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talks_cl_cam_feedAbstract not available
talks_cl_cam_feedIn this talk, I will present a recently finished computer formalisation project of a cornerstone result from homotopy theory: the Serre finiteness theorem. This theorem, which in its simplest form states that homotopy groups of spheres are finitely presented, was recently given a proof entirely in the language of homotopy type theory (HoTT) by Barton and Campion. We have formalised this proof in the HoTT-based proof assistant Cubical Agda. Because HoTT is a constructive language and Cubical Agda is fully computational, our formalised proof of the Serre finiteness theorem can be viewed as an (executable) algorithm which takes as input any homotopy group of any sphere and returns a finite presentation of it. I plan on giving a rough outline of the proof and its formalisation. I will also discuss what problems we run into when actually trying to run our proof/algorithm on a computer. Before doing any of this, however, I will give a quick recap of the very basics of (homotopy) type theory and (Cubical) Agda. This talk is based on joint work with Reid Barton, Owen Milner, Anders Mörtberg, and Loïc Pujet.
=== Hybrid talk ===
Join Zoom Meeting https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/89856091954?pwd=Bba77QB2KuTideTlH6PjAmbXLO8HbY.1
Meeting ID: 898 5609 1954 Passcode: ITPtalk
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andrewduckertalks_cl_cam_feedAbstract
Our planet is facing unprecedented environmental challenges, including rapid urbanization, deforestation, pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change. At the same time, extreme events such as floods, heatwaves, and wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity, with far-reaching human, economic, and environmental impacts. Earth Observation (EO), combined with advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), provides powerful tools for understanding these processes and supporting evidence-based decision-making.
In this seminar, Professor Ban will discuss recent research at the intersection of EO and AI, with a focus on deep learning methods for monitoring environmental change at scale. She will present selected results from EO-AI4GlobalChange, a collaborative research project developing novel, globally-applicable deep learning approaches for analysing multi-sensor, multi-modal EO data. The talk will cover examples including 2D and 3D urban mapping, urban change detection, wildfire detection and near-real-time monitoring, flood mapping, and multi-hazard building damage detection.
The seminar will also briefly introduce PANGAEA , a global benchmark for Geospatial Foundation Models, and discuss insights from the systematic evaluation of widely used foundation models across multiple geospatial domains. Finally, Professor Ban will briefly outline the objectives of the recently established AI4EO Working Group within Group on Earth Observations (GEO), which aims to advance GEO ’s vision of Earth Intelligence for All through AI-driven Earth observation research, innovation, and collaboration.
Bio
Dr. Yifang Ban is the Professor and Director of the Division of Geoinformatics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and an Associate Director at Digital Futures in Stockholm, Sweden. Before joining KTH as a full professor in 2004, Dr. Ban was a tenured Associate Professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. She received her PhD in 1997 from the University of Waterloo in Canada. In 2023, she earned a certificate in Leading Sustainability: High Impact Leadership from the University of Cambridge.
Her research has been focused on Earth observation big data analytics, machine learning/deep learning for urban mapping, urbanization monitoring and wildfire and flood detection to support sustainable and resilient development. She has published extensively on these topics and has been ranked by Stanford/Elsevier among the World’s top 2% of scientists in 2020-2025. Professor Ban is Principal Investigator for a number of impactful projects, including EO-AI4GlobalChange, EO-AI4ResilientCities, SAR4 Wildfire, and Climate Change Induced Disaster Management in Africa.
Professor Ban is the recipient of the 2025 Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2023 Google Geo for Good Impact Award for her contributions to AI-driven Earth observation for disaster risk reduction and urban resilience. She serves as an invited expert to UN-Habitat on SDG indicators and as an expert contributor to UNDRR , leads the GEO AI4EO Working Group, and is an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, as well as a scientific committee member of major international remote sensing conferences.
calimacadoreNot only was Romantasy Rebels unavailable a second time, but my good friend Vela Roth, who had volunteered to host the anthology on her account, lost her entire livelihood between one moment and the next.
Between you and me -- I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life.
The upside is that, as always, the bookish community stands up for each other! Thanks to friends with helpful connections, from Amazon reps to legal advice, we've managed to reverse the (unfounded) decision on their end and get Vela's books and our anthology back 🔥 (But my goodness, it was a long, long 24 hours that I hope to never experience again.)
Amazon fuckery took down our charity anthology twice, and almost ended a wonderful author's career in the process. In addition to all else, the experience has been a frightening reminder of just how dependent indie authors are on a very small number of tech companies who don't particularly like spice, or marginalised people, or, you know, democracy.
shallownesssmartbitches_feedWelcome back to Cover Snark! These covers were all sent in by the community!
From Jane Buehler: At first glance (small thumbnail) I thought he was shooting out a laser beam from his chest!
Sarah: That’s an interesting place for a stigmata.
Amanda: Why is he so grainy, like his skin is the texture of a basketball.
Sarah: Wait. WAIT. Whatever this cheetah-print thing is, it is both above and below his pec. What IS that?! Why is it partially encircling his pec? Why is it shooting out pink silly string? WHAT IS THIS.
And this is only the first cover. God help me with this set.
From Jen: My cousin introduced me to you guys a while back. We have a regular cousin chat about your Cover Snark because it cracks us up.
Recently I was at a gift shop and saw this gem. I immediately shared it to the cousin chat and they encouraged me to submit it!
Thanks for giving us all so many laughs.
Sarah: At first glance this looks unremarkable, but the more I looked the tiltier my head got. Why does his chest hair patch match the small patch of hair on his arm? I’m presuming the Yankee’s logo is backwards on purpose but also ????
And her boobs are going in very different directions – unless she’s got one of those bathing suit tops that only holds in one tit and the other is free to roam. I Hate suits like that. Also she’s reading a book called HOWL and that’s very funny.
There are a lot of stylistic choices that I really like, and also some details that I do not get.
Claudia: I have one question — why he doesn’t seem to have eyes?
Sarah: I was wondering that, too! It looks like they got blurred or something? Why does she have features while he does not?
Amanda: Why are we not talking about the fact that he’s a satyr?!
Sarah: A satyr in that shirt!
From Marianne: This popped up in my edelweiss+ pre-approved and I had to embiggen because what was I even looking at? Who wears light beige jeans with their chaps???
Sarah: WHAT is WITH the cowboy-hat-hides-the-faces trend? Do people not like drawing faces? Or is kissing difficult (I imagine it is) to draw?
And WHY would anyone wear light jeans with chaps. I get that it’s a Look, but also it’s a Laundry.
Amanda: It reminds me of when you’re in middle school and you draw people with their hands in their pockets or behind their back so you can avoid it.
Sarah: “Where’s your teal and white cow print cowboy hat?”
“Why?”
“I need it for reasons.”
From Deborah: Is he giving himself a simultaneous breast and pelvic exam under the watchful eyes of Dr Giant Tree Wolf?
Sarah: That’s a very intimidating way to do a breast exam.
Amanda: It also looks like he’s checking his crotch. Perhaps he’s just making sure everything is where it should be.
Sarah: So many cover models do that. Should we be worried?
tamaranth
"They'll tell stories of you in years to come," Charmion continued.
Centuries. Millennia.
"I hope so."
I did not understand what it was I wished for. I hoped to become a legend, but I forgot what all stories must have: a monster.
I could not have known that monster would be me. [loc. 452]
Cleopatra narrates her own story from a perspective that remains obscure until the end of the novel. The novel begins with the death of Cleopatra's father Ptolemy XII and her own ascent to the throne of Egypt as the last Pharaoh: and it ends, of course, with her death.
Cleopatra, in this account, is a clever, learned woman, sometimes ruthless but also driven by love -- and not only romantic love, but also love for her children, her country, and even her siblings. The Egypt in which Cleopatra lives and rules is a magical land: the Ptolemies have been gifted by the gods, each having a birthmark and a magical talent bestowed by their patron deity. ( Read more... )
ysabetwordsmithArt:
Fiction:
Poetry:
Webcomic:
Other Project:
Patron:
apnic_blog_feedysabetwordsmithwyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "demons" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas.fuzzyred, mificcathexys podficced Magneticwave's Clear to a Hedgehog. This link gets you HR podfic on AO3.torachan
ysabetwordsmithlibrarygeek. It also fills the "How do you want to do this?" square in my 10-1-20 card for the Fall Festival Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas. cornerofmadnessspikedluv. There is so much regret in that, an emotion that doesn't go with grief alone but it is a big part of it. There is, of course, nothing I can do about that but I am determined to get the rest of the owed comments out in the next few days. I'm avoiding future regret, right? And avoidance is definitely one sign of grief.
ysabetwordsmith petraDarren sells Geoffrey on a production. This is inspired by Petra's "Grace and a Cod-piece."
*cahnselenak can you give us a halfway point for Book 2? It looks a bit shorter but I'm also going to be crunched for time next week (and definitely won't be able to post until Sunday) so half a book is what it's going to have to be!torachanhannah
leecetheartist
musesfool
ysabetwordsmithlibrarygeek. It also fills the "How do you want to do this?" square in my 9-1-20 card for the I Want Fries With That! Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Not Quite Kansas. conulywychwoodmtbcjadelennoxI take a lot of pictures of three classes of things:
My real constraint is my hands and arms. I can't hold my arms above my head, I can't hold a phone still very long, the non-ergonomic controls and shape of a phone are shit, I realistically can't carry a tripod on a hike, and I can't bear weight on my shoulders or the back of my neck for any length of time. (I recognize that this collection of constraints means my pictures will never be great, and that's okay.)
So, questions:
(I'm only looking for advice from your experience or from the experience of people you trust. Please don't GoogleKagiGoPT it for me!)
ysabetwordsmith sovay
talks_cl_cam_feed - Thu 19 Mar 17:00: Title to be confirmedtalks_cl_cam_feed - Thu 26 Feb 17:00: The Serre finiteness theorem in Cubical Agdaandrewducker - Interesting Links for 23-02-2026talks_cl_cam_feed - Fri 27 Feb 13:00: EO-AI4GlobalChange: AI-Driven Earth Observation for Monitoring Global Environmentleecetheartist - Routine Colonoscopy Countdown part 3.calimac - three concerts in three daysadore - The Zon is up to more nonsense + romantasy authors resistingshallowness - BAFTAs 2026 (films)smartbitches_feed - Cover Snark: Community Submissionstamaranth - 2026/026: Cleopatra — Saara el-Arifiysabetwordsmith - Monday Update 2-23-26dine - my other car is an awfully hot coffee potapnic_blog_feed - Reflections on a transforming interconnection ecosystemysabetwordsmith - Notes for "The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds"ysabetwordsmith - Poem: "The Struggle Against Overwhelming Odds"leecetheartist - Routine Colonoscopy Countdown part 2.ysabetwordsmith - Notes for "Embrace My Fate"mific - Bits and pieces, catching uptorachan - Daily Happinessysabetwordsmith - Poem: "Embrace My Fate"cornerofmadness - Writerly Waysinnitmarvelous_og in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
iconthat - Challenge 201: Texturize 2ysabetwordsmith - John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds Orderpetra - Recommendation: Pity and Terror - Slings & Arrows, Geoffrey/Darren and a production of Medeacahn - The Jewish War: Second half of Book 1ysabetwordsmith - Notes for "The Spectrum of Your Being"muccamukk - randomlytorachan - 2026 Disneyland Trip #10 (2/22/26)hannah - Falling.leecetheartist - Routine Colonoscopy Countdown.musesfool - i don't wanna keep secrets just to keep youysabetwordsmith - Poem: "The Spectrum of Your Being"twistedchick - (no subject)conuly - I guessed people would call out, and I was rightwychwood - january booklogmtbc - A varied updatejadelennox - advice from camera nerdsimpala_chick in iconthat - Challenge 201: Texturize 2ysabetwordsmith - Early Humanssovay - The bones of houses show in the summertimeregnakrja
