@iam_jfnklstrm@social.linux.pizza2026-07-18 21:37:06
Hälsingland #sweden
@iam_jfnklstrm@social.linux.pizza2026-07-18 21:37:06
@toxi@mastodon.thi.ng2026-09-13 10:30:02
Room With A View (2026)
(When 2430m elevation is near the bottom of the valley and the glacier(s) almost still reaching till the doorstep when that hut was built in 1928... now retracted by almost 4km...)
#SilentSunday #LandscapePhotography
@maxheadroom@hub.uckermark.social2026-09-14 20:34:12
Berlin entry always a drama
@stargazer@woof.tech2026-07-16 18:22:26
Кумедно.
Я думав, катари-"ножиці" це чисто вигадка Блізів. А зараз читаю — виявляється, що ні. Менш розповсюджений варіант, але реальний. Тільки вони "розкривалися" не перед ударом, а після. Як експансивна куля.
Національна зброя менш попсових культур здатна принести цікавий вайб у геймдизайн. Особливо якщо втілюється не поверхнево.
@toxi@mastodon.thi.ng2026-09-14 12:48:33
Room With Another View (2026)
(Same as [1], only here showing parts of the large drop into the glacial canyon(s) below...)
[1] #MountainMonday
@me@mastodon.peterjanes.ca2026-07-15 17:33:29
The view out my window right now looks like someone's applied the (racist — https://screensphere.co.uk/news/film-news/the-yellow-filter-is-more-dangerous-than-you-think-in-hollywood/) Hollywood yellow filter. My phone camera…
@cosmos4u@scicomm.xyz2026-09-19 23:43:51
The view east right now from #BurgRothenfels - cheap Chinese cellphone in Pro mode, 30 seconds at ISO 3200 at f/1.79.
@Techmeme@techhub.social2026-07-10 13:26:04
Xreal launches $299 A01 Plus AR glasses, weighing just 62 grams and featuring 1080p micro OLED panels with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 50-degree field of view (Cameron Faulkner/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/tech/963465/xreal-a01-plus-xbx-ar-glasses-hands-on…
@harrysentonbury@social.linux.pizza2026-09-10 19:57:37
st.Peter st.Paul,
Vestry door no more.
:D
#doorsDay
@azonenberg@ioc.exchange2026-09-03 08:11:35
Making good progess on the itty bitty STM32 Trion SoM.
It now has a dual LDO, a SPI flash, a STM32L431, a Trion T20, and a bunch of 0201 passives in 10.6 x 12.2 mm.
The free space in the bottom right will get a level shifter, another LDO, and a load switch before I'm done.
@jom@social.kontrollapparat.de2026-09-13 15:16:59
@PaulWermer@sfba.social2026-08-12 23:29:00
A eagle in the cloud!
(@… ?)
@paulwermer@sfba.social2026-08-12 23:29:00
A eagle in the cloud!
(@… ?)
@leftsidestory@mstdn.social2026-08-08 01:02:42
City Clouds II ⛅️
城市云朵 II ⛅️
📷 Yashica 635
🎞️ LUCKY SHD 100 (6x6)
If you like my work, Support by buying me a coffee or a roll of film from
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Wise
@callunavulgaris@mastodon.scot2026-08-09 09:35:27
Wonderful few days in #Glasgow. Kids treated us to meals at Margo and Unalome. I got to the Hunterian at last and saw a whole crinoid, also visited the Police Museum and got to know Trongate a little better. Had a few walks around Merchant City, hung out at my daughter's flat, rummaged in Waterstones and came away £30 poorer and three books richer, the others went on a distillery tour, and at …
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2026-07-03 00:28:54
Just finished "A Deepness in the Sky" by Vernor Vinge. A fascinating and epic science fiction novel with fascinating ideas about technology and also future societies. As I'm delving into a lot of sci fi looking for social imagination it's a good find in some ways but disappointing in others. The Qeng Ho culture is interesting, but their society is uninspiring; Vinge's rosy view of "trade" is not one I completely share, and their hierarchies and wealth accumulation are less compatible with their freedoms in my imagination than in Vinge's. That said, his perspective on the possibilities of galactic-scale civilization and the idea of the "age of failed dreams" are fascinating, especially right now, and his detailed ideas about programming, AI, automaton, and "Focus" are extremely relevant right now. Ultimately I didn't love some parts of the dénouement, and there's a lot of "great man theory of history" going on, including (only somewhat ameliorated) a focus on men over women. Vinge's damsels in distress have a lot more agency than usual for the role, but with the exception of Victory Sr. and Jr., the damsels are very much in distress, and Victory Sr. gets overshadowed a lot by Underhill.
It definitely helps one expand their imagination of what long-term and large-scale human existence could look like, which is great and no easy feat, and both the technologies that are written in and those written out are extremely convincing. The only thing I didn't find compelling was the transposition of capitalism onto such space and time scales. It's a very standard feature of sci fi from the last few decades, and I'm sure most readers don't question it, but I've become someone who can no longer imagine "capitalism across the stars" without questioning how realistic it is that its self-destructive tendencies could possibly last even a few more centuries, let alone succeed at interstellar travel.
One last extremely fascinating thing: how closely the strengths and weaknesses of Focus track with the strengths and weaknesses of modern generative AI. That, and the way that the "age of failed dreams" idea can help people imagine beyond generative AI in a positive way.
#AmReading #ReadingNow #Bookstodon
@toxi@mastodon.thi.ng2026-07-12 06:30:05
Sunrise In A Scale-free Landscape (2026)
(For reference, the visible valley section is ~6km long... Alt text for more info)
#SilentSunday #LandscapePhotography #NaturePhotography
@cdarwin@c.im2026-07-03 02:43:35
Trump’s $2.2 billion in personal earnings during his presidency has been met largely with silence from his MAGA base,
which has been increasingly willing to revolt against policies they view as an abandonment of his promises to put everyday Americans first.
Far-right members of Congress, prominent media pundits and grass-roots activists have criticized Trump’s war with Iran
and openly broken ranks to demand the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
They have accused hi…
@totientfunction@mathstodon.xyz2026-09-07 20:28:13
@UP8@mastodon.social2026-07-29 01:14:08
View Below Dam at Wachusett Reservoir near Clinton, MA -- that's my son ahead of me on the stairs
#photo #photography #landscape
@Demirramon@cyberfurz.social2026-08-01 12:49:23
I haven't drawn in a while, and I'm really happy about how this one came out :D
This is my Furality Ultra outfit, but I really like how the design came out so I'm still using it on my VRC avatar since then lol
#DigitalArt
@padraig@mastodon.ie2026-07-27 17:39:04
@rasterweb@mastodon.social2026-09-14 16:34:39
Today's view from the bike.
1. Furniture partially blocking the bike lane.
2. Furniture moved by me.
3. Bus blocking the bike lane right in front of me.
4. Car that has been parking *on* the bike lane a lot recently parked somewhere else.
#BikeTooter #mke #milwaukee
@leftsidestory@mstdn.social2026-07-10 00:30:02
Inside Outside 🔲
中间 🔲
📷 Pentax MX
🎞️ Fujifilm Neopan F, expired 1993
If you like my work, Support by buying me a coffee or a roll of film from
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@peterhoneyman@a2mi.social2026-06-21 02:10:36
I was at the Power Center for an evening with Ira Glass
@seav@en.osm.town2026-07-12 11:51:40
@callunavulgaris@mastodon.scot2026-06-21 08:18:23
I'm sitting outside with a coffee, amid the garden Mum planted so skilfully, and which I maybe didn't appreciate while she was alive, and the various things we've stuck in pots - walnut, fig, olive etc - and have just ordered a hazel tree and a cherry tree from The Woodland Trust. Mum had several big ceramic planters that are now empty or full of scrub and they're just right for young trees that are just a twig and a leaf 🌿
@harrysentonbury@social.linux.pizza2026-08-27 21:46:32
here is another disused bridge i found earlier this week.
#bridge
@leftsidestory@mstdn.social2026-07-06 03:18:27
A Day Or Two At The Museum III🏛️
博物馆的一两天 III🏛️
📷 Pentax MX
🎞️ Harman Red 125 （FF）
If you like my work, Support by buying me a coffee or a roll of film from
PayPal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/ydcdingsite
Wise
@GroupNebula563@mastodon.social2026-09-04 17:33:13
wonderful stereo, my right ear loves all the vocals https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/15756/PCFORMAT07.iso/MIDI/ALONENOW.MID
@groupnebula563@mastodon.social2026-09-04 17:33:13
wonderful stereo, my right ear loves all the vocals https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/15756/PCFORMAT07.iso/MIDI/ALONENOW.MID
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2026-09-15 07:31:34
Content warning: Short story; cozy-ish science fiction?
Wish inspiration hadn't struck right at 1 a.m. when I have to teach tomorrow, but we'll see if I can get back to sleep now that I'm done with a draft of this story. Glad to have my first entry in my "incredulous young historians of the future" series actually written instead of just imagined. There are surely some typos ahead...
#SciFi #Writing #Technology #ShortStory
"The Age of Progress", a short story by Tiota Sram.
"Your assignment", said the teacher, "is to describe why the progressive vision of technology that gives us the name 'Age of Progress' today failed, and why it was actually a pessimistic view of technology. Your study guides have links to a few sources, but as usual you should synthesize information from at least two knowledge systems, and one of those shouldn't be family-based."
"Ugh", said Ye'xik, "this is gonna be tricky. Wasn't the whole problem with the Age of Progress that they were too optimistic about technology?"
"Well, they did talk a lot about the end of the world and extinction, and I did almost happen, right?" said Finan.
"Yeah, that's gotta count as pessimism, doesn't it?" Gedi chimed in.
"Well..." said Hallavia, with their usual deliberate tone, "I think it's not that simple, or at least it doesn't have to be."
The four of them were walking outside to have lunch, pondering the new assignment from this cycle's history and culture teacher. A brief silence fell as they pondered the Age of Progress.
"Maybe we should look at it through another history system?" offered Finan. "I mean, we've been learning about knowledge systems and lenses, and the 'Ages' lens of just one perspective with its own distortions, right?"
"My mab is working with my omeh on an oral history right now", said Gedi, "maybe I can use that as my second knowledge system? I'll see what they have to say about it!"
"We shouldn't all use the same knowledge systems though", said Ye'xik. "I think there's a bit of a thesis/antithesis thing going on here too? Like we were learning in ideas class?"
"Wait, I missed ideas last week", said Gedi, what's an antithesis?"
"It's just an opposite, really", said Ye'xik. "You take the thesis statement and construct any statement that contradicts it. The two form a pair, and then you can try to find a synthesis that combines both ideas."
"I didn't really get that part", Finan interrupted, "like, if they're contradictory, how could they be expressed together? Wouldn't you need to pick one that's true?... wait I guess maybe if you mixed different knowledge systems? But then would they really be contradictory?"
The group fell silent for a moment in thought.
Hallavi spoke up: "Incommensurate isn't the same as contradictory, I think. That's what it would be if you had two truths from different knowledge systems that didn't fit. Plus... not all knowledge systems have a concept of truth, or of contradiction?"
The group pondered this for a bit more.
"I think maybe there's lots of ways to be contradictory, even in a very logic-hungry knowledge system", said Gedi. "Then if your thesis and antithesis contradict in one way, you could find another sort out 'axis' in which they don't, and state your synthesis from there?"
"Oh, that makes sense", said Ye'xik.
"Anyways what were you saying about the Age of Progress, Ye'xik?" said Gedi.
"Wait", interrupted Hallavi, "Did that mashes sense to you, Finan?"
Finan had been silent, looking down at their feet, but replied "Oh yeah, thanks for checking Hallavi! I think I got the part about synthesis now, thanks Gedi. I was just thinking about optimism and pessimism more. Is that where you were going with this, Ye'xik?"
"Haha, yeah Finan, you got it", said Ye'xik. "Since optimism and pessimism can be opposites, does the teacher actually want us to form a synthesis of them?"
"Oh..." muttered Gedi, "that's a good idea."
"I think..." began Hallavi, pausing to collect their thoughts, "I think the teacher would have told us that, though. Obviously it's not a wrong way to approach this assignment because it incorporates pessimism, but teachers usually aren't too tricky. I think it's okay to be literal about the pessimism thing. And I think I have an idea..."
When Hallavi remained silent for a moment, Ye'xik opened their mouth to speak, but then looked at Hallavi and closed it again. Finan and Gedi were looking at Hallavi too. They pushed through the doors out to the meadow, and settled in their usual place to sit, pulling lunches out of their bags. Hallavi finally spoke up while the others were chewing: "The Age of Progress lasted from the Enlightenment to the Dim Times, and they believed that technology would always get better, no matter what. That's the progressive vision of technology our teacher was talking about. They thought it could solve any problem, and they wouldn't have to worry about weapons or extinctions or the climate or pollution or any of that stuff, because technology would eventually come up with a solution. They looked at the technology that solved problems like diseases or overcame engineering challenges and extrapolated too broadly, basically. That's the idea they had?"
The other three were all nodding their heads, knowing Hallavi needed room to think and put words together.
Hallavi continued: "So it seems like it's optimistic, because they thought it could do anything. But they were thinking about technology like I just talked about it: like an 'it' that could 'do'. That's not what we've been learning in our technology class. Invention is a social phenomenon, and technologies have both material and social bases, not to mention communities of practice and knowledge maintenance. So I think the idea of technological progress divorced from social participation is pessimistic, because it mythologizes technology in a way that makes it seem uncontrollable."
"Huh" said Gedi and Finan while at the same time Ye'xik said "mhmm".
Hallavi looked up shyly at the rest of them, but they were all looking back with admiration.
"I think you're right, Hallavi", said Ye'xik. "Or at least, that's probably what the teacher wanted us to puzzle out. Good thing they asked us to include two knowledge systems so we can each have our own perspectives to contribute, otherwise you'd go first and our presentations would all just be 'What Hallavi said'".
Hallavi blushed but Finan laughed "Hah! You're right and that Ye'xik."
Gedi was looking at their sandwich with some intensity. They looked at Hallavi then back at their sandwich. "It's like they thought they were strapped to an out-of-control rocket, when you put it that way", they said. "It must have been scary, really, to believe that technology was almost an entity, changing in an inevitable way. That word 'inevitable' really takes all the human agency out of it, doesn't it. And even though they kept saying that technology would inevitably solve problems, look at what the technologies they invented actually did!"
Finan shuddered. He added, "Really, it was their dominators who were saying it was inevitable wasn't it? Back then it wasn't like today where historians travel and sample all kinds of ideas, so the primary sources we're reading are almost all from dominators, right?"
Ye'xik responded "Yeah, I keep forgetting to account for that. It was such a weird and horrible time, it's kinda hard to believe everything we read and hear sometimes."
Gedi picked up the thread again "That makes it worse, right? All those dominators saying the stuff they're doing is inevitable, and lying to everyone's faces about it being progress and wonderful stuff, meanwhile two thirds of it is the most awful stuff there's ever been, I mean they could have literally killed everyone and ruined the whole planet, and they almost did."
"They did actually crush a lot of cultures beyond recognition so the survivors had to rebuild with only weak ties to their old traditions", said Hallavi with a quiet intensity.
They all were silent for a moment, pondering the horrors of a bygone age.
Finan broke the silence: "That's a terrible kind of pessimism, to believe that technologcal 'progress' is inevitable, at a time when most people are dominators somewhere in a hierarchy and the ones on top constantly talk about how technologies like medicines will 'save' the world while mostly inventing new technologies of violence. Everyone must have understood what they really meant based on the technologies they were actually developing and investing into. I think I still don't understand how the Age of Progress and the Dim Times could even happen".
"Yeah, and the pessimism is only part of our assignment", signed Ye'xik. "We still have to describe why the progressive vision failed, although I think maybe you just did a lot of that, Finan".
A gloom descended briefly, until Gedi said "Well, this assignment is supposed to take a week or two, right? Thanks to Hallavi we've already cracked the crux, I think, so we don't need to ruminate too much right this moment about ancient history, and we know things turned out okay in the end. Let's finish lunch and go climb a tree!"
@ginevra@hachyderm.io2026-08-05 10:41:27
Saw #WizardOfTheKremlin , probably the last screening at my local. Now I'd like to read the book.
For a film about Putin (told from his advisor's point of view), you learn almost nothing about his motivations / mentality. But I did learn that events I had separated in my mind occurred at nearly the same time (Putin turning to politics/Russian apartment bombings 1 month later) (Sochi Olympics/'little green men' invasion of Ukraine).
There are a number of interesting one liners/points of view from all of the protagonists and some nostalgic (for me) nightclub scenes.
The costume, hair and makeup departments were excellent, btw, with exactly the right bad haircuts. Alexander Zaldostanov and Igor Sechin looked especially convincing, Putin was also surprisingly true-to-life.
P.S. feel free to recommend me *good* films/books on related topics
@toxi@mastodon.thi.ng2026-08-26 05:45:02
Almost Post-Summer Blues (2026)
...at fjord-like Plansee, with the beautiful Thaneller (2341m) pyramid mountain towering in the background.
#MeerMittwoch #LandscapePhotography #Photography
@kurtsh@mastodon.social2026-09-02 02:31:54
Wanna (humorous) 10,000ft view of the AI industry right now?
This isn't that far off target. Every time you whine about your Anthropic bill, remember: Your Claude subscription is UNSUSTAINABLY subsidized & should actually be 10x what you got charged.
#ai
@leftsidestory@mstdn.social2026-06-29 00:30:04
The Aspiration of History 🌠
历史的热望 🌠
📷 Pentax 6x7
🎞️ Ilford FP4 Plus 125 (6x7)
If you like my work, Support by buying me a coffee or a roll of film from
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@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2026-08-24 16:43:51
The Short End of the Stick
---
"Well damn! Come see this one!"
"Another inhabited planet?"
"Yeah but they really got the short end of the stick..."
"Let me see... Oh wow, they thought synthetic text had intelligence?"
"Yeah, or that it was like a God or something. Classic mistake. But just a second, let me scroll..."
"Oh. Oh wow. That's really unlucky. They had a language model cult happen at the same time as they were burning fossil fuels? Talk about bad timing, but... Oh god."
"Yeah it gets worse!"
"Stockpiling nuclear weapons? They actually used them?!? All that at once? Jeez this is one of the worst eras I've ever seen. Almost like a species with a death wish."
"You know better than that."
"Okay yeah that's not a species problem, I know. But what the hell was the social structure like? How did they survive all that at once?"
"Let's see... Here."
"Oh. Oh shit this actually makes sense. All that stuff wasn't a coincidence, they got hit by a real big wave of nationalism & oligarchy, one right into the other. I didn't even know it could be that bad before the instability flipped things. They had institutions... Yeah they were basically kept down by a few generations of oligarchs; had them pretty much enslaved and worshipping money at the same time. Serious obedience conditioning. Religions were doing it too. Whew that must have been a shitty time. Only a couple of centuries of the worst of it at least. Wait scroll further, what happened?"
"See here, and then here."
"Oh huh. Yeah I guess that flip had been a long time coming. Wow I definitely take back my comment about a death wish, this species is awesome! They made it through all that, haha."
"Yeah pretty cool, huh? Fuck obedience conditioning."
"Yeah, they had it so bad for a minute there. Fuck that bullshit."
"Hey... Wanna go do an intervention? Find some place that's in the middle of that stuff right now and see what we can do?"
"I was just thinking the same thing! But y'know what? Let's stop by this place first, and see if any of them want to come along. I'll bet some of them would be up for it given their history!"
"Well, it's been a couple dozen generations, so you never know how they'll view the history now, but sure, let's do that. The whole point of history is to inspire action, right?"
#Microfiction
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2026-07-28 19:18:48
Just fished "Coldwire" by Chloe Gong. An interesting and well-written cyberpunk thriller, even though it didn't have the social-imaginative elements I was looking for. I liked the reveal, and the overall construction, even if I felt that a lot of things were a bit off, and I'm not sure how I feel about an ultimately-optimistic-about-technical-possibilities view of the future right now, especially after reading Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky" just recently which offers an idea of a future that's less optimistic (even if it dilutes that a bit towards the end).
Even if Gong's imagined future doesn't feel like it has anything interesting to say about either how to get to or sustain a more libratory society, it's a fun book and I'm definitely somewhat interested in the potential for a sequel.
#AmReading #ReadingNow #Bookstodon