@ergative@wandering.shop cover
@ergative@wandering.shop avatar

ergative

@ergative@wandering.shop

SFF booknerd; calligrapher; Islamic geometric art doer; figure skating appreciater; coffee-drinking, granola-baking, tofu-eating wokeratum; psycholinguist by vocation, fretful porpentine by aspiration.

Header image: 2 repeats of an Islamic geometric tile pattern from the Alhambra Palace

Avatar: single repeat of a pattern from the Royal Alcazar of Seville

Contributer at Nerds of A Feather (http://www.nerds-feather.com/)

#nobot #nosearch

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

ergative , to random
@ergative@wandering.shop avatar

Mr Absolutive, in a burst of enthusiasm for our first election since we became UK citizens, has been eagerly scheduling chats with his colleagues to discuss politics, get their ideas, their philosophies of governance and political parties. We attentively pored through a flyer dropped off by a labour canvasser at our door, and Mr. A enthusiastically reads through party manifestoes and researches candidates.

But no one else has come canvassing! He feels neglected and sad.

jwisser , to random
@jwisser@wandering.shop avatar

Me, downstairs: "Siri, at 6pm remind me to repot the plants."

Upstairs Homepod: "Okay, what do you want to be reminded of?"

Me, wearily: "Shut the fuck up."

Upstairs Homepod: "Okay! I've set your reminder."

And so:

ergative ,
@ergative@wandering.shop avatar

@jwisser Honestly, this sort of passive-aggressive behaviour is much more persuasive to me of the growing sentience of our machines than any LLM slop.

Violinknitter , to random
@Violinknitter@wandering.shop avatar

Here’s your periodic reminder that THE VERY FIRST Sherlock Holmes story ever starts out in London, and then the entire second part of the novel is “How about those Mormons in Utah? They’re sure weird, aren’t they?”

ergative ,
@ergative@wandering.shop avatar

@Violinknitter Mostly when people say something like, 'you couldn't publish something like that today,' they mean it as a bad thing, but I'm very struck by how many bonkers-ass structural decisions you find in old books, which reminds me repeatedly how much I appreciate modern editing.

Whenever I reread A Study in Scarlet, I always skip the Mormon stuff.

DonP , to random
@DonP@wandering.shop avatar

Work around researchers long enough and sooner or later you're going to be yanked out of a hallway into an office and asked to participate in a study.

ergative ,
@ergative@wandering.shop avatar

@DonP I am holding myself back with my fingernails from barging into the professional services office down the hall and begging them to do my experiment.

When I was in Moscow as a grad student collecting dissertation data, I managed to get the cleaning staff at my hotel to take part.

ZenobiaVayne , to random
@ZenobiaVayne@wandering.shop avatar

I wish the Sanctuary Moon show from @marthawells ‘ Murderbot series actually existed cause I would binge watch the shit out of it

ergative ,
@ergative@wandering.shop avatar

@aquila1nz @ZenobiaVayne @HeatherInNZ If Murderbot takes off, they might actually do Sanctuary Moon as a spinoff!

ergative , to random
@ergative@wandering.shop avatar

A propos of @bitterkarella 's latest, and especially the screencapped installment below, I offer Brandon Lambert's entirely innocent and NOT AT ALL sexual love song to trees.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eAy_TDhAG0s

(full thread starts here: https://sfba.social/@bitterkarella/112599483711352479)

Replied to Lesbian Death Bed 48m bitterkarella@sfba.social Lesbian Death Bed @bitterkarella@sfba.social 6 da Silva: have you ever been in love with a tree tho? Barker: well, i think everyone's fucked a tree at some point da Silva: no da Silva: have you been IN LOVE with a tree? Barker: Sofia Ajram: YEAH CLIVE Ajram: IN LOVE WITH da Silva: but also yeah fucking the tree
ALT
  • Reply
    • ergative , (edited ) to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Help me prove a thing to my colleague, who says free food will not encourage students to attend an induction event.

    If you were a new Master's student and on the fence about attending an event would free food make you more likely to go?

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    I'm doing an online course right now and during the introductions section it turns out that just about everyone in the class (except me) is a returning student who subscribes to a bit of a cult of personality surrounding the instructor.

    Let's see if I am about to join the cult.

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    oh, huh, the instructor is really very, very good. I can see why his students are so loyal.

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    The instructor is simultaneously arguing that if you don't master the 500 types of patterns from 1 to 500 you won't ever understand them, while also claiming that Western colonizers love to over-categorize things as an attempt to control everything.

    And, like, I'm perfectly happy to shit on western colonizers as much as the next well-meaning white liberal, but I'm also aware that there is some degree self-contradiction in his philosophy.

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @Eyelit Oh, it's no secret--just a bit obscure.

    It's a course by Hamza El-Fasiki on using the Hasba method to construct Moroccan geometric designs in the Nos Qasma style.

    Hamza does not care for the western style of constructing these designs, which are based less on oral tradition of the artisans, and more on uncovering the geometric principles underlying the designs. As he says, 'it uses 10,000 unnecessary circles', which is, to be fair, not wrong.

    https://craftdraft.org/live#f342639b-5a05-4dda-a6ef-5f428d8dc71a

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @Eyelit But I also think there's nothing wrong with applying Euclidean geometric principles of construction to these patterns. The fact that the method works--however many circles it employs--reveals something very deep about the mathematical universality of the craft, and objecting to it because it's the work of colonizers seems to me not to protect a tradition, but to deny that tradition its deeper mathematical truth. The principles still apply, whether or not they're traditionally used.

    BayesForDays , to random
    @BayesForDays@lingo.lol avatar

    probably my single biggest pet peeve is when senior faculty suggest i publish in less good journals just to get stuff out rather than publish good work in better journals slightly slower

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @BayesForDays One of the most life-affirming comments I ever got from a senior colleague was, 'If you're not getting rejected, you're not aiming high enough.'

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Can't focus. Must bubble tea.

    apyth , to random
    @apyth@mastodon.xyz avatar

    New concept for prison scenario has dropped

    https://archive.is/5hyCU

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @apyth Frances Hardinge knew what was up when she wrote about Saracen.

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @apyth Frances Hardinge is a superb writer. I highly recommend A Face Like Glass and The Lie Tree, as starting places.

    blueorangeblue , to random
    @blueorangeblue@c.im avatar

    Unexpectedly, because of the mastodon hashtag #fountainpens I have brought numerous cheap Chinese fountain pens (they are very good).

    They are a pleasure to write with and add a pleasing amount of faffing about to note taking.

    #suggestible #InkyFingers

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @blueorangeblue Which ones? I'm quite fond of Wing Sung 601, myself.

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Hey, residents, help out a and earn some money for science! (Boosts appreciated!).

    Scottish-English speakers are needed for an in-person experiment using eye-tracking.

    (If you're from elsewhere in Scotland but just in town for the day, that's ok too!)

    -£20 for 1-1.5 hour experiment
    -on Glasgow University campus

    Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/46AtS0ikaj

    Earn £20 in a language experiment! You: listen to sentences and press buttons (Occasionally you can even click the mouse!) We: track your pupil size and gaze location. Very science! Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/46AtS0ikaj Who can do it? -over 18 -native Scottish English speaker -normal or corrected-to-normal vision/hearing Where is it? 12 University Gardens (Glasgow Uni campus) How much again? £20!
    ALT
  • Reply
    • + ergative
    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Mr Absolutive was having a discussion with some students yesterday about, if they could time travel, whether they would go to the past or the future.

    One student, inevitably, declared he would go back to the past and kill Hitler.

    Mr Absolutive recommended to this student Kate Atkinson's excellent book 'Life After Life', which engages with the idea.

    I recommended to Mr Absolutive the excellent story 'Wikihistory', by Desmond Warzel, which is still available online!

    https://www.abyssapexzine.com/wikihistory/

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    I don't really feel comfortable sharing this with my lab on official channels, so I'm going to say it here:

    Zoom H4n Pro accessory packs apparently include a merkin.

    Look at these pictures and tell me I'm wrong!

    https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/accessories/accessory-packs-and-windscreens/aph-4npro/
    #linguistics #audio #recording

    Packaging material for a Zoom APH-4n Pro recorder, labeled 'H4n Pro Accessory Pack, compatible with H4n and H4n Pro. Hairy windscreen, splitter cable, USB cable, AD-14 AC adapter'. The image shows a portable recording device mounted on a camera, with a merkin covering its microphone intake.

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @Benhm3 That would be a more workplace-appropriate comparison, yes.

    floe , to random
    @floe@hci.social avatar

    We've all suspected this one, but here's an actual experiment: if the people deciding on grant proposals get only a 1-page summary instead of the full proposal, it doesn't really make any difference. 😑

    (Probably even more noteworthy: even if both panelists see the full proposal, they're only in agreement 53.4% of the time, which is basically random chance 🙄)

    So it's all one big lottery, who would have thought.

    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-024-04968-7

    (via @nielsvanberkel, thanks!)

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @floe @nielsvanberkel It is certainly the case that in the last grant I reviewed, the one-page summary provided an initial impression that the full text did not change.

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Not only did I do this just yesterday, and not only was the writer in question K. J. Charles herself, and not only was the answer 'yes, new book next month!', but my search FURTHER revealed that I have ALREADY PRE-ORDERED her next book.

    (image text from @kjcharleswriter.com on blueskey: tfw you have 80+ books in your TBR folder but you are nevertheless typing favourite author names into GR in the hope they released a new book and you somehow didn't notice)
    Jun 4, 2024 at 10:29

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Oh, yay, I just updated OpenSesame to version 4 and now it won't open at all.

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Hey, I'm seeing some discussion about instagram and unskippable ads.

    Lacking, as I do, a smartphone, I have been using instagram from my browser very happily for years now. UBlock Origin zaps all ads. I never see them.

    ergative , to bookstodon group
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Dang, y'all, I know I'm late to the party, but in case anyone else is even later than me, @vajra 's Saint of Bright Doors is ASTONISHINGLY GOOD.

    Or, at least, the first half is. I presume the second half is too, but I haven't finished it yet. It has definitely shot to the top of my Hugo best novel ranking. (One more to read!)

    #amReading @bookstodon #sff #fantasy

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @chloroform_tea @vajra @bookstodon I now understand, as you said in your NOAF post, the best 1st person pronoun drop in SFF history. Dang, that was such a good book!

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    I went to a workshop a few months ago about what the UKRI grant review process looks like behind the scenes, and one slide showed a person on a train using a full-ass desktop computer. We remarked on the incommodiousness of the mobile workstation set-up, but the actual point was that most grant reviewers are reading your work in awkward liminal spaces, not a comfy office.

    Anyway, I just reviewed a grant proposal on the train. But I printed it out on paper.

    #academicChatter #academia

    noellemitchell , to random
    @noellemitchell@mstdn.social avatar

    Instagram confirms test of ‘unskippable’ ads

    "Instagram confirmed it’s testing unskippable ads after screenshots of the feature began circulating across social media."

    "“We’re always testing formats that can drive value for advertisers,” a Meta company spokesperson told TechCrunch."

    Looks like it's time for people to move over to :pixelfed:

    https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/03/instagram-confirms-test-of-unskippable-ads/

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @noellemitchell Thanks for the timely rec! I just sent in my application to pixelfed.art.

    indianaclimate , to random
    @indianaclimate@fediscience.org avatar

    Don't do this

    #publishing #academia

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @indianaclimate Not least because post-doc Sue who is first author is going to get a new position somewhere else such that her corresponding author institutional email address at old-place goes poof.

    But also because general transparency, etc., too.

    But the email thing has bit me in the arse multiple times.

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @indianaclimate Oh, cripes, yes. I took part in the Multi100 project (https://osf.io/7snkz), and the data they assigned me to re-analyse was actually properly archived on OSF, but very poorly organized and documented, so I had to do a certain amount of guessing with respect to what the various variables even meant.

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    FYI, when historical novels talk snootingly of old ladies tatting lace, this is what they mean:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/C7pTA-FMSs1/

    I challenge any of y'all to understand this genius rocket science.

    #competencePorn

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    I'm about to submit an ESRC grant bid. Al this CoPilot+Recall kerfuffle means that now I need to cut some words in my 'data security' section in order to make room for assurances that I'm going to ensure that all data is collected and processed on a computer that DOESN'T have Recall enabled.

    (I doubt that failing to specify this will sink the grant bid, but I do want something contractual to force IT to turn the damn thing off in the unlikely event I get the money.)

    #academicChatter

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Allergy fairies are having a party in my nose this morning, the little fuckers.

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Mr Absolutive has saved the day! All I found in our medicine cabinet was some Allegra that expired in 2017, but he has dug out a blister pack of Benadryl--for Hay Fever! that only expired in January.

    (Yes, I need to buy more, I know, but I'll take my chances with 5-month-out-of-date allergy meds even if I won't risk it for 6-years-out-of-date.)

    carturo222 , to random
    @carturo222@geekdom.social avatar

    Oh, look, Warner still has a foot to keep shooting itself in.
    https://nerdist.com/article/warner-bros-developing-a-300-tv-series-with-zack-snyder

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @carturo222 These corps must be centipedes.

    BayesForDays , to random
    @BayesForDays@lingo.lol avatar

    lol they're just making shit up now "quiet vacationing"?

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @BayesForDays @abdalian This is me most days, tbh. I just call it, 'not as productive as I'd hoped.'

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    Goddamit, my focus on this fine Friday afternoon is just shot. Come on, self! Just one more plot and you can go home!

    clacksee , to random
    @clacksee@wandering.shop avatar

    I meant to make a thing this morning. But then I got distracted and forgot.
    But don't worry; someone else did it for us!

    #Trump #Rule34

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @clacksee This does feel like a Chuck Tingle book: 'Pounded in the butt by the 34 guilty convictions that dropped last night'.

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    I'm at the stage of grant writing where my collaborator and I are discussing the relative merits of 'First . . . next . . . finally' vs. 'First . . . second . . . third'

    I wrote the first. She suggests changing it to the second.

    SCIENCE IN ACTION!!

    #academicChatter #academia

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    I dearly hope that May 30th will be celebrated as May 34th for so long in history that our ancestors will look back on it as an example of how their primitive forbears were not very good at calendars, and this is one of the reasons everyone switched to Stardates.

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    snrk

    No pardons for state charges!

    ergative , to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    I find it WILDLY FRUSTRATING implementing contrast coding in Julia.

    If I use ContrastCoding(), I can specify my own contrast matrices (yay!) but I can't label them. So the regression output just reuses my actual factor levels to label an actual model term that means something like, say, 'mean of levels A and B vs. mean of levels C and D'. Or whatever. To interpret my model, I must make physical notes on a piece of paper about what each term means.

    1/2

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    If I use HypothesisCoding(), I can label everything nicely (yay!), but it insists on re-weighting my matrix for me, so if I put in the matrix I want to use, it changes it into something else. I have to put in a different matrix, with the positive term as 1 and the negative terms as fractions adding up to 1, to trick it into reweighting the matrix into what I actually want it to be.

    I LEARNED HOW TO BUILD CONTRAST MATRICES
    BY HAND JULIA! Don't try to do it for me. You're just breaking it!

    2/2

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @exa StatsModels.

    Judging from Dave Kleinschmidt's very useful tour of it, I think possibly it was simply built for someone who learned to specify contrast matrices differently from me.

    I infer this from the bit where Dave remarks that the hypothesis matrix is transformed into a contrast matrix in a way that he wouldn't be able to derive off the top of his head. To me, the contrast matrix is great! It's the hypothesis matrix that I have to puzzle over.

    https://repsychling.github.io/contrasts-and-formula/

    ergative , (edited ) to random
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    (Edited to replace paywalled link with free link)

    What an odd, uninformed article about . I am delighted that it's experiencing a revival, but it gets so many things wrong!

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/style/calligraphy-handwriting-revival.html?u2g=i&unlocked_article_code=1.v00.IlC9.jReCdqJo_2QE&smid=url-share
    1/?

    ergative OP ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @paradoxmo thanks, fixed!

    inkycicada , to random
    @inkycicada@penfount.social avatar

    The spicy cousin to blackberry… Lamy dark lilac. What was the old one like anyway? I wonder…
    However I do like this one. Sheen is neat.


    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @inkycicada The old one was very similar, except it had a gold sheen instead of a green sheen.

    Edent , to random
    @Edent@mastodon.social avatar

    🆕 blog! “Forget Subtext - People Don't Even Get Surtext”

    Once in a while, you'll see some blowhard railing about the modern world. I recently saw someone decrying the fact that Star Trek had "gone woke". This Star Trek? OK, you can argue about whether Kirk and Uhura were forced to kiss in that episode. But how does anyone look at Star Trek - with […]

    👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/forget-subtext-people-dont-even-get-surtext/
    ⸻

    ergative ,
    @ergative@wandering.shop avatar

    @krinkle @Edent

    I've been interpreting that use of 'literally' as 'emphatically'. Like, 'Regardless of his bike-maintenance skills, I want to emphasize his helplessness'.

    The early position in the sentence allows the adverb to take scope over the entire proposition, hence its value in emphasizing a broader point.

    The second example, with the later position, gives the adverb scope only over the verb phrase, and the only meaning compatible with the lower scope is the original one.

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