Free/open-source sites for the preparation of scientific illustrations: bioicons.com, scidraw.io, bioart.niaid.nih.gov, inkscape.org, biogdp.com, reactome.org/icon-lib
History for GRANITE. Exploring the pyramids of Ancient Egypt
Jan 6 Capital attack video, link.
Malcolm Gladwell. “Malcolm Gladwell began as a college right-wing Reagan supporter, was trained by the tobacco-funded far-right National Journalism Center, and throughout his career has inserted pro-tobacco, pro-banking industry and pro-PHARMA messages into his books and articles.”
Kveik. A family of strains of brewing yeast that has been used in Norwegian farmhouse brewing for generations.
STORM. Wikipedia-like report on your topic with AI
Project 2025 Annotation: A Summary
Bezos, Trump, and the Failure of Democracy. We are witnessing a watershed moment. Democracy is failing because the rule of law has been broken. And everyone is about to realize it. All at once.
FDA Publishes Final Rule on Laboratory-Developed Test (LDT) Regulation
“Laboratories must then submit a premarket approval application or a 510(k) submission to the FDA, including evidence of the test’s clinical validity and utility.”
CJ Cherryh, Alliance-Union book timeline, link2
A Q&A with David Neiwert, America’s foremost writer and thinker on far-right extremism, on what might happen if Trump wins—or loses. by Rick Perlstein
Free and OpenSource Photo Libraries comparison
Many developers + multiuser support: Immich, Librephotos. Immich had multiuser tagging support.
Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars by Albert Burneko
Millennials, Gen Xers lead jump in “religiously unaffiliated”, survey
The Charlottesville Hoax Hoax by David Corn
AP Anatomy and Physiology course plan (source unclear)
Making Meaningful Difference: A Q&A with Philanthropist Laura Gutierrez
How many helium balloons to lift a person? 39 weather balloons, link
The psychology of conspiracy theory believers, linked article.
HPV vaccine study finds zero cases of cervical cancer among women vaccinated before age 14
Fresnel Lens Manufacturing – 2018 Michigan Lighthouse Alliance Conference
Butterflies fly using efficient propulsive clap mechanism owing to flexible wings
Fast Fresnel Hack Embiggens The Smallest Of Heads
Louis Wain “A Kittens’ Christmas Party”
Cats, Cats, Cats! The Incredible Life & Art of Louis Wain
Original Catfluencer: How a Victorian Artist’s Feline Fixation Gave Us the Internet Cat
How Colorful Ribbon Diagrams Became the Face of Proteins (Jane Richardson)
Say It to My Face. How Democrats learned to tell the plain truth and like it by Rick Perlstein
SF writer M. John Harrison. Nova Swing (2006)
Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C is a hardwax oil wood finish, $180 / 1.3l, 300 – 500 ft²/l
READING: Isaac Asimov on Dominationist Ethnonationalism. It is for everyone, and everyone catches it… by Brad DeLong. From his autobiography.
Oval: 15.25″ x 6.875″, half point width 5.9375″
81.7 in2 total area
12 Voronoi regions:
7.6 in2 (73.5g, 8.6 layers 2x + 0.6)
9.4 (91.0, 10.6 layers, 3x – 1.4)
10.4 (100.6, 11.8 layers, 3x)
10.4 (100.6, 11.8 layers, 3x)
5.3 (51.2, 6.0 layers, 1.5x)
7.2 (69.6, 8.1 layers, 2x + 0.1)
6.4 (62.0, 7.2 layers, 2x – 0.8)
3.7 (35.8, 4.2 layers, 1x +0.2) 1.5″ doesn’t quite fit
6.7 (64.8, 7.6 layers, 2x – 0.5)
3.9 (37.8, 4.4 layers, 1x + 0.4) 1.5″ doesn’t quite fit
4.9 (47.4, 5.5 layers, 1.5x – 0.5)
5.9 (57.0, 6.7 layers, 1.5x + 0.7) 1.5″ doesn’t quite fit
Place 1.5″ circles (1.77 in2, 8.5g) at each Voronoi seed point.
3 colors + clear: bottom clear – A – B – C (one of each 4 layers, 2x each 7-8 layers, 3x each 12 layers)
Updated jim_voronoi.zip extension to work with Inkscape 1.3! (Original version of the extension.). To install, go to Inscape -> Extensions -> Manage extension -> Install packages tab -> click on file icon and select the zip file.
Takes as input a shape to fill with a Voronoi diagram. The number of levels of recursive Voronoi diagrams can be set.
Options
Random seed points: Number of starting points. The distribution of the starting points is set for each level of the diagram.
Options:
Levels of recursion: Within each Voronoi region, a new Voronoi diagram is created.
Level(rand_type):relax,…: Sets of parameters for each Voronoi diagram level.
<level>(<normalization method>[param1=n;parms2 = n.n; params3=foo…]):<Llyod’s relaxation interations>
The randomization type can be ‘normdist’, ‘normdist_edge’, ‘random’. ‘Random’ distributes the seed points randomly. ‘Normdist’ distributes the seed points around one or more ‘centers’ (default is 1 center), distributed around the centroid. ‘Normdist_edge’ moves the seeds away from the centers toward the edge.
Llyod’s relaxation moves each of the points halfway between its current position and the centroid of the Voronoi polygon it is located in with each iteration.
Parameters:
centers = 2 – Number of centers to cluster ‘normdist’ random points around. Centers are spaced at center_dist from the centroid of the input path.
keep_centers = 0,1,3… – Which of the centers to use. Numbering starts at 0.
center_dist = 1.23 – Distance from the path centroid to place the random seed centers. dist = size / center_dist. Default = 2.0. Large numbers push the centers towards the edge.
min_dist = 1.23 – Minimum distance of random points from the edge of the path. In Inkscape units. Default = 5.
sd = 1.23 – Standard deviation of the random points. sd = standard deviation of the random points. sd = size / sd. Larger numbers give a tighter distribution. Default = 2.5.
xy = x1,y1, x2,y2… – Explicitly enter random seed point locations. In Inkscape units. Overrides random dist center parameters.
Return lines or polygons: The Voronoi regions are added to the document as polygons or lines.
Keying off Kevin Drum’s The lessons of COVID, which is a good start but too limited in imagination.
What the US did right: the CDC has great world-wide infectious disease monitoring.
What the US did poorly: the US had spotty local infectious disease monitoring. And lack of data–ignorance–was used as an excuse for inaction. With post-COVID wastewater monitoring, the US is doing better, let’s keep the funding high for it.
Biggest mistake: the federal government responded slowly and ineffectively in the first two months. Faster response that seems like an over-reaction at the time is the best response. If the response is effective, and a disease is slowed or stopped, it should always feel like an over-reaction. Hoof-and-mouth disease is the model.
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. […] under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
