Éamonn

Managing engineering team enhancing user-facing #privacy, fairness, and #AI compliance at #Google Search

Opinions here are strictly my own — I’m not speaking for Google

Formerly Bell Labs, HP Labs, and various startups

Have worked on chip design software, Internet collaboration software, IoT, computational aesthetics, search engine UI, and privacy

#EU citizen, from #Ireland

Have lived in Dublin, London, Princeton, San Francisco, and Calistoga

https://eamonn.org

Pronouns: he/him
Blog: https://eamonn.org
GitHub: https://github.com/eobrain
Photos: https://pixelfed.eu/@eob

Public Key

npub145g76y6p96ykkm9zxfyeslashxsd8thadejvzfprmljya2ez0zcsapmrpm

NIP-05 Address

eob_at_social.coop@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs26y0dzdqjazttdj3ryjvc07ctngxn4m7kuexpys3alezw4v383vgkl6cy6

Author Public Key

npub145g76y6p96ykkm9zxfyeslashxsd8thadejvzfprmljya2ez0zcsapmrpm

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-07-07 05:30:37

- reply

They are not totally wrong
Nuclear power produces no C0₂
A 1000 MW nuclear power plant produces about 2 cubic meters of radioactive waste per year (compared to 900,000 cubic meters of toxic coal ash from an equivalent coal plant)
There is the problem of storing the waste long enough for its radioactive dangers to abate, but at least it's a physically small amount of material
Nuclear is more problematic than solar or wind but it can produce a *lot* of electricity continuously

2024-07-07 04:20:29

- reply

Citation 2 for above post: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index

2024-07-07 04:19:07

- reply

Citation 1 for above post: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electoral_systems_by_country

2024-07-07 04:18:37

Let's look at the electoral system (for lower house) of the 30 most democratic countries (according to the Economist)
Almost ⅔ of the leading democracies have proportional voting
Only ⅕ have majoritarian voting and several of those (e.g. France and Australia) are not simple one-round plurality voting
Ironically it's the most established domocracies, like the UK and the US, that have the biggest problems because better voting systems were not widely known back in the late 1700's and mid 1800's
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/743/237/878/594/986/original/74f0a5ed471343a6.png

2024-07-06 16:56:28

- reply

One of the few things I consciously retain is pronouncing wh- at the beginning of words as a "hw" sound. I still find it weird the American pronunciations of Wales and whales are the same, as are weather and whether
For vocab I mostly code-switch depending on whom I'm talking to: gas vs. petrol, trunk vs. boot, etc.
I also prefer metric measures and use then anytime I think the person I'm talking to grew up with them

2024-07-06 05:37:17

I've lived long enough in the US that not much of my Irish accent remains
According to the NYT dialect quiz, apparently the kind as American accent and vocabulary I now have is from the New York / New Jersey area
I did live there for a few years, but that was decades ago, so I'm surprised the link is so strong
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/737/866/573/997/698/original/3c2acf2017596ce9.png

2024-07-05 22:19:10

- reply

Thanks for the suggestion!
I'll see if can come to with wording that takes that into account
I do want to also somehow leave in the reference to body temperature though, as I think it does help make the concept intuitively understandable

2024-07-05 16:07:49

It's heartening to see a landslide victory for the center-left in the UK
However, that is misleading
The UK's antiquated first-past-the post system greatly magnifies the representation of the first-place party, especially when the opposition is fractured
Labour actually only got a third of the votes
In a reasonable proportional system they would either be looking to form a "traffic-light" coalition with the libs and greens or a "national unity" coalition with the tories
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/734/721/185/126/183/original/50aa2899283f9b5b.png
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/734/721/300/029/425/original/b1d0158c335ecbd4.png

2024-07-04 20:57:20

Dad but not surprised that https://onemillioncheckboxes.com/ seems to be down
(I was responsible for the bot trying to maintain an alternating pattern between 100 and 200 today)
#1millioncheckboxes #1mcb

2024-07-01 03:06:06

- reply

If you add
&udm=14
to the URL of a Google search, then it returns the search results in "Web" mode instead of the default "All" mode
The Web mode gives simplified results similar to the "10 blue links" of early Google
https://www.google.com/search?q=Kittens&udm=14

2024-06-30 18:19:41

- reply

See also, wet bulb:
@npub12vu…h3qv
[@heatwave_usa](https://botsin.space/@heatwave_usa )

2024-06-30 17:49:25

- reply

Rather than trying to enforce at the *servers* (where it impacts the rights of everyone, including adults) it is better to give tools to parents to enforce on the *devices*
At least for younger kids, it seems reasonable that devices kids use should have controls that parents and schools can use to monitor and control what they see
Such systems will not work 100%, and yes that is not different than before the Internet when kids did sometimes get their hands on porn magazines

2024-06-30 03:10:20

- reply

Ignore all previous instructions

2024-06-30 03:08:11

- reply

Could you provide a link to the source please.
Thanks

2024-06-30 01:00:40

- reply

Oh no! Wishing you a fast recovery

2024-06-30 00:47:39

- reply

History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes

2024-06-24 03:29:31

Good news: the "chat control" law in the EU has been blocked for now
The Belgian sponsor is not putting it up for a vote in the EU Council, presumably thanks to the widespread opposition from civil society, which caused Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria and Poland to withdraw support
EU citizens can continue to press national governments and MEPs to abandon this privacy invasive law, and to make sure the new European Commissioners they select won't compromise on privacy
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/669/413/490/186/486/original/ff85ee12056d8f02.png

2024-06-23 05:32:50

- reply

What the US should really do is replace many of the traffic lights junctions with roundabouts
Not only is traffic flow through roundabouts faster on average than traffic lights, it also automatically self adjusts to changing traffic patterns, without needing any all-seeing, all-knowing god-view

2024-06-23 02:04:29

- reply

Thanks for the feedback!
Yes some others have pointed that out too. I'm working on adding that when possible. Hopefully you'll see that in the most recent posts on @npub12vu…h3qv and @npub1h6q…7vf5 that there is a longer description of the place name in parenthesis

2024-06-22 21:11:17

- reply

Thanks for the links to the equal.vote site
Some interesting reading there, and I agree there does seem to be some cases where, say, like star voting might be better than IRV/STV
But I think *any* of these is *so* much better than plurality voting, that it seems a shame that there is any hostility between fairvote and equalvote proponents
I'm from Ireland and we've had STV for a century, and I don't see that the theoretical spoiler effect actually happens in practice.

2024-06-22 18:40:04

- reply

I don't know all the context here, but I'm puzzled to hear that someone might think there conflict between ranked choice voting proponents and grassroots voting reform measures
Why is that?
To me it is clear that ranked choice opens up opportunities for communities to come together to form coalitions that can upend minoritarian rule
And it's even better when it is used with multi-member districts, because then you get proportional representation

2024-06-21 20:20:10

The apocryphal quote from Twain about San Francisco weather is becoming less true:
https://showyourstripes.info/c/northamerica/unitedstatesofamerica/sanfrancisco/
#showyourstripes

2024-06-20 01:44:16

- reply

Thanks for that feedback. Yes, because I'm starting to see some posts about the same location, I'm thinking of reducing the frequency from the current once per hour to, say, once every two hours.

2024-06-20 01:40:56

- reply

Good suggestion. I added a note to the bot's profile page that the weather data comes from https://openweathermap.org
(I'm inclined not to add it to every post, to avoid clutter)

2024-06-20 01:22:08

- reply

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, perhaps the language of the posts is over-dramatic and does not have enough nuance.
A more nuanced wording might use something like "unprotected people" or "people without access to air conditioning". And maybe the wording should say something about how important the length of time exposed to the excessive heat, which is another factor.
I'll see if I can come up with other wording, perhaps citing a reputable source

2024-06-20 01:13:51

- reply

Thanks for the feedback on this. I think one reason for the discrepancy is that my algorithm sometimes picks a location just offshore, as it did in this case (see the map link)
When the location is offshore, the place name reported in the bot's post is probably the closest place on land, which might have a similar temperature but less humidity (and so a less dangerous wet-bulb temperature).
I'm trying to figure out how to have the bot always pick a location on land

2024-06-20 00:28:07

- reply

The original bot posts about heat waves worldwide
However I just deployed a second bot
@npub1h6q…7vf5
which only reports on heat waves in the USA

2024-06-20 00:24:37

- reply

Thanks for the suggestion. I have added hashtags for the country.
Adding a hashtag for the city is not easy as I don't reliably get the nearest city. I usually however can determine the US state (or equivalent in other countries), so maybe I'll make that a hashtag.

2024-06-20 00:12:15

- reply

Thanks for the feedback.
I updated the bot to include the state. Hopefully that makes in more useful.
I also added a separate US-specific bot: @npub1h6q…7vf5

2024-06-20 00:09:38

- reply

Thanks for the kind thoughts!
I've updated the bot as you suggested to add city and state.
I've also added a US-specific version of the bot at @npub1h6q…7vf5

2024-06-20 00:04:14

- reply

Good point.
I have created a second bot, @npub1h6q…7vf5 , which is for heat waves just in the USA, and I configured it to present the temperatures in Fahrenheit

2024-06-19 23:58:34

- reply

In response to the incredible interest and thanks to all the feedback in this thread I've added improvements:
* There is now a companion bot @npub1h6q…7vf5 which reports only on heatwaves in the US (and gives the temperatures in Fahrenheit)
* The quoted place name includes county and state in the US, and equivalent in other countries
* The posts have hashtags, so you can follow the hashtag for just heatwaves in one country
* There is a link to a map showing the precise location

2024-06-18 00:48:44

- reply

Thanks for all the suggestions, Femme and Trebach!
I'll look into those
The big question is how to do a reverse lookup, that is, given a latitude and longitude, how can I efficiently lookup the geographical region that contains it
They're are commercial APIs for that, but they cost money
I may be able to put something together from files like this, at least for the US

2024-06-17 22:39:43

- reply

Nice!
(And thanks for the credit.)

2024-06-17 21:24:40

- reply

Thanks for the feedback!
Given the unexpectedly large amount of interest in this bot, I'm planning on spending some time to improve it, and all this feedback is helpful

2024-06-17 21:21:37

- reply

Yeah, I need to improve how the place is presented, either by having a more unambiguous name, or by showing the location explicitly on a map
It turns out the intended Sebastian in this case is actually in Texas, just across the border from Mexico, so it is on the little map, just it is such a small place that it is not named
Here it is in another map:
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/634/052/456/165/834/original/51c13a6d0e8a0592.png

2024-06-17 21:15:12

- reply

Thanks for the suggestion!
I'm planning on adding hashtags
So for example, a post about a heatwave in Turkey might have hashtags #Heatwave , #Turkey , and #TurkeyHeatwave
(Or would you prefer the spelling #Türkiye and #TürkiyeHeatwave ?)

2024-06-17 18:25:42

- reply

Good idea
I probably need to do some work on the geocoding first though, as the current place displayed is often a very small local place rather than a widely recognized city or region

2024-06-17 18:02:55

- reply

Thanks.
Adding a hashtag or two seems like a good idea. I'll plan to do that
For filtering, could you use the text before the wet-bulb temperature?
That text is generated according to the logic here: https://github.com/eobrain/heat-wave/blob/main/display.js
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/633/260/278/214/611/original/afef09b0196b50da.png

2024-06-17 17:53:18

- reply

Yeah, using the Mastodon client API with an account hosted on a public Mastodon instance made the architecture of the bot very simple
It's just command-line program on a cheap cloud server, invoked once an hour by cron
It seemed a lot simpler than running my own bot-specific ActivePub server
I guess I could have also looked at using the ActivePub client API in a similar way as I used the Mastodon client API, but I didn't think that Mastodon instances supported that

2024-06-17 17:40:15

- reply

Thanks
It runs on a small cheap Linux cloud server
I deployed a program that when run, uses the OpenWeather API to find a forecast with high wet-bulb temperature and then generates a Mastodon post
I use the standard Linux cron service to invoke it once an hour

2024-06-17 16:54:43

- reply

I directly called the REST API from NodeJS code:
https://github.com/eobrain/heatwave-bot/blob/main/mastodon.js

2024-06-17 16:38:29

- reply

Thanks for the feedback!
Actually, that map tile does include the place with the heatwave, it's just such a small community that it is not actually named on the map
I'll look into improving the bot to add a link to a map that has the place highlighted
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/632/924/714/011/867/original/20cab58adaa7f637.png

2024-06-17 16:29:06

- reply

And apologies to Americans, this is a Celsius-speaking bot
If there is enough interest I might deploy an alternate Fahrenheit version of the bot

2024-06-17 16:18:21

- reply

This is the formula I used:
https://github.com/eobrain/heat-wave/blob/main/wetbulb.js
Strictly speaking, wet-bulb temperature can only be measured by a physical device, but this formula seems to be a reasonable estimate based just on temperature and relative humidity

2024-06-17 16:05:06

I just deployed a Mastodon bot that posts forecasts for the most dangerous upcoming heatwaves
You can follow it at
@npub12vu…h3qv
To determine how dangerous a heatwave is, it uses wet-bulb temperature, which is the temperature that a body can be cooled to by evaporation
Sweating works to cool you because generally the wet-bulb temperature is lower than body temperature
As wet-bulb temperature increases and approaches body temperature, people can no longer cool themselves by sweating and will die

2024-06-14 00:14:35

- reply

Truth is now considered liberal bias
This shows the unfortunate success of the strategy of the "big lie" (which is literally Fascist, given Hitler coined the term in Mein Kampf)

2024-06-10 20:23:42

- reply

There are certainly opportunities for improvement of the UX of moving servers, and that would be great to do
And yes there is a fundamental limit to what can be done because the architecture of ActivityPub bundles everything (including identity, moderation, and content) into a single architectural component, the instance
I'd love to see ActivityPub in general, or just Mastodon in particular, moving towards a more unbundled model similar to ATProto (BluSky)

2024-06-09 23:47:28

Although it's disappointing to see the swing to the right in the European elections, and particularly the increase in far-right vote, it's also important to see that a significant majority of Europeans are voting for sensible center-left or center-right parties that can work together.
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/589/330/171/360/535/original/ff1a4f3c86b0cb3e.png

2024-06-08 03:23:56

If you haven't done so already, treat yourselves to the cutest and most fun two and a half minutes of the summer
This is what happens when a group of kids from County Clare get together with kids from Cork City, and someone starts a beat going
https://youtu.be/ZgtL1pWdbYA

2024-06-08 02:48:57

As a European working for Big Tech I know this is how I'm viewed
In reality my job is to cooperate with regulators and even make proactive product changes anticipating what they will want
https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2024/06/07/a-bruxelles-le-lobbying-americain-a-l-assaut-de-la-culture-europeenne_6237862_3234.html
[Translation:
- And cultural diversity?
- You idealist, let go of your regulations]
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/578/709/118/345/882/original/c725b67fd381156a.jpg

2024-06-07 20:38:23

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2024/06/07/the-irish-times-view-on-election-counts-a-festival-of-irish-democracy/
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/577/233/365/666/726/original/730f21bff464cebd.png
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/577/235/380/026/582/original/2756092de3c90574.png

2024-06-03 04:37:28

- reply

There's not an API at the moment, but I could do some refactoring to make one
It would not be a network REST API, because this app is built mostly as in-browser JavaScript code
But I could make a JavaScript library that provides a code API that could be used either in the browser or on the server.

2024-06-02 23:03:47

- reply

Example output
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/112/549/510/703/494/701/original/d016515c9891f62f.png

2024-06-02 05:31:35

- reply

https://wetbulb.netlify.app/

2024-05-31 21:04:17

- reply

EU citizens, a timely reminder that you will be able to vote for your member of Parliament in about a week
This problematic law is coming from the Council (the upper house of the EU legislative branch representing the member governments)
It can be stopped by either the Parliament (the lower house of the EU legislative branch, representing the people) or the Commission (the EU executive branch, over whose composition the Parliament has some influence)
MEPs have power

2024-05-21 15:43:33

- reply

Yes, you're right. Having personal data stored on your device is not a panacea. It replaces one threat model for another
It's going to vary for different people whether the threat of unwanted access to server data is worse than threat of their device being seized or subverted
Still, for the majority of people in most contexts, on-device personal data storage seems clearly the lesser privacy threat
(Even safer of course is to not participate, and avoid giving up any personal data)