Leo Betschart @betschart@qoto.org

They should have called this crypto meeting in Switzerland the
Swiss Crypto Association Meeting

A wasted opportunity.

https://www.watson.ch/wirtschaft/kryptow%C3%A4hrungen/956770686-7800-franken-fuer-krypto-event-cfc-st-moritz-trotzdem-rote-zahlen

“The apparent exodus is a shock to the academic system that some researchers didn’t see coming but that others say has been palpable for quite some time — and is a trend only set to continue. ‘The majority of senior academics still don’t understand how fast this is coming,’ says Daniel MacArthur, a population geneticist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia.

“Early-career scientists are not missing a beat, however.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02088-4

Possibly the most annoying UI trend of the last few years is websites changing from

[username] - [ password ] -> Login

to

[username] -> Next -> [ password ] -> Login

Facebook and Twitter are bad, yes. But in my opinion, the worst is LinkedIn. Here are some exhibits. And the thing is: All of these aren't nearly as bad as the avalanche of "humble brags".

What you see on this photo is not from the Empire Strikes Back.

No, it is German police protecting a coal mine excavator in #Lützerath - a village planned to be demolished by the energy company RWE to extract coal that is not even needed for the energy security of Germany.

#Klimaschande
#EndCoal #EndFossilFuels #LütziBleibt

If you’re outraged about Adobe sending your pictures off their servers (you should be), please know other vendors do this too. That horse has already bolted.

Eg Microsoft Edge automatically sends your key presses in Edge to MS - enabled by default https://winbuzzer.com/2022/09/19/microsoft-editor-in-edge-sending-personla-info-to-microsoft-could-be-putting-users-at-risk-xcxwbn/

Microsoft Office 365 sends every photo and screenshot you add in Word, PowerPoint etc (including in emails) to Microsoft 365 Intelligent Services without prompt https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/everything-you-need-to-know-to-write-effective-alt-text-df98f884-ca3d-456c-807b-1a1fa82f5dc2

#QT #Mastodon #HowTo

People wanting QTs for "good" reasons, so they can add a comment to what they're boosting, just haven't learned how we've been doing it here all along, without the need for a QT function.

How it works:
1) Reply to the post you want to QT with a comment, such as "Boosting so my followers can also respond to this!" My opinion is ..."

2) Boost your REPLY. Your followers will see it in their timeline. When they click on it they'll see the OP above your reply.

Done! 🙂

if i start learning how to make fancy virgin cocktails, how much effort and money will i have to put in before the thing i make exceeds the quality of tonic water + lime juice

I went on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour to talk about #WomenInSTEM. You can catch it here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dqy975 (I'm on from 27 minutes in).

If you installed PyTorch nightly between 25 Dec and today, you've been compromised. https://pytorch.org/blog/compromised-nightly-dependency/

Seriously though, fedi was *built* by furries, trans and queer folk, disabled neurodivergent people.

This is *the reason* the culture here is what it is. Why CWs are a thing. Why image descriptions are a thing. Why privacy matters here. Why moderation tools not only exist, but are usable — and used.

If you had joined and asked yourself "wow, how come this place is so chill and kinda… nice?" — that's thanks to all the nice people from communities some people call "weird".

So #KeepFediWeird.

I saw a toot about how Mastodon isn’t a suitable network for social movements.. posted on a social network with 8 million accounts that has no adverts, is volunteer run, is open source, has no owner and is end to end free of big technology companies.

Boost if you

- love reading books
- love buying books

No one will know which one.

Sixty month anniversary of me coming out as trans 🏳️‍⚧️❤️

65 years ago today, the first antidepressant, Imipramin, was discovered by Roland Kuhn.

However,Kuhn, a psychiatrist, conducted unethical and scientifically questionable research on patients without consent in a Swiss psychiatric hospital for decades.

#Science #Medicine #Chemistry

Got to say my experience of other Andy Brunnings has been entirely negative.

There’s one who’s sat on the andybrunning Twitter handle for years without tweeting.

And now there’s another who’s racked up thousands in debt that I’m getting debt collection letters for.

Wish Derek Lowe was on Mastodon as well as Post but until then here’s the link to his commentary on the brouhaha at #ACS. #chemiverse https://post.news/article/2J91CQVKL7ReRTzyxP60lsB3eim

Considering my change of job this year I was mulling over what to do with my ACS membership. The two biggest reasons I maintained membership were access to C&EN (because of the great coverage of the chemistry community) and the reduced conference rates. The latter I no longer need and sadly the former may no longer be a compelling reason to stick around. 25 years ain't bad, but I think I'm done. Good luck to all the former C&EN eds & those still holding the fort.

#ChemiVerse #ChemToots