One of these days, Physics Forums can pride itself on having preëmptively banned the person who discovered the Unified Field Theory, before he even participated. The reason they will give is spamming. What they called spamming was me requesting of a moderator whether they acknowledged the supremacy of logic over scientific consensus. For asking this question I was banned.

This tells you what you need to know about how physics works in the 2020s, and why I do not even bother trying to publish.

A place of lochs, mountains, fresh air, and wide open landscapes. And apparently, even the air quality agrees: AQI 8 — Good. 🌿
Always.

And it Inverness ❤️

#MonochromeMonday #Photography

New tune: Coming Down The Causeway

https://thesession.org/tunes/26754

Firefox for iPhone Now Blocks Ads: How to Use the New Ad-Blocking Tool
https://www.pcmag.com/news/firefox-for-iphone-now-blocks-ads-how-to-use-the-new-ad-blocking-tool?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into PCMag's Top Stories @pcmag-s-top-stories-PCMag

Une vieille émission de 2014 avec Yann #tiersen où j'apprends que la BO d Amélie Poulain contient des chansons qui existaient avant le film et composées à Ouessant. Les images de Montmartre créent alors un léger décalage chez Tiersen lui-même 😀
https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/encore-heureux/yann-tiersen-2089460

Het is wetenschappers gelukt om een virus te bouwen op basis van een AI-ontwerp. Dat roept fundamentele vragen op over de veiligheid van biotechnologie. Wie heeft toegang tot deze kennis? https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/08/16/wetenschappers-bouwen-voor-het-eerst-een-virus-met-behulp-van-ai-de-regels-om-dit-veilig-te-doen-zijn-er-nog-niet-a4934346?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_term=20260817

How much collective time is spent on hold waiting for busy advisers to become available to take my important call?

I don’t blame the folk who have to take these calls, but I’ve spent a solid 40% of the working day since 9am on hold for two calls, and I’m still on hold for the second call.

Now playing: The Television Remote Control (1961), duration 5:46, on RetroStrange TV1. Watch live: https://live.retrostrange.com #RSTV

The reason I asked this is to see whether there’s general interest in a tool to speed things up and simplify this process.
From a raw screenshot, through theming, all the way to uploading it to ASC.

Duitsers duiken de oorlogsarchieven in met een nieuwe online tool. Binnen families werd gezwegen, zegt historicus Götz Aly. „Onze huidige herdenkingscultuur suggereert dat wij betere mensen zijn dan onze voorouders.” https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/08/16/historicus-gotz-aly-de-verschrikkelijke-dingen-waaraan-duitsers-van-de-oorlogsgeneratie-hadden-meegedaan-werden-mee-het-graf-in-genomen-a4929969?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_term=20260817

In this illuminating piece published by DW Akademie, Eyob Abraha and Linea Dishena explain how journalists in Ethiopia confront AI misinfo / disinfo in times of crisis:

https://akademie.dw.com/en/journalists-as-defenders-of-information-integrity-in-the-ai-age/a-77934632

#ethiopia #journalism #disinformation

I’m eating a mashed Banana and Almond butter sandwich

Don’t judge me

It probably bears repeating that the wisest thing anyone can do in turbulent times is to invest their resource in the creation of goods whose value is broadly scenario-invariant – wagers which pay off no matter which possible worldline eventuates.

At the personal level, these goods might include things like maintaining one’s physical fitness, a robust set of friendships, participation in local community (counter-)institutions, solidly-made tools, a contemplative or meditative practice of some sort, etc.

It sounds platitudinous, but these are the things you’ll be able to rely upon more or less no matter *what* else happens.

If I can’t own any games anymore, why would I want to own a console?

I bought a PS5 a couple of years ago, that’s going to be the last PS.
I’m not buying a steam console, nor an XBOX.

I already have a phone/tablet, I’ll play games there I don’t own. Many AA games already made their way to mobile: The Division, COD, Death Stranding, Resident Evil, RDD, Fortnite.

#Playstation #steam #xbox #mobilegaming

I keep seeing/hearing versions of:

“We are on the cusp of a global technology tipping point for renewable electricity generation. This will result in a rapid transition from fossil fuel powered generation to renewables.”

And yet… renewables are made *with* fossil fuels.

A massive reduction in carbon intensity will be good, if that’s how it plays out. But can we please stop being so wilfully dishonest/naive?

#climateDiary

An analysis of 60 of the largest planned US data centers: they could together produce 101.5M tons of CO2 per year, or ~7% of US power sector emissions in 2025 (Financial Times)

https://www.ft.com/content/8158cb5a-4bbd-43fd-b329-15a54e8422c8
http://www.techmeme.com/260817/p9#a260817p9

Dystopian block-pushing puzzler 'Hazard Pay' arrives September 10 https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/08/dystopian-block-pushing-puzzler-hazard-pay-arrives-september-10/

#Godot #IndieGames #HazardPay #PuzzleGames

I’ve mentioned this before but my very mild superpower is to be able to estimate how much petrol my car needs to within a couple of hundred millilitres.

Also, to remember obscure topics that I’ve discussed with people on social media, relevant to an unimportant current experience.

Monday morning, time to stare at my work laptop and be amazed at how unusably slow Windows is these days