szescstopni @szescstopni@social.cleverlibre.org

It's #winter in the northern hemisphere. This means (1) I have to remember how to spell "hemisphere," and (2) the leaves are gone from a lot of the trees.

But some dead leaves remain, and they might remain in these strange little clumps. What are they? Find out in my new #newsletter

https://tinyletter.com/BBrookshire/letters/hey-hey-it-s-a-dray

Why is the eruption of Mauna Loa a big deal for residents of Hawaii? The volcano covers half of the island, including the largest city, Hilo. It is an always looming threat, though one mostly quiet since 1984.

Beyond the risk to communities, the famous atmospheric observatory capturing global CO2 rise is on the volcano's flanks. It has a lava break, but it bears watching.

Attached is a USGS map showing the lava shed. But note, right now the eruption isn't going anywhere.

So, the European Union has set up its own Mastodon instance, EU Voice, as an official channel/platform for all its many institutions - what a great initiative https://social.network.europa.eu/about
#TwitterMigration #europe #Diplomacy #Transparency

Heh, too true.
#TaxTheRich

This ant will not be erased.

I’ve never thought there was a simple reason that China banned films involving #TimeTravel. But this must be part of the reason.
https://zirk.us/@anoosh/109417005760783163

Twitter was never a healthy "public square" for most of us. Let's not rewrite history while eulogizing the hellsite.
Twitter was a frightening battleground where we managed barely to claw out an uneasy existence amidst the worst violent neo-Nazi extremists who constantly published our home addresses, threatened our kids' lives, and sent hordes of racist trolls into our mentions.
The same principles that allowed us to survive uneasily on Twitter will be required here in the #fediverse. Community defense, thoughtful pressure on moderation policies, and eternal vigilance.
There are no safe spaces but those we make safe through constant effort. We keep us safe.

When we talk about #wetland #values, it’s important to understand that #value is the product of the #ecosystem #function AND the number of people who #benefit from the function. So, if a wetland slows down the flow of runoff, that’s a function, but if it does that upstream of your house during a major storm, THAT’S when it has value. Sure being near so many ppl causes stress and effects their integrity, but it also means they benefit A LOT of people. More people visit them, learn from them too!

Meta takes new AI system offline because Twitter users are mean https://thenextweb.com/news/meta-takes-new-ai-system-offline-because-twitter-users-mean

I do like it here on Mastodon, but the huge influx of people from Twitter means there are far fewer image descriptions than from even a couple of weeks ago. I’d love to tell every one of them about this, but quite frankly there are so many I don’t have the patience. I’d dearly love it if apps could block posts unless an image description was added to every photo, but I suppose that’s too much to hope for. I’m feeling really excluded from so many conversations. It’s getting as bad as Twitter.

So, here I am on Mastodon. First photo share. Thanks to all new followers. Seems a lovely place to be. #photograpy

From bird poop I shall grow…

#Lichens #Fungi #FungiFriday #FungiPhoto #Nature #NaturePhotography #Cariboo #BritishColumbia

#Photo: Sunburst Lichen (Xanthorioideae)

27 November 1942 | A Polish woman, Anna Smoleńska (b. 28 Feb 1920), was incarcerated in Auschwitz.

She was a girl scout, student of history of arts. During the occupation she was engaged in resistance. The author of the 'Kotwica - Fighting Poland' emblem (more about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotwica).

Camp no. 26008.
She perished on 19 March 1943.

#Auschwitz #history #ww2 #WorldWar2 #woman #fighting #Poland #Nazis #Germany #histodon @histodons #design #arts #symbol #anchor #NeverForget #memory

Out of nowhere, my nephew just asked, “Do you think Pavlov thought about feeding his dog every time he heard a bell ring?” and now I’m going to be haunted by this question.

We know from genetics that army ants, as a group, are 80-ish million years old, predating the extinction of the dinosaurs. So this discovery of the oldest known army ant fossil, from 35 mya, is not exactly surprising. But still a great find.

#ants #evolution

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2348203-oldest-army-ant-found-in-35-million-year-old-baltic-amber/

Call me old-fashioned but when it comes to COVID-19, I'd still prefer not to f*ck around and find out.

Some folks insist that wearing a mask in crowds and inside public spaces is an overreaction— this despite a preponderance of evidence showing microvascular damage from even mild COVID infections.

I'll keep wearing my mask, thank you very much.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2033369

Sabotagetipps von der CIA aus 1944 - erinnert mich etwas an die aktuelle Cybersecurity-Verantwortungsdiffusion in D.:
"Verschieben Sie alle möglichen Aufgaben an Komitees, machen Sie diese so groß wie irgend möglich - niemals kleiner als 5 Personen."
https://gist.github.com/kennwhite/467529962c184258d08f16daec83d5da