floof.org
Just a reminder that friends don't let friend use the Brave browser
We've been here before....
Centrism doesn't protect us from fascism, it delivers fascists into power
Lynn Conway, computer hardware pioneer (and genius) has passed away. None of her obits do justice to her accomplishments, so here's wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Conway
She pioneered asyncronous execution, VLSI circuit design, and practically the whole modern field of chip design.
She was also a trans woman who -- having been unfairly terminated by IBM -- never stopped fighting for the rights of trans people.
Rest in power, Lynn.
Happy International Lynx Day!
#Lynx #Cats #Animals #AnimalArt #Wildlife #Nature #Art #MastoArt #DigitalArt #DigitalPainting
RIP Lynn Conway, a trans pioneer who made major contributions to computing, noted in this article from last year:
"She had already been forced to restart her career from scratch with a new identity in 1969, after being fired by IBM for telling her bosses she was transitioning. The rupture meant she could not claim credit for techniques she had invented there, even as they became standard practice across the industry.
And so, over the past two decades, Conway has been investigating – and attempting to reverse – what she describes as her "disappearance" from history, chronicling her experiences both as a computing and a gender trailblazer.
Slowly, that recognition is coming to pass. In 2009, she received an award from the engineering trade group, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE). In 2020, IBM finally apologised for firing her 42 years earlier.
And this October she was inducted into the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame as the co-creator of VLSI – 14 years after Mead received the same honour."
Her ideas launched a global microchip revolution – but for years she was afraid to claim her share of credit. Io Dodds meets the LGBT+ pioneer who helped create the modern worldIo Dodds (The Independent)
The Supreme Court, law, politics, and more. Click to read Law Dork, by Chris Geidner, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.www.lawdork.com
Use R, ggplot2, and the principles of graphic design to create beautiful and truthful visualizations of dataData Visualization with R
Last month was also the warmest May on record globally in the GISTEMPv4 dataset...
[(Preliminary) data/info: https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/faq/]
<rant>
- bcrypt is not Blowfish
- sha512crypt is not SHA-512
- sha256crypt is not SHA-256
- md5crypt is not MD5
</rant>
@tychotithonus Right now, I'm irritated with Python's crypt library:
>>> print(*crypt.methods, sep="\n")
<crypt.METHOD_SHA512>
<crypt.METHOD_SHA256>
<crypt.METHOD_BLOWFISH>
<crypt.METHOD_MD5>
<crypt.METHOD_CRYPT>
I learned today via a mainframe group I'm part of that Lynn Conway has passed away at age 86.
She was an absolute legend in computing, and led an inspiring, authentic life.
The average global temperature for the 12-month period to the end of May was 1.63C (2.9F) above the pre-industrial average – making it the hottest such period since record-keeping began in 1940, the service added.
“It is shocking but not surprising that we have reached this 12-month streak,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S, which is backed by the European Union.
In 1968, at 30 years old, Lynn Conway transitioned. In doing so she lost her wife, her children, and her job at IBM. She continued on, living authentically as her true self and continued her career as an electral engineer. In 1978 she became an associate professor at MIT and taught a course in VLSI (very large scale integration) that became the basis of the Mead-Conway VLSI Design Methodology, changing how we design integrated circuits. In 1985 she became a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Michigan, and later the associate dean of engineering.
32 years after transitioning, Conway came out publicly as a transgender woman. Since than she has been a advocate for transgender people in the tech sector. In 2020 IBM formally apologized for firing Conway for being trans, over 50 years after the fact. Just a bit of #transHistory I learned today.
I just checked out her Wikipedia bio and WOW those are some amazing accomplishments in computer science.
Convenience link for anyone who wants it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Conway
Crimes are defined by power relationships. Something becomes a crime when someone is powerful enough to enforce a law on someone even over a harmless act.
Because of our racist, legalistic society, there's a law making almost everything illegal if you stretch the rules enough, and the powerful are always able to do that with the people they don't like.
Legalisms, practically speaking, don't protect anyone unless they already have the power to protect themselves.
That's why the rich and corporations can elide the law so effectively -- they can grind the process out indefinitely until it's a waste of time.
And "white collar" crimes are hardly considered crimes by a society laser focused on oppressing the poor and marginalized so it can "legally" exploit them in other ways.
The Dmitry Butenko OrchestraVladivostok March 12th 2022Arranged by Dmitry ButenkoHop-Hop with Orchestra (Fesco Hall)YouTube
Reading up on Lynn Conway, this woman is unbelievable.
Specifically, she (in order):
1. Worked at IBM and invented superscaler CPU architecture (ie, the thing that intel lives by for modern performance)
2. Transitioned and started over in 1968, when it was stealth or death
3. Joined Xerox PARC, where she invented VLSI and modern silicon design
Modern chips exist because of her.
With a curious heart and sharp instincts, the fox is sure that every step through the underbrush shows it the right path, no matter how tangled they look, lead to a clearing.
A traditional piece that may look very simple but it has a lot of meaning to me, represents personal peace of mind. I was working on this piece while hanging with some friends, we were talking about our dreams, and I told them once I got to dream myself as a fox, and it was a feeling of indescribable freedom.
Very small canvas of 10 x 10 centimetres (4 x 4 inches)
Acrylics.
It will be exhibited at the Anthrocon's Art Show.
Some tum in the sun this #TummyTuesday.
How about we share a meal under the sunset?
📷 @ShadowRK9 & me
#furry #fursuit #FursuitPhoto #FursuitPhotography #FoxFursuit #FoxFurry #LupeSuits #AustralianFurry #OutdoorFursuiting #belly #BellyFur #CuteFursuit
Female elephants address one another with individualized rumblesMarta Zaraska (Scientific American)
Quote of the day...
"Everything looks like a conspiracy if you don't understand how anything works."
Christ.
Capitalism laid bare.
Unnecessary consumption and excess waste, all leading to environmental destruction, all for the sake of profit.
All for the same reason so much "work" these days is ultimately pointless: our collective needs can be met by just a few people, but capitalism says no one can live without money, which means they must work. So work must be made for them to do. Everyone must have something to sell (to an employer or to others) or starve, even if society doesn't actually need anything more from them.
When I first started reading this I thought you were referring to crypto or AI, since they both also meet the criteria of “unnecessary consumption and excess waste, all leading to environmental destruction, all for the sake of profit.”
I'm selling my donkey fursuit! It's cute, clean and I've only worn it a handful of times.
https://www.thedealersden.com/listing/donkey-fursuit/278365
Cute toony donkey partial fursuit in excellent condition. Includes, head, removable mane, hooves, paws, arms & tail.www.thedealersden.com
There is a big difference between tech as augmentation versus automation. Augmentation (think Excel and accountants) benefits workers while automation (think traffic lights versus traffic wardens) benefits capital.
LLMs are controversial because the tech is best at augmentation but is being sold by lots of vendors as automation.
"Former senior Tory MP and doctor quits job as NHS chair in disgust at government health cuts"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/sarah-wollaston-tory-mp-quits-nhs-b2560399.html
‘No point promising the unachievable, especially if only achievable with unacceptable consequences’ says Dr Sarah WollastonRebecca Thomas (The Independent)
