odbol

A11y designer, new media artist, photographer, cybertechnician, dodecahedonist pursuing new styles of interfaces through the body.

[odbol @odbol]

Do you like Spotify Wrapped? What about "Netflix Wrapped"?

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@EricRichards22 They are failing *because* the homework machine is doing all their assignments

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Good. I hope burgers cost $50 and people stop eating beef, the worst contributor to climate change and water use

[Nomadic Warriors for Pritzker⚔️ @Nomads4Pritzker]

So, I've worked in the beef industry. I have a fairly detailed knowledge of beef markets, the supply chain, parasites and parasiticides, etc. Suffice it to say, this is a nightmare scenario, but one we've known was coming since at least 2022.

New World Screwworm was eradicated from North and Central America in the mid-90's. The US gov't (APHIS) funded a program of screwworm drops, where they bred sterile males so that extant populations couldn't reproduce and move northwards. But in 2022 NWS jumped the Darien gap and started moving northwards once again. It's most likely that they came undetected on livestock brought alongside migrants fleeing political instability in South and Central America. Elon Musk/DOGE, of course, cut several monitoring programs that would have detected this exact scenario. The screwworm drops are still funded, but the monitoring programs are what have been cut - a stupid move if there ever was one.

A serious Central/South America policy would have worked hand-in-hand with CA/SA governments to help contain this, but we've never had a serious policy towards South America, not during the Biden years, and especially not under Trump. The USDA broke ground on a sterile screwworm facility in Texas... last month. I worry it's too little, too late.

Screwworm is so dangerous because, unlike other fly larvae, they lay eggs and feed on living flesh. So something like a small scratch (or even bug bite) can quickly becomes infested, and the larvae will burrow into the flesh, growing the wound and attracting more screwworm. They don't only parasitize cattle, but will also feed on wildlife, domestic pets, even humans. Since they have detected screwworms in domesticated cattle right now, it's likely that there is a wild reservoir as well. We can quarantine herds and pets, but we can't quarantine deer and armadillos. They will move, and so will the NWS.

Under normal circumstances, cattle are moved around - a lot. Calves will be sent to stockers through their adolescence, then shipped to feedlots for finishing. A lot of calving operations (like 70%) are small, and small-time producers don't always catch parasite infestations. Cattle moved in-state don't require a certificate of veterinary inspection, so it's easy for an infested animal to be moved without being noticed. Animals crossing state lines do need a CVI, but Texas has such an enormous cattle population (something like 13 million head) that as goes Texas, so goes the nation.

Fortunately, we have a lot of drugs that treat NWS. The FDA has issued several emergency use authorizations in the last year or so. But every input raises the price of beef, and treatment only makes a difference if producers catch an infestation early. If an infestation spreads unnoticed on a large feedlot, it can hit hard, both in terms of cattle that have to be killed, and treatments that then have to be deployed. Producers will spend days at a time running cattle through the chute, inspecting them and applying parasiticides. It costs a lot of money, which is then passed on to the consumer.

What does that mean for you? Beef is a commodity, and just because there's no NWS up here in Illinois doesn't mean that prices won't skyrocket - and they will skyrocket. US herd size is already at record lows, and this will result in culls. Consumer prices also run 18-24 months behind, which means that shocks to the supply chain now are still going to be felt by consumers in 2028.

It's hard to say if our government will be able to muster an effective response - though I don't trust our current administration, which can't even throw a 250th anniversary party, to be able to deal with an ecological issue of this magnitude. It doesn't help that our current USDA secretary is a lawyer and think-tank creature. I don't much trust the state government of Texas either. The industry has also taken the workforce of large animal veterinarians for granted - a monopoly/market power issue that I just can't get in to here.

For me, it comes back to our federal government having an incoherent policy on Central and South America. We knew what was coming, we know what's going to happen, but we cut the program meant to prevent this scenario. Instead of taking those countries seriously as partners, the government has been stupid and domineering.

Here's the kicker: this is what the industry voted for. They might scream, they might get bailed out, but all that means is that you, the consumer, are going to be paying more for beef, plus whatever bailout gets shoveled their way. Until the industry accepts that they are part of a larger system; that they cannot eternally privatize the gains and publicize the losses of beef production; that they need to consider sustainability and stewardship in the management of their operations, this is only going to keep happening. Eventually, they may find that there is very little goodwill for them among the public, and people will decide that a Brazilian ribeye tastes just as good as one from Texas.

[odbol @odbol]

@EMIPurchasing @Aella_Girl Ok I don't know where it starts but I found this wild summary https://t.co/AbSHkhLH4z

[MR. OBVIOUS @ObviousRises]

The Reckless Ben and Bricks and Minifigs controversy is unreal.

Highlights:
-YouTuber inherits $200k worth of Legos from Father
-CEO of B&M Ammon McNeff buys retailer, steals Legos
-RB Requests Legos, CEO refuses, sells them instead
-RB Sues and WINS but CEO refuses to pay
-RB travels to Utah to serve the CEO Papers
-Cops show up, arrest RB, accuse him of "stealing legos" (and drugs)
-He is swatted at one point, nothing found (he didn't steal they did)
-RB is held against his will for multiple days
-RB by a stroke of LUCK, convinces judge to release him
-RB is unable to serve papers and FLEES to Mexico
-RB is now fighting to expose a MASSIVE Mormon Conspiracy of INSANE proportions (hundreds of millions) and fraud that you would not believe
(not to mention police corruption and a MORMON MAFIA)
-the CEO is risking a $400 million company/millions in damages just so he can steal $200k Legos
-Utah gets exposed as Mormon Israel.

This is the most insane case of blatant corruption, actual Mafia's and a genuine SOCIOPATH CEO (one for the medical books) I have ever seen, be advised folks, I 100% Stand With Ben and will likely investigate myself... absolutely historical/diabolical.

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@valuemarktwatch @BrianRoemmele Lol what ideals does the US uphold besides "protect the billionaires property"

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@valuemarktwatch @BrianRoemmele Isn't China building tons of nuclear and solar plants?

[odbol @odbol]

There is something strangely addictive about the physical gesturing and feel of a touchscreen. Mouse doesn't quite cut it. I wonder if you could make an app that disabled the touchscreen and made you use it like a trackpad with a cursor

[Riley @TheLifeofRiles]

Remember, you're fighting touch screens as much as (if not more) than you're fighting algorithms. All touch screens are pacifiers for your mind.

For example, login to instagram on a desktop with a mouse. You'll realize it has 0% of the mesmerizing effect it would on a phone.

[odbol @odbol]

@DChexs @nathan_covey Are you asking about... pockets?

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@AlcoholFien @Aella_Girl Not much freedom in having to hunt for food literally every day and dedicating most your time to it

[odbol @odbol]

My code poem was featured
in the latest issue of @TaperZine! https://t.co/oiEWqoyNcI

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@LT_JohnnyRico @Aella_Girl Fascism is objectively bad though. If you're not anti-fascist there's something wrong with you

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@stspanho Can't wait till the point where the XR glasses are truly augmented and you could see a ghostly figure of yourself running ahead of you.

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@hunvreus That's because you're writing React. There's so much training data, and the problems are usually simple enough, that AI is pretty good at it. It's much less effective in other domains and languages. We'll still have OS engineers and graphics programmers for a while longer I think

[odbol @odbol]

@tris_does_stuff @giansegato Alfred is basically what already does this. Or Jumpcut or a million other apps already out there. I like your idea of the OCR on images though. Should have just added it to Jumpcut since it's already open source

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@thorduragust @taktoa1 @cmuratori Haha touché

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@wryzx @nsedef @Ascion_Next He knows the people yearn for the guillotine

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Would love to see a "Vibe-off" where different programmers and vibecoders are given the same spec and have to implement in a given time limit

[Gary Simon @designcoursecom]

Task 100 developers with building the same project using the same AI and tooling.

Someone will produce the best project. The top 10% will be a lot better than the bottom 10%.

This has always been the case, pre-AI too.

We are all still building stuff, but how we built has changed. That's all.

[odbol @odbol]

These kind of touches are great, but they definitely can be overdone too. I'm thinking of people posting infographic slop or heavily graphical slides just because they can generate them instantly with AI, even though the graphics distract from the actual message and content

[Gabriel @gabriell_lab]

Since Opus 4.8 is out and more and more designers are getting into Design Engineering, I thought I’d share some of the interaction patterns I use most often:

Use proximity, not just hover. When the cursor gets close, nearby elements can subtly scale and darken based on distance.

It makes interfaces feel more responsive, less binary, and way more alive

onpointermove = e =>
document.querySelectorAll(".dock>*").forEach(el => {
const r = el.getBoundingClientRect();
const t = Math.max(0, 1 - Math.abs(e.clientX - r.x - r.width/2) / 120);
el. style.scale = 1 + t * .5;
});

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@gabriell_lab @jonschxyz

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this happens waaaay too often for me

[𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝 @Be_like_legend]

Someone said being neurodivergent means that no one listens to you because you're right too far in advance and then, when it's finally come to fruition, the common law statute of limitations for remembering what someone else said a while ago has been surpassed so we don't even get to be told we were right. it's deeply unsatisfying

[odbol @odbol]

@gfodor @pistolcrass Uh whoa I need that exact thing! Are you going to release it?