C'est la vie

[holespoles]

"Birds" by Liz Rowland

[what-even-is-thiss]

It’s crazy that countries on the edge of the Sahara desert are reversing desertification by just digging half circles

[what-even-is-thiss]

The ground in these places is too compact for water to soak in during wet season which leads to flooding but digging these holes gives the water a place to stop and soak in. And they’re pushing back the desert with this. By just digging holes.

[what-even-is-thiss]

The new plants also help even more water soak into the ground which reduces flooding even more.

These places also give people places to grow food and graze animals like people are turning completely dry compact desert into a refuge for wildlife and plants and solving regional food insecurity just by digging holes.

[untitledgoosegay]

Yacouba Sawadogo - Wikipedia

The half-circles are called zaï! They're a traditional farming practice in the Sahel desert, and their introduction + reintroduction can be largely credited to Yacouba Sawadogo, the man linked above! He reintroduced and innovated on the zaï on his own farm in the 1980s, and did extensive outreach (along with scientist Mathieu Ouédraogo) to encourage other farmers to adopt them as well.

He also promoted the use of cordons pierreux, which are basically just lines of rocks to reduce erosion, preserve sediments, and increase water absorption.

Immensely cool dude. He's been a personal hero since I learned about him.

[she-is-amused]

Ooooh, Mr. Sawadoga innovated the traditional zai method by adding manure and other biological matter to the holes! This put nutrients in the soil as well as helping even more with water retention and attracted termites whose tunnels helped loosen the compacted earth, all of which supported plant-growth like no zai before! Which increased water-retention even further! Oh excellent, excellent work!

[shannoneichorn]

It is a crime that the link preview doesn't show Mr. Sawadoga's face, so here's his photo from Wikipedia.

This is the face of a man adding beauty to the world and making the future better.

[frociaggina97]

"i don't care if they make their whole way though uni with chatgpt" i think you guys are so internetpilled that you have forgotten there are actual jobs out there that require people to know what they are doing in any way possible or else people die

[frociaggina97]

i know a lot of people study just to get paid well but girl this is engineering be for fucking real take this seriously

[ironborealis]

114 people died in the Hyatt Regency collapse, and in the US it's the third largest structural collapse fatality count, behind 9/11 and the Pemberton Mill collapse in 1860.

I've learned about this tragedy in my physics classes, to demonstrate tensile strength, and as a reminder about the importance of calculations being done right. I've also learned about it in my legal classes as an example of construction defect lawsuits. I've seen it referenced in disaster response classes.

Between AI and the current Presidential administration, we're barrelling right back towards this nightmare.

There are multiple errors that resulted in this collapse, but these stand out to me:

1. Kansas City was facing high unemployment and needed to attract jobs and business into the city. So the planning and inspection departments may have looked too closely at the designs.

2. An engineering firm too lazy to double check their designs or design changes by the manufacturer before approving them. The error that resulted in the collapse was one that the owner of the engineering firm said that a "first year engineering student" would spot.

3. The steel manufacturer treating preliminary plans as final plans, not verifying the math on their end.

The bridges' original design could only hold 60% of the minimum load required by city code. The design changes recommended by the manufacturer halved that. Less than a year and 3 weeks from opening to the public, the whole thing collapse.

Articles about the collapse say that everyone "trusted" the other party to have done the calculations correctly.

A significant portion of the population trusts what the computer or AI tells them, without checking. Imprecisely calibrated AI hallucinate information. The US economy is going into a downturn and federal regulatory agencies are being gutted.

We are going to see the Hyatt Regency Collapse repeat over and over for decades, not just in buildings, but in medicine, manufacturing, the environment, etc.

Some of this we're just going to have to weather, but the message for AI users comes straight from IBM (once the world's leading computer manufacturer) back in 1979:

"A Computer Cannot Be Held Accountable. Therefore A Computer Should Never Make A Management Decision."

The owner of the engineering firm that designed the Hyatt Regency spent the rest of his life lecturing on the disaster, to serve as a warning to his fellow engineers about the real-life consequences of sloppy design.

I don't think Sam Altman or Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk will have the courage or the honor to do that when OpenAI / Meta / xAI are responsible for getting people killed.

So if you're going to blindly trust the AI to do critical work tasks, I hope you're prepared to be making an apology tour for the rest of your life if it all goes wrong.

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

We've already seen AI give incredibly bad advice in numerous fields, including stuff like trail directions and identifying mushrooms. Pretty sure some AI "therapists" have convinced people to do drugs or kill themselves or other harmful acts.

We've already at the danger point, if not past it.

[doublewindsor]

Cool Canadian history moment 🇨🇦:

We had some absolutely criminal negligence in the building of the Quebec Bridge, with multiple engineering firms ignoring real signs of structural issues.

There is some debate about this, but most engineers in Canada agree this started a new ritual upon graduation with a B. Eng from any Canadian university. You attend a ceremony upon graduation and are given an Iron Ring.

You wear it on the pinky of your dominant hand, so it touches any paper you are asked to sign. Every time you sign off on something in your capacity as an engineer, you are reminded of your duties and obligations.

I have engineers in my family, and it is considered a sacred oath. Much like doctors, Canadian engineers have an ethos to do no harm.

And if you genAI bullshitted your way through your degree, you didn’t earn your ring. How fucking dare you accept one.

[prismatic-bell]

I'm just thinking of this:

This was the Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, South Korea.

This happened due to a series of incidents that all came back to the same thing: the owner was not an engineer and made his own modifications to change the building from apartments into a mall and maximize floor space, a sentence that here means "removed a shitload of necessary visible support structures and weakened the remaining ones while skimping on or even skipping necessary interior structures."

The building collapsed only five years after completion.

There was a meeting going on during the collapse as to whether the mall should be evacuated, with its owner-slash-"designer" saying no because he didn't want to lose the sales revenue. He and the other executives, of course, left before terminal collapse. If you're wondering how they pulled that off: the warning signs started in April. The building collapsed on 29 June. The terminal collapse began circa 5p KST and became complete at 5:52p. In between those two times, the owner still refused to close the mall.

502 people died.

This is the second-deadliest non-deliberate building collapse in recorded history.

This is what happens when a greedy person who doesn't know engineering design is allowed to build and own a mall.

Something something Cybertruck....

Something something data center....

Something something AI.

An engineer DID actually try to stop the owner from doing this. He got fired for his pains, although when the courts got involved he was able to show he had no responsibility for the collapse.

What happens when the engineer doesn't know the owner should be stopped, because they let Claude get their degree for them?

[j-h-cubedman]

Living in Australia, I'm kinda always at the mercy of my posts lining up with crappy timezones, so when I came back to Tumblr and realised there was a fully in-built post scheduling system, I was very excited...only to happily realise that even with that in mind, Tumblr has a much more 'time-blind' and relaxing approach to posts. It lifts my spirits whenever I see that somebody's gone through my catalogue or liked a post that had been put out days or even weeks ago, and it appears that that's a far more prevalent phenomenon on this site compared to anywhere else. A guy could get used to this more easygoing posting experience, although of course that's all thanks to folks like you! Thank you all. BONUS:

[allthingseurope]

Tatra National Park, Poland

[dailymanners]

After years of meaning to read it but never seeming to have the time, I finally started reading "How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. I've been told by countless people that this book is the ultimate handbook on how to talk to and deal with people.

I'm not far in, but so far it's been pretty interesting and insightful. This book is almost 100 years old but so far everything I've read seems to still hold up today.

I've had a few people message me asking about more resources on how to improve their social skills. There's always r/etiquette (I don't even have a reddit but I find myself lurking) but, if you're looking to read something to help brush up on your social skills, I can so far recommend "How To Wind Friends and Influence People"

Although, take my recommendation with a grain of salt because I haven't finished it yet. But I tried looking up if there was any criticism for it and had a hard time finding any. It is slightly more focused on social skills for a business setting, but honestly those skills can transfer to just about any social setting. (such as presenting your views and opinions to people in a way that doesn't make people feel attacked, and generally making people feel comfortable and at ease around you)

[dailymanners]

If there was one book I would suggest to everyone on here, Twitter (or X or whatever) and everywhere else on the internet where people lash out at strangers for no reason, it would be this book.

Because one concept it keeps returning to is that people do not like people who lash out at them, people who criticize them, people who scold them. People also do not listen to people who lash out at them, criticize them, and scold them. If you want people to like you, and people to actually listen to you, you should start by not doing that.

[dailymanners]

@2ndgengeek thank you, gonna go ahead and add this to my to-read list :) also as an FYI for any of my followers looking for more sources on manners / etiquette / social skills

[dailymanners]

@connanro also adding this to my reading list (and reccs for books on manners to my followers), thank you!

[aprillikesthings]

It's been ages since I read it and it is older, but What Does Everybody Else Know That I Don't? by Michele Novotni is specifically aimed at people with ADHD. Some of it is hella basic, but in all honesty it's shit I didn't know until I was an adult.

[m1male2]

The Library of the Abbey of St. Gall, Switzerland, contains over 170,000 books and documents, most notably a valuable collection of manuscripts from the 8th to the 10th centuries.

It was rebuilt between 1758 and 1767 and is considered a masterpiece of Central European Rococo architecture.

[botanyshitposts]

yesterday in economic botany we were learning about plant based oil compounds and stuff and my botany professor was talking about lynn seed oil, which in woodworking is rubbed on over furniture as a varnish. this oil has an exothermic chemical reaction with oxygen, meaning that the reaction creates heat. what often happens, apparently, is that woodworkers will finish rubbing on the oil with a rag and then will ball up the rag and throw it away, but because the reaction is taking place and the heat can’t escape (like it would on a piece of furniture where it can be cooled) it gets trapped in the rag, which gets hotter and hotter until it reaches the temperature where it bursts into flame. apparently many woodworking shops have been burned down by this. the proper way to dispose of rags with this oil is to hang them up on a clothesline, so again the reaction never gets enough heat to start a fire. im telling you this because im a writer and ive never heard of substance that will just…spontaneously combust conveniently like that so long as it’s in a confined space. my botany professor tried it in a trash can in his driveway and it did indeed burst into flame after 45 minutes, which is an exceptionally convenient time delay. im sorry im tying this so fast my laptop is on 2% battery and theres no outlet an

[madgastronomer]

Presumably the OP has been corrected by this point, but for anyone who sees it from me: that’s linseed oil, the craft grade oil pressed from flax seeds, as opposed to the food grade oil, flax seed oil, which will absolutely do the same thing, but is a terrific seasoning oil for cast iron. Use caution with any rag or paper towel doused in linseed/flax seed oil.

[urgetocreate]

Sheila Anderson Hardy (Scottish b.1956), Silver Moon, 2022, Oil on canvas

[dreamycastaway]

New York Times readers share a moment when they have felt truly swept off their feet — or have been the ones doing the sweeping. (Bonus: more stories from the comments)

[greeds]

olruggio has had an utter lack of control over the situation since the first time he learned the truth; his memory is wiped every time it is revealed to him, so he's just left with the pervasive feeling that something is very wrong with his partner (in pain). the shifting landscape and the skewed frames reflect that internal instability

he doesn't have the relevant memories to reach back for. qifrey can cling to the lies, to his guilt, in order to survive, but olly is perpetually lost in the unknowing. the worst part is that the tilted frames of his reality are a very deliberate choice he made all those years ago to save his friend—he just can't remember it

qifrey has his memories intact, so he's able to structure his life around the truth of his existence. he carries it with him; all the grief and resentment, every moment spent in pain and unease. he has no choice but to stabilize himself in liminality. he's not allowed to settle, and so the frames are neatly laid out, one over the other; a perfect prison

his collected expression in the most recent frame makes it seem like he is resigned to his fate, but i don't believe he would give up that easily, not when he has so much to live for (he stated so himself)! he's just tired. they both are

[gffa]

Princess Leia | illustrated by Matt Kindt

[wizardarchetypes]

okay already i desperately need u.s. americans to practice the phrase, "not where i'm from, but maybe in other parts of the u.s."

because it's genuinely insane the things i've heard americans say 'america doesn't have' when it's just factually incorrect.

for some perspective: during my longest move i did by-car in the u.s., i drove ~3,000 miles. That's ~4,800 km. It took nearly 50 hours drive-times alone. Meaning, if I could have driven without stopping once, it would have taken nearly 50 hours. Of course I split that up over several days.

Driving that same distance here, If there's a ferry+road from Rabat (in Morocco) to Kyiv (Ukraine), I could take it and keep on going another several hours.

So you can understand how silly it is for someone from the u.s. to be asked to answer a question on behalf of the entirety of the u.s.—geographically, culturally, etc.

So now that we've said all that, I need you to know that I listened to a guy from Idaho tell an Irish person today, "yeah, we just don't really get snails much in America."

Snails.

[wizardarchetypes]

Next. Even if someone does say, 'not where I'm from,' you might still want to check that out for yourself:

[kcyars99]

[galatially]

#i always think about how beautiful it was for ryan coogler to cast buddy guy as older sammie #i often think about how people like to espouse the idea that we are "so far removed" from jim crow and segregation when creatives like buddy are still alive #a lot of the activists and figures are still alive! #idk the fact that he's living proof of the continued effects of chattel slavery on black americans is so bittersweet because he remembers such atrocities but he's also able to bestow wisdom and history for art pieces like sinners

[saltedweather]

Ryan Coogler said in an interview, btw, that part of why he thought of Buddy Guy was because his uncle loved seeing him – he'd get dressed up and go see him play live when he got the chance.

[mithrandirl]

@lotrweek day 4: green

[edinburgh-by-the-sea]

swan territory

[spoopy-skeletoons-deactivated20]

Has anyone done this yet?

[sourcedumal]

I HATE ALL Y'ALL RIGHT NOW

[amuzed1-deactivated20241106]

I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t that. LMAO

[the-haiku-bot]

I don’t know what I

expected, but it wasn’t

that. LMAO

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[audaciouspixie]

[Caption]: A clip from Disney’s Princess and the Frog; Dr. Facilier singing to Prince Naveen and his valet Lawrence, as he demonstrates his magic, including magically igniting the fires that illuminate the sign for his shop.

“Don’t you disrespect me, little man. Don’t you derogate or derive. You’re in my world now, not your world. And I’ve got friends on the other side.”

He magically opens the door to his shop to reveal an entirely different video of Adele in a forest, instead of the shops interior. Adele sings, “Hello, from the other siiiiide,” [End Caption]