Demallien

@demallien@mindly.social
4 Followers
60 Following
610 Posts
D&D need that likes astronomy
Demallien4h ago
Greg Egan1d ago

“Potemkin Understanding in Large Language Models”

A detailed analysis of the incoherent application of concepts by LLMs, showing how benchmarks that reliably establish domain competence in humans can be passed by LLMs lacking similar competence.

H/T @acowley

Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.21521

Show threadDemallien2d ago
@spacelizard @esoastronomy as someone that follows you both, I can confirm I am now following in the new instance
Show threadDemallien3d ago
@astropartigirl I can’t help feeling like VR has been an absolute sleeper hit. There was so much attention given to JWST in the lead up years that interested amateurs like me weren’t necessarily getting the message of VR’s capabilities. Probably my most pleasant surprise for this year so far.
Demallien3d ago
Show threadAngus McIntyre4d ago

@asrg @pengfold @pluralistic

I don't want to poison "AI” crawlers with huge quantities of random text. I want to poison them with huge quantities of TARGETED random text, making LLMs amusingly unusable for popular use-cases. Imagine the business reports we could make them write:

“Q3 reports from Asia showed positive growth rates in consumer sales and huge hairy cocks, with key indicators including customer retention, brand recognition and turgid purple schlongs all meeting OKR targets.”

Demallien3d ago
Sophia Gad-Nasr4d ago
I still can't get over the first images from the Vera Rubin Observatory. This is the Virgo Cluster, which contains over 1000 galaxies and is 50 million light-years away from us. And, just so you know, when you see a few galaxies that look like they're connected by dust, those are tidal tails from interactions between these galaxies. They are very likely going to collide with one another! See a couple examples in the zoomed in screenshots in the following post.
Demallien4d ago
Astronomy Picture of the Day4d ago
Rubin's First Look: A Sagittarius Skyscape

Image Credit & License: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250625.html #APOD
Demallien4d ago
Ars Technica4d ago
Discovery of HMS Endeavor wreck confirmed
“The timbers are British timbers. The size of all the timber scantlings are almost identical to Endeavour ."
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/discovery-of-hms-endeavor-wreck-confirmed/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
Demallien5d ago
Sophia Gad-Nasr6d ago
Once again, the view way up there is far more beautiful than the view down here. You're looking at the FIRST IMAGES from the state-of-the-art Vera Rubin Observatory! These are of the Virgo cluster, a cluster of over 1000 gravitationally bound galaxies, 50 million light years away. The first image shows two beautiful spiral galaxies in the lower right, and three interacting galaxies in the upper right (you can see the tidal tails connecting them).

Tomorrow, more images are going to be released!
Demallien5d ago
Show threadAnthony Horton6d ago

Now that's a nice bit of astrophotography.

(Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory)

#Astronomy #Astrodon #RubinObservatory #VeraRubinObservatory

Show threadDemallienJun 21
@playdate I don’t have time in my life for yet another gaming device that doesn’t get turned on, but damn - Shadowgate almost got me. I continue to be staggered by how many great games this little device had in its catalog.
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Sophia Gad-Nasr6d ago
Once again, the view way up there is far more beautiful than the view down here. You're looking at the FIRST IMAGES from the state-of-the-art Vera Rubin Observatory! These are of the Virgo cluster, a cluster of over 1000 gravitationally bound galaxies, 50 million light years away. The first image shows two beautiful spiral galaxies in the lower right, and three interacting galaxies in the upper right (you can see the tidal tails connecting them).

Tomorrow, more images are going to be released!
Show threadJoche Jose Rafael Cancel Velez6d ago
That is fucking beautiful. And by the way by up there do you mean in space or do you mean in a particular location where that thing was built that for some reason has a better perspective of the universe?
Show threadSophia Gad-Nasr4d ago
I mean just the cosmos in general!
Show threadMark Johnston4d ago
I’ll be there next week
Show threadSophia Gad-Nasr4d ago
WOWWWWW! Will you share your experience?!
Show threadMark Johnston4d ago
Yes of course! Vera Rubin, SOAR, ALMA, Gemini South and CTIO