We'll probably argue forever over what the first desktop computer was but the Datapoint 2200 is a good contender. What's undeniable is this device is the origin of the instruction set that Intel still uses in x86 processors today. #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing dfarq.homeip.net/first-deskto...

And of course this is a perfect opportunity to watch this video about all the insanity surrounding the Gamestop stock. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pYe...

One of the best bird models I know. #Dappled #BirdOfTheDay #birds

"What Big Math doesn't want you to know about statistical reasoning."

Honestly, this archive is a treasure trove and I will probably lose a lot of my spare hours in here over the next few months. Look at our spaceship! #ArtemisII

"The octopus on your plate can feel pain, delay gratification, and probably outthink a toddler. Just something to consider before you order."

“The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.” — Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes (20/20)

Transitioning CA*net, Canada's research and education national ISP from NSFNet to internetMCI when NSFNet shut down. Then moving to fonorola i*internet which would then become i*Star Internet, Canada's largest ISP, for a brief period of time.

We have an *extremely* important announcement to make. From Wednesday, we will be launching our puffin live cam, coming to you from the Farne Islands. So you can watch puffins all day long. In celebration, please enjoy this clip of puffins being really busy for 39 seconds straight.

Physicist Steven Weinberg was born #OTD in 1933. His 1967 paper "A Model of Leptons" presented a unified theory of the electromagnetic and weak nuclear interactions, and is the most cited paper in particle physics. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ Image: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives

Pleased to report the trilliums are out at the University of Guelph Arboretum.

There are serious, exploitable vulnerabilities in the human body. For example, if you obstruct a person's breathing for just five minutes or so, they will die. All reputable physicians acknowledge this. However, this is not proof that you have been murdered. Same for election vulnerabilities.

This is still an ongoing massive experiment on humanity with a novel pathogen.

Has anyone noticed the prices of ~everything~ suddenly shooting up?

This is the kind of return on investment we get from NASA. A photograph of the rings of Saturn taken from orbit of the giant planet. And in the distance, that bright star is the planet Venus.

This is a photo of Saturn and its rings. It's also a photo of Earth. See that bright point just right of centre? That's home. That's us.

#Ontario #wastewater graph updated with April 19 data - Kingston, London, Peel, Toronto updated: wwater.ca/Ontario - Also updated: AB, BC, MB, NB, PEI, QC, SK, YT wwater.ca Source: health-infobase.canada.ca/wastewater/

This fish is definitely not judging you. Definitely not. #yellowfinmojarra #staredown #judgement #spatialawareness #coralcitycamera

I have my issues with US automakers. But they *did* try to welcome EVs — Ford has lost $19.5 billion since 2022 trying to build EVs. The issue is US consumer tastes, status quo US policy, and a legitimately tricky Christensen-style Innovators Dilemma that afflicts more than just US automakers.

How Does Your Brain Know a Cat Is a Cat? A conversation with renowned neuroscientists Lisa Feldman Barrett and Earl Miller about categories, “folk psychology,” beginner’s mind, and thinking fast and slow nautil.us/how-does-you... #neuroscience

More on the wretchedly flawed masks v respirators trial Per the authors, pointing out numerous misstatements and flaws could “undermine trial efforts” Not the flex you think that is, chaps www.bmj.com/content/393/...

Frontal lobe injury, anyone?

The figures are simple and informative.

.. first time since 1946.

Excited to attend the ribbon-cutting for the next segment of California’s solar canal initiative later this month in Hickman. Imagine generating solar power over 4,000 miles or so canals across the state. A lot of Sierra and Colorado River water to save via avoided evaporation.

Nice reminder that because a study is published in a journal does not mean it’s a good study or that its stated conclusions are reasonable! When people say they are “doing their own research,” even if reading primary literature, missing the context & subtleties can lead to wildly wrong conclusions.

The statistical manipulation will continue until the vibes improve.

The only ones making money in a gold rush are the shovel manufacturers & sellers. Until the digging stops.

Under current consensus forecasts, just six memory producers will have adjusted operating income (earnings before interest and taxes, excluding one-offs) equal to 0.5% of global GDP in 2027. Absolutely mind-blowing scale.

If I had the market power to force Internet into every product, service, nook & cranny in the 90s, the ISPs I built would have had an "adoption" curve like that as well. This is an arms race with forced "adoption" funded with re-onshored trucks of cash the likes of which I have never seen before.

It's income tax deadline day in Canada, and if you live in Ontario and owe the government money, please be sure to remit payment before the end of day today, because that parking lot at Toronto's private spa isn't going to pay for itself.

"Why are all the journalists laid off now" this is why. Pretty simple.

Survey says no, American workers are not keen on Microsoft's AI

Chrome looks set to ship an LLM Prompt API to the web platform. At Mozilla, we oppose this API. We feel it has a large interoperability risk, and Google imposing T&Cs on a web API sets a dangerous precedent. Full details: github.com/mozilla/stan...

A pair of Purple Finches dropped by on their way further north to nest. What a treat! Just look at his fabulous hair ‘do 😁 #birds

Your risk of clots is over 30 times higher after any COVID infection but much of the media doesn’t talk about this. It talks about the very small risk from vaccines. This is a very skewered narrative. www.hdruk.ac.uk/news/new-stu...

Your periodic reminder that if you ask "frontier models" questions about something you actually know something about, you'll quickly realize that they're completely full of shit.

Thereeeeee sheeeee goessssss US commercial petroleum inventories fell by a headline 17 million barrels, PLUS another 7.1 million barrels of SPR crude draws. 13.3 MMbbl total crude draw (comm + SPR), 6.1 MMbbl gasoline draw, 4.5 MMbbl diesel draw.

it’s still wild to me when canadians say EVs aren’t good in cold climates, as though the leader in EV adoption isn’t a nordic country

This year's baby owl season has begun. 🥰🪶

Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.

#Babylon5 Sleeping in the Light sure hits quite differently and far harder binge rewatching it 30 years down the line. What a tour de force wrap up episode. Yet again, 👏👏👏bravo👏👏👏 @straczynski.bsky.social

Reminded of this after I got needless snark and attributions about me from a rando after I posted a sincere q to learn something I am concerned about. I show this clip to my students. The world's a much better place when people ask questions and feel free to be curious.

Ottawa WAVE (Wastewater Analytics for Viral Epidemiology) as of Apr 19. LEFT IMAGE: 7d trendline of SARS-CoV-2 signal since spring 2020 (A); Past year (B), and 2 months (C), inferred case incidence (D), and Reff (E) determined with ern (PMID: 38905266). RIGHT IMAGE: other viral traces

It’s Just A Complete Mystery Why There Has Been A Drop In Healthy Life Expectancy. Oh, No, Wait, Is It Vapes. Yeah. That’s It. It’s Definitely Vapes For Sure.

No, Adobe Reader. I don't want an AI summary of the document. I just want you to open the damned PDF. You have one job, FFS.

Canadian COVID Forecast Apr 25 - May 8, 2026 CANADA MODERATE [decreasing] About 1 of every 248 people is infected. Compared to lowest point of pandemic in Canada: -Infections: 7.2 x higher -Long COVID: 5.0 x higher -Hospitalizations: 3.7 x higher -Deaths: 2.3 x higher

@jeffgilchrist.bsky.social jeff would you be willing to have your bsky posts gatewayed to mastodon? I would like to boost them there. You can opt in to the gateway by following @ap.brid.gy Once you follow that account it will automatically send your bsky posts to mastodon.

*** Ontario Virus Update | Apr 28 *** Hospitalizations due to COVID have gone down from 109 to 68 in the last update. Influenza hospitalizations decreased from 71 to 63 and RSV decreased from 83 to 75. 🧵1/