Sylvain Miermont @miermont@qoto.org

math youtuber: the Torment Nexus has gotten a lot of hype recently. But did you know there's some interesting math about how the nexus torments? In this video, we're going to show how the rendering of flesh is actually carried out by really cool applications of algebraic topology

2021:
— Come to Mastodon.
— No, It’s too complicated.

2022:
— Leave Twitter and come to Mastodon, it’s easy now.
— People I want to follow are not there.

2023:
— Leave X and come to Mastodon, here are the accounts you want to follow.
— They have less engagement.

2024:
— Leave X and come to Mastodon, here are the accounts you want to follow with more engagement than on X.
— I’m on Bluesky now. There’s not a lot of people nor engagement, it was a bit hard to sign up but I like it.

Suspect we're going to see ever more geoengineering /carbon sequestration schemes - generally inadequate, unlikely to work, and/or actively harmful. But at least this one on seaweed is beautifully illustrated.

https://www.science.org/content/article/can-dumping-seaweed-sea-floor-cool-planet-some-scientists-are-skeptical

Conversation I had recently:

him: my train was delayed for 15 minutes by a hobo.
me: how so?
him: the police had to come to get him off the train.
me: whoa, what did he do?
him: he was sleeping on the train.
me: and not bothering anyone?
him: no
me: so the police came to drag a sleeping man off the train, even though he wasn't bothering anyone, just sleeping?
him: yes
me: why?
him: we thought that he might not have a ticket.
me: So a man, who you thought may be experiencing homelessness, was sleeping on the train, other passengers thought that he might not have a ticket, and called the police, who dragged him off the train? And that caused a 15-minute delay? Seems to me like it wasn't the sleeping man who caused the 15-minute delay?
him: ???

Just now, the gates were broken, so I couldn't scan my public transport card. Went out of my way to scan it at a different station, almost missing my connection.

Train conductor just checked our tickets. Young white dude next to me hadn't scanned his card. Conductor tells him to "remember" next time, even though you have to practically break through the gate to get into the station without scanning your card.

Guess we have different rules for different people here. Also I'm low-key annoyed with my own honesty and integrity. Could've saved myself 8 euros and a sprint for the train today.

#treinleven #PublicTransportation

I have a #Kobo Aura one e-reader. I got it almost ten years ago. And it just got another software update.

It's a really good e-reader, and it's open enough that you can install your own software on it. But it also has a stellar support length. I can't recall another consumer product of mine that is still updated nine years after release.

I don't know when I will replace it. I do know I will get another Kobo when I do.

Anyone interested in the librarycloud.org domain name? I've had it since I was co-dir of Harvard #Library Lab. Free to a non-profit (at my discretion). Reply, or find me at weinberger.org

Great thread reminding you that the cloud is not just somebody else's computer.
It's a physical computer that probably won't be wiped when it is thrown away...
https://digipres.club/@foone/112990331505043510

"Rich kids would eat free too" is actually a good thing for the following reasons:

1. Reduces stigma for those who need the program.
2. Reduces cost and limits bureaucratic waste when the entry bar for the program is streamlined
3. There are very few actual rich kids; there are kids with rich parents. And not all of those are as loving and attentive as they should be.
4. Rich kids are still kids. All kids should eat.

People with experience with nightjet ÖBB trains: I have booked a night train that arrives at 10:01 at Munich.
What are my chances of making a 10:48 train?

What about a 14min connection in Mannheim?
I remember making shorter ones in Mannheim, but have German trains become that (un)reliable?

#NightTrain #NightJet #Obb #Zug #Interrail

@freakonometrics @aaaabbbb French here. There are testimonies now of zealous controllers giving 70€ fines to 20 years old under poverty line students for minor violations. Something which previously would call for a polite reminder.

French rails is an historic national monopoly and strong Union, key to past century social struggles.

For the past 20 years it has been privatized, dismentled, deprived of due fundings. It is now agressively pitting the working class against the working class.

STUDY: ‘Dual-mode households’ (cars & ebikes) can reduce their car use by 19% compared to those solely reliant on cars, particularly affecting shorter trips. This supports households moving to one car and adopting a ‘car light’ lifestyle. Via @MomentumMag https://momentummag.com/study-shows-how-e-bikes-are-shifting-the-transportation-landscape/

Meta is the Gold Sponsor of an alt-right climate denying conference, headlined by the guy who helped create the moral panic around transgender people and critical race theory.

https://www.desmog.com/2024/08/12/meta-and-koch-industries-to-sponsor-event-featuring-climate-denier-barry-cooper/

Before I begin my magic of matching parties to parties - I have been entrusted with finding a home to a personal print shop that is in a basement in the NYC area. Are you a legit, serious, interested party who promises the family you will continue to make it work, alone or with your group? printshop@textfiles.com

Generosity and dedication have led to over 250 issues of MicroTimes magazine to be scanned in.

https://archive.org/details/microtimes

But now we're looking for missing issues to scan in. Do you have: MicroTimes Volume 2 Number 12, Volume 3 1-3, 6-12, Issue 78, 151-152, 154-155, 159-160, 162, 165,182-199, 201-215, 217-end? Reach out.

Another lesson in "Don't Use An App for things that should be a Website":

https://news.patreon.com/articles/understanding-apple-requirements-for-patreon

Basically, Apple is going to steal 30% of Patreon's money that's supposed to go to creators. Because... Apple. If it's an app and it's in their store, they will squeeze you for every penny they can get.

Note: Android isn't innocent in this, either. Use the website whenever you can.

Everybody hates cookie consent, but you should really be directing your anger at websites who are being legally forced to disclose their use of tracking and advertising.

Essential cookies don't require consent. Whenever you see a prompt, it's being they're doing something shady. Don't get mad at the EU for GDPR, get mad at the shitheads packing so much crap into modern sites.

Also, in-source your janitorial staff, in-source the people making food at the canteen, in-source your receptionist, in-source your IT support.

Every person working for a company should be working for that company.

You will have mid-term gains with outsourcing some functions, but in the long term, you will pay.

Stop listening to McKinsey telling you to outsource all that stuff. Their very business model relies on you outsourcing your brains. Ignore them.

Companies contract out small parts manufacturing, then big parts, then engineering and design, and only retain a "people and culture" organization that sits far from any factory, and before you know it you have two astronauts stranded in space and windows blowing our of planes because no one feels responsible for your overall product anymore.

IN-SOURCE YOUR ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The task of a healthy publicly owned rail company is this:

To run as many trains as possible, within the financial constraints under which it operates

Note trains. It’s not “transport as many passengers as possible on the fewest number of trains”

That 5am train with a dozen building workers on it, or the last train home in the evening *matter for the trust and reliability of the system*, even if those individual trains make heavy losses and are largely empty

"After a June 27 Goldman Sachs report finally said that the emperor, AI, had no clothes in a language tech grifters understand, the bubble has been starting to pop. OpenAI, valued at $80 billion, revealed it might be bankrupt by the end of the year, because AI is valueless and makes no money, while studies showed that products that mentioned AI in their marketing did less well, we may be witnessing the end of what tech reporter Ed Zitron calls The Rot Economy. And today it is tech--in the US, Japan, S. Korea and Taiwan--that is driving the market collapse."

Great analysis from @VickyACAB on today's #stockmarket news.

https://all-cats-are-beautiful.ghost.io/lets-all-watch-the-tech-economy-die/