ceoln @ceoln@qoto.org

A little philosophy humor to start your day.

Via @brksstrrtt@twitter.com
#WhatIsReality

David Bombal's interview of Lesley Carhart (@hacks4pancakes) on YT was interesting to watch. As somebody that is considering moving from IT project management and ongoing operations to a cybersecurity role, there were some fantastic ideas here.

I have little idea of where to start now as I was considering one or two of the over issued certificates I suspect they were discussing, but there were also some specific places to look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-TJVyBdF2M

Raging wealth inequality doesn’t stop just because the media gets tired of talking about it.

Since 2020, the richest 1% have captured nearly twice as much wealth as the bottom 99% of the world’s population.

Billionaire fortunes are increasing by $2.7 billion a day.

Hello?

With all the news about layoffs in tech, I'll throw it out there that my team has multiple openings we are desperately trying to fill: https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/details/200307779/aiml-software-engineer-siri-runtime-platform?team=MLAI

We're the execution engine of Siri: we coordinate just about everything that comes out of the microphone + NL up to domain-specific logic, across multiple devices and between devices + servers.

Job is located in Seattle/SCV/Boston/Raleigh. Sadly not remote-friendly 😭

It's a short sleeve bee-shirt.

#stablediffusion #aiart #invokeai

I’m all about caring for animals, and I give to rescue shelters, but lately I’ve noticed big push on tv for #ASPCA solicitations, so I looked up to see it’s rating as a charity to see if worthy of donation - 3 star is an ok rating, but CEO makes $852K per year and with bonus over $1M - so #ASPCA needs nearly 5,000 of us to donate $19 per month for a year just to pay their CEO’s salary, maybe I’m wrong to question?

hahaha

The single scariest thing that ever happened was during our move from Tennessee to Oklahoma. We stopped at a motel, picked mostly because it accepted pets and was nearby. We were exhausted from driving, and we didn't have a lot of options.

But when we got out of the car, the entire area (parking lot, sidewalks, everything) was covered in tiny frogs. A plague of tiny frogs.

I think the girl at the desk was trying to comfort me when she said this wasn't normal.

It did not comfort me.

Hey everyone, look who made it to the party!
#zotero
@zotero

@atomicpoet

Not only software developers and software are needed.

We need people who develop and improve the #ActivityPub standard!

Those interested in such work should join the Social Web Incubator Community Group:
https://www.w3.org/community/socialcg/

A couple folks asked why I share bios & links about women & underrepresented groups in science instead of “everyone.”

Well, we already hear a lot about famous men like Einstein & Darwin. But there are so many wonderful stories of other amazing individuals who have made significant contributions in #science #tech & beyond but haven’t been celebrated as widely.

And when we don’t see ourselves in the #history of STEM, we may not recognize we are capable of great achievements too.

OK, people, OK. Now that it has been confirmed by #MSNBC columnist Marisa Kabas that #GeorgeSantos used to be a drag performer, let’s just remember as we craft our jokes that drag performers are not the punchline. The #GOP getting duped into welcoming a former drag performer into their house after attacking drag performers IS the punchline—that they are either hypocrites, stupid, or both. All right. Carry on.

New survey of the galactic disc of the Milky Way reveals a stunning 3.3 billion celestial objects. #space #astronomy #MilkyWay #SciComm https://www.space.com/dark-energy-camera-milky-way-survey

There's a new IMPACTT review out
in Mucosal Immunology on immunometabolism and microbial metabolites at the gut barrier. Congrats to our Platform 3 Lead Dr. Karen Madsen! Read the full article here: https://www.mucosalimmunology.org/article/S1933-0219(22)01180-1/fulltext#%20

Why is unfermented beer not a delicacy in America? I feel like many Americans would enjoy malted barley tea. Kinda surprised it's not available in every coffee shop.

As an #artist, the entire concept of #marketing infuriates me.

Without marketing, the best #art in the world is doomed to languish in obscurity; you've got to make people aware that the experience is available.

But, *because* of marketing, the best art is already doomed to languish in obscurity, because only the most mediocre mainstream crap is funded by multi-million dollar firms that can browbeat upstarts with their marketing budget. It's hard enough to cut through the noise of 8 billion other people before dealing with the multi-millionaires outbidding you for ad space.

So, inevitably, #marketing is a double-edged sword wielded by the rich to cut down fledgling artists with both edges.

And I cannot, for the life of me, think of an equitable solution that would work.

Are we doomed to repeat this cycle until the end of time?

No, wer'e not following you, no matter how much you insist.

#wetlands #forest #IdąPsięta #DogsOfMastodon

This may be a dumb question but is there any #software or site that will look at two images that are identical (or nearly so) and tell you what settings you'd need to use in #ffmpeg to make one look like the other. The idea would be you could take screen grabs from two #videos taken with slightly different lighting (or processing or whatever) and try to make them match up. I'm sure there is probably professional software costing big bucks that will do this (or maybe people who can work out that sort of thing in their head) but this is just for a once in a blue moon type of thing, and it doesn't have to be perfect.
#video

BEWARE of this, because a tactic they might use is to propose something outrageous and then "settle" for what they really wanted in the first place. Like the kid who figures out that if he asks a parent for a bowl of ice cream, they will probably say "no" (worth a try anyway) but may offer a cookie instead, whereas if they started by asking for a cookie they'd have got nothing.

The federal government has never charged a federal sales tax (as far as I know, although they did have outrageous "excise" taxes on telephone service that were obstensibly imposed to fund the Spanish-American war, but did not end until LONG after that war ended) but I'm sure these crooked Republicans have looked longingly at other countries that have federal sales taxes or so-called "Value Added Taxes" and have wanted to bring that to the US. The problem with that is that they are taking what has been a function of individual states and moving it to the federal level. The thing is, individual state voters often decide if there will be a sales tax and how much it will be, and that money gets spent in the state it's collected in. But if the federal government takes that over not only will the taxes be more oppressive (maybe not at first, but they will continue to rise) and the people will have much less of a say in it, but beyond that to you really want this group of Republicans controlling how your taxes are spent? Bet not much of what they collect gets back to your city or state! And the ONLY reason they want to do this is so they can avoid taxing the wealthy assholes that help get them elected!

Anyway, this is not something we should EVER let them start, because once the have that money spigot open a little they will just keep turning it on more and more to fund the projects they like (generally things that will increase the wealth of billionaires!). At this point this may be mostly poerformative because the President would veto any such legislation if it ever got to his desk (one would hope, anyway) but I have to wonder why they would even propose something like this in the first place. And all I can think is that sometimes if you want a little but you ask for a whole lot, you'll get the little that you really wanted in the first place.