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fullyabstract

@[email protected]

host/producer of Not Brahms and Liszt on WMBR Cambridge ● research professor at Boston University Computer Science ● lives in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA

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@fullyabstract@fosstodon.org avatar fullyabstract , to random

AI solves the Halting Problem, halting all of us


@fullyabstract@fosstodon.org avatar fullyabstract , to random

Catch-22 of the Day


@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

I recall Trump promising to build a wall.

I just did not think it was a wall around the Epstein files.

fullyabstract ,
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@randahl As someone quipped - they didn't expect a stonewall

@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

In the Dutch elections, the party of the right-wing populist Geert Wilders lost 11 seats on Wednesday, while the social liberal party D66 gained 17.

Populism is like Swedish Surströmming — it looks interesting on the tin, but once you taste it everyone runs away.

fullyabstract ,
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@randahl As I remember it, the taste is OK, but it's the smell...

@mattblaze@federate.social avatar mattblaze , to random

Taft (Connecticut Avenue) Bridge, Washington, DC, 2019.

Heavy duty pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/49245011451

A large arched concrete bridge over a park, during daylight.
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fullyabstract ,
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@mattblaze Lovely!

@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

My was a hike through the Vejle River Valley near Tørskind, returning over Runkenbjerg.

It is such a wonderful landscape, and the weather today was ideal for photography.

On the way I met a homeowner who told me the old houses out here were reasonably priced. "Who wouldn't want to live next to these views?", I thought. But then I recalled that it is half an hour drive from the Danish highway system, which is probably why it is not for everyone.

But one can dream… ♥️

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fullyabstract ,
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@randahl Can the houses have internet, is another question.

fullyabstract ,
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@randahl very cool!

@mcc@mastodon.social avatar mcc , to random

I have two opinions I want to post today:

  1. You should install Signal on your phone and computer. Connect with your friends and partners on it. Use it casually, regularly, for non-sensitive messages. You'll probably never need an encrypted messenger, but if you someday hit a rare case where it's useful? Better it's already set up before you need it. Signal still requires a phone# for signup but you can use a username to message.

(This is Mastodon, so you're likely far ahead of me on this)

fullyabstract ,
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@mcc And should you be vegan, you're probably not getting enough B12, and so need supplements or to consume say plant milk fortified with B12.

@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

People who wish Trump dead overlook the fact that by law Trump's death will make JD Vance president, which will move the US government to a whole new level of dysfunction.

fullyabstract ,
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@randahl No one but Trump would command the same level of obedience Trump has gotten from Congress and the Courts.

@mcc@mastodon.social avatar mcc , to random

WTF Porter is now charging $60 for a carry on bag?!

fullyabstract ,
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@mcc How much for air?

@mcc@mastodon.social avatar mcc , to random

Cage phasing

fullyabstract ,
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@mcc Cage pulsing, Reich divination.

fullyabstract ,
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@mcc At this year's Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend, Reich was in attendance for Sō Percussion and BoaC fellow's performance of the culmination of his phasing works, Drumming. (Reich graciously said the performance was more accurate than any his ensemble ever achieved.) And next day a piece by Cage actually featured banging on cans. Delightful!

@mcc@mastodon.social avatar mcc , to random

Toronto is currently having high heat and a wildfire-related air quality warning and we have one room, the office, with AC and I can't run the AC and the air purifier at the same time or the circuit breaker will trip so I'm having to like, take turns,

fullyabstract ,
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@mcc @rozodru We just moved into a house with such a tight air envelope that CO2 is building up, and we're having to work out a better ventilation system. Opening the windows only works well when the outside cooperates...

@fullyabstract@fosstodon.org avatar fullyabstract , to random

cat CAPTCHA: "How many cats do you see?"

Wooden stairs with a black and white cat near the bottom, coming down, and the top of the head of another cat visible at the very top.
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@fullyabstract@fosstodon.org avatar fullyabstract , to random

So UK now off the list of safe places for trans people to visit.

Unbelievable that assigned sex at birth trumps actually bodies. What a thrill for male police officers to strip search trans women.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/17/trans-women-uk-railways-strip-searched-male-officers

@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar futurebird , to random

In my office there is the most glorious house centipede. I see them each morning as I’m the first one to get in, and startle them from their nightly creepings when I switch on the lights. I’ve tried to catch them several times, but they are swift, and I don’t know if they would be safer in the basement than our office. I am terrified one of my coworkers will see them and crush them or toss them outside where it is too cold.

Today they have bunkered themselves in a box of old exams.

fullyabstract ,
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@futurebird Which of these little creatures a given person is frightened of seems so idiosyncratic. My spouse is terrified of house centipedes, but I like them. But something deep in my subconscious probably accounts for my relatively mild fear of spiders. I can remember one dream from childhood that terrified me.

fullyabstract ,
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@futurebird I've lived in warmer places (I can still visualize them scurrying off when we turned on the light - ewww) where we couldn't seen to get rid of roaches, but thankfully not in recent years. If on travels with my spouse I see one, I can't tell her about it, because she'll be unable to sleep.

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

Washington Post - Legal experts fear the latest presidential memo will allow the Trump administration to make claims against litigators for defending immigrants or challenging the constitutionality of actions. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/03/22/trump-litigation-lawyers-pam-bondi/

fullyabstract ,
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@w7voa @LinuxAndYarn “allow”? presumably "be used as a pretext ti” is more accurate?

@briankrebs@infosec.exchange avatar briankrebs , to random

ICYMI, the POTUS's big reveal on the JFK assassination didn't tell us much we didn't already know, except the SSNs and personal information of a bunch of people who have served this country honorably -- including some who are still alive.

"William A. Harnage, a former government contractor, learned from a reporter that the administration had released his personal information in a file from 1977. “I consider it almost criminal,” said Mr. Harnage, 71.

In fact, the exposure could have violated U.S. privacy law, according to Mark S. Zaid, a national security lawyer and outspoken critic of Mr. Trump who has also pushed for the release of the Kennedy documents. But whether the people affected could sue for damages depended on several technicalities, he said, including the storage systems used for the data.

“The bottom line is that Social Security numbers are among the most prized data that the U.S. government seeks to protect,” Mr. Zaid said. “It is an egregious breach.”

You can almost picture the scene:

But sir, we haven't finished reviewing all the files ourselves and redacting them...

POTUS: Fuck it. RUN THAT BABY! I need to distract the public from what we're doing here.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/jfk-assassination-files-personal-information.html

fullyabstract ,
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@briankrebs “officials directed the Social Security Administration to issue new numbers to the affected people, according to a senior administration official, in an extraordinary response to mitigate the potential harm of the disclosures” -- wow

@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar futurebird , to random

The act of encrypting things always makes them (seem) more interesting.

You can use encryption to keep secrets, but, in using encryption, may let others know that you even have a secret at all.

So, the very best kind of encryption is both un-openable without a very large securely transported key AND not obviously (or even unobviously) encrypted at all.

fullyabstract ,
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@futurebird Sending lots of apparently encrypted data that's actually noise might be a good move as well.

@fullyabstract@fosstodon.org avatar fullyabstract , to random
fullyabstract OP ,
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@futurebird Were you able to read the whole article yet? I would say the overall conclusion of the article is some insects are sentient

fullyabstract OP ,
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@futurebird it was making a clear distinction between reflexes and responses that were mediated by thought

@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar Gargron , to random

I have to record a video message for a conference and it's giving me newfound appreciation for all of the entertainers who can speak to a camera coherently.

fullyabstract ,
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@Gargron The only way I'm coherent giving a talk is to practice it so it becomes natural.