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alec

@alec@perkins.pub

Designer with a coding problem.

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futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I can't believe they call the bird a "Nuthatch" like it's just a living mail slot for snacks and seeds.

Or did the bird choose this name... aspirationally?

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@Nostrodingle @futurebird dibs on Ugly Pizzagobbler

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The “Liberal Arts” education is a suite of skills, philosophical stances, and information that has been refined over hundreds of years. It includes both technical skills and problem solving techniques— it provides a foundation for more specialized study but also for philosophical reflection. It evolves over time, but isn’t subject whims of the market or fashion.

What is the role of Computer Science in the Platonic ideal of the liberal arts education?

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird The software engineer finds out how much water to use on Stack Overflow.

The SV tech founder pitches a wifi-enabled smoke detector that automatically delivers water by drone for 19.99 per liter.

The QA engineer tries throwing fire on water.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I decided to find out if any progress had been made on the science behind why some ants are attracted to electrical fields. After filtering out exterminators (it's so demoralizing to search for information on creatures you love and find nothing but people who know nothing about them boasting about how they will kill them all) I found what looked like a blog. But, who the heck is "James Brown"? Never heard of the dude. Maybe he could be my new friend if he likes ants enough to blog about them!

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd planting trees for the sake of trees, forests, and communities is great. Planting trees for the sake of capitalism, not so much.

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Who had that mighty arm? That split the stone, pulled loose the blade? For on a rocky shore a crack describes this feat of strength.

The lichen split the rock, my lord, & made young soils from the stone.

And where now is that blade? In Lichen’s hand, our future king? Where now lives the hero who the ancient rocks must fear?

Seek the crustose crown of ivory foam, the fruticose tendrils ring the dome— in golds & greens: a regal mold.
1/

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird hereditary monarchy being held by a particular gut biome rather than the blood is an amusing idea. Some 20ish year old in a boring job gets thrust into the monarchy after discovering the fecal transplant they got granted them the right to the throne.

mejs , to random
@mejs@mastodon.vladovince.com avatar

So many mobilized folks at NY Governor Hochul's Midtown office were enraged by her last minute congestion pricing betrayal.

We then matched on 42nd Street, past Grand Central and one of the "diners" she invoked as reason for reversing her decision.

We ended at Bryant Park, at one of 343 inaccessible subway stations in the NYC subway system, which will now remain inaccessible due to Kathy's defunding the MTA of $15 billion through cancelation of congestion pricing.

Many protesting people marching with signs through a street with many talk buildings
People protesting with signs passing under an overpass above a restaurant with a neon sign that says pershing square
A placard says congestion pricing benefits drivers too, in this essay I will

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird @mejs @nycCatHerder Motion to call days like today with an air quality alert due to traffic fumes a Hochul. It’s a 3 Hochul month so far.

ai6yr , to random
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

CNN: Bus passengers frantically texted loved ones as gunman hijacked an Atlanta commuter bus during rush hour https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/12/us/atlanta-bus-hijacking-how-it-unfolded/index.html #crime #bus

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird @ai6yr and if the reported account is accurate, the owner of the gun was killed by it

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Taught my CS how to program a mandelbrot set generator from scratch today.

Still don't have the colors doing exactly the right thing. This is in python, but we'll sort it out in the next class.

The most annoying thing is making the magnitudes of the terms in the series into a number between 0 and 256 without knowing exactly how big they will get.

I need to find my old James Gleick book.

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird did you show them the meta-fractal version? https://preshing.com/20110926/high-resolution-mandelbrot-in-obfuscated-python

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I've largely dismissed the strain of AI alarmism based on the notion the a computer will be so smart that the danger it poses to humanity is outsmarting us.

There are real dangers in AI, most of them relate to people using these technologies in improper ways due to having a poor understanding of what they really are... and most important the exploitation & degradation of the human body of knowledge creativity represented by publicly available digital information. 1/

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird LLMs are the brute force approach to AI, and it feels like the Tyranny of the Rocket Equation applies.

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird my expectation is any genuine AI will be unexpected and look more like an ant colony: the intelligence emerging from some lower-level interactions. And I wonder if we would even recognize it.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Is there a good resource or book for learning about some of the details of how webservers work?

For example if I want an IP address on a intranet to be a webpage that people on that intranet can go to... how would I set that up from scratch. Let's say I have a machine with a static IP on the local net... (but what I really also need to understand is how a static IP is established locally, a DNS?)

Maybe the dream book or resource doesn't exist. But I ask anyway.

(it's macs if that matters)

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird if it’s only intranet and only Macs, you might be able to get away with not doing anything for the domains thanks to Bonjour (self-assigned computer-name.local domain names, I use this regularly to test mobile web stuff running on my laptop).

Alternatively, you can configure a public domain to point to the internal IP, assuming it’s static (I also have this locally for services running on non-Macs.) if the domain/IPs must stay secret, it requires an internal DNS server as well.

BeAware , to random
@BeAware@social.beaware.live avatar

I find myself using the same hashtags for my interests, over and over. However, there doesn't seem to be an app, so far, that allows me to have a list of frequently used tags so I don't have to retype them for every single post...

How is this not a thing yet? I've been BEGGING for a "Hashtag Drawer" type feature in apps for AGES now...🤦‍♂️

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@BeAware the iOS app @ivory kind of has this, when you start typing a hashtag it pops up a scrollable list of recently used tags (though it doesn’t stay open after you pick one so if you need to drop in a whole list it’s maybe tedious)

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Trump NYC Trial: They have 12 jurors. But don't they need 6 more as back ups?

alec ,
@alec@perkins.pub avatar

@futurebird yes, they’re up to 13 last I saw and will continue picking tomorrow

jeff , to random
@jeff@indieweb.social avatar

I honestly can’t understand this sentiment.

The reason MKBHD (Marques Brownlee) has 18 million followers is because people respect and trust his insight into tech products, and know after years of reviews that he calls it as he sees it.

I watched the review — the title is a 100% fair summary of his actual sentiment.

MKBHD has no obligation to any company/startup to soft-pedal his criticisms. What I see here is him knowing who his audience is and fulfilling his role with integrity.

Screenshot of a tweet by an X/Twitter user “Daniel Vassallo” stating: "I find it distasteful, almost unethical, to say this when you have 18 million subscribers. Hard to explain why, but with great reach comes great responsibility. Potentially killing someone else's nascent project reeks of carelessness. First, do no harm.” Attached is a thumbnail of YouTube tech reviewer MKBHD’s video entitled “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed… For Now”
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    alec ,
    @alec@perkins.pub avatar

    @futurebird @miclgael @jeff he’s engagement farming/posturing for other VCs or founders I imagine. And as people are calling him out for his BS he retcons his argument to be about the title specifically. Just weaseling his way into VC favor.

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    I’ve filled an extra wide tube with wet sand and connected it to my Dorymyrmex bureni colony’s outworld. This is to simulate the sandy soil where they dig deep nests in the wild. I hope they will start digging— if they do I’ll connect a little nest on the other end so they can move in. The tube is vertical and three feet long. I will update if they make progress.

    The tube runs by the ants on the shelf below (Formica colony)
    Cast of Dorymyrmex nest is four feet deep.

    alec ,
    @alec@perkins.pub avatar

    @futurebird infrastructure week!

    futurebird , (edited ) to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    To make a computer, you need to have a clock.* A pulse, a metronome that causes the next line of code to execute. Likewise, nervous systems have waves, slime molds pulse do intelligent decision makings systems always require a clock?

    Human brain waves can be as fast as 30Hz or as slow as 1 wave every 2 second 1/2Hz- Seems unlikely the rhythms we've noticed are an absolute temporal resolution.

    When people lose consciousness the waves dissolve, how do they recover?

    *ETA: I was wrong about this.

    alec ,
    @alec@perkins.pub avatar

    @futurebird did you ever read the short story “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang? This phenomenon, or rather the lack of it in a group of beings, is a key plot element.

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