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This is a really random question but: has anyone got a decent photo of a solar fence (ie where solar panels are the actual fencing material) that I could use with their explicit permission, citing them? It could literally be a snap of your neighbours' solar fence (without anything privacy-violating in the background).

This is for a TEDx talk at the end of October.

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Simon boosted

I don't share networking posts lightly. But I just had such an interesting poignant call with someone who feels stuck in web dev freelancing but has an amazing background in theology, ethnography, analytical philosophy and is so struggling to be seen for his immense systems thinking skills.

I wonder if anyone in my community here has recs for where he might look to network in human-centered communities in software that would value his experience in, as he put it, "metaphysical engineering" :)

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@charliermarsh @freakboy3742 @jacob @sgillies I certainly hope you succeed. I think there are ways that this could go bad, but I don’t think it *needs* to go bad. There are some significant challenges on the way there which need to be addressed as they come, there’s nothing to do or say right now, today, that can fully address those concerns

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Gathered a few notes on the insightful conversation about uv happening in the Python Mastodon community right now simonwillison.net/2024/Sep/8/u

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@freakboy3742 @glyph @jacob @sgillies Honestly I try to be really open about this stuff in my writing, on podcasts, in 1:1 conversations, Q&A at events, etc. I really have nothing to hide here, and people ask me about it all the time, I just probably haven't done enough proactive sharing.

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Simon boosted

I love reading ancient cuneiform tablets. Classics such as "Fuck you, this copper sucks." (Ea Nasir), "I should get more new clothes, my dad's employee gets new clothes twice a month and it's embarrassing.", and of course "The sesame harvest will die — let nobody say I did not warn you!", which is absolutely a set up for "Per my last clay tablet.".

Social media & email may be
part of the problem. But if we're still like this when we have to carve our petty bullshit into clay then it's clear that we're the problem. It's us.

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Really I think it's all a conspiracy to prevent you from typing ☭

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Also, while I'm complaining about the stickers, it drives me

u p t h e w a l l

that "emoji keyboard" features in both phones and desktop PCs offer "emoji searches" which do not include non-emoji unicode codepoints. Sometimes I want to type the greek letter "mu", or the german "umlaut" symbol. Sometimes I want to type the not equals symbol? TOO BAD, says the Microsoft WIN+. key, those are NOT EMOJI and we will NOT BE HELPING YOU. COLORS OR YOU CAN'T TYPE IT!

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@regehr it's funny, I wouldn't have thought of Blindsight as a "first contact" novel. The aliens are cool, but the mankind (?) they meet is more interesting IMO.

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well, I finished _Blindsight_ by Peter Watts, and while I liked it very much at the start, this effect faded as I moved through the book. I guess "not as annoying as Alastair Reynolds, but in the same way" is about the best I can do here.

anyhow, imo VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy in unchallenged as the best first contact novel of the 21st century. this is a genre that I generally enjoy, and would appreciate suggestions if people know of more books along these lines

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food 

late summer vacation near Niantic, CT checking out skate spots, local apples from Stop and Shop, and Connecticut style lobster roll

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Do you live near Amsterdam and have an old laptop or computer you no longer want? I'm looking to rebuild my home lab after moving across the Atlantic with three suitcases.

If you have old but working laptops, SBCs, small desktops, Android phones, and similar small form-factor computers, DM me and see if we can work out buy/trade/donation. Battery life not a factor

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We sold a few geese. 8 geese is still Quite a Lot of Geese.

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Hey, la Mastonie, jai besoin de toi.
Est-ce que tu saurais me donner le nom d'institutions , syndicats, ong , universités, journalistes...qui ont officiellement désactivé ou supprimé leur compte #twitter #X
Le repouet adoucit la rentrée :blobcatheart:
Ca maiderait à renforcer mon argumentaire car demain je propose la suppression du compte de mon syndicat :-)
#help
#aide

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Simon boosted

@ami_angelwings 🎶... she caught the ethernet frame streaming eeevry-where 🎶

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Qoto Mastodon

QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
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All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.