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@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

faassen

@faassen@fosstodon.org

Me grok write code. Python, Rust, Typescript, JavaScript. Created: Morepath, lxml. Also: gardener, science & history fan, living life fan. Husband & father.

I post a lot about programming as well as gardening pictures. If you come for just the gardening pictures the programming talk may baffle you. If you're a programmer, I invite you to enjoy the flowers!

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

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?

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
She does sound singular

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Some less religious people are confused by the enthusiasm Evangelicals have for people well known to be "sinners" in every biblical sense. When you accuse an Evangelical of hypocrisy for praising the faith of a known sinner this only fills them with more glee... (to them) it shows you don't really understand the magnitude that gift from Jesus--

BUT.
But-- it is not that these men are sinners that showboat their faith that upsets me. It is that they are unrepentant sinners.

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
The whole "king David" gambit gets applied.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The "scarcity" of Nvidia hardware has mad Nvidia the most valuable company in the world. At first this seemed like good news to me, since the economy needs to move in a new direction, the most valuable company should be a fresh name.

Unfortunately since this value is based on actions between Tesla and X of all companies I think it's ... perhaps a little artificial. Are "AI capable chips" really such hot items. Or has the very public performance to get them just made people think they are?

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
I myself am impressed by what these things can do. Especially generate language; nothing non human could do that.

Chatbots - entertainment, yes, information, not usually.

I do find myself using an LLM a lot for code completion. I don't use it to generate complex algorithms as it will almost inevitably be wrong, but within a context autocomplete helps me.

Unfortunately AI as a whole is full of grifters and the information pollution you pointed out.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Exciting ant queen collecting trip in AZ. Why does it feel like all the coolest ants are in the South and South West. It's not fair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV1CkkkKbOM

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird

@aronow @errg @kechpaja

Is Pica in league with the dastardly time genie?

aronow , to random
@aronow@hachyderm.io avatar

I planned to be SO productive .

Wow was I NOT productive today.

Hmph.

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird

@aronow

I tell myself this when I feel unproductive as a software developer. I have had feedback I am an unusually productive software dev but I don't feel that way because I take a lot of time to rest. Which probably contributes to my productivity. But being productive isn't really my primary goal in general.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The time genie will bring back one (1) extinct animal from any time in all of earth's history. The animal will be integrated into an ecosystem seamlessly with no major negative consequences. You get to pick the creature.

Do you feel obligated to pick something like a sauropod just so people can experience the awe?

Do you bring back something more recent to correct the crimes of mankind?

Or are you selfish and you ask for hell ants so you can finally see how their mandibles work?

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
Trilobites. The eusocial ones with a hive mind I made up.

But microraptor would be cool too. I am torn, so many choices

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
Let's bring back the Ediacaran fauna (?) then. I want to know what that was. Though it's not one species, I want the whole fauna (?)

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
Now that I have been reading this thread for a while I feel compelled to say, what motivates the time genie? Can we bribe or coerce it? Can it bring back whole planet Earths and integrate them seamlessly into the solar system? Messing around with Newtonian mechanics would seem to be within its powers if it can integrate, say, sauropods seamlessly.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

She ate the ham out of my sandwich when I was on the phone.

Removed it without moving the bread or other toppings.

How can I go on living like this????

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
Your stories about your cat makes me appreciate how well behaved our cat actually is.

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
Ah, we got her as a socialized kitten

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I had the eusocial cat dream again. Perhaps it is better described as a reoccurring nightmare! Basically everyone had these cat colonies— but the cats were super intelligent— on the colony level and manipulating global politics.

What’s your reoccurring dream?

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird

@dnavinci

I have had this vague science fiction idea of eusocial intelligent trilobites causing the end Permian extinction

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

… and the stupid wind took my hat. I didn’t even have it on I was holding it worried about the wind — pulled it right out of my hand. How did people live wearing hats all the time!?

Maybe the MTA people have some kind of grabber??

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
Ouch!

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
Yay!

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

These AI SEO spam operations have used lists of common searches to ensure that their pages come up first in searches in the “long fat tail” the kind of search where it used to be about 50/50 if you’d find a page addressing your needs. But, it used to be if you found something like “The top 15 smallest ants in the world” it wouldn’t be nonsense. It’d either exist and be the work of another person who cared OR you found nothing. Not so now! I can’t possibly over-stress how bad this is! 1/

faassen ,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@futurebird
I read this fan theory a while back where the reason Star Trek only makes cultural references to the twentieth century and before is because of this AI cut off point. After that culture stopped being productive and only regurgitated.

robindlaws , to random
@robindlaws@dice.camp avatar

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @robindlaws
    That's the point!

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    I have a soft spot for Libertarians even though I shouldn't and they don't deserve it. When I was a kid I had a weird neighbor who was always giving me Libertarian books... I wish I still had some of them they were WILD. He was a thorn in the side of the local, school board as well insisting that if they had an event at the school that involved politics Libertarians had to be included.

    And in defense of the guy, he was about as likable and earnest as a Libertarian could be.

    1/

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    There's this guy Eric S Raymond who was extremely influential on the early open source movement who demonstrated this trajectory to me.

    He devolved from a quirky "freedom!" libertarian into a, well, a LOT worse over the years. Perhaps it was always in him - there were definitely signs. But the angry, ugly screeds came later.

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

    The bald eagle could have easily gone extinct. But we did all sorts of "woke" things protecting it legally, ran conservation and study programs, banned DDT (that was good for other reasons too) and in 2007 they were removed from the endangered species list.

    Likewise pine forests could be dead from acid rain.

    The ozone could have a huge hole.

    We CAN take care of nature when we want to. And the successes have been worth it.

    I feel like we forget this, you know?

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    @CEvaN

    A lot of this is a recycling of anti "politically correct" rhetoric. I wonder what the terms were that were bashed before that, or whether political correctness bashing was a rhetorical innovation.

    friesen5000 , to random
    @friesen5000@mstdn.ca avatar

    Are insects animals?

    I've been asked this several times recently and as a biologist/ecologist I was taken aback.

    Is it a common view among non-biologists that insects are not animals? If not animals, what are they?

    Tagging some folks who may have encountered this: @alexwild @futurebird @nev @catselbow

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @friesen5000

    @alexwild @futurebird @nev @catselbow

    I heard this before and this take baffles me. But perhaps this is related to a shade of meaning of "beast", where it's a large four footed mammal.

    Common parlance is weird: in English an ape is not a monkey and people use that as saying we didn't evolve "from monkeys" but in Dutch "aap" is a word for monkeys and apes.

    And in cladistics apes are indeed firmly nested in monkeys.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    @friesen5000 @alexwild @nev @catselbow

    The dictionary definition I found "1) An animal other than a human, especially a large four-footed mammal." so a definite maybe.

    But another one goes "1a a four-footed mammal as distinguished from a human being, a lower vertebrate, and an invertebrate" but then
    "1b a lower animal as distinguished from a human being"

    So yeah shades of meaning as usual

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    Someone said it's important say this publicly in the US: so I will. (And I think each of us should, online and to friends)

    This November I will vote for Biden.

    I would regard not voting for Biden, particularly in: PA, OH, MI, WI, IN, IL,VA, GA, FL, AZ, ME, NC, NH, etc. as a huge error. I'd be disappointed to find out anyone I knew didn't vote. It's one of a long list of things we need to do. We can't skip it.

    And still? We deserve better choices, and in the future we shall have them.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    First past the post really sucks.

    That said, proportional representation doesn't always produce great outcomes. Last Dutch elections were disastrous. Our extreme right is so far mired in coalition negotiation politics, which is better than straight up power, though Weimar shows us, it is not any guarantee.

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    Currently sowing a tiny garden for my field ants. I've kept field ants before and they didn't really thrive. I'm hoping if I can arrange for them to tend a heard of aphids they will be happier.

    They colony is about 15 strong, and the queen is lovely shiny and black. They are also very nervous and freak out at every new sound and vibration. Will a box of green plants calm them? We shall see!

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    @kmmich

    Is there a special way you obtain the aphids? I had them on my indoor seedlings once and hated it.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    There is an ant colony that caters to the aphids in my redcurrant bush. There are so many aphids the leaves curl, yet the plant keeps producing currants. I hate picking them as the ants sting me.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    @kmmich

    Yeah, I knew about their meta pregnancy! Not a fan of them on my seedlings. Outside usually my plants are fine, except one year when my lupines succumbed to them - I think it was a special species dedicated to lupines that made it over to Europe some decades ago (I research my garden enemies)

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    Good question about the species. I don't consider them big enemies so have done less research!

    They are black ones you see in gardens a lot in the Netherlands. Possibly Lasius niger? I shall try to stare at them more to figure it out this summer. I think the same species also likes making colonies in the bag of compost I keep in the greenhouse.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    Oh could well be a bite sorry. It just stings when they do so, but I don't think they use their hind part. It's not extremely painful and passes quickly. Is formic acid involved in an ant bite?

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    I took a note and will give them a good careful look next time I am at my garden plot. Thanks!

    18+ futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    I have a list of 3 python objects w/ 4 attributes. If exactly 2 are identical (not all 3, not none) I want to return False.

    mylist=[ob1, obj2, obj3]

    if len(set([x.attribute1 for x in mylist]))==2:
    return False
    if len(set([x.attribute2 for x in mylist]))==2:
    return False
    if len(set([x.attribute3 for x in mylist]))==2:
    return False
    if len(set([x.attribute4 for x in mylist]))==2:
    return False
    return True

    feels clunky. what am i missing?

    (can you guess what card game?)

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    You could write a function "two_match" where you pass the list and an attribute name to do the check, and use getattr. So two_match(mylist, "attribute1")

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    “Fluent Python” is an excellent example of a “good programming language book” — it’s not cluttered with “enterprise examples” it’s focused on how python works and goes into detail on edge cases. This lets one write code with real confidence that you know everything it’s doing. It is also written with the aim to justify why python is the way that it is. Which I need or I get irritated.

    If you like python you should probably have a pdf or buy a copy.

    Now which book on Java is analogous?

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    Possibly through me originally?
    @ramgarlic is an old friend of mine, by coincidence as normally we are in different continents we have been hanging out the last few days.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @arclight

    @futurebird @RogerBW @grrrr_shark

    Subtlety often gets less attention. There is the argument that you need to oversimplify to be educational but I am not a huge fan of it. But I don't know what the data says.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    @arclight @RogerBW @grrrr_shark

    Yes, just enough confusion to learn, I like that. And that not everyone feels very comfortable with confusion, especially in a new context where you don't have success experiences yet.

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    A single-board command-line computer using the esp32. Look at it! It's cute. Can't buy it yet the creator is starting some kind of online commune for single-board computer freaks. I bet some of you are around here, go say hi at his forum it only has like two posts and its making me sad.

    https://a.singleboard.computer/

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    I read twostopbits partially for this reason: simple systems that can be understood. The other reason is nostalgia.

    http://twostopbits.com/

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

    "The Why Files" is a youTube channel that regularly has videos with over a million views. They started as a kind of paranormal/fringe science channel that was mostly harmless, and that often debunked conspiracies.

    But, they've moved beyond that in to material such as suppressed patents for cars that run on water. And treating climate change like it's a unresolved question. This has made their audience grow.

    The things is they aren't just spitting lies. 1/

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    @llewelly

    Popularity algorithms and audience capture interact so badly. More extreme content catches larger audiences, so the algorithm encourages it. Then many individuals can't resist the pull from audience and algorithm alike. Measured voices never stand out as much but this system is definitely not helping.

    Natasha_Jay , to random
    @Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt avatar

    Requires a < /FOOT PATH > sign at the other end of the trail?

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @Natasha_Jay
    Well formed HTML if closed later, but since FOOT isn't in HTML this may be an attempt at XML, but path by itself means isn't a valid XML tag. Could be a misspelled footer tag but afaik footer tags don't take a path attribute.

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    Have you ever tried to measure a cat with a tape measure? It will make you question the solidity of dimensional space.

    Pica, small cat
    Height: 22 to 47cm
    Girth: 33 to ??cm (ouch cm)
    Length: 37cm
    Length w/ tail: 66cm
    Weight: 5.9 pounds/ 2.7 Kg
    Max Length (Dangle): 74cm! oh no

    she's getting longer.

    Rate of Enlonganmentation
    dML/dt: 1.2cm / second

    No signs of increase stopping. Cat keeps increasing.
    All clear! ALL CLEAR!
    Soon she will be in all locations.

    This was a bad project idea.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    Reminds me of the Striger from Dixon's "Life After Man". It looked ridiculously long to me until I realized how stretchy cats actually are.

    https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/510be2c1e4b0b9ef3923f158/1593461075860-4P9OV1Y3GAT7MVNQDPCA/Dougal-Dixon-After-Man-Initial-Pitch-June-2020-striger-versions-compared-1087px-153kb-June-2020-Tetrapod-Zoology.JPG?format=1500w

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    When a person who needs to believe something for ideological, or wealth protection reasons argues with a scientist the correct and natural tendency of scientists to take each idea seriously makes it seem like they don't really have confidence in their claim.

    The fact that the claim would be quickly abandoned if proper evidence existed is alien.

    The ideological assume everyone is advocating to win, rather than to know.

    It would be so exciting if a well known theory were wrong.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    This also applies to the status conscious. Someone concerned with status may assume everyone else is concerned with this too.

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    Another all too barren spring in NYC. There should be so many insects, so many ants, so many tiny creatures filling the parks, hitting the windshields of cars.

    Remember when bugs used to hit the windshields of cars because the air was so full of life?

    I guess most people think this is 'improvement' but they are wrong. There is a campaign to put the American bumblebee on the endangered species list!

    We are living in an eerie lifeless netherworld and I don't know why more can't see it!

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird

    It's sad. Also a lot of wishful thinking and often a lack of background knowledge.

    I am glad to report from my garden plot at a community garden in the Netherlands I just saw some bumblebees busy fertilizing blueberry blooms.

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    We think of the big adaptations of human civilization:

    farming
    livestock
    grain storage
    irrigation and sewers
    dense cities
    multi-story dwellings
    specialized labor

    As achievements of human intelligence and technology. But considering ants have all of these same adaptations maybe they are a function of massive cooperative populations, rather than intelligence.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    The size differential of the individuals involved is interesting. The biggest eusocial animal is the damaraland mole-rat, slightly bigger than the naked mole-rat.

    Both species have complex burrows and specialized labor, at least naked mole-rats manage regenerating tubers as harvest, with only up to 300 individuals.

    So perhaps the population doesn't need to be as massive? Is large scale cooperation harder with larger individuals with bigger brains?

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    Sometimes when people argue with you online, they are picking up on an older argument that wasn't even about you or with you. An old argument they lost with someone else. You have the vague shape of their old enemy. They want to pick up the fight again. They want you to play the role of their old foe, desperately.

    This often 'works' because in treating you like another person they insult you. So maybe you get angry.

    And then you talk past each other and nothing is learned.

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    Interesting! How to distinguish that from people who think an argument needs to be vicious?

    You can summon people who want to argue old arguments! If you say "systemd is good really" for instance anywhere in some kind of linuxy online space you may well get people who really despise it and the guy who created it and will argue about it with anyone.

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

    Alex Jones was born in 1974... He's... so much younger than I thought! I thought he was two decades older than me but it's less than one.

    Some things age you, I suppose.

    (ETA: a photo... he's not just "gen X" he's a late gen Xer. borderline Millennial. )

    (ETA 2: He made a lot of his fortune, which he isn't paying out to the victims of his attacks... selling HEALTH PILLS. They obviously don't work!)

    faassen ,
    @faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird
    Yeah that caught me by surprise a while back too. I am a bit older. His appearance is probably not under his control though.

    That said, his conspiracy theorizing may not be under his control either. Sucks that he profits from it.

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