~metafilter | Bookmarks (940)

(10100) + 1 - (10100) = 0 "That picture above is from iOS calculator. Notice anything? It's wrong. (10^100) + 1 − (10^100) is 1, not 0. [...] The purpose of a calculator app is to give you correct answers. Floating point numbers are imprecise - they cannot represent 0.3 or 10^100. This means a calculator built on floating point numbers is like a...

Pesto the penguin seen canoodling with a friend. Pesto, the viral sensation and globally famous penguin, is being observed cosying up to penguin-friend Pudding. Could it be love?

Many of those lured into supporting the far right have often correctly perceived that something has gone badly awry within their societies. The tragedy is that, through lies and distraction, they end up blaming the wrong people for the real issues they face. Perhaps that's part of what makes listening to Meat Is Murder today so compelling, even with the full knowledge of the...

PSA: Amazon ending downloads of kindle books On 26 February, Amazon will stop allowing you to download a copy of your ebooks. This has been a primary way to import and strip the drm from ebooks using calibre.If you still have an old kindle registered to your account, you should download them as files for that kindle, which are easier for calibre to deal...

Once upon a time, in the dark days of the early 2000s, we were beset on all sides by horny profiles. This was a replicable genre, wherein a writer—usually, but not always a man, met a subject—usually, but not always, a woman, often a model or an actress—and spent the entire time with his tongue unrolling like a Tex Avery cartoon wolf, his eyes...

Crocodiles struggle to hunt, survive in warmer northern waters. Scientists and tour guides say crocodiles in Queensland's north are hiding from the heat as temperatures warm, potentially disrupting their ability to hunt and travel. (Australia)

"Albert King would stand on the stage, sweat pouring from his face like a monsoon, and wring out of Lucy—a rocket-shaped 1959 Flying V—a voice as insistent as barbed wire and as electrified as a jet engine. ... he bent notes like nobody else—pulling the strings downward on Lucy's neck to shift their tones far out of their usual place—which created a sound alternately...

In the time of ChatGPT, "is there some way for adults to force teens to still do homework? Or to convince them they should want to?" The search for an answer, or at least some clarity, touches on the history of the five-paragraph essay, past letter writing culture, whether it's OK to use AI to write your wife a birthday card, and talks with...

Argentinian president Javier Milei promotes memecoin that then crashes 95% in apparent $100 million+ rug pull.Well worth looking at the comments on his xitter post trying to backtrack if you read Spanish (or use the translate function in your browser).

What is Vegetative Electron Microscopy? It isn't anything at all, unless you're publishing AI-generated fake scientific papers generated from OCR text that doesn't understand two-column layout.

Calm cows and a sleep in for dairy farmers who couldn't ask for anything better. Voluntary milking systems — or robots — are not new to the industry, but it's hoped a significant uptake of the technology will entice the next generation of producers to stay in the industry.

"In this fight, in this movement, it was also trans people, especially trans women of color, like Marsha P Johnson, Sylvia Rivera [womenshistory2], Miss Major Griffin-Gracy [insta], black and brown trans women that stood at the forefront of this movement," said Angelica Christina, the Board Director of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, in an interview with ABC News. "We would not have pride...

"At the age of 26, Andrew Hill altered jazz history, recording five visionary albums for Blue Note in just eight months in 1963 and 1964. In the pace and uniqueness of his achievements, he rivaled more famous labelmates such as Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Among his collaborators were Eric Dolphy, Kenny Dorham, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Richard Davis, Roy Haynes, Elvin...

"May the land over which this new flag flies remain united in freedom and justice ... sensitive, tolerant and compassionate towards all." - Lester B. PearsonAt a time when Canada finds itself beset by illegal threats of annexation from the MAGA fascist movement, the anniversary of the adoption of the Maple Leaf flag has spurred calls to patriotism. The Canadian public has responded to...

One thing that, of course, will never change, in Midtown or any other setting, is that, more often than not, a person who is less qualified or adept at the job will be hired if they have that "positive, can-do attitude" that employers love prattling on about so much. Me, I just wanna do the goddamn work without all this pomp and circumstance/requisite ass-kissing...

Shy forest marsupials no match for all-seeing drones. Researchers in Far North Queensland have found surprising success using thermal drones to spot warm, marsupial bodies in tropical rainforest canopies - elusive tree kangaroos. (Australia)

Ars staffers pick their favorite Saturday Night Live sketches 50 seasons with ~20 episodes each with ~10 sketches each is a vast sea of comedy to distill into the very purest pool of the best of the best of SNL, and this is but one small attempt to do so.If you were picking, would you go with sentimental, offbeat, political, or perhaps a crowd...

'Light Brite turned sci-fi console on the cheap' "Generally, the projects featured on Hackaday actually do something. We won't go as far as to say they are practical creations, but they usually have some kind of function other than to sit there and blink."

"Comrades: A Revolutionary RPG is about participating in a fictional revolution. Influenced by real-world events, past and present, players are members of a fledgling underground movement that aims to rise up against a corrupt government, forced to plan, work, and fight from the shadows. Can they do what is necessary when the cause requires it to free the people? Like the past's real-world revolutions,...

"When Esther Howland first saw the fancy valentine her father brought home from England, most Americans thought Valentine's Day was a waste of time." I thought I'd have a roundup post of Valentine love of the not-necessarily-romantic variety. Including this book about the origins of cards.Volunteers deliver gifts to widows on Valentine's Day. The project began in a florist's driveway. someecards WaPo article on...

In 2007, on my first trip to New York City, I grabbed a brand-new DSLR camera and photographed all the fonts I was supposed to love. I admired American Typewriter in all of the I <3 NYC logos, watched Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica fighting over the subway signs, and even caught an occasional appearance of the flawlessly-named Gotham, still a year before it skyrocketed...

Joining the list of threats to modern masculinity: forks with an insufficient number of tines. Enter the Man Fork! Margaret Eby of Food&Wine asks, "Why?" and "What?" and "Are you OK, guys?".

In what might go down as our own Saturday Night Massacre, today's Valentines Day Massacre our own woefully corrupt Republican president is trying to find anyone who will...help him use prosecutorial power to pressure a mayor of a major US city in order to hold up the administrations end of a bribe made right out in the open by a corrupt Democratic Mayor of...

The proper course of action, the one instilled in me, my friends and many of the parents I interviewed for this story, was this: you graduate high school. You get some education. And you get out. (slMacLean's)Note: the author does acknowledge in the article that the idea of children leaving the nest for good after high school or similar is a Western fixation. And...