Wandering Adventure Party

I teach a little 1-unit undergrad seminar on Klingon language, and at the end of the semester I do an optional movie-afternoon with the students and we watch Star Trek. This year, only 2 students showed up (it is finals after all), and neither one is a Trekkie, but both really enjoyed the class. I asked what they wanted to watch, and they asked for something known as an especially good episode, easy to understand without too much background. I picked Year of Hell from Voyager. By about 5 minutes in, these two young male students were exclaiming about Janeway "She's a total badass!" They loved it. Both said maybe they'll go binge Star Trek over break. OK, I think I've achieved my goal. Oh, they also learned some linguistics and Klingon/tlhIngan Hol. #StarTrek #StarTrekVoy

Not so happy. Financially, 2025 was probably the worst year I had since I started translating for a living. I lost most of my long time clients - retirement, sickness etc. - and new ones are hard to find. So I am on self promotion now - anyone here who wants his English book translated into German? No option for you? Talk to me. Most of my authors are glad for the additional income.References on my blog - see profile.#translations #books #writing #author

What's the most entertaining/ridiculous typo you've ever made that was seen by, you know, people?I once wrote in a manuscript intended for publication, sent to half a dozen coauthors, some at other institutions, "...men who have sex with men (MSM)..." except I missed ONE GODDAMN LETTER.My colleagues all informed me, with varying levels of amusement, that I had actually written "...men who have sex with me (MSM)..."Pretty big bang for that tiny buck.#shitpost #question #writing #mistakes #funny

why is it called "live-streaming games" when "play purview" was right there

Every day, I check my web site logs. It's very clear human visitors to my various websites and blogs are rare. Clearly the sites are being scraped, constantly. This is in spite of the fact that they're all static sites and I write posts maybe twice a month at the most. Must I put it all behind Cloudflare? Or must I introduce "proof of work" style friction? Or do I just give up and let my work be part of the planet-burning machine?Suggestions welcome.#askFedi #webAdministration

Could some of you kind folks share links, that I can pass on to an 80 year old, leftist, intelligent friend, who is afraid that the singularity is going to happen in 2027 because he read that somewhere? He really thinks it's true, and needs to hear from someone in addition to meUpdate: I can see I need to do like @ShaulaEvans , and clarify, with a list of things that I'm looking for and not looking for I'm looking for links to articles or blog posts written in the last, say 6 months. Not looking for a history of how we got here, interesting though it may beI'm not looking for verbal arguments that I can make when talking to to my friend I'm also not looking for videos or podcasts, because I don't have the time to vet those before sending. I can skim written text much more quickly Boosts appreciated!

And now my friend is worried that this flat bd driver who told her he was from the insurance company might just be a dude who has the means to steal an Amazon truck and saw her post on Facebook. I told her she has no duty to protect Amazon’s property and they are ALL trespassing since she didn’t invite any of them. Let him take the truck. She’s not responsible. (Putting that law degree to work.)

George Clooney is an actor.Put him in the role of a surgeon in front of a camera, and he will do and say things the average non-surgeon viewer will agree are surgeonish. After an hour of that, we are, as average non-surgeon viewers, satisfied and entertained. Put him in an operating theatre, and the patient will fucking die because he's not a surgeon and knows nothing about really doing surgery. This is a post about LLMs.

Only the nerdiest #energy nerds among you will be excited about this, but we flew right over the Crescent Dunes project! It looked HOT. #Solar #CleanEnergy

#Bandcamp question: just checked my card and I had a payment I made to Bandcamp reversed for some reason? I bought 3 albums that day and looking at the amount the payment just came back for one. The album is still in my collection (and I'd already downloaded it anyway) but does anyone know what happened and if the artist actually got paid?

@jessamyn I have a helluva lot of tech nerds and gamers in my follows, and vice versa. Because we are autistic, or adhd or au-adhd, we click on other levels. I found peace here. @fastfinge

@SRLevine @sollat a missive from the front lines of the Font Wars

Please Pass the Potatoes (A Kids' Table Game) is up for donate//free on itch!This #game is great to teach the social script of passing food around a table at meals. There are also optional coloring pages so the kiddo can decorate their own game mat.I hope this brightens up a holiday meal for you and your loved ones.https://abetterjulie.itch.io/pass-the-potatoes-a-kids-table-game

Hello Fedi We are the workers at America's biggest investigative newsroom. We've been bargaining for our first contract for the past two years. Follow us for updates on our campaign to improve our workplace!https://www.propublicaguild.org

...pushing "biosecurity protocols" that do nothing to prevent the airborne spread of #AvianFluTheir story here by Nat Lash with maps:https://www.propublica.org/article/bird-flu-airborne-usda-pandemicandNat Lash on TikTok: "The US government is dismissing something that could start a #BirdFlu pandemic2/#BirdFluIsAirborne

Got to play the traditional Saskatchewan game of "where the hell do you think the road is" earlier today

#Fediverse

Just a friendly reminder that I (and many other big accounts on Fedi) don't boost posts without #AltTextSo if you want your post to get shared, you'll have a much bigger audience if you add alt-text to the media elements.And that's not even counting all the folx with slow connections or vision impairment that wouldn't otherwise have access to your post.#AccessibilityMatters

Here's some fun facts from the ER doctor. Norovirus is ridiculously transmittable because it only takes 17 virus bodies to infect an adult human.Each drop off vomit or fecal matter can contain millions of viruses. Using bleach to kill 99.9% of the viruses leave 1000s still active ones. Unlike other viruses, norovirus is not killed with alcohol sanitizer. (You need bleach for surfaces, or soap and water for hands). He pointed to the Sani-Wipes, which "kill everything", and said they're not good for norovirus.The virus itself is robust and can survive on surfaces for a few days (counters, toilets, etc), and in porous surfaces (clothing, bedding) for a week or so. You develop immunity for 6 months or so, so you can be reinfected next year. It easily wipes out the emergency department every year or two. Some people are naturally resistant to it due to some genetic markers. Edit: added a few more facts, since this seems to be going viral. A really fun doctor!

Japanese researchers discovered that black-spotted pond #frogs can successfully hunt and eat Asian giant #hornets (aka "murder hornets") despite their massive stingers and venom. The study found frogs ate the hornets 79% of the time even when repeatedly stung in the mouth or eyes. https://newatlas.com/biology/frogs-murder-hornets/#wildlife #biology #japan #research #nature #animals #insects