Sundar @digital_carver@qoto.org

My daughter, who has had a degree in computer science for 25 years, posted this observation about ChatGPT on Facebook. It's the best description I've seen:

I didn't think my little camera would capture the colors of these soap bubbles as well as it did. This photo is from an event hosted by the Friends of Olmsted-Beil House in honor of Frederick Law Olmsted's 201st birthday.

#Bubbles #Olmsted #Iridescent

The amount of public space we have surrendered to cars!

An illustration by Swedish Artist; Karl Jilg

#Road #FootPath #PublicSpace #Car #Roads #Illustration

"We've got eyes on you." Eyespots may mimic the eyes of their predators’ enemies, eg mimic dangerous snakes that might attack a hungry insect-eating bird. Birds, of course, mimic their predators- I’ve often been fooled into thinking I’m hearing a Crested Serpent Eagle when it’s actually a drongo having a bit of fun (or sounding the alarm).
This lot all hawk moths (Sphingidae)
see http://caterpillar-eyespots.blogspot.com/2015/05/body-size-affects-evolution-of-eyespots.html
#lepidoptera #caterpillars #moths #nature #biology

What if this is #johnmastodon?

@Fanua Here, just 2 proposals created by DALL-E, the #AI at https://labs.openai.com for the phrase " #JohnMastodon, the trumpeter of Mastodon". Scary, but cool 😉

Proposal: How about if we stop talking about #ElonMusk and #Twitter on here? 😁

What percent of published empirical papers in your field do you think are fraudulent (pick the closest number)?

It's looking like AI, like generations of teenagers before it, has learned to BS its way through a five paragraph essay years before it's safe behind the wheel of a car.

I wish to use a database to store my experimental results, since I plan to obtain A LOT of data points and the good old csv table doesn't appear as a good solution anymore.

How would I go about making the structure of the database? Do you have any advise for this kind of things?
I will often have to change procedures according to the results I get, thus I would need to be able to understand what was the procedure used for each results and easily see which ones are the most recent and up to date.

Kids this is a reminder to collect physical copies of your favorite media. Corporations will axe your favorite show/movie/book in front of its family and make it a felony to retrieve it. Have a library.

If ever there was a reason to make #OpenHardware, #FOSS and #standards mandatory in certain cases:

“Earlier this year, many people with Argus optical implants – which allow blind people to see – lost their vision when the manufacturer, Second Sight, went bust. […] There’s no ethical case for permanently attaching computers to people’s nervous systems without giving them the absolute, irrevocable right to nominate who maintains those computers and how.”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/12/unsafe-at-any-speed/#this-is-literally-your-brain-on-capitalism

If you wanna obsess about anything other than 1) that other site, or 2) how this is *not* that other site, please come sit by me.

Bears? You like bears? Pre-Colombian construction technique? Why earmarking in books is a mortal sin? The Red Queen hypothesis? A really cool coprolite you found the other day? Hell, I'll give you 20 minutes even if it's just about how Star Wars is high art.

(If you're coming through the kitchen, grab me a beer, too.)

@ratcatcher

I usually describe it as NT people have a brain that has many pathways already laid down : they can 'naturally' walk down a path without thinking, and just 'do stuff' easily.

My brain is like fighting through a jungle : the first time I have to force my way through a path with willpower, hacking my way through. This is very stressful and difficult, the second time still pretty tough, but it gets easier each time.

Many times it feels like I have to learn by trial and error, bumping into every single small obstacle along the way. I need clearer guidance and often ask 'stupid' questions, things that are obvious to NT I have to confirm.

This means small variations in what I do, coping with differences is much more effort - straying off the path is harder for me. I like doing things the same way each time.
:)
#ActuallyAutistic

What happens to your smartphone when it gets stolen?

I recently had my iPhone stolen while on a business trip in London and, through the wonders of Find My, have been able to track its journey in the past few weeks. I found it to be a fascinating insight to what appears to be a rather sophisticated phone theft operation and thought I'd share!