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TIL: if you were a guest at the Parker House Hotel in 1912 or 1913 and ordered the dessert that originated there and which the hotel remains famous for, your Boston Cream Pie may have been made by…

Ho Chi Minh.

[He apparently worked as a pastry chef in the hotel kitchen while studying in Boston. The surviving evidence is scanty, as you might imagine, but not in dispute.]

[photo mine, taken this afternoon since I was coincidentally in the immediate neighbourhood]



Two students who discovered a novel proof of the Pythagorean theorem in 2022 have wowed the math community again with nine completely new solutions to the problem.

While still in high school, Ne'Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson from Louisiana used trigonometry to prove the 2,000-year-old Pythagorean theorem, which states that the sum of the squares of a right triangle's two shorter sides are equal to the square of the triangle's longest side (the hypotenuse).

Mathematicians had long thought that using trigonometry to prove the theorem was unworkable, given that the fundamental formulas for trigonometry are based on the assumption that the theorem is true.

Jackson and Johnson came up with their "impossible" proof in answer to a bonus question in a school math contest.
They presented their work at an American Mathematical Society meeting in 2023, but the proof hadn't been thoroughly scrutinized at that point.

Now, a new paper published Monday (Oct. 28) in the journal American Mathematical Monthly shows their solution held up to peer review.
Not only that, but the two students also outlined nine more proofs of the Pythagorean theorem using trigonometry.
livescience.com/physics-mathem…



Just "released" the first usable version of #Convo, an #XMPP messaging app for #KaiOS and #JioPhone feature phones! :xmpp:

git.disroot.org/badrihippo/con…

I was hoping to release a more complete version as 1.0, but that's taking a while, and people are already starting to use it as it is (especially with the impending shuttering of #WhatsApp on KaiOS) so I decided to get this out right away 📦

I've also submitted to the #BananaStore, so hopefully it should be out there soon 🍌



A propósito de nada, voy a citar al gran timonel.

Mirar hacia otro lado en aras de la paz y la amistad cuando una persona claramente se ha desviado y abstenerse de la discusión fundada porque se trata de un viejo conocido, un paisano, un compañero de clase, un amigo cercano, un ser querido, un viejo colega o viejo subordinado. O tocar el tema de refilón en lugar de profundizar en él, para quedar bien. El resultado es que tanto la organización como el individuo resultan perjudicados. Éste es un tipo de liberalismo.
Hacer críticas irresponsables en privado en lugar de presentar activamente sugerencias a la organización. No decir nada a la gente a la cara sino chismear a sus espaldas, o no decir nada en una reunión pero chismear después. No mostrar consideración alguna por los principios de la vida colectiva sino seguir la propia inclinación. Este es un segundo tipo.
Dejarse llevar por la corriente en lo que no nos afecta personalmente; decir lo menos posible aun sabiendo perfectamente que algo está mal, actuar como persona de mundo y jugar sobre seguro buscando sólo eludir la responsabilidad. Este es un tercer tipo.
No seguir las órdenes sino dar prioridad a las propias opiniones. Exigir una consideración especial de la organización pero rechazar su disciplina. Este es un cuarto tipo.
Dedicarse a ataques personales, provocar rencillas, despechar el rencor personal o buscar venganza en lugar de entrar en debate y luchar contra puntos de vista incorrectos en aras de la unidad o el progreso o de hacer el trabajo correctamente. Este es un quinto tipo.
Escuchar opiniones incorrectas sin refutarlas e incluso escuchar comentarios contrarrevolucionarios sin denunciarlos, sino tomárselos con calma como si nada hubiera pasado. Este es un sexto tipo.
Estar entre las masas y no hacer propaganda y agitación, ni hablar en las reuniones, ni realizar estudios e investigaciones entre ellas, y en cambio ser indiferentes hacia ellas y no mostrar preocupación por su bienestar, olvidándose de que se es comunista y comportándose como un no comunista común y corriente. Este es un séptimo tipo.
Ver a alguien perjudicando los intereses de las masas y sin embargo no idignarse, ni disuadirle, ni detenerle, ni razonar con él, sino permitirle continuar. Este es un octavo tipo.
Trabajar a medio gas sin un plan o dirección definida; trabajar superficialmente y para salir del paso: "Mientras uno siga siendo monje, seguirá tocando la campana". Este es un noveno tipo.
Considerarse como si se hubiera prestado un gran servicio a la revolución, enorgullecerse de ser un veterano, desdeñar tareas menores siendo completamente incapaz de tareas importantes, ser descuidado en el trabajo y negligente en el estudio. Este es un décimo tipo.
Ser consciente de los propios errores y, sin embargo, no intentar corregirlos, adoptando una actitud liberal hacia uno mismo. Este es un undécimo tipo.


Vale, la caracterización de estos 11 puntos como tipos de liberalismo es discutible. Pero a las organizaciones les y nos iría mejor si siempre tuviéramos estos consejos del gran timonel a mano.

in reply to modulux

Claro, pero mucho cuidado con utilizar los mismos criterios para quienes tienen el poder y para quienes no lo tienen, que muchas veces es lo que se acaba haciendo
in reply to Ramón Corominas

Sí, yo aquí me refería más que nada a la responsabilidad de los cuadros en las organizaciones. Concretando: si es verdad que esto se sabía y nadie confrontó a cierta persona por afinidad personal o política, estamos ante el primer tipo de liberalismo, por ejemplo. Si había cuadros que lo sabían y no lo manifestaron a la organización, estamos ante el segundo tipo. Si hubo gente a la que se le dijo y escurrió el bulto, tercer tipo. Etc.



So, after electricity went out and I had a mini panic thinking that we had not payed our bill, it's back on. Also, how are people getting IPhone sixteens? I'm still on my ten because I can't afford it.
in reply to 🍂Melissa🌠

I save money, I work, I get iPhone 16. Also, I am not probably going to get that, but, that's the usual way, also, payments is the other variant. I consider those shady, and quick to get the interest rate up up up, so I don't do that. I have the money, I do it. I don't, I don't do it. also, I used to wonder how people bought new things when I was younger and did not have money. Well, turns out blind folks don't go out much, lot of them live with family, create drama, and still manage to buy the nicest tech because their parents do everything for them while they still can. I didn't even have money for the bils when I was younger. :D So that could tell you how I have lived for most of my life. But meh, I really don't like when people brag, and then it turns out they get their stuff on monthly payments to the mobile provider. LoL. also, phones end up being more expensive than when you'd buy them yourself from a store. Just my experience over here.


Hmm, so you know sometimes when you record a message or audio on your iPhone, voice over switches to the other speaker and turns itself down very much?
That happens to me often when I open the google app...
What could that tell us?
This entry was edited (3 days ago)
in reply to Jonathan

That this one is the fault of Google. Haha. Because it is designed to switch to the other speaker when you record a message.


Redesigned M4 Mac mini leaks: M4 Pro variant, up to 14-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 64GB RAM, front-facing ports like Mac Studio 9to5mac.com/2024/10/28/m4-mac-…



Me siento tentado de votar a la derecha. Al menos, aparte de ser unos hijos de puta, también lo parecen, que es casi tan importante como lo primero.
Yolanda Díaz no preguntó a Errejón por los abusos pese a tenerlo en su equipo de campaña

elmundo.es/espana/2024/10/28/6…

in reply to José Manuel Delicado

Nunca entenderé esas tentaciones. En particular, me puede decepcionar un partido y puedo dejar de querer votarlos, pero me abstendría antes que votar contra mis intereses y los de la clase trabajadora.


Buenos días desde la Administración Pública.

Esta semana tiene buena pinta. El tiempo no defraudó, y ayer el café lo tomamos al sol. A ver si hoy encontramos algún curruncho similar---el sitio de ayer está cerrado.

in reply to modulux

es muy malo el café de la cafetería interna? Conste que yo si podía también me iba fuera de la ONCE aunque el café de su cafetería era razonablemente bueno.
in reply to Juan CBS

El café de aquí no vale para tomar por el culo. Si llueve a cántaros y bajamos aquí, tomo té.
in reply to modulux

oye, pues el resto de servicios en su momento no estaban tan mal. Supongo que tenía suerte de que no me gustaba el café. Y de que si me gustase creo que teníamos una cafetera de cápsulas para nosotros, imagino que no es algo especialmente común.
in reply to Iván Novegil

Privilegio de gabinetero, jajaja. Pero es verdad que el resto de cosas no están mal. Las pulgas y la tortilla no las hacen mal, y los menús para la comida no son gran cosa pero son baratísimos. Eso sí, antes a partir del medio día ponían tapa y ahora ya no, hay que pedirla.
in reply to modulux

sí, es bastante posible, de hecho los menús siempre los cogíamos para llevar y comíamos todos en un office que teniamos. Se notaba que era un mundo bastante aparte del resto de la gente, para lo bueno y también para lo malo, porque todo el mundo se piraba a las 2 de la tarde y nosotros estábamos hasta las 6 y media o 7 por lo menos. Afortunadamente los becarios solo hacíamos la mitad de la jornada, a turnos, porque teníamos solo 25h semanales.
in reply to Iván Novegil

Por aquí los gabineteros, sobre todo desde el último cambio, tienen bastante mala fama de rascarse la barriga. Pero supongo que habrá de todo.


I finally set firefox as my main browser. Last time I used it with NVDA, it kept crashing and crashing and crashing. Let's see what happens this time. All I know is that I cannot use a browser that kneecaps my ability to block ads. The web becomes borderline unusable with ads, especially if you're blind and have to manually trudge through iframes and janky Js coughed up by an ad server one DOM element at a time.
#nvda #blind #ublockorigin #accessibility #firefox
in reply to Pepper The Vixen🏳️‍⚧️🦯

Do let us know how you go. I'm not aware of an issue (current or old) which constantly crashed firefox - if you do encounter anything like that, please do let us know!


It’s great to be Abel to finally use iPhone Mirroring feature in Mac OS 15.1. It’s kind of magical with VOiceOver until you have to hit the “back” button from inside the app. Still can’t figure out how this is done. Web views don’t seem to work yet either. #accessibility


Well my country is going to hell, but I just passed the new AirPods hearing test with flying colors, so at least I'll hear the bad guys coming.


Tajemná, magická a koupající se v mlhách. Krása podzimní Prahy na fotkách
magazin.aktualne.cz/krasa-podz…







I'm an idiot. Instead of taking my sleeping medicine, I took all of my medicine for tomorrow morning. Including my ADHD meds...
in reply to Chris 🌱

oops, hope you still managed to find some sleep… 😓
This entry was edited (3 days ago)



Dario recently forced me to create an account to continue using a blood sugar monitor I already own (😡), so of course I gave my name as "Fuck Off."

This turns out to have been an amazing decision, because they inject your name into their marketing emails. 😂

reshared this



Dear geek/libre comrades, I have a queer-stion for you: Do we know if the first communities -in the 80's and 90's- around the development of critical computing (?) and its evolution towards free software were related to the homosexual liberation movement and the fight against AIDS? Thanks :unwanted_love:
This entry was edited (3 days ago)



World's first stereo recording from 1934. youtube.com/watch?v=e0qzIZaiPF…


Hey fellow #BlindMastodon users! I'm looking for recommendations on two types of writing tools for Windows:

1. Accessible text expanders
2. Word prediction software

I use both #JAWS and #NVDA screen readers. I tried Espanso (an open-source text expander), but it didn't work well with NVDA. I also tested Lightkey for word prediction, but it didn't seem accessible.

As an #ActuallyAutistic person, word prediction would really help with my autism-related communication challenges.

Have you found any text expanders or word prediction tools that work well with screen readers? What has your experience been like? I'd love to hear your recommendations and thoughts!

#Accessibility #AssistiveTechnology #TextExpander #WordPrediction #ScreenReader #Windows #AutismAccommodations #autism #blind @mastoblind @main

in reply to Lanie Carmelo

@hartgenconsult I think I encountered this behavior once or twice but it was a while ago and I'm now not able to reproduce this. What version of Leasey are you using?
For kicks, have you tried clearing the clipboard by pressing the Leasey key followed by the letter Z? Admittedly, you should not need to do this every time you want to expand an abbreviation but I'm just curious as to whether that might fix things going forward.
Please note that I'm just a Leasey user and am not intending to represent Hartgen Consultancy.


How to keep employees with disabilities from leaving your agency federalnewsnetwork.com/workfor…




Meta AI Silently Releases NotebookLlama: An Open Version of Google’s NotebookLM marktechpost.com/2024/10/27/me…


How to Install and Use uv: A Python Installer and Resolver linuxtoday.com/blog/how-to-ins…


Have people found that things have improved regarding the Facebook #accessibility bug that meant you couldn’t read back what you’d typed when composing a post?
Any other pain points around Facebook you would like addressed?
in reply to Jonathan Mosen

The main reason I stopped using Facebook is because it's too verbose. Every time I swipe to a new post in the iOS app at least, I hear the person's name, followed by "Profile image", followed by the message, which may or may not contain an image description, etc. It all became too much for me, and I temporarily deactivated my account.
in reply to Kelly Sapergia

@kjsapergia Thanks Kelly, I have this one on my list to discuss with them. I agree with you, the verbosity is not optimal.


Dinosaurs Thrived After Ice, Not Fire, Says A New Study Of Ancient Volcanism eurasiareview.com/29102024-din…


The show has been picked up by Netflix for a new season, and will be available on Netflix void in Canada.
This entry was edited (3 days ago)


In seinem 1927 (!) erschienenen Buch beklagt sich Kurt Floericke, wie furchtbar die Tierwelt in den letzten 40 Jahren "verarmt und verödet" ist. Die Schuld dafür weist er hauptsächlich dem "Siegeszug von Industrie und Technik" zu.

Surprise…

Das eBook dazu kommt die Tage mit der nächsten Runde bei ebooks.qumran.org/ an. Der Titel: "Aussterbende Tiere"…

#naturschutz #literatur

in reply to IzzyOnDroid ✅

Bei so viel Interesse (Likes & Boosts) möchte ich Euch natürlich nicht zu lange auf die Folter spannen – das genannte #eBook steht jetzt bereit, wurde gerade mit 23 weiteren bei ebooks.qumran.org/ hochgeladen.

Viel Spaß beim Lesen!

#eBooks #libre #gratis



It has come to my attention that there are some folks in the vintage Macintosh community engaging in racist comments.

This behavior is intolerable. If you're one of those people: let yourself out right now, or we'll do it for you.



Raspberry Pi OS Now Enables Wayland by Default on All Raspberry Pi Models linuxtoday.com/blog/raspberry-…


CAQ tables bill to limit international students at Québec universities.

FYI: Specific universities are being targeted.

SPOILER ALERT: THERE WILL BE EVEN LESS DOCTORS IN THIS PROVINCE.

cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/qu… #CAQASTROPHE #polQC #QCpoli #assnat #racist #xenophobic #hate #fear #division