Crossword Man @crosswordman@qoto.org

The best description I've ever heard of AI is the following. I heard this in the 80s, and it has held up since:

AI is magic.

1: You see a magic trick. You are amazed by the magic.

2: You are shown how the trick works. You are impressed by the technique.

3: You learn how to perform the trick. Now it's not magic, it's sleight-of-hand, or mirrors, or misdirection.

This is why "AI" is always bullshit: once you understand it, it's not AI any more, it's something else.

Taken during a disabled golf tournament at Isle of Harris Golf Club. Thanks to Dave 'One Leg' for setting up the shot ⛳️
#OuterHebrides

Some nicely lit #sheepOfMastodon out there this morning.

when we arrived at the village 'mar lodj' we realised on what touristic tour 'sido' took us 🙈
1. the holy baobab tree
they feed with milk, pray, celebrate and have wrestling competitions

2. the tam tam telephone
to drum if there is a child born, if someone died or to spread other important messages

3. sand painting art

4. 'sido', our pirogue driver

Periodically, I revisit Tomohiro Tachi’s #origami pages to look for his astonishing origami torus where every point on the surface has zero Gaussian curvature https://www.flickr.com/photos/tactom/with/8471902275/

Today’s #52LakeChamplain view is from the top of Mt Philo, in Charlotte, #Vermont. We’re looking out over the Lewis Creek watershed, towards Town Farm Bay and the main part of #LakeChamplain, with the #Adirondacks in the distance. It was very windy today at the summit, but this is just clearly another special spot that we look forward to revisiting in all seasons.

#Humboldforum thoughts:

* I haven't experienced such a badly done (new) #museum for a while.
* But museums with friends with whom you can discuss stuff (and the museum itself)? SO great.
* Leiko Ikemura is amazing! Doesn't happen often that I like contemporary art and hers is just wow.
* Chinese portrait painting 🤯 I did not know they existed!
* I just keep returning to Japanese art, both the woodblock prints of Ukiyo-e & Shin-hanga and the ink painting with their negative spaces ...

#berlin

The tide brought treasure. Tiny sculptures telling stories of distant trees. Known as Loki's candles, these pieces of birch bark have crossed the Atlantic to reach Shetland's shores and have traditionally been used for kindling #Shetland #Scotland #beachcombing

There is a bit of American #transportation #history hiding in this photo. I've often wondered how many people drive by it daily and never know it is there.

I'll give a hint... The bridge is crossing something, and so are the bushes behind it

A thread about those bushes

Dogsledding

#photography #Dogs

Today is the Day of Remembrance for the Japanese American community. 81 years ago today, when I was just a boy of four, FDR signed Executive Order 9066, setting in motion the evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast and our long years of internment inside ten barbed wire prison camps.

We must never let such a thing happen again in America, and and we must strive everywhere to prevent the forced relocation and mass incarceration of innocent people. #NeverForget #NeverAgain

@Remittancegirl @wesdym @cstross I heard an older English woman scream ‘speak English you’re in Britain’ at my friend who was speaking Gaelic to his dad in a shop on Barra -their first language. Everyone in the shop then started speaking Gaelic and she was reminded Scotland had 3 official languages and Gaelic was widely spoken in the Outer Hebrides. She was not pleased. Was both pathetic and funny.

…and our lovely new website is now up and running. Take a look at https://www.treelinkstirling.org/ to see a selection of the great work we do growing, planting, looking after and speaking up for trees - and see how you can get involved. New members always welcome! #trees #biodiversity #volunteer #community #climate #carbon #wellbeing

One thing about moving to a new region every 5-10 years as an adult is that I never quite know what is “normal” weather-wise for a few years after moving. Looking at data and climate stripes (like Lake Champlain’s ice cover https://www.adkwatershed.org/wool-water-virtual-gallery/champlain-ice-scarf) help orient me. But then things are changing so fast, what is normal anyway? #ClimateDiary

Right now, the entire country of Denmark is using 4.245MW of electricity.

Windmills are producing: 3.442 MW
Solar is producing: 746 MW

So if we do the math, wind + solar = 98.7% of our energy use right now is 100% renewable

Just a reminder that not only can we fix climate change, we are fixing it.

Hello geology Mastodon. Can anyone help identifying these very dense rocks from Blue Anchor beach in the southwest UK. First sample 577g relative density of around 5, not discernibly ferromagnetic. Dark bluish grey. (Contd) #geology #rocks #rock #rockidentification

Just arrived here from #Twitter. Hopefully, this will be the big #MastodonMigration.
Hopefully, my followers will find me here.
Of course, I am also looking for new contacts from the #Fediverse.
Content will stay the same: history, politics, and science.

I have over 20k of tweets on #Twitter and am looking for a way to import them here. This will take awhile, though.

Keep coming back, the posts/toots here will grow.

For one year I'm now living in a #tinyhouse . It's finally time for a room tour and review!
https://youtu.be/UGTulvmw8-I

I've been collecting interesting examples of information organisation in history, focusing on non-Western civilisations. I came across this example of an ancient Mesopotamian spreadsheet! It records wages paid to temple workers in 1295 BCE.

#History #AncientHistory #Cuneiform #Mesopotamia #CognitiveHistory