@bancks@jawns.club
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

bancks

@bancks@jawns.club

Raleigh guy living in Philly. Software, art and sports (hockey). Spend way too much time taking pictures of crosswalks. Website: Bancksholmes.com Ig: @bancksholmes and @tilewatch_phl

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bancks, to random
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

Annual update on #ToynbeeTile happenings is now available!

Email a mailing address to robertebholmes(at)gmail.com if you’d like a copy sent to you.

Absolutely free and all copyright waived, feel free to copy and redistribute at will.

cjonthehudson, to philadelphia

A rare trip into #Philly yesterday, and I was thrilled to spot two new #HouseOfHades #ToynbeeTiles right near City Hall. These symbols or messages embedded in asphalt streets fascinate me as an art form.

More background here:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/toynbee-tiles

#philadelphia #UrbanArt #ToynbeeTile

A series of geometric patterns with the letters "HOH18," meaning House of Hades 2018, within one of the shapes. These are primarily three squares arranged into a right angle; within each square is a circle filled with small fragments that look like confetti. There are horizontal and vertical line elements as well. The overall effect is an abstract design. This art form is surreptitiously laid onto asphalt, usually in the middle of busy streets, in only a select number of cities. Philadelphia appears to have been ground zero for the original Toynbee tiles.

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@skyfaller @cjonthehudson one would think, but one would’ve been wrong.

I am now though!! And thanks for posting these!

bancks, to baltimore
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

The holidays have me thinking about what I’m thankful for, and one of the top items has to be the people that I’ve met while studying the #ToynbeeTiles , one of whom sent in this classic from #Baltimore.

I’ll also announce that I’m publishing a few pages about #HouseOfHades / Toynbee Tile developments over the past year. This volume, “Tile Times,” will be finished sometime in January and I’ll provide it free of charge. To request a copy, just send a mailing address to RobertEBHolmes@gmail.com

A close up of the same Toynbee tile

bancks, to random
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

I was interviewed about the Toynbee Tiles for an article on Syracuse.com last week. Read it here: https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/2023/11/buried-mosaics-emerge-on-syracuses-roads-where-did-they-come-from.html?outputType=amp

bancks, to random
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

Why is WHYY carrying so much water for business owners? At different places in the article, business owners mention that they want to pay less taxes and receive more city services. How would that ever even happen? https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-mayor-election-small-businesses-city-services-public-safety/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=WHYY+News+Daily+11/03/2023

TiciaVerveer, to random Dutch
@TiciaVerveer@mastodon.social avatar

A study of declassified imagery taken by Cold War era satellites during the 1960s and 70s has led to the discovery of 396 previously undiscovered Roman forts across the Syrian Steppe in what is now Syria and Iraq https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/10/lost-roman-forts-discovered-using-cold-war-spy-satellites/149010

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@TiciaVerveer whoahhhhhh cool

bancks, to random
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

Most exciting thing to ever happen in Delaware

johncarlosbaez, (edited ) to random
@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz avatar

The University of Pennsylvania is acting proud of Katalin Karikó now that she's won a Nobel. But they kicked her out of her research assistant professor job when she insisted on doing the work that won her that prize:

"She recalls spending one Christmas and New Year’s Eve conducting experiments and writing grant applications. But many other scientists were turning away from the field, and her bosses at UPenn felt mRNA had shown itself to be impractical and she was wasting her time. They issued an ultimatum: if she wanted to continue working with mRNA she would lose her prestigious faculty position, and face a substantial pay cut.

”It was particularly horrible as that same week, I had just been diagnosed with cancer,” said Karikó. “I was facing two operations, and my husband, who had gone back to Hungary to pick up his green card, had got stranded there because of some visa issue, meaning he couldn’t come back for six months. I was really struggling, and then they told me this."

"While undergoing surgery, Karikó assessed her options. She decided to stay, accept the humiliation of being demoted, and continue to doggedly pursue the problem. This led to a chance meeting which would both change the course of her career, and that of science."

Elsewhere she recalled:

“I thought of going somewhere else, or doing something else. I also thought maybe I’m not good enough, not smart enough."

She's now an adjunct in UPenn's neurosurgery department. Will they fast-track her for tenure now that she has a Nobel, or just live with the shame?

Both quotes here come from interesting stories. The first is from here:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mrna-coronavirus-vaccine-pfizer-biontech

The second is from here:

https://billypenn.com/2020/12/29/university-pennsylvania-covid-vaccine-mrna-kariko-demoted-biontech-pfizer/

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@johncarlosbaez if they gave people with “Nobel Prizes” tenure, there won’t be enough tenured positions left for very serious, academically rigorous people like Amy Wax.

skyfaller, to philadelphia
@skyfaller@jawns.club avatar

#Philly folks for #FollowFriday:

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@skyfaller @synth @adrishaw @andrewhinton I finally made one of these!! 🎉🎉🎉

universalhub, to linguistics
@universalhub@mastodon.online avatar

That of whom which we speak - an emerging phrase for younger #English speakers
#MIT #linguistics https://news.mit.edu/2023/whom-which-trend-linguistics-0927

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@thomasconnor @universalhub i guess it’s linguistically interesting but this just seems like another example of people trying to sound formal or educated. It’s just whom with extra steps-I’m not seeing it make any more meaning

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

AI can now generate CD-quality music from text, and it’s only getting better

Musicians: Speak now or forever hold your beats.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/09/ai-can-now-generate-cd-quality-music-from-text-and-its-only-getting-better/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@arstechnica having seen other content made by ai, I’m curious what they mean by “Cd-quality”

skyfaller, (edited ) to random
@skyfaller@jawns.club avatar

Biking over to the PHS Pop Up Garden at Manayunk!

EDIT: link for the curious https://phsonline.org/locations/phs-pop-up-garden-at-manayunk

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@skyfaller is this parks on tap or like the PHS thing on south street?

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@skyfaller ahh makes sense lol. My hatred for parks on tap makes me suspicious of any pop-up beer gardens, but the seasonal phs beer garden on south street is nice.

Pwnallthethings, to random

Russian state media reports that Prigozhin--Wagner's leader who a few weeks ago staged a major mutiny inside of Russia--has been killed in a plane crash in Russia https://t.me/tass_agency/206513

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@Pwnallthethings the janitor that had to do that must’ve been sweating

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Anonymous online conversations can cut political polarization

Republicans seem to depolarize more than Democrats.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08/anonymous-online-conversations-can-cut-political-polarization/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@arstechnica full disclosure, I only read the headline, but it would make sense because the republican information space seems to be based on more fantasy than D’s

bancks, to nyc
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

Someone sent in a screengrab of this influencer in #nyc with… a tile in the background!! I’ve reached out for more details but not sure if I’ll get a response. Any #geoguesser assistance out there?

I think may be an as-yet unidentified tile, so a great opportunity to help pioneer a new research methodology.

A zoom in of the crosswalk over her left shoulder, focusing on (what appears to be) a toynbee tile

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

This is the next slide and likely to be nearby, if that helps.

#toynbeetile #toynbeeinvestigation #nyc #streetart

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@tfromnyc thank you!!

bancks, to random
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

Is Eric Adams or Jim kenney a bigger moron?

eniko, to random
@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar

Tfw stack overflow announces AI bullshit

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@eniko the best thing SO could do is archive 90% of the site and just feast on the ad revenue from that. It’s useless to ask a question now but still has good resources.

5thsq, to random

Mayor Kenney and the Streets Department must require Greyhound and other inter-city bus companies shelter their waiting riders and begin work on a new bus terminal.

Help us hold our elected officials accountable by signing the petition:
https://www.5thsq.org/greyhound_petition

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@acm_redfox @5thsq my understanding is that the idea would be to charge a fee for services like greyhound to use the terminal, but make it cheaper than the fine for curbside pickup. Although I could also see this turning into a handout to greyhound

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@acm_redfox @5thsq have to disagree on that, and they already got the interstate highways. If they want to provide horrible service, they should be allowed to do so, and they should be heavily fined for blocking SEPTA busses or abusing other transit infrastructure.

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@skyfaller @acm_redfox @5thsq @SicTransitPHL I actually really like this plan, I’d love to be able to visit smaller towns outside Philly without a car, and we already have the rights-of-way so that’s one budgetary minefield avoided. The only sticking point I could see is convincing the fossil fuel lobby that this wouldn’t cut into their bottom line

esther, to random

In 2014 I wrote this piece about how software engineers love to come up with bad names for their stuff.

Feels no less relevant today.

https://www.selfawaresoup.com/2014/06/02/please-make-a-harklurk-programming-language/

And just to prove the point: this post, seven years later, is still the top Google result for the name "harklurk" with the only other exact match being a tweet about this post.

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@esther I agree with your point that current naming is bad but disagree with your suggestion for a solution. Instead of optimizing for searchability, I think the name should be both unique and helpful in explaining something about the reason the language/project/framework exists. I like Oracle (as a name) because it’s simple & explanatory (“a source of information”) although it isn’t unique so it does fail that test

bancks, to philadelphia
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

A south Philly classic: water ice, illegal fireworks, and Toynbee tiles. This rare, credit card sized product of the original tile maker lives right by the Snyder subway station #mastoart #streetart #street #philly #philadelphia #toynbeetiles #graffiti #graffitiart #graff #art #artist #artwork #artists #artistsonmastodon

bancks,
@bancks@jawns.club avatar

@skyfaller thanks, totally forgot about the alt text

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