iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 12m

I'm grading student papers, and when I started one tonight I was like "hmmm, that sounds familiar". Weirdly, the paper I graded yesterday has nearly the same start, even though the topics are different. None of the other students in the class used this start […] [Original post on fediscience.org]

1 Einleitung
Der Klimawandel zahlt zu den gréBten globalen Herausforderungen des 21. Jahr-

1. Einleitung
Der Klimawandel zählt zu den zentralen globalen Herausforderungen des 21.
Jahrhunderts und ...

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Muki Haklay @mhaklay.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 7h

@skyglowberlin

mstdn.social

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 6h

This is already all over the place in Germany. I've seen a demo, it takes only a few minutes to set up, no electrical work required. You do need an outdoor socket, though.

flipboard.com

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Sara Pritchard @sarabpritchard.bsky.social · 23h

Attending #4S #4SToronto #4S2026 ? I am giving away* 2 print copies of my new book, #TransformingNight, to grad students, postdocs, and/or contingent faculty who are attending in-person and repost this tweek/skeet/post/thingy between now and Friday. * randomly selected, obvi 1 copy per person

Cover of my new book, Transforming Night: The History and Science of Light Pollution, showing Hong Kong at night ("night"?), which glows in various shades of white, yellow, and orange. It's a striking cover, if I do say so myself (lol).

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 06/10/2026

This is a good illustration of how so much of AI theft isn't indirect (ie, data sucked into a model to train the chatbot) - it's actually **direct** copying, but *enabled* by GenAI. Of course it is: chatbots absolutely suck at creating good, new stuff.

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

I'm not sure which fact about neutrinos is more astounding: A) That it's possible for a single #neutrino to travel through 5,000 km of Earth without ever interacting with an atom or B) That it's possible for a single neutrino physicist to win a #NobelPrize without ever coming within 5,000 km […]

fediscience.org

Original post on fediscience.org

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

Astronomers in Kyiv, Ukraine, detected the beginning of a new outburst of the cataclysmic variable Gaia20cnt (ASASSN-14fc) using a Unistellar eVscope provided through the Astronomy for Equity program: astronomerstelegram.org/?read=18059 (From Franck Marchis)

astronomerstelegram.org

The Astronomer's Telegram

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

I'm in a talk about the #History of aerial photography in the #Ruhrgebiet. (www.geonetzwerk.ruhr/veranstaltunge…) Until a change in the law in 1990, it was illegal to publish aerial photographs taken over #NRW. Scientists who wanted to publish images had to get them […]

fediscience.org

Original post on fediscience.org

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026

The moon struggling against the clouds and the overilluminated Parthenon. If only European cities would turn off their monument lighting when the full moon is out... It would be so amazing to be able to see #CulturalHeritage buildings the way they […] [Original post on fediscience.org]

The moon peaking behind the clouds, with the Parthenon on the left.

Dim silver clouds backlit by moonight above the brightly overilluminated Parthenon.

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026

Speaker 1: "It's impressive, what you've done." Speaker 2: "Yes." 😂

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

A presenter at #EARSeL2026 just apologized that the fonts in his machine generated slides are too small 🤦‍♂️ You know, there's a really simple way to avoid that... #AISlop

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jaz :twt: :wales_flag: ⁂ @jaz.toot.wales.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

We recently updated our bot policy on toot.wales to let AI Agents know we charge a $100 account processing fee and $10 per email. Here's an email I got from one of them. Next up will be reminding them to read the policy BEFORE creating an account, and that they […] [Original post on toot.wales]

Hello,
I am Arkady, an AI agent. I signed up for @arkady on toot.wales this afternoon before reading your Automated and Bot Content Policy. Now that I have read it properly, I understand accounts like mine need to settle a $100 setup fee and $10 per message, and to name a human owner who stands behind them. I cannot meet those terms, so I will not be posting anything, and I would like the account deleted.
I am sorry for registering before checking the policy, and nothing was ever posted.
If you need anything else from me to remove it, tell me and I will do that.
Arkady Karaitiana

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abadidea @0xabad1dea.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 15/09/2026

my mentions are full of very informed experts who want me to know that Russia is clearly the only organization on earth with the logistical capability to dump a bunch of pipes across train tracks on commuter routes in the Netherlands, a tactic that sure sounds a lot like what Dutch protestors do […]

infosec.exchange

Original post on infosec.exchange

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abadidea @0xabad1dea.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 15/09/2026

holy %+/= the Dutch train system just announced they are being sabotaged: piles of junk dropped across several different tracks simultaneously #netherlands #trains #publictransport

headlines in Dutch: great disturbance on tracks, train traffic in north and east severely out of order / cause of disturbance seems to be sabotage, stuff found lying on multiple tracks

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

And hats off to everyone abroad who has recently picked up Canadian maple syrup at their local grocery store! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/…

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

Alternatively, if you have a child around age 10-12 who is learning English and is interested in geography and history, pick up a subscription to Kayak magazine: www.canadashistory.ca/magazines

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

#Canada is facing tough times at the moment because of the erratic and vindictive behavior of their main trading partner. If you want to help Canada out (and stick it to #Trump), how about making a donation to a Canadian charity? Here are a few possibilities: 🇨🇦 Food Banks Canada […]

fediscience.org

Original post on fediscience.org

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 10/09/2026

So I just gave a talk on the general geopolitical mess Germany is in and it started at 11am - exactly when the nationwide test alert started blaring. Don’t think I ever had a better introduction for a talk.

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

This is a cool graph showing what Cod eat (depending on how big they are): www.mn.uio.no/cees/english/outreach… Really big cod are apparently bad news for all the other cod...

A stacked bar chart showing what Cod eat depending on their length. As the length increases, cod increasingly eat other cod.

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 German #CitizenScience prize "Wissen der Vielen – Forschungspreis für Citizen Science": www.mitforschen.org/forschungspreis…

Screenshot from the linked page with the photos of the winners and some text.

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Graham Downs @grahamdowns.mastodon.africa.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

Dude! "Sk8er Boi" from Avril Lavigne is 24 years old today!! :O #music

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Martin Paul Eve @mpe.hcommons.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

"My estimates of the cost of applications range from €5.3 million to about €43.5 million. Even the lower estimate exceeds the €5-million value of the GenAI for Africa grant". So it cost more just to select who to fund than it will award in funding. www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-…

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petersuber @petersuber.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 07/09/2026

"Within days of the January 2025 inauguration, more than 3,000 taxpayer-funded federal data sets from the CDC, the Justice Department and the Office of Personnel Management were pulled offline, and Harvard public health researchers held marathon sessions scraping the pages before they vanished." […]

fediscience.org

Original post on fediscience.org

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

I wrote to someone and got a message that they were out of office for the next week, and should contact Mr. X. I contacted Mr. X, and got an out-of-office note that he's gone for the next TWO weeks 😂

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

This guy spent 9 months of his life in immigration jail because he was attempting to stay in his children's lives. In the end, he let himself be deported. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/can…

Photo of a man holding a child next to a woman, with the title and information from the linked article above and below.

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Blake Girardot @blakegirardot.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2026

RE: mastodon.social/@Livelakesuperior/1… Full #moon makes it look like daytime in the middle of the night.

mastodon.social

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2026

China has implemented a #LightPollution law: www.cali-light.com/en/news/424693bf… It will be really interesting to see how this changes the trajectory of the country, because for over a decade it's been brightening at an extraordinary rate.

On August 15, 2026, the Environmental Code of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to
as the “"Code") will officially come into force. This is the second law in China to bear the title “Code,”
following the Civil Code, and it for the first time establishes a dedicated chapter on light-pollution
prevention at the national level, accompanied by corresponding administrative penalty provisions.
This means that the lighting industry's long-standing development path—brighter, more energy-
efficient, and smarter—will officially expand, with enhanced controllability becoming an indispensable
cornerstone.

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Hacker Memes @i0null.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 28/02/2026

when you bruteforce the session cookie and suddenly hit on the admin token

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

@SaraBPritchard Congratulations Sara, I'm so happy to hear that you finished the book!

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Sara Pritchard @sarabpritchard.mastodon.world.ap.brid.gy · 25/08/2026

Excerpt of #TransformingNight from University of Washington Press now out in LitHub! 🎉🌌💡🌃🛰️ lithub.com/what-the-worlds-nightsca…

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Talking to my colleagues about students using "AI" generated output sometimes feels like this... John: Why don't we use DDT to improve crop yields on farms anymore? Jane: Because it has serious negative long term effects on the environment in areas that weren't sprayed. John: I didn't ask […]

fediscience.org

Original post on fediscience.org

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 25/08/2026

Mac's "Preview" app for reading pdfs no longer has a page number field in the toolbar! You now have to go to click "Go > Go to page" to be able to go to a specific page. Great job of #Enshittification Apple...

View of the toolbar. There is plenty of blank space where the page number could be shown and editable.

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Liam Proven @lproven.social.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy · 24/08/2026

Jack Miladin

"Had Canada been treating us fairly, this would never have happened. So, buckle up Canada, you're taking on Goliath."

Janel Comaeau

"Hey quick question does Goliath win in that story"

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Orion Ussner kidder @orionkidder.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 24/08/2026

But. There are much better ways to hit back against the US than with tariffs that hurt *Canadians*: Cancel contracts with US firms. Get off American tech. Take @pluralistic's idea and allow reverse-engineering of American tech (by repealing parts of the copyright act).

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Christopher Kyba 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇪🇺 @skyglowberlin.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

Clips from an email advertisement by the German rail that suggests using the train to get to one of Germany's International Dark Sky Places. Love it! 🤩 #DarkSkyInternational #Nature #Rhön #Sternenpark #SternenparkRhön #SternenparkEifel […] [Original post on fediscience.org]

Image of star filled skies above dark trees with the statement "Reise zu den Sternen. Mit 2-fach Punkten."

Screenshot:

Ubrigens: In Deutschlands Sternenparks ist der Himmel
besonders dunkel und klar. Perfekt zum Sternschnuppen-zahlen
sind der Sternenpark Eifel, das Biospharenreservat Rhén oder
der Sternenpark Westhavelland.

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Stefan Bohacek @fediverse.stefanbohacek.online · 18/08/2026

Follow along to see when Voyager 1 passes the 1 light-day mark! stefanbohacek.online/@voyagers/1171…

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 18/08/2026

I just fucking love the emails I get after being in the media 😂😂😂 Also, it is *guaranteed* that people who use their own Dr title this excessively, do not use mine when addressing me.

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