robryk @robryk@qoto.org
I enjoy things around information theory (and data compression), complexity theory (and cryptography), read hard scifi, currently work on weird ML (we'll see how it goes), am somewhat literal minded and have approximate knowledge of random things. I like when statements have truth values, and when things can be described simply (which is not exactly the same as shortly) and yet have interesting properties.
I live in the largest city of Switzerland (and yet have cow and sheep pastures and a swimmable lake within a few hundred meters of my place :)). I speak Polish, English, German, and can understand simple Swiss German and French.
If in doubt, please err on the side of being direct with me. I very much appreciate when people tell me that I'm being inaccurate. I think that satisfying people's curiosity is the most important thing I could be doing (and usually enjoy doing it). I am normally terse in my writing and would appreciate requests to verbosify.
I appreciate it if my grammar or style is corrected (in any of the languages I use here).
Joined Nov 2020
robryk
boosted
TIL: Kanton Zürich apparently has detectors near a few #hiking trails to measure how dry/wet the ground is, so you can plan ahead of time for the right shoes and equipment!
https://www.zh.ch/de/umwelt-tiere/boden/messnetz-bodenfeuchte.html
robryk
boosted
I'm looking for a new job! 
👷♀️ I can build software for your business (mainly in Rust, but I pick up new things quickly), or help you make sense of your existing software. I’m familiar with networking (I run AS213185 to experiment with BGP, OSPF and such), railway open data, and a bit of embedded stuff too (schematic/PCB design in KiCad, embedded Rust).
✨ Recently, I've tracked London Underground trains (and given a talk about it), reverse-engineered UK rail tickets, and built some hardware to make LED panels work. I have a website at eta.st with more stuff, too!
🌐 I'm looking for hybrid jobs (not fully remote) in the UK, but I could be tempted away to the Netherlands or Germany for the right role. I'm also open to contracting and part-time projects!
✉️ Send me an email at job@eta.st if you're interested (or want my CV)
Boosts appreciated! ❤️ #getfedihired
Yearly reminder: today's the day when the Swiss authorities break the noon quiet period.
I realized today that this is a good alternate way of looking at what voltage dividers hanging off a power rail do: they are like a voltage source of the expected voltage with an internal resistance equivalent to a parallel connection of the divider's resistors.
I wonder how much time will pass until I get the rest of the setup for problem 17 from https://www.iypt.org/problems/problems-iypt-2024/
Why do x-ray emitters present typical lamp current as an important metric? (E.g. on faceplate) Its relation to luminosity depends greatly on emitter geometry, so is emitter-specific.
robryk
boosted
You ever wonder if toothpaste is more of a lapping compound or is it more of a soap?
I'm really surprised that E27 lightbulb sockets are considered fine for multi-kV voltages (there are sodium vapor bulbs without an internal igniter that have that base and require upward from 1.5kV to ignite).
> One of the meters, which was located north of Grindavík, went under lava, but over 20 GPS meters are in the area that are being used.
Hm~ I would be surprised if it actually went _under_.
Some guys reviving a scanning electron microscope from early 90s that was being scrapped: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1OWIgy9S0sOFNL3VpJq7UkqUR78M9EEU (commentary in Polish)
And there's one more eruption near Grindavik (this time closer to the town).
Source of the image: https://en.vedur.is/media/uncategorized/Kort_StadsetningGoss2.jpg
> The use of the system resembled its name, which had been intended to be spurious.
Why do pressurized cans warn against puncturing them "even if empty"?
MPK w Krakowie używa openstreetmap do pokazywania pozycji pojazdu w środku. Wszystko byłoby dobrze, tylko używają wersji sprzed budowy trasy łagiewnickiej, więc tramwaje radośnie jeżdżą poza torami.
robryk
boosted
The I in LLM stands for intelligence
On how people now use AI to submit security reports on #curl.
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/01/02/the-i-in-llm-stands-for-intelligence/
robryk
boosted
MORPHOTROPHIC, a new novel in 2024.
In a world where the cells that make up our bodies are not committed to any one organism, Marla is confronted by the fickleness of her cytes, and resolves to understand them with help from a centuries-old Flourisher. Swappers like Ruth embrace fluidity, and meet with others to exchange cytes, seeking the perfect mix. But Ruth faces her own crisis, and as the technology to manipulate cytes advances, all three are drawn into a struggle to shape the future of life.
Coming in March 2024.
robryk
boosted
“The previous May [1921], he had proposed salt iodisation to the canton’s health authority, only to be told, in the recollection of his then assistant, that ‘the people will never, ever permit themselves to accept something like that.’ https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n23/jonah-goodman/a-national-evil via https://mastodon.social/@mhoye/111655219188539326
A thoroughly-proven and low-burden intervention for a horrible medical condition? With at least several years of safe use with well-understood side effects? “The people will never, ever permit themselves to accept something like that”? Yes, we know all about that now don’t we.
A fantastic story to add to our mental model, where it will stand next to
Ignaz Semmelweis (who was persecuted for demanding doctors working at his hospital wash their hands before delivering babies),
rehydration therapy (which cuts deaths from cholera and other diarrhea-based killers by 95+%, see https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/29/slow-ideas and https://octodon.social/@22/108453773380832231) and
the story of how vitamin C was discovered, then lost for a century, and painfully rediscovered (TERF-minimized Maciej Ceglowski has the canonical blog piece about this that I link to only because I can’t find another treatment of the rise and fall angle yet https://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm)
#physics riddle
My parents have a garden ornament that contains a "vertical spiral thingy" that can freely[^] rotate. When wine blows, it sometimes rotates clockwise and sometimes counterclockwise. What gives? When it has rotated by 180 deg it should be in the same position as if the wind was blowing in the opposite direction (the cage around it nonwithstanding), so I'd expect it to always rotate in the same direction, or to oscillate.
Some videos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CQWvBBggW4jXQPKZ9
[^] there might be some weird hysteresis there, because it's basically a wire that slips in a hole
very silly
Which end of the polar bear is positively charged?
I enjoy things around information theory (and data compression), complexity theory (and cryptography), read hard scifi, currently work on weird ML (we'll see how it goes), am somewhat literal minded and have approximate knowledge of random things. I like when statements have truth values, and when things can be described simply (which is not exactly the same as shortly) and yet have interesting properties.
I live in the largest city of Switzerland (and yet have cow and sheep pastures and a swimmable lake within a few hundred meters of my place :)). I speak Polish, English, German, and can understand simple Swiss German and French.
If in doubt, please err on the side of being direct with me. I very much appreciate when people tell me that I'm being inaccurate. I think that satisfying people's curiosity is the most important thing I could be doing (and usually enjoy doing it). I am normally terse in my writing and would appreciate requests to verbosify.
I appreciate it if my grammar or style is corrected (in any of the languages I use here).
Joined Nov 2020
