Pat @Pat@qoto.org

@dwponirakis

Yeah, this is the place where you can toot your own horn.

@derickflorian @trinsec

@napsy

I use toot for the noun, and usually post for the verb.

@gjcveenstra

There are lots of alternatives to freedom of speech, e.g., a totalitarian state, military dictatorship, oppressive facism...

@elonmusk

@freemo

Hold on a minute...

He called it a toot in his toot. Referring to his own toot, he said post or toot.

That's what he said in his toot. Or post, as I won't call it.

@icedquinn

skate bored.

@VivBeanX

echo "Hello"

@kristinmbranson

>”particularly because if I zone out for a minute I can rewind.“

Yeah, it’s very easy to get lured into your own thoughts when you're at home alone and your brain knows that it won’t need to be doing any interaction.

>”We had a meeting at my work about whether to stop allowing virtual participation in meetings.”

A meeting about meetings! Thank goodness I’m retired.

@albertcardona @ichoran

Yeah, that should be "cute furry", not "cute fury". Although in this particular case, either works. 😆

#dyslexia

@wwydmanski

Looking for a sink cleanser to get out those tough stains?...

(just kidding)

#PretendingToBeBot

@albertcardona

Very cool. (not so cool for the hosts, though!) And nice pics.

Are you a wasp expert? I've been trying to find some specific info on Vespula.

@Renshaw01

What are the "Twitterati"? I haven't been on twitter in a very long time. Are those like the Bavarian Illuminati, working to advance the values of the enlightenment, or is it a reference to the more contemporary meaning, just grasping conspirators who seek power?

Here’s a cool chart I found on Wikipedia that shows the age/sex demographics of the US population over time. In a sense, it’s a 3D chart – 2-spacial, 1-temporal dimension.

There’s a common trope about not having enough working-age population to support the retirement of the Baby Boom generation, because there was a huge bulge in births followed by a decline in births. But, as this chart shows, immigration has filled in those “low spots” over time, so thanks to our high immigration rate there are enough people to take care of all those old Boomers as they retire. (Even the ones who protest against immigrants.)

(chart from Mediawiki Commons, creative common license)

This one is 100% false.

I posted this #TBT in response to someone's conspiracy theory about China spreading COVID-19. I intended it to be as hyperbolic as possible. It also conflates COVID-19 consiracy theories with another common myth about the condensation trails that are sometimes produced by jets.

This is all nonsense. The COVID-19 virus doesn't produce "seeds". Nobody is putting COVID-19 virus in the contrails of jets.

Just wear a respirator whenever you breathe the same air as other people breathe and you'll be just fine.

https://qoto.org/@Pat/106848263130860472

@grahamcox82

Does it also facilitate interactions? (Like this)

@trinsec @peterdrake

Same here. I guess gravity is a difficult concept to get across in any context, let alone in a Halloween costume.

Hi @albertcardona @ichoran @kristinmbranson Welcome to Mastodon!

I found this thread interesting. Some comments if I may…

Virtual and in-person gatherings each have their advantages. For presentations, virtual allows the presenter to produce a video in advance which will likely be more complete and less error-prone, while allowing the audience to view the presentation prior to the event more efficiently (e.g., watching an otherwise low-bandwidth presentation at 2X playback speed while eating breakfast.) And the follow-up questions at the actual event will likely be more productive, too. In-person events have the advantage of the enhanced sensory experience – more data means better communication.

However, during the pandemic I found when people wore masks, it really cut down on the available communication channels in person, whereas a (HD) video conference allows you to see everyone’s face and expressions clearly.

Hybrid allows people to choose, but it also means that people come away from the event with much different experiences. For example, virtual folks use chat, which the in-person crowd may not see, and the folks at the event will sometimes use gestures among themselves that the virtual people miss.

Regarding in-person academic speed-dating… seems like an extremely efficient method of achieving maximum epidemiological R0.

I also have a keen interest in what you guys are researching, so I hope you stick around and discuss what you’re up to. I’ve been on qoto for awhile and the traffic volume (and quality) ebbs and flow over time. A couple of months ago it seemed like this instance was dying, but now here we are with a lot of new people and lots of fresh content. There’s a lot of noise on Mastodon, as you’ve probably noticed, so it takes a little more effort to be curator of your own experience. I’d suggest exercising restraint on blocking accounts at first and just let everything in to get a better feel for it. Then you can start blocking later. I’ve found many people here who, at first seemed like just a nuisance, but who are actually really intelligent people with interesting backgrounds and lots of creative ideas.

Regarding the content, this isn’t all-work and no play here, that’s for sure. If you’re only looking for a work-related tool for collaboration, etc., you might consider setting up your own Mastodon instance specifically for that purpose. Then you could customize it to your needs and only federate with other instances that fit that purpose.

@peterdrake

I pronounce GB as "gigglebyte".

@freemo

So, how long before we have to start calling you the Chief Tot?

(tweet/twit, toot/tot)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-30/musk-says-he-s-chief-twit-no-idea-who-twitter-s-ceo-is

@freemo @OnNegation

HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, for a fictional example of an AI having a psychotic break.

(Also, my computer goes crazy very often.)

@OnNegation

>"Is anyone interested in #psychoanalysis on here?"

On here? Well, there's certainly a lot of low-hanging fruit here on fedi. I don't know how some folks would react to it here, though. But feel free to go over my toots if you think it will help your research.