Posts by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
(DIR) Post #AZZWCfWymz8Gi2nR68 by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2023-09-06T17:54:55Z
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@gemelliz Time to dust this off, again…
(DIR) Post #AaOjrLGvsS4UxXhnYe by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2023-10-03T13:31:58Z
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Hands up, everyone who has performed surgery or gone to space with their iPhones?
(DIR) Post #AaRASD826UsrXdhgCu by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2023-10-04T20:12:44Z
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@freemo@freemo Ugh, had a brain fart there and got my wires crossed. Let me try again.I was thinking primarily of “free at access, paid by taxes” (catchy, that…).These could be government run or administered, or regulated. In any case, a profit motive works against the good of society in each and must be avoided. They should be treated as services that we pay for (with taxes), and not things we expect a direct financial return on. The return is better health, better environment, better quality of life, better opportunities.In the first three cases, the more people attain (or use), the better off they are, and the better off society is. Some ultra-wealthy types might not be able to buy their fifth car, but I’m *really* not worried about their well-being. • Education, including post secondary• Healthcare, including dental, vision, mental health, prescriptions• Public TransitAdded to the list because the profit motive has made the justice system in the U.S. such a shit show:• Incarceration/Prisons, but not an issue at present in Canada. Hopefully we don’t get people in government that want to go down the path that the U.S. did.
(DIR) Post #Ab8LwJ7e2W2f32M6ls by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2023-10-25T16:05:40Z
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@FediFollows I’m interested in creating an account on a PeerTube instance. I’ll have to shop around (I want to do mostly educational stuff, so maybe @tilvids? Suggestions appreciated 😊).Are there concerns about upload and download speeds? Are some servers better for longer videos? Does size matter? I know I won't get the same reach as YouTube, but are some PeerTube instances more reach-y than others? Are videos “findable” through simple internet searches, or would people have to know where I live (the instance, that is)? Total newbie here…
(DIR) Post #AbInghGAdPc9xbpmRU by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2023-10-30T17:11:09Z
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@JonathanMBR@JonathanMBR @tantramar Two guys did an assignment and presentation on benzene and mostly phoned it in, aside from a two page comic telling the story of Billy, a young man who discovers that wishing for a life without benzene has unfortunate consequences… It all starts with him looking for something to wash his hands with. I still get a laugh from it. 😊 I’m reluctant to post the whole thing, as I’ve lost touch with the artist and don’t want to take liberties.#Chemistry #SafetyFirst
(DIR) Post #AbXM5wE5JW8B6KJtZ2 by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2023-11-06T17:43:12Z
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@ParadeGrotesque @tantramar Nothing like challenging times to reveal how competent/incompetent your government is.
(DIR) Post #AhnGcUf5HJGiFXsRP6 by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2024-05-11T18:47:50Z
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I’m seeing this graphic making the rounds without attribution - many versions have the info at the bottom cut off. The creator is alienyrox2 on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/user/alienyrox2/).https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/ic1g5o/colors_of_aurora_oc/#Aurora #CreditYourSources #AltText
(DIR) Post #AiJxJFIcgTWOBp9nZw by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2024-05-27T15:39:04Z
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@futurebird I figure there will always be maladjusted people who crave power and attention. What disturbs me *far* more is that we give it to them, instead of embarrassed silence, or referrals to psychiatric services.
(DIR) Post #AitlWc0Mc5x1nzBn8q by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2024-06-13T22:16:44Z
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@futurebird I just listened to a *very* interesting episode of the podcast “The Joy of Why,” in which they interviewed Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist at UC Berkeley. She studies how psychedelics can reopen critical periods for learning (the term “critical period” comes from Konrad Lorenz - think baby geese imprinting on people). Really fascinating stuff with applications to treating PTSD, depression, and so forth. It sounds like psychedelics reenable the plasticity of the brain, and with respect to your comment, maybe take away the paralyzing influence of preconceived notions or prior conditioning. You could get innovation and advancement more quickly that way.You wouldn’t have to have a lot of people taking them, but a small number of people may be able to open up their creativity enough for everyone to benefit.The podcast in question (with transcript):https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-psychedelics-improve-mental-health-20240606/
(DIR) Post #AjF91Sv2zqeonObSmu by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2024-06-23T03:40:13Z
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@br00t4c @DoomsdaysCW “War has no winners”Military-Industrial Complex: We beg to differ…
(DIR) Post #AknXepUHoPGbFiAu9Y by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2024-08-09T16:05:26Z
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Hey Tooters - If you are linking to YouTube videos, don’t use the “Share” function in YouTube to generate the link. Copy and paste the URL from your address bar.Using the “Share” function generates a generic preview in Mastodon, whereas cutting and pasting the actual URL gives a nice preview for the video, including the title.The preview for my image below might be cropped in your browser, click to see the comparison.#Communication #Mastodon #YouTube
(DIR) Post #An6bDK1hoSDRfMU0h6 by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2024-10-17T18:20:52Z
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@futurebird Since we’re talking about flipping coins, and odds, I’d like to share a fun challenge I gave one of my classes many years ago (it’s getting to the point that any teaching story is many years ago 😢).I gave them a grid of, I think, 10 x 10 = 100 squares and told them I wanted them to take the sheet home and do one of two things:Either1. Flip a coin 100 times and record H or T as appropriate, in order, on the grid.or2. Fake it, just fill in the squares with H’s or T’s, but try to make it look like you flipped a coin.I think I told them in advance that when they brought the sheets back, I would be able to tell who faked it and who actually flipped the coins.Okay, memory is fuzzy on actual numbers, but there were something like 25 sheets turned in, around 1/3 faked. I successfully identified the genuine and fake attempts for 23 of the sheets, and misidentified one of each.Not bad, eh? All I did was look for long runs of either H or T, like four or five in a row. If the sheet had one, I judged it genuine, if it didn’t, I judged it a fake. When people think they are simulating a random process, long runs of one result are seen as more improbable than they actually are. I wish I could remember what the actual lesson connection was - I wasn't a math teacher at the time 😄#Probability #ITeach #Math
(DIR) Post #AnqEXoeJn3i5nb0bGS by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2024-08-21T15:13:12Z
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@mina @photovotary @RickiTarr To those people who value having been hit as a child, I would ask, “Did it work?”I was an impulsive, adventurous kid. I got into fights, I stole stuff, I broke stuff, I set stuff on fire… I got spanked a *lot*! I remember many, many times that I did things that were punished with a spanking. I *don’t* remember thinking, even *once*, “I’d better not do this, I’m going to get spanked!”I *do* remember conversations:- The one where my mom talked to me about my experiment with smoking when I was nine. No spanking, just a good argument against it, in terms that made sense to me at the time.- The one where she sat me down with some pamphlets from the fire department (I was playing with matches and so forth) and talked about her fears for the consequences of my fascination with flame.- The ones that reminded me of the value of treating other people with respect, love, and empathy.Spanking, even by caring, compassionate parents that were clearly trying to guide their children to do the right thing, didn’t work. I never felt any kind of resentment against my parents. After the fact, I fully agreed that whatever I had done warranted the punishment. I suppose it helped that my father would always come and talk to me, after I had had a chance to think about it. He would make it clear that it was only about my actions, and not indicative of any lack of love for me. The punishment was compartmentalized nicely.Oddly, I’m thankful for that lesson, because it guided my own parenting. I realized that *my* urge to spank my kids was all about me, acting rash in the moment, as opposed to any kind of effective strategy to mold young minds. I could only imagine I would feel regret in the aftermath, and not achieved anything other than the possible resentment of me by my kids. To be clear, *I* never felt that resentment for my parents. But I did notice it wasn’t an effective deterrent.Maybe it works for kids that are less impulsive than I was. But I think those kids would be even more receptive to a conversation than I was. Maybe try that instead.
(DIR) Post #ArPxBkRT2HnnhsnpfE by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2025-02-23T15:36:04Z
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Windows users, does Windows have a hierarchical file view like macOS (pictured below)? I want to be able to select multiple files in multiple folders to drag them into an app, and I haven't found a way to do it without opening each folder individually.In Windows, unless there's a better way, I have to double click on a folder, then drag the file I want, then go up in the directory to show the folder list again, and repeat for each file. Significantly more work.#Windows #Tech
(DIR) Post #AsWuXXWGwhMEkOuJc0 by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2025-03-28T23:10:39Z
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@georgetakei “I'll go back to my country if you can point to it on a map”
(DIR) Post #AsWuaYM8IBMKD6bMGm by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2025-03-22T14:18:20Z
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#Canada, where we celebrate civil rights icons (eventually…). #USPoli #StillWaitingForThoseTubmans
(DIR) Post #AsWuaeRfeVM161Erjc by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2025-03-22T14:19:03Z
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I love the reaction from her sister upon first glimpsing the banknote 😊 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfdlPrglcS8
(DIR) Post #AsmXNMGb0yb6y6BP0K by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2025-04-05T13:16:14Z
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@futurebird @remote_orb “If you were late to the Late Bombardment, have we got a show for you!”
(DIR) Post #At1MmlkhDG0N7oZitM by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2025-04-12T16:58:14Z
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@futurebird I can see how this leads to a lot of insecurity in relationships: “I know why I'm attracted to you, I don't know why you’re attracted to me”
(DIR) Post #AtCqUiGn8kut0bu8Ei by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2025-04-18T01:47:37Z
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I, personally, don't give a rat's ass what the thoughts are of one rich celebrity who paid another rich dude to ride a rocket for a few minutes. Unless those thoughts turn to, “My god, I'm a horrible person, I could have donated that money to the food bank.” Then we're on the same wavelength.