HexesofVexes

Ah yes, the lady responsible for “the investigatory powers act”. A bill that forces logging of internet usage by telecom companies - what I like to call a “groundwork bill”.

The data now exists, all that is needed is a new bill saying it can be used to prosecute civil cases, and a whole new era of repression will begin.

Then again, she did give us the creepy swagger meme, and the “strong and stable” slogan. So at least she gave us a few laughs while fighting to destroy online privacy eh?

It sounds really boring but… Reading nook - just a little spot to relax and read. Kit out the floor with pillows, the walls with shelves, and paint the ceiling to look like the sky.

Hits a buzzer

Countries where “lobbying” is popular

I feel that making a flowchart of this could lead to new labyrinth designs!

1. Scan QR code

2. Hello would you like to let cookies into your life?

3. Time to navigate the decline cookies menu

4. Tap menu button/item

5. Goto 2

I mean, a lot of folks who voted leave are probably dead by now…

Those who voted remain knew this was coming, and still get to live with it.

It gives normal distribution questions, but not actual use cases (I was looking for a normal model based on actual data rather than just made up values).

You’re looking for normal distributions in chemistry, biology and real estate.

On the contrary, that is their function, one they used to be good at.

I can give a fun example for both ddg and Google:

Earlier today I was writing an exam paper for my students, and one of the topics is “basic” normal distribution. So, I thought to myself, why not make it I testing, give them a real world normal model.

Try it yourselves - the number of bot reposts is frightening.

“Seek offence and you shall find it” - The secret mantra of Tumblr users

It’s a tricky one because if someone wants to be offended, they definitely will be. I once knew a guy who, for some reason, found the use of the word “slug” (in any context) intensely offensive. To this day, no-one ever learned why.

Ah, an artistic expression saying “you must learn our language, see how it feels for you to subvert your culture to do something needful”?

Hardly an avant-garde notion today, but in 2010 it may well have been.

I can appreciate the beauty of what was created, though I suspect it failed to move people in the way it was intended. To me, it seems an illogical step backwards, rather than a meaningful stride forwards, as I see it from a pedagogical perspective. Others may disagree, but such is art.

True, but I think the principle still holds.

When I talk about a “print”, “if”, “for” or “while” I am universally understood by the majority of coders. This means, someone with those concepts can use any logic flow making use of those terms with a minimum of learning.

However, if I speak of “gable”, “gyr” or “wabbajack”, then trouble begins, for now I have no tutorials nor guides. Let us say these are not merely localisations, but new concepts, then the question comes of completeness and how it is proved.

In essence, one either recreates Babel, where no two people can understand one another, and collaboration quickly slips away. Or, one builds a tower upon the sand, that has no logical foundation to anchor it, this rendering it worse than useless to those who learn it.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/formulas-breaking-in-different-languages/a821c5dc-b288-4986-96bd-5b1a3218a72b

Excel would like to know your location

Jokes aside, alternative command words for different languages make it harder, not easier, to teach programming. I run some excel labs at the start of my course, and trying to troubleshoot students using their own devices set to their mother tongue is pain.

I’ve specifically gone for a AAA battery powered one so I can just enjoy music while I work on proofs.

Phones are ok, but sometimes it’s just nice to be unreachable in a random room on campus where no-one can track you down to attend meetings.

Bonus points if students see you bopping to unknown tunes while you work and think you’re crazy.

A VR headset that is lightweight, has a decent battery, and has controls dictated by gesture and eye focus (so I can finally start sketching out 3D geometric objects and exploring a fun idea I had for a model of hyperbolic space)

Sometimes emergencies happen…

Published academic (mathematics) here - I suspect my contributions have some value ;)

Post shower toilet thought: Copyright isn’t there to protect the author, it’s there to create a multi-billion dollar legal industry.

As someone whose salary is based on how much tuition others are paying, and who is losing about £1200 per year paying it back, I can categorically say it’s bad from both ends.

The tuition freeze has essentially meant universities in the UK have had a budget cut every year based on inflation, which is now driving a push towards international recruitment since they pay the bills.

The higher education sector is increasingly mimicking our school system (a true failure); with universities prioritising progression and student appeal over quality of education. Indeed, we even have our own “opt in” Ofsted (Office For Students), so eager is our government to see us follow the school system into ruin.

In 2008 we had the first great recession.

When it hit, public services were in a good place, and people did have enough saved to help cushion the blow. While I’d like to say Labour are to thank for that, their introduction of tuition fees (a measure now destroying higher education) shows that it isn’t always the case.

This time, public services are already “unhealthy” due to years of systematic under-investment and minor privatisations (why buy an MRI when you can rent it right?). People don’t have the savings to weather it due to a decade and a half of stagnant wages. A lot of this is thanks to Tory policies, and a good chunk of blame lies there.

So, we’re seeing a surge in people losing out, rather than overextended companies going bust. It feels “worse” this time because it isn’t people losing their jobs because a company went bust, it’s people starving and freezing while working full time.