EcologyElise
@ecologyelise.bsky.social
ecologist, UCCer
enjoys knit/crochet, bugs, gardens, nature, @inaturalist.bsky.social.
Avatar by @blackmudpuppy.bsky.social
enjoys knit/crochet, bugs, gardens, nature, @inaturalist.bsky.social.
Avatar by @blackmudpuppy.bsky.social
Reposted by EcologyElise
Google defaulting all Gmail users to a setting that enables Google to harvest all your emails into chatbot training is straight-up evil and invasive.
www.huffpost.com/entry/opt-ou...
www.huffpost.com/entry/opt-ou...
If You Use Gmail, You're Going To Want To Turn Off This 1 Automatic Setting ASAP
Plus: a quick guide to the two-step process for opting out.
www.huffpost.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Google defaulting all Gmail users to a setting that enables Google to harvest all your emails into chatbot training is straight-up evil and invasive.
www.huffpost.com/entry/opt-ou...
www.huffpost.com/entry/opt-ou...
Reposted by EcologyElise
this is true and dishwashers aren’t the only green thing that’s better!
see also: heat pumps
see also: heat pumps
Friendly reminder that dishwashers made after 1995 or so are so water and energy efficient that even if you ran them twice fully loaded it would still use less water than handwashing the same load.
So many "green" things feel like sacrifices. Dishwashers are not one of them.
So many "green" things feel like sacrifices. Dishwashers are not one of them.
November 22, 2025 at 12:38 AM
this is true and dishwashers aren’t the only green thing that’s better!
see also: heat pumps
see also: heat pumps
Reposted by EcologyElise
MIND BLOWN. Ugh I love thinking about geologic time. I literally switched my major at the last minute in college because of it. Such an odd duck I am, looking always for other odd ducks in the universe, and so happy when I find them.
It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation:
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
November 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
MIND BLOWN. Ugh I love thinking about geologic time. I literally switched my major at the last minute in college because of it. Such an odd duck I am, looking always for other odd ducks in the universe, and so happy when I find them.
Reposted by EcologyElise
The average American apparently has no idea how much of a positive impact our world-class research had on public health & have no idea how much misery & death will result from its destruction. I'm so fucking livid every day at the median voter's ignorance that led to this colossal fuckup.
we have PrEP because of these monkey studies. animal welfare in medical research is extremely strictly limited and regulated to ensure ethical use. there is no replacement for these animal models in biomedical research.
EXCLUSIVE: CDC to end all monkey studies. Decision handed down by recent college grad and former DOGE employee who is now deputy chief of staff at the agency. Animals were being used in studies of HIV prevention. Some may be euthanized. My latest for @science.org
November 21, 2025 at 3:18 PM
The average American apparently has no idea how much of a positive impact our world-class research had on public health & have no idea how much misery & death will result from its destruction. I'm so fucking livid every day at the median voter's ignorance that led to this colossal fuckup.
In Iceland your telephone book listing includes your profession, which makes sense (or once did) if you're trying to distinguish between 4 different Harald Haraldsons. No one fact-checks the professions, so there are multiple princesses, Jedi Knights, etc
November 21, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by EcologyElise
Anyway, men are ~230x more likely to *be raped* than be falsely accused of rape but they seem way less worried about the former than the latter.
And that’s bc a LOT of men aren’t 100% certain they’ve never done something THEY don’t see as rape but the other person involved might.
And that’s bc a LOT of men aren’t 100% certain they’ve never done something THEY don’t see as rape but the other person involved might.
November 20, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Anyway, men are ~230x more likely to *be raped* than be falsely accused of rape but they seem way less worried about the former than the latter.
And that’s bc a LOT of men aren’t 100% certain they’ve never done something THEY don’t see as rape but the other person involved might.
And that’s bc a LOT of men aren’t 100% certain they’ve never done something THEY don’t see as rape but the other person involved might.
Reposted by EcologyElise
Program: would you like to turn on AI mode?
Me:
Me:
a man sitting at a desk with a panda bear on his arm
Alt: A gif of an old video showing an angry person in a panda costume destroying a computer in an office.
media.tenor.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Program: would you like to turn on AI mode?
Me:
Me:
Reposted by EcologyElise
It is going to be a decades-long project to replace (not just fix) all the problems and weird shit this administration has done.
November 20, 2025 at 7:23 PM
It is going to be a decades-long project to replace (not just fix) all the problems and weird shit this administration has done.
Reposted by EcologyElise
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
Reposted by EcologyElise
if the president calls to off you
go in front of a camera and fucking call him out
this isnt hard
(murphy did it, most dems havent)
go in front of a camera and fucking call him out
this isnt hard
(murphy did it, most dems havent)
November 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
if the president calls to off you
go in front of a camera and fucking call him out
this isnt hard
(murphy did it, most dems havent)
go in front of a camera and fucking call him out
this isnt hard
(murphy did it, most dems havent)
Reposted by EcologyElise
Just want to point out that it is a crime to threaten to murder a Congressperson-- and a crime that absolutely falls outside the purview of any presidential immunity granted by the Supreme Court consistent with presidential authority.
Full stop, a crime and an impeachable offense.
Full stop, a crime and an impeachable offense.
November 20, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Just want to point out that it is a crime to threaten to murder a Congressperson-- and a crime that absolutely falls outside the purview of any presidential immunity granted by the Supreme Court consistent with presidential authority.
Full stop, a crime and an impeachable offense.
Full stop, a crime and an impeachable offense.
Reposted by EcologyElise
No lawmaker in Congress should be able to buy, own, and sell individual stocks. Period. Let's make Congressional stock trading illegal.
November 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
No lawmaker in Congress should be able to buy, own, and sell individual stocks. Period. Let's make Congressional stock trading illegal.
Reposted by EcologyElise
Anyway please enjoy this pumpkin I saw yesterday
November 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Anyway please enjoy this pumpkin I saw yesterday
Reposted by EcologyElise
Signs you might be a far right authoritarian party (#3263):
Not the point of @gelliottmorris.com piece, but look at this divide among Republicans on social issues. Half of them look like normal people and the other half are way out of step with the rest of the country. There’s a bit of a mirror on the left but much smaller.
November 20, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Signs you might be a far right authoritarian party (#3263):
Reposted by EcologyElise
This is very exciting. Pfizer’s mRNA flu vaccine substantially outperformed the traditional/control vaccine. This cumulative incidence graph is remarkable. Again, they’re comparing the mRNA flu vaccine to an existing flu vaccine, not to a placebo @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 1:31 PM
This is very exciting. Pfizer’s mRNA flu vaccine substantially outperformed the traditional/control vaccine. This cumulative incidence graph is remarkable. Again, they’re comparing the mRNA flu vaccine to an existing flu vaccine, not to a placebo @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
Reposted by EcologyElise
The book is a deep dive into the science of how individuals can catalyze change. It uncovers some fascinating truths, the most vital of which is this:
Lack of worry isn't what's holding back climate action. It's lack of efficacy. Most are worried - but don't know what to do.
Hence my pinned post!
Lack of worry isn't what's holding back climate action. It's lack of efficacy. Most are worried - but don't know what to do.
Hence my pinned post!
I’m a scientist who studies how climate change impacts our lives and the places we love.
Most of us are worried, but many feel stuck on what to do. If that's the way you feel, check out this list below!
We can’t fix it alone, but I know we can together. 💚
Most of us are worried, but many feel stuck on what to do. If that's the way you feel, check out this list below!
We can’t fix it alone, but I know we can together. 💚
November 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM
The book is a deep dive into the science of how individuals can catalyze change. It uncovers some fascinating truths, the most vital of which is this:
Lack of worry isn't what's holding back climate action. It's lack of efficacy. Most are worried - but don't know what to do.
Hence my pinned post!
Lack of worry isn't what's holding back climate action. It's lack of efficacy. Most are worried - but don't know what to do.
Hence my pinned post!
Reposted by EcologyElise
Does someone have a knitting or crochet pattern for an electron? If we get the fibre arts community on this, we’ll have thousands of new electrons in like…an hour.
brb making electrons
I laughed at loud. These people are so pathetic; our enemies are numbskulls. They will kill us all and still not know hs physics.
COWEN: The stupidest question possible: Why don’t we just make more GPUs?
ALTMAN: Because we need to make more electrons.
conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/sam...
COWEN: The stupidest question possible: Why don’t we just make more GPUs?
ALTMAN: Because we need to make more electrons.
conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/sam...
November 19, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Does someone have a knitting or crochet pattern for an electron? If we get the fibre arts community on this, we’ll have thousands of new electrons in like…an hour.
Reposted by EcologyElise
"Furthermore, there is the view that the tech sector is the only place where coding skills are relevant – a caricature akin to ‘writing is only useful if one wants to be a novelist’"
Thank you for making this point, because I genuinely don't believe it's true.
Thank you for making this point, because I genuinely don't believe it's true.
November 19, 2025 at 11:05 AM
"Furthermore, there is the view that the tech sector is the only place where coding skills are relevant – a caricature akin to ‘writing is only useful if one wants to be a novelist’"
Thank you for making this point, because I genuinely don't believe it's true.
Thank you for making this point, because I genuinely don't believe it's true.
Reposted by EcologyElise
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
November 15, 2025 at 5:24 PM
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
Reposted by EcologyElise
I like to think about it this way: everything an LLM generates is a “hallucination.” It’s a probabilistic word generator. If it’s factually correct in a given response, it is correct only by accident, because by its very nature it does not have an inherent concept of correct or incorrect.
November 19, 2025 at 11:12 AM
I like to think about it this way: everything an LLM generates is a “hallucination.” It’s a probabilistic word generator. If it’s factually correct in a given response, it is correct only by accident, because by its very nature it does not have an inherent concept of correct or incorrect.
Reposted by EcologyElise
Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged countries at UN climate talks to take “concrete actions” to stop climate change that is threatening the planet, telling them humans are failing in their response to global warming and that God’s creation “is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat.”
Pope Leo XIV calls for urgent climate action and says God’s creation is ‘crying out’
Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged countries at United Nations climate talks to take “concrete actions” to stop climate change that is threatening the planet.
trib.al
November 18, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged countries at UN climate talks to take “concrete actions” to stop climate change that is threatening the planet, telling them humans are failing in their response to global warming and that God’s creation “is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat.”
Reposted by EcologyElise
If you're the parent of a disabled kid, I just want to tell you I know it's hard and I know you feel like you're failing constantly, but you're doing it and you're doing the best you can and your kid absolutely loves you for it.
November 18, 2025 at 12:51 PM
If you're the parent of a disabled kid, I just want to tell you I know it's hard and I know you feel like you're failing constantly, but you're doing it and you're doing the best you can and your kid absolutely loves you for it.
Reposted by EcologyElise
Bitcoin now consuming as much energy as the entire country of Pakistan.
That seems bad.
That seems bad.
The people at CBECI were kind enough to send me a copy of their updated Bitcoin power consumption data
At the end of 2024, Bitcoin's total consumption for 2024 *did* end up matching that of Pakistan. 2024 saw the biggest jump in power consumption ever. Absolutely wild stuff ->
ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci
At the end of 2024, Bitcoin's total consumption for 2024 *did* end up matching that of Pakistan. 2024 saw the biggest jump in power consumption ever. Absolutely wild stuff ->
ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci
November 17, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Bitcoin now consuming as much energy as the entire country of Pakistan.
That seems bad.
That seems bad.
Reposted by EcologyElise
If you’re in DC today, head over the GWU for some high quality, high impact peaceful protest with @standupforscience.bsky.social @christopherstreet.bsky.social and GWU students ❤️✊🏼
RALLY! GET THE 🦆 OUTTA HERE!
📍GWU Lisner Auditorium
⏰Monday, November 17th.
Bobby "The Quack" Jr. will be on GW's campus, and so will we! We will be rallying with @christopherstreet.bsky.social outside his fireside chat and standing against his anti-science BS!
@50501movement.bsky.social
📍GWU Lisner Auditorium
⏰Monday, November 17th.
Bobby "The Quack" Jr. will be on GW's campus, and so will we! We will be rallying with @christopherstreet.bsky.social outside his fireside chat and standing against his anti-science BS!
@50501movement.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 12:56 PM
If you’re in DC today, head over the GWU for some high quality, high impact peaceful protest with @standupforscience.bsky.social @christopherstreet.bsky.social and GWU students ❤️✊🏼
Reposted by EcologyElise
This relative advantage means that, even if they are relying on government programs like welfare or Medicaid, Trump supporters can see themselves as the "deserving" poor while disparaging others who are worse off than they are for being "lazy" and making "bad choices." 1/
Here's what I wish people understood: Trump supporters in poorer areas are generally the wealthy people in those areas -- the people who have kept their neighbors poor.
The tribune of the poor, the downtrodden? Studies clearly indicate that Trump’s most ardent supporters, especially in poorer areas, are, by local standards, quite wealthy / financially stable. Economic anxieties are mostly downstream from anxieties over racial and cultural status.
November 17, 2025 at 3:13 PM
This relative advantage means that, even if they are relying on government programs like welfare or Medicaid, Trump supporters can see themselves as the "deserving" poor while disparaging others who are worse off than they are for being "lazy" and making "bad choices." 1/