Peter Ellis
@pjie2.bsky.social
Father, husband, scientist, singer. Prone to getting over-excited about nerdy stuff in public. He/him.
The logical dual of an iMac
January 7, 2026 at 6:40 PM
The logical dual of an iMac
Either that, or once you know the sequence, you can synthesise enough bits of it that you can spray in onto whatever you want to authenticate. Give me a squirt bottle and a distracted guard, and I can ‘prove’ my cat painted the Mona Lisa
January 7, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Either that, or once you know the sequence, you can synthesise enough bits of it that you can spray in onto whatever you want to authenticate. Give me a squirt bottle and a distracted guard, and I can ‘prove’ my cat painted the Mona Lisa
My dad had similar stories to tell about the early days of relational database design vs early days of Internet-enabled data warehousing. All about what you optimise for local vs remote and where the bottlenecks are.
January 7, 2026 at 5:55 PM
My dad had similar stories to tell about the early days of relational database design vs early days of Internet-enabled data warehousing. All about what you optimise for local vs remote and where the bottlenecks are.
For about a quarter the price you can buy a laptop and cut the monitor off
January 7, 2026 at 5:41 PM
For about a quarter the price you can buy a laptop and cut the monitor off
January 7, 2026 at 5:38 PM
The provenance idea *has* to be bullshit to convince some specific rich investor.
January 7, 2026 at 5:10 PM
The provenance idea *has* to be bullshit to convince some specific rich investor.
That’s mad a priori. If you had his sequence you could conceivably show he *did* touch it. Proving the negative is impossible even in theory. You’d have to sample every known Leonardo painting and show he was detectable on all of them, and even then it wouldn’t be certain.
January 7, 2026 at 5:10 PM
That’s mad a priori. If you had his sequence you could conceivably show he *did* touch it. Proving the negative is impossible even in theory. You’d have to sample every known Leonardo painting and show he was detectable on all of them, and even then it wouldn’t be certain.
Well quite. I’m reminded of the Auditors in Terry Pratchett’s work, counting and sorting the atoms in the paintings.
January 7, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Well quite. I’m reminded of the Auditors in Terry Pratchett’s work, counting and sorting the atoms in the paintings.
Yeah, I read the stories and they basically add up to ‘Team fails to achieve pointless goal: finds a bunch of dirt’
January 7, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Yeah, I read the stories and they basically add up to ‘Team fails to achieve pointless goal: finds a bunch of dirt’
Reposted by Peter Ellis
So what?
The real da Vinci code. Scholars on a quixotic quest to identify Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA achieve a milestone www.science.org/content/arti...
Exclusive: Have scientists found Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA?
Inside the decadeslong quest to reveal the genes of a genius—and revolutionize art authentication
www.science.org
January 7, 2026 at 4:00 PM
So what?
Been happening for several years in many UK universities
January 6, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Been happening for several years in many UK universities
Only if the Jesus is removed before communing, surely? Tea with the bag still in is Soup.
January 6, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Only if the Jesus is removed before communing, surely? Tea with the bag still in is Soup.
Reposted by Peter Ellis
Prepare to be inundated by Brits of a certain age saying ‘Blackadder, season 4’
January 6, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Prepare to be inundated by Brits of a certain age saying ‘Blackadder, season 4’
Prepare to be inundated by Brits of a certain age saying ‘Blackadder, season 4’
January 6, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Prepare to be inundated by Brits of a certain age saying ‘Blackadder, season 4’
Reposted by Peter Ellis
🔥🇪🇺 “Europeans enjoy more free time than Americans, a higher life expectancy and lower levels of inequality – all with roughly comparable productivity.
Whichever way you look at it, this is a significantly superior economic performance.”
Whichever way you look at it, this is a significantly superior economic performance.”
Decline, what decline? The myth of dying Europe
There is a widespread view that, by comparison with the USA, Europe is in economic and social decline. But, Zucman argues, it's not true
eastangliabylines.co.uk
January 6, 2026 at 9:07 PM
🔥🇪🇺 “Europeans enjoy more free time than Americans, a higher life expectancy and lower levels of inequality – all with roughly comparable productivity.
Whichever way you look at it, this is a significantly superior economic performance.”
Whichever way you look at it, this is a significantly superior economic performance.”
Reposted by Peter Ellis
People who use the term "big spoon" and "little spoon" to describe human spooning behaviour are incorrect in their descriptions because spoons actually nestle together best when they are a similar size to each other. The terms should actually be "outer spoon" and "inner spoon".
This place needs some Innocuous Discourse pronto. Quote this with a take that’s not political or aggressive
January 6, 2026 at 9:11 PM
People who use the term "big spoon" and "little spoon" to describe human spooning behaviour are incorrect in their descriptions because spoons actually nestle together best when they are a similar size to each other. The terms should actually be "outer spoon" and "inner spoon".
Britain has no native inhabitants, everyone living here is descended from people that arrived AFTER the human race left Africa.
Your move :-)
Your move :-)
January 6, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Britain has no native inhabitants, everyone living here is descended from people that arrived AFTER the human race left Africa.
Your move :-)
Your move :-)
What is your target audience? Would it be something I can use in an undergraduate course?
January 6, 2026 at 7:47 PM
What is your target audience? Would it be something I can use in an undergraduate course?
And a final point is that this does seem to be quite rare - or at least the kind of persistent infections that @solidevidence.bsky.social can track in the wastewater are ~countable numbers compared to the hundreds of millions of acute infections each year.
January 6, 2026 at 6:39 PM
And a final point is that this does seem to be quite rare - or at least the kind of persistent infections that @solidevidence.bsky.social can track in the wastewater are ~countable numbers compared to the hundreds of millions of acute infections each year.
And then of course there would still be a causality issue - are the (putative) immune changes a consequence of persistent Covid, or are people that are already immunocompromised more susceptible to persistent Covid?
January 6, 2026 at 6:32 PM
And then of course there would still be a causality issue - are the (putative) immune changes a consequence of persistent Covid, or are people that are already immunocompromised more susceptible to persistent Covid?
There’s certainly genetic evidence that you can sometimes get persistent Covid infection - I’d be interested to know what white blood cell counts look like in these patients. But that would require being able to actually identify and diagnose them, which is a heck of a challenge.
January 6, 2026 at 6:30 PM
There’s certainly genetic evidence that you can sometimes get persistent Covid infection - I’d be interested to know what white blood cell counts look like in these patients. But that would require being able to actually identify and diagnose them, which is a heck of a challenge.
A lower level of wbc in the blood does not mean an overall lower level of wbc in the body as a whole. Leukopenia is not necessarily immunodeficiency. As @enirenberg.bsky.social justice explained, the WBCs migrate to where they are needed.
January 6, 2026 at 6:28 PM
A lower level of wbc in the blood does not mean an overall lower level of wbc in the body as a whole. Leukopenia is not necessarily immunodeficiency. As @enirenberg.bsky.social justice explained, the WBCs migrate to where they are needed.
Reposted by Peter Ellis
I am WHEEZING. PLEASE watch all the way to the end
This wheel is to the boy squirrel the way that the football is to Charlie Brown and it still makes me laugh every time he tries to use it only to be immediately spun.
January 6, 2026 at 2:29 PM
I am WHEEZING. PLEASE watch all the way to the end
