ScottinSoCal 🇺🇦 🕊 🏳‍🌈 @ScottSoCal@computerfairi.es

Hope: Budget: pares back the deficit over the next decade while also spending >$2T on dozens of new dom. policy initiatives😃-paid for by raising >4.5T in new rev. primarily thru😃hefty tax hikes on high earners & large corps. The WH’s spending blueprint: expansive role for the fed gov overall, aiming for close to $10T in annual spending by 2033 -up from roughly $6.3T currently, & ~$6.9 T in the next fiscal yr -funded thru both the tax hikes +reining in fed spending on Rx-: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2023/03/09/biden-budget-economy-policy-republicans/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Wow. In 24 hours, we have gone from zero to 4.4K followers, that‘s crazy. Thank you for a warm welcome and excellent tips. I gave up on replying to all of you after someone pointed out that I was spamming thousands of people – sorry! Also, please do not read too much into it if we do not respond or take a long time responding, we are a busy bunch and may simply sometimes miss your post or messages. Mastodon allows long posts so I am taking advantage of that, so here are a few things that you may – or may not – want to know.

—Who are we?—

Research in the Icelandic Vision Lab (https://visionlab.is) focuses on all things visual, with a major emphasis on higher-level or “cognitive” aspects of visual perception. It is co-run by five Principal Investigators: Árni Gunnar Ásgeirsson, Sabrina Hansmann-Roth, Árni Kristjánsson, Inga María Ólafsdóttir, and Heida Maria Sigurdardottir. Here on Mastodon, you will most likely be interacting with me – Heida – but other PIs and potentially other lab members (https://visionlab.is/people) may occasionally also post here as this is a joint account. If our posts are stupid and/or annoying, I will however almost surely be responsible!

—What do we do?—

Current and/or past research at IVL has looked at several visual processes, including #VisualAttention , #EyeMovements , #ObjectPerception , #FacePerception , #VisualMemory , #VisualStatistics , and the role of #Experience / #Learning effects in #VisualPerception . Some of our work concerns the basic properties of the workings of the typical adult #VisualSystem . We have also studied the perceptual capabilities of several unique populations, including children, synesthetes, professional athletes, people with anxiety disorders, blind people, and dyslexic readers. We focus on #BehavioralMethods but also make use of other techniques including #Electrophysiology , #EyeTracking , and #DeepNeuralNetworks

—Why are we here?—

We are mostly here to interact with other researchers in our field, including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and principal investigators. This means that our activity on Mastodon may sometimes be quite niche. This can include boosting posts from others on research papers, conferences, or work opportunities in specialized fields, partaking in discussions on debates in our field, data analysis, or the scientific review process. Science communication and outreach are hugely important, but this account is not about that as such. So we take no offence if that means that you will unfollow us, that is perfectly alright :)

—But will there still sometimes be stupid memes as promised?—

Yes. They may or may not be funny, but they will be stupid.

#VisionScience #CognitivePsychology #CognitiveScience #CognitiveNeuroscience #StupidMemes

After years of marriage you can sense your partner’s eye rolls without actually seeing them. That’s love right there. ❤️

No, I'm pretty sure my cardiologist said he wants to do an Instagram.

@kevinrns #gop wants to increase the #domesticsupplyofinfants for what? Factory slavery ?

Today is one of those days when I’m reminded to keep the toilet lid closed when I’m not using it.

*note to self: buy new toothbrush

"Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed into law this week legislation that rolls back significant portions of the state’s child labor protections.
...
A bill advancing in Iowa would allow 14 & 15-yr-olds to work... in meatpacking plants and would shield businesses from civil liability if a youth worker is sickened, injured OR KILLED on the job."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/08/huckabee-sanders-arkansas-child-labor/

#Republicans claim to care about protecting #children, but the #GOP only cares about protecting corporate PROFITS.

As shared on that other site: Just got a letter officially letting me know I'll be promoted to Full Professor!

Asian-Americans who vote Republican have Stockholm syndrome.

https://secondnexus.com/gop-representative-china-loyalty-test?utm_source=buffershopgrid&utm_medium=viral&utm_campaign=gtakinsta

I'm still looking for a job. Anybody need a programmer in the San Francisco Bay area? I'm a python programmer with experience in C/C++/Java/JS, I've done a bunch of CI/CD/SRE in the recent years, lots of tooling and back end web dev, and I've got a good deal of amateur experience doing reverse engineering and embedded development.
(I've done devops work but I'm trying to move away from that because too often it turns into just "ops", and I am a programmer.)

Ukraine war: Latvia sends cars seized from drunk drivers to help Kyiv https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64903201

Welp. Guess it was bound to come for me eventually. I was hit by the most recent round of layoffs at the tech company I work at. So if anyone in my network in Toronto hears of comms/PR or writing gigs, hit me up!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshmcconnell

#toronto #topoli #techto #opentowork #layoffs #tech

@ScottSoCal @DrOinFLA @Wildethingy

I've lived in my house for 13yrs and have 3 light switches that I still have no idea what they're for.

Attention stoners: Texas might be the next place to move.

Texas just took a big step towards decriminalizing weed.

Read about it here: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/weed-cannabis-texas-17827910.php

#cannabis #texas #news

In our history textbooks, we learned that European settlers pushed westward, displacing Indigenous tribes until sadly they were no more. But this is wholly inaccurate.

The “Indians”—as Columbus infamously misnamed them—are still here in America. They number well over five million according to the 2020 census. And yet, as hard as it is to admit, a genocide of Indigenous people and cultures continues in this country even to this day, as Native children are removed from their families and tribes to live in primarily White, Christian homes.

That continuing assault is today’s subject in The Big Picture. Head over to #TBP to read now: https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/indigenous-genocide-foster-care-icwa

All veterans deserve the resources and services to succeed in civilian life.

This week, my staff met with Wounded Warrior Project to talk about mental health services for veterans and the new health care and benefits available through the PACT Act.

To all who served, thank you.

We need to stop taking anyone seriously, that tell us to "tolerate" people who want to take away other people's civil rights. That's not what tolerance is.