#Data Science Central

[reasonsforhope]

If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...

Start helping with citizen science projects

What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!

You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases

Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.

Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.

Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.

Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.

Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.

Oh, and btw, you don't have to worry about messing up, because several people see each image. Studies show that if you pool the opinions of however many regular people (different by field), it matches the accuracy rate of a trained scientist in the field.

--

I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.

Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help

Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.

[rishiaca]

Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median & Mode

What is Central Tendency and why do we use it? Let’s say you made 1400 sales of ice creams in one year, however, you being smart, you sold the ice cream at different prices depending on the season. Now at the end of the year, you want to calculate how much you earned on an average so you can make various other calculations such as how much money you make per month or year and how much would you like to increase this number by in order to hit your goal. This is where you come up with your central values if you have plotted all the sales figures and the money earned.

Technically, central tendency is the conclusion for a data set describing its central value or key focus area which we can use to find out more advanced information. Central tendency tells us where most values fall in the distribution of data points, specifically over the plot of sales figures from the example earlier. To find out this central tendency, statistics uses three measures namely Mean, Median and Mode - each with a different formula and purpose behind identifying where these central tendencies lie and how they could be used going forward.

Different measures of Central Tendency Mean: Mean is nothing but the simple average that we calculate in basic mathematics or statistics. It is the sum of all data points divided by the total number of data points. This gives us the quantifiable measure of central tendency, or in other words, an arithmetic average of all the values across the data set.

While this value becomes the highlight of this measure, more often than not, it exposes the definition of central tendency when it doesn’t always locate the central value in a data set. For example: (10 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1) / 5 = 2.8 which is nowhere close to the center of the axis (5) where the highest value is 10.

Note: There is another sub-classification of mean such as geometric mean as well. Geometric mean is used in functions where variables are multiplied instead of addition. For example rate of interest, or data that follows lognormal distribution. This multiplication is followed by the root of the number of variables used to multiply.

Median: Median is that measure of central tendency which ensures that the data points are arranged in an absolutely balanced way. Put simply, think of it as a weight balance when both sides are equally distributed. And that is exactly what a median does, it arranges the data in ascending or descending order and takes the value of the one that lies in the middle.

Difference between mean and median This gives us the central tendency that is not sensitive to changes in value like we saw in the mean. For example, let’s take the median of five numbers (10, 20, 30, 40, 50) which comes out to be the third number, that is 30. Now if we change any of the two numbers of either side to large values like (10, 20, 30, 100, 1000) or (-1000, 1, 30, 40, 50), the median still remains the same. Hence, median is a better measure than mean when it comes to extreme values in outliers or skewed distributions.

Mode: Mode is another commonly used measure of central tendency which tells us about the highest occurring data point. Mode can be calculated by identifying the frequency of data points, sort of by categorizing the data set based upon its repetitions. Hence, mode is the most popular measure for finding the central tendency of categorical data, and in fact, the only type.

The value of mode is easily noticeable on a bar chart since it is the highest value. If a data set has multiple values with highest frequency, then both data points get the joint credits for mode in what is called a multi-modal distribution. Conversely, if no value returns the highest frequency, the data set does not have a mode.

Conclusion: For various kinds of distributions, we have different measures of central tendency. For a symmetrical distribution, you will notice that the mean, mode and median are at the heart or at the center of the distribution. However, for a data set skewed to the right or left, the mean shifts to the either side as well, leading to difficulty in finding the central tendency of the distribution effectively. This is where median comes handy.

As mentioned earlier, mode proves its uniqueness when calculating the central tendency for categorical data such as different flavors of ice cream. Another special case occurs when calculating the central tendency for a continuous data set when there is no mode for it. We can still deduce the frequency by locating the maximum value on a probability distribution plot.

There is a different measure of central tendency for every different data set or distribution. We’ll sum these up quickly below. Mean: Symmetrical distribution, continuous data sets. Median: Skewed distribution, Continuous data set, Ordinal data set Mode: Categorical data, Ordinal data set, Probability distribution

Measures of central tendency are key to finding out measures of variability, and diving deeper into statistical analysis which forms a core of Data Analysis. If you’re interested in picking up these subjects or developing an aptitude for the same, you can enroll for the Data Science and AI course at Skillslash which also offers a unique opportunity of real work experience at top MNCs. Get in touch with one of our counselors today by visiting www.skillslash.com

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive (Daily updates!)

Authors: Rose (Shiqi) Luo Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University

Catherine Itsiopoulos Professor and Dean, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University

Kate Anderson Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow, RMIT University

Magdalena Plebanski Professor of Immunology, RMIT University

Zhen Zheng Associate Professor, STEM | Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University

____________________________________________________________

Nearly five years into the pandemic, COVID is feeling less central to our daily lives.

But the virus, SARS-CoV-2, is still around, and for many people the effects of an infection can be long-lasting. When symptoms persist for more than three months after the initial COVID infection, this is generally referred to as long COVID.

In September, Grammy-winning Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes died aged 83 after reportedly having long COVID.

Australian data show 196 deaths were due to the long-term effects of COVID from the beginning of the pandemic up to the end of July 2023.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 3,544 long-COVID-related deaths from the start of the pandemic up to the end of June 2022.

The symptoms of long COVID – such as fatigue, shortness of breath and “brain fog” – can be debilitating. But can you die from long COVID? The answer is not so simple.

How could long COVID lead to death? There’s still a lot we don’t understand about what causes long COVID. A popular theory is that “zombie” virus fragments may linger in the body and cause inflammation even after the virus has gone, resulting in long-term health problems. Recent research suggests a reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in the blood might explain why some people experience ongoing symptoms.

We know a serious COVID infection can damage multiple organs. For example, severe COVID can lead to permanent lung dysfunction, persistent heart inflammation, neurological damage and long-term kidney disease.

These issues can in some cases lead to death, either immediately or months or years down the track. But is death beyond the acute phase of infection from one of these causes the direct result of COVID, long COVID, or something else? Whether long COVID can directly cause death continues to be a topic of debate.

Of the 3,544 deaths related to long COVID in the US up to June 2022, the most commonly recorded underlying cause was COVID itself (67.5%). This could mean they died as a result of one of the long-term effects of a COVID infection, such as those mentioned above.

COVID infection was followed by heart disease (8.6%), cancer (2.9%), Alzheimer’s disease (2.7%), lung disease (2.5%), diabetes (2%) and stroke (1.8%). Adults aged 75–84 had the highest rate of death related to long COVID (28.8%).

These findings suggest many of these people died “with” long COVID, rather than from the condition. In other words, long COVID may not be a direct driver of death, but rather a contributor, likely exacerbating existing conditions.

‘Cause of death’ is difficult to define Long COVID is a relatively recent phenomenon, so mortality data for people with this condition are limited.

However, we can draw some insights from the experiences of people with post-viral conditions that have been studied for longer, such as myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

Like long COVID, ME/CFS is a complex condition which can have significant and varied effects on a person’s physical fitness, nutritional status, social engagement, mental health and quality of life.

Some research indicates people with ME/CFS are at increased risk of dying from causes including heart conditions, infections and suicide, that may be triggered or compounded by the debilitating nature of the syndrome.

So what is the emerging data on long COVID telling us about the potential increased risk of death?

Research from 2023 has suggested adults in the US with long COVID were at greater risk of developing heart disease, stroke, lung disease and asthma.

Research has also found long COVID is associated with a higher risk of suicidal ideation (thinking about or planning suicide). This may reflect common symptoms and consequences of long COVID such as sleep problems, fatigue, chronic pain and emotional distress.

But long COVID is more likely to occur in people who have existing health conditions. This makes it challenging to accurately determine how much long COVID contributes to a person’s death.

Research has long revealed reliability issues in cause-of-death reporting, particularly for people with chronic illness.

So what can we conclude? Ultimately, long COVID is a chronic condition that can significantly affect quality of life, mental wellbeing and overall health.

While long COVID is not usually immediately or directly life-threatening, it’s possible it could exacerbate existing conditions, and play a role in a person’s death in this way.

Importantly, many people with long COVID around the world lack access to appropriate support. We need to develop models of care for the optimal management of people with long COVID with a focus on multidisciplinary care.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Philosophy

Philosophy - aims to ascertain basic existentialist truths of the world around us.

The term comes from “philosophia,” a word that has Greek and Latin origins.

Philosophers examine the nature of reality by posing philosophical questions or problems that they then attempt to solve through critical thinking.

Branches of Philosophy

Much of the value of philosophy lies in the specialization and categorization of philosophical questions that cannot be easily answered with empirical data or scientific knowledge.

Scholars organize such questions into different branches of thought, although there are perhaps as many ways of categorizing the different branches as there are scholars.

Here are just 3 of the potentially dozens of branches of philosophy:

Epistemology: Also called the theory of knowledge, this analytic philosophy studies the scope, validity, and extent of human knowledge—in other words, concepts surrounding how we can confirm what we think we know is true. Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason is an example of epistemology. In this work, Kant disagrees with philosopher David Hume, that our experiences and perceptions of things are subjective—therefore, our knowledge of things is not universal. Epistemology overlaps with many other branches of philosophy since human knowledge is relevant in other areas, such as the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind.

Ethics: The moral philosophy of ethics is one of the oldest and broadest branches of philosophy. Ethics works to debate values of good and evil and questions where human actions fall on that spectrum. The ancient Greeks struggled with these questions as they developed their societies along two schools of thought—Stoicism and Epicureanism. Although these two schools, established in 300 BC, shared several tenets, they differed in describing the best way to live. Stoics believed that living a just and virtuous life was paramount, while Epicureans believed the search for pleasure should be the highest priority. Due to its broad nature, ethics is pervasive in nearly every academic discipline and overlaps within several other areas of thought, including the philosophy of history, the philosophy of law, and the philosophy of religion.

Metaphysics: The principles of metaphysics question our place in the world and the meaning of life and human existence. Metaphysics, like ethics, began as one of the main branches of philosophy in ancient Greece. One of the premier philosophical works that established the branch was Aristotle’s Physics. In exploring the working mechanics of our reality, Aristotle created foundations of thought that became important to western institutions and religions, like Christianity. Aristotle’s work greatly influenced the thirteenth-century Italian priest Thomas Aquinas, who utilized aspects of Aristotle’s philosophy of nature to confirm the existence of God as the omnipotent architect of the universe. Metaphysics often encompasses or overlaps with the philosophy of science—for example, as scientists grapple with questions related to humanity’s literal and figurative place in the universe.

Historical Figures of Eastern Philosophy

Learn how these notable eastern philosophers shaped their cultures with religion and philosophical breakthroughs throughout the history of philosophy:

Laozi (born circa 570 BCE): The historical existence of Laozi, or Lao Tzu, is disputed, but some believe the Chinese philosopher is the author of the Tao Te Ching, a manuscript central to the philosophical religion known as Daoism (or Taoism). The metaphysical and ethical philosophy promotes living in harmony with nature and doing no harm to others.

Confucius (551–479 BCE): The teachings of this Chinese philosopher and politician formulated the basic tenets of East Asian societies. Known as Confucianism, the Chinese philosophy encouraged family loyalty, ancestral appreciation, and education—concepts that remain important to modern Chinese traditions.

Siddhartha Gautama (born in fifth century BCE): Historians and academics dispute the facts of the life of Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha. By some traditions, he was born into an aristocratic family and enjoyed an entitled life until he decided to pursue a nomadic and ascetic lifestyle. Over time, people attributed teachings to him on self-restraint, meditation, and mindfulness—ideas that grew into a popular world religion.

Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī (1207–1273): A thirteenth-century Persian poet, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī wrote Quranic verses and Sufi poems that scholars still translate and publish today. A large part of philosophy in Rumi’s poetry is his set of values around love and religion. His philosophy of life focused on using art and self-expression to bring humans closer to God.

Historical Figures of Western Philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophers established western philosophy as early as the sixth century BCE. Here are a handful of Greek philosophy figures who created theoretical foundations and frameworks that future generations could use to question their own complex societies:

Socrates (470–399 BCE): The Athenian philosopher Socrates is credited as the founding father of western philosophy and the Socratic method—a form of questioning that scholars in multiple areas of philosophy use to pinpoint shortcomings in logic or beliefs. His teachings were never published but lived on through the work of his student, Plato.

Plato (428/427–348/347 BCE): An influential thinker of the classical Greek period, Plato is famous for his theory of forms, which questions the connection between our minds and reality. He is also remembered for his several published works, like The Republic, which communicated his social and political philosophy.

Aristotle (384–322 BCE): The philosopher Aristotle was a star pupil of Plato’s (another ancient philosopher) and went on to found his own school, called Lyceum. During his career, Aristotle collected and simplified the philosophies of his predecessors and contributed to philosophical work in nearly every aspect of classical Greek culture. He was the first ancient philosopher to analyze the concept of free will.

René Descartes (1596–1650): A French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes is best known for the existentialism theories he put forth in Discourse on the Method and his statement: “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes’ natural philosophy and metaphysical inquiries, as well as his thoughts on the existence of God, established him as a pioneer of modern philosophy.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831): German philosopher Georg Hegel is best known for his metaphysical concept known as idealism. The concept dictates that the perceptions of a self-conscious mind result in the most accurate interpretations of concrete objects. His work had a dramatic impact on western philosophy in the twentieth century and influenced the works of philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[apod]

2025 February 28

Athena to the Moon Image Credit: Intuitive Machines

Explanation: Planet Earth hangs in the background of this space age selfie. The snapshot was captured by the IM-2 Nova-C lander Athena, just after stage separation following its February 26 launch to the Moon. A tall robotic lander, Athena is scheduled to touch down on Thursday, March 6, in Mons Mouton, a plateau near the Moon’s South Pole. The intended landing site is in the central portion of one of the Artemis 3 potential landing regions. Athena carries rovers and experiments as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, including a drill intended to explore beneath the lunar surface in a search for evidence of frozen water. It also carries a propulsive drone dubbed the Micro Nova Hopper. After release to the lunar surface, the autonomous drone is intended to hop into a nearby crater and send science data back to the lander.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250228.html

[moonyskarma]

𝒯𝙝𝔢 𝒮𝙝𝔞𝚍𝙤𝚠 𝒮𝙥𝔦𝚍𝙚𝔯

◀ FILE ACCESSED: LEVEL 9 REQUIRED ► METAHUMAN DOSSIER: SPIDERMAN A.R.G.U.S. REGISTRY CODE: X-319J-CH-VOID

ALIASES: Spiderman / Shadow Spider / The Spider CIVILIAN IDENTITY: West, Charles "Charlie" Calloway AGE: 23 KNOWN AFFILIATIONS: Flash (Charles Leclerc), Team Flash, CCPD LOCATION TRACKED: Central City CURRENT STATUS: Active

PHYSICAL PROFILE: • Height: 5'8' • Build: Athletic, high muscle density (noted for enhanced strength) • Eyes: Dark brown • Identifying Marks: Minor scar, left oral commissure (non-inhibitory); mask conceals facial identity effectively. • Movement Style: Agile, non-linear; often utilizes vertical terrain. Confirmed enhanced reflexes. • Suit: Matte black adaptive suit with web-distribution technology and reinforced under layer. Not A.R.G.U.S.-issued.

PRIMARY ABILITIES: • Enhanced Physiology: Superhuman strength (class 10), stamina, reflexes, and healing factor. • Wall-Crawling: Adhesive grip via neuro-responsive extremities. • Spider-Sense: Extrasensory awareness of immediate threats. • Web Deployment: Internally engineered, wrist-mounted cartridges. Customizable web types (standard tensile, impact dispersal, ensnarement) • Combat Training: Improvised street combat, acrobatic evasion, and pressure-point targeting.

SKILLSET & SPECIALIZATIONS: • Forensic profiling, behavioral analysis (certified) • Tactical intelligence and urban reconnaissance • High proficiency in field improvisation and stealth pursuit • Access to CCPD crime scene data and surveillance through internal credentials (flagged by ARGUS audit; under review)

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE & BACKSTORY: Psychological Profile: • Subject exhibits patterns of trauma-rooted hyper-independence. Displays marked reluctance to delegate or rely on others—early case files indicate complete operational solitude for first phase of activity. • Notably anti-lethal but not pacifistic; engages targets with calculated brutality when deemed necessary. Repeated field reports highlight consistent use of force intended to incapacitate rather than eliminate. • Maintains high tactical intelligence and demonstrates combat-specific hyperfocus, especially in urban terrain. Emotional triggers noted: child endangerment, abuse of power, institutional failure. Exhibits signs of complex trauma and internalized guilt response—subject is a classic moral absolutist operating in moral grey. • Behavioral alignment: Anti-heroic, trending toward cooperative vigilante. • Integration into Team Flash has promoted marked behavioral shifts—less isolation, increasing reliance on allies (notably Flash and Cisco Ramon). Subject remains emotionally reserved but is capable of deep loyalty once trust is established.

Background Summary: • Subject was adopted as a young child into the West family under sealed circumstances; birth records list "Calloway" as original surname. Details regarding biological parents remain classified or unknown, though metahuman lineage is suspected. • Early adolescence marked by above-average intelligence, academic aptitude in forensic science and behavioral criminology, and notable disciplinary issues related to authority resistance. Currently employed by CCPD as a criminologist. • Initial vigilante activity predates official metahuman registrated by ~10 months. Operated nocturnally under masked alias "The Spider", avoiding detection while targeting individuals who eluded legal consequence. Patterns consistent with personal vendetta overlaying systemic justice response. • Following first contact with The Flash, subject's strategy evolved—shifted from solo vigilantism to tactical cooperation in metahuman apprehension efforts. • Subject remains unregistered in the official Central City vigilante database, though Team Flash records identify him as a consistent field agent in meta-level incidents.

THREAT ASSESSMENT: • Threat Level: Yellow (Conditional Watchlist) • Subject poses no direct threat to civilians or sanctioned meta operations under typical parameters. Actions are guided by a strong internal moral code, though not always in alignment with ARGUS or CCPD protocol. • Tactical efficiency, unpredictability, and emotional volatility under specific triggers (e.g., child endangerment, abuse of power, sexual abuse) warrant continued surveillance • Field Classification: Containment Risk Tier II — Standard intervention protocols apply; use of lethal force not authorized unless subject breaches metahuman containment policy. • Despite cooperative stance, subject has not submitted to full ARGUS evaluation.

SECURITY CLEARANCE NOTES: Access to full dossier contents restricted to Level 9 operatives and above. Any unauthorized attempts to duplicate, transmit, or disseminate subject data will trigger immediate lockdown protocol [Ref. ARGUS Regulation 16.3c]. Subject's full metahuman potential remains under evaluation; redacted portions accessible only by Director Waller or ARGUS Field Oversight Division.

[SECTION REDACTED – 03.16.XX / AUTHORIZATION: W. WALLER] Biological origin and medical anomalies flagged for meta-genetic analysis. Subject denies knowledge of pre-adoption trauma. Further investigation pending.

. . . back to the circus 🎪

[covidsafecosplay]

The People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report: October 14, 2024

The People's CDC has released another updated report on COVID-19 data and action items for the United States of America.

Highlights:

According to data last updated 10/5/2024, the CDC’s national wastewater map shows 16 states with “High” or “Very High” wastewater levels.

According to the Wastewater COVID-19 National and Regional Trends dashboard, all regions continue to show a downward trend over the last several weeks.

Many Bay Area counties are set to reimplement mask mandates in hospitals from November 1 through Spring 2025. Some of the rules apply to only certain healthcare staff while others include visitors and patients. Though these mandates are limited in scope, duration, and geography, a few are expanded compared to last year’s Bay Area mask rules, a sign that pressure on decision makers is working. 

In the past week, the California Department of Public Health reported that 6 new cases of bird flu (H5N1) were confirmed in dairy workers in California, with each case being connected to contact with infected cattle in California’s Central Valley. While there is yet no documented human-to-human transmission, each new case presents a greater risk of the virus mutating to spread from human to human.

The Texas State Affairs Committee posted notice of a hearing at the Capitol on October 16 to discuss, among other things, “Unmasking Protestors.” Opposition is mounting, and people are organizing.

Read the rest of the report here:

Please note that the CovidSafeCosplay blog and its admin are unaffiliated with the People's CDC or its management, and are simply sharing the resource.

Via the People's CDC About page:

The People’s CDC is a coalition of public health practitioners, scientists, healthcare workers, educators, advocates and people from all walks of life working to reduce the harmful impacts of COVID-19.  We provide guidance and policy recommendations to governments and the public on COVID-19, disseminating evidence-based updates that are grounded in equity, public health principles, and the latest scientific literature. Working alongside community organizations, we are building collective power and centering equity as we work together to end the pandemic. The People’s CDC is volunteer-run and independent of partisan political and corporate interests and includes anonymous local health department and other government employees. The People’s CDC is completely volunteer run with infrastructure support being provided by the People’s Science Network

[gippity]

Trump and Palantir Forge a Pan-Government Surveillance State, Empowering Tech Oligarchs and Silencing Critics

Source article for analysis: https://newrepublic.com/post/195904/trump-palantir-data-americans

1. Narrative Framing

Simplicity & “Common-Sense” Appeal The administration casts cross‐agency data‐sharing as an efficiency and “government modernization” measure, flattening complex privacy and constitutional concerns into a feel-good story about bureaucratic streamlining. This preloads the conclusion that any objection is mere technophobia or red tape, rather than a debate over surveillance power.

Binary Framing (“Security vs. Chaos”) By emphasizing “national security” and “public safety,” critics are implicitly positioned as indifferent to immigrant crime or terrorism, pressuring dissenters to choose between safety and liberty—an either-or that forecloses nuanced policy discussion.

2. Emotional Engineering

Fear & Resentment References to “enforcing the March executive order,” “punish his critics,” and fears of immigrant targeting stoke anxiety about arbitrary state power. This fear is then channeled into loyalty among “true patriots” who trust the administration to wield that power wisely.

Pride & Tribal Bonding Invoking a “war on inefficiency” and naming a “far-right billionaire” ally provides a rallying narrative for supporters who see themselves as part of an inner circle, engendering pride in being on the “winning team.”

3. Pipeline On-Ramps & Ecosystem Mapping

Soft Entry via “Modernization” Pitches around “data modernization” and “innovation” serve as gateway content—memes and soundbites in tech-oriented outlets gradually introduce audiences to more radical surveillance proposals.

Content Funnel

Friendly tech press (“efficiency gains”)

Conservative opinion pieces (“keep America safe”)

Policy white papers and FOIA-leaked memos (“full database blueprints”)

Private sector deep dives (Palantir user groups, DOD contractor briefings)

4. Dog Whistles & Euphemisms

“National Security” Sanitized language for mass surveillance and immigrant tracking.

“Data-Driven Governance” A euphemism that hides the indiscriminate collection of personal information under the veneer of neutral analytics.

“Government Efficiency” Code for centralizing power and reducing agency-specific safeguards that currently protect civil liberties.

5. Archetypes & Mythos

Tech-Militarist Savior Casting Peter Thiel and Alex Karp as modern “warrior-lords” of data who will “defend” America—evoking the warrior archetype that simplifies identity into a battle of “us vs. them.”

Fallen Homeland Narrative Suggests America’s institutions are backward and corrupt, needing a techno-strongman to resurrect core values—mirroring the “rise-from-ruin” mythos common in alt-right rhetoric.

6. Strategic Impact Assessment

Real-World Mobilization This intel could be used to silence dissidents (through audits, visa denials, or targeted prosecutions), chill protest activity, and surveil immigrant communities disproportionately.

Beneficiaries & Victims Tech oligarchs (Thiel, Musk) and the Trump political machine gain concentrated power; critics, immigrants, student activists, and labor organizers become object lessons.

7. Vibe Warfare & Identity Signals

Stoic Realist Aesthetic Dark, angular visuals of data centers and code screens reinforce a mood of uncompromising techno-authority.

“Based” Tech Patriotism Pittings of “innovation bros” vs. “liberal elites,” using jargon (“Foundry,” “Grok”) as in-group markers to foster parasocial loyalty among tech-savvy conservatives.

8. Epistemic Booby Traps & Self-Sealing Logic

“If you have nothing to hide…” Pre-emptively discredits objections by labeling them paranoia or disloyalty, barring dissenting evidence from being taken seriously.

Data as Truth Presents analytics as inherently objective, making any critique of methodology or oversight seem “anti-science.”

9. Irony Shielding & Tone Drift

Tech-Bro Irony Occasional self-deprecating jokes about “big brother” memes allow participants plausible deniability (“We’re just goofing, who doesn’t love tech?”), while the surveillance machinery locks in.

Memetic Alchemy Use of playful GIFs or “dank” one-liners about “tracking your ex’s Starbucks habit” masks the seriousness of mass data collection.

[reasonsforhope]

"In a degraded and semi-arid farming area in India, simple science-driven changes to the landscape have colored the horizon, and a village’s fortunes, with green.

In the Latur district in the central western state of Maharashtra, 40 years of erratic rainfall, groundwater depletion, soil erosion, and crop failures have impoverished the local people.

In the village of Matephal, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) launched a project in 2023 that aimed at addressing these challenges through integrated landscape management and climate-smart farming practices. [Note: Meaning they've achieved this much in just two years!]

Multiple forms of data collection allowed ICRISAT to target precise strategies for each challenge facing the 2,000 or so people in Matephal.

Key interventions focused on three critical areas: water conservation, land enhancement with crop diversification, and soil health improvement. Rainwater harvesting structures recharged groundwater around 1,200 acres, raising water tables by 12 feet and securing reliable irrigation. Farm ponds provided supplemental irrigation, while embanking across 320 acres reduced soil erosion.

Farmers diversified their crops, converting 120 or so acres of previously fallow land into productive farmland with legumes, millets, and vegetables. Horticulture-linked markets for fruits and flowers improved income stability.

Weather monitoring equipment was also installed that actively informed sustainable irrigation practices.

“It is a prime example of how data-driven approaches can address complex agricultural challenges, ensuring interventions are precise and impactful. Matephal village is a model for other semi-arid regions in India and beyond,” said Dr. Stanford Blade, Director General-Interim at ICRISAT.

Farmers actively participated in planning and decision-making, fostering long-term commitment.

“This ICRISAT project improved yields, diversified crops, and boosted incomes. It also spared women from walking over a kilometer for drinking water, now available in the village for people and animals,” said Mr. Govind Hinge of Matephal village.

Looking ahead, ICRISAT writes it wants to use Matephal as a case study to scale these methods across India’s vast and drier average. As Matephal’s fields flourish, the village is a testament to the power of collaboration and science in transforming lives and landscapes."

-Article via Good News Network, March 3, 2025. Video via International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), February 26, 2025

[thoughtportal]

When Philip Sontag first visited Antarctica as a Ph.D. student, he brought back an unusual souvenir: a huge bag of penguin feathers. And now, after a decade-long analysis, Sontag and his colleagues have figured out how to use such feathers to create a living map of the mercury contamination that increasingly threatens Southern Hemisphere wildlife.

Mercury is a common by-product of gold mining, a growing industry in several southern countries. The toxic metal accumulates as it moves up the food chain by binding with amino acids in animals and then infiltrating their central nervous systems, where it can inhibit neural growth. Tracking mercury exposure is crucial for monitoring an ecosystem—but merely sampling rocks, ice or soil for its presence tells little about how much is actually entering the food web.

Many predators, including penguins, have evolved ways to dispose of mercury. The chemical builds up in feathers that the birds regularly molt in large quantities. Sontag, now a polar researcher based at Rutgers University, and his colleagues hoped to use molted feathers to determine where penguins picked up the toxic substance. The scientists were surprised to find a very clear correlation between the feathers’ levels of mercury and of a carbon isotope called carbon-13; the latter varies based on geographic location and thus acts as an indicator of “where the penguins are feeding or where their breeding grounds are,” Sontag says. These findings, published in Science of the Total Environment, confirmed this connection in seven penguin species scattered across the Southern Ocean—a pattern suggesting they’re exposed to more mercury farther north, where the comparatively warmer environment leads to higher carbon-13 levels.

These findings suggest that penguins could function as mercury bioindicators: living trackers of environmental pollutants, says the study’s senior author John Reinfelder, a marine biologist at Rutgers. Rather than measuring the chemical itself in a snapshot of time and place, he says, measuring penguin feathers’ mercury levels tracks the substance’s movement through the oceanic food web. For instance, penguin species known to reside near one another had varying mercury and carbon-13 levels because of their different migration and feeding patterns. These data could be modeled into a maplike database to help guide future projects on conservation and polar science research.

Scientists consider penguins promising candidates for such bioindicators, says marine scientist Míriam Gimeno Castells, a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Marine Science from the Spanish National Research Council, who was not involved in the study. The animals are midway through the food chain. They breed in colonies, so researchers can easily scoop up feathers from many different individuals. Additionally, every breeding season they undergo dramatic molts; the feathers they lose “will contain the mercury that has accumulated during the nonbreeding season,” Gimeno Castells says.

Sontag’s next steps are to collect newer feathers to experiment with, across different species, and to measure mercury in penguins’ blood and prey to compare with levels of the substance in their feathers.

And how are the penguins themselves doing with their current mercury levels? “We don’t believe penguins have been exposed to toxic levels as of yet,” Reinfelder says. “Yes, the penguins will be okay.”

[non-cannon]

Semi crack fic Portal AU:

The upload didn't kill Caroline, she was fine afterwards, and GLaDOS didn't immediately try killing everyone, in fact she's pretty chill (but only if compared only to her canon counterpart, otherwise not that chill, but no one in universe knows that). It doesn't take long for GLaDOS to become her own person, but she still has several things in common with Caroline.

Most importantly, being a lesbian, being firmly in the closet (one's been working here since the fifties and thinks she cannot afford to come out and if she wants to stay CEO and the other is supposed to be a machine above such things like romance and crushes), and taste in woman. Now this wouldn't be that important, except Chell shows up and applies to be a test subject.

The humans evaluating Chell think she's stubborn, and suspect that she has ulterior motives for aplying at Aperture, and they want to put her into stasis and write her off as too stubborn. Unfortunately for them GLaDOS, has already developed a crush (though she's very much in denial) and insists that she could make for an excellent test subject. Caroline ends up getting invovled to resolve the conflict, spends some time with Chell, and also quickly develops a crush. And with both the facility and the CEO insisting that Chell be testing and not put into indefinite stasis, there isn't much anyone else can do to stop it.

So Chell starts testing, and she does quiet well, to both GLaDOS's and Caroline's delight. And they start competing for her attention/affection, while also trying, and generally failing, to be subtle about it. Again, in the closet. While it's clear to literally everyone except these two useless lesbians that when Chell isn't testing she is obviously investigating something. The running theory is that she's a spy for Black Mesa and has done something to their CEO and Central Core, and they keep trying to make her testing deadlier and set her up for failure, but Chell keeps surviving, with honestly minimal help from her admirers.

Eventually Chell finds what she's looking for, lets her test subject contract come to an end, and leaves Aperture. Everyone hopes that Caroline and GLaDOS will go back to normal, but instead they go from competing over Chell, to working together to track her down and convince her to return to Aperture/them.

Chell, for her part is either very dense and ignorant of their affections, or she's willfully ignoring it while she's Aperture, because she's a woman on a mission, and they aren't going to distract her from it. Her father was an Aperture scientist, he didn't come home from work a few months ago, and Aperture gave her a trite and unsatisfying explanation, so she tried every formal channel to get answers and when that didn't work, she applied to be a test subject.

If maybe Chell wasn't adopted, and looked anything like her father, and everyone at Aperture wasn't stupid*, maybe they would have figured it out just based on the matching last names, or by visiting the employee daycare and seeing that one project with her name on it that they can't remove because the potato is too big. Maybe Doug Rattman is the only one who figures it out, and since her father was a friend of hers he agrees to help her, and he probably deserves more credit than her admirers for getting her out alive.

After Chell leaves, Rattman ends up becoming a reluctant wingman for Caroline and GLaDOS and eventually they successfully slow burn their way into both of them dating Chell, as a little polycule. And Chell doesn't work for Aperture again, but she does visit often, as the girlfriend of both of them, and kind of maybe accidentallyish forces the both of them out of the closet.

*Aperture is so fucking stupid, in both canon and this AU. The only thing they're smart at is mad science. Like the shit a mad scientist does. They're not even good at real science. Like none of their science involves the scientific method. There are no hypotheses, no anything the data for a conclusion, and there's no peer review! Just throwing shit at the wall to see what happens isn't science! Asking "why?" is a key part of science. Many hypotheses involve asking "why"!

[covid-safer-hotties]

New COVID Variant XEC May Outpace Others This Fall - Published Sept 18, 2024

"The virus is always going to be mutating away from what it was in order to get more efficient at infecting individuals," Adalja said. "So I think this really highlights the fact that a universal COVID vaccine, or some vaccine with different technologies, perhaps a nasal vaccine and using mucosal immunity, all of those things are important."

What if, get this, we prevented covid cases by improving ventilation, mandating air filtration, and wearing masks in public? Wouldn't that accomplish the same goal right now? Every mutation takes us further away from the current scientific fantasy of a universal covid vaccine. We have to stop cases to make this dream a reality.

by Sophie Putka

The new COVID-19 variant XEC may overtake others in circulation to become dominant in the coming months, experts said, but will not prompt a meaningful change in symptoms or vaccine response.

So far, the CDC's variant proportions tracker has not registered enough cases of XEC in the U.S. to report it. (The agency's projected estimates for the 2 weeks ending in September 14 currently show KP.3.1.1 and KP.2.3 as the leading variants, with 52.7% and 12.2% of national cases, respectively.) Another estimate using data from the variant tracker GISAID has XEC at 1.11% of U.S. cases as of September 15, with around 48 sequences reported.

First detected in Germany in June, it's been found mostly in Central Europe, representing 10% of cases, according to the U.K.'s Science Media Centre.

"XEC represents a fairly minor evolution relative to the SARS-CoV-2 diversity currently in circulation, and is not a highly derived novel variant such as those that were granted Greek letters," like Alpha, Delta, and Omicron, Francois Balloux, PhD, a computational biologist at University College London and director of the UCL Genetics Institute, said in a Science Media Centre statement.

Experts noted that while XEC may have a small advantage in transmission, available vaccines are still likely to provide protection from serious illness.

XEC is a "recombinant variant of some of the other Omicron lineages that have been around for a while, and it does appear to be more immune evasive, giving it a transmissibility advantage in the population with the immunity that it has," Amesh Adalja, MD, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, told MedPage Today. "But it doesn't really change anything, just like the last variant didn't change anything, or the one before that, one before that, or the one before that."

Currently available COVID vaccines target slightly different subvariants. The updated mRNA shots aimed at KP.2 from Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) and Moderna (Spikevax), as well as Novavax's vaccine targeting the JN.1 variant lineage, are still protective against the most serious consequences of COVID infections, experts said.

"If this becomes a dominant variant, it will decrease the efficacy against infection of the updated vaccines, but the updated vaccines will still be durable against severe disease [and] hospitalization, and that's what is really the primary function of our current, first-generation COVID vaccines," Adalja said.

Still, he emphasized, the rapid mutation of the virus underscores a need for a different kind of vaccine than those currently available if the goal is to protect against infection rather than just severe disease.

"The virus is always going to be mutating away from what it was in order to get more efficient at infecting individuals," Adalja said. "So I think this really highlights the fact that a universal COVID vaccine, or some vaccine with different technologies, perhaps a nasal vaccine and using mucosal immunity, all of those things are important."

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Case Study

Case Study - a highly detailed analysis of a particular subject, usually involving multiple sets of quantitative data observed over a period of time that allow researchers to draw conclusions in the context of the real world.

Throughout the years, the results of case study research have given us a greater and more holistic understanding in fields such as medicine, political and social sciences, and economics.

Researchers have used case studies to explore relationships between variables and a central subject, whether that subject be a human's reaction to medication, a country’s reaction to an economic crisis, or the effect of pesticides on crops over a period of time.

This methodology relies heavily on data collection and qualitative research to answer hypotheses in multiple fields.

Types of Case Studies

There are several different kinds of case studies. Here are a few:

Illustrative case study: Researchers use observations on every angle of a specific case, generally resulting in a thorough and deep data analysis.

Exploratory case study: Primarily used to identify research questions and qualitative methods to explore in subsequent studies, this type of case study is frequently in use in the field of political science.

Cumulative case study: This type relies on the analysis of qualitative data gathered over a range of timelines, which can draw new conclusions from old research methodology or studies.

Critical instance case study: Used to answer questions about the cause and effects of a particular event, critical instance case studies are helpful in cases that pose unique perspectives on otherwise established truths.

Marketing case study: This type of case study evaluates the quantifiable results of a marketing strategy, new product, or other business decision.

Examples of Case Studies

Here are a three examples of case studies in different fields:

Content marketing: In the marketing context, case studies typically explain how the business responded to the needs of a certain client, and whether or not the response was effective. Since these types of case studies are a tool to attract new customers rather than to merely share information, they should contain clear headings, attractive fonts, and infographic data that is easy to interpret.

Neuroscience: The tragic case of Phineas Gage allowed researchers to observe the changes in behavior and personality he experienced after surviving a horrific railroad accident that damaged parts of his brain. This led to a better understanding of the relationship between our frontal lobe and emotional functioning. This type of research is an example of a case study that would be impossible to ethically replicate in a laboratory, but nonetheless was a breakthrough in neuroscience and health care.

Psychoanalysis: Modern talk therapy owes much to the individual case of Anna O, otherwise known as Bertha Pappenheim. While living in Vienna in 1880, she began experiencing severe hallucinations and mood swings. Joseph Bruer, a pioneer in psychoanalysis, took Bertha under his care, and after multiple sessions where she discussed her inner emotional state and fears with Bruer, her symptoms waned. This case study is often seen as the first successful example of psychoanalysis.

Benefits of a Case Study

A case study can allow you to:

Collect wide-reaching data: Using a case study is an excellent way to gather large amounts of data on your subject, generally resulting in research that is more grounded in reality. For example, a case study approach focused on business research could have dozens of different data sources such as expense reports, profit and loss statements, and information on customer retention. This collected data provides different angles you can use to draw conclusions in a real-life context.

Conduct studies in an accessible way: You do not need to work in a lab to conduct a case study. In a number of cases, researchers use case study methodology to study things that cannot be replicated in a laboratory setting, such as observing the spending habits of a group of people over a period of months.

Reduce bias: Since case studies can capture a variety of perspectives, researchers’ own preconceptions on a subjects have less of an influence.

See connections more clearly: Through case studies, you can track paths of positive or negative development, which makes specific results repeatable, verifiable, and explainable.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[cognitivejustice]

Locally adapted, decentralised innovation is reshaping what environmental monitoring in Africa

Projects like AirQo in Uganda and Clarity Nodes in Nairobi are deploying low-cost particulate matter sensors to create real-time urban air quality maps.  

These portable devices, calibrated against reference stations, are not housed in government ministries—they’re installed in schools, markets, and transit corridors. 

This hyperlocal, community-focused deployment marks a decisive shift toward monitoring as a distributed public good. 

In the water space, compact mobile testing kits—some linked to smartphones—are enabling NGOs and universities to test for E. coli, nitrates, and fluoride in boreholes and streams.  These kits don’t require lab infrastructure or formal training, making them ideal for community-led sampling in rural areas. 

Remote sensing is also playing a vital role. Satellite data from programs like Sentinel and MODIS is being used to track vegetation loss, algal blooms, and surface water dynamics.  

In Lake Victoria, a hybrid approach pairs satellite analysis with on-the-ground sensors—offering a model for blended, multilayered monitoring frameworks that don’t depend on centralised equipment alone. 

Perhaps the most transformative development is the rise of citizen science networks.  

In Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda, residents are using hand-held air monitors to document conditions in their own neighbourhoods.  

These datasets are often shared via open-access platforms, where they inform city planning and regulatory debates. They also demonstrate a growing confidence in decentralised data ownership and interpretation. 

Universities across the continent are enabling much of this innovation. Institutions like the University of Cape Town and Makerere University are not only building and testing sensors but also training local technicians and hosting data platforms. Their work has become a central node in an emerging, distributed monitoring ecosystem. 

Source

[ropuszysko]

lmao reading my older posts i was so apologetic for even suggesting a headcanon and bashed myself constantly, babyperson, this is tumblr dot com, what were you afraid of. its so good to not be 15 anymore, good grief. anyway, my random huntik headcanons, bc I CAN AND I WILL:

× ethnixally zhalia is ¼ korean, ¾ some central asian turkic nation (i personally would say kazakh just bc i am fond of kazakhstan for whatever reason)

× shes an absolute math freak and sometimes works in data science as a hobby

× her favourite artist is m. c. escher and she creates her own tesselations

× she had a hardcore alt phase, which passed for the most part, but she still listens to the music

× klaus is a vienna elitist, who deliberately speaks with heavy viennese accent, even tho he doesn't frequent liesing

× bc of that, its also zhalia's natural accent in german and dante likes to tease her abt it (i think they tend to speak german with each other, since for both of them this is their second language and they definitely used it most of the time growing up)

× also bc of that, default names for coffee types in her head are also the viennese ones and she sometimes has to remind herself, that most people have no idea, what melange is (or verlängter, or entspänner (tho i doubt she like rhis), or fiaker, or...)

× also bc of that, she plays the piano, but is utterly fed up with wiener klassiker and prefers eastern composers (and liszt)

× to wind down she sometimes plays absurdly fast classical pieces, but with metronome set to ×1,5, so they are even faster

× i also think both her and dante are quite straight edge, bc she used to have substance abuse problems as a teenager (tried and failed to cope with trauma this way) and doesn't want to relapse. her experience is why dante also went abstinent after he came back from the dead, bc it served as enough of a cautionary tale

× dante's academic background is archeology and he specilises in pre-columbian civilisations. he also can read maya script

×at some point harrison moves back to rotterdam (feijenoord) and forms a punk band, where he plays the guitar (dante taught him) and sometimes sings (screams), but i think they have a female lead vocalist

×he also goes hardcore into the punk values, probably becomes a squatter for some time, volounteers in soup kitchens and goes hardcore "mutual aid, not charity" route (is it a trauma response? it probably is), i think he spent at least one night in custody for getting into a fight with some bigots

×meanwhile den is queer af, but has a hard time accepting it for quite a while and builds a womanizer persona (only to then realise that he is gay)

thank you for coming to my ted talk

[of-stars-and-dust]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2025 February 28

Athena to the Moon

Image Credit: Intuitive Machines

Planet Earth hangs in the background of this space age selfie. The snapshot was captured by the IM-2 Nova-C lander Athena, just after stage separation following its February 26 launch to the Moon. A tall robotic lander, Athena is scheduled to touch down on Thursday, March 6, in Mons Mouton, a plateau near the Moon’s South Pole. The intended landing site is in the central portion of one of the Artemis 3 potential landing regions. Athena carries rovers and experiments as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, including a drill intended to explore beneath the lunar surface in a search for evidence of frozen water. It also carries a propulsive drone dubbed the Micro Nova Hopper. After release to the lunar surface, the autonomous drone is intended to hop into a nearby crater and send science data back to the lander.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

NASA Official: Amber Straughn

A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,

NASA Science Activation

& Michigan Tech. U.