@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.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

just a reminder, large language models are not AI. They're predictive text engines, nothing more. You could maybe call them "pre-AI", but that's a stretch.

Anyone who refers to LLMs as AI is either unaware of or doesn't care about the technical details underpinning the technology. Or, they're trying to market to you with exaggerated phrases.

One day we might have AI, but not today.

mayaisloading, to random
@mayaisloading@beige.party avatar

I know I don't need a secret room behind a bookshelf door but I would be happier having one.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@mayaisloading “but what would you put in it?”

“SECRET THINGS”

tony_surgeon, to random

It’s that time of year.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@tony_surgeon Man After Man? More like Meme After Meme amirite

GaymerGeek, to 13thFloor
@GaymerGeek@mstdn.games avatar

Mistletoe is associated with Christmas. It also has a lot of protective qualities and represents love and peace; and we all know the custom of kissing under the mistletoe. It was used to kill the god Balder in Norse mythology.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@GaymerGeek also, parasitic.

Radical_EgoCom, to random
@Radical_EgoCom@mastodon.social avatar

A liberal is someone who opposes every war except the current war and supports all civil rights movements except the one that's going on right now.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@MugsysRapSheet

As far as I can tell, @Radical_EgoCom is using the word “liberal” to mean “liberalism as a movement”, as in “classical liberalism” and “neoliberalism”, to emphasize a connection between the pro-capitalist position, reactionary social politics, and imperialism.

Please correct if I am wrong; it appears you are interpreting “liberal” to mean “left”.

nocontexttrek, to StarTrek
@nocontexttrek@mastodon.social avatar

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@nocontexttrek more like Emergency Medical Buzzkill amirite

zrb, to threads
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

is only federating and integrating ActivityPub so it can 1) dominate code contributions and steer the protocol in a corporate-friendly direction, and then 2) eventually discard it in favor of a closed protocol, using some excuse of “increased security” or “innovative new technology”. No more, and no less. Apple and Google did the exact same thing to .

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

when I said “no more, no less” above, I neglected to realize that another explicit goal of , indicated in their ToS, is apparently to scrape data from all users that interact with it in any way

https://mastodon.online/@mastodonmigration/111585528118111249

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

fenndev, to neovim

I'm working on a / -inspired & editor, á la . It's written in . Did I get all of the buzzwords?

The code? Shit.
The design? Nonexistent.
Features? Not implemented.

It doesn't even do anything yet. The only command implemented is :q. But it is a start, aha.

https://codeberg.org/fenndev/xen-md

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@fenndev I like the design philosophy already.

“You only need :q; quit while you’re ahead.”

Free_Press, to news
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

Points to PONDER...

The universe began with two big bangs, new study claims

https://bgr.com/science/the-universe-began-with-two-big-bangs-new-study-claims/

zrb, (edited )
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@Free_Press I’m not thrilled by how they introduce an entirely new vacuum energy field when we don’t even know if dark matter can have virtual particles in the first place - but I guess that’s just a product of its own stubborn refusal to be observed.

I’d be happy if someone who knows more than me could tear into this paper and show how I’m a gullible idiot for thinking it plausible.

timnitGebru, to random
@timnitGebru@dair-community.social avatar

How out of touch can the democrats be? It is incredible to watch. They are surprised by their constituents caring about genocide but still will aid and abet all the way to Trump’s election and act shocked?

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@timnitGebru the republic is broken; the processes of power primarily select for reactionaries who will maintain the vanishing status quo.

The biggest allies of the fledgling 1920s Nazi Party were corporations and moderate liberals who suppressed anyone supporting actual change from the left.

spacetelescope, to random
@spacetelescope@astrodon.social avatar

How do tiny pebbles make rocky planets? Ice-covered pebbles have long been thought to be the seeds of planet formation. New observations from show their connection to planet-building: https://webbtelescope.pub/3QxnRX2

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@spacetelescope is it possible to show the spectra from MRS (even if just a simplified one)?

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

white dwarf, whose accretion is pushing its mass close to the Chandrasekhar limit:

“my main goal is to blow up, then act like I don’t know nobody”

fraser, to random
@fraser@m.universetoday.com avatar

The more we learn about Saturn's moon Enceladus, the more compelling a destination it becomes. New research from the Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyzer shows that the oceans of liquid water under the ice contain large amounts of inorganic phosphorus as well as ammonium, chemicals that can be used by life. For example, there are species of methanogen archaea that could thrive in this environment and could even be the source of some of these chemicals. We've got to go back!

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.29.564608v1.full.pdf+html

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@fraser Enceladus Clipper when

dansup, to random
@dansup@mastodon.social avatar

A few of you have been secretly testing the new fediverse messenger known as

I think we are ready to invite a few more beta testers 🤔

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@dansup wow, a real messenger! How does it work with federation?

hypnogoria, to random
@hypnogoria@ohai.social avatar

A drop of dream fuel - The Shores of Tomorrow by Virgil Finlay

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@hypnogoria tfw you accidentally clone your planet in two and are blasted off into space in your spacesuit

zrb, to random
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

video/mp4

jonny, to random
@jonny@neuromatch.social avatar

the thing about the reliability of scientific literature is that most scientists I know a) write their own analysis code and b) do not know what software tests are.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@jonny what do you mean, hardcoding all the data values into a single Python script where half the lines are commented out with no indication of which versions of dependencies were used “isn’t reproducible”?

It’s not that hard, simply uncomment these lines and remember to change this variable from a 2 to the string ”auto_new”, and then run it pointing to the shared data drive that only I and a single professor at ASU has access to!

Why don’t I have any reviewers?

MattMerk, to random
@MattMerk@mastodon.social avatar

"instead of issuing a full-throated denunciation of the violent attacks by Hamas that have left over 1,300 Israelis dead, one dying woman holding her 6-year-old son who had just been killed in a bombing is said to have doubled down by telling her child she loved him."

https://www.theonion.com/dying-gazans-criticized-for-not-using-last-words-to-con-1850925657

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@MattMerk unfortunately, this is no longer satire

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/gaza-israel-palestinian-hamas-war-1.6996889

> Palestinian workers stranded in West Bank fear for families in Gaza — but refuse to condemn Hamas

slashdot, to random
@slashdot@mastodon.cloud avatar

Audit Calls NASA's Goal To Reduce Artemis Rocket Costs 'Highly Unrealistic,' Threat To Deep Space Exploration https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/10/13/2256202/audit-calls-nasas-goal-to-reduce-artemis-rocket-costs-highly-unrealistic-threat-to-deep-space-exploration?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@cstross @slashdot @nyrath you could argue that, as a funding vehicle instead of as a rocket, SLS was very successful in sheltering the space budget (and specific institutional skills and knowledge) during a congressional era when austerity and cuts were the norm. As far as I know, Europa Clipper is only a mission today because of its political and legal ties to SLS.

Now, from my armchaor perspective, it has outlived that purpose.

apophis, to random

pronouncing "audiophiles" like "mephistopheles"

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@apophis oh yes, Audiophiles, she was the leader of the Island of the Really-Good-Hearing People in Homer’s Odyssey

SteveThompson, to Palestine
@SteveThompson@mastodon.social avatar

"Harvard student groups issued an anti-Israel statement. CEOs want them blacklisted"

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/11/business/harvard-israel-hamas-ceos-students/index.html

“'One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists,' Ackman said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter."

#Palestine #terrorists #Harvard #Indiana #ArizonaState #CSLB #UNC #Twitter

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@SteveThompson I’m no expert in middle-eastern history and geopolitics and even I can see that the policies and actions taken by the Israeli government in the past few decades (forcible displacement of generational residences, arming civilian “settlers”, taking any and all opportunities for provocation, suppressing peaceful self-organization to leave a violent nationalist faction in control, etc.) are quite clearly directly responsible for this recent escalation and violence.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@SteveThompson and it’s kinda weird that you’re frothing at the idea of doxxing and blacklisting students who wrote a letter saying so.

zrb,
@zrb@astrodon.social avatar

@SteveThompson my friend, that’s the excuse a child makes.

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