@futurebird I have the weirdest thing with this.

When I had to learn those multiplications my mom would question me for practice. I always forgot the answer to 7*8.

One day we were in the living room and the TV remote was on the table. Remember the numbers on that:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

So I saw 7 and 8 on there, and the right answer just above. It clicked in my head.

So whenever I have to multiply 7 and 8 I see a TV Remote in my head. We don't even own a TV, I havn't had one since 2001.

Shout out to everyone getting branded as "difficult" and/or "anxious" for establishing boundaries and sticking to protocols that help preserve your health/well-being.

lacustrosity (n)
the quality of being full of lakes

Losing my mind over the official 2026 class photo of the Swiss Federal Council including the conditions of its own production.

Birdwatching rewires the brain and slows cognitive decline
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20261019-birdwatching-rewires-the-brain-and-slows-cognitive-decline

https://unwall.app/www.bbc.com/future/article/20261019-birdwatching-rewires-the-brain-and-slows-cognitive-decline

Why do other fields get cool-sounding journal names like "Cell" and "Nature" while we in CS are stuck with unpleasant-sounding and hard-to-remember acronyms? We should have a PL journal that's just called "Abstraction"

when u are supposed to gradually, randomly melt into the aleatoric section

Stop
suggesting
Discord
as
a
support
solution

I use this quote a lot, it's from Pat Metheny. "Of the three branches of musical government, you can go to college on melody, and you can *really* go to college on harmony, but you can't go to college on feel."

Wife and I are watching "Alien" (1979) and it's hilarious how the entire movie could just have been titled "Stuff would have been fine if any of the men on the ship were willing to listen to a woman" LOL

People ask what it takes to keep a 1000-year-old witch like me alive, then look shocked when I tell them I need 1 human baby sacrifice every moon cycle.

But when you amortize the baby over a month, it’s barely anything. What’s a baby weigh…8 lb.s? That’s like a 1/4 lb. a day—that’s hardly any baby!

Advice for female-presenting persons: if a male doctor asks if you've been under stress lately: SAY NO. Tell him life is great. Don't budge. Make the fucker actually figure out what's wrong.

I don't know a single woman who hasn't gotten the stress brush-off, only to get a real diagnosis later.

It's bullshit. Sometimes lying to your doctor is the right thing to do.

Love and respect to everyone out there quietly fixing things nobody else will ever know about because they’re staying fixed. I know how lonely that is.

A funny exchange between me and my work interpreter today. She texts to say she's almost to my house, we were running late so I texted back to say i was waiting on the porch so she didn't go inside to search for me. So when I got in the car and noticed her laughing i asked her what was so funny and she says "You text to tell me that you're outside, Like you think i can't see you sitting on the porch?" And without missing a beat, I replied, "'Oh, thats right, you're sighted. You do so well I forget sometimes that you are afflicted with sight. I'm sorry I will try to be more sensitive. But never forget you are so brave and inspirational, navigating the world like you do." And then we laughed for a solid 5 minutes.

Has anyone traveled on a cargo ship? I'm curious.

Eating blueberries every day may have a surprising effect on your mood

Eating blueberries every day could have surprising effects on mood, according to a small study that found greater reductions in depressive symptoms among older adults who consumed the fruit for three months. Researchers also detected changes in gut microbial enzymes, suggesting a possible gut-brain connection, although the mood benefits were not statistically https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/10/261017230028.htm

Some general knowledge questions to get you going this morning:

1) What Spanish name translates as "God has been gracious"?

2) Complete the song title "Stairway __ Heaven".

3) What's the magic number?

4) Name a popular private key.

5) Which English boy band comprised Abz Love, Scott Robinson, Ritchie Neville, Sean Conlon, and Jason "J" Brown?

6-7 (combined question): Name an Internet meme from 2025ish.

8) What is the past tense of "eat"?

9) What is the German word for "no"?

If you work in the tech industry this whole thread is a spec for the product we should be working on instead of whatever bullshit we’re doing now. We are failing these people and eventually they will turn on us.

https://glammr.us/@jessamyn/117487748124291597

PIE *dékm̥ became ten, zehn, dix, десять. The sound changed, the meaning stayed exact.

Greek δέκα has not changed in 3,000 years.
Latin decem gave decimal, decade, decathlon.
Sanskrit daśa gave Hindi दस. Persian ده. Russian десять. Welsh deg. Armenian tasn.

"Ten" is one of the most stable words in the family.

If I ever get to meet any of you lovely Fedi folks in person, I trust you will look exactly like your avatars. I know I do.