#older technology

[hindbodes]

I don't consider rewritable CD's and rewritable DVD's to be obsolete. They are way too fucking novel and rad to be obsolete.

[aniseandspearmint]

Unless your house had multiple phone lines (not TOO uncommon, especially after the internet became a reality) you could not be on the phone and the internet at the same time.

Picking up the receiver while online kicked you off of the internet.

Having your own phone line as a teenager was a Big Deal.

Younger writers. Please, just know that you could not skip to different songs on a cassette tape, that’s CDs. With tapes you pressed fast forward or rewind and prayed.

Also, VHS tapes did not have menu screens. Your only options were play, fast forward, rewind, pause, stop, or eject.

Y’all are making me feel like the crypt keeper here, I’m begging you 😭

[tinfoil-jones]

Do you have any crumbs of the Stan twins bonding in your JF au? How do they take care of one another in their own little ways? Do they follow specific routines when taking care of one another?

[Stan Twin Post]

[Art by @tearosepedall]

Everything grouped together + transcript below (& bonus sketch)

[Panel 1: Stan asking Jerk Ford for help with a cell phone]

[Panel 2:

Rando, suddenly nervous: *Flirting* Stan, clueless: *Flustered* Jerk Ford, crushing a juice box in his fist: *Foe*]

[Panel 3: Jerk Ford hugging Stan → Stan returning the hug]

[Panel 4: It's nighttime and Stanley is asleep at the desk in front of his computer. Jerk Ford puts a blanket over him and takes his glasses off for him. There's also a disorderly pile of papers nearby.

The next morning, Stan is still sleeping and he now has a sticky note on his forehead that says 'You're Welcome'. His glasses are folded nearby, he still has the blanket on, and there's a pillow under his chin. The paperwork nearby has been neatly organized]

[Panel 5: Stan is smiling and clasping his hands together tightly. Jerk Ford has an arm around him, and is looking at the audience angrily. They are equally as angry as each other, but Stan is keeping his composure together]

[Panel 6: Both Stan and Jerk Ford are wearing safety goggles and a lab coat. Stan is holding a beaker and a test tube, Jerk Ford is holding an active blowtorch and a glass vial.

Teaching 7th Grade Stan: Today we're gonna be looking at PH level. Jerk Ford: And next lesson, I'm going to teach you how to seal an ampule. Stan: No.]

+bonus

[Mario Kart]

Stanley (in general) will play either as Bowser or Donkey Kong. While Ford would play as Mario because he doesn't know what to pick.

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

OP: Check out. The fully-sexual charged cinematic movement design.

Cnetizens: How did the director come up with the idea to have him kneel on a playing card, adding so much aesthetic energy, is that some kind of genius?

[sealrock]

haven't made funky lil aethographs in a while

[smithsibsceo]

zane and kai bonded in the early seasons by discovering new music together. both didnt really have a great access to it growing up (there was an only an old radio or maybe a scratchy vinyl player in ignacia's library and zane's village had no electricity) so they mainly grew up hearing their respective villages' traditional live music. Hearing those 'end-of-2012-mashup' compilations changed both of their lives

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

The whole Star Wars universe is so insane actually it's making my head hurt

Putting aside the fact that the entire galaxy is interconnected via space travel with more cultures and societies than the human mind can comprehend, the history is so, so old. The spacefaring history of the galaxy goes 100,000 years into the past, that's twice as much as the time between today and the extinction of neanderthals. And look how long it took us to figure out space travel, the history of individual planets will be even older. Look how long ago before the movie timeline SWTOR takes place, and there's already so many ancient ruins. No matter how far back you go, there will always be something older. Lost cities, technology, cultures covering the surfaces of planets. Entire civilizations built on whalefalls they believe to be mountains. So many remains of space vessels scattered on planetary surfaces, and even more that were left to float through space forever, their crews long dead. The spaces between planets are vast and there is nothing that would allow corrosion and decay except the UV radiation from stars. Stray too far from regular hyperspace routes and you might encounter these ghosts.

The entire galaxy is a graveyard

[aslyran]

Hogwarts letter

[mouthtapedguy]

Old mobile phones had some character

[motleyflash]

TW: disturbing ??

zim's antennas are also exposed nerves but we don't talk about that

[reasonsforhope]

Determined to use her skills to fight inequality, South African computer scientist Raesetje Sefala set to work to build algorithms flagging poverty hotspots - developing datasets she hopes will help target aid, new housing, or clinics.

From crop analysis to medical diagnostics, artificial intelligence (AI) is already used in essential tasks worldwide, but Sefala and a growing number of fellow African developers are pioneering it to tackle their continent's particular challenges.

Local knowledge is vital for designing AI-driven solutions that work, Sefala said.

"If you don't have people with diverse experiences doing the research, it's easy to interpret the data in ways that will marginalise others," the 26-year old said from her home in Johannesburg.

Africa is the world's youngest and fastest-growing continent, and tech experts say young, home-grown AI developers have a vital role to play in designing applications to address local problems.

"For Africa to get out of poverty, it will take innovation and this can be revolutionary, because it's Africans doing things for Africa on their own," said Cina Lawson, Togo's minister of digital economy and transformation.

"We need to use cutting-edge solutions to our problems, because you don't solve problems in 2022 using methods of 20 years ago," Lawson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video interview from the West African country.

Digital rights groups warn about AI's use in surveillance and the risk of discrimination, but Sefala said it can also be used to "serve the people behind the data points". ...

'Delivering Health'

As COVID-19 spread around the world in early 2020, government officials in Togo realized urgent action was needed to support informal workers who account for about 80% of the country's workforce, Lawson said.

"If you decide that everybody stays home, it means that this particular person isn't going to eat that day, it's as simple as that," she said.

In 10 days, the government built a mobile payment platform - called Novissi - to distribute cash to the vulnerable.

The government paired up with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) think tank and the University of California, Berkeley, to build a poverty map of Togo using satellite imagery.

Using algorithms with the support of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that uses AI to distribute cash transfers, the recipients earning less than $1.25 per day and living in the poorest districts were identified for a direct cash transfer.

"We texted them saying if you need financial help, please register," Lawson said, adding that beneficiaries' consent and data privacy had been prioritized.

The entire program reached 920,000 beneficiaries in need.

"Machine learning has the advantage of reaching so many people in a very short time and delivering help when people need it most," said Caroline Teti, a Kenya-based GiveDirectly director.

'Zero Representation'

Aiming to boost discussion about AI in Africa, computer scientists Benjamin Rosman and Ulrich Paquet co-founded the Deep Learning Indaba - a week-long gathering that started in South Africa - together with other colleagues in 2017.

"You used to get to the top AI conferences and there was zero representation from Africa, both in terms of papers and people, so we're all about finding cost effective ways to build a community," Paquet said in a video call.

In 2019, 27 smaller Indabas - called IndabaX - were rolled out across the continent, with some events hosting as many as 300 participants.

One of these offshoots was IndabaX Uganda, where founder Bruno Ssekiwere said participants shared information on using AI for social issues such as improving agriculture and treating malaria.

Another outcome from the South African Indaba was Masakhane - an organization that uses open-source, machine learning to translate African languages not typically found in online programs such as Google Translate.

On their site, the founders speak about the South African philosophy of "Ubuntu" - a term generally meaning "humanity" - as part of their organization's values.

"This philosophy calls for collaboration and participation and community," reads their site, a philosophy that Ssekiwere, Paquet, and Rosman said has now become the driving value for AI research in Africa.

Inclusion

Now that Sefala has built a dataset of South Africa's suburbs and townships, she plans to collaborate with domain experts and communities to refine it, deepen inequality research and improve the algorithms.

"Making datasets easily available opens the door for new mechanisms and techniques for policy-making around desegregation, housing, and access to economic opportunity," she said.

African AI leaders say building more complete datasets will also help tackle biases baked into algorithms.

"Imagine rolling out Novissi in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast ... then the algorithm will be trained with understanding poverty in West Africa," Lawson said.

"If there are ever ways to fight bias in tech, it's by increasing diverse datasets ... we need to contribute more," she said.

But contributing more will require increased funding for African projects and wider access to computer science education and technology in general, Sefala said.

Despite such obstacles, Lawson said "technology will be Africa's savior".

"Let's use what is cutting edge and apply it straight away or as a continent we will never get out of poverty," she said. "It's really as simple as that."

-via Good Good Good, February 16, 2022

[catenary-chad]

research tips for electric train whump:

-INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE SOURCES ARE YOUR FRIEND! There’s not much stuff specifically about trains but basic concepts (maintenance and repair of AC or DC motors, transformers, rectifiers, other heavy electrical equipment) largely carry over from sources about elevators or substations. There’s a lot of good videos on youtube about these topics, look into stuff aimed at apprentice electricians or industrial maintenance, it will generally be more visual/metaphor and less math-heavy if you struggle with that.

-many “breakdowns” are actually due to power infrastructure issues- third rail and catenary wires have different problems and these further vary based on how old they are. Fixed-tension catenaries on the former Pennsylvania Railroad are a notorious issue. The more modern the line, the less weird stuff you’ll have, but much of the US, parts of the UK, and a number of spots in mainland Europe have more unusual and antiquated electrification systems. And this is also an issue with model trains between brands and eras!

-On a related note, pantograph designs have varied by time and place and have different advantages/disadvantages/issues. You even have times when they have a uniquely bad time with old catenaries, like old Comet EMUs specifically getting snarled in those constant-tension PRR catenaries

-Never underestimate how “dumb” and un-computery a lot of electric trains actually are, especially circa the 80s. “Toaster” isn’t even an inaccurate insult for older DC-motor trains, they literally brake using huge resistors that put out a ton of heat… like a giant toaster. And the really old, simple stuff tended to last a stupidly long time in service so you can 1000% wave off a 20s-era engine or EMU in the 80s.

-If you want some really easy ones that have actually happened before: connecting to too strong of a power source and getting FRIED, and having wires ripped out willy-nilly by techs not familiar with electric trains that don’t know what they’re doing. Weaponized incompetence with anything electrical checks out with how even a lot of train people know very little about it and don’t care.

-model trains also have a lot of beginner-friendly electrical info you can work from

[smile-files]

guys. i need your opinion of this. because i'm genuinely so confused now

what time period is the professor layton series in?? the prequel trilogy and the main trilogy. when are they supposed to be taking place

i could've sworn one of the games (though i forget which) mentions that someone's been to the moon already which would put them at least in the late 60s into the 70s going by our world's timeline... but i don't know maybe space travel was discovered earlier in this universe???

[crave-mp3]

i really don't want or need a cell phone i need a flip phone for calling a pager for texting and an ipod or walkman for music. and that is it.

[looney-mooney]

I’m making an animatic for the Summerstuck AU (AU where Phineas and Ferb are Alternian Trolls from Homestuck) and I’ve gotten to the part where their former lusii (fantastical white animal guardians who raise the Troll Children of Alternia, since all the adults are off doing space adventures) are thrown into the Kernel Sprites (colorful floating ghost-like game constructs that base their forms mostly off the player’s deceased loved ones, who act as guides for the players as they play the game that ends the universe and gives birth to the next one) and I’ve decided that Ferb’s former Lusus should be Steve (a kaiju chameleon in the show who Ferb is very emotionally attached to). When deciding how to portray Steve’s remains, I sort of naturally gravitated towards having him be taxidermied in Ferb’s shed.

The unintentional ramifications of this is that I have inadvertently implied that, on some cosmic level, Ferb Fletcher is a Harley.

[skippersthecat]

Toritsuka has definitely fallen for those 'horny milfs in your area' scams multiple times