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rdnielsen

@[email protected]

Environmental scientist (biology/oceanography), data analyst, data manager. Semi-retired.

Moved from @rdnielsen

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@rdnielsen@floss.social avatar rdnielsen , to random

The flat-headed cat has been photographed alive in Thailand for the first time in 30 years, confirming that it is not extinct.

https://www.iflscience.com/rare-flat-headed-cat-rediscovered-in-thailand-following-first-confirmed-sighting-in-almost-30-years-82017

@rdnielsen@floss.social avatar rdnielsen , to random

A new study that takes advantage of a change in availability of the shingles (Herpes zoster) vaccine in Wales finds that vaccination reduces dementia symptoms in those already diagnosed with the disease, and reduced deaths from dementia by approximately 30% over the following nine years.

Summary: https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/shingles-vaccine-dementia

Original paper: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)01256-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867425012565%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

@rdnielsen@floss.social avatar rdnielsen , to random

Review of the records of 1,000 patients with lung and skin cancer revealed that those who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting chemotherapy lived much longer than those who did not.

Summary: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251019120503.htm

@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange avatar kevinrothrock , to random

Like with music, the 20th century had infinitely better geopolitical lingo than the stuff you hear today. "Iron Curtain" is a poetic masterpiece. "Drone Wall" has absolutely zero pizzazz. Just awful. Do better, aging bald men who run the world. https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-frontline-states-agree-need-drone-wall-eu-defence-chief-says-2025-09-26/

rdnielsen ,
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@kevinrothrock
"Skynet" has that pizzazz, no?

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

The case for commuting by motorcycle
Despite the reputation, it's better, more practical transit than you might think.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/08/the-case-for-commuting-by-motorcycle/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

rdnielsen ,
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@arstechnica

I commuted by motorcycle year-round in the Pacific Northwest for 37 years, and endorse almost everything in this article. You can be safe, but it requires a lot more focus than driving a car. Many days, my commute was the best part of the day.

I'd recommend a dual-sport bike, though, for visibility, conspicuity, and nimbleness. And as for costs, you save on gas but that's balanced a bit by paying a lot more for tires.

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar molly0xfff , to random

kind of a bummer to DNF a book I’d really been looking forward to (Children of Time), but life’s too short to read books you don’t want to read

rdnielsen ,
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@molly0xfff
As you get older, life gets ever shorter, patience for books that drag grows less, and DNFs become more frequent.

Or so it has been for me.

@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar georgetakei , to random
rdnielsen ,
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@georgetakei

Ralph Nader recommends using insulting nicknames for Trump:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/donald-trump-nicknames

Although this seems juvenile, when the nickname encapsulates a core of truth, it may be effective-or at least entertaining. I think that "Dumbold Trump" works for that reason, and for the double meaning encompassed by the word "old".

@hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange avatar hacks4pancakes , to random

I need a sanity check from the fediverse. After all, I'm a mere Illinois driver. I was just informed my dad and his friends have this deep pet peeve while driving that I have absolutely never been aware of or concerned by on safe roads in America.

Imagine you are driving on a multi-lane highway. Yes, I get the "right lane is the slow lane, left lane is the passing lane" thing. But imagine it's like pretty empty road, out in the country, and you're driving the speed you want to go in the right or middle lane.

Another car is along side you in the left lane. There's nobody behind them who wants to go faster. They just hang out at the same-ish speed as you. So you have a car kind of driving next to you.

This makes my dad deeply uncomfortable and he finds it incredibly rude. Fediverse, if the driver is doing nothing else objectionable, is it him, or me?

rdnielsen ,
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@aeva @hacks4pancakes
It's not necessarily true for cars, but it is definitely true for motorcycles that overtaking is safer than being overtaken. That's not a good reason for excessive speeding, though, because cars veering into your lane is the biggest hazard on multi-lane highways.

So I'm generally going a little faster than adjacent traffic, but in 50 years of motorcycle riding, including commuting year-round for almost 45 years, I've never gotten a speeding ticket.

rdnielsen ,
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@aeva @hacks4pancakes
When one person is on a motorcycle and the other is in a car, the car driver is always safe. Motorcyclists have to adopt habits of attention and behavior to keep themselves only a little more at risk than the car driver.

Not all do, though, as you can see all too often.

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

HHS has reached agreements with all participating manufacturers on new negotiated, lower drug prices for the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare drug price negotiation program. - White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/08/15/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-lower-prices-for-first-ten-drugs-selected-for-medicare-price-negotiation-to-lower-costs-for-millions-of-americans/

rdnielsen ,
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@w7voa

An opportunity for Harris to capitalize on this aspect of the Inflation Reduction Act better than Biden has so far: https://www.statnews.com/2024/08/15/medicare-drug-price-negotiations-popular-with-voters-republican-opposition/

@gamingonlinux@mastodon.social avatar gamingonlinux , (edited ) to random

I want to do a test on how much traffic and resources the Mastodon embed takes on my server, so boost this plz

Edit: all done, you can stop sharing now lol

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/05/steam-deck-most-played-for-april-2024-has-plenty-of-fallout/

rdnielsen ,
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@gamingonlinux

Your post isn't pulling in the image, so boosting it probably isn't going to DDOS your system as strongly as it might.

rdnielsen ,
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@gamingonlinux

Were you testing because of today's post on itsfoss.org saying "Please don't boost this on Mastodon"?

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

Palm OS and the devices that ran it: An Ars retrospective

Before smartphones, we had PDAs in our pockets. Palm did them best.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/palm-os-and-the-devices-that-ran-it-an-ars-retrospective/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

rdnielsen ,
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@arstechnica

Palm was one of the early notable victims of corporate mismanagement and .

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

After 48 years, Zilog is killing the classic standalone Z80 microprocessor chip

Z80 powered Game Boy, ZX Spectrum, Pac-Man, and a 1970s PC standard based on CP/M.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/after-48-years-zilog-is-killing-the-classic-standalone-z80-microprocessor-chip/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

rdnielsen ,
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@arstechnica
RIP Z80. I did a lot of assembly-language programming for that chip.

rdnielsen ,
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tarius devpaul

What you can do is more important that who you have done it for. I prefer to see skills, experience, employment history, and education in that order.

rdnielsen ,
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tarius
The skills section is the place you can list years of use of each tool or technology. The experience section is a place to list accomplishments, independently of what tools were used.

My recommendation is based on science consulting, where a pretty clear division can be made between tools and accomplishments.

rdnielsen ,
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tarius
The same question would apply to skills mentioned in the experience section--unless the experience section is nothing but a description of use of those skills. It seems as if you and I may be valuing the experience section in different ways.

But the direct answer to your question is in an interview. If you assert both valuable skills and experience, then you will get pressed to demonstrate or explain those face-to-face.

rdnielsen ,
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tarius

I'm interested in both the candidate's skills and achievements. The list of skills is a quick and easy filter, but once past that, achievements deserve a lengthier explanation--and they may still reference skills.

Having hired for years in an IT-adjacent discipline, I like to see skills and achievements factored out, not unlike the way code or data structures should be factored.

A/B testing of resume structures might be interesting.

rdnielsen ,
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tarius
I don't know what application software you're referring to.

rdnielsen ,
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tarius
I'm not familiar with them. All of our resumes are screened by actual people.