Christian Wilms @ChrisWilms23@qoto.org

A sobering thought! #statistics #analytics more at timoelliott.com/blog/cartoons

It's an oldie but a goodie, re-upping it for #Halloween2023 - the #9types of horror lab. Happy Hallowe'en! 🎃 👻

http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/10/31/the-9-types-of-horror-lab/

Reading up on dyes, I see that the widely-used Alexa 594 performs poorly in #2Photon #imaging above about 850 nm.

We want a dye that works well at 1040 nm. According to this nice @biophysj paper, it looks to me like A546 would be a good choice, at least twice as good as A594. Do you have a favourite?

#fluorescence #cellbiology #neuroscience

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000634951200063X

@ChrisWilms23

The reason it doesnt work for people on QOTO is because QOTO isnt mastodon, its a fork.

@mapto @neilhoskins @helenczerski @davidho @gabipurcaru

@mapto @ChrisWilms23 @neilhoskins @helenczerski @davidho @freemo The way Followgraph is implemented is meant to preseve privacy: it uses inauthenticated requests to make sure Followgraph does not need to receive or store user data.

Specifically, it uses this API endpoint: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/methods/accounts/#following

The documentation says "**OAuth:** Public". Some implementations accept inauthenticated requests, but some choose not to.

This is why Followgraph doesn't always work.

Update on tracking neurons across days in #Neuropixels recordings: @EnnyvBeest gave a nice talk on it, where she explains UnitMatch. It's a brief talk and it's available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c_dgTZcBaQ&list=PLfhWmWntvjl7kljKozClpjS29DoY8V5pB&index=23&ab_channel=MatteoCarandini

The lectures of the 2023 UCL Neuropixels course are now on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfhWmWntvjl7kljKozClpjS29DoY8V5pB&si=UjCmdEFyjZR5BE6Z

They are a great way to get an introduction to #Neuropixels, and to get up to speed on the latest developments.

The list of lectures is at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/neuropixels/training/2023-neuropixels-course. They are brief (typically 10-20 minutes) and packed with information. Click on the lecture title for the video.

Thank you to @EnnyvBeest and Celian Bimbard for organizing a fantastic course, and to the lecturers for doing an amazing job!

Extremely relevant article: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/a-new-hope-taming-the-satellite-swarm-in-our-skies/?utm_source=cc&utm_medium=newsletter

Great quote from @planet4589: "The concern is that eventually they will start colliding (however spiffy their automatic avoidance algorithms are) and generating a lot of debris"

Hey folks, I've seen a lot of talk going around about adblockers lately. I worked in the advertising technology and security industry for five years and the one core piece of advice I have is:

Holy fuck never give an advertiser your data. You cannot believe how bad it is. Don't. I run three layers of ad block protection and I'd run more if it was feasible. If you want to support creators give them money.

We thought Google hit rock bottom with #privacy.

Its new beta feature on Google Files for #Android called “Smart Search" is the trap door.

This creepy new feature on by default & scans every file on your phone. Why is this bad? Because it could potentially ruin your life. (1/3)

Regaining your #privacy starts with learning, so we’ve started a book recommendations series focused on privacy and security.

For entry no. 2 on the #ProtonPrivacyReadingList we’ve chosen Carissa Veliz’s “Privacy Is Power”. It discusses how we, as a society, can seize back control of our data and the power that comes with it: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442343/privacy-is-power-by-carissa-veliz/9780552177719

As an intro, check our interview with Carissa here: https://proton.me/blog/carissa-veliz-data-privacy

Meanwhile the cost of creating content with the superficial appearance of well-considered text has fallen off a cliff, thanks to ChatGPT.

So filling the web with quality material is less rewarding than ever, and filling it with shit is orders of magnitude cheaper than ever.

Maybe someone unseats google before the web becomes a wasteland of ChatGPT-authored, search engine-optimized babble.

Immer mehr wechseln von X zu Bluesky. Die Plattform ist umstritten. Unter richtigen Bedingungen kann sie ein wichtiges demokratisches Instrument werden. https://taz.de/Neue-Plattform-Bluesky/!5962148/

Twitter/X is now removing headlines from links and Threads/Meta is prohibiting searches of public health terms like Covid and vaccines.

Billionaires are dangerously restricting people’s access to news.

In 🇩🇪 erheben wir eine CO2-Steuer von 30€, subventionieren aber jede Tonne CO2 weiterhin mit 100€, wollen die Autoabhängigkeit reduzieren, bauen aber neue Autobahnen und wollen mehr Menschen in die Deutsche Bahn locken, besteuern aber ihren Strom höher als das Kerosin der Lufthansa während wir ständig betonen, dass Deutschland das Klima ja nicht alleine retten könne.

A new low, even for #Google. Giving Google permission to share information about you with third-party websites is being falsely advertised as an "ad privacy feature". This is privacy washing at its most extreme. But it gets even worse.

There is a dark pattern on the second screenshot. It isn't just informing you about the fake privacy features. Clicking on "Got it" actually turns on these features that allow Google to use your recent browsing history for ads on third-party websites:

Very proud of Utrecht University @utrechtuniversity for choosing not to participate in the THE 2024 World University Ranking (by not supplying information).

That's how it can be done.

https://dub.uu.nl/nl/nieuws/universiteit-utrecht-doet-niet-meer-mee-met-ranking (in Dutch)

Foxes and hedgehogs in science?

The fox/hedgehog distinction is used to describe 2 different ways people think. The gist goes back to ancient greece and the idea that the hedgehog knows one big thing whereas the fox knows many littler things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hedgehog_and_the_Fox

For scientists, it's sometimes described as how distributed the topics are that you work on (eg mile deep, inch wide versus mile wide, inch deep):
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13437-022-00287-x

A slightly different way to think about it is more along what some call simplifiers vs complexifiers.

When individuals are forecasting elections, pundits (hedgehogs) tend to focus on one big idea and they are less good at forecasting than individuals who take a lot of data in and work to reconcile conflicts (foxes):
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178288/expert-political-judgment

Similarly, much of this biography about Barbara McClintock can paraphrased with the notion that she was a fox who saw details that would not fit with what the hedgehogs were saying and that led her to some big discoveries about jumping genes:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805074581/afeelingfortheorganism10thaniversaryedition

At the same time, hedgehogs play an important role by keeping their eyes on the forest and connecting the dots together.

There is something powerful to the idea that there are two different but complementary ways of thinking that contribute to science. How do you think about it? Which are you?

@mhoye

The translation module is the labour of a number of European universities in partnership with the Mozilla foundation and the funding for it came from the EU.

You can read about it here: https://browser.mt/

It's a real shame this information didn't make it to the release notes.