@davidaugust@mastodon.online2026-07-17 04:16:03
"Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theatre, a piece of music or a book can make a difference. It can change the world."
—Alan Rickman
#acting #coaching #inspiration
@davidaugust@mastodon.online2026-07-17 04:16:03
@Dragofix@veganism.social2026-08-18 03:15:04
River shipping emits nearly one-quarter of global shipping CO₂, analysis finds #environment
@pre@boing.world2026-07-17 11:43:07
Content warning: UKPol Burnham Made Labour Leader
Burnham has been made leader of the Labour party then. No other candidates got the required number of nominations so it's a coronation.
He has a few things to say.
He's proud. The party is united, he says, and now they'll put that power of unity to give people hope back. And he is ready to build on Kier's foundation. Thanks Kier, for all the NHS work and renters rights and rebuilding the nation's reputation (??).
He does like to name-check all the various towns and unions of the country. Just listing them. They made Labour, apparently.
We must recognize that this generation of politicians, including Burnham himself, have failed. Four decades of neoliberalism have not been kind to all those places he listed.
He pledges to be better, and will do five things.
1) Work relentlessly to build a culture of one Labour team. No infighting. Wants to eradicate the split. End factional politics.
I guess end Starmer's war on the left then? 🤨
2) Work to build a new politics. This is the last chance for change, and we must take it together. Tell people what Labour will do, not just pick fights with other parties. Seek consensus with those other parties instead, to improve the political discourse.
3) Change political direction: know exactly where he stands and set a direction that is distinctively Labour. No out-greening greens or out-reforming reform or wearing tory clothes. Boldly confidently authentically Labour.
Housing, water, energy, transport, all broken due to privatization and concentration of wealth and power.
Four decades of political power draining from regions to corporations and central government ends now.
Take back the slogan "take back control" from the right, who gave away power to corps and quangos.
Life should be more affordable.
4) Be a leader for the north, south, east and west, for Scotland and Northern Ireland (aw, shame for the midlanders 🤣 ).
Gonna do to everywhere what he done for Manchester he reckons.
Kids shouldn't have to leave their home towns to prosper.
5) Take power back from westminster and give it to the place where you live.
More power for regions, to run trains for passengers not shareholders. Improve high-streets, and back shops and pubs, and education, and reindustrialization.
He's gonna be pro-business.
Add all that together and he reckons we'll bring back hope.
Thanks a few people in particular.
He says he knows what he believes and what he wants to do, he has a plan. He wants change, to be close to the people.
He wants it to be Andy 4 us. Labour 4 us. Bring back hope.
#ukpol #burnham #labourParty
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2026-07-12 16:28:07
Since it was relevant to a discussion I just had on here and is something most people probably haven't thought about much (unless you've taken one of a handful of philosophy classes), I thought I'd try to lay out a key piece of Descartes' Meditations (#philosophy
@aredridel@kolektiva.social2026-07-11 17:06:34
Content warning: on sexism in technology work
For those that don't know, I help run a large women in technology chat group on Slack. It's been going for 11 years now! (ask me for an invite if you want one and that's appropriate!)
It has deeply shaped how I think about technology, especially the social side. There is so much embodied knowledge in that community, it's amazing. And it's also such a window into how much the mainstream of technology writing is dominated by men. We talk about it differently! We're much more likely to be critical, and to be critical of the _structures_ in tech. Sometimes that comes off as kneejerk "Ugh BRIAN!" to some of the bullshit men to do women in the workplace, but also embedded underneath is an understanding of rarely-mapped power structures in the field. So much advice out there is written assuming that there is no dissent, no silent frustration, no quiet abandoning the job when the pressures are unresolved. And so much of the tech world, press and on social media alike, has no insight that this attrition even happens.
Women, collectively, though, understand it. We notice the patterns of promotions. We understand the way that if we're in our 40s, we're rather likely to have a manager who is a decade younger than we are, with no particular experience. We notice when men are lauded for spending time with their family instead of work on occasion, but women are expected to be present at all times and rarely seen positively for doing the exact same things.
And yet, any given instance is always shrouded in deniability. The pattern generally holds, but is this one my fault? Do I not measure up? Or is it sexism?
That's what these structures rob from us: we never have the clarity in feedback that it is accurate, that is us that must change. When we stick to our guns, are we being obstinate, or are we correct? That information is denied to us by sexism. It only becomes clear in aggregate, and even then it is very hard to find action to take on it except to acknowledge it and move on.
I don't think people talk about that ambiguity enough: we're always looking for the clear sexism, the man speaking over the women, the trading sexual favors for advancement, the clear pattern of pet-to-threat that so many women experience as they age or gain skill in the field. But the bulk of sexism that we experience is in the structural poisoning of feedback.
@vague@social.linux.pizza2026-07-17 20:59:34
Dream Theater's A Change of Seasons - Another World, is a favorite, https://youtu.be/6krMopB_35I
Below is the best bit but I urge you to listen to the whole 23 minutes of A change of Seasons :)
@seav@en.osm.town2026-09-12 07:28:57
🇯🇵 #Japan is mad because the default free world maps on the #EqualEarth website depict the Kuril Islands under Russian control.
@Sustainable2050@mastodon.energy2026-09-14 05:09:42
As climate change starts to hit hard in the US and around the world, Trump puts his foot on the accelerator and his tech billionaire buddies are building fossil fuel power plants like mad.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/climate/epa-power-plant-climate-rules.h…
@luana@wetdry.world2026-08-17 12:57:47
So now Home Assistant requires you to open its web UI via http in order to... change the web UI http settings. What the fuck could go wrong right? This has to be the dumbest change I've ever seen done in a software.
If the default settings don't work for you how are you supposed to do the first configuration of your instance?
#HomeAssistant #SelfHosting #Linux
@marcel@waldvogel.family2026-09-12 06:30:25
The UN just passed a resolution "promoting world maps that more accurately show the size of various continents".
"Only the United States voted to oppose the resolution after describing it as a “radical ideological project,”"
Maybe because on the new map, Greenland no longer looks the size of Africa? And people would notice and start laughing?
@kexpmusicbot@mastodonapp.uk2026-07-14 16:05:05
🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #MorningShow
Charles Bradley:
🎵 Change for the World
#CharlesBradley
https://charlesbradley.bandcamp.com/track/change-for-the-world
https://open.spotify.com/track/1BpHsHXTHKKabAvaAHL0q4
@cdarwin@c.im2026-07-08 13:17:15
As the world swelters in ever more dangerous heat,
⭐️why are oil companies being allowed to turn up the gas instead of paying for the consequences of their greed?
That ought to be the question on everyone’s minds amid baking heat domes over much of the northern hemisphere,
temperature records being smashed day after day,
children dying in locked cars,
hospitals filling with heatstroke victims
and emergency services tackling wildfires.
There is no dou…
@inthehands@hachyderm.io2026-09-18 00:45:41
I happen to know that this is man is quite conservative in a lot of ways. He's steeped in the Foxosphere to a degree that alarms his relatives. I know he was a huge Trump supporter the first time around, and I'm pretty sure he was this time too.
And even stewing in those juices, even •he• is just ready to see the world change for the better for trans people.
I know with all of the horrifying backsliding we've seen these last few years, it feels like there's no hope for trans people. And…yeah, these really are dire, dire times. Dire. It is •horrifying• what's been coming to the political surface. But damnit…beneath the surface, the tectonic plates are moving. Despair, rage, lament, yes…but do not give up hope.
/end
@rasterweb@mastodon.social2026-08-11 04:00:03
➡️ The world does not change because people wait
#bookmarks
@Techmeme@techhub.social2026-08-31 02:15:42
Google updates Maps to show Lake America for US users, Lake Ontario for Canadian users, and both for the rest of the world, citing the US GNIS' name change (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/lake-trump-ontario-america-7c5c9776d72cb8e8d782…
@Dragofix@veganism.social2026-08-13 03:25:45
Climate change boosted Spain wildfire risk 20-fold, research shows https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/climate-change-boosted-spain-wildfire-risk-20-fold-research-shows/
@bobmueller@mastodon.world2026-08-13 14:31:02
If we're incarcerating people to help them change their behavior, then we have to do everything possible to make it easier to change. Prisons can handle in-person visits. Why can't jails?
If you've got a staffing shortage, maybe it's time to look at your salary schedule. #JusticeReform
@primonatura@mstdn.social2026-09-04 10:00:51
"A landmark UN report says the world will overshoot the 1.5°C climate target. What happens now?"
#UN #UnitedNations #Climate
@Speckdaene@nrw.social2026-09-06 17:48:17
#Deepwave.org All you need to know about Deep Sea Mining. Surprise: It is not about energy transition, not to secure resorces, not the good future for all of us. It's about profit for the very very few. https://www.
@rocksongoftheweek@mastodon.world2026-07-10 12:00:17
Fresh off the press this week ... and we mean that almost literally, as our spotlight falls on Colorado doom merchants #Khemmis. New album, new era, same crushing heaviness. Some things, thankfully, never change.
Follow us on our mission to shine a light on one awesome track from across the epic universe of #metal
@memeorandum@universeodon.com2026-09-17 14:40:52
Trump spotted looking at 'Kennedy Center DEMOLITION' booklet as his pouting over name change grows (Joe Sommerlad/The Independent)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-kennedy-center-demolition-b3051864.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260917/p41#a260917p41
@cdarwin@c.im2026-08-01 18:31:50
There are millions of people around the world who could help make the world a better place, but don’t.
I’m talking about the ones who have got the power to shape their own careers,
though you would never know it from their utterly unsurprising résumés.
About the talented folks with the world at their feet who nonetheless get stuck in mind-numbing, pointless or just plain harmful jobs.
There’s an antidote to that kind of waste, and it’s called moral ambition.
…
@aral@mastodon.ar.al2026-06-30 16:27:52
It’s ok, it’s not like we’re all going to die or anything (only billions, not everyone). @… https://slrpnk.net/post/39707961
@luana@wetdry.world2026-08-17 13:02:28
Can't access the default address in order to change it? Fuck you.
@Dragofix@veganism.social2026-07-08 21:58:55
Fuel on the fire: why oil companies are profiting as the world gets dangerously hot https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/07/big-oil-companies-profiting-fossil-fuel-global-climate-change
@scott@carfree.city2026-08-03 23:04:20
Finally, a politician willing to say YES to racist slop.
For too long, SF has said no to obviously terrible ideas like this. Vote for change. Vote for Slopp Wiener. #sfpol
@hex@kolektiva.social2026-09-12 10:24:56
Let's actually talk about the "AI destroying the world" thing. One specific apocalypse scenario is the "paperclip maximizer" problem. The scenario goes that a super intelligence is tasked with maximizing the number of paperclips produced by a company. Because of a thing called "instrumental convergence," the AI kills all humans to prevent them from shutting it down, then it destroys everything else strip mining the Earth, etc.
Basically, the intelligence doesn't understand the actual goal of helping people hold paper together and therefore calculates intermediate goals that violate the *implicit* goal in order to fulfill the *explicit* goal.
The thing is, that's just capitalism. The whole AI scam is an example of this, where maximization of quarterly profit is an explicit goal and "destroying human civilization and most life on Earth through climate change" is a side effect of the "build as many datacenters as possible" subgoal.
Capitalism has been an apocalypse manifesting malicious intelligence since we figured out that burning fossil fuels changes the climate, back in 1824.
@harrysentonbury@social.linux.pizza2026-07-31 07:48:10
Killing Joke - The Wait
#jukeboxFridayNight…
@padraig@mastodon.ie2026-08-28 22:11:01
Jobs, Wozniak, Sculley, and 13 #Apple notables sign a young fan's letter in the spring of #Macintosh '84
This is adorable.
This recently was sold at auction for nearly $34K at "Steve Jobs & the Computer Revolution: The Apple 50th Anniversary Auction Part Two"
@cdarwin@c.im2026-07-10 18:47:38
How has Kyiv figured out how to navigate Trump?
The strategy is “to placate, make offers, accept what Trump offers to you,”
says Dmytro Kuleba, who served as Ukraine’s foreign minister during the first two years of the war.
But Kyiv must do this “while quietly continuing the strategy of decoupling” from Washington, he adds.
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2026-08-14 12:50:14
Content warning: Yearning for more social-science fiction
The world needs more science fiction of the social- variety.
Rather than imagining how life could be different because of advances in purely mechanistic technologies, why not imagine how life could be different because of advances in social technologies: new inventions of ways societies can be organized or groups of people can relate to each other.
Some concrete examples of existing social technologies: Amish barn-raising, dolphin surf-fishing, online crowd-funding, Capoeira, potlucks, punk rock concerts, etc.
Each of these things was invented at some point, spread (not inevitably) through social communication, allows groups to achieve a specific purpose (or facilitates several different outcomes) and may or may not require specific tools or mechanistic technologies. There will be new social technologies in the future, and they could radically change how human societies function and what human lives look like, just as mechanistic technologies can.
In the current sociopolitical climate, we see one vision of the future, heavily propagandized, which assures us that advances in mechanistic technology will make life ever easier for humans, leading into a golden age where human needs are met by robots. In this imagination, each individual can actualize the productive capacity to meet their own needs because an individual's productive capacity has been multiplied in every dimension by new mechanistic technologies. Humans can finally be rid of the messy complexity of community-dependence and be totally free because mechanistic technologies will replace the need for community connections to satisfy material desires.
But there's an ugly underside to this vision explored by cyberpunk, where advances in mechanistic technologies bring us to a point of total hierarchical domination and control. In this future, productivity-multipliers are recognized as force-multipliers, and the humans who gain control of them use them to subjugate everyone else.
Some of the best science fiction authors, like Le Guin or Asimov, look at not only mechanistic but also at social technologies, and often at the interaction between the two. Social technologies also have the capacity to radically change the human condition, but they don't lend themselves as well to the power fantasy or libertarian utopia of the self-sufficient individual. Social technologies involve people satisfying their needs through dependence on others, and in turn being obligated to take part in communities.
As an anarchist, I believe that the social technologies needed for human flourishing have not been invented yet. I also believe that with the right social technologies, even without significant advances in mechanistic technologies, it's possible for everyone to be able to meet their own needs through community, in a truly sustainable way.
I wish we had more authors using their craft to help explore the space of social technologies and inspire others to join in that exploration, so that the technologies we need can more quickly be invented and evangelized.
#anarchy #SciFi #technology
@cowboys@darktundra.xyz2026-07-27 00:56:14
Cowboys loss from the 60's can change history thanks to the World Cup https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/07/26/cowboys-1965-playoff-loss-sparks-debate-over-don-sh…
@losttourist@social.chatty.monster2026-08-15 16:12:56
We are at Chester open air theatre, where they're putting on a production of a play called Let The Sun Shine In.
As the name suggests, it's set in the late 60s and has lots of happy hippies trying to change the world with peace and love. But also today is Chester Pride, and they've incorporated lots of little references to that into this performance.
#Chester #Pride #theatre
@avalon@jazztodon.com2026-06-28 16:32:27
Initiation stones, buried recordings, and Ringo Starr’s drumkit: inside the visionary world of reggae master Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry | Lee 'Scratch' Perry | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jun/26/lee-scratch…
@PaulWermer@sfba.social2026-08-25 15:32:21
More on the good news on constructive actions that address #Climate and #Ecosystem problems.
We know what to do - but the #ClimatePolluters are still blocking meaningful policies, and there is too …
@paulwermer@sfba.social2026-08-25 15:32:21
More on the good news on constructive actions that address #Climate and #Ecosystem problems.
We know what to do - but the #ClimatePolluters are still blocking meaningful policies, and there is too …
@tinoeberl@mastodon.online2026-08-31 12:14:45
#ElNiño-Ereignisse sind in den vergangenen 40 Jahren deutlich stärker ausgefallen als vor der Industrialisierung.
Forschende rekonstruierten anhand von #Korallen aus den #Galápagos-Ins…
@primonatura@mstdn.social2026-06-24 11:00:31
"Does climate change lead to more migration? Here's why researchers can't agree on the evidence"
#Climate #ClimateChange
@Sustainable2050@mastodon.energy2026-08-22 06:01:02
The El Niño event that is developing over the Pacific Ocean is likely to be the strongest in living memory, @metoffice.gov.uk has warned.
Added to the effects of human-induced climate change, this is "very likely" to mean 2027 is the hottest year on record globally.
https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/c3…
@NFL@darktundra.xyz2026-07-20 18:11:20
NFL stars push to ditch artificial turf after World Cup proves natural grass is feasible
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-natural-grass-artificial-turf-world-cup-play…
@bobmueller@mastodon.world2026-06-30 05:12:51
Opponents of the Question spent something close to $4 million on ads and social media, claiming that such a change would damage the state’s economy.
Read the full article: More Voting Frustration
▸ #Oklahoma
@Dragofix@veganism.social2026-07-07 03:34:47
World's oceans break June heat record: EU monitor #ocean
@davidaugust@mastodon.online2026-08-05 16:16:04
"Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theatre, a piece of music or a book can make a difference. It can change the world."
—Alan Rickman
#acting #coaching #inspiration
@cdarwin@c.im2026-08-31 21:43:07
A senior U.S. government official says Donald Trump has asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America" on its maps, as the renaming push from Washington continues to roil Canadians amid simmering trade tensions.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told Fox Business on Monday that Trump "reached out to Apple directly" about the renaming.
@ncoca@social.coop2026-06-18 22:50:19
My #creditunion just sent a notification about a big change - once that I am against. But the only way to vote against it - show up to an in-person meeting in a week on the other side of the world.
I've already moved most of my money to another credit union, time to close that account. #coop
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2026-08-12 22:05:28
I'm not big on the whole Christian "natural/artificial" binary, or the settler-colonialist concept of "wilderness" which erases indigenous stewardship in a bid to claim mid territory (see, e.g., tribes forced out of what are now national parks in the US). But I do enjoy getting out of urban/suburban environments and into places where the human impact on the land is minimal and/or synergistic with non-human flourishing.
I was thinking about why I enjoy this so much today while out on a stroller hike with my younger child, and came to the conclusion that it may be less about being in a "natural" space and more about being in a space whose flourishing is not tied to the capitalist necropolitical "growth" spiral.
Like, there's the baseline intrinsic beauty of flowers, trees, flowing water, etc. Then there's the pleasure of considering how these things fit together into an ecosystem and mutually support each other (and also compete/predate, etc.). But on top of all that, there's the sense that these things are part of a self-sustaining pattern that's capable of continuing without outside inputs and without creating external waste over vast, geologic timescales. The things I see when I look around in a city aren't like that. 100 or 1000 or 10000 years from now they'll be ruins, not necessarily because of human extinction or anything like that, but because the resource flows that create them are inseparable from a fundamentally unsustainable economy built around a paradoxical assumption of infinite exponential growth.
There *are* of course some human-built or -stewarded things in the world that are sustainably maintained, and ruins can have their own kind of beauty. But to me part of the joy of being on a hiking trail is to look around and see beautiful systems that will persist regardless of (most) human political outcomes that I spend a lot of energy worrying about.
Even in the extreme cases of climate change these things will eventually come back, albeit in an altered form. I don't want to ignore the incredibly destructive impact of humans on the environment, of course, but still, it's comforting to me to think about how the problems and brokenness of currently-dominant human cultures might change and scar but will not actually destroy the many systems on this planet that just don't depend on humans for their propagation.
@seeingwithsound@mas.to2026-08-20 08:12:33
Psychedelics align brain activity with context https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10910-z Under psilocybin, "the separation between internal models and sensory context on which predictive processing depends" dissolves.
Brain-wide reconfiguration of burst firin…
@Dragofix@veganism.social2026-08-27 10:25:47
The world inches toward catastrophic climate events: 'Bigger shocks are on the way' #environment
@Techmeme@techhub.social2026-08-31 14:36:50
Interior Secretary says President Trump "reached out to Apple directly" about changing Lake Ontario to Lake America and the company may soon alter its maps (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/app
@hex@kolektiva.social2026-07-01 04:06:51
I had a weird dream where I was talking to someone at some kind of ceremony, I think a funeral, where I had timidly painted my face with clay as part of some ritual. This person was talking about how far society has come while our brains have not caught up.
Imagine if your ancient cave dwelling ancestors were dropped into this world of cars, office hours, budgets, climate change, and AI. They would be absolutely freaking out and struggling to understand things all the time... Just like you are now.
Society teaches us to suppress these emotions. You're supposed to be OK with giant metal boxes flying around you in rumbling stampedes, but you feel it in unexplained anxiety. You're supposed to just fit your life into tight little bounds that ignore weather and season, but you feel it in more unexplained anxiety and depression. We are all part of something so big and complicated we can't make sense of it, we cannot possibly comprehend it all, it is simply too much to fully grasp the implications of our individual actions within global capitalism. Should we be surprised by our urge to simply destroy it, by the anger and desire to simply "smash" something far more complex than can be met with simple violence?
Some part of my brain was trying to remind me to be compassionate to myself. Perhaps that reminder can be useful to you as well.
@katrinakatrinka@infosec.exchange2026-08-15 16:58:35
RE: #Utah and grew out of an interest in true crime.
I'm now much more interested in speculative fiction and find queer culture much more inspiring in how we can change the world to make it better. Still, I may have to check out this author's work.
@cdarwin@c.im2026-06-28 03:19:59
Extreme heat is “pushing infrastructure beyond its design limits”, the EEA says.
Going forward, European governments need to carry out dramatic upgrades to create climate resilient infrastructure at a much faster pace.
This month’s heatwave has laid bare the urgency of this, scientists say.
“Roads, railways, energy systems, and buildings must be redesigned or retrofitted to withstand higher temperatures,” the EEA said.
Climate considerations must be at the centre of ur…
@luana@wetdry.world2026-09-13 13:30:02
If you're genderfluid how frequently does your gender, or more specifically your pronouns, change on average?
(pls elaborate in the comments!!)
If you have static pronouns but gender that changes, do you not feel uncomfortable with the set of pronouns that is not matching your current gender? Or do you use neutral pronouns? Or do you usually fluid to a demigender or bigender like state? Or is your experience something else entirely?
#poll #genderfluid #gender
@primonatura@mstdn.social2026-08-27 13:00:53
"We asked our climate reporters to highlight one idea for positive change. We got a chronicle of global transformation"
#Climate #ClimateChange
@Dragofix@veganism.social2026-09-06 02:45:04
Global warming will exceed limit, UN says in a report that maps path to get back below danger zone https://phys.org/news/2026-09-global-exceed-limit-path-danger.html
UN report finds 1.5°C warming limit likely to be exceeded by 2030
@bici@mastodon.social2026-07-20 15:50:35
Don't Cry for Me Argentina
It won't be easy, you'll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all goals scored
You won't believe me, all you will see is a Messi you once knew
Although he dressed up to the nines
He failed to score a goal for you
I had to let it happen, I had to change
Couldn't stay all my life a scorer
@pre@boing.world2026-07-09 13:33:19
RE: https://mastodon.social/@h4ckernews/116889732321089577
If at first you don't succeed, and then you also don't succed another time and another time, then just call it an urgent emergency, change the rules, and do it anyway in the face of democratic opposition.
The EU parliament has no power to stop awful things it seems. A farce of a democracy. A joke and the punchline all in one.
@cdarwin@c.im2026-06-21 21:38:41
The Olympics made viral stars out of Paul and Gary O’Donovan in 2016, the rowing brothers from Ireland best known for their colourful post-race assessments,
and again in 2024 with Yusuf Dikec, the shooter from Turkey who pitched up in Paris for the Olympics with no equipment beyond his pistol.
That both of those stories ended with a silver medal, rather than gold, was lost in the fun.
@buercher@tooting.ch2026-07-06 20:43:33
Starmes priorities at the end of his mandate: Keir Starmer intervened through diplomatic channels to oppose Fifa’s plan to bring forward England’s World Cup game against Mexico, amid concerns the change would hand the hosts an unfair advantage, it is understood.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/06/keir-starmer-intervened-oppose-fifa-plan-move-england-kick-off-time?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
@seeingwithsound@mas.to2026-06-23 09:47:09
Intracortical BCI performance is robust to changes in attentional load during dual-tasking #NeuroPort
@servelan@newsie.social2026-09-04 06:02:27
UN to vote on adopting new world map that shows true size of all countries | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/mercator-map-change-un-africa-b3044531.html
@luana@wetdry.world2026-08-12 16:54:43
Content warning: Saltsea Cronicles major ending spoilers, play log
I also wonder what would change if I sank the ship instead, probably mostly nothing? Tho now I'm afraid that guy could make another seeder...
Also want to go see the other isles, but I get little will to do this kind of stuff after I've already finished the game - other than doing so in a whole new playthrough which would take a while to happen. I think I'll make use of the story forking anyway, even if I don't feel super like it...
@cdarwin@c.im2026-07-01 16:38:09
As parts of Europe continue to experience an unprecedented heat wave,
French health officials said Sunday there had been around 1,000 more deaths in the country than expected.
"Since June 24, approximately 1,000 additional deaths (unconsolidated figures) have been observed
compared to the deaths recorded in previous months,"
Public Health France said in a statement
@cdarwin@c.im2026-06-27 20:26:05
Unease deepens in Russia
as Ukraine steps up long-range strikes
The Kremlin is scrambling to respond to an intensifying campaign of Ukrainian drone attacks
reaching ever deeper into Russia,
hitting key arms production facilities,
destroying an ever-greater share of oil-refining capacity,
and causing fuel shortages across the country.
This week alone, swarms of Ukrainian drones hit oil facilities across Russia
as well as the VZPP-S semiconduct…
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca2026-09-03 21:31:43
The most depressing news of the week, and this decade so far, is the UN's report that leaves no doubt that we will fail to hold global warming below 1.5ºC. But there is also hope, read on.
The world agreed in 2015 on 1.5ºC, championed, I might add, by a certain Canadian Prime Minister. Now, the best we could hold it to would be 1.8ºC and that would be at breakneck speed.
That Prime Minister is now hanging out with his kids, his girlfriend, and is generally getting on just fine...while his party oversees what they intend to be the greatest expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure and emissions (LNG and TMX2) in Canadian history.
Meanwhile the rest of us are left breathing in the smoke and fleeing the fires.
As a young adult 25 years ago, I thought we had time. I was optimistic. I thought surely we'd make the correction once the every-day consequences started to hit.
Well here we are, fully in the *beginning* of those consequences, and our governments have never been more committed to being the last one to sell the last drop of oil, coal, or gas.
No one disputes anymore that we have and are changing the climate.
The deniers lost.
But the oil companies are still winning.
The only way to save ourselves at this time and to have any hope of 1.8ºC or 2ºC or whatever the lowest possible temperature is that we can achieve, is to take the fight to the oil companies directly.
Physically.
Economically.
Until they cannot operate, pollute or continue as going concerns.
We are all of us feeling the impacts of climate change and what oil companies have done. That means today we have many many more people ready to fight than we ever have before.
We have to fight because they are already killing us, and because the rest of us must survive.
We will fight because if we don't, both they, and we, will die on a planet rendered unliveable by our own stupidity and greed.
So we fight. In every way you can. You fight.
#CanPoli #CdnPoli #ClimateEmergency #EndFossilFuels #TransitionNow
@inthehands@hachyderm.io2026-07-02 17:25:33
Still, for all that, there’s a part of SmallTalk — maybe the most important part — that’s kind of lost to time. Part of the original vision was to make every computer something that •the user of the computer could reshape•. Thus SmallTalk’s bizarre-to-us world where there’s no distinction between programming environment and runtime environment: every window on the screen is an object you can modify; every behavior of the system is open to tinkering; every part of the system you’re using a thing you can change.
That vision of the computer as moldable clay looks pretty distant at this point.
4/
@arXiv_csPL_bot@mastoxiv.page2026-07-22 07:38:52
VirtualSet: Typed Ontology Worlds as an LLM Generation Target for Grounded Queries and Guarded Decisions
Qunhui Zhang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.18821 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.18821 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.18821
arXiv:2607.18821v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Large language models increasingly read and act on enterprise data, but SQL gives a late error signal: hallucinated fields or relations can execute and return plausible wrong answers, while incorrect writes cannot be safely assessed after execution. We present VirtualSet, a live, receiver-typed ontology-world interface and generation target for LLMs. Instead of SQL, the model emits set expressions over entity-edge worlds. Generic Constraint Projection (GCP) checks expressions before execution, while future this preserves concrete receiver types through collection chains, turning invalid fields, edges, receivers, and actions into token-anchored type errors. Type-clean reads use a SQL fast path or bounded stream interpretation, with a parity oracle checking both paths over the exercised operator space. The same substrate supports guarded decisions: actions run first in a simulated world, and world-change events require external approval before actualization. On BIRD, we lift relational schemas into typed worlds and compare VirtualSet with direct SQL while holding the model, evidence, values, zero-shot setting, timeout, glossary, repair/voting, and grader constant where possible. On a frozen 1,072-question split, VirtualSet achieves 67.5% accuracy versus 63.5% for glossary-matched direct SQL with repair and voting ( 4.0 points; McNemar exact p = 0.00117) using deepseek-reasoner. Full-corpus analysis finds no engine mis-computation of a type-clean expression; remaining errors arise from model semantics or gold defects. In a 30-body guard corpus, the write chain intercepts 20/20 hallucinated action bodies with zero false positives. VirtualSet thus remains competitive on SQL's home benchmark while providing pre-execution semantics for guarded decisions.
toXiv_bot_toot
@memeorandum@universeodon.com2026-09-05 23:30:55
The U.N. backed a map that shows Africa true to size. The U.S. was sole objector. (Victoria Craw/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/09/05/un-endorses-map-change-represent-africa-more-accurately/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260905/p48#a260905p48
@cyrevolt@mastodon.social2026-08-31 11:06:40
Regardless of specifics, any kind of claim of non-existence of something showing up, be it climate change, self-identity or myriads of bug reports, is a matter of coping with aspects of a world full of transitions and different perspectives. ✨
Denial is just the easy route. Looking beyond your perception might be hard, yet can be very rewarding.
There are many colors to enjoy! 🏳️🌈
TL;DR: Deal with it, things change over time.
So, hug your friends if that's your thing - have a lovely day! 🧡
@pre@boing.world2026-08-25 11:42:52
Oh, also they were doing some filming near the bar on the Friday evening. Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton and a small crew of film-makers doing some shots for a "Beyond Paradise" episode.
So I guess there was a fictional murder at the festival this weekend? Guess that'll air next year. Might possibly be in the shot where he's saying "Come on" and walking down though the crowd.
Wonder how the reputation of the festival will change if it has a fictional murder there on the TV?
Probably they'll use a fake festival name I guess.
@cdarwin@c.im2026-08-27 05:55:27
Bill Gates was an AI optimist.
Now he’s scared of what could go wrong.
For years, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he was optimistic that the world would become a better place thanks to artificial intelligence.
He imagined the technology freeing people from work and speeding up inventions that would fight diseases and climate change.
But in a new essay published online Wednesday, the philanthropist says he is worried that AI could do more harm than good.
…
@luana@wetdry.world2026-09-01 14:55:11
Content warning: A Plague Tale: Innocence spoilers, playlog
Hugos mom told him it was a gift, not an illness. Well, sure it might be a gift for him but what about all the people that died from the plague? The rats can't just stay around after that right? If there are no rats he has no powers right?
Also if he went through the first threshold when reuniting with Amicia I wonder what the 2nd game will be about. Maybe the other thresholds are more dangerous?
Also, what did the threshold actually change if his powers remained the same?
Also wonder what's going on with the Inquisitor rn, we'll probably figure out in this chapter.
I also wonder if the plague will still be a thing next game.
@servelan@newsie.social2026-07-27 05:54:47
Quiet change to Pentagon website adds 142 wounded US service members to the Iran war casualty count | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pentagon-website-change-adds-wounded-service-members-b3021917.html
@PaulWermer@sfba.social2026-06-26 14:00:21
@paulwermer@sfba.social2026-06-26 14:00:21
@inthehands@hachyderm.io2026-07-01 17:29:06
A great recommendation, a deeply formative book for me:
https://hachyderm.io/@sleepyfox/116844499048310797
IMO, George Lakoff increasingly went off the rails[1] (or at least stood on shakier ground[2]) in his later work, but Metaphors We Live By is a short, fantastic book that will change how you inhabit the world. Once you see[3] it, you can’t un-see it.
[1] The “THINKING IS MOVING” metaphor
[2] The “IDEAS ARE BUILDINGS” metaphor
[3] The “SEEING IS UNDERSTANDING” metaphor
@servelan@newsie.social2026-06-28 04:20:13
Virginia governor faces calls to change bill that includes ‘“poverty penalty’ for marijuana use in public | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/virginia-governor-marijuana-use-fine-b3004404.html
@servelan@newsie.social2026-07-27 20:40:03
Pentagon change appears to make it harder to tally military deaths and injuries | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pentagon-military-deaths-website-tracker-b3022546.html
@pre@boing.world2026-06-23 21:40:15
Content warning: re: UKPol Burnham's British Blueprint
Burnham's team have a plan of some sort coming in a book #ukpol #burnham #manchesterism #productiveState
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca2026-07-01 15:00:49
Judith Curry is possibly the most confusing and infuriating scientist in the entire climatological arena. She contributed to major understandings around the changes in the jet stream, the Arctic, and other processes that helped explain the impact climate change has already had on our day to day weather.
But then she left academia and essentially became a mouthpiece for Neo-denialism, claiming others were being “alarmist” and that while CO2 was the main cause, we really shouldn’t be spending money on reducing emissions.
Her final blog announcing its retirement is an interesting combination of declaring victory, mostly thanks to Trump and his acolytes (like Carney) who have pivoted fully into the arms of the fossil fuel industry, and declaring she was tired of it all and just wants to be in her garden and stop the flow of now $16,000 (!!) to maintain her Wordpress blog for the past 15 years.
She has done real damage to efforts to stop CO2 emissions. But another part of me wonders if this is an admission of guilt. Very often people come to a point, even subconsciously, where they realize they’re in with the wrong crowd.
I wonder if she has had that moment with Trump. She probably thinks it’s all irrelevant and out of her hands now. Other players, namely the oil industry, Trump, Putin, etc. will decide what happens and scientists like her will have no impact.
I am glad she is tapping out, as so many deniers inevitably do, but it is clear she is doing it because she thinks she’s won, and that is very very bad for the world.
#climateChange #carney #cdnpoli #canpoli #climateEmergency #climateDenial #science #JudithCurry #theAmericanFascist
@servelan@newsie.social2026-06-23 17:40:33
Trump boasted of his ability to buy ‘good maple trees’ in early days of Iran war, book claims | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-maple-trees-regime-change-book-b3001192.html
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca2026-08-04 14:38:52
“USA has used virtually all of its long range precision missiles”
Iran is attacking with its ballistics and some drones… but you also know that it, likely with considerable support from Russia, is probably also developing many more long range drones like Ukraine has.
And that is where it is all going to turn on its head.
Like @… said in his most recent video. The world of warfare has changed forever. Drones are equivalent to the change from horse calvary to tank.
Yet outside of Ukraine and Russia, other militaries have not yet changed their procurement, let alone their force structure, to be prepared to fight wars using drones.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be be a place for conventional Air Force, Tank regiments, and a Navy, but all will have to be done with some lens of drone warfare baked in.
The longer Trump’s idiotic foray with the Israeli Prime Minister lasts, the more likely it is that we see Iran deploy long range drones in massive numbers.
At that point perhaps NATO countries, and other militaries, will truly realize the change that needs to happen.
#usa #canada #canpoli #cdnpoli #navy #army #airforce #drones #iran #usaIranIsraelWar #RussiaUkraineWar