My self-conversation at 05:15

Wise self: You should go hiking
Lazy self: Nah, it looks cold, dark and foggy
Wise self: You should go hiking
Lazy self: Well, ok... but lets not carry the big camera
Wise self: You might miss something important
Lazy self: But my shoulder hurts
Wise self: GET IN THE CAR

Always listen to your wise self

#wildlife #wildlifeWednesday #nature #photography #photomonday #bobcat #sfba #marin

More of my work: https://captured.earth/

Gardening folk: We have a west facing house which gets frightfully hot in summer. As well as increasing insulation in walls etc, I am thinking of installing a strong metal trellis and growing jasmine all over both stories of that wall. We can trim it in autumn to let the light in and grow it over spring and summer to add another layer of insulation.

Is there a flaw in my plan or gotchas to watch out for?
#GardeningAU #gardening

Cats have got it *so* sussed.

#Caturday

I'd forgotten I'd created a folder just to hold a bunch of lichen pics ready for tooting. What a lovely little find that was just now!

#LichenSubscribe #Lichen #NaturePhotography #Nature #MacroPhotography

I’m delighted to say that my family and I have bought @kerrsbookshop and have been running it since Wednesday. I’ve set up a @mastodonie account and I can’t promise much but will keep posting there if you want to keep abreast #mastodaoine #bookstodon

*slides into your DMs* *attempts to come to a stop but fails* *continues sliding, entirely unable to control motion* *crashes into the mastodon "collections" tab* *knocks over a giant pile of starter packs, which promptly fall into your bookmarks* *your bookmarks are now full of starter packs*

This morning’s translation exercises included a guy panicking about being promoted to Prime Minister of Imperial China and submitting his resignation three times in one week (all refused).

Looking it up, this guy served under five consecutive emperors, kept trying to quit but no-one would let him, pretended to have a gross foot disease to get out of awkward meetings, and collected cool rocks and sticks. Autism game respects autism game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niu_Sengru

pictured: an attempt to capture how my sketchy ali express ink shines in the sun

#classicalchinese #history #actuallyautistic #fountainpen

Royal Mail are reducing letter deliveries this year: https://www.royalmail.com/receiving/the-future-of-letter-deliveries

UK petition: Return Royal Mail to public ownership

Sign: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/761287

Graph of signatures: https://petition-track.uk/check-petition/761287

Deadline: 25 September 2026

#UK #petition #RoyalMail #privatisation #nationalisation #renationalisation

Suddenly getting a whole new lease on life at close to 47 years old has been unexpected but incredible. Between years of kidney, bladder and urethra pain, and many years of healing as a survivor of various things, to now being pain free for kidneys etc, functioning a little better overall with my fibromyalgia, and revelling in my sexuality, transness, and life in general despite other disability. Don't give up. You never know when things are going to change in your favour. #dontgiveup #lgbtqia

“Hvis du lægger data i en amerikansk cloud, så deler du dem direkte med efterretningstjenesten i USA”

- Claus Balslev
Digitaliseringschef for Styrelsen for Arbejdsmarked og Rekruttering

Hører under
Beskæftigelses-og Ligestillingsministeriet.

https://ing.dk/artikel/usa-spionage-truer-foelsomme-data-om-syge-danskere-nu-traekker-styrelse-stikket?1f4e2460cfb84ebe8cd48fb29bb9de08=YVc2ibw9vie9LfM7wO81GUBX-l884HUOCW2tLIOnooE

@rem I saw a post earlier from Merriam-Webster pointing out that a "dashboard" was originally a board put in front of a horse drawn carriage to keep the horses from "dashing" mud into riders' faces.

Then, since instruments were in a similar place in cars, they reused the name, and eventually it came to mean any kind of instrument panel.

Language is weird.

The Eagle and its Nest.

This is what my telescope has been spending most time on for the last couple of nights, 9 hours in total. It's the Eagle Nebula, M16 and, below (north) of it, is something the Seestar app calls "NGC 6604 - Nest Nebula".

As far as I can tell it would be more accurate to refer to the nebula as Sh 2-54, NGC 6604 is the star cluster near the centre of it.

Edit: I wasn't entirely happy with the processing so had another stab at it. It's better now.

#Astrophotography #Seestar #SeestarS30Pro #TMMT #ThirtyMilliMetreTelescope

Hello, and welcome! 👋

We're the Forming Worlds Lab at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen. We study how rocky planets form and evolve, and what makes a world habitable, from early magma oceans 🌋 to the atmospheres of distant exoplanets 🪐. We model planetary interiors and atmospheres together, and we build the open-source PROTEUS framework our science runs on, in the open. 💻

Over the coming days, we'll introduce our group members one by one, and the research projects each of them leads.

After that, expect regularly:
🪐 the wonder of rocky planets and alien worlds
📄 recent papers and science results
🎤 conference updates and talks
📸 life in the Forming Worlds Lab

It's an exciting time to explore other worlds. Glad to have you here, follow along! 🌍

Web: https://formingworlds.space
Code: https://github.com/FormingWorlds
PROTEUS: https://proteus-framework.org

#Exoplanets #PlanetaryScience #Astronomy #Astrodon #OpenScience

And the aforementioned edition of Second Breakfast: https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/financial-nonsense/ makes the further point that the demand that has driven actual AI use so far can be understood as demand for underpriced compute. How the companies were generating output almost doesn't matter to the economics of AI, because their users were effectively cashing in on work done below the actual cost of doing work. That makes it clear just how unsustainable the industry is, as it currently exists.

What I saw VS what I drew 🪷

When I saw this baby moorhen standing on a sunny lily pad, I knew I had to draw them. This is a quick study drawn on a single layer and with a single brush!

#Art #ArtVsReference #Study #Bird #Illustration #DigitalArt #Artist #FirstFridayArtWalk #MastoArt #BirdsOfMastodon #FediArt

I finished my bike trailer upgrade. I use it to deliver groceries for the food bank. I used some wood and a huge plastic container hoping to make more room. This should be easier to pack and keep the groceries dry in the rain. I couldn't help adding a little nod to the World Cup!

#diy #woodworking #projects #bikeTooter #Seattle #maker #biking #bikes #Ballard #WorldCup #soccer

RE: https://mastodon.social/@eff/116811658436523675

Time to trot this cartoon out again.

RE: https://zpravobot.news/@Rainmaker1973/116855200909043263

Global Ban on These before requiring my ID to see a website!!

My #book starts simple: Marichka, a schoolteacher from #Ukraine, takes a job escorting someone's cat.

What follows moves through hijacked planes, Amsterdam back rooms, and a black-market contractor economy where killers are hired the way you'd order a ride - fast and anonymous.

This is a buddy story where you're never quite sure which one of them is actually in charge. Nobody here - including the #cat - is who they first appear to be.

#Writing #WritingCommunity #HerOwnDream #art