@sebsauvage Normal Vela Maps a été développée quasiment intégralement avec Claude

Researchers at the University of Queensland are developing “paraborgs”: remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches equipped to navigate disaster rubble and deliver life-saving drug darts. The team says insect rescue swarms could assist victims within 5–10 years. 🪳🚑 #Robotics #MedicalTech https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/08/27/cyborg-cockroaches-may-soon-deliver-life-saving-drugs-to-disaster-victims/5293081

I read somewhere that "the industry is losing the narrative on data centres".

I can't imagine why. Here's the pitch:

"The purpose of these giant buildings is to take away your job. But think about the benefits if we place them in your neighbourhood: Electricity and water will be more expensive, background noise will rise, and if you're *really* lucky we'll drive the whole thing using gas-fired turbines so air pollution rises too! And also they look like shit! What's not to love?"

A Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 fighter pilot intercepts a Russian S-8000 Banderol mini cruise missile at extremely close range. #Ukraine

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/117204965865595122

Keep fighting to prevent climate collapse!

and only knowing enshittified apps controlled by tech bros is sadly universal.

(Also I'm realizing more and more how universal WhatsApp is outside of Japan, and it's terrifying)

It is interesting to note that the graph of Fig. 3 presents a scalloped appearance. This indicates that increasing the ratio of memory buffer size to B+-tree size has an important effect in certain ranges, where a large proportion of a B-tree level can be contained in memory, but that this effect is of diminished importance in other ranges, where the proportion of the level contained becomes less useful in saving real I/Os.

SAVE THE REAL I/OS!!

We're sharing an interview we had with @AberdeenLocal1312 and a member of @CrimethInc about the US applying a terrorism designation to the anticapitalist & antifascist, Italian tech collective #AutisticiInventati (host of #NoBlogs)

https://thefinalstrawradio.libsyn.com/the-situation-with-noblogs-a-midweek-special-featuring-sabot-media-and-crimethinc

I told him that email would be more practical. He looked at me quite confused and told me that he doesn't really do email. Don't I use WhatsApp ? He was even more confused when I told him that no I don't. So what do you use then? He asked me. He replied Signal, Beeper/Matrix, Messenger if I really have to. He continued to look at me confused. And then he concluded: okay, let's do email.
He must think that I'm ancient. And I now know that 20 year-olds not knowing email and ⤵️

#neverslop

@macfranc Io ho anche mandato lo screenshot del messaggio (che conservo a vita) all'account mastodon @ mastodon . social, perché le segnalazioni tipo "questa persona fa male" non bastano. Adesso che pianga pure. O che vada su x, dove i suoi messaggi si pigliano l'applauso

THE FREEDOM FLOTILLA SAILS AGAIN - Freedom Flotilla (2026-09-02)

https://freedomflotilla.org/2026/09/02/ffc-sails-again/
———

>> The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (#FFC) today announced that a new international mission to challenge Israel’s illegal and deadly blockade of Gaza is underway…

>> The new mission involves a port-to-port voyage throughout Europe, ... In June and July 2026, FFC vessel, Handala II, sailed around Scandinavia, ... Earlier this month, the vessel, #Kate, launched from Bristol, UK and has made port calls in Ireland, Germany, and France. Upcoming stops include ports in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, before the flotilla continues on to Gaza. At every stop, the flotilla will stand with local communities to press their own governments to end their complicity in genocide ... The journey will build public support and international pressure ahead of the flotilla’s planned attempt to reach #Gaza in October 2026…

#FreedomFlotillaCoalition #palestine #Handala2 #BreakTheSiege
@palestine@lemmy.ml @palestine@fedibird.com

i also followed on an "SB-tree" mentioned by knuth that sounded close to what i wanted: https://sci-hub.st/storage/2024/634/00406abfc8d251b45eb6227c1f995db7/10.1007@BF01185680.pdf and while i still think a global tree organization is obviously fucked, it does a lot of things really thoughtfully:

(4) The high performance characteristics of an SB-tree are much less subject to degradation than traditional B-tree structures when the tree is modified to accommodate changing information. For this reason, it is appropriate for situations where regular B-tree reorganization cannot easily be performed.

but i really really liked the ACTUAL FUCKING SEMANTICS OF DATA MODIFICATIONS described for fucking ONCE:

(7) We draw an analogy between the K nodes of a multi-page block and the entries of a B-tree node: an analogous policy of "block-splits", "block-merges" and "block-borrows" is pursued

then he calls out the half-assed "expected time" analysis used for B/+ trees:

It is well known that the root node is usually found in memory buffers, but this is not the whole story. We offer the following rough analysis to estimate the "Effective Depth", D_E, of the B+-tree, which we define as the expected number of pages not found in memory buffers during a search from the root to the leaf for an entry with a random key value.

shame, SHAME on USC admin

"USC also argued that the NLRB’s own structure is unconstitutional ... [mirroring arguments] made by Amazon, Starbucks and SpaceX in their labor cases"

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-02/usc-faculty-union-rally-bass-raman

(paywall but works in reader view)

#USC #LosAngeles #unions #NLRB #higherEd #academia

@sundogplanets Be careful. If you scream into the void for too long, the void also screams into you.

@mattblaze besides the legality, this/cameras catching you typing your phone pin let me believe, that pin is not much more safe, even less safe, than using Swipe gestures. Those I could do in a state where I hide my screen even for myself, but pin I have to look and need more time for fewer digits. So I question enforcements about pin usage like from @GrapheneOS ?
I'm not a special target but I would like a more secure option which biometrics cannot provide, as those enable forced entry easily.