Tootfinder

Just finished "Fustuk" by Robert Mgrdich Apelian. Without exaggeration, it is a true masterpiece, an absolutely stunning graphic novel about food, family, and magical contracts that reminds me of both Witch Hat Atelier and Young Bride's Stories. The truly impressive part is that Apelian is every bit as good an illustrator and storyteller as both Kamome Shirahama and Kaoru Mori.
In the author's note, Apelian says "So I asked to make the story I always craved growing up: a tale of Middle Eastern joy and magic that speaks to diasporic culture and how those of us within it relate to our two worlds." He succeeded at that goal abundantly, as far as I can tell, and has produced a truly impressive work.
Images are rough pictures of a few example pages showing very cool panel construction, lots of detail, and both dynamic action and expressive faces. I'm not going to spoil anything, but the second image here is one of the most powerful pages I've read in a while and the way it uses gutters demonstrates a beautiful mastery of the comics medium.
#AmReading #ReadingNow #Bookstodon

Eccentricity-Constrained CNN Training Reveals Adaptive Information Coding Around the Visual Field
Dylan M. Diaz, Margaret M. Henderson
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.19316 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.19316 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.19316
arXiv:2607.19316v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: In the primate visual system, center-preferring cortical populations have higher spatial resolution and overlap face- and word-selective regions while periphery-preferring populations have lower spatial resolution and overlap scene-selective regions. This "eccentricity bias" may reflect differential task-relevance: central vision may better support fine-grained tasks like face recognition and reading, while peripheral vision may better support scene understanding. To test whether eccentricity-dependent coding can emerge from natural experience, we used egocentric video and eye-tracking data from the Visual Experience Dataset (VEDB). We trained ResNet-18 models using contrastive learning (SimCLR) on frames modified to isolate different eccentricities (gaze-contingent fovea-only crops, periphery-only crops, and periphery-only crops with a NeuroFovea transform applied). We evaluated downstream task performance and model alignment with human fMRI data (Natural Scenes Dataset; encoding models). In-domain VEDB frame classification showed systematic differences between fovea- and periphery-only models across categories, indicating differential informativeness across tasks. On downstream classification, VEDB-pretrained models generalized better to scene categorization (Places365) than face recognition (VGGFace2), with fovea-only models stronger on both. Across visual cortex, VEDB-pretrained models matched neural predictivity of models trained on mid-sized non-egocentric datasets (ImageNet-100), suggesting egocentric data supports emergence of cortically-aligned representations. In scene-selective cortex (PPA, RSC), periphery-only models held a small but consistent advantage in explained variance over fovea-only models, suggesting these regions are aligned with peripheral statistics. Together, these results suggest egocentric experience may adaptively constrain cortical information processing.
toXiv_bot_toot

The thesis I was reading spent the majority of it's time focused on John Boyd's OODA loop as a tool for critical analysis in high pressure or constrained situations. Table top exercises could also benefit from using these steps to slow down the thought process, expose what's actually happening, and sharpen these tools.
So each step could start by observing (which is generally what the GM will tell you, but you may ask additional questions to refine observational thinking). What do you look for in any given situation? How do you gather data? What sources do you use?
Next you would orient. Talk through this out loud. What does that data mean? How this fit what you already know, or does it challenge your assumptions? Are you observing something related to a previous action? What does that tell you about your previous action or actions? How do you turn the data you observed into intelligence you can act on? How do your observations narrow the options for the next possible action?
Then you decide your action. But you're not simply deciding, you're coming up with a hypothesis that your action will test. Anything you do is an opportunity to learn something about the world, about your situation, about the accuracy of the model you're using to make decisions. What belief does your next action imply? How will you know if that action was correct or incorrect? What observations would challenge your hypothesis? What observations would confirm it? Are those mutually exclusive, or are there additional observations or actions you must make to clarify things?
Then act. Finish your turn by choosing your action or actions (individually or collectively). Perhaps take a moment to write down notes, like what your observations, your hypothesis, and if you think your previous hypothesis was confirmed or refuted. You can review these all later to refine your thinking.
By exploring these ideas in a safe environment, you can train your brain to run through the process at high speed when under pressure. This helps you avoid panic. It's a lot like slowly practicing marshal arts moves until they become muscle memory, which then just happen without thought when needed.

I’m reading a lot here on Mamdani, and for the people who are happy with him, I say genuinely, “great!”
But then people start talking about how he’s proof that moderate candidates serve no purpose.
In the 2025 mayoral race, the Republican Sliwa got less than 9% of the vote. Mamdani and Cuomo combined for over 91%. When you have a constituency lean progressive that hard, a lot is possible!
It’s foolish to conclude from that, the same formula will be successful nationwide.

welp.
#footiMac remains in a state. If you are reading this, that is a small victory :)
I tried a few things but it remains burdened by I/O activity.
it was still overwhelmed even when I shut down mastodon and nginx so I think it is either the constant sftp traffic or something related to the update to Trixie that I am as yet unaware of.
Regardless, I am taking the opportunity to create docker containers on another machine for postgres and redis to live on.
I'm now waiting for a database dump to complete so that I can try migrating those services over and leaving footiMac to only do nginx and sidekiq
Probably work on it some more tomorrow. Until then this account will be up and down. But at least I'm learning and that's what I like to do.
#mastoadmin

Got an Amber Alert today, and my weather app, @…, did a better job than the state of Tennessee. In fact, TN failed, as they do at most things lately.
The alert from TN had a Bitly link (already looks suspicious) that goes to a Facebook page that requires you to login. :picard:

I was a guest on the Heavy Networking podcast, talking about routing performance and the recent improvements to the shortest path algorithm. A fun discussion for me at least https://packetpushers.net/podcasts/hea

There is more to #SolarPunk than solar panels and bikes. What we are talking about is being part of a living world. The hegemonic culture is one of hierarchical domination.
But many of the the cultures that hegemony suppresses bring a vibrancy to life. I don't buy yeast from the store, sealed in a plastic packet, a coffin for a living thing. I feed my sourdough. I am obligated to it, in a relationship with it, as the culture is reliant on me for it's survival. It speaks to me, with smell and color. I must pay attention. I have to learn it's nature, how it grows and eats at different temperatures informed by different times of the year. Mushrooms, yeast, kiefer, plants, independent things, things I can't control, life that is intertwined with my own.
But even my #bicycle speaks to me, which is something I hadn't considered until reading this and thinking about that framing.
It is not simply that "we need a different economic system." What we are talking about is a fundamentally different interpretation and experience of the world, from the hierarchical structure of death to a web of life, where even "inanimate" things become imbued with agency.
https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2936873&post_id=151655646

Second time this year that my flight got cancelled and I get rebooked on a later flight that ultimately arrives sooner due to routing.
I consider myself slightly stressed but rather lucky.
#traveling

As a child I remember reading about Duncan Campbell's rocket-propelled speedboat Bluebird - which crashed and sunk on Coniston Water trying to break the world speed limit in 1967, killing Campbell.
And for a while I was absolutely obsessed with it. I don't know why, but something about the story, the shape of the boat, even its name just lit up all the synapses in my 9/10 year old brain. I went to the local library and tried to find everything I could about the boat and Campbell.
Fast-forward to now and I haven't thought of that for nearly half a century. But I do know that a few years ago they found the wreckage of the boat and recovered it ... and now it's been out on Coniston Water for the very first time since it sunk. And I can feel 50-year-old synapses starting to fire again ...
#Bluebird #DuncanCampbell
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g5r0yydl2o