Andy Lowry @AndyLowry@social.cleverlibre.org
Retired SysAdmin living in the high country of Arizona, USA. I enjoy learning about physics, cosmology, genetics, neurology, and suchlike. Deeply confused by worldwide trends towards authoritarianism. I thought we'd already learned about that stuff. But I guess not.
Joined Nov 2022
You would not BELIEVE the level of detail that legal regulations go into when allowing the placement of oxygen in the home. it has to be so far in distance from this and that, any concentrator must be plugged directly into a wall outlet rather than an extension, can't be near a heater of course, tanks must be stored thus and so. Our house has both a gas stove and water heater, which made for even more things to have new-to-me laws about. 90% of the oxygen man's initial setup and delivery process was spent going over all of these laws I must now learn and follow, with the rest of the time explaining the actual complicated delivery systems. I do understand why this must be so, but was a little surprised at how thoroughly the law had addressed the issue.
I was permanently put on oxygen today. It's hard to describe, though you can probably imagine, the adaptations that are made when being at home on a 25-foot tether that's on the floor being dragged around by your face and really shouldn't be stepped on much, dragging along behind you, trying not to tie a knot as you travel from place to place.
It was really impressive how thoroughly the decision is carried out and how quickly. The doctors said very early this morning that from this time hence, it shall be thus, and so it was. I was supplied a tank on wheels to get me out to the car and home. A couple of hours later, a friendly man arrived with a home oxygen concentrator, small travel tank in shoulder bag with a half-dozen tanks, a full walkthrough of how everything works, and more hoses than an aquarium shop.
I do remove the cannula for some maneuvers that are too complicated or inconvenient to quickly perform, but other than that,
I've not been off my new breathing mixture for more than a more than five (brief) times. My new breathing mixture includes 3 liters of oxygen per minute, which is 1 liter above the average prescription of 2, so at least I remain above average. (This is still not extremely high, though, my regulator goes up to 6 and there are people who need even more than that.)
For reasons too complicated to get into, I now know that for the week before being put on oxygen, I would have been committing a crime had I driven a car, as my average blood oxygen was running about 75%. (My usual reading before that, and again now, is 95 or 96.)
It all makes me want a cigarette for the first time since 2004, which is how I got here in the first place.
Andy Lowry
boosted
Jeff Beck, guitar god who influenced generations, dies at 78
https://www.inquirer.com/wires/ap/jeff-beck-guitar-god-who-influenced-generations-dies-78-20230111.html
Andy Lowry
boosted
Andy Lowry
boosted
@gabsmashh I don’t like music streaming. I want to own my favorite tracks and albums and listen to them 600 times in a row without Apple judging me.
Andy Lowry
boosted
@gabsmashh My old person trait is that I think that we should look after everyone and that noone should go hungry
Andy Lowry
boosted
@StabbyCutyou @gabsmashh
THIS. Why does every piece of technology want me to talk to it? I don't even want to talk to people...
Andy Lowry
boosted
@gabsmashh I literally never want technology to try to speak to me or listen to my voice.
I will push buttons and you will receive signals, and that is the contract.
Andy Lowry
boosted
I ran a mile today.
It wasn't very fast but I kept moving at an above-walking pace the whole time. Running even a little bit has been painful and numbing for my feet since chemo. I hadn't seriously tried running this whole last year because I've been afraid to discover that it was lost to me.
I'm not a great runner by any means, but some of my absolute favorite memories are running the Hood to Coast relay race several times and other events like it. Running enables a lot of joy in my life.
So with that background, I'll say it how I feel it:
Hey y'all, I RAN A FREAKING MILE TODAY!!! 🎉🥳🤩🔥
ok, carry on with your day now 😘
Andy Lowry
boosted
Fun fact about #homeopathy if there's just one drop left in the bottle, you don't have to buy a new one! Just refill with tap water and shake thoroughly. Do it often enough and eventually that stuff will cure #cancer.
This is the radiation machine I've had 30 dates with so far. (Not all at once; it was 10 days, 15 days, and 5 days at different times. Each was for a different part of the body.) Doesn't it look friendly, with its arms reaching out for a hug?
It uses shaped and focused X-rays. There's one of the fancy ultra-modern proton beam ones a couple of hours from me in Scottsdale (Mayo), but my oncologist explained to me how I'm best served by this one. And this one is about a mile from my house. 😃 In fact, everywhere I need to go for illness--related stuff is about a mile away in one direction or another. How lucky is that!
Andy Lowry
boosted
Today seems a good time for a proper #introduction :
I’m a professional #mobiledev employed as a code mechanic/mercenary. Updating deprecations and hardening implementations.
I contribute to #opensource projects that empower & protect the public good. I won’t be sharing much of that work here.
Deep commitment and passion for all things #nature. Beekeeping, climbing, or anything without cell service.
Started making #jewelry in spare time May of 2020. Freedom from devices, just you and the metal. Therapeutic when dealing in #infosec.
While code occupies most of my time, I’ll be sharing knowledge of history, #geometry and other interesting stuff.
It’s different here, and I like that. Thanks to those making it happen behind the scenes and in front.
Andy Lowry
boosted
Ugh #Google is such trash now search should be like a library not a damn shopping mall
Andy Lowry
boosted
Tip your server. Return your shopping cart. Pick up a piece of trash. Hold the door for the person behind you. Let someone into your lane. Small acts can have a ripple effect.
That's how we change the world.
Absolutely! For some reason, I've found myself in random conversations with strangers lately. It might be a Mastodon side effect-- I've become acquainted with quite a few people here simply by conversing with them about something interesting they're doing, and it's carried over into real life. There are fewer complete doofuses out in the world than I presumed before.
Andy Lowry
boosted
@AndyLowry “little gamma rays in my hands,” I told myself in order to grant myself the strength to actually touch the dough to roll the balls. 😂 Long story short, I had to master Snickerdoodles in a weekend or my sister would have screamed from 100 miles away. 😆❤️
Andy Lowry
boosted
I don't have any followers here, but:
Here's a story from me today about the state-of-play at Texas' three unionized newspapers -- with the big news being that the Fort Worth NewsGuild has ratified the only union contract at a Texas newspaper, following a 24-day labor strike: https://www.texasobserver.org/striking-does-work-fort-worth-journalists-win-only-newspaper-union-contract-in-texas/
Andy Lowry
boosted
Hi Mastodon! #introduction 👋
My name is John Butler.
I'm Maths/Stats Lecturer and Neuroscience researcher in the School of Mathematics and Statistics in TU Dublin since 2015.
My research uses computational neuroscience methods to investigate multisensory processing. My favourite sensory system is the vestibular system it is just great.
I am a member of @neuromatch I’ve contributed materials to the summer schools. I also help organise the Conference and I’m particularly proud of the introduction of Neuromatch for Kids which shows how maths and neuroscience work together.
I really enjoy teaching, I've taught mathematics, statistics and computational neuro to all levels from graduate, down to primary. Here are two modules:
• Numerical Analysis with Applications in Python (https://john-s-butler-dit.github.io/NumericalAnalysisBook/ )
• Short Introduction to Maths in Neuroscience with Python (https://github.com/john-s-butler-dit/Basic-Introduction-to-Python)
There are more on my my GitHub.
Lastly, I do a bit of#scicomm, so I give talks at events like; Maths week and Science Week, Pint of Science, Bright Club, I’m a Mathematician Get Me Out of Here, and I regularly give talks in primary and secondary schools about his work.
Andy Lowry
boosted
I started off on techhub but I'm trying to reduce the amount of my identity that's about tech. So I moved, and now I guess I need to do this again:
I'm Ash, or Geiiga. 8 months ago I decided to stop having music be a thing I always wanted to do and start actually doing it. Got a guitar and started writing my own songs, mostly about people being abused by systems meant to support them. I plan to start releasing them as soon as my rapidly improving guitar skills allow. #introduction
Andy Lowry
boosted
Visual cortex is affected by sounds. Does this mean it is multisensory? Does it represent sounds?
Today in Nature #Neuroscience (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01227-x) Célian Bimbard and team find otherwise.
Sound-evoked activity in visual cortex was similar across neurons. Even neurons in hippocampus. It persisted after we cut fibers from auditory cortex!
This activity was predicted by… subtle body movements evoked by the sounds. It reflects brainwide state and behavior signals.
Retired SysAdmin living in the high country of Arizona, USA. I enjoy learning about physics, cosmology, genetics, neurology, and suchlike. Deeply confused by worldwide trends towards authoritarianism. I thought we'd already learned about that stuff. But I guess not.
Joined Nov 2022
