tg9541, to Battlemaps
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

jmccyoung, to random
@jmccyoung@mstdn.social avatar

The Radio Squirrels of Point Reyes - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/04/ann-hermes-morse-code/677468/
Maritime Morse code was formally phased out in 1999, but in California, a group of enthusiasts who call themselves the “radio squirrels” keeps the tradition alive cc: @ai6yr

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@jmccyoung @ai6yr the music of dits and dahs, patterns turning into a voice, then a meaning, like reading text, naturally. I can understand why people find peace in it.

tg9541, to cycling
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

after work to start the . The weather was colder than yesterday but the birds didn't mind and their singing clearly said ""

inquiline, to LosAngeles
@inquiline@union.place avatar

Nice discussion in class yesterday on the politics of non-driving in and a student shared this Joan Didion quote:

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@inquiline Does that still hold true today? Tranced hours, I mean...

I've never seen LA but what I read about it my imagination places it into the Detroit metropolitan area.

As a foreigner, and a cyclist, using a car there feels like a state of constant terror.

Jigsaw_You, to ai
@Jigsaw_You@mastodon.nl avatar

En deze hype duurt nog wat voort. Het wordt gelukkig al wat minder, realisme begint in te dalen. We hebben grotendeels te maken met energieslurpende, gebrekkige, zeer slecht geteste .

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2024/02/23/googles-chatbot-gemini-slaat-door-a4191138

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@Jigsaw_You niet voldoende getest is een ding - knutselen met normative zaken is werk voor de sophist, niet voor de gemiddelde tech-bro ;-)

tg9541, to Bloomscrolling
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

Early vegetation in German vineyards: Draba verna is a minute plant that appears in early spring. The flower looks like it had 8 petals, but it's in the mustard family, a cruciferous plant. The German name translates to "spring-hunger-floret", so I guess it's edible if one is sufficiently hungry.

tg9541, to cycling
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

A fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra): I met this little guy while on forest roads in the Swabian-Franconian forest.

A fire salamander, black stripes and spots on a mostly bright yellow body, striding between low plants, stones, grass and fallen leaves.

tg9541, to gardening
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

One of the year rituals: sawing ! I've picked 14 varieties, only two for the first time.

jgpausas, to biodiversity
@jgpausas@fediscience.org avatar

I've just realised that the "The ecological relations of roots" by John E. Weaver 1919 is fully available online! @internetarchive

With amazing & precise drawings of roots ...

https://archive.org/details/ecologicalrelati00weav/page/34/mode/2up

@ecology @plants @botany @plantscience @nature @biodiversity

Roots from the book "The ecological relations of roots" by John E. Weaver 1919
Roots from the book "The ecological relations of roots" by John E. Weaver 1919
Roots from the book "The ecological relations of roots" by John E. Weaver 1919

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@albertcardona @tyrell_turing @jgpausas Albert, the analogy is certainly useful, but there is more at work here. The "landscape shaping" built into neural ontogeny doesn't really exist here, and what happens above the ground is also important. It's a different kind of ecology.

realsimon, to Sociology German
@realsimon@mastodon.green avatar

I'm thinking about how to experimentally test potential effects of social media on populations. Has anybody ever made a non-federating mastodon server, invited some volunteers as users and then experimentally tested if their opinions on topics change if you push or suppress corresponding hastags? With control groups and everything. I couldn't find any papers on that so far.

And then the next question would be the ethics of the whole thing lol

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@realsimon that's maybe not too hard to do, but very hard to make reproducible. Let's just say that propagandists believe that controlling group behavior through social media has some effect :-)

Hey_Beth, to random
@Hey_Beth@sfba.social avatar

Getting an early on my New Year resolution to read more.

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@Hey_Beth young people today will have to invest heavily into watching the classics of the genre to get much out of that movie. Some things are already not so easy to decode for Gen-X.

tg9541,
@tg9541@mas.to avatar

@Hey_Beth ... I can see that you invest heavily in understanding Capote. Chapeau :-)

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