FailForward @FailForward@qoto.org
Exploring, failing, backtracking, just to identify the only viable path forward. And then scarred, stumbling forward into the future. Learning.
Boring and steady. Knowing little and questioning a lot. Mostly harmless.
***
This is an experimental scrapbook space. A collection of stuff I want to keep in a form somewhere on the spectrum between a blog and a shoe-box full of scraps, cut-outs, quotes, links and reading notes and sometimes my own silly thoughts about them.
Perhaps it might be of marginal interest to others too, but I don't care that much.
Joined Jan 2021
FailForward
boosted
Programming made the impossible possible. You can have a null object and a constant variable.
There are two levels of our social experience:
1. That what is said; and
2. That what is done, i.e., what changes reality.
The latter is the only which really matters.
(with all the common-sense qualifications, when words lead to acts, or when they truly harm others)
FailForward
boosted
**Don't have fear in your heart! **
That is the true strength (and requires shitloads of hard work).
FailForward
boosted
@jens I agree with all you said. I have only one thing to add.
> The only thing a bully accepts is more strength than they can exert.
It's crucial how you use that strength. If you will try to beat them into submission, you fail. I rather propose to use that strength to become robust and resilient. You do not have to punch anybody. **You just need to be strong enough not to give an inch.** That it real strength.
> Violence never made anybody happy. While we sometimes need to use it, we shall be very careful in doing so - you can harm yourself more than you think.
> -- [From earlier conversation](https://qoto.org/@FailForward/105650810161771989)
# Do birds smell and taste?
The other day we bought a coconut shell bird feeder. Like this
After hanging it out on the balcony, kids became worried that birds won't come because they do not know how to find it. So we made a bet that in at most 3 days we'll see many birds coming. Well, it took only a couple of hours to welcome the first tits and then crows too.
But this exercise brought an interesting question: _How do birds find the food we offered them? _Can birds smell?_
A bit googling reveals that this is quite interesting stuff in its own right. For a long time people did not think birds can smell. After all, it however turns out that indeed, they have a relatively well developed sense of smell: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716111421.htm.
> Sight and hearing are the most important senses for birds -- this is at least the received wisdom. By studying bird DNA, however, researchers have now provided genetic evidence that many bird species have a well-developed sense of smell.
But what about taste? Can birds taste? That turns out to be more involved. Some people run their own anecdotal experiments (e.g., https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/can-birds-smell-taste/) and birds apparently have taste preferences, yet seem to be oblivious to strong tastes like cayenne pepper. Yet, hummingbirds are known to be very picky about nectar - they go for sweetness. So how is it?
It turns out, some birds (chicken, hummingbirds) have good taste receptors: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140821141449.htm.
> Hummingbirds' ability to detect sweetness evolved from an ancestral savory taste receptor that is mostly tuned to flavors in amino acids.
Some other, like penguins, however, are taste disasters, they don't care: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150216131109.htm
> Penguins apparently can't enjoy or even detect the savory taste of the fish they eat or the sweet taste of fruit.
# Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings
And finally the piece as it was originally imagined.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450
# Tiesto: Adagio for strings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tIgN7eICn4
# The Showhawk Duo | TEDxKlagenfurt
Two guys playing covers of old electro-music hits on acoustic guitars.
Lots of energy.
* Faithless: Insomnia
* Tiesto: Adagio For Strings
* Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody
FailForward
boosted
Fun visual exercise to tickle your imagination and how you see the world around you; check out these pics: https://designyoutrust.com/2021/01/photographer-shows-the-power-of-perspective-with-his-stunning-humorous-pictures/
# Quote investigator
https://quoteinvestigator.com/
A website ([and the person behind it](https://quoteinvestigator.com/about/)) checking the true origin of quotes.
Many famous quotes are attributed to people who never said them. Sometimes it's paraphrases, but sometimes just plain invention.
Useful.
> A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.
> — Mark Twain ([falsely attributed](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/))
# Stundenbuch des Todes (Hourly report of the death)
[Radio feature](https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/stundenbuch-des-todes.3682.de.html?dram:article_id=147978) of Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio. A radio play/reading about what exactly happens to a human body after death. A very detailed description of all the minutae processes of destruction of human body from the moment the breathing stops until weeks and months and in the end years after the death.
The original is read in a very suggestive and imagination-invoking way. Unfortunately there seems to be no publicly available recording. Produced in 1998.
[Full text](https://www.iphpbb.com/foren-archiv/27/1696000/1695040/quotstundenbuch-des-todesquot-kg-44931662-89326-21.html)
> ... minutiöser und lapidarer Bericht von den Etappen des Sterbens und der Verwesung mag in seiner Detailliertheit erschreckend wirken – er ist ein mutiges und versöhnliches Dokument vom letzten Aufbäumen des Lebens gegen das Ende.
# Indila vs. Hey Falcons - YouTube trip
Sometimes I get lost in the depths of YouTube. Starting from a single song, I go down the rabbit hole of associations and recommendations and then sometimes a theme arises. This is a record of such a musical trip from France, via Slovakia and Poland to Russia.
## Indila/Dernière Danse
This was a recommendation I got via YouTube when listening to some other French music.
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5KAc5CoCuk)
Very nice. I like it very much. But somehow the song had familiar features. Something about folk songs, the drums resemble something... Also the refrain features this rhytmically repeating pattern, I've heard that somewhere...
Yeah, right. Some folk music from Eastern Slovakia, or something like that.
## I.M.T Smile/Hej Sokoli (Slovak)
The refrain of this, has some resemblance to the Inidila song.
[  ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R34LYNQDPmM)
This is a title song to the movie [The Line](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6134000).
The song is Slovak language version of a [Polish song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hej_Soko%C5%82y), translated "Hey, falcons". It has good energy.
## Hej Sokoly - AnnaLu & Shavez (Polish)
Another good adaptation of the song with the same energy, but this time without a rock band, just a guitar, some drums and a lot of joy is this.
[  ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1AmVd8OLd0)
## The Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble
And of course, I couldn't resist to give a chance to the Russian classic adaptation :-).
[  ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KGRMiYBi7k)
## Final click: Hrdza/Stephen
At which point, YouTube recommended another piece in the same style. Known band, unknown piece, let's go for it.
[  ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZALtzTmPz-E)
This is a pop-ish adaptation of another folk song by a Slovak band Hrdza (Rust). They do a lot of this stuff, it's always fun to listen. I just did not know this particular piece. The video is fun too, so why not.
Why this is piece called Stephen is beyond me. But it's fun to watch and has the same energy as the rest of the trip, so why not.
Well, let's stop for today, otherwise I waste more time than I want on this...
# Drawing 3D illusions on paper
[Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx7QdPOlCl0j5Oz7qBS3FuQ) of a guy drawing hundreds(!) of interesting drawings including many 3D illusions on a sheet of paper. Very interesting. Tested, works 
.
Inspired by [this toot](https://qoto.org/@peterdrake/105635821358497997).
FailForward
boosted
@tetrapyloctomist @jwildeboer @ffeth
So I took look at what actually happened, as this sounds like quite a flat story in khn. And indeed, the narrative of good scientists vs. bad pharma + Gates is a bit more nuanced. There apparently was a very good reason for the change of mind on the Oxford side:
* Original source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/world/bill-gates-vaccine-coronavirus.html
* Archived version (no paywall): https://archive.is/aQxIT
> Oxford University said it would offer “nonexclusive, royalty-free licenses” of its work to manufacturers. But as it developed one of the most promising vaccine candidates, the university debated whether it was equipped to conduct clinical trials and transfer its technology to manufacturers around the world.
>
> Sir John Bell, who leads the development of Oxford’s health research strategies and chairs the Gates Foundation’s scientific advisory committee, reached out to Dr. Mundel. The advice was direct: “We told Oxford, ‘Hey, you’ve got to find a partner who knows how to run trials,’” Mr. Gates said.
>
> Oxford chose the British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca. The Serum Institute of India, after getting the financial commitment from Mr. Gates, agreed in the summer to start producing the vaccine.
Note also, according to reports, AstraZeneca committed to do this in a way which won't extract exuberant profits. But indeed, we do not know the details.
FailForward
boosted
Carpe Diem 
Une petite douche, ça vous dit?
Une averse spectaculaire. 🤩
FailForward
boosted
FailForward
boosted
RT @blader
This may be the strongest optical illusion I’ve ever seen.
Exploring, failing, backtracking, just to identify the only viable path forward. And then scarred, stumbling forward into the future. Learning.
Boring and steady. Knowing little and questioning a lot. Mostly harmless.
***
This is an experimental scrapbook space. A collection of stuff I want to keep in a form somewhere on the spectrum between a blog and a shoe-box full of scraps, cut-outs, quotes, links and reading notes and sometimes my own silly thoughts about them.
Perhaps it might be of marginal interest to others too, but I don't care that much.
Joined Jan 2021
