floof.org
A bewildered stranger entered the castle kitchen.
"Lost, sir?" the cook said. "You found a hidden door that led to the same room?"
"Why, yes!"
"How many times did you go through?"
"Five or six, why?"
"This used to be a wizard's castle. That door takes you through time, not space."
I miss wearing my full suit, but it's just too hot lately. That's where my old Tripp pants come to the rescue - something baggy enough to look good with my enormous fluffy stompers!
Rawr. 💙
🧵 @selkiesuits
📷 Lucky
🌍 Tails in Wales
⌚ #FursuitFriday
Last Boost: Just in case you haven't heard Orbital's take on The Saint theme, or fancy it again (as it's a banger) here you can enjoy the official music video 😇
Official HD Video for "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler Listen to Bonnie Tyler: https://bonnietyler.lnk.to/listenYDSubscribe to the official Bonnie Ty...YouTube
RE: https://mastodon.social/@aukondk/116889601158276815
This is relatable - and by a similar token, "Everybody's Free (To wear Sunscreen)" hits in a similar fashion.
I'm also pretty sure that Time by Pink Floyd was used to introduce a British curriculum high-school science series of educational videos in the 90s - unfortunately I cannot remember the name, and haven't had luck verifying this, it's just a vague memory I have at the time. (mid-80s Exploring Science had a ticking clock, but not the track)
You know you are middle-aged when the lyrics to Pink Floyd's Time start hitting harder... "And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're …Stephen Ward (Mastodon)
You know you are middle-aged when the lyrics to Pink Floyd's Time start hitting harder...
"And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr0-7Ds79zo
Pink Floyd 8-Tracks - The New Compilation Album Featuring Eight Curated Classics, Spanning 1971 - 1979. Available 5th June on Vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-Or...YouTube
The sheer grift of confectionary companies that over a long period of time gradually reduce the size of a bar of chocolate and then have the gall to sell two (further shrunken) bars together in a single wrapper, call them "Duo" and it only being marginally longer than the OG 1990s bar.
I mean this process has taken fucking DECADES to come to completion to ensure that "the kiddies don't notice" (we did, guys). That is dedication right there. When it comes to ripping off consumers; You have to admire the commitment to their craft.
I really wish companies would stop conflating what idiot investors want vs. what actual customers want. Your customers pay your bills. Your investors want to buy you cheap and sell you high before you crash.
Only one keeps you afloat.
@TheTenuousOrder It's slowing down because investors are moving more into memory and storage areas, diversifying. Which is just another part of the problem.
The C-Suite is beholden to investors, but has to outwardly be customer-focused. I'm sure there are lots out there who are intentionally conflating the two because they can't tell their bosses on the board no, so they have to act like the board and customers are aligned.
"What's the difference between witch magic and wizard magic?"
"None," said the witch. "Magic is magic. The difference is how much you care about the cost."
"There's a cost?"
"Always."
"What is the cost?"
"The more you use, the more critters will shun you."
"Critters?"
"Cats, dogs... people."
"June heatwave in UK led to ‘mass sleep deprivation’, poll suggests"
Exclusive: Record temperatures fuelled by climate crisis left 86% of homes ‘too hot’ and many people feeling unwellDamian Carrington (The Guardian)
Finally (I've only done 900-odd miles in the last year) got on my bike again on Friday, first to get it MOTed, then to make a trip to the old house to check everything was okay before a viewing on Saturday (we're still trying to sell it, Land Registry permitting). Got home absolutely drenched in sweat (partly down to choosing waterproofs instead of leathers because they're quicker to put on and I was late for the MOT appointment). But today, the weather's a lot cooler. Should've waited a couple of days.
The place near us that does bike MOTs has… *views* on non-Mercedes vehicles. 😉
Hmm. Getting ready to admit that the "stochastic parrot" argument maybe isn't all that relevant any more (or at least won't be for much longer). Developments have… shall we say, developed, and current LLMs are not just Markov chains on acid but have evolved into something which probably does have a lot of the characteristics of intelligence.
One other big objection is still relevant, though — we don't know exactly how they work, so there are still no guarantees about the truthfulness, reliability or trustworthiness of their output. Re trustworthiness, alignment is definitely a big concern now that people are hooking them up to everything they can get their hands on.
And I still come away from anything genAI-related with a vague feeling of depression and emptiness rather than any level of keen interest though. A lot of that, possibly, is a direct consequence of the fact that we can't get much insight into what's going on in an LLM — we may (*may*) have created another intelligence, but we still don't know how it works, so there are no real take-aways, and little feeling of satisfaction in it.
Can AI come up with original ideas?AI is often dismissed as a "stochastic parrot": just a word predictor that's incapable of original thought. Is this view c...YouTube
"Mum, look!"
She ignited the fire by pointing at it.
"Ah. You are a sorceress. I did wonder."
"Why?"
"You're the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter."
"I don't have six sisters. Or aunts."
"They died. Most children do."
"Oh."
"Now, what will you do?"
"I'll make sure no child dies."
After a long life of hard work, she succeeded. Hardly any children died anymore.
And that is why, a few generations later, sorceresses had become so rare that most people didn't believe they existed anymore.
"You have chosen a difficult path"
"I will learn the lore for keeping children alive, and preserve it."
"I am confident you can do this."
"Why is that not enough?"
"You must convince people to use it."
If software development survives AI, and it probably will if we all run those bills up, I wonder if we'll learn our lesson and stop making all of this knowledge so freely available to be scraped?
I want to see Illuminati level secret software societies with hooded figures and arcane techniques. Advanced techniques taught by apprenticed whispers. Those who slip the secrets are swiftly excorticated.
Here’s some Midnight at Kelham Pride with @notshadowfever for this Fursuit Friday!
📸: _lucasholt_
#FursuitFriday #fursuit #Furry #pride #transpride
Freefall, still relevant!
(And still unfortunately without HTTPS, so I can't embed the image and have to copy/upload, oh well!)
gps if it was developed by private companies today:
- there are 3 or 4 different gps providers
- they only put up enough satellites to cover the most profitable areas
- you need a subscription to use it
- you pay for each ping
- it costs more if you're outside the more covered areas
- each provider uses a slightly different proprietary protocol vaguely based on a common standard
- it literally is more complicated and costs more to run for the sake of charging and locking you in
- they will store a 'de-personalized' history of pings of each user and will share those with 'partners'
‘Extreme heat hits children – who have higher metabolisms and lower sweating rates. Their thermal comfort levels are, on average, 1.9-2.8C lower. Temps above 25C limit their cognitive performance. The government’s #ClimateChange Committee finds that “taking an exam on a 32C day leads to around a 10% lower likelihood of passing compared to a 22C day”.
Yet another advantage for private schools, which can generally afford better buildings and air-conditioned exam rooms.’
The class politics of extreme heat are very real and very dangerous – but that doesn’t stop the billionaire press from peddling its agenda, says Guardian columnist George MonbiotGeorge Monbiot (The Guardian)
There is a reason that the school year for high schools in Italy finishes around the 10th June and starts again around 10th September (exact dates depend on the year). They have few holidays during the year apart from two full weeks around Christmas, and only a couple of days in February/March and at Easter.
And yes, there are few schools with aircon because when they were built, it really was not needed and has never really been a thing until recently. The Italian school year has been like this for a long time. This is what adaptation looks like.
To do the math in Fahrenheit...
Empirical research suggests healthy adults start dropping dead at 87F wet bulb temperatures (87F at 100% humidity), lower than previously thought:
Paper cited by OP says 1.9C is the number for cooling season, 2.8C for heating season:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778819313039
If children have a 1.9C lower thermal comfort level in hot weather, then that suggests you could expect healthy children to start dying at 83.5F wet bulb.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As climate change nudges the global temperature higher, there is rising interest in the maximum environmental conditions like heat and humidity to which humans can adapt.Katie Bohn (Penn State News)
Two cryptids outside an abandoned gas station near the swamp.
I like the idea that maybe the world feels a little less lonely when you finally meet someone just as strange as you are. Someone who also never really belonged anywhere else.
Painting for Anthrocon's Art show and conbook, related to this year's theme: “Critters, Cryptids, & Curses”
Traditional. Colored pencils.
I recorded a video where I show the process of this painting, if you want to watch it, it is on the first comment of my Telegram art channel: https://t.me/panda_paco
I edited a longer version of this video, a 17 minutes version. You can download it and watch it on Patreon and Ko-Fi, exclusive for my monthly supporters, be part of the club and get every full version of my process videos, all full resolutions of my pictures, the scanned version of this piece, and way more! And with your support you help me a lot to keep creating art for a living, I appreciate it a lot!
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/pandapaco
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/panda_paco
Thanks!
Official Art Channel 🇲🇽 Clean cute artist. Full-Time Panda. Here to paint some smiles. https://linktr.ee/panda_paco Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pandapaco Ko-Fi Shop: https://ko-fi.com/panda_paco/shop Stickers channel: @pacostickersTelegram
Sharing for those who need it, and those who know those who need it.
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/guide/the-coming-out-handbook/
There is no one way to come out - The Trevor Project is here to help answer what coming out means to you and how you can find support.The Trevor Project
Good morning all. :)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XBy0e1g0RoQ
Jeffrey?Follow me on Spotify got an album in the making 😘 🐈 @mon_mo_neko instaLOVE IS THE ANSWERYouTube
You go for a peaceful walk through a national park and suddenly you run into Sasquatch asking you for directions.
An ink drawing made for Anthrocon's Art show and conbook, related to this year’s theme: “Critters, Cryptids, & Curses”
"Why would anyone buy DVD's of movies today? Everything is right there on digital stores to rent or buy?"
For exactly THIS reason. Just because you own a digital copy or it's on your favorite streaming service does not mean you will always have access to it.
The only way you know you'll always have it, is if you own a physical copy.
And I know people are going to come at me with "But I have a digital download that's on my PC so it's mine." Sure, you do, but if anything ever happens to your computer, or your backup solutions fails and you need to get it again, that's not going to work if it's taken down from the digital store you got it from. Physical copies you can hold in your hand are the only real way.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pJWvX-3xG40
Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.YouTube
"You have tampered in the Gods' domain!" the god shouted.
"Well, maybe, but you gods tamper in the human domain all the time!"
"That's... That's different!"
"How?"
"We are Gods! It's what we do!"
"And we are human. Likewise."
"I..." The god sighed. "Fair. But keep it quiet, okay?"
