Amanda Whitmire
@thalassalib.bsky.social
Oceanographer-turned-librarian | knitting/sewing/dying/fibers | Stanford Libraries + Hopkins Marine Station | MPUSD Board of Education Trustee | on WikiData & iNaturalist as ThalassaLib | How can I help? | she/hers
Pinned
Amanda Whitmire
@thalassalib.bsky.social
· Nov 15
Digitization efforts reveal the Pacific’s past
A Stanford librarian brings decades of ocean observations to today’s scientists with advanced tools and a dedication to information accessibility.
news.stanford.edu
A short piece about my passion project at work: surfacing & making historical biodiversity & oceanographic datasets actionable. Librarians call this "collections-as-data" and it's my jam! 🦑🌊
Bruce Robison wrote a wonderful retrospective on his career that I didn't mean to read at work but I couldn't stop. Bruce's career is sprinkled all through our library collections. Here's a few photos we're working on uploading to the digital repository. 🤩 Paper🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ices... 🌊
November 21, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Bruce Robison wrote a wonderful retrospective on his career that I didn't mean to read at work but I couldn't stop. Bruce's career is sprinkled all through our library collections. Here's a few photos we're working on uploading to the digital repository. 🤩 Paper🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ices... 🌊
I love how being a librarian means I'm learning new things *all* the time. I've got a PhD in oceanography, but this morning I was answering a reference question & learned about ocean spiciness & how seawater can be "spicy" or "minty." 😍 TY to the person who asked about velocities of deep currents. 🌊
November 20, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I love how being a librarian means I'm learning new things *all* the time. I've got a PhD in oceanography, but this morning I was answering a reference question & learned about ocean spiciness & how seawater can be "spicy" or "minty." 😍 TY to the person who asked about velocities of deep currents. 🌊
Reposted by Amanda Whitmire
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
🧵
🧵
November 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
🧵
🧵
Hell yes here for this. 🤘🦑
Welcome to the 2025 #Nudivember art challenge!
Like last year, here is a list of some lesser known, yet always fabulous, nudibranch species.
Participate as much or as little as you want in any art form you like.
Make sure to use #Nudivember and use alt text!
Like last year, here is a list of some lesser known, yet always fabulous, nudibranch species.
Participate as much or as little as you want in any art form you like.
Make sure to use #Nudivember and use alt text!
November 4, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Hell yes here for this. 🤘🦑
We saw a bumper sticker on the way to school this morning that said "LEGALIZE UPDOG" and I am still laughing about it.
October 24, 2025 at 11:06 PM
We saw a bumper sticker on the way to school this morning that said "LEGALIZE UPDOG" and I am still laughing about it.
A photo from this morning of waves hitting the beach with my library in the background. The sea is angry today, my friends. 🌊
October 23, 2025 at 2:39 AM
A photo from this morning of waves hitting the beach with my library in the background. The sea is angry today, my friends. 🌊
Hell, I live in Monterey and even I'm considering purchasing a Lenny Kravitz scarf. Let's all prioritize comfort this year.
Winter is approaching and I'm considering purchasing a Lenny Kravitz scarf. The Chicago winter has broken the spirits of many. I want to lug around a big ol blanket and call it clothes. I am prioritizing comfort this year and that means wearing a comforter to work.
October 1, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Hell, I live in Monterey and even I'm considering purchasing a Lenny Kravitz scarf. Let's all prioritize comfort this year.
Reposted by Amanda Whitmire
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
Hell yeah, @montereybayaquarium.org, send me that otter content! 🦦🌊🦑
September 19, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Hell yeah, @montereybayaquarium.org, send me that otter content! 🦦🌊🦑
Reposted by Amanda Whitmire
![Comic. [Building with large sign in front of it[ SIGN: Welcome to the *Biology Department* It has been [changeable sign: 3] days since we discovered something existentially horrifying about bugs that makes you question your whole reality](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreigvmzverlrjgqp4mazbkhm43fpvv2hdbkd2t2646dhihozrwdcy24@jpeg)
September 11, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I am “I better print transparencies of this talk for the overhead projector in case the technology fails” years old.
September 11, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I am “I better print transparencies of this talk for the overhead projector in case the technology fails” years old.
Photos and data from nearly 20 years ago, back when we put CTD casts on floppies! 😂 Found the disks in my garage - an apparently safe storage method …
August 18, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Photos and data from nearly 20 years ago, back when we put CTD casts on floppies! 😂 Found the disks in my garage - an apparently safe storage method …
The tsunami warning yesterday was a good reminder to have an emergency plan, whether it's your house or it's your library or lab. What would you take with you to safer ground? Here's what I took home from Miller Library ... 1/ 🌊🦑📚
July 30, 2025 at 8:54 PM
The tsunami warning yesterday was a good reminder to have an emergency plan, whether it's your house or it's your library or lab. What would you take with you to safer ground? Here's what I took home from Miller Library ... 1/ 🌊🦑📚
Reposted by Amanda Whitmire
Watch how seismometers recorded the passing earthquake waves from the magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
Each dot in this animation is a seismic station—red 🔴 means the ground moved up, blue 🔵 means it moved down.
More ➡️ https://loom.ly/6Eo_fYc
Each dot in this animation is a seismic station—red 🔴 means the ground moved up, blue 🔵 means it moved down.
More ➡️ https://loom.ly/6Eo_fYc
July 30, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Watch how seismometers recorded the passing earthquake waves from the magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
Each dot in this animation is a seismic station—red 🔴 means the ground moved up, blue 🔵 means it moved down.
More ➡️ https://loom.ly/6Eo_fYc
Each dot in this animation is a seismic station—red 🔴 means the ground moved up, blue 🔵 means it moved down.
More ➡️ https://loom.ly/6Eo_fYc
After one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded (M8.8), we have been extremely lucky on the California coast to experience only a small tsunami. Looking at the tide gauge data in Monterey, the first wave peaked around 12:50 AM (<1 ft) and we saw the highest wave at 4:30 AM (1.1 ft). 🌊
July 30, 2025 at 4:48 PM
After one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded (M8.8), we have been extremely lucky on the California coast to experience only a small tsunami. Looking at the tide gauge data in Monterey, the first wave peaked around 12:50 AM (<1 ft) and we saw the highest wave at 4:30 AM (1.1 ft). 🌊
Dispatch from @stanfordhopkins.bsky.social - it’s a gorgeous day & the kelp beds are bigger than I’ve ever seen them. They wrap all the way around the station toward Lovers Point. 🌊🦑
July 24, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Dispatch from @stanfordhopkins.bsky.social - it’s a gorgeous day & the kelp beds are bigger than I’ve ever seen them. They wrap all the way around the station toward Lovers Point. 🌊🦑
Saw a sign in England last week that said, "You aren't stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic." 🤯
July 21, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Saw a sign in England last week that said, "You aren't stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic." 🤯
Mordecai is business in the front, party in the back.
July 18, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Mordecai is business in the front, party in the back.
We thought learning Icelandic was a fun challenge, but Welsh takes it to a whole other level. Hats off to y’all. 🫡
July 13, 2025 at 12:04 PM
We thought learning Icelandic was a fun challenge, but Welsh takes it to a whole other level. Hats off to y’all. 🫡
UK camper van 🚐 trip update. I’ve been to yarn shops in Glastonbury, Bath, & Conwy (Wales). I’ve missed a couple on my list b/c we passed through when they were closed. 😔 Off to the Lakes District & then York. England & Wales are *so* lovely so far.
July 13, 2025 at 8:48 AM
UK camper van 🚐 trip update. I’ve been to yarn shops in Glastonbury, Bath, & Conwy (Wales). I’ve missed a couple on my list b/c we passed through when they were closed. 😔 Off to the Lakes District & then York. England & Wales are *so* lovely so far.
I’m in England & I’ve been taking pictures of lots of things I want to upload to @inaturalist.bsky.social, but we’re caravanning around & haven’t had WiFi, so now there’s a queue. Hitting a pub tomorrow for lunch - that’ll be my chance. 10 new “lifer” birds ID’d via Merlin though!
July 9, 2025 at 6:34 PM
I’m in England & I’ve been taking pictures of lots of things I want to upload to @inaturalist.bsky.social, but we’re caravanning around & haven’t had WiFi, so now there’s a queue. Hitting a pub tomorrow for lunch - that’ll be my chance. 10 new “lifer” birds ID’d via Merlin though!
I wrapped a @zotero.org demonstration into a reference chat with a student and they were SO excited about it. "I can't believe I wasn't using this before. This is going to save me so much time!" I also snuck password manager advice in there. 😎
June 30, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I wrapped a @zotero.org demonstration into a reference chat with a student and they were SO excited about it. "I can't believe I wasn't using this before. This is going to save me so much time!" I also snuck password manager advice in there. 😎
Reposted by Amanda Whitmire
Great breakdown of the decision by someone deep into copyright and fair use. We need better AI legislation but trying to make copyright do that work comes with lots of awful side effects. Glad to see this ruling isn't pushing that direction much.
Huge news in AI copyright world. Still reading the opinion, but encouraged that Judge Alsup got it right on training. Act I Scene 1 in a long drama, but a promising start.
🚨BREAKING: Federal judge concludes that using copyrighted works to train generative A.I. is transformative and ultimately a fair use. (Nevertheless, Anthropic can’t beat the lawsuit because it pirated books for another purpose too.) First of kind ruling. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
June 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Great breakdown of the decision by someone deep into copyright and fair use. We need better AI legislation but trying to make copyright do that work comes with lots of awful side effects. Glad to see this ruling isn't pushing that direction much.
I am an introvert. I am also currently president of a school board, so over the last two days I’ve presided over 9 ceremonies (8th grade promotion or high school graduation). I’ve shaken over 1,000 hands. The best days of the year, but I am TIRED. 😮💨
June 7, 2025 at 3:47 AM
I am an introvert. I am also currently president of a school board, so over the last two days I’ve presided over 9 ceremonies (8th grade promotion or high school graduation). I’ve shaken over 1,000 hands. The best days of the year, but I am TIRED. 😮💨