Sometimes the old technology is the best technology.

#Mastodon mentioned 🎉 🍾

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2e-c9SF5nE

"On a Thursday in early September, more than 40 strangers logged in to Instacart, the grocery-shopping app, to buy eggs and test a hypothesis.

Connected by videoconference, they simultaneously selected the same store — a Safeway in Washington, D.C. — and the same brand of eggs. They all chose pickup rather than delivery.

The only difference was the price they were offered: $3.99 for a couple of lucky shoppers. $4.59 or $4.69 for others. And a few saw a price of $4.79 — 20 percent more than some others, for the exact same product.

The shoppers were volunteers, participating in a study published on Tuesday and organized by the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive policy group, and Consumer Reports, a nonprofit consumer publication. In tests in four cities across the country, nearly 200 volunteers checked prices on 20 grocery items on Instacart.

On item after item, they found significant differences. In a Target in North Canton, Ohio, some shoppers were charged $3.59 for a jar of Skippy peanut butter that others could get for $2.99. At a Safeway in Seattle, some people paid $3.99 for a box of Wheat Thins while others paid $4.89. And at a Target in St. Paul, Minn., some people were charged $4.59 for a box of Cheerios that others could get for $3.99.

“Two shoppers who are buying the exact same item from the exact same store at the exact same time are getting different prices,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative. “The data really backs up how extraordinarily pervasive this is.”
(...)
Groundwork’s findings are the latest example of how the notion of a single price, offered to all customers for a predictable period, is breaking down in the digital age. Companies are using sophisticated algorithms to adjust prices quickly in response to competitors’ offers and consumer behavior."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/business/instacart-algorithmic-pricing.html

#USA #AlgorithmicPricing #DynamicPricing #Insatacart #Inflation #Algorithms

I can't believe that in this day and age, people are still wearing fir.

A useful, practical way to know at a glance how your dimmer switches are set.

I just saw a video where a philosopher claimed we do not have free will.

Normally I would provide a link, but I choose not to.

Fun fact: ThinkPads are call ThinkPads because there used to be actual IBM Think pads. Made out of paper.

(I found mine on eBay, they pop up from time to time)

NEW: A new congressional investigation prompted by ProPublica reporting has found that, contrary to the Trump administration’s claims, immigration agents have frequently detained and mistreated U.S. citizens.

https://www.propublica.org/article/immigration-agents-detained-mistreated-citizens-congressional-investigation

#immigration #news #ice #government #trump #politics #criminaljustice #humanrights #civilrights

Just finished Jake Berman's _The Lost Subways of North America_ and it's **fantastic**! If you're interested in the tragedy of the American suburban experiment, if you like maps, if you want to feel sad about city politics over and over and over (but with glimmers of hope), this is the book for you. It's the sort of thing #strongtowns folk might like, or @notjustbikes

Dec 7 had the earliest sunset of the year, even though the shortest day is on Dec 21.

This is because solar noon does not occur at clock time 12:00 p.m. Because of orbital eccentricity and axis inclination, it occurs earlier or later according to the Equation of Time.

E.g., for Philadelphia –
Dec 7: Sunrise 7:09 – Sunset 4:35 (9:26h), Solar noon 11:52
Dec 21: 7:18 – 4:38 (9:20h), 6m shorter, Solar noon 11:58, shifted by 6m
Sunset Dec 21 = 4:38 = 4:35 – 0:03 + 0:06
🌅
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equation_of_time

#Elsevier finally (after 25 years) retracted the primary study concluding that #glyphosate is safe for humans. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the #Roundup herbicide, manufactured by #Monsanto.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273230099913715

h/t @civodul.
https://fediscience.org/@civodul@toot.aquilenet.fr/115661046263238211

Among the grounds for the retraction:
* "The article's conclusions…are solely based on unpublished studies from Monsanto."
* "Employees of Monsanto may have contributed to the writing of the article without proper acknowledgment as co-authors."
* "The authors may have received [undisclosed] financial compensation from Monsanto for their work on this article."

Remember that in 2020, the #Trump #EPA "relied almost entirely on #Monsanto studies" to conclude that Roundup was safe.
https://x.com/petersuber/status/1224039859272212480

In 2016, Monsanto made a show of sharing its research on glyphosate with the public. But instead of making it #OpenAccess, it put print copies in a room in Brussels, required registration to use the room, and then closed the room after two months.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190119214350/https://plus.google.com/+PeterSuber/posts/ioy1fVqaLy1

Two questions for follow up studies:
1. Why did Elsevier's 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 need 25 years to retract this piece of Monsanto advertising?
2. What harm did the article cause during the last 25 years?

#Retractions

They cannot be given authority to forcibly remove anyone from their vehicle this way. Think about how bad actors would abuse this power.

Low-traffic neighborhoods reduce the nuisance of rat-running motorists and create safe space for walking and biking.

It is a popular mathematical experiment to try and work out just how fast Santa has to be to reach every house with a child in a single 24 hour period.

The calculations always end up with a significant fraction of the speed of light.

There then usually follow discussions about what the collateral damage from Santa's passing would be. And cargo limits, and so on.

All of these are wrong, and ignore another end-of-year tradition. The portrayal of the ending year as an old man.

Now that I've put these two traditions side-by-side, I think you can see what is really going on.

It is possible for one man to visit every house in a night, with no shock waves or any of that silliness. But it comes at a cost.

For that man, the night lasts many years, as he travels back in time after each visit. Even with time travel, he does not get much time to eat - so the snacks you leave out are essential to him surviving the night.

But he only just survives. By the end of the night he will have aged over forty years. And then he hands the reins of the time-travelling sleigh to a younger man, warning him of the cost.

Someone always answers the call, despite the cost, because there is always someone willing to sacrifice everything to bring joy and light, even just a little, even if only for a moment.

So leave the snacks, and, if you catch a glimpse of him, give him a bow of respect. He deserves it.

#SFF #SF #Christmas #Santa #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting

I am once again begging, begging everyone to hold these 3 thoughts in their head at once:

1. Plastics recycling is not very effective. It’s far, far better to not use plastic at all in the first place, and that failing, far better to reuse.

2. Plastics recycling is not worthless or pointless. Don’t just throw it all away because “iT dOEsn’T matTeR.” A miserable 5% reclaimed is still better than 0% reclaimed.

3. Plastics recycling is nonetheless part of a petrochemical greenwashing campaign, per @CelloMomOnCars’s post below. https://mastodon.social/@CelloMomOnCars/115650231600448649

The last coal plant delivering electricity to California has closed.
California's energy system is now coal free.

https://www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/ding-dong-coal-dead

Here is my Ukraine peace proposal:

1. Putin is sent to The Hague.
2. Russian soldiers leave Ukraine including Crimea.
3. Russia returns all kidnapped Ukrainian children.
4. Russia releases all Ukrainian prisoners.
5. Russia pays damages for everything their war has destroyed.
6. Russia pays damages to Ukrainian families who have lost family members.
7. Russia pays damages to every person who has been tortured, abducted or otherwise criminally mistreated.
8. Ukraine becomes a member of the EU.

BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. 🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states. This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺

reuters.com/world/europe/e...

In October, AG Pam Bondi demanded that companies like Apple remove apps that allow users to document immigration activity in their community. We're suing to get the underlying communications. https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-demands-answers-about-ice-spotting-app-takedowns