Martin Jambon 🌍🌎🌏 @mjambon@qoto.org

@log I can comment on two use cases:

1. If you're unhappy about getting stuck on technical problems but you want to be liberated by being able to fix deeply technical issues yourself, one avenue is to learn about the internals. Gentoo was (still is?) a good way to do this for me when I used it until about 12 years ago. You get to compile everything by yourself. The distribution is designed for this and it's very interesting but it gets tiring because compiling all the packages takes ages.
2. If you want something that just works, the latest LTS (long-term support) release of Ubuntu is a good choice. Do not expect it to just work but with a bit of luck, it might.

I haven't spent much time looking for the ideal Linux distribution in a while, so they may be better info out there.

@HeavenlyPossum I love how you pick a hero and assume everyone is like him. While most people aren't selfish, some are and we need ways to minimize their impact.

@timdesuyo @beej is it a good thing? 😅

What unusual lighting does to depth perception:

This is the same photo, rotated by 180°.

#vision #3d #vr #science #perception #movies #illusion #photography

To whomever wants to hear it:

There's a common misconception that stereoscopic vision is necessary to perceive depth ("3D"). It's not. Especially when things move: typical action movies are the worst candidates for stereoscopy. One of the best applications is still photography of unfamiliar large objects with unusual light sources.

Why:
1. unfamiliar objects: no cue as to how big they are or how they move relative to the rest of the scene.
2. large: everything is far from the camera => everything is equally in focus.
3. unusual lighting: if light comes from below, shadows are interpreted wrong by our terrestrial minds (e.g. flip a photo of footprints in the sand upside down, they will appear bumpy)

#vision #3d #vr #science #perception #movies #illusion #photography

@martine_dowden @b0rk one day, I'll force-push to a branch under review that was edited by a colleague without me knowing about it... but it hasn't happened to me yet.

@dpiponi this makes me consider publishing free software projects on floppy disks that people can buy to support the project.

Contains peanut!

#peanuts #food #usa #america #murica

@ArtPhotosDesk it's fucking awesome.

To be clear, nonsense happens all the time, it's normal. What bothers me is the passivity in the face of recurring nonsense.

By the way, vitamin D is not a vitamin but it's called a vitamin anyway. I'm glad I'm not a biologist anymore. This sort of nonsense used to drive me nuts.

They should make alphabet soup pasta with only the names of vitamins - A, B, C, D, K - to make it healthier.

#health #nutrition #pasta #soup #wow #alphabet #letters #science #win

I was wondering why the UK was not called a "federation".

After some back-and-forth, ChatGPT clarified:

In a federation, there's typically a constitutional division of powers between the central government and the subnational entities (states, provinces, etc.), and this division is usually fixed and applies uniformly to all members of the federation. Each level of government has its own sphere of authority, as defined by the constitution, and these powers are often enshrined and protected by law.

In contrast, the UK's system of devolution is more flexible and asymmetric. The powers devolved to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have been granted through separate pieces of legislation (Scotland Act, Government of Wales Act, Northern Ireland Act), and the specific powers vary between them. Additionally, these powers can be amended or repealed by the UK Parliament if there is sufficient political will to do so. So, while devolution grants a degree of autonomy to subnational entities, it does not involve a fixed constitutional division of powers like in a federation.

@dlakelan how do you decide who gets to be an artist, programmer, or other content producer and gets paid a stable salary for it? Do you want committees to select which musician is good enough or leave it to the listeners to decide? Or maybe allow anyone to be a paid musician if they want to?

@johncarlosbaez I doubt they carry Hitler-style literature. https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/local/2023/12/20/lauren-groff-the-lynx-new-bookstore/71931165007/