Nicola De Mitri
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nicoladem.it
Nicola De Mitri
@nicoladem.it
140 followers 500 following 86 posts
Former physicist who makes scientific software, molecular models and occasionally 3D art. He. Italian and British.
@_nicolasap elsewhere, user 172020 June 2023.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
eladn.bsky.social
Journalists in Gaza describing their starvation in real time

Originally compiled by @standing-together.bsky.social
Hamada L @AHMED_ABUHAMAD_ • Translated by Grok Show original No bread in the city! Follow Not a grain of flour in the markets We literally can't find anything to eat! It pains me that I crave food, and it becomes the first and last wish of my day. Samer & @Sssssssssssamer Follow • Translated by Grok Show original The sounds of my stomach are louder than the sound of the airplane. @AHM3D_HAMDAN Follow I don't have the power to cover media anymore. My body is lean and I no longer have the ability to walk. 14:02 • 19/07/2025 • 114K Views Nahed hajjaj @nahed_hajjaj99 Follow Today I didn't do any journalistic work. I left the house to the market to find anything to eat. I found nothing. No one found anything. How do I enter the room of my family, how do i tell my mother, that they have to starve another night tonight? Tell me what should I tell them?
July 21, 2025 at 1:10 AM
nicoladem.it
I'm glad I have a tweet of mine – from almost 2 years before consumer-level LLM chatbots – that proves that I was a prolific user of en dashes back then already.

(Not em dashes, as I'm from this side of the Atlantic)
Two tweets by Nicola De Mitri (@_nicolasap), dated Jan 25, 2021, 1:12 PM. Text: "Fraction of the sentences I write – in tweets, chats, emails – that contain a en dash ("–"): • before I found a quick way to type it: 78% • now that I've found it: 98.4% (on Ubuntu: Shift+AltGr then "--.". Shift+AltGr then "---" for the em dash)"
July 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
The problem with the left is all the word policing
alerigolon.bsky.social Alessandro Rigolon @alerigolon.bsky.social · Feb 10
I was just told that I have to remove “climate” from the title of an ongoing grant if I want to keep it. And publications from that grant cannot include “climate” and other forbidden words. I can’t believe I’m writing this from the United States of America. #AcademicSky
alerigolon.bsky.social Alessandro Rigolon @alerigolon.bsky.social · Feb 6
Just received an email saying that it's not advisable to include the following words in future applications for research funding to the US DOT. Here we are.
May 3, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
tinysnekcomics.bsky.social
just got back from the gastro-etymologist. he told me that stomach comes from the greek word stoma, meaning mouth 😟
April 21, 2025 at 6:15 PM
nicoladem.it
"Herein, we present an alternative framework..." but in 1902's Italian.

"Noi abbiamo però pensato che alla soluzione del problema si poteva forse arrivare..." ("We thought, however, that the solution to the problem could perhaps be reached...")
Old text in Italian: "Noi abbiamo però pensato che alla soluzione del problema si poteva forse arrivare determinando le grandezze molecolari di sostanze racemiche, sciogliendole in un solvente in presenza di un forte eccesso di uno dei loro componenti. All'applicazione di questo metodo molte e varie difficoltà si oppongono, e prima di tutto la non grandissima precisione che si può raggiungere coi comuni apparecchi crioscopici." which translates to "However, we thought that the solution to the problem could perhaps be reached by determining the molecular sizes of racemic substances, dissolving them in a solvent in the presence of a strong excess of one of their components. Many and various difficulties oppose the application of this method, and first of all the not very great precision that can be achieved with common cryoscopic apparatus."
April 17, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
scottishtrans.bsky.social
We'd urge people not to panic - there will be lots of commentary coming out quickly that is likely to deliberately overstate the impact that this decision is going to have on all trans people's lives. We'll say more as soon as we're able to. Please look out for yourselves and each other today 💗🏳️‍⚧️
April 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
possibileit.bsky.social
Votiamo Sì per portare da 10 a 5 gli anni di legale residenza per poter chiedere la cittadinanza italiana per chi vive, studia, lavora in Italia per sé e i propri figli minorenni e conviventi.

Vuoi dare una mano? Unisciti a noi ora su www.referendumcittadinanza.it
Firma subito il Referendum Cittadinanza
Firma ora il Referendum Cittadinanza: puoi farlo con SPID o CIE in pochi minuti.
www.referendumcittadinanza.it
March 13, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
fiszczyp.bsky.social
I’m told by @nicoladem.it that I could enter the wallpaper business.
A shallow depth-of-field macro photo of a moss with an ice cap.
March 3, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
divagatrice.bsky.social
A margine della puntata che abbiamo pubblicato ieri di Ci vuole una scienza, condivido una preoccupazione che riguarda l'informazione e le questioni scientifiche /1
March 1, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
eeeeelizzzzz.bsky.social
I’m a federal employee, a research meteorologist at a NOAA lab (OAR-NSSL). I still have my job tonight. Many of my NOAA colleagues and many more of my fellow civil servants don’t. I want to share what people like me do. Instead of doomscrolling, maybe we can learn what civil service looks like.
February 28, 2025 at 5:51 AM
nicoladem.it
This technique is so cool!
To find out for instance that 25% young men voted AfD (🥲) compared to 15% young women, they don't need to rely on exit polls or ecological inference. They have the actual ballots.
ansgarw.bsky.social Ansgar Wolsing @ansgarw.bsky.social · Feb 24
It's called representative electoral statistics ("Repräsentative Wahlstatistik"). Ballot papers in randomly selected voting places get marked with sociodemographic information: about gender and the age group (10 age groups in total). In 2021, 1.9 million eligible voters were included.
February 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM
nicoladem.it
My personal take home message from this article is that:
"Joy Division plot" ➕ color coding 🟰 3D surface

I must try this.
February 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM
nicoladem.it
Self portrait of my innie
A self-timer shot capturing a reflection of Nicola seated at a desk in a bright, naturally lit and modern study space, working on a laptop.
February 14, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
Not exaggerating when I say I would like a personal, handwritten apology from every pundit who barfed out a dozen "the left wants to change the way you talk!" op-eds based on non-mandatory guidelines in obscure PDFs.
juddlegum.bsky.social Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · Feb 10
2. A memo distributed by NSA leadership to its staff says that on February 10, all NSA websites and internal network pages that contain banned words will be deleted.

This is the list of 27 banned words distributed to NSA staff:
Anti-Racism Racism Allyship Bias DEI Diversity Diverse Confirmation Bias Equity Equitableness Feminism Gender Gender Identity Inclusion Inclusive All-Inclusive Inclusivity Injustice Intersectionality Prejudice Privilege Racial Identity Sexuality Stereotypes Pronouns Transgender Equality
February 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
fabiochiusi.bsky.social
Da quando l’ho letta sul riassunto di un romanzo distopico qualche giorno fa, c’è una frase che non mi lascia più:

“Visto che la democrazia non interessava più a nessuno, il presidente la dichiarò abolita”
February 9, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
iwriteok.bsky.social
Severance is on its way to being the best television show of all time
February 7, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
terminologiaetc.it
ho preso spunto dall’interessantissimo thread di @fabiochinellato.bsky.social per compilare una miniraccolta di asimmetrie tra nomi comuni di animali in inglese e in italiano:
www.terminologiaetc.it/2025/01/17/a...
January 17, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
paulrickards.bsky.social
CMYK Color Wheel constructed from just three pens and hatch shading.

CMYK ink on 24”x36” watercolor paper using a vintage HP DraftPro DXL pen plotter generated and controlled with Python.

Available in my shop: shop.paulrickards.com/wildcards/

#PenPlotter #Art #PlotterArt
An abstract pen plot on while paper of 7 concentric rings outlined in black of rainbow shades of color with the inner rings being darker than the outer rings. The color is created with hatch strokes of just three pens of cyan, yellow, and magenta and are slightly offset from each ring to create a subtle swirling pattern. Detail from an abstract pen plot on while paper of 7 concentric rings outlined in black of rainbow shades of color with the inner rings being darker than the outer rings. The color is created with hatch strokes of just three pens of cyan, yellow, and magenta and are slightly offset from each ring to create a subtle swirling pattern. The detail shows individual pen strokes that comprise the image. Detail from an abstract pen plot on while paper of 7 concentric rings outlined in black of rainbow shades of color with the inner rings being darker than the outer rings. The color is created with hatch strokes of just three pens of cyan, yellow, and magenta and are slightly offset from each ring to create a subtle swirling pattern. The detail shows individual pen strokes that comprise the image.
February 1, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
fabiochiusi.bsky.social
“An Italian investigative journalist who is known for exposing young fascists within prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party was targeted with spyware made by Israel-based Paragon Solutions”

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Italian investigative journalist targeted on WhatsApp by Israeli spyware
Francesco Cancellato, whose reporting exposes fascists within PM Meloni’s far-right party, condemns ‘violation’
www.theguardian.com
February 1, 2025 at 7:05 AM
nicoladem.it
New PFP 🙃

(stolen from my wife's newsletter claudiaflandoli.substack.com/p/bilinguism...)
A simple digital sketch of a man sitting on a sofa with a laptop on his lap. He has his hair tied in a bun, is wearing a hoodie, sweatpants, and socks. The man is depicted from the side, looking slightly upward, as if thinking or engaged in a conversation. (illustration: Claudia Flandoli)
January 30, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
lemoustier.bsky.social
🧪 Yet another awful AI image in science reporting, used presumably because it's free.
@phys.org.web.brid.gy & @sciencex.bsky.social editorial standards focus on factual, credible, reputable sources & checking. That MUST extend to images, or risk misleading their readers.
sciencex.com/help/editori...
January 28, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
zoejardiniere.bsky.social
NEW video 🎥😎

The right wing press has been up in arms this week about a Telegraph report that claims 1 in 12 Londoners is undocumented 😱😱

Is it true? youtu.be/8N-DWUHRM_s?...
Is London FULL of ILLEGAL immigrants?
YouTube video by Zoe Gardner
youtu.be
January 26, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
molly.wiki
having succeeded in purchasing positions of influence inside the White House, the billionaires and tech VCs have now set their sights back on Wikipedia
Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath · 2h Wikipedia lies. Mainstream media lies. They will contort the truth to make you believe in a bogeyman. In falling for it, you’re giving up your God given ability to think for yourself. Shaun Maguire @shaunmmaguire Wikipedia has been ideologically captured for years It's important that this is finally coming to light The most extreme bias is probably against Israel Foundation AI models are being trained on this biased data as if it's ground truth Elon Musk @elonmusk · 3h Defund Wikipedia until balance is restored! Elon Musk @elonmusk · 3h Since legacy media propaganda is considered a “valid” source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda!
January 21, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Nicola De Mitri
molly.wiki
bsky.app/profile/moll...
molly.wiki Molly White @molly.wiki · Jan 2
The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information. Why do they hate it so much?
Elon Musk and the right’s war on Wikipedia
The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information.
www.citationneeded.news
January 21, 2025 at 8:57 PM