Posts by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
(DIR) Post #Ao6uxdhQQfI5yIoi00 by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2024-11-16T19:54:15Z
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@futurebird @whknott I mean… I have a problem with stats because so many of the people who founded the field seem to have been awful people trying to come up with rigorous seeming ways to support their outright racism.
(DIR) Post #Ao6vrMO3yzhgUlKWzg by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2024-11-16T20:04:19Z
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@futurebird @whknott oooh, those are brilliant. That spiral chart, in particular… I'd not come across it before, but it's a real gut punch, isn't it?I'm not sure that overtly polemic data visualisation belongs in the same subject as the eugenicist statisticians trying to paint their prejudices as somehow objective though. DuBois is absolutely honest about his subjectivity, Galton and co weren't.
(DIR) Post #AoN3nF673EMStJqA4m by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2024-11-24T14:48:35Z
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@futurebird odd too because you also get those beautiful hand stencils, where someone's placed their hand against the wall and blown or spat pigment over it to leave what seems to be, from my end of the telescope at least, some kind of signature or "I was here!" statement. In that context, not representing human faces seems even weirder to me.
(DIR) Post #AobMb9sgYOpqNwhnHs by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2024-12-01T12:25:15Z
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@futurebird @ajsadauskas @benni is there a wave/particle duality equivalent for discovered/created mathematics?I mean… I know that wave/particle duality isn't really a thing, but maybe we can pretend it is when it comes to maths?
(DIR) Post #ArB9UuapnqjElqgp4i by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-02-16T14:32:13Z
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@futurebird @BritishKoalaTea oh my god! How it doesn’t already have your name on it is a mystery!
(DIR) Post #At0lSgjuRZEJTzlj7Y by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-04-12T09:59:59Z
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@futurebird surely every step on that journey is *deeply* unethical though.Not that it'll stop these fuckers.
(DIR) Post #AtkS1zvl7pYY4ufdbs by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-05-04T10:59:01Z
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@futurebird The necessary tech? Sundials?We'd still need railway time, of course; that got learned the hard way.
(DIR) Post #AwwHhvTa2YjHrCou3M by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-08-07T21:36:10Z
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@futurebird my parents talked to me about possibly going to one and I said no, no, no. I think they were relieved.
(DIR) Post #AxdQi5QGJUPy5ehDqi by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-08-28T16:59:27Z
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Don't spend $300 on Claude credits until you've spent less than a tenth of that on a second hand copy of Jeffrey Friedl's "Mastering Regular Expressions" and read it from cover to cover. I guarantee it'll repay your money and time far faster than anything the AI lootbox spits out.https://mastodon.social/@tommorris/115043730487682672
(DIR) Post #AxdQiDKstMrydIF2Zs by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-08-28T17:04:15Z
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@tommorris I gave away a couple of shelves' worth of programming related books after I realised that not only was I out of the game, but I was never going back into it. Of all of them, Friedl's book is the one that had the most lasting value. Knowing how to write a good regexp never stops being useful. As does knowing their limits. Both of which are explained clearly and memorably in that book. Get it already.
(DIR) Post #AyfXZDNjR6Znbu952O by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-09-28T15:27:59Z
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@futurebird @floatybirb You can probably get away with rag paper so long as you make sure the ink isn't so acidic it'll eat the paper.
(DIR) Post #Az7pbpLkTv53XvUVqi by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-10-12T07:01:39Z
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@foone But do you even use Visual BroPro, bro?
(DIR) Post #AzkSCUk7Kwu7kEQr0S by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-10-30T22:13:13Z
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@futurebird One of the many things I love about Terry was that he would agree with you about that :)
(DIR) Post #AztYRkrW2I5UEHBwwK by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-11-04T07:35:14Z
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@foone How could you not while remaining Foone Turing?
(DIR) Post #B0MtgUC8XE77Ud5txI by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-11-18T11:20:28Z
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@futurebird In a perfect world I'd have an induction wok station with a two zone induction plate next to it. I have yet to find anyone making such a thing, sadly.
(DIR) Post #B0V8AOR9jDvVcO8SJs by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-11-22T10:40:26Z
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@futurebird @cstross I mean… it *was* a ritual, just not the way they're thinking it was.
(DIR) Post #B1laykh2lMBwjHsJf6 by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2025-12-30T07:10:46Z
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@futurebird @javier In an early probability lecture my our prof integrated the Gaussian formula on the board. I don't remember much from forty years ago, but I do remember he took advantage of the fact that the area under the curve had to be one as a short cut.
(DIR) Post #B2j4B8c887IjUqso0e by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2026-01-27T23:45:55Z
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@futurebird She's "puss" or even "kitten" (despite being nearly five now) befoe she's a cat, and she's "Sally" before any of those.
(DIR) Post #B2j4TuSoxpU173To6S by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2026-01-27T23:49:22Z
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@futurebird nice! Sally's *definitely* a person and easily the most talkative cat we've ever had.
(DIR) Post #B2wEytowviEegxj0Sm by pdcawley@mendeddrum.org
2026-02-03T08:18:16Z
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@divyaranjan Ooh! Can we use it to add arbitrary text decoration in standard text buffers, or does it have to live in a PALE specific buffer?