Vertandor

@vertandor.bsky.social

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Kung-fu alto, Green Bay Packers fan, gamer and sometimes geologist. She/her. Partial to tea, sci-fi and chocolate. Lazy Gardener.

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www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/eng...?

Engineering Marvel: How HS2 is using giant metal cans to overcome groundwater hurdleswww.ianvisits.co.uk Two massive metal cans are currently being assembled deep under west London to allow HS2's tunnel boring machines to drill through water-saturated ground.

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Happy International Nonbinary People’s Day to our nonbinary siblings all around the world. Nonbinary people have always existed and always will.

Decide to phone my parents as the Tour de France stage win is complete, and I can watch the wash-up on mute; nope, they're watching the tennis so they'll call me back 🤣

Been hobbled by sciatica for the last three days, it's starting to ease up but hoo boy, looks like I needs to step up the daily stretching and start looking at a sit stand desk at the very least.

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👇

Use the good stuff. Get out the good art supplies. Use the good herbs. Wear the nice shirt. If you have it, and you are saving it for some imaginary someday. DO NOT. You are worthy now.

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I was just saying to a friend, someone who was horrified by a prominent person’s wretched behavior (but this individual was fine/good to my friend)—I said, “never forget, these people choose the targets of their generosity & goodwill & appreciation as carefully as they choose their abuse targets.”

I think all the time about the interviewer who asked Meryl Streep “how did you not know about Weinstein” and she was like “I didn’t know because he NEEDED me not to know” it isn’t a character flaw to have been deceived by someone who is a deceit expert cultivating the cover of your faith & goodwill

@bskyttrpg.bsky.social reroll

Really interesting thread on catching the issues with LLM answers (though it seems they would be plausible to a non-expert reader) and could the LLM unintentionally interpolate a true secret (no)

I periodically ask ChatGPT to describe very basic things about nuclear weapons to me. It does a great job of regurgitating well-known information, but then will insert subtle hallucinations that only someone already well-informed on the topic would catch.

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At least the Greens will get as much coverage as Reform across all the channels now.

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And now the NYT makes sense:

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Like remembering that before unions, a lot of folks worked 6 or 7 days a week, it's worth remembering that before environmental movements, the air and water in a lot of places were fucking gross. Left to their own devices, companies just straight-up poisoned people. They will again if we let them.

It's worth googling the Great Smog of London to see how far we've come. Images like this from the 1950s. It was caused in part from burning coal

Walked to the polling station for 7pm, voted with at least 5 people behind me (and one very cute dog), then home to pick up my bike and cycled so not quite #BikesAtPollingStations [please note the flowers are decorative and not indicative of my vote because f*ck transphobia] Remember your ID!

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I encourage those whose lives are not going to be immiserated by the incoming administration to perhaps consider the feelings of those directly threatened by them. Ask trans people or immigrants how they feel about the new, more "effective" neo liberals coming into power. Tina has aptly put it here:

can't you just ENJOY things¹?! ¹the new guy working on removing you from society will be nicer to me personally

Well now, this is interesting - it's a case I've been following from a work perspective #environment www.itv.com/news/granada...

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National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247. www.womensaid.org.uk/information-...

I need help - information and support on domestic abusewww.womensaid.org.uk Women’s Aid Live Chat does your relationship not feel right? It could be domestic abuse. Send an email to a Women’s Aid domestic abuse support worker. Help for all aspects of domestic abuse, suc...

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Remember when a group of crypto bros bought a copy of 'Jodorowsky's Dune' for $3 million (around 100x more than it was worth) thinking they could turn it into NFTs and an animated series because they didn't understand what copyright is?

The Saga of the 'Dune' Crypto Bros And Their Very Pricey Mistake Is At Its Endwww.esquire.com In a dismal crypto climate, the group is looking to sell its 'Dune' bible and cash out its treasury. “Really wish this worked out better," the group co-founder said.

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on the very day the Supreme Court's conservatives said 'we know best' and put themselves in charge of complicated agency decisions one of the geniuses confused nitrous oxide and nitrogen oxide. So they had to have a do over. Not exactly an auspicious start. www.forbes.com/sites/alison...

Supreme Court Corrects EPA Opinion After Gorsuch Confuses Laughing Gas With Air Pollutantwww.forbes.com The error came in an opinion blocking an EPA policy meant to improve air pollution.

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It bears repeating that part of the reason the major parties love to do transphobia because they are bigots, yes, but also because it allows them to pretend they are doing something for women and thereby get out of doing anything real or meaningful.

Fuck all about women's rights is the answer. Nothing about equal pay, opportunities, training, childcare, reproductive rights, *actual* sexual predation (rather than theorical), domestic abuse, menopausal support or mental health. But a whole heap of bullshit about toilets.

Day off today is already awesome; unexpected Raven Forge delivery! They'd been stuck in customs hell for 2 months. J got me a rapier as a (belated) anniversary present (and a bonus 2-hander for himself as a treat), and we got a free pizza axe and tanto! #swords ⚔️

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fulfil the prophecy......

considering that vegas now has a Big Fucking Pyramid and a Big Fucking Sphere, there is a unique opportunity here for the construction of a Big Fucking Cube

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we spent decades refining the model of “the computer gives the right answer” and I remain unconvinced people wish to replace this with “the computer gives the wrong answer, but in plausible-sounding words”

No notes, GPT. 10/10.

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the erasure of 20+ years of news stories here is yet another sign that future generations will have much richer knowledge of the 1930s than they will the GW Bush and Obama years. The wayback machine is carrying a lot of weight these days. If that goes, adios: variety.com/2024/digital...

MTV News Website Goes Dark, Archives Pulled Offlinevariety.com The website of the already-defunct MTV News has been fully pulled offline.

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I reject the goth/preppy binary and instead approximate this system using multi-dimensional analysis, with the 5 axes being: scary, sporty, baby, posh, and ginger

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Cities, "Not overdrawing the power grid is a matter of personal responsibility, don't use your AC!" Every tech company, "LET'S ADD MORE AI SUCKING UP POWER" Cities, "Great idea! How about you do it here and don't pay taxes?"

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“Research has shown that some emotional AIs disproportionately attribute negative emotions to the faces of black people, which would have clear and worrying implications if deployed in areas such as recruitment, performance evaluations, medical diagnostics or policing.”

Are you 80% angry and 2% sad? Why ‘emotional AI’ is fraught with problemswww.theguardian.com AI that purports to read our feelings may enhance user experience but concerns over misuse and bias mean the field is fraught with potential dangers

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my favorite fact about the cybertruck is that all the electronics are daisy-chained together on a single system so ONE fail point and the entire thing bricks.

"you can't wash the Cyber truck or get it wet" "the ceiling is held on by clips and the clips often fall off" "they glued the gas pedal on and when it falls off it traps you in accelerate" at what point is this thing like..... no longer a car

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There were 16 trans youth suicides after gender affirming care restrictions were implemented in the UK in 2020 compared with only 1 in the 7 years prior. Staff at the NHS attempted to cover it up. Hilary Cass knew but minimized what was happening. This is a massive scandal. Cass lied, kids died.

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If you are interested in fossils & culture this is a great #FossilFriday read. Geomyths - such as "griffins have origins in Protoceratops fossils" - can be hugely seductive, but that doesn't mean they are supported by evidence.

New open-access paper for #FossilFriday! Richard Hing and I examine the idea that griffins were inspired by the horned #dinosaurs Protoceratops, concluding that the idea is non-evidenced at best, and outright problematic at worst. Check it out here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...