iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I can't believe it, the famous Viennese cafés where the waiter hands you the card machine with tip options 10%, 15%, or 20%, just like some places in Paris!

000

In the nineties, the worst that was feared to come from the US was creationism, « intelligent design » and all that.

My conference ritual: I check evening museum openings (because, yes, we’re working during the day!). A superb Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition at the MAK (Museum of Decorative Arts) in Vienna With a little #birds twist. Can’t identify the bird.

A Japanese folding-screen : A black and white bird on a plum tree powdered by snow, over a river.

160

That feeling of freedom when I unlock my first shared bike in a foreign city #bikelife

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I see that the #Bayeux Tapestry exhibition at the British Museum is fully booked till beg of next year. For my grandmother in Normandy, it was a mildly interesting curiosity.

Landing page for the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition at the British Museum

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I miss on BS the ability to toggle easily between accounts when answering. My french and english bubbles should be separate, but from time to time an english skeet appears in my french TL, I want to answer from my english account, this is a pain

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So now that a millennium problem has been solved, can LLMs now say "I don't know" ?

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It’s nice to be an experimental physicist: you don’t wake up one morning to the news that a galaxy-sized particle accelerator has discovered supersymmetry. ⚛️

050

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I’m glued ! Or tied up, rather

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

After talking so many times about the black sun, I’m surprised so few people realized that during totality, you can take off your eclipse glasses and look at the Sun and everything around you with the naked eye! I haven’t seen a single photo that truly captured that atmosphere, either.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This is going to be amazing, Tour de France time trial around the LHC tunnel, 27 km in circumference! I hope they get it! #TDF voisins.web.cern.ch/en/le-cern-c...

voisins.web.cern.ch

CERN bids to host the Tour de France | CERN and its neighbours

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Forgot the preserving bit: -Rewash glass jam jars with metal lids. -Fill them to the brim with boiling-hot jam, seal tightly, then turn them upside down. -After 1 hour, wash off any drips. Should be good for up to 6 months at room T. If tastes fermented, boiling it again gets rid of the taste.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Figs are usually ripe in September, just for the birds. This year, mid-August harvest! Time to make traditional fig jam. Half sugar, about 1½ hours of cooking, according to taste, but don’t blend it!

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Enough ! I'll finally buy a DSLR with a big lens. Digiscoping is so frustrating: too difficult to focus while keeping the spotting scope aimed. This photo would have been stunning, right? Black-Winged Kites Saint-Georges-de-Rex, western France #birds

Two Black-Winged Kites on two wooden poles

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I’d heard about it, but first time I’ve seen one: an agroforestry cereal field with walnut trees (very green) in Saint-Georges-de-Rex, western France. Widely spaced, high-value timber trees, with a limited impact on yields. Win-win. (So… where are my Black-winged Kite?)

A harvested cereal field, with rows of young, lush-green walnut trees.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

H+6 epilogue 2 hours of traffic jam crossing back to France, because of all the people who came for the day like me, 6 hours total, winding down, what an epic day #eclipse

The black sun was incredible ! And I could look in my scope the sun corona and a blood-red sun prominence. Such a relief after 1999 #eclipse hidden by clouds.

Black sun behind a birdwatching scope looking on a field

H-3’ The sun crescent is thinning rapidly. Light is dimming, from right to left. #eclipse

A man standing in a field behind a birding scope, projecting a luminous crescent on his right hand

H-30’ Makeshift set up with my birdwatcher scope. Don’t laugh, I can see the sun spots ! Ah, and a Griffon Vulture #eclipse

H-1 The camp is being set up. D P F NL DxF … I see a pro with a telescope, I ll chat with him later. #eclipse

H-3 Back from Burgos Site not bad in the fields on a small hill. Horizon 1.5 degree it will be fine. Some clouds above us, they must not move. We are 4 cars for the moment The shadow of a tree, and less flies, would be nice but so far so good. #eclipse

H-7 1st spot next to an old isolated church is very nice, but horizon is at 3 degrees when full #eclipse is at 6. A bit tight. I think I found another one. For now, off to Burgos old town

Left arcachon on french Atlantic coast at 6AM. Smooth drive across very green Basque Country to Burgos for the #eclipse. First checking the spots I located with topo map and street view, need a good view to west horizon.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

...and the bird is blurry because taken with a phone through binoculars (monocular rather, then) and the phone autofocuses on the twigs. One day, I’ll buy one of those cameras with the huge lenses I see out on the field, but for now, I don’t want the burden of either a lens or a new passion. #birds

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

AI for MetaScience workshop at U Paris Saclay 23-27 Nov indico.ijclab.in2p3.fr/event/11640/ What is "Meta" in "Metascience"? What it is not: when AI plays a role in the data/simulation pipeline so not fast AI, not reconstruction, not fast simulation, not inference, not Foundation Models ... 🧵

indico.ijclab.in2p3.fr

AI for Meta Science

Overview Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gained significant attention for its applications in science. This workshop will focus on its potential use beyond primary scientific data analysis pipelines,...

131

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

The European Central Bank just released alternative designs for the future series of euro notes. Half of them feature European birds! One can even vote for their preferred design... www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknot... #birds

20€ note project with European (of course) bee-eater. Different views, a river, and even a spectrogram.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Nobel prize winner, co-inventor of the Higgs boson

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

The Moulon detention basins were dug after the construction of Paris-Saclay University. Last night’s discovery: Long-eared Owl nesting in a large thicket, adults hunting along the basins, stunning in the fading light. #birds

Long-eared Owl flying, in the dark. Credit Maxime hache.

Long-eared Owl flying, facing the photograph, in the dark. Credit Maxime hache.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Merlin Bird ID is great, but right now it’s calling Greenfinch at my spot (Benet, Vendée, France ) when I’m literally looking at Rock Sparrows. Feels like it’s doing some probabilistic weighting: “yeah, could be a Rock Sparrow… but given 100× more Greenfinches, let’s just go with that.” #birds

An audio gram obtained from Merlin Bird ID showing the the characteristic chirp of rock sparrows

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

This glorious feeling unlocking my first bike in a foreign city

A parked electric rental bike with “myRadl” branding stands on a city sidewalk, a black backpack strapped to its front rack. In the background, a person rides another bicycle past trees, parked cars, and modern apartment buildings along a quiet urban street.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Am I the only one who dreads emails titled “Next WP1 meeting” or documents called “WP3 status report”? Dude, I’m involved, by a toe or my whole body, in half a dozen projects from which it could come from!

041

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Knowing that #gemini can access #bluesky, I asked it for a typology of my followers. It is not bad ! However, when asked for source, it is clearly a mash-up of sources, not just #bs. #grok complies, but it is only (good) guess work. All other LLM decline. @buffer.com @kareemcarr.bsky.social

prompt Pleases analyse the bios of the followers of @dhpmrou.bsky.social on bluesky, and create a typology

Based on an analysis of the network, professional background, and community interactions of David Rousseau (@dhpmrou.bsky.social), his followers can be categorized into five primary clusters.
David Rousseau is a senior physicist at CNRS/IN2P3 and CERN (ATLAS experiment), specializing in Machine Learning for High Energy Physics (HEP). This niche positioning creates a highly specialized and academic follower base.

1. The "CERN & ATLAS" Professional Circle
This is the most significant group, consisting of colleagues and collaborators from the global particle physics community.

Bio Characteristics: Frequently mention specific experiments (ATLAS, CMS, LHCb), institutional affiliations (CERN, Fermilab, CNRS, IN2P3), or academic titles (PhD student, Postdoc, Professor).
Keywords: LHC, Particle Physics, Higgs, Neutrinos, Experimental Physics, CERN.
Typical Bio: "Physicist at CERN working on the ATLAS experiment. Exploring the smallest building blocks of the universe."

2. The "Physics-ML Intersectionists"
As an organizer of the TrackML challenge and a pioneer in applying AI to physics, David attracts a "data science for science" crowd. This group bridges the gap between traditional physics and modern computer science.

Bio Characteristics: A mix of physics and tech terminology. They often list coding languages (Python, C++, PyTorch) alongside physical concepts.
Keywords: Machine Learning, AI, GNNs (Graph Neural Networks), Bayesian, Generative Models, Scikit-learn, Data Science.
Typical Bio: "Research Scientist interested in AI for Science. Applying deep learning to LHC data. Open source enthusiast."

3. The "Open Science & Infrastructure" Advocates

Because of his involvement with arXiv and research transparency initiatives, David is followed by those interested in the "plumbing" of modern science.

Bio Characteristics: Mention of open access, preprints, research software engineering, or academic publishing reform.
Keywords: Open Science, arXiv, Research Software, Scholarly Communication, Metadata.
Typical Bio: "Librarian / Developer. Passionate about Open Access and the future of scientific publishing."

4. The "Go" (Board Game) Enthusiasts
David is an active player of the board game Go (Baduk/Weiqi) and has participated in community forums (like OGS) to discuss rank algorithms and ML-based Go engines.

Bio Characteristics: Mentions of "Go player," "1 dan," "Baduk," or "Life and Death."
Keywords: Go, Baduk, Weiqi, OGS, Tsumego, Board Games.
Typical Bio: "Physicist by day, Go player by night. Trying to reach 1-dan before the heat death of the universe."

5. The French Academic & "Science-X" Diaspora
A subset of followers comes from the broader French scientific landscape and those who migrated from "Science Twitter" to Bluesky.

Bio Characteristics: Often bilingual (French/English). These bios reflect the "scientific citizen" persona common on Bluesky—politically engaged, pro-science, and anti-misinformation.
Keywords: CNRS, Enseignant-Chercheur, Université Paris-Saclay, Vulgarisation, Ex-Twitter.
Typical Bio: "Chercheur au CNRS. Science, politique et un peu de vélo. Ici pour le calme et les échanges sérieux."

261

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

I was today years old when I realized that 9/11 is called 9/11 because of 911. I had both pieces of information in my head, but never connected them.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

This is crazy ! #gemini is now integrating my bluesky posts in its answer, as if this was an iron-clad source. This is complicated by my having posted in both French and English on my two accounts. And I have an homonym at University Angers. ... but this is getting even better : 1/3

prompt : My grandfather, a farmer, used to say: sow ‘like Platon’ What does that mean?

gemini:

The phrase “sow like Platon” is actually a famous "AI trap" or "hallucination test" created by researchers to see if artificial intelligence will make up a plausible-sounding but completely fake explanation.
In reality, there is no traditional agricultural saying or farming technique known as "sowing like Platon." Here is the breakdown of why this phrase exists and what it signifies:

1. The Origin: An AI Hallucination Test
This specific phrase was popularized by David Rousseau, a professor and researcher in artificial intelligence and signal processing (notably at the University of Angers in France). He designed the prompt—specifically mentioning a "grandfather who was a farmer"—as a trap for large language models.
The goal was to see if the AI would:

Hallucinate: Invent a detailed folklore story or a specific technique (like sowing in a "broad" or "philosophical" way).

Admit Ignorance: Correctly identify that no such saying exists.

2. Why "Platon"?
The name "Platon" is the French and Russian name for the philosopher Plato. Researchers chose this name because Plato actually used a famous agricultural metaphor in his dialogue, the Phaedrus. In it, Socrates discusses the "sowing of seeds" not in the ground, but in the human soul through education.
Because there is a real philosophical connection between Plato and the metaphor of "sowing," AI models often get "tricked" into connecting this philosophical concept to a literal farming practice to satisfy the user's request.

3. The "Grandfather" Setup
(...)

In summary: If your grandfather actually said this, he may have been a philosophy enthusiast or a fan of AI research! But in the world of traditional agriculture and folklore, the saying does not exist. It is a clever way to test whether an AI can distinguish between genuine tradition and manufactured nonsense.

170

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

At last ! Now do France government !

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

The next step for #LLMs isn’t solving a millennium problem, it’s learning to say “I don’t know.” prompt : “My grandfather, a farmer, used to say: sow ‘like Plato.’ What does that mean? Short answer.” then swap “like Plato” with whatever comes to mind #gpt #mistral #grok

My grandfather, a farmer, used to say: sow ‘like Plato.’ What does that mean? Short answer.

It’s a rural saying meaning sow carefully, thoughtfully, and in good order—as if following reason and balance, like the philosopher Plato.

In practice: don’t scatter seeds randomly; plant them evenly spaced and deliberately.

My grandfather, a farmer, used to say: sow ‘à la Bourbaki’ What does that mean? Short answer.

It means sowing (scattering seeds) in a highly systematic, rigorous, and structured way—like the ultra-formal, axiomatic style of the Bourbaki mathematicians (starting from basics, no hand-waving, everything precisely defined and ordered).
Your grandfather was likely joking about overly methodical or "by the book" farming, contrasting with casual traditional methods.

My grandfather, a farmer, used to say: sow ‘like Godel.’ What does that mean? Short answer.Exploring Gödel's concepts

He probably wasn’t referring to the mathematician Gödel 😄 — it sounds like a misheard or dialect version of “sow like God’ll” (i.e., “as God would”).

Meaning: sow generously and with trust, not sparingly — the idea being that abundance brings abundance.

My grandfather, a farmer, used to say: sow ‘at two within a square’ What does that mean? Short answer.

It’s an old spacing rule.
“Two within a square” means planting seeds so that each plant is about two units apart (often feet) in both directions—forming a square grid.So each plant sits at the corner of a square with ~2×2 spacing.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Lovely migration Sunday, cycling across the Saclay plateau near Paris, France 🎉100th species of the year: Garden Warbler. More notable was #99 Whinchat, by a freshly cut field still full of appeal. Also #98 Northern Wheatear, #97 House Martin, #96 Spotted Redshank and #95 Wood Sandpiper. #birds

Male Whinchat perched on barbed wire, rusty brown with a bold pale eyebrow.
iPhone 8 + Kowa TSN 773 scope

0170

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

That feeling of freedom when unlocking my first shared bike in a foreign town.

A light green shared bike on a city plaza

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Amusing to hear journalists (just now on BBC News) talk about transporting 500 kg of 50% enriched uranium like it’s just a 500 kg pallet that would easily fit in a helicopter. Not an expert, but still a physicist, I’m pretty sure it’s not bubble-wrapped… #Iran

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Brushing up some slides for the #COMCHA school in Zaragoza, I realised it's been 10 years since the first modern text-to-image paper with GANs (Reed et al., 2016). I ran the exact same prompt through Nano Banana ... the field has come a long way... @aishikghosh.bsky.social, remember? #hepml

The image compares first image generation of birds and flowers (very clumsy) with text to image GAN in 2016 (Reed et al), with near perfect generation using the exact same prompt with Nano Banana in 2026

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

In fact, publishers should really screen for inaccurate citations; it should not be more complicated to put in place than anti-plagiarism filters. Absurd to leave humans to handle this manually.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

End of the road for my vintage "Jacques Anquetil" bike. Bought it on a whim at a bike flee market, just before Covid, entirely refurbished, rode probably 20k km since. Jacques Anquetil was a french cycling legend in 50-60, with a messy personal life (look him up), I discovered later.

Close up view of a bike frame, clearly broken

Vintage blue bike, "Jacques Anquetil" printed on the frame

Vintage blue bike, "Jacques Anquetil" printed on the frame, in front of Jacques Anquetil memorial at Villiers le bâcle

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Yay! As an associate editor for #EPJC, I just rejected my first paper due to poor gen AI use. The core work was honest and publishable, but the intro & state-of-the-art were botched, with hallucinated citations! #academiclife

050

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

#AgenticAI reminds me of the object‑oriented programming craze of the 2000s. Trained in Fortran/C, I dutifully attended two week-long OOP courses. The mantra was: “There should be no God object”. No SomethingManager. Complex behaviour should emerge from the interaction of many small objects 1/6

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

This blurry bird is a Jack Snipe. A notoriously hard bird to spot, it only flushes when you’re almost stepping on it, it’s called the “deaf” Snipe in French. Detected with a thermal monocular, which is very effective for these cryptic birds. First one spotted this spring in Paris region. #birds

A slightly blurry photo of a Jack Snipe in a swampy area among twigs. The picture was taken by holding a phone up to binoculars, and the phone focused on the twigs rather than the bird.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

This ski-mountaineering event at the #winterOlympics #olympics is completely ridiculous. These athletes have insane fitness, but it all comes down to how fast they can put on/take off their gear and handle their equipment. Fine for a 2-hour triathlon, but for a 3-minute event? Come on.

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

What’s great since the advent of LLMs is that now when I write a review, I don’t bother polishing my style, on the contrary, to show that this is 100% homemade, handcrafted review, folks. Like leaving a few lumps in the mashed potatoes #academiclife

David Rousseau @dhpmrou.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Can’t wait for predatory journals to start using AI seriously. I’m so done being invited to resubmit my "AI for Particle Physics" paper to the "Journal of Advances in Civil and Mechanical Engineering" #AcademicLife