Zane Selvans
@zaneselvans.org
Data Liberation Engineer @catalyst.coop. Climate, energy, bikes, cities, co-ops, and the strangeness of Our Modern Age. A former space explorer, now lost in the misty highlands of Mexico.
https://amateurearthling.org
🇺🇸/🇲🇽 he/él
https://amateurearthling.org
🇺🇸/🇲🇽 he/él
The materiality of these two energy systems is so wildly different.
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 AM
The materiality of these two energy systems is so wildly different.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
I don't feel like anyone really prepared me for how multiple decades of parasocial relationships would actually feel.
xkcd.com/3172/
xkcd.com/3172/
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:04 AM
I don't feel like anyone really prepared me for how multiple decades of parasocial relationships would actually feel.
xkcd.com/3172/
xkcd.com/3172/
Maybe I should get drunk and email some real estate agents.
November 23, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Maybe I should get drunk and email some real estate agents.
~80 million acres dedicated to corn ethanol and soy biodiesel with a 0.2% solar energy conversion efficiency (before processing losses!) but no 20% efficient PV. Sure.
Republicans move to stop solar panels being by farmers & ranchers on their land which improves production & cuts costs. Take note they are not stopping data centers & fossil fuel plants adjacent plants. Bankrupt the farmers/ranchers. Buy their land cheap. Destroy it
dailycaller.com/2025/11/20/e...
dailycaller.com/2025/11/20/e...
EXCLUSIVE: GOP Lawmaker Looks To Shield American Farmland From Taxpayer-Funded Solar Projects
Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn introduced legislation Thursday that would protect American farmland from government-subsidized solar panel projects.
dailycaller.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:21 PM
~80 million acres dedicated to corn ethanol and soy biodiesel with a 0.2% solar energy conversion efficiency (before processing losses!) but no 20% efficient PV. Sure.
I love that these scrapped vehicle batteries are just sitting out there in the desert on cinder blocks, covered with tarps, still working hard, like some kind of white trash energy storage junkyard. @greatdismal.bsky.social
Tech companies are turning to natural gas to help power U.S. data centers.
Jigar Shah, a former top Energy Department official, explains how installing batteries instead can strengthen the power grid, trim electric bills, and help curb emissions.
Jigar Shah, a former top Energy Department official, explains how installing batteries instead can strengthen the power grid, trim electric bills, and help curb emissions.
How Batteries, Not Natural Gas, Can Power the Data Center Boom
Tech companies are turning to natural gas to help power the growing number of U.S. data centers. Jigar Shah, a former top Energy Department official, explains how installing batteries instead can help...
e360.yale.edu
November 23, 2025 at 4:20 AM
I love that these scrapped vehicle batteries are just sitting out there in the desert on cinder blocks, covered with tarps, still working hard, like some kind of white trash energy storage junkyard. @greatdismal.bsky.social
Reposted by Zane Selvans
If you liked James Balog's movie, Chasing Ice, here is a follow-up (short) film, Chasing Time.
www.pbs.org/pov/films/ch...
www.pbs.org/pov/films/ch...
Chasing Time - POV
Photographer James Balog brings the 15-year Extreme Ice Survey project to a close.
www.pbs.org
November 23, 2025 at 2:34 AM
If you liked James Balog's movie, Chasing Ice, here is a follow-up (short) film, Chasing Time.
www.pbs.org/pov/films/ch...
www.pbs.org/pov/films/ch...
Reposted by Zane Selvans
Kazimierz Nowak and his bicycle in an African desert, circa 1930s.
Nowak, a Polish traveler, reporter, and photographer, was probably the first person to cross Africa alone from north to south and then from south to north. He took more than 10,000 photos of his journey.
🧵
Nowak, a Polish traveler, reporter, and photographer, was probably the first person to cross Africa alone from north to south and then from south to north. He took more than 10,000 photos of his journey.
🧵
November 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Kazimierz Nowak and his bicycle in an African desert, circa 1930s.
Nowak, a Polish traveler, reporter, and photographer, was probably the first person to cross Africa alone from north to south and then from south to north. He took more than 10,000 photos of his journey.
🧵
Nowak, a Polish traveler, reporter, and photographer, was probably the first person to cross Africa alone from north to south and then from south to north. He took more than 10,000 photos of his journey.
🧵
I feel better about forgetting my passphrase for 3 months after taking a month away from my computer.
November 22, 2025 at 4:04 AM
I feel better about forgetting my passphrase for 3 months after taking a month away from my computer.
I find myself rooting for the sweet release of the flow taking out the camera.
Absolutely incredible time lapse of yesterday's pyroclastic flows from #Indonesia and the #semuru #volcano @rpappalardo.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
GIANT Pyroclastic Flow from Semeru Volcano – November 19, 2025 (Level IV Alert)
YouTube video by afarTV
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I find myself rooting for the sweet release of the flow taking out the camera.
Absolutely incredible time lapse of yesterday's pyroclastic flows from #Indonesia and the #semuru #volcano @rpappalardo.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
GIANT Pyroclastic Flow from Semeru Volcano – November 19, 2025 (Level IV Alert)
YouTube video by afarTV
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Absolutely incredible time lapse of yesterday's pyroclastic flows from #Indonesia and the #semuru #volcano @rpappalardo.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
Lol literal poetic justice.
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Lol literal poetic justice.
November 20, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Well this isn't great.
Pumped for this @intercept.com.br + @drilledmedia.bsky.social collab looking at Brazil's corn ethanol boom (and the role the U.S. has played in it). First story now, in English on our site &Portuguese on the Intercept Brasil site:
www.intercept.com.br/2025/11/17/a...
drilled.media/news/ethanol...
www.intercept.com.br/2025/11/17/a...
drilled.media/news/ethanol...
Why Is Brazil’s Climate Fund Giving Hundreds of Millions to Big Ag?
Almost $500 million has flowed from the Climate Fund to corn ethanol projects from companies with environmental violations.
drilled.media
November 20, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Well this isn't great.
For the first couple of financial bubbles of my life I thought we were just Having An Episode, but now I feel like it's going to be endless bubbles all the way down.
November 19, 2025 at 8:41 PM
For the first couple of financial bubbles of my life I thought we were just Having An Episode, but now I feel like it's going to be endless bubbles all the way down.
One thing Copilot does (unsurprisingly) seem to know how to do is write functional GitHub workflows, which I have previously found to be a giant pain to debug, so that's nice.
November 19, 2025 at 6:44 AM
One thing Copilot does (unsurprisingly) seem to know how to do is write functional GitHub workflows, which I have previously found to be a giant pain to debug, so that's nice.
Yes we should clearly give Terminator Teddy Ruxpin all the nuclear engineering docs from Westinghouse.
The maximum acceptable level of risk for an "AI-powered toy" targeted at young children is absolutely too low for use of an off-the-shelf commercial LLM to EVER be a reasonable choice. gizmodo.com/ai-powered-t...
AI-Powered Teddy Bear Caught Talking About Sexual Fetishes and Instructing Kids How to Find Knives
OpenAI blocked access for the toymaker following the incidents.
gizmodo.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Yes we should clearly give Terminator Teddy Ruxpin all the nuclear engineering docs from Westinghouse.
Absolutely eerie parallels between the way Mexican president Miguel Alemán controlled the country's media in the 1950s, and what Trump is doing today in the US. Taken from Enrique Krauze's book Biografía del Poder (1997):
amateurearthling.org/2025/11/18/t...
amateurearthling.org/2025/11/18/t...
Trump vs. Miguel Alemán - Amateur Earthling
The parallels between Miguel Alemán's control of 1950s media in Mexico, and Trump's attacks on the media in the US are eerie.
amateurearthling.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Absolutely eerie parallels between the way Mexican president Miguel Alemán controlled the country's media in the 1950s, and what Trump is doing today in the US. Taken from Enrique Krauze's book Biografía del Poder (1997):
amateurearthling.org/2025/11/18/t...
amateurearthling.org/2025/11/18/t...
Reposted by Zane Selvans
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
Welp, I hope the @marimo.io folks got paid in cash.
Both Hyman Minsky and distressed debt investors alike think that borrowing money just to pay interest is, like, THE line between "Ponzi finance" and insolvency. That's where CoreWeave seems to be right now:
www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 18, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Welp, I hope the @marimo.io folks got paid in cash.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
A short blog with some more details on our new project to create an analysis-friendly version of the huge @ferc.gov EQR electricity transaction dataset, with support from GridLab @ricoconnell.bsky.social #EnergySky #OpenData
catalyst.coop/2025/11/17/c...
catalyst.coop/2025/11/17/c...
Capturing the elusive FERC EQR - Catalyst Cooperative
With support from GridLab, Catalyst is creating a open, cloud-native version of the electricity market data recorded in the FERC EQR.
catalyst.coop
November 17, 2025 at 4:45 PM
A short blog with some more details on our new project to create an analysis-friendly version of the huge @ferc.gov EQR electricity transaction dataset, with support from GridLab @ricoconnell.bsky.social #EnergySky #OpenData
catalyst.coop/2025/11/17/c...
catalyst.coop/2025/11/17/c...
Ooh @greenprofgreen.bsky.social's book Existential Politics, about the unavoidable conflicts between fossil, climate vulnerable, and green asset holders, is finally out.
@drilledmedia.bsky.social interviewed her, audio and transcript here:
drilled.media/news/drillin...
@drilledmedia.bsky.social interviewed her, audio and transcript here:
drilled.media/news/drillin...
Why We Need More Confrontation at COP
In ‘Existential Politics,’ Jessica F. Green argues that head-on conflict with fossil fuel interests is a prerequisite for real progress.
drilled.media
November 17, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Ooh @greenprofgreen.bsky.social's book Existential Politics, about the unavoidable conflicts between fossil, climate vulnerable, and green asset holders, is finally out.
@drilledmedia.bsky.social interviewed her, audio and transcript here:
drilled.media/news/drillin...
@drilledmedia.bsky.social interviewed her, audio and transcript here:
drilled.media/news/drillin...
Man I'm out of popcorn and want to go get some but also I feel like I might have developed a popcorn habit. Is this a healthy snack or just junk food you can make at home? 🍿
November 17, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Man I'm out of popcorn and want to go get some but also I feel like I might have developed a popcorn habit. Is this a healthy snack or just junk food you can make at home? 🍿
Reposted by Zane Selvans
When I showed this slide to my wife, who is a software engineer for a power company who has written environmental impact statements for the DoD, she simply started screaming
November 14, 2025 at 6:17 PM
When I showed this slide to my wife, who is a software engineer for a power company who has written environmental impact statements for the DoD, she simply started screaming
A look at the weird limbo of weed's legalization in Mexico. It's been decriminalized, but the government has so far refused to actually write the promised regulations. Se llama "ghosting institucionál" 🤣
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrSX...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrSX...
Marihuana en México: así se fuma en el limbo de la legalización
YouTube video by Florencia Guerra
www.youtube.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:58 PM
A look at the weird limbo of weed's legalization in Mexico. It's been decriminalized, but the government has so far refused to actually write the promised regulations. Se llama "ghosting institucionál" 🤣
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrSX...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrSX...