Rooney’s old account @girls_can@qoto.org

"Your first draft isn’t an unoriginal idea expressed clearly; it’s an original idea expressed poorly, and it is accompanied by your amorphous dissatisfaction, your awareness of the distance between what it says and what you want it to say. That’s what directs you during rewriting, and that’s one of the things lacking when you start with text generated by an A.I."

Author #TedChiang on #ChatGPT and what #writing really means

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web

'Pet ownership’s more insidious injury is the hardening of our hearts for the sake of a selfish, possessive happiness. Rather than seeing other animals as autonomous beings with their own lives, desires and cultures, they are reduced to mere dolls. Living creatures become commodities that can be perfectly calibrated to one’s tastes – see the many “dog breed selectors” online.'

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/04/want-to-truly-have-empathy-for-animals-stop-owning-pets

#ecology #animals #pets #vegan

June 2022 --> February 2023. The kid has grown two inches. The trucks have grown even faster.

This is not fine.

#RoadSafety #VisionZero #VehicleSize #Trucks #RegulateVehiclesNow

'Despite all the fanfare about ‘keep[ing] 1.5 alive’ at the 2021 Glasgow COP26, the intervening year has seen us use up almost 10% of the remaining carbon budget for a 50:50 chance of keeping below 1.5°C... We disagree with both the techno-optimism that underpins mainstream political narratives on 1.5°C, and with claims that exceeding 1.5°C is now inevitable. These positions ignore... the need and the potential for massive social change...'

https://climateuncensored.com/how-alive-is-1-5part-one-a-small-budget-shrinking-fast/

"First Contact" during the American's #SuperbOwl is such a cliché I'm honestly embarrassed for them if they are #Aliens

Margaret Atwood responds to the banning of "The Handmaid's Tale" from a high school library.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-virginia-book-ban-library-removal/673013/

"How dare I question the school board’s motives? I do dare. After all, it has questioned mine."

My fav thing about this day is the #SuperbOwls and this little eastern screech by M Catesby (c1740) will always be my most fav. #VastEarlyAmerica

cool mushrooms I spotted yesterday #sporespondence #mushtodon

Yesterday's bird walk turned into more of a bryophyte walk. So many mosses, lichens and liverworts. The star was that Lobaria, which looks like oak leaves growing out of a very not-oak tree.
#Mosstodon #LichenSubscribe #LiverwortsNeedACleverHashtag #oregon

Is it too late to post a superb #owl?

This is Darwin, a tiny but full-grown Northern saw-whet owl. (from 2010, San Francisco Zoo)

How could I not participate in #SuperbOwlSunday .😉

A tiny #PygmyOwl for your enjoyment. These little guys are about the size of a sparrow and are #diurnal #owls rather than #nocturnal.

#SuperbOwlSunday
#SuperBowlSunday
#Raptors
#Wildlife

One of my favourite owl photos I have made. This is a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) jumping onto a log at Boundary Bay, #BritishColumbia. Always nice when the warm sunlight shows up to give a hand. :)

https://mrussellphotography.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Animals-Wildlife-Pictures/G00008YvGKJSPdCg/I0000HeuwGLcsyZg

#SuperbOwl #SuperbOwlSunday #WildlifePhotography #Wildlife #owls

A #SuperbOwl to mark #SuperBowlSunday. This Great Gray #Owl in #Canada was so beautiful. We spotted it from the road so stopped. He/she moved to a couple different locations nearby before moving on. Such amazing creatures.

#Photography #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Bird #Birds #Owls #BirdPhotography #Nature #NaturePhotography #Ornithology #PhotoOfTheDay

The Owl Nebula is superb. It is a bubble of glowing gas emitted about 8,000 years ago by a dying star (visible at the center). Heavy elements in the nebula will help seed the next generation of stars and planets. https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-m97/ #SuperbOwl #Owl

Unfortunately, Aotearoa-NZ lost its most #SuperbOwl. The whēkau, or laughing owl, was more than twice the size of a ruru/morepork.

Less than a century ago, there were still whēkau alive in the South Island. The species is now extinct.

Their distinctive laughing call was described as a “loud cry made up of a series of dismal shrieks frequently repeated.”

https://flic.kr/p/2hwFHYg

https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/laughing-owl

#Superb_Owl #Aotearoa #NZ #birds #owl

Zodiacal Light and Mars
Credits: Joshua Rhoades
#nature #space #astrophotography

A city center free from cars—free from their exhaust and noise, their ceaseless threat of death or injury—is a fundamental good that can be enjoyed by all.

Happy #DarwinDay to those who celebrate.
#botany

The sight lines of a Silverado, F250, Ram, and 2500 are all worse than an M1 Abrams Tank.

#VisionZero

Credit: @FreckleEars@Twitter.com