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Reposted by Jonathan Dursi

Not Vex as in 🏳️‍🌈 but Vex as in 🏳️‍🌈 @theterroirist.bsky.social · 2d

This is the thing about too much motorist misbehaviour. They convince themselves that - whatever infractions they commit - they're just following the 'unwritten rules of the road' and that the rules, and not them, are in the wrong.

Speeding, rolling stops, running amber lights... the list goes on.

Matt Elliott @graphicmatt.com · 2d

Gray says the City didn't want to reveal the threshold over the limit at which the cameras start ticketing — now reported at 11 km/h — because the city worried drivers would just adjust and assume the "real" speed limit is the posted limit plus the threshold.

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Reposted by Jonathan Dursi

garethrswilson.bsky.social @garethrswilson.bsky.social · 5d

Anyone who designs a machine with knees is under 40 years old.

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 5d

I'm doing a DS9 rewatch right now and I skipped those two episodes because I just can't.

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Reposted by Jonathan Dursi

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 5d

The Bell Riots is a utopian vision of society compared to the IRL 2020s

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 5d

Reading about Democrats who agree with Trump's plan to forcibly commit homeless people

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 5d

Oh well. Ours the task eternal, and all that.

Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 5d

But even in our own bailiwick - we understand electromagnetism as completely and deeply as humanity's ever understood anything, but power grids still surprise us (e.g. the Iberian power grid failure this year) because they exhibit complex behaviours not encoded in any single component!

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 5d

This is another area where social sciences and humanities have a significantly more sophisticated literature and vocabulary and where us STEM folks keep tripping over the same crack in the thought-pattern sidewalk.

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 5d

And then with complex distributed systems it became common working knowledge that looking for single root causes is insufficient and you need systems thinking to deal with issues, and even then surprising behaviours crop up all the time?

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 5d

We had a whole big thing like 20 years ago about the usefulness but also limitations of reductionist thinking, right, and how complex systems exhibit emergent behaviour?

Did that just not take?

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 5d

"We know how X is implemented" ≠ "We understand how X works"

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 11d

And those problems are mostly immune to first principles thinking because they not from first principles and syllogisms but by historical accident.

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 11d

By selection effect, the ones that are most annoying to deal with that we wish we could fix are the hardest ones to change, or they’d be fixed now!

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 11d

I think this mostly isn’t true in many of the most socially relevant fields.

Many domain constraints are contingent - they didn’t have to be this way, and arguably shouldn’t be. But they are, they bind, & they’d be a generational effort to change!

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 11d

This is fun and interesting, and crapping on this kind of video is deeply anti-intellectual and anti-learning.

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 11d

Like, there’s a common, simple and very effective mental model for mirrors which completely fails in this situation - that’s exciting!

We know extremely capable medieval Persian thinkers had this figured out *because they thought this was noteworthy enough to write about!*

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 11d

Anyone who posts anything that makes people question their assumptions and reconsider how the world works is doing the Lord’s work out here on these internets, and I won’t hear anything against them.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 13d

When it comes to road deaths, we often put the onus on people doing the dying rather than people doing the killing.

NPR @npr.org · 15d

In 2024, 7,100 pedestrians were killed on the road, and in recent years, more than 1,000 cyclists have been hit and killed annually. Safety experts explain how bikers and walkers can stay safe.

8 walking and biking safety tips that just might save your life

In 2024, 7,100 pedestrians were killed on the road, and in recent years, more than 1,000 cyclists have been hit and killed annually. Safety experts explain how bikers and walkers can stay safe.

n.pr

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 12d

Time to check in on the charitable sector, who has the skills to do this planning and task-defining, and could manage some influx of volunteers; given the importance of this role and people I’m sure the government has stewarded this civic resource responsibly and they are currently thriving... Oh no

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Joel @snufkinlib.bsky.social · 12d

“I know you work night shifts at a care home, but you need to prove you’re contributing to the community” objectively ludicrous position

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 15d

Besides the unusually clear bulk motion, you have transfer of spin, damped precession of the now spinning bat... just lovely

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 15d

Hundreds of first-year physics profs are currently downloading this video and sketching out the free body diagrams for an upcoming lecture

Razzball @razzball.bsky.social · 15d

the bat moved like a high school Peter Pan production's 1st rehearsal

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 17d

It's actually a little rude and tacky to ascend right at the time written on the invitation. To make things a little less stressful for the heavenly Hosts, I generally start levitating my way up a good 15-30 minutes afterwards.

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Reposted by Jonathan Dursi

Jess-Icabod Zellers @stellagarp.bsky.social · 18d

Sixteen years later, still the funniest piece of writing on the internet. I revisit it every year the way some people rewatch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or reread A Christmas Carol.

You’re either ready to reap this freaky-assed harvest or you’re not.

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers

First published on October 9, 2009, this classic by Colin Nissan is our most-read article of all time. We’re celebrating the 16th anniversary of th...

www.mcsweeneys.net

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 23d

But those things are cross-jurisdictional and you can’t cut a ribbon in front of them, so… 🤷‍♂️

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Jonathan Dursi @ljdursi.bsky.social · 23d

If we want new ideas we should be supporting student and trainee skill development. If we want innovation and not just unused invention we should be supporting student and trainee mobility and exposure to new organizations.

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