I know I have been fairly inactive here. Even though In principle support the idea of decentralized social media, like what we have here, it turned out to be much much harder to find the content I want to engage here than it is on Bluesky, like it or not. I will therefore be very passive here, and more active there. It might mean that I'm disregarding mastodon altogether, time will tell.

Researchers just wrapped up an enormous simulation of the Universe using the Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab—the most powerful supercomputer on Earth. The simulation calculated the evolution of the Universe from its earliest times into a more modern era, including every known influence: matter, energy, dark matter, black holes, and more. The exascale-class supercomputer can perform more than a quintillion calculations per second.

https://www.ornl.gov/news/record-breaking-run-frontier-sets-new-bar-simulating-universe-exascale-era

OpenAlex, a big step towards Open Science? https://www.uu.nl/en/background/openalex-a-big-step-towards-open-science

Great interview with @jeroenbosman:

"in libraries the paid databases are viewed more and more critically. The question is now: what are the essential use cases for which you really need Scopus or Web of Science? ... With the arrival of @OpenAlex and other open databases such as OpenAire and The Lens, I think the list of use cases for which you really need Scopus or Web of Science is getting shorter."

Als het enige lid van Marokkaanse afkomst, de enige is die omgangsvormen onacceptabel vindt, dan ruikt dat toch naar racisme. Een kabinet dat daarover liegt is ongeveer even erg als een kabinet dat de waarheid oprecht niet eens doorheeft.

TDS Lab is now reaching out on Mastodon! Follow our hashtag and join the conversation on translational data science and artificial intelligence for health👍 #tdslab @harcel

Students should feel the opportunity to join the protest against budget cuts for Higher Ed, says the university.

If there's compulsory education, you will have to re-do the activity next year, says the university.

My take: you have no opportunity, unless you happen to have free time. Ridiculous!

Dutchies: Vanavond, 21h, NPO2: Focus over AI in de Zorg, met klein gastoptreden van ondergetekende.
Wij van wc-eend... ;-)

Dear Americans, it is on you today and in the coming weeks to show that you value democracy. Vote today, respect the process and accept the results of the election.
We are all hoping for the best!

@ScubaET no response on BlueSky either, so apparently this is not the most popular question.

To me, in principle, it would mean (a times) (the number b), but I know I can turn it around if that makes the calculation easier.

When you multiply two numbers, say a and b. Does your mind interpret a x b as "(a times) (the number b)" or "(the number a) (b times)"? Or does it depend on the actual values of a and b?

Physics lost the Nobel prize.

@astronomerritt I am enjoying it, but that's very much due to the color, not the writing experience. Note that the color is still e-ink, so more newspaper like, than ipad like.

@ScubaET @astronomerritt update on the color version: I love the colors, but the writing experience is a little worse. The screen feels more plastic-like. The front light is good. Never too bright, always enough to read in low light environments.

Hey #astrodon folks - I know we are few here and the question is very specific, but: Is there any astro info on how to write a good research proposal? Not an observational proposal, a _research_ proposal for a science project.

Say an article, a talk, a website...

Use case: give to a PhD candidate (not mine!) who is in dire need of help, but who is not getting it locally and where I don't have the time to walk them through the process or to give detailed feedback.

Boosts welcome.

Back in the Minnaert Building in Utrecht for about an hour. This building has much improved over the past decade!

As my phone is starting to give signs of deteroriation, I have ordered a Fairphone 5. Soon, change will be in my hands!

De minister van VWS, Fleur Agema, wil de administratiedruk in de zorg verlichten door AI. Ik denk dat dat niet kan. De techniek is er klaar voor, de zorg en de maatschappij nog niet.

https://marcelhaas.com/index.php/2024/09/19/ai-lost-de-administratiedruk-in-de-zorg-niet-op/

It's too easy to find all relevant recent astrophysics publications.

It's excessively difficult to find recent relevant data science and population health papers...

Astronomers should really realize how lucky they are with astro-ph being broadly used and ADS working so wonderfully well!

@astronomerritt that's what I mean! Pages in between, wherever needed. Can be exported again in pdf as well.
I like it better than scribbling in the margins.

@astronomerritt I'll keep you posted!
One annoyance with the conversion to typed (if you care about that): if you have a sketch in between the handwritten notes, the sketch gets lost in the conversion.... I do this a lot (sketching, I never convert).
Adding pages to PDFs with notes is a handy functionality for me (while reading papers).