Andy Lowry @AndyLowry@qoto.org
Retired SysAdmin living in the high country of Arizona, USA. I enjoy learning about physics, cosmology, genetics, neurology, and suchlike. Deeply confused by worldwide trends towards authoritarianism. I thought we'd already learned about that stuff. But I guess not.
Joined Nov 2022
Andy Lowry
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Andy Lowry
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Two months after Jair Bolsonaro lost his re-election bid for the presidency, angry supporters charged into Brazil’s Congress and presidential offices on Sunday. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Andy Lowry
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I gave up 15 years on Twitter and 22,000 followers. I used my anniversary to invite others to follow me to Mastodon, and I pointed out that every tweet is a donation to Musk. We know what he is and what he's doing. He gave Michael Flynn his account back on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
I started my #Twitter exodus as a boycott against Musk. Now, I'm thrilled to be here. I miss a few things, but Mastodon is just built better. I feel like it makes me (and you) better, too.
Andy Lowry
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Jellyfish have survived 500 Million years without a brain or a heart so don’t count the Republican Party out just yet.
I was in the back yard just now and saw a house finch land on the anemometer--- you know, those wind-speed dealies on home weather stations-- and go round and round and round. Lucky for her it was only maybe 80 or 90 rpm at the time and not gusty. It was a good ten seconds before she flew off to find another ride somewhere else (I presume that's what she's doing because that's what I'd do if I were a house finch.)
It was hard to tell what she thought of the experience. Finch faces aren't very expressive.
That may have been the first time I ever laughed out loud at something happening in nature. I hope she wasn't embarrassed!
Andy Lowry
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Andy Lowry
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@Anthro Interesting scientist. He was also the master of the academic burn (and, apparently, lip reading). From the USGS archives.
Andy Lowry
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@mashbooq @timbray @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Also, every subscription provides *way* too much content. I understand why writers need to do “write a lot, charge a lot”, but as a reader I don’t have time read that much from a single writer.
Doesn’t help that a single writer producing lots of content with no editor is not exactly a recipe for tight and efficient writing.
Andy Lowry
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“Aye, ‘tis as the maiden proclaimed”
Andy Lowry
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@AndyLowry Those are specifically designed to go in a dispenser, so that each sheet pulls the next one up as you pull it off to use it. Kinda like kleenex.
Andy Lowry
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@AndyLowry Oh, I heave encountered this for.a long time, be careful when shopping at
Staples!
I recently bought a few packs of Post-Its, and they're attached to each other accordion-style. Why the hell would they do that? Am I supposed to remember from sheet to sheet which way to pull them off? For god's sake, make it stop.
Andy Lowry
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I did the thing I did the last time I tried out Mastodon and really liked it, but fell off using it after a bit.
So, I'm doing an #introduction again. My name is dAVE. I make #experimentalmusic and really like brewing #coffee.
I love #sciencefiction and I'm a dad.
Great to be here. This time I'm gonna try and be around more. Hello to everyone!
Andy Lowry
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The Right & Left both fundraise off of hot button issues & failures of the other side.
The MSM has failed to explain what's happening at the #DOJ regarding #Jan6th
But Marcy Wheeler has, so let's fundraise for her! @emptywheel
She does the reading, explains the process, who the players are & what the MSM misses. Here is a link to support her work. https://www.emptywheel.net/support/
#insurrectionCaucus #Insurrection #merrickGarland #LegalAnalysis
Her on @nicolesandler 1/06/2023 https://youtu.be/_bWbkt9cN44
Andy Lowry
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A dog is able to learn up to 250 words and gestures and count up to 5:
Equivalent to a human aged 3.
A cat doesn’t give a damn, and is sick of your crap:
Equivalent to a human aged 48.
Andy Lowry
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[posting this again b/c it was locked before]
New intro/hashtag dump: I'm an associate #professor of #ScienceEducation at CU Denver and I study undergraduate #STEM #Teaching and #Learning. I use #RStats in my #research, and also some #SNA, #regression modeling, and #HLM. I also do #Qualitative research.
I also work in #WildlandFire on a Region 2 #IMT in #Communications. I'm COMT in #wildfire and also work on the #Boulder County (#Colorado) Type 3 IMT as a p/t employee of the Boulder County SO
@jayarava
Ain't that wonderful?
I sometimes like to imagine what a culture looked like at the street level, and knowing about a common type of pottery goes a long way in helping to do that. In addition to the archeological article I'll find here and there, things like Malalasekera's "Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names" have enough fun little details to help me get a better picture.
I don't know if the original begging bowls would have been that black ware, but for now I'll let myself envision them that way.
@jayarava
Speaking of Iron Age, I read a history of India a few months ago (not the whole book, just from the beginning up to about 100CE or so) that mentioned the most common style of ceramic during what was probably the Buddha's time-- something called Northern Black Polished. I doubt that's news to you, but wanted to pass along this piece I found when looking for examples:
As in the realization that all we have to go on is whatever our interface tells us. And sometimes that interface flat-out lies, like how it smooths out visual input by filling in missing parts on its own. I'd already known about that, but hadn't thought about it from the angle of having nothing fully reliable to rest on.
Earlier today, I was reading an essay by Jayarava Attwood on a Buddhist concept and came across this line:
"Real and unreal are not qualities that can be imputed to experience."
I've been turning that over in my head ever since. I think there's something very important in that observation.
Retired SysAdmin living in the high country of Arizona, USA. I enjoy learning about physics, cosmology, genetics, neurology, and suchlike. Deeply confused by worldwide trends towards authoritarianism. I thought we'd already learned about that stuff. But I guess not.
Joined Nov 2022
