Sven Slootweg (soft-deprecated) @joepie91@pixie.town

We fundamentally need a new type of option: the ability to grant software privileges that are completely phony. I need to be able to *pretend* to grant an app the ability to send me notifications, but then to have all those notifications sent into the void. Untrustworthy software should not be able to know what privileges I have granted it.

“Betalen voor een goede dienst vinden we uiteraard niet erg. Investeren in een platform waar we niet achter staan is uiteraard niet het signaal dat we willen afgeven. Los daarvan is het niet in lijn met onze waarden.“

#nluug #twitter #mastodon

https://nluug.nl/nieuws/nluug-stopt-met-x-voorheen-twitter/

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/

Curiosity question: What is a piece of software that you really like, and what makes it better (for you) than the alternatives you've tried? ​

(Any category of software is welcome, and so is any rationale - please do not argue with people in the replies!)

The vaccine reduces the odds of long covid by at most 50% and long covid incidence according to research is anywhere between 10 and 40 so no if you are vaccinated you still have to mask because if you aren't you're going around disabling people and I fail to see how that leads to equity

If you're a self avowed leftist and mad at me for daring to suggest you may be doing something bad, maybe sit with that for a while and figure out where that's coming from

And yes, masks do work to protect yourself (and in doing so others), the science on this has been quite clear for years now. Cloth and surgical masks only protect others, but N95 and especially better (N99/P100/FFP3) respirators (which are usually reusable) protect the wearer extremely well

Citation: this UK hospital reduced hospital acquired covid infections in staff by 100% (ie entirely) by switching to FFP3 respirators https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/29/cambridge-hospitals-mask-upgrade-appears-to-eliminate-covid-19-risk-to-staff

Periodic reminder that if you're a leftist and you don't wear a mask indoors in public; no you ain't

👻
Seasonal Reminder: If you require medication for any reason, try to avoid “Spooky” food variants if they’ve been coloured black with charcoal.

That's not me creating a "filter bubble". That's me having learned to focus my energy and time.

Me: I need a "personal massager"
Hitachi: No problem, here's our Magic Wand. Anything else?
Me: You wouldn't happen to know where I can get a 20-ton industrial crawler excavator would you?
Hitachi: You're not gonna believe this

#Accessibility / #Disability awareness in a nutshell

after several attempts at testing it, my conclusion is that #bun is overhyped and rushed to ‘release’ software of alpha quality

I see no applications where I want to use it, even its own tools aren't working. trading stability for performance is probably the worst trade you can make

and I have suspicions about the intents behind deno and bun. like I just don't have any good feeling about VC funded business like that

ars technica: we don't know how they did it but google chrome now extracts a pint of blood every time you log on

chrome user, dizzy from blood loss: I swear to god I am like this close to switching to firefox

another chrome user, on the verge of fainting from severe blood loss: no need to resort to that, just switch to [insert today's trendy chrome fork here] and be smart like meeee

For anyone who is considering it for their own org, I shifted my org to a four day workweek several months ago, just as others globally are starting to (including, civil servants in Scotland!)

100% endorse. We are getting the same amount of work done because we are less bored, stressed and tired. We all take off Fridays. Everyone’s pay remained the same.

Some people use the time for a paid second gig. Others to volunteer or like me, to read a book with a cat snuggled near by.

#4dayworkweek

Please make it stop