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@b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy

2 followers 0 following 184 posts

Don't panic. [bridged from xoxo.zone/@b on the fediverse by fed.brid.gy ]

Posts Replies Media

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026

Hi everybody, I'll be presenting a seminar on AI and copyright on Friday 9 October @ 11AM Eastern (16:00 UTC), based on my paper "The Art Critics Won't Save You from the Robots". Even if you somehow have zero interest in AI, this talk will help you to understand why U.S. copyright law feels […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2026

#FollowFriday @b0rk , who will use cheerful stick figures to teach you things even some experts don't know about the command line, and how to gracefully handle mansplainers.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2026

The collapse of diversity in telephones after the iPhone came out was obvious, from keyboards and flips and slides to nothing but glass rectangles. But the diversity keeps collapsing, and new glass rectangles are all between 16 and 19cm, with an aspect ratio between 19.5:10 and 22:10. Flip […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2026

RIP to the telephone I've had for five years, the Samsung SM-P205 - Screen size was the Golden Ratio, like a paperback. It's Golden! Why doesn't anybody sell a telephone with this aspect ratio anymore? - 8 inch screen was the perfect size for reading all the PDFs and web pages the world sent […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 12/08/2026

The first network-theory analysis of the U.S. corporate/partnership web is published! And it's open access! Two lessons: ∙ All the hellishly complicated convolutions you'd expect are there at the micro level. ∙ It's extremely regular at the macro level, and we can use those regularities to […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 09/08/2026

Here's a nice one-pager by @ajschumacher on how you can write simple 2x2 matrices that act like complex numbers. If that sounds surprising or weird to you, you're probably the target audience. planspace.org/20260804-some_matrice…

Some matrices behave just like complex numbers

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 07/08/2026

A #FollowFriday for @tomstafford , a Professor of Cognitive Science who has been teaching us about interesting behavioral quirks for decades.

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 05/08/2026

Many of our debates are between people who care about how things are made and people who don't care: vegetarianism, environmental destruction for consumer junk, slavery and sweatshop labor, training of AI models. It's frustrating, but I'm not sure if there's a way to get people who don't care […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 02/08/2026

My personal favorite work was my migration study, the only study of the causes/correlates of migration using the full US pop. The short answer: the hyperrational economists are wrong and it's not about income gain. For the methodologists, I got there by proving that a statistic from the 1950s […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 01/08/2026

#followFriday for @johncarlosbaez , a mathematician who is always finding interesting things—when he isn't writing them himself. Even when his explainers are over my head, they feel like an inspiration to keep learning until I can get the details.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 22/07/2026

Here's National Geographic explaining how the Endangered Species Act is being cut to pieces. It published earlier this week, but #2 and #3 have already been put into regulation. www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/…

nationalgeographic.com

What proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act mean for wildlife

Four major updates could alter the way the act is administered—and how animals are protected.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 13/07/2026

RE: mastodon.social/@grimalkina/1168753… RTing this because not only do you help the author with posts positively referencing their work, but you help the timeline. Wouldn't you rather have a feed of exciting long reads than endless USPOL snark?

mastodon.social

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Tom Stafford @tomstafford.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy · 12/07/2026

Sunday night bump for Monday's post: tomstafford.substack.com/p/striking… "A natural experiment shows how we always have something to learn, even about the things we are most familiar with."

tomstafford.substack.com

Striking evidence for forced experimentation

A natural experiment shows how we always have something to learn, even about the things we are most familiar with.

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 12/07/2026

All you need to know about the US Supreme Court is that its opinion in a case about Prince has zero Prince lyrics, but repeated references to The Sound of Music. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf… Missed opportunities: "We all need to reach out for something new. That […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 06/07/2026

RE: xoxo.zone/@b/102974865712800421 Made my first update of Ludwig van Shuffle in ~7 years. So nice having software simple and specific enough that it doesn't require attention. PS: I'm still astonished that I've never seen this functionality anywhere else. I can't be the only person […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 29/06/2026

You'll never guess what brand of coffee they _don't_ sell at the Folger Shakespeare Library café. Totally a missed opportunity.

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 28/06/2026

Super-glad I got this op-ed about 12-dimensional spheres into Scientific American before it got sold out. www.scientificamerican.com/article/… It's an explainer about the curse of dimensionality and its relevance to social […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2026

OK, intellectual property fans, here's a draft law review essay I wrote for you about AI and copyright, entitled "The art critics won't save you from the robots". It's really about a trend in copyright jurisprudence which is distorting the AI debate. You shift the trend, you fix the debate—and […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 16/06/2026

The golden age of piracy (mid-1600s) wasn't too far behind the popularization of the printing press and establishment of a printing industry (mid-to-late 1500s). Authors of the late 1600s would analogize printers who copied their works to pirates ("land pirates" or "word pirates"), and we still […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 15/06/2026

TeX tip: \defs are pattern matched! E.g., \def\todo(<#1>){{\bf #1}} then usage: \todo(<Get yr act together.>) If your heavily-used macros have a different format, you're less likely to drown in curly braces. I'd be interested to hear if you all have other uses for going beyond curly braces in […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 14/06/2026

Why are genies always granting wishes ironically? What's in it for them? What motivates them? They seem sidelined as characters. Next time you see something with a genie in it, you can check whether there are at least two genies, who talk to each other, about something other than granting wishes.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 13/06/2026

Oh, and as a follow-up to my last post, the demonym for a person who lives in Las Vegas is: Vegan. There used to be a free local paper called The Vegan Times, even. Have a lucky day, everybody.

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 13/06/2026

[Unsolicited pronunciation tip] Throwaway particles aren't stressed, like "the PLAINS" and not "THE plains", or even "saint JOSEPH" and not "SAINT joseph". The same works in Spanish! Not "LAS vegas" but "las VEGAS", not "SAN josé" but "san JOSË".

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 02/06/2026

Hey, orchestra nerds, what are your favorite works to perform? I've read more than enough audience favorites lists, but I expect the pieces that excite you as a performer are different.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 18/05/2026

Card games: they don't all have to be trick taking or set collection. Carbondale is a grid-building, friendly thievery card game playable with the standard decks of cards you have in your house right now: carbondale.network . #SelfPromotionSunday

carbondale.network

carbondale.network

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 15/05/2026

It finally happened: I sent a colleague 200 lines of code, and he 'improved' it by feeding it to an AI. Was so chipper when he sent me 2,000 lines in return, but then having to fix it and explain to them why the robot-generated version wasn't workable took most of my day. I'm never getting that […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 29/04/2026

For you fans of science writer/comic musician Liz Landau, her latest is really her finest. Passed it on to an expectant coworker, who commented "I'm tearing up just a little". www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ71REKRdWY

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 20/04/2026

At work, have been sporadically passing around that essay I wrote on the history of modern math and how it advises better computing technique (see link below), and I think a few people have taken it to heart and are writing better code. Best reaction so far: "the big lesson is to stay on good […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 18/04/2026

RE: mastodon.social/@ethanschoonover/11… This is how I do toothpaste. 💯 , would recommend.

mastodon.social

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 15/04/2026

My metaphorical hat is off to those of you in academia. 95% of my interactions with academics are stellar and the highlight of my day, and then 5% are with the most toxic, defensive, gatekeeping jerks I ever have to deal with. I don't know how those of you who encounter those people every day […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 13/04/2026

In a feat of incredible brand consistency, you can't even log in to IRS's Free File Fillable Forms without doing mental arithmetic. This is why I wrote a tax calculator in python: github.com/b-k/py1040 . I do the math there, then copy to FFFF and everything goes fine.

Sign in to Free File Fillable Forms, with the popup security challenge: Find the result of 27+7=?

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 06/04/2026

(1/3) Concrete Blonde:still stuck in my head, still sounds great. Primarily guitarist James Mankey with the finest effects of 1990, and the superlative, superlative voice of Johnette Napolitano. They got a few singles on the radio, about an alcoholic ex ( […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 30/03/2026

Imagine being a ghost, you finally have time to read anything you want, but if you can't move physical objects you have to wait for somebody to open the book you want to read. You have to haunt libraries and possibly wait years for somebody to come by, and then most of the time they stop reading […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 29/03/2026

And I recently had the epiphany that you can just make hash browns. Shred a potato, add what you will, fry for a few minutes, you've got dinner.

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Reposted by b

Sean Boots @sboots.mastodon.sboots.ca.ap.brid.gy · 26/03/2026

“To opt out, GitHub users should visit /settings/copilot/features and disable "Allow GitHub to use my data for AI model training" under the Privacy heading.” www.theregister.com/2026/03/26/gith…

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 21/03/2026

Output passed via named registers, every function in its own file, arrays via name-munging macros: the dream of the 90s is alive in Stata

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 18/03/2026

Talked to somebody who had worked at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve a few years ago and she said its cafeteria was cash only. Astonishing that there are still places that only accept company scrip.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 16/03/2026

duckduckgo implemented my dream feature: an option to 🚫 block sites from your search results which are spam, AI-generated noise, or otherwise not worth clicking through to. It's made search engines tolerable again.

A close-up screen-shot of search results, something from academia.edu, with a menu overlead, including a "block this site from all results" option.

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 12/03/2026

My rule of thumb has always been that if you want to be an expert in something you have to be very familiar with one level down. If you wanna be a Python expert you have to know some C. If you wanna be a good data scientist you have to know matrix algebra. Even if vibe coding really is the […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 07/03/2026

I like the stuff on direct-from-China sites because somebody had the idea, convinced a committee to commit funds, hired engineers and/or designers to think hard about the details, set up a factory and warehouse. It's the ultimate in committing to the bit.

A mushroom-looking thing, and a woman with it stuck in her mouth. Diagrams explain that it vibrates and lines on your face will disappear after you use it.

A porcelain ghost (white-sheet type) giving you the finger.

A woman in a silicone chin-strap type mask. Diagrams show that it turns down-arrows on your face into up-arrows.

A child under a flannel blanket convincingly shaped and colored like a cabbage leaf.

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 01/03/2026

The world population might seem large, but it's still only 1.38e-14 moles.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 01/03/2026

You might feel bad that you can't talk about your favorite kink or your opinion about Middle Eastern politics in most social settings, but you'll never have it as bad as a mathematician. Saying things like "I learned the most amazing thing about prime ideal domains of abelian rings" in polite […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 14/02/2026

Donut mug: not toplogically equivalent to a donut nor a coffee mug.

A coffee mug with a picture of a donut on the side and a hole though the mug. It also has the usual mug handle.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 12/02/2026

Every year, I check for changes on IRS tax forms, and I get to see all the little improvements most will never notice: better kerning, boldface where appropriate, removing excess italics. It's subtle, but they're living documents under constant revision.

The 2024 IRS form 8863. As dull as a tax form should look; maybe the only thing that stands out is a big black caution icon. There are several yes/no questions.

This year's f8863. The "caution" icon has been removed, and the yes/no markers are now boldface and don't have extra spaces around the em dash—which is what most style guides recommend.

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 10/02/2026

I don't get why job application sites time out after ten or fifteen minutes. Are there bands of marauders waiting to pounce on computers with unattended job applications? There are essay questions, often several, which I am not going to speedrun in that time.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 04/02/2026

Tens of thousands of parking spots disappeared under snow in our fair city this week. Without having councilmembers to blame or editors they can write letters to, people are just...dealing with it.

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b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 28/01/2026

I wrote you a short history of mathematics in the last century and its implications for how we can write better data analysis code. If you're not a data hacker, there's still a lot of interesting stuff there for you, like a deep dive into causality, like whether Bertrand Russell caused my birth. […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 26/01/2026

A few years ago I requested a feature on the #firefox fora: the ability to remotely close tabs. E.g., you use sync to open a tab from your desktop on your telephone, read it, then close it in both locations. It's fully implemented and working now, and it feels great. Thx to the maintainers for […]

Original post on xoxo.zone

b @b.xoxo.zone.ap.brid.gy · 17/01/2026

Remedios Varo made ends meet for a while by working for Bayer Pharma, and even her work toned down for public consumption is incredible and makes me want to buy drugs www.vagabunda.mx/publicidad-surreal…

Publicidad surrealista: Remedios Varo y las piezas que hizo para Bayer

Remedios Varo representó distintos síntomas de enfermedades para las que Bayer tenía una medicina. Así surgieron estas piezas, al estilo surrealista de la artista.

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Tom MacWright @tmcw.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/01/2026

been pretty interested in graph layout for a while now. there are a lot of really cool algorithms created in the last decade or so that look a lot better (imho) than the force-directed default layout for a bunch of datasets. so i read through some papers and wrote a little bit about them! […]

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social