uastronomer

inthehands, 2 months ago to random

Because they bring me such joy, I will share with you all the software testing videos I share with my Software Design and Development students.

Video 1/3: “We don’t need user testing! We already know our users”

Children at a playground completely ignoring the slide, and sliding down the smooth hill upon which the slide is mounted

chas, 2 months ago to random

Is there an #author or #writer community here? I've been using threads for that as it has a very active one

Mastodon is so broad and the federated model means I've basically only ever seen tech content since that's what I'm connected to

Affekt, 2 months ago to photography

Absolutely the best picture of anything I've every taken in my entire life.
#photography #astrophotography

oatmeal, 2 months ago to random

Celestial events

astro_jcm, 2 months ago to space

Every time there's a #SolarEclipse, this computer-generated image by artist A4size-ska does the rounds on social media. Even though the artist clearly discloses it for what it is, a digital composite, many people share it as a genuine photograph of an #eclipse seen from #space

If you want to learn how to distinguish real #astrophotography images from altered ones, check out this article I wrote: https://www.eso.org/public/blog/csi-astronomy/

A4size-ska at Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/a4size-ska/art/Eclipse-144235675

#astrodon #astronomy

box464, 2 months ago to fediverse

It can get lonely on a small instance. Relays to the rescue!

I decided to take a deeper look into what they are, how they work, and how to install one - the Fedi Buzz Relay.

https://box464.com/posts/fediverse-relays/

#Fediverse #Mastodon #FediBuzz

aaron.rupar, 2 months ago to random

Fox News is letting anchors riff on the eclipse and it's not going great

CultureDesk, 2 months ago to music

The Russian republic of Chechnya has banned music that goes above or below a certain tempo. Minister of Culture Musa Dadayev said that this to ensure music will “conform to the Chechen mentality.” Semafor has more detail on the Chechen government's ongoing campaign against civil liberties, and which songs will make the cut: "Texas Hold 'Em" is fine, but the Russian national anthem is out.

https://flip.it/s2ahwV

#Culture #Music #CivilLiberties #PopCulture #Russia #Chechnya

For more stories like this, follow @Semafor.

aldroid, 2 months ago to random

one for sorrow
two for joy
three for a girl
four for a boy
five to speak to an operator
zero to hear your options again

JosephAndriano, 2 months ago to random

I looked into the heart of the sun. I saw a 360 degree sunset. I saw the mountains of the moon. I saw stars during the day and Venus shining beside the sun and the moon.

A few moments before totality everything got still. The mourning doves and insects went quiet. The light wasn’t like a sunset, it didn’t have that angle to it. It was just grey and ghostly. The high clouds made the light very white and grey, making you feel like you were in a shadow world. #Eclipse #Vermont #Eclipse2024 1/2

baldur, 2 months ago to random

'They ban products, don't they?': https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2024/they-ban-products-dont-they/

lzg, 2 months ago to random

deleted_by_author

superflippy, 2 months ago to random

We’re supposed to get up to 80%. Watching with a colander. #eclipse

piquant00, 2 months ago to random

#eclipse

jasongorman, 2 months ago to random

"It's not realistic to expect junior developers to understand the business".

Or is what you're observing actually down to your inability to explain your business, not their inability to understand it?

alex, 2 months ago to random

The “great” thing about England is that when these articles come out and you google the person who wrote them it’s not something boring like “their dad is a trust fund manager” it’s “their dad is a baron, their grandfather edited the newspaper this appears in, and their family founded the private Bank of England”

*all true of this writer

knud, 2 months ago to random

I saw a total #solareclipse in 1999 in #Karlsruhe, Germany. It was an amazing experience, I still vividly remember the atmosphere, hundreds of people leaving the train station an hour before totality, anxious, because there were still lots of clouds. But a very I would say magical atmosphere. Something almost miraculous was about to happen, it was thorougly positive, and nothing in humanities power had any way to change it.

And yes, I was lucky, clouds parted for totality. It rained 30min later

RalphBassfeld, 2 months ago to random German

#MountainMonday #Kilimanjaro #Kenya #wildlifephotography

Polychrome, 2 months ago to random

Someone saw my Stargate in Second Life and I found myself explaining what it was and how they can really use it to access and travel to other gates in the network.

The funny thing is that it was made years before they joined and the gates are now out there, mostly forgotten - just like in the TV show. :blobcatshrug:​

TechConnectify, 2 months ago to random

Hey! Remember those toots from yesterday of mine? I've got a name now for the phenomenon I've been picking at:

Weak Induction

I'm probably not using it correctly in this explanation, but this is when you're looking at something (say an online post) and, because you have a brain which is constantly looking for patterns and motives, you induce things about what the author means.

But watch out for weak inductions! If what you assert isn't plainly there in the post, you might be on about nothing!

mkarliner, 2 months ago to threads

Does anyone know why #threads doesn't allow #Fediverse follows from UK accounts?

interfluidity, 2 months ago to random

If you think you missed the AI gravy train, do i have the opportunity for you.

Large language models are so last year. For only a few thousand dollars, you can become an exclusive dealer of next evolution in silicon brains: the midsize language model (MLM).

Come join our team today!

Green_Footballs, 2 months ago to random

LGF links are now being blocked from posting at Threads or Facebook (probably Instagram too) with no notice or explanation, probably because one of our members posted a link to Marisa Kabas’s article criticizing Meta’s climate change ad policy.

And they’re removing all links to LGF from Facebook, going back at least 15 years.

Unfuckingreal.

uastronomer, 2 months ago to random

If you're planning to watch a solar eclipse, soon, learn from somebody who got it wrong.

Don't make my mistake (technically, the mistake of our local guide): When you're looking for a place to watch, anything less than 100% totality is NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Even 99%, which might sound fine, is not good enough.

Anything less than around 95%, it'll feel a bit dim, like you lost track of time and it's now late afternoon. If you're actually looking directly at the Sun with eclipse glasses, you'll see the classic "Sun with a bite taken out of it" view, which is cool, but you're missing the full experience.

At 99% (where I was), it'll suddenly go dark, like just after sunset. The birds freak out because it's suddenly song time, and then woops no it's suddenly bedtime... And that's kinda cool, but you're STILL missing the cool bit.

100%? That's where you'll see the view you see on TV, the black sun with a halo, the stars shining in the middle of the day, all that jazz.

Drive the extra distance. You NEED 100% coverage.

Finally: If you're right on the edge of 100%, it'll last a few seconds. Keep driving, get to the middle of the path, and it'll last a few minutes - long enough to really enjoy it, long enough to talk about it with your friends, long enough that you can afford to blink without missing it!

https://xkcd.com/2914/