Nick @internic@social.cleverlibre.org

People forget that a bipartisan House majority impeached Trump for his crimes, and a bipartisan Senate majority (57-43) voted to convict him. He skated only because conviction requires two-thirds.

Blackrock Summit, Shenandoah National Park.

If you weren't able to watch it live,
Roger's lecture on Tor censorship attempts in Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan at #C37C3 is now available to stream online: https://media.ccc.de/v/37c3-12040-tor_censorship_attempts_in_russia_iran_turkmenistan#t=59

The funny thing about LLMs is they’re not good for knowledge work because they sometimes make up stuff that doesn’t exist and they’re not good for creative work because they sometimes make up stuff that does exist.

@torre @textfiles @pluralistic explains well the difference between copyright and trademark on this matter here https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/15/mouse-liberation-front/

I just realised: enshittification is going to be the next new word in the 2024 Collins dictionary.

#enshittification

As someone coming off a decade of working there, I can tell you with some confidence that “you should use Firefox despite Mozilla’s leadership” is far more true and has been true far longer than you realize.

But you should also understand that original market-share vs ceo salary meme is a creation of Brendan Eich, presumably born of a grudge, and notably elided his tenure as CTO, during which the worst of that decline happened.

@alsaaas @whalecoiner I totally agree. Yet, the CEO we're talking about is not the one of the Mozilla that is asking for donations. More than that, when people don't donate, it increases the dependency of the "Mozilla we love" on the "Mozilla we hate" and, in the end, serves a further raise of this CEO's salary.

A cat video highlighted a big year for lasers in space

NASA has invested more than $700 million in testing laser communications in space.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/12/a-cat-video-highlighted-a-big-year-for-lasers-in-space/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

My friends are learning about my current obsession with tuning systems, and starting to ask questions I don't know the answers to.

Last night Michael Fourman asked: if harmonies coming from simple fractions are so natural, do any bird or whale songs feature such harmonies?

So I looked around. It turns out an Australian bird called the pied butcherbird has long been a favorite of many composers! Jean-Michel Maujean figured out the frequency ratios that appear in the songs of this bird. He found the 4 most common ratios are close to

0.607, 0.745, 0.815, and 1.34

He notes that

0.607 is close to going down a major sixth (3/5),
0.745 is close to going down a major third (3/4),
1.34 is close to going up a perfect fourth (4/3),
0.815 is kinda close to going down a major third (4/5).

His work looks good - but he shouldn't have bothered comparing the ratios to 12-tone or 18-tone equal temperament. Equal temperament is a system developed for keyboard instruments in the late 1700s. It would be amazing if the birds used this!

Maujean also has a nice review of the literature on harmonies in bird songs, so I should dig into it:

• Jean-Michel Maujean, Analysing Intonation of the Pied Butcherbird, https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/1526/

But I get the feeling that *most* birds don't sing with frequency ratios that are simple fractions. What's up with these birds?

The wait is finally over. From 2024, USB-C will be the common standard for electronic devices in the EU – and we have already seen the impact!

It means
🔌The same charger for all phones, tablets and cameras
⚡ Harmonised fast-charging technology
🔄Reduced e-waste

One charger to rule them all.

Now, a reality.

Learn more about the #EUCommonCharger here: https://europa.eu/!hwjj3G

#SingleMarket #DigitalEU

My end of the year post on optimism this year has a slightly different tone, in which I explain how my tech optimism differs from Marc Andreessens, and I see his more as pessimistic cynicism, not optimism. https://www.techdirt.com/2023/12/29/new-years-message-moving-fast-and-breaking-things-is-the-opposite-of-tech-optimism/

US residents: If you haven't ordered your free COVID tests through USPS in the last five or six weeks, you're eligible for four more per household. It takes about a minute to fill out the online form, and USPS delivers them to your mailbox.

Testing is a great way to keep friends, family, and coworkers safe.

https://special.usps.com/testkits

#Biodiversity loss is felt more acutely in Hawaii than anywhere else in the US. Eight Hawaiian birds were declared extinct this year, and four others are at imminent risk of extinction.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/29/us-animals-birds-extinct-this-year

One week after leaving substack

My subscribers are up.
My paid subscribers are up.
My traffic is up.

S/o to @jkottke & others for the push.

I'm glad I took the leap.

if you google search "google map embed" you'll see a bunch of free tools for generating google map embeds and they work well except most of them hide a link to a spam or piracy site. if you use a code snippet generator, make sure you look at the code for strange links!

This is not subtooting, but there’s a full solar eclipse this spring, and it’s a really big deal in North America and I’ve gotten like 5 very kind con invites during it and I just hope y’all know …

Just arrived! Thanks @ZachWeinersmith for writing this!

Proof
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/ontological (click for bonus panel)
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #religion

Inert ingredients – like fragrances, dyes and preservatives – in pesticides are not as harmless as their name suggests.

And now research is showing how these added ingredients harm honeybees
https://theconversation.com/inert-ingredients-in-pesticides-may-be-more-toxic-to-bees-than-scientists-thought-218005

#bees #pesticides #environment