Over the past few months, the Bing search engine has completely blocked the domain neocities.org, including the front site and all user subdomains (example.n...
@neauoire I know DuckDuckGo uses bing results, so that's mostly where I'm affected in this. But yeah, I haven't heard of anyone using raw bing in a while either
I need to get a proper YT proxy front-end going (I might install my own Invidious, but we'll see) I am slowly switching EU-based services where possible, but it's not a requirement.
I will be giving a talk about building and scaling the European Cloud with @nextcloud and @mariadb_org at MariaDB Day next Sunday at 17:20h in Brussels. If you want to attend, there is still time to register, it's free ;)
I will be giving a talk about building and scaling the European Cloud with @nextcloud and @mariadb_org at MariaDB Day next Sunday at 17:20h in Brussels. If you want to attend, there is still time to register, it's free ;)
Google is adding Gemini-powered "Suggested times" to Google Calendar, automatically scanning attendees' calendars to surface the best meeting slots based on availability, work hours, and conflicts.
If you could pick one non-U.S. tech, product, or service to switch to, what would you recommend, and why? Open-source and self-hosting options welcome!
European governments are looking to move away from U.S. tech and reclaim their digital sovereignty at a time of unpredictability and volatility in the United States.
I am frequently watching @DestinationLinux Linux on YouTube and the hosts, currently @dasgeek and @Jill_linuxgirl are good (online) friends of mine.
And now they started to use Nextcloud, for collaborative exchange of ideas for show content, managing expenses, ... and more. And Jill is jotting down personal note and ideas with Nextcloud's smartphone app ...
unfortunate, but not catastrophic, and not their first time (so it's not a new nor necessarily endorsed by their new CEO). I hate genAI as much as you all do but I still think they (GOG) are worthy to fight for and get them corrected on the matter. I hope they end up learning from this.
I mean... why? It's just a simple drawing, pay some money to an artist from your staff and that's the end of the story. Why these companies are always getting caught on using AI where any human can do better. How much time they "saved" with this AI picture? A couple of hours? Was it worth it?
Last November I was approached by Dublin City University (DCU) to be one of five artists in residence creating work for a project called SEED.
The brief is to create an artwork that presents complex environmental data without prioritising the sense of vision in the artwork. As a **visual** artist, this is obviously a challenge.
Even more challenging – it is at the artists' discretion what data to use. Sometimes having no limitation on a project can just make it more daunting.
I've used smell, touch and sound in works before, so it's not new ground for me, but I don't think I've ever prioritised these other senses. Visual is my method. So I relish the challenge.
The first problem, however, has been to find data that tells enough of a story. I figure if I can find the data set, then the method should come to me.
In December, I was reading the popular science book 'The High Seas' by Olive Heffernan and came across a reference to the 'Continuous Plankton Recorder'.
This strange device looks like a metal duck and swims in the ocean, dragged behind large and small fishing vessels. It catches (and squashes) tiny plankton onto a silk screen, and these are later counted to show the populations in different waters.
The CPR is interesting for a few reasons. It was the first device to pick up plastic floating in the ocean in 1965, and in the late 1960s it began to record microplastics in the ocean. There is now a 65-year plus record of microplastic increase as a result of these devices, with a 95-year record of plankton recording.
I decided this was my dataset (with agreement from the team at DCU).
I'm not sure why I'm recording this here. I guess sometimes my process is a bit of a mystery to colleagues and friends, so I thought I'd write it up a little. I'm at the stage now where I'm trying to figure out how to present that data in a non-visual form.
My earliest thoughts have been about water. Water as a sensing device, as something you touch, and as a visual medium too (not prioritising visual doesn't mean not using it).
My other thought has been about tension, particularly how stress in one area creates tension in another.
Finally, about plankton, who are crucial to food webs across the ocean. Where their numbers reduce, so do fish, whale, mollusc and other species'. They are keystone in ocean environments.
I've done some experiments using a linear actuator to tension a cello string across a glass fish enclosure that I used in a past project. It sounds and feels good, and I think this will work for the 'output' of the work.
For how the audience might provide input, I was struggling until last Monday when I met Dr Trish Morgan, who is running the project. I wanted human interference to be the trigger. She suggested another box with water that people could move, touch, change. I like this.
So if the work can somehow show the story behind the data, that one stress in one place creates tension in another, I think I could have a nice artwork.
I also changed my mind on the cello string. Fishing wire makes a lot more sense as a medium. And automating the whole thing with some DIY electronics should be possible, although actuators are maybe overkill for the job.
Lots of testing still needed, but the project ends in April so I'll update here as it develops.
@raye yeah the result isn't unlike that. It's beautiful but also pretty upsetting as it kills the plankton that get stuck in the silk, so the process is violent. I want that also to be present in my artwork, a comment on that violence, but I haven't figured that out yet.
It reminds me a bit of a moment in Jacques Cousteau's 'The Silent World' where the crew of the ship drop dynamite into a bay, and then count the numbers of creatures that float to the top to show what 'lives' (lived?) there.
Today I had a conversation with the senior numerical ecologist at the CPR survey and this whole process is fascinating.
Each plankton recorder is boxed up and sent to some port in the world, where it is attached to a ship that has a regular route. The plankton is collected, then boxed up and sent back to Plymouth where a team of 12 analysts observe and tag the individual plankton by hand. Thousands at a time, recorded by hand!
The survey team interpret the data based on their knowledge of plankton behaviours, such as how phytoplankton act at this time of year, at this buoyancy, at this ocean temperature, etc. It takes extraordinarily complex knowledge to understand what to expect and what to look for, and I am out of my depth(!)
I love these complex projects, but I often feel overwhelmed by how amazing human beings are. The labour, expertise and competence is mind-boggling.
I, at least, am most grateful that you are sharing this. The dataset is brilliant! And, ahem, speaking as a permanently confused synesthetic, it is pleasant and inspiring to see how you pick up possible affordances and heft them.
@yetiinabox thanks for saying so! I'm not very good for posting on social media, because I often don't know what to say or how to say it, so I lurk and stay quiet. I'm glad if anyone finds this interesting.
And yes, this data is astounding. What a gift that it has been recorded for this long, to give an accurate picture over a near 100-year history.
I had a few times where I played on windows 11 machine in the gaming house. Linux cured my addiction to League of legends. Thank god I don't have money to buy a new pc.
Small grant application funded 🐌🥳. Project involves field work on Sao Tome and Principe, in search of the Giant Obo snail, with genomics to follow. 🥳 . Only possible because working with Dr. Martina Panisi and many others mossy.earth/projects/helping-f…
We are working to help protect the endangered Obô giant snail of São Tomé and Príncipe as part of our efforts to help the species that tend to be neglected.
If you google “third amendment,” an article I published last week is the top news article! That’s because the third amendment is rarely relevant. But it is now!
I think (and argued) that hotels have a right not to house ICE agents. Yes, really.
The Third Amendment is America’s most forgotten amendment. It doesn’t get a lot of airtime. But if you want a quick constitutional refresher, gather ‘round!
The Third Amendment prohibits the government from forcing people to “quarter” troops. ICE is essentially a paramilitary force—so why would hotels let them stay?
It’s a web browser. But fun. It comes with a bunch of clever features built-in. It’s super flexible and does not track you. Get the Vivaldi browser for desktop, mobile, and your car!
If you're making slides, figures, or training material: remember that the #NIH has a pretty impressive catalog of scientific #illustrations mostly #CCO or #CCBY licenced.
Great talk about Citizen Assemblies! So amazing how many countries around the world are working to establish or reclaim genuine democracy--the sort where we all share power.
@Friendica Support Habe gestern meine #Friendica Stable auf "Blutwurz" geupdated (ich musste diesen schönen Namen jetzt einfach mal schreiben) 😉
Ich nutzte das #bookface scheme unter Frio. github.com/randompenguin1/book… Dabei ist mir aufgefallen, dass das ich in Desktopgröße einen kleinen Darstellungsschönheitsfehler habe. Da steht oben jetzt einmal in english "compose" und daneben noch mal in Deutsch, "neuer Beitrag" (siehe Screenshot!). Wie kann ich das vielleicht fixen?
I think it will disappear if you update Bookface. There's a (previous) stable version of Bookface, and a version for RC. I think you should use the RC version now.
@Marcus @wolf That's right, I had completely forgotten about that. It has been fixed in Branch 2025.07-rc, along with several other bugs that appeared in connection with 2025.07-rc.
The story of GPD and Bazzite Linux continues, with the founder of Bazzite releasing a fresh statement making it clear there's nothing happening between them.
not trying to tell you how to write your articles.
But as someone that has never heard of either side of this until reading this article - I had to go truth multiple articles via related tags just to get a sense of wtf is a GPD 😅
Habe nach dem Friendicaupdate gestern mal wieder meine Instanzinterne Föderationsstatistiken angeschaut, die #Friendica standardmäßig so fein aufbereitet. Dabei fällt auf, dass inzwischen Mastodon keine soooo riesige Dominanz mehr hat, wie das früher der Fall war. Aber es gab noch mehr Überraschungen, die ich nicht alle verstehe:
Könnt Ihr mir sagen, was es mit diesem riesigen, hier im Tortendiagramm in Giftgrün dargestellten Anteil der "#Ghost" Server auf sich hat? Was ist Ghost im Fedikontext? Gab es bei mir auf der Instanz früher nicht in der Form.
PS.: Der hellblaue Teilring unten ist Mastodon, der dunkelblaue oben links ist Wordpress, dessen Aanteil hat sich auch signifikant erhöht hat, was ich gut finde, aber auch nachvollziehen kann; wohl dank der Arbeit von @Matthias Pfefferle. @Friendica Admins
@wolf Ghost ist mittlerweile auch an das Fediverse angeschlossen (bei Bedarf lässt sich das aktivieren, soweit ich weiß). Ich meine, seit letztem Jahr.
@wolf Ghost ist unter anderem eine Alternative zu Wordpress. Aber der Fokus liegt beim Verschicken von Newslettern. Dafür braucht es bei WP ja ein Addon. Bei Ghost ist die Funktion im Core.
Die Statistik ist ja pro Server, nicht pro nutzender Person. Würde es nach letzterem gehen, wäre Mastodon immer noch der Platzhirsch. Abr ja, ich finde es auch schön, dass das Fediverse so bunt ist.
@wolf Du kennst die Statistiken von https://fedi.wrm.sr/? Das sind natürlich nur ungefähre Aussagen. Wenn du die Zahlen über längere Zeiten verfolgst, dann erkennst du dennoch eine Veränderung. Das Fediverse wird (wieder) bunter.
Twelve years. I started this project twelve years ago, and today I hold the result in my hand. It’s a book that combines bead weaving with math called, “Beading with Algorithms: Cellular Automata in Peyote Stitch.” With help from mathematician and artist Roger Antonsen, graphic designer Zelda Lin, a handful of talented proof readers, and the good people from World Scientific Publishing Company, my dream of combining my loves of math, art, and teaching into a book is finally a reality.
This book is the first of its kind, a recipe book of algorithms that can be used and combined to generate colorful patterns in peyote stitch beadwork in any size and shape you desire. These algorithms could also be applied to other pixelated art forms like tile laying, embroidery, crochet, and quilts. We included projects like bracelets, pill pouches, pendants, beaded beads, and key chains. We also included a bunch of different grids that you can photocopy and color with markers.
Of course I’m biased, but I think it’s a really beautiful book. We included mult
... show more
Twelve years. I started this project twelve years ago, and today I hold the result in my hand. It’s a book that combines bead weaving with math called, “Beading with Algorithms: Cellular Automata in Peyote Stitch.” With help from mathematician and artist Roger Antonsen, graphic designer Zelda Lin, a handful of talented proof readers, and the good people from World Scientific Publishing Company, my dream of combining my loves of math, art, and teaching into a book is finally a reality.
This book is the first of its kind, a recipe book of algorithms that can be used and combined to generate colorful patterns in peyote stitch beadwork in any size and shape you desire. These algorithms could also be applied to other pixelated art forms like tile laying, embroidery, crochet, and quilts. We included projects like bracelets, pill pouches, pendants, beaded beads, and key chains. We also included a bunch of different grids that you can photocopy and color with markers.
Of course I’m biased, but I think it’s a really beautiful book. We included multiple colorful images on almost every page, 172 pages in all. It was a huge layout challenge, but Zelda nailed it. My original goal was to write 128 pages on how to use algorithms to make beaded jewelry, but the more we explored the space, the more we found. Not just millions of algorithms, the space of possibilities is infinite. So of course, we couldn’t include them all. But we used math and Roger’s custom software that he wrote for this project to help us find dozens of the easiest algorithms and more than a hundred more in increasing levels of complexity. We included all of our favorites. 1/2
Steven Miller and DHS are bragging that ICE agents have immunity. Democratic senators could change that by conditioning their votes on passage of a bill already in Congress.
Linux desktop is often described as fragmented, but with the right perspective, it becomes clear that this description only makes sense if you see Linux as a single, unified product, and expect it act like one. It isn't, and so it doesn't.
Assuming there are about 3 billion computer users, it is highly unlikely that they are all satisfied with the same harmonious system or desktop, or that it meets all the requirements of all these users.
And it is absolutely dangerous when one monopolist or two corporations have control over all these people. Accordingly, it should be a concern of all people that there are numerous solutions.
Devine Lu Linvega
in reply to Harpy • • •Harpy
in reply to Devine Lu Linvega • • •Devine Lu Linvega
in reply to Harpy • • •Harpy
in reply to Devine Lu Linvega • • •Maybe I will draw some for fun on my own now that I see they can be cool though
Aleph
in reply to Devine Lu Linvega • • •inscript
in reply to Devine Lu Linvega • • •@neauoire *gently traces fingers over edges*
tech deck theme park