Posts by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
(DIR) Post #AY8ZMdlygxiFiOsLlw by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2023-07-26T17:12:54Z
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@cstross There's a follow-up paper now, somewhat more formal and with more detail:https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037Notably, there is no resistivity-vs-temperature curve in the paper. OTOH, it's been pointed out that a lot of the rigs used for this sort of thing top out at 400K, and they're claiming Tc > 400K.Intriguingly, it's a lead-copper-phosphorous-oxygen molecule in a copper cladding (to stress the xtal a certain way). That means the materials are commonly available (no unobtainium rare earths, for example).Still... everybody's rushing to cook their own and test it independently. I have scars from believing too hard when the cold fusion thing happened back in the 80s.
(DIR) Post #AY8ZMeWPuIrM2QbR9k by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2023-07-27T19:50:35Z
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@cstross Worked my way through the first paper, and so far so good: near-vanishing resistivity, measured critical current and critical magnetic field, some Meissner effect and a mechanism that looks like Josephson junctions.Now working on 2nd paper, which DOES seem to have a resistivity vs temp curve, indicating Tc at about 120 C = 393 K.Will synthesize some sort of summary on blog soon.Right now, it all has the air of a rush job: figures misnumbered, odd turns of phrase, some error msgs from citation software (in Korean), slightly different materials manufacture recipes each time (because they're just learning how to make it).That makes sense for a very early result.All declared funding looks like Korean academic research funding.
(DIR) Post #AZOqOS9ncCGWYd25Jo by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2023-09-03T19:26:24Z
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@riot Aren't "unexplained phenomena in software" just called "bugs"?Or possibly this is next to the entomology section?
(DIR) Post #AdgAlbnf3ZFNavt5Dk by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2024-01-09T16:30:44Z
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@spacelizard @fpbhb @lilithsaintcrow @cstross The profitability argument was previously used to defend child labor, and slavery before that.I'm comfortable saying if your business depends on slavery, child labor, pollution, or theft of the work of others... then your business is bad and should not exist. You can learn a better business model.
(DIR) Post #AiSRqbietqrLAZq3SS by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2024-05-31T17:59:05Z
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@ZachWeinersmith @cstross People have worked out a variety of anti-surveillance fashion choices:https://www.someweekendreading.blog/tired-surveillance/
(DIR) Post #AjYUdfsxlbCRWGJUI4 by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2024-07-03T13:50:40Z
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@futurebird Seems apocryphal, from all that I can find out (MIT alum here).Also, Harvard stadium security is more present nowadays.However, a small aerial drone dragging a black & white striped cloth, playing a whistle, shooting breadcrumbs at the same time each day... that should be do-able.I mean, yeah, they have security. But do they have air defenses?
(DIR) Post #Ak5p5zz22uiBtBrOmO by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2024-07-19T15:45:24Z
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@Computer Though there are some odd, but *slightly* encouraging fashion trends:https://www.someweekendreading.blog/more-surv-fashion/https://www.someweekendreading.blog/tired-surveillance/
(DIR) Post #Al4LgUAW9MlPwwGohk by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2024-08-17T14:45:25Z
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@johncarlosbaez Occasionally, I get confused in a calculation and, looking at an expression, ask: "What *is* this thing, anyway?"Being able to put the units back temporarily to discover the type of object I'm looking at is useful. (Very much like types in computer languages, and for that matter, in some varieties of logic.)Sure, taking the unit scales out makes stuff look more elegant, but being able to put them back in occasionally helps check that one hasn't made a mistake.
(DIR) Post #AlISiHTxhy754hbilc by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2024-08-24T15:57:54Z
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@futurebird Clearly in the same league as George Carlin's "hippy dippy weatherman". ("Tonight's weather forecast: dark. ")https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1uaw3WIOlc
(DIR) Post #AmJWcAhod9kn5yuAoS by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2024-09-23T19:08:05Z
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@arstechnica Sort of like the whackaloons who got Doom running on a pregnancy test:https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a33957256/this-programmer-figured-out-how-to-play-doom-on-a-pregnancy-test/
(DIR) Post #ArDIeomXYFubXysp8K by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-02-17T15:24:19Z
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@futurebird @Dss Useless but fun: there is a similar symbol, ‰, with an extra zero-like-thing on it. It's pronounced "per mille", and means per thousand.Maddeningly, people throw away (or never have) the Latin "mille" for thousand and immediately confuse it with "million". And in other corners of the world, it was confused with "milliard", which is yet another beast.Yet others bleep over the per mille symbol and read it for percent instead.Obviously, there's a good reason this is seldom used nowadays.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_mille
(DIR) Post #ArxpLG5bze13hVpDhg by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-03-12T01:56:49Z
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@paul Setting Mac and Siri to different languages, even US English and UK English, will (for now) disable Apple intelligence.
(DIR) Post #ArxpYRuvKVVY9F7Ebw by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-03-12T02:08:46Z
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@fknretardlol @paul If you mean Apple Intelligence or LLM AI's in general, I have no idea who actually needs a BS firehose.I was just noting a trick to keep them disabled, by "misconfiguring" something they can't yet evade.
(DIR) Post #AsDhogrZq16a218tlo by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-03-19T15:09:06Z
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@jeremiah As an EE & ex-govt friend of mine said when he saw this: "Such a weapon would have a laxative effect on anyone toward whom it was aimed."
(DIR) Post #AsE0VH7tCXTFpxECye by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-03-19T21:15:48Z
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@jeremiah A popular-level explanation:https://www.wired.com/story/undergraduate-upends-a-40-year-old-data-science-conjecture/
(DIR) Post #AsaRAzkXhUKDbRJrtY by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-03-30T17:10:19Z
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@apropos You would be interested in acausal trade, where the participants cannot communicate beforehand (think iterated prisoner's dilemma).As with many things, Scott Alexander has several entertaining essays using it. Here's one from almost exactly 7 years ago:https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/04/01/the-hour-i-first-believed/
(DIR) Post #Av3smM2baPff8hlNRY by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-06-12T17:42:47Z
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@davefischer @icm The 3600 had a special socket on the back, expressly for a Connection Machine. I don't recall if that was continued to later models like the 3670. See the wikipedia photo below, the socket in the center labelled "H-Bus Thinking Machines Corp".https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolics#:~:text=3600%20ports%2C%20with%20Connection%20Machine%20interface
(DIR) Post #AwqwYLSvUIq2jqIxAO by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-08-04T13:23:59Z
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@bartholin @johncarlosbaez For that, you want Cohl Furey and her octonionic versions of QM and the standard model:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohl_Furey
(DIR) Post #Ayph9ouEF3NZaBTTX6 by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-10-03T13:02:37Z
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@futurebird @pre I'd say, rather, put the granite pillar in every software manager's office.Preferably hanging above their chair by a thin wire.
(DIR) Post #AywczPH9dk0zUBhEOW by weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz
2025-10-06T20:52:29Z
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Today's blog post:A few wise words on the LLM AI bubble collapse from Cory Doctorow. A detour to the industrial revolution and a look at the US Beveridge curve. Learned new automation terms: centaur and reverse centaur. And an accordion/bagpipe hybrid.https://www.someweekendreading.blog/doctorow-on-ai/