Apparently now academic papers carry alt-text saying things like "Warning: AI-generated image content may be wrong."

Next nice harvest will be gramichama. A small, subtropical tree with fruit that tastes just like cherries. And such pretty fruit! #fromthegarden #permaculture #retrosuburbia

To history of science scholars that may be around: Do you happen to have any good refs on the history of chromosome linkage mapping, map units, the definition of the centiMorgan and so on?
#histsci #Histbio #genetics #biology #historyofscience #haldane

Does anyone know how to increase the minimum font size – including leading – that firefox uses? My eyes recently crossed the threshold into needing this, but so many websites involve what I presume to be an absolute line-height so it doesn't get increased at all, so text is being rendered […]

Wooo it's up! New paper alert! I will write a summary thread about this paper tomorrow morning when I'm not quite as mentally exhausted!

"An Orbital House of Cards: Frequent Megaconstellation Close Conjunctions" by Thiele, Heiland, Boley, & Lawler https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.09643

Not […]

One of the scariest parts of this project was learning more about Starlink's orbital operations. I had always assumed they had some kind of clever configuration of the satellites in the orbital shell that minimized conjunctions, and we would see the number of conjunctions grow over time. But no! […]

#psa: I have word from a friend still in #electronics #retail: if anyone needs a new #computer, *this week* is the time to buy if you can.

This is because the price of RAM and other computer components (which are in high demand for #ai chips) are about to push the price of personal computers up […]

When a sign says "NOTICE", is that a verb or a noun?

#mystery

Today we are calling on institutions around the world to take control of their #digitalsovereignty, including their social accounts. Governments should communicate directly with their citizens on open platforms, not through the mouthpiece of a corporation […]

My son told his mum that he'd eaten a good healthy breakfast of eggs.

He avoided mentioning that the eggs were in the form of pavlova.

Nick Smith talking bullshit again... I wonder whether he'll fix it by proposing a re-setting of earthquake risk categories, like he did to fix our polluted waterways?

https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/19/nelson-mayor-wants-to-stop-a-3m-promise-for-new-museum-building/

Spent the morning judging art entries at the local science–technology fair. Lunchtime conversation included substantial grumbling about how several of the works are so much more conceptually and technically substantial, and communicate more clearly, than the gratuitous self-aggrandising bullshit […]

I saw some Lemonade apples at the greengrocer. Just cut one to try it. Tastes of nearly nothing!

Is there a particular use that these are especially good for?

Some speakers of the house need to grow a spine.