ahistorical immaterialist

In unceded lutruwita (ex. croweater) somewhere north of nipaluna. Angry scientist (fire, forest and spatial ecology, gis and #rstats). Weird music maker, proud NTEU

Matrix: @ozjimbob:matrix.org

Signal: https://signal.me/#eu/A_wLsxe2etdSXKqgCTZxrnYCWpbIz5BPNtFAOIQsupLaAGFlG3BPv6YYncNWR5vj

Simplex: https://smp18.simplex.im/a#P539EhaH1v6kdTg-oYK78PcNUQOvUj0mFQ1zV1UkQXA

pronouns: he/him
location: Southern Tasmania
weblog: https://atriplex.info/blog
music: https://milford.bandcamp.com

Public Key

npub1gugmhzxdqx54asurdp90ppyefgaae6xz30xunnugvtx7z30hpgus7t7ely

NIP-05 Address

jimbob_at_aus.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsywydm3rxsr227cwpksjhssjv55w7uarpghnwfe7yx9n0pghms5wgprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntesflsz

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1gugmhzxdqx54asurdp90ppyefgaae6xz30xunnugvtx7z30hpgus7t7ely

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Last Notes

2026-03-25 21:15:40 UTC

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if AGI is possible (and it really, absolutely isn't within the framework of LLMs/transformers), I still don't see the connection to making their money back.
1. Create single universal global super-intelligence
2. ???
3. Profit!

2026-03-12 03:51:29 UTC

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it's not even just about "they probably rushed the writing" for me, it's more just the feeling that whoever produced that content simply doesn't care enough, or respects the audience enough, to bother producing something that's human and good. This is why "slop" has taken off as a term. And you feed slop to pigs, from a bucket.
We aren't pigs, we're people, looking for entertainment and connection. I think you're right, small snippets of info (a weather forecast) are probably tolerable - but one can already hit an icon in Android Auto or Car Play and have a local weather forecast read out instantly, it's not clear how it's a value-add for a radio show.

2026-03-12 02:49:31 UTC

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they do, which is completely fair and necessary. I just feel, since I adopted my first dog 30-odd years ago, they have somewhat outpaced inflation.

2026-03-12 02:45:33 UTC

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I've noticed it has become a serious social faux pas to *buy* a pet. One is only allowed to *adopt* an animal that has been *rescued* - paying a lot for the privilege, naturally.

2026-03-12 01:38:09 UTC

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im getting a bit suspicious of the rescue dog industrial complex

2026-02-24 09:58:25 UTC

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from a user (specifically, a parent's) perspective, Spotify Video is the reason I am shifting everything away from Spotify and getting ready to cancel it. You can't disable video podcasts in Spotify, therefore I can't trust it as something my kids can use to listen to podcasts.
A bunch of inane, offensive Youtubers have started dumping all their content there to get around parents controlling YouTube time.

2026-02-17 23:24:09 UTC

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ah yes, SnapSendSolve! I downloaded it weeks ago, when I try to report something it tells me to create an account, and then that fails and says "Please retry in 24 hours."
It says this every time I have tried 🫠

2026-02-17 21:41:57 UTC

Just an exciting genre of social media post called "prick in a Ford Ranger parking on the yellow no-standing line literally across the pedestrian refuge in a school zone outside a primary school at 8:30 in the morning and not even just quickly dropping off kids which I might barely tolerate", yelling into the void
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/088/135/127/396/885/original/bdf35a7be28ca9b0.jpg
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/088/140/905/987/813/original/ab35d49afc030dc3.jpg

2026-01-09 00:23:03 UTC

TIL there is a species of fungus found only in Texas and Japan, and genetic analysis suggests the two populations have been separated for 19 million years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorioactis?wprov=sfla1

2025-12-31 06:20:17 UTC

Century 25% complete.
⬜⬜⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

2025-12-30 05:50:26 UTC

Uhhh wraith-possessed slave to a warrior-emperor cursed with immortality by an elder god serving the cause of Chaos I guess?
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/806/947/585/054/230/original/ec41a69b04a33c2e.png

2025-12-27 10:44:57 UTC

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useful info, I have a same-era MacBook Pro that I do intend to put Mint on at some point in the future.
I put Mint on my 2011 MacBook Air and it works like a charm, absolutely zero issues.

2025-12-20 01:37:14 UTC

Thoughts on driving the Geely EX-5 for a few days;
- smooth, fast, comfy, lots of bells and whistles
- too many bells and whistles, in particular it isn't great at understanding the 35kph advisory signs on highway off-ramps don't apply to the highway itself, and gets angry at me continuing to drive at 100
- main charging test passed with flying colours - we can drive the 60kms to the city and back, and then easily charge that back up with my piddly 7 amp charger overnight
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/749/328/206/377/265/original/db412616af28a2e5.jpg

2025-12-08 06:53:38 UTC

As someone who has already paid off their HECS debt, let me tell you what I think of the government reducing people's HECS debts by 20%;
Excellent fucking job, but they need to go higher, try 40% next time.

2025-11-27 22:56:28 UTC

Two new papers I've been involved in have come out in the last few days, both, broadly, about King Island.
Spatial heterogeneity in Holocene vegetation dynamics across Bass Strait and its regional paleoclimatic implications - https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2025.10051
King Island as a microcosm of 19th- and 20th-century agricultural land clearing in Australia - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111608

2025-11-24 02:14:50 UTC

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seems to me Optus owes you $255

2025-11-21 01:01:44 UTC

Just read an article detailing how Microsoft executives are confused and upset that people don't appreciate their AI features and don't like people giving them shit about them on Twitter. "How are people not impressed with this stuff?"
Fellas, have you used the internet lately? It's fucked. Have you used Windows? Fucked. It's shit. People are sick of it being shit, because it didn't used to be as shit as this. You've gone and fucked everything, that's why people aren't happy with you.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-exec-asks-why-arent-more-people-impressed-with-ai

2025-10-26 22:40:44 UTC

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if I wanted to get somewhere on time I would simply take into account the morning traffic and leave 5 minutes earlier, but I'm weird like that

2025-10-18 06:34:46 UTC

https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/393/775/207/638/637/original/f1e28cc6a1f7ab85.jpg

2025-10-12 04:06:39 UTC

I am in possession of a battery powered Ryobi pruning chainsaw. They should give these to everyone. Universal Basic Chainsaw.

2025-10-11 21:19:31 UTC

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IMHO don't slash the speed limit, get over this as fast as bloody possible

2025-10-11 21:12:30 UTC

This is not far from us and we drove over it a few weeks ago (not realising what it was) and the highway is still open https://pulsetasmania.com.au/news/speed-limit-slashed-as-lyell-highway-landslip-worsens/

2025-09-19 12:33:47 UTC

Think you're getting weird targeted ads? Hold my Americium 241
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/230/977/896/020/558/original/f5515ffc5916db5a.png

2025-09-11 11:32:00 UTC

Tonight the post-grad students held a jam session in the department that I came along to with my guitar. A good time was had by all, we played Wish You Were Here, Tainted Love, Dirty Old Town, Blister in the Sun and, of course that absolute banger Call Me Maybe.

2025-09-05 03:41:36 UTC

Disturbed to hear there has been a brutal, calculated murder at the University of Melbourne
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/149/615/044/368/377/original/51cb755b0915a477.png

2025-09-01 21:20:12 UTC

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hard working Aussie mums and dads getting slugged at the browser!

2025-08-31 10:43:32 UTC

Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?

2025-08-10 10:03:10 UTC

The thing about Palestine Action, in the UK, is as far as I can tell they did the absolutely most precision-targeted, moral action possible; property destruction against actual literal weapons of war - nobody harmed, no disruption to the general public.
No wonder the government is losing their shit and making an example of them.

2025-08-07 06:32:41 UTC

I've been saying we should bring back the letter thorn for years https://mastodon.social/@Edent/114986022160247496

2025-07-26 09:18:21 UTC

Listen to this fucking key change coming up

2025-07-26 07:20:56 UTC

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Doug Anthony All Stars version possibly superior, however.

2025-07-26 07:19:39 UTC

First song I voted for to appear! #hottest100oz

2025-07-26 06:53:34 UTC

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Legit thought this would be the song they pretend to play at #1 to take the piss

2025-07-26 06:50:26 UTC

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Nope nope

2025-07-26 06:50:03 UTC

FUCK OFF HORSES #hottest100oz

2025-07-26 04:21:48 UTC

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Full disclosure, I voted for Flame Trees

2025-07-26 04:21:25 UTC

Baaaarrrnnseyyyy #hottest100oz

2025-07-25 10:57:10 UTC

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are you going to tell people what to do when it goes rogue and deletes their files and database?

2025-07-18 11:30:39 UTC

One of the candidates running in Lyons that I have to avoid voting for is described as an "esoteric lawyer" on @npub1auj…euf3 's blog 👀

2025-07-10 23:06:23 UTC

Just read a news article on the ABC that *search engines* in Australia about to be forced to age verify...logged-in users. Only logged-in users. The government's belief that people under 18 won't be able to read and click a "Log out" button is fucking astounding.

2025-07-03 23:39:07 UTC

Just received an email from an international organisation, extending best wishes for the forthcoming "holiday season" and wanting to know my availability during this period. What "holiday season" might this be referring to?

2025-06-22 06:34:44 UTC

Lovely afternoon up on kunanyi
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/725/615/647/297/868/original/ae1d64c351ce6932.jpg
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/725/617/896/237/896/original/1d7fb27e9f0b8054.jpg
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/725/617/662/693/092/original/155320833c6671b6.jpg

2025-06-22 00:31:39 UTC

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uhh the facts are the US just bombed the hell out of the country, unprovoked, I'm not sure how it would be ethical for a US media outlet to "counter" that simple fact

2025-04-27 01:39:25 UTC

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you worship the Old Gods and maintain their sacred mysteries

2025-04-27 00:54:28 UTC

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I think an analogy with the invention of spell checkers is kind of useful. Spell checkers are good! When they were added to word processors, they were legitimately great! Not perfect, but a good addition to the software you're using.
Now imagine if spell checkers required a subscription to work, to pay for the insane energy and warehouses full of processors to run them. And imagine if, once spell checkers came out, it was declared that we simply didn't need to teach kids to spell anymore, since spell checkers only cost $15 a month.

2025-04-26 23:05:09 UTC

I need to be very clear, that the push towards "vibe coding" - that is, deliberately deskilling people - is because AI code assistants are an (increasingly expensive) subscription service.
If you know how to code, you can just write Python, C, Java, R, PHP, whatever for free and make things. You may not own the tools of production, but at least you're not renting them.
If you have been deskilled so you only know how to vibe code, you will be paying for that privilege forever.
This also goes, by the way, for researchers who are starting to be convinced they don't need to learn how to be scientists anymore, because "the AI" can just do the science for them. Nope.

2025-04-22 14:21:31 UTC

It's always disheartening when you see people you hugely respect and who contributed greatly to the tools you use to get work done every day, start talking about how Markov chains are their friendly smart buddies.

2025-04-12 08:15:29 UTC

Be us, in hotel room in Melbourne, browsing comedy festival shows on phone, discussing how we would like to see Nish Kumar, but his show tonight is sold out.
Leave room to grab some dinner. Get into lift. Nish Kumar is in the lift.

2025-04-12 07:35:24 UTC

Last year I tried to use an image gen AI for some legitimate work - generating some stand-in images for a web tool (that would eventually be replaced by photos). Pictures of various aspects of a garden; green grass, dead grass, shrubs, vines on a wall etc.
The AI insisted on inserting a garden gnome in every one. The more I told it NO GARDEN GNONES, the more it added. https://mastodo.neoliber.al/@Legit_Spaghetti/114321751903285137

2025-04-05 06:06:33 UTC

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What if we all passed the hat around and just bought Tumblr?

2025-04-05 06:02:25 UTC

:thinkingwat: ActivityPub version of MySpace, including (featuring) insane HTML-hack personalised web design

2025-03-25 09:00:47 UTC

How might one convert a Wordpress site into a static website? I'm guessing maybe some fancy deployment of recursive wget? Maybe?

2025-03-11 03:11:45 UTC

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I don't know, I don't really "support brands", they can do fine without my support. What I do do is spend my money on products that meet my specifications, and Tesla's, where the car company can track your car and look through its cameras, and where the doors lock you in and can't be unlocked if there's a fire, just aren't up to scratch 🤷‍♂️

2025-03-11 00:55:03 UTC

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yep, drove past this morning and they have painted over the graffiti 😢

2025-03-10 04:58:24 UTC

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it's on the Brooker Hwy, every one from the northern suburbs drives right past every day!

2025-03-10 04:52:04 UTC

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I have been waiting for this, it's in an incredibly prominent location

2025-03-07 03:31:20 UTC

Brisbane listeners are going to miss the 7-hour Hildegard von Bingen special from 11pm until 6am tonight 😢https://bne.social/@james/114119018195553871

2025-02-25 08:40:53 UTC

#infrastructure tootin', the last two sections of the new Bridgewater Bridge are sitting there attached to the gantries, ready to be lifted into place any day now
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/063/627/416/401/478/original/5f8f698fac1c008a.jpg

2025-02-20 03:55:41 UTC

Advice request: Say I wanted to run some kind of multi user online file storage/sharing system - think Dropbox, but hosted myself, using something like OwnCloud I'm assuming. What are some hosting providers that would provide cheap *space* for such a service - and I'm talking a couple of TB of files, probably?
(For those in the know, looking for something to serve the same purpose as the now dead Cloudstor service for a geographically dispersed research group).

2025-02-14 07:53:12 UTC

Medieval Nubian fashion brought to life - this is fantastic https://www.medievalists.net/2024/11/medieval-nubian-fashion-brought-to-life/

2025-02-11 04:17:45 UTC

Book your hotels now, folks, ain't nobody getting home tonight https://pulsetasmania.com.au/news/traffic-blocked-on-tasman-bridge-after-truck-towing-boat-gets-stuck/

2025-02-09 23:43:10 UTC

https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/976/577/651/061/463/original/6be6770ce387b737.png

2025-02-09 06:13:54 UTC

It's a constant annoyance to me that my phone, on my home internet connection, can effortlessly stream high bandwidth video from YouTube or Netflix - but constantly pauses/buffers on much lower bandwidth internet radio. I'm thinking maybe it's got something to do with background app/battery saving stuff; with video I have the screen on and the app active, with radio I don't.

2025-01-30 08:12:42 UTC

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Now I'm not a "marketing" "guru" but I think maybe throwing away the "Office" brand your company has been known for for decades and replacing it with the name of a product that everyone hates and that is losing massive amounts of money, is a tad silly.

2025-01-30 08:05:28 UTC

Microsoft renaming their entire office app "Copilot" so my phone now says depraved things like "Would you like to open this PDF in Copilot?" is going to send me full The Joker

2025-01-18 02:34:13 UTC

It's *fun* seeing a Mastodon poll about "Which indigenous nation is most represented on Mastodon" and every single option is from North America

2025-01-11 21:50:18 UTC

If *there is no longer any way to stay in touch with people if you leave Facebook* then that, alone, should be more than enough for anyone to realise what has been going on and establish alternatives. Same with X or anything else to be honest.
If someone online is really your friend/family/colleague, they will be happy to give you their phone number or email address if you ask. If they aren't happy to, then maybe they're just a rando after all.

2025-01-04 01:05:28 UTC

50 years since the Tasman Bridge disaster https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/04/tasman-bridge-disaster-shocked-australia-1975-hobart-tasmania

2025-01-01 05:10:42 UTC

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Like I looked into this to find out what it was all about, and I found a bunch of teenagers posting to Reddit like "I wrote a paper and sent it to Physics Review Letters and they rejected it, I don't understand what to do now"

2025-01-01 04:59:54 UTC

As a journal editor I've become aware that it is becoming a *thing* in the US for high school students to be recommended to *have already published a scientific paper* so it can be cited when applying for college.
This is insane.
I'm aware of, including some young people I personally know, of high-achieving high schoolers doing internships with scientists over a summer and writing a paper, and that's awesome.
But telling kids it's a requirement, that it's something they need to aim for or they are going to mess up getting into college? No way. Stop that.

2024-12-26 04:09:20 UTC

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lol who is listening to those ones appended at the end

2024-12-02 06:53:38 UTC

Coming at you live from the southern most xanthorrhoea population in Australia, anorth Bruny Island
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/581/907/096/532/792/original/317285edbe61b75e.jpg
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/581/910/418/393/566/original/a524140664f7f43e.jpg

2024-12-01 08:31:42 UTC

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I'll save you the trouble, they're all the same, they're all taking the absolute piss

2024-11-19 22:15:39 UTC

Sometimes, as a journal editor, you come across a paper that's so off the charts bizarre you wish you could post it somewhere rather than just reject and move on.

2024-11-19 20:06:32 UTC

Exciting news of a victory from the front line
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/511/414/491/430/516/original/15af5ed324ba63e9.png

2024-11-12 03:38:38 UTC

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yep, found this when I quit Twitter in 2022. Ran a bulk deleter, posts were mostly all back a week later. Gave up and just deleted the account.

2024-10-26 04:21:57 UTC

Has the official editorial endorsement of any newspaper, ever, decided or changed who you voted for.

2024-10-23 08:10:01 UTC

It's a weird thing that my lab is developing superficially similar products, looking at property-scale bushfire risk across Hobart. But we're scientists at a university, so we have to validate our work, review the literature, undergo peer review, while private spatial consultants can just go and... Make a pretty map that gets in the news https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-23/tas-bushfire-risk-across-greater-hobart-updated/104507444

2024-10-10 16:50:19 UTC

If anyone is awake in Australia, south of approximately Sydney, head outside, #aurora absolutely kicking up a fuss
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/284/154/096/175/895/original/2105dcca73dada69.jpg

2024-10-09 10:44:51 UTC

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this is the thing; if my workplace introduces some new institution-wide software to perform a task, it's a years-long project of testing and rolling out and ensuring support and documentation is in place, careful consideration of legacy systems.
With Copilot it's suddenly just there, no testing, no documentation, no support, no actual *task* it's intended for, and constant pushing to use it for... random stuff. It's almost like the IT team all got wined and dined by Microsoft at some point.
I've started submitting support tickets to IT whenever I try playing with it and it does something stupid -"hey this new program you're telling us to use for everything thinks 2+2=5, please fix".

2024-10-09 01:24:37 UTC

Mastodon; where 80% of your feed is people discussing a massive spam attack, and yet you've yet to see a single piece of it making it to your timeline. Bless this place.

2024-09-21 22:16:11 UTC

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look at the list of the target countries there and you'll get an idea of who owns and relies on these radios. But it is a bit weird, frequencies change at different times of the day due to atmospheric conditions.

2024-09-21 07:59:21 UTC

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what brand's this? (and do the shortwave and longwave bands work)

2024-09-18 11:39:25 UTC

Why are heavyweight champions "undisputed"? What if I feel like disputing their status? Is there a form?

2024-09-05 01:34:32 UTC

Now just stay with me here; if you're only intercepting people's private communications when you have firm evidence they're doing something wrong... then clearly you already have the evidence you need without needing to intercept the communications. If you are intercepting communications to *find out* if they are doing something wrong, then you are reading the communications of someone who may be innocent and who, according to Mr Burgess's statement, would expect privacy because nobody's interested in them.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/082/354/434/288/609/original/889f4a72e6899f21.png

2024-08-29 11:31:21 UTC

What's dual-booting Windows and Linux like these days? I haven't done it for years, I've got a Linux machine, a Windows machine and a Mac. If you get a fresh, standard, OEM Windows 11 machine, is it as easy as it used to be, just let the installer repartition the drive and you're good to go? Any Microsoft fuckery to deal with?

2024-08-28 04:46:05 UTC

https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/037/825/641/576/022/original/de22ec36944ee5d3.jpg

2024-08-20 21:02:39 UTC

"altar stone at Stonehenge was transported all the way from Scotland" yeah but what if Scotland was closer back then? Makes you think.

2024-08-13 03:09:12 UTC

How to use a High Performance Computing environment to run code that would normally take 6 hours to run.
1. Spend 5 and a half hours finding the right versions of modules so your libraries will compile, compiling packages, rewrite the job queue script 15 times before it will execute without errors because you specified the wrong CPU type or forgot to attach the correct storage volume for your project
2. Job executes in half an hour

2024-08-09 23:32:43 UTC

Is this deliberate to prevent cheating at Wordle or are these things just pieces of shit
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/112/934/668/259/859/280/original/06f64994adee495e.png

2024-08-01 10:48:38 UTC

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what sort of wood is he using, do you know?

2024-07-30 22:04:03 UTC

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my opinion is wrong, I know, because I am aware that invigilated pen-and-paper exams are a shit way to teach, but I feel we should return to that because I can't think of many other ways to fix this.

2024-06-18 10:56:09 UTC

Make a normal distribution.