Tootfinder

Biden was “angry”, “heartbroken”, and “outraged” by the genocide of the Palestinian people as he sold weapons to Israel to carry out the genocide of the Palestinian people.
And *that*, there, is his difference, people. He cares. He’s compassionate. In fact, he’s likely the most caring and compassionate arms dealer to ever fund a genocide.
And they say he’s just as bad as the other guy.
*smh*
#biden

Japan’s answer to seasonal allergies: A subsidized tropical escape
Spring is a miserable time for millions of Japanese.
One of them is Naoki Shigihara, whose hay fever symptoms make it difficult to focus at work.
Luckily for him, his employer, an IT company called Aisaac, offers a “tropical escape” program, allowing employees to work remotely from other parts of the country with low pollen counts.
It even offers to subsidize the temporary relocation to the tune of…

Japan’s answer to seasonal allergies: A subsidized tropical escape
So many people call in sick with hay fever during the peak pollen season that Japanese companies are taking novel steps to allow them to continue to work.

An Empirical Calibration of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance Method in the Near Infrared. I. HST WFC3/IR F110W and F160W Filters
Max J. B. Newman, Kristen B. W. McQuinn, Evan D. Skillman, Martha L. Boyer, Roger E. Cohen, Andrew E. Dolphin, O. Grace Telford
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.03086 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.03086
arXiv:2403.03086v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: The Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB)-based distance method in the I band is one of the most efficient and precise techniques for measuring distances to nearby galaxies (D <= 15 Mpc). The TRGB in the near infrared (NIR) is 1 to 2 magnitudes brighter relative to the I band, and has the potential to expand the range over which distance measurements to nearby galaxies are feasible. Using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of 12 fields in 8 nearby galaxies, we determine color-based corrections and zero points of the TRGB in the Wide Field Camera 3 IR (WFC3/IR) F110W and F160W filters. First, we measure TRGB distances in the I band equivalent Advanced Camera System (ACS) F814W filter from resolved stellar populations with the HST. The TRGB in the ACS F814W filter is used for our distance anchor and to place the WFC3/IR magnitudes on an absolute scale. We then determine the color dependence (a proxy for metallicity/age) and zero point of the NIR TRGB from photometry of WFC3/IR fields which overlap with the ACS fields. The new calibration is accurate to ~1% in distance, relative to the F814W TRGB. Validating the accuracy of the calibrations, we find that the distance modulus for each field using the NIR TRGB calibration agrees with the distance modulus of the same fields as determined from the F814W TRGB. This is a JWST preparatory program and the work done here will directly inform our approach to calibrating the TRGB in JWST NIRCam and NIRISS photometric filters.

“I have invented a random number generator that companies put into everything. Banks might use it to generate your account balance. Doctors might use it to choose prescription strengths. My random number generator is inevitable. Society will have to navigate it.”

Sam Altman Answers The Burning Questions About AI: Bias, Privacy, Etc.
Responding, Altman criticized the construct of having people rate their doomsday predictions from one to 100.

"Let us look at the problem from the other side: what do mathematicians say about Computer Science? A lot, as it turns out; take for example the massive “Princeton Companion to Mathematics” edited by Timothy Gowers, June Barrow-Green, and Imre Leader. On page 106 we can find a dissertation about algorithms by Jean-Luc Chabert; on page 575, another about computational complexity by Oded Goldreich and Avi Wigderson."

In Praise Of Mathematics
How much math knowledge does a programmer need to know to fulfill their job? How deep should the mathematical knowledge of full-stack engineers, computer security experts, or large language model engineers be? The spectrum of possible answers to these questions is too large to be useful. Perhaps the eternal answer "it depends" is enough?

Using the Arc Browser is one of the strongest possible signals today that the user sees nothing of value or to respect in the open Internet. A tool based on stripping everything it finds to give you an expensive answer that's probably worse than what a normal web search would have given ya. An egocentric product that sees everything outside of the user as mere content

Black Flag – "Six Pack" (1981)
7" 45 RPM
Original SST pressing with black & white cover
This class punk anthem reminds me of the initial appeal I found in punk rock and underground music in general. Savage mockery of the worst parts of popular American culture, as it was at the time anyway.
Angry outsiders. The innately anti-authoritarian. These are my people!
Released 43 years ago this month, as @…

“I have invented a random number generator that companies put into everything. Banks might use it to generate your account balance. Doctors might use it to choose prescription strengths. My random number generator is inevitable. Society will have to navigate it.”

Sam Altman Answers The Burning Questions About AI: Bias, Privacy, Etc.
Responding, Altman criticized the construct of having people rate their doomsday predictions from one to 100.

"Let us look at the problem from the other side: what do mathematicians say about Computer Science? A lot, as it turns out; take for example the massive “Princeton Companion to Mathematics” edited by Timothy Gowers, June Barrow-Green, and Imre Leader. On page 106 we can find a dissertation about algorithms by Jean-Luc Chabert; on page 575, another about computational complexity by Oded Goldreich and Avi Wigderson."

In Praise Of Mathematics
How much math knowledge does a programmer need to know to fulfill their job? How deep should the mathematical knowledge of full-stack engineers, computer security experts, or large language model engineers be? The spectrum of possible answers to these questions is too large to be useful. Perhaps the eternal answer "it depends" is enough?

Trump’s threats to the rule of law continue
With powerful evidence, a conviction is likely.
If convicted, however, Trump will not be incarcerated (if at all) before all appeals are exhausted.
And that is unlikely to occur before the election.
If his conviction stands and he is elected, we face a constitutional issue:
Must a state “let him out” to serve as president?
Perhaps yes, but the remainder of any sentence would need to be served when (if!) he le…

Trump’s threats to the rule of law continue
I answer readers’ questions, sum up Trump’s threat to the rule of law and highlight an exquisite piece of journalism and an important court opinion.