Paul Sutton @zleap@qoto.org

@atoponce @craigevil Big improvements to dark mode are coming in LibreOffice 7.5: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/7.5#GUI – But as always, we're a volunteer-driven project with very limited resources. We need help, to keep on improving things!

You can play many chemical games with #perovskites. Removing inversion symmetry is one where the rules are still being written #JACS #Chemiverse #Chemistry https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jacs.2c12034

@zleap I was going to send a feedback message, but after spending about 30 seconds looking for a link I got bored and decided to spend more than 30 seconds to write the above post instead.

Next time I log in to their support site I'll send a request.

Lenovo rant

Seriously. I have had mostly good thing to say about Lenovo. Their hardware is good. The laptops have great Linux support, and their service has been great.

But, I tried to change password on their support site today, and they made two terrible mistakes which makes me distrust them:

Maximum 20 characters password. What the hell? Minimum is 8, which is way too short if they really cared about security.
Explicitly blocking paste into the password field? Can anyone please tell me what the thinking is behind this? (I know they're not alone in this, but these are people who should know better)

What do you think of this custom background gradient I used in Mastodon's CSS?

@jeff It could also use a Grassroots student movement objecting to organized University PR/marketing support of Twitter. I checked a local State University and saw something like 300 separate accounts for colleges, academic departments, research institutes, dean's offices, sports teams, coaches, etc... Schoold use Twitter to court applicants, congratulate students when accepted, promote events. etc.
Alternatively: Great opportunity for local fediverse instances!
Any schools doing that?

What are your favourite examples of TOO BIG TO FAIL #ideas in #science and the #humanities?

i.e. theories on which there's too much investment (money, careers, ideology, institutions) for us to accept they are bunk: #NFT would be a great example in tech; #IQ a good example in psychology.

Equally empowering and disastrous is how I see it after three years (500 students, 60 semesters worth of total course load) of ungrading. I am going to modify the ungrading or flipped grading with a more flexible system. For many students and fellow educators, ungrading is unnatural, confusing and even bad practice that challenges institutional norms. Many students complain that they have now to do more work, ie, reading the lecturer’s response and then think for themselves, where they could ‘just’ get a grade and ‘done with’. It’s a risky practice with students with inflated ego and who think university is same as high school. Works well with motivated, good students (who are A students anyway) and mature students.

On the plus side, it’s an emancipation and perhaps the most robust system one can think of. Teaching is enjoyable and students, when they realise that the grading is flexible and negotiated between the teacher and then, focus on the learning aspect. Most students tend to be harsh on themselves, so teaching them to assess themselves is a plus.

In summary, I will make some compromises. Make the grading system a whole lot flexible, and instead of entirely ditching rubrics (as Stommel et.al. suggests), introduce a mastery rubric. I think there are merits of old grading system that can be combined with ungrading practices. I am still figuring out that compromise.

There you go. What is your experience?

#Ungrading

Our fundraiser is extended until January 20, which means you have more time to participate in helping us reach our goal! FSF Program Manager Miriam Bastian discusses how memberships help drive our advocacy: https://u.fsf.org/3vx Let's protect the #FreedomToShare and #EndDRM!

I am pleased to announce that I will be the keynote speaker for the 2023 BSides Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) conference! Save the date; ticket sales will open shortly. 😀​

The conference location is only about 20 minutes from Hershey Park's Chocolate World, so plan accordingly. 🍫​

Although most early #dinosaurs were #vegetarian, there were a surprising number of differences in the way that these animals tackled eating a plant-based diet
#Paleontology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2023/01/pal01042301.html

This is exactly why unionizing is so important. Otherwise, workers are treated as disposable. Unionized workers *can* force management to treat them like people again.

Political ads are coming back to Twitter.

https://mastodon.social/@PCMag/109632264272818517

We should probably worry that the same unethical clowns who built up crypto for a quick buck, gleefully ignoring its externalities, have moved on to AI.

Study shows habitual checking of social media may impact young adolescents’ brain development

The study provides some of the first findings on how social media usage could have long-standing and important consequences on the development of adolescent brains.

https://www.unc.edu/posts/2023/01/03/study-shows-habitual-checking-of-social-media-may-impact-young-adolescents-brain-development/

#science #tech #culture

2.6 Billion-Year-Old Ancestors of the Crispr Gene-Editing Tool Are Resurrected

An international research group has for the first time reconstructed ancestors dating back 2.6 billion years of the well-known CRISPR-Cas system, and studied their evolution over time.

https://www.nanogune.eu/en/research/nanobiotechnology/news/26-billion-year-old-ancestors-crispr-gene-editing-tool-are

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

#science

#introduction
Hello everyone! I have just moved from types.pl to try out this instance by ACM. Since my toots were not migrated with me, let me introduce myself again.
My name is Yao Li (李垚). I am currently an assistant professor at Portland State University. My research area is programming languages/formal verification/interactive theorem proving. Always happy to chat with people about research or general things about programming languages!