@hroethvitnir.bsky.social
I am not sure who to attribute to the banner to, but I think on it too often these days.
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White Sands' Footprints Confirmed as the Oldest Evidence of Humans in the Americas - a new study confirms ancient footprints in New Mexico are over 21,000 years old, rewriting the history of the Americas www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences...
White Sands' Footprints Confirmed as the Oldest Evidence of Humans in the Americas
Learn about a new study that confirms ancient footprints in New Mexico are over 21,000 years old, rewriting the history of the Americas.
www.discovermagazine.com
June 19, 2025 at 9:26 AM
White Sands' Footprints Confirmed as the Oldest Evidence of Humans in the Americas - a new study confirms ancient footprints in New Mexico are over 21,000 years old, rewriting the history of the Americas www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences...
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My children's book about the Stone Age is out in 2 weeks... and it's already out of date!! We joke about that in the book, it was bound to happen!!! Very exciting that molecular techniques have finally identified the 'Dragon Man' skull to be that of Homo Denisova www.nature.com/articles/d41...
First ever skull from ‘Denisovan’ reveals what ancient people looked like
Ancient proteins and calcified dental plaque identify heavy-browed fossil from China as a Denisovan.
www.nature.com
June 20, 2025 at 10:04 AM
My children's book about the Stone Age is out in 2 weeks... and it's already out of date!! We joke about that in the book, it was bound to happen!!! Very exciting that molecular techniques have finally identified the 'Dragon Man' skull to be that of Homo Denisova www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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Here are some nice mushrooms
June 21, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Here are some nice mushrooms
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I reply “hell yeah” to a lot of mushroom photos because when I see a picture of a mushroom a little voice in my head goes “hell yeah” and then I type that and hit send
January 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I reply “hell yeah” to a lot of mushroom photos because when I see a picture of a mushroom a little voice in my head goes “hell yeah” and then I type that and hit send
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The Crash Course Coin--which is essential for funding Crash Courses in subjects from sex ed to religion to political theory--is not a meme coin.
It is a coin. A physical coin. We send it to you as thanks for helping thousands of people learn with Crash Course.
Get yours: crashcoursecoin.com
It is a coin. A physical coin. We send it to you as thanks for helping thousands of people learn with Crash Course.
Get yours: crashcoursecoin.com
The 2025 Crash Course Coin
At Crash Course, we believe that high-quality educational videos should be available to everyone for free!
crashcoursecoin.com
May 23, 2025 at 4:32 PM
The Crash Course Coin--which is essential for funding Crash Courses in subjects from sex ed to religion to political theory--is not a meme coin.
It is a coin. A physical coin. We send it to you as thanks for helping thousands of people learn with Crash Course.
Get yours: crashcoursecoin.com
It is a coin. A physical coin. We send it to you as thanks for helping thousands of people learn with Crash Course.
Get yours: crashcoursecoin.com
Long gone are the days where a smartphone was a luxury - it's now hard to live without one, VERY hard to job seek without one, and often the cheapest way to access where we now keep a huge amount of information.
And that's before the next step of: poor people are allowed luxuries, damnit.
And that's before the next step of: poor people are allowed luxuries, damnit.
People do this in healthcare and it always irritates me. “Look at that patient. They sit there with an iPhone but say they can’t afford their medications?” Buddy, you are mad at the wrong thing.
Never take seriously those who ridicule low income people for having a smartphone or laptop.
“If they’re so poor how did they buy an iPhone???”
Because they’re trying to escape poverty, not the 1700s, genius. If you think basic tech access is unnecessary or a luxury, survive a month without it.
“If they’re so poor how did they buy an iPhone???”
Because they’re trying to escape poverty, not the 1700s, genius. If you think basic tech access is unnecessary or a luxury, survive a month without it.
May 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Long gone are the days where a smartphone was a luxury - it's now hard to live without one, VERY hard to job seek without one, and often the cheapest way to access where we now keep a huge amount of information.
And that's before the next step of: poor people are allowed luxuries, damnit.
And that's before the next step of: poor people are allowed luxuries, damnit.
Reposted
Same-sex partnerships in birds: a review of the current literature and a call for more data | doi.org/10.1002/jav.... | Journal of Avian Biology | #ornithology 🪶
May 22, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Same-sex partnerships in birds: a review of the current literature and a call for more data | doi.org/10.1002/jav.... | Journal of Avian Biology | #ornithology 🪶
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Armadillos! You love them, so click on this link! tetzoo.com/blog/2025/5/...
Of Zaedyus, the Pichi — Tetrapod Zoology
Let’s look at armadillos some more. Or, let’s look at more armadillos. I mean, let’s look more at armadillos. Whatever: armadillos! More.
tetzoo.com
May 9, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Armadillos! You love them, so click on this link! tetzoo.com/blog/2025/5/...
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Heard a great talk by a commercial airline pilot about safety regulations for pilots compared to surgeons.
I asked if older pilots get mad when younger pilots voice safety concerns because they think the only way to be a great pilot is to work while exhausted and he looked at me like I was crazy.
I asked if older pilots get mad when younger pilots voice safety concerns because they think the only way to be a great pilot is to work while exhausted and he looked at me like I was crazy.
May 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Heard a great talk by a commercial airline pilot about safety regulations for pilots compared to surgeons.
I asked if older pilots get mad when younger pilots voice safety concerns because they think the only way to be a great pilot is to work while exhausted and he looked at me like I was crazy.
I asked if older pilots get mad when younger pilots voice safety concerns because they think the only way to be a great pilot is to work while exhausted and he looked at me like I was crazy.
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I'm selling and signing my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #Dinopedia at events throughout the year, including at Portsmouth University this week, #GodsHouseTower in Southampton on May 15th, and Lyme Regis Fossil Festival on June 14th :)
May 5, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I'm selling and signing my @princetonupress.bsky.social book #Dinopedia at events throughout the year, including at Portsmouth University this week, #GodsHouseTower in Southampton on May 15th, and Lyme Regis Fossil Festival on June 14th :)
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Fossil and Diaphonized 🎣
These two will also be available at FWA!
Who am I gonna see there? 👀
These two will also be available at FWA!
Who am I gonna see there? 👀
May 5, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Fossil and Diaphonized 🎣
These two will also be available at FWA!
Who am I gonna see there? 👀
These two will also be available at FWA!
Who am I gonna see there? 👀
Noted that the BBC article only touches environmental concerns and not the ethical ones re: theft. A personalised machine learning model will both work better and not involve stealing non-consented material. Conflating all machine learning is intellectually dishonest bullshit.
May 7, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Noted that the BBC article only touches environmental concerns and not the ethical ones re: theft. A personalised machine learning model will both work better and not involve stealing non-consented material. Conflating all machine learning is intellectually dishonest bullshit.
Oh yeah, Dr Philosophy Professor. I'm sure that replacing the person in charge of preventing brain damage from anaesthesia will go just great.
May 7, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Oh yeah, Dr Philosophy Professor. I'm sure that replacing the person in charge of preventing brain damage from anaesthesia will go just great.
The idea we're going out of our way to make a stand! to not ask the plagiarism machine questions it will lie to you about is some dodgy framing. I do resent it being work to fully extract the software trying to talk to my friends for me (!), but it's not actually a hardship to think for myself.
I don't 'refuse to use' AI, I just don't use AI; in the same way that I don't shoplift, or plagiarise other people's books - it requires no effort of will, it's just not something I would think of doing
Bizarrely framed article about the people (all women) who ‘refuse to use AI’. And a #philosophy professor who says “The moment to opt out of #AI has already passed”. Oh well. That’s that then. 🤷♂️ #AIEthics www.bbc.com/news/article...
May 7, 2025 at 8:16 PM
The idea we're going out of our way to make a stand! to not ask the plagiarism machine questions it will lie to you about is some dodgy framing. I do resent it being work to fully extract the software trying to talk to my friends for me (!), but it's not actually a hardship to think for myself.
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Having an onus on me is not as much fun as it sounded
May 6, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Having an onus on me is not as much fun as it sounded
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As the only member of the "X-Men" that undergoes true hibernation, pichis were a big point of comparison in the portion of our paper suggesting that some ground sloths could have done the same thing. #Pichisarejustpeachy
Another #armadillo-themed article at Tetrapod Zoology, this time focusing on the unique Pichi of the south, a 'very pleasant armadillo' .... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/5/... #mammals #xenarthrans
Of Zaedyus, the Pichi — Tetrapod Zoology
Let’s look at armadillos some more. Or, let’s look at more armadillos. I mean, let’s look more at armadillos. Whatever: armadillos! More.
tetzoo.com
May 7, 2025 at 1:11 PM
As the only member of the "X-Men" that undergoes true hibernation, pichis were a big point of comparison in the portion of our paper suggesting that some ground sloths could have done the same thing. #Pichisarejustpeachy
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Reminder I am open for commissions and my form is here :
forms.fillout.com/t/tUqkW5s2h1us
Ball pythons, hognose and Dart Frogs currently available!
forms.fillout.com/t/tUqkW5s2h1us
Ball pythons, hognose and Dart Frogs currently available!
May 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reminder I am open for commissions and my form is here :
forms.fillout.com/t/tUqkW5s2h1us
Ball pythons, hognose and Dart Frogs currently available!
forms.fillout.com/t/tUqkW5s2h1us
Ball pythons, hognose and Dart Frogs currently available!
Good god. My (healthcare) job requires a Master's, or minimum a BSc with additional training. Our union is currently fighting to even get us COL increases. My friend (with a Master's) got a second job requiring zero qualifications or relevant experience. 16% higher pay. 🙃
May 5, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Good god. My (healthcare) job requires a Master's, or minimum a BSc with additional training. Our union is currently fighting to even get us COL increases. My friend (with a Master's) got a second job requiring zero qualifications or relevant experience. 16% higher pay. 🙃
Not only related to machine learning!
April 30, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Not only related to machine learning!
or at least subside significantly. It seems likely. But I'm guessing not completely. Using ChatGPT to tell you if you need a visa travelling (bruh), not learning to write, and outsourcing thinking is. Concerning. But banning things is Super Ineffective. Real life is complex. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (8/8!)
I don't love it being so hard to find a remotely unbiased position in professional media. Final objection: students not learning to think and write for themselves. This genuinely freaks me out, but it really is a complex social issue rather than a genAI issue per se. I am hoping it will die (7/8)
Double-checking my understanding has reinforced how intellectually dishonest a lot of the data presentation is. 99% of the charts popping up quickly on Google Image Search are not remotely designed to be representative - the third one is better, and TBF is the same article as the first. (6/maybe-7?)
April 30, 2025 at 9:17 PM
or at least subside significantly. It seems likely. But I'm guessing not completely. Using ChatGPT to tell you if you need a visa travelling (bruh), not learning to write, and outsourcing thinking is. Concerning. But banning things is Super Ineffective. Real life is complex. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (8/8!)
I don't love it being so hard to find a remotely unbiased position in professional media. Final objection: students not learning to think and write for themselves. This genuinely freaks me out, but it really is a complex social issue rather than a genAI issue per se. I am hoping it will die (7/8)
Double-checking my understanding has reinforced how intellectually dishonest a lot of the data presentation is. 99% of the charts popping up quickly on Google Image Search are not remotely designed to be representative - the third one is better, and TBF is the same article as the first. (6/maybe-7?)
April 30, 2025 at 9:14 PM
I don't love it being so hard to find a remotely unbiased position in professional media. Final objection: students not learning to think and write for themselves. This genuinely freaks me out, but it really is a complex social issue rather than a genAI issue per se. I am hoping it will die (7/8)
Double-checking my understanding has reinforced how intellectually dishonest a lot of the data presentation is. 99% of the charts popping up quickly on Google Image Search are not remotely designed to be representative - the third one is better, and TBF is the same article as the first. (6/maybe-7?)
![Chart from Andy Masley on Substack's article "ChatGPT is not bad for the environment". It's actually not bad, bias notwithstanding.
Two bar charts under the single title "Water consumed using ChatGPT vs other activities.
The Y axes are Water Consumption ([US] gallons). The left graph runs from 0-750 gal. The X axis categories are ~300 Chat GPT queries at ~1 gal, one hour of TV in a us home at ~4 gal, and one hamburger at ~660 gal.
The right graph runs from 0-14,000 million gallons, with the X axis categories showing ChatGPT at one million per day globally, and leaking pipes in the US in one day at I'm eyeballing about 12,000 million gal.
The vs hamburger or TV isn't bad, but anything that generates a huge discrepancy like that feels cherry picked. The leaking pipes one is a fair point but also just so biased. Can we present a wide breadth data with the goal of understanding, please?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:djiqlh77wmyfpttn5y3oq54d/bafkreigsib7cezgg3rwq4mvu7mokahi2ambdzmkohhpgio6ybs5h3o6ium@jpeg)
April 30, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Double-checking my understanding has reinforced how intellectually dishonest a lot of the data presentation is. 99% of the charts popping up quickly on Google Image Search are not remotely designed to be representative - the third one is better, and TBF is the same article as the first. (6/maybe-7?)
It makes me wince the way people pull out water and power usage all the time. They're not 100% wrong (training is a very real issue), but a chatGPT search using more than a Google search ignores that it's less than downloading an app and way less than an e-Commerce transaction. (5/probably-not-7)
But machine learning for data analysis, fed on your data, with human oversight? Amazing. A+, bravo. In my non-tech opinion, they're basically just very fancy algorithms. A natural step in existing computer modelling. Conflating that with chatGPT? Absolutely not. (5/7?)
Not that I think humans would handle actual AI well at all. My irritation at calling spicy autocorrect AI is part of my initial negative response. Emotionally, my core negativity comes from ever-increasing hostility from tech *you pay for*. It is not AI-specific, but boy is it not helping. (4/?)
April 30, 2025 at 8:47 PM
It makes me wince the way people pull out water and power usage all the time. They're not 100% wrong (training is a very real issue), but a chatGPT search using more than a Google search ignores that it's less than downloading an app and way less than an e-Commerce transaction. (5/probably-not-7)
But machine learning for data analysis, fed on your data, with human oversight? Amazing. A+, bravo. In my non-tech opinion, they're basically just very fancy algorithms. A natural step in existing computer modelling. Conflating that with chatGPT? Absolutely not. (5/7?)
Not that I think humans would handle actual AI well at all. My irritation at calling spicy autocorrect AI is part of my initial negative response. Emotionally, my core negativity comes from ever-increasing hostility from tech *you pay for*. It is not AI-specific, but boy is it not helping. (4/?)
Comparisons to human inspiration feel bad faith even when the person making them clearly wants to believe it. I do not, however, object on some sort of... spiritual level? The soul of art? Please no. I am, in fact, deeply excited by the idea of true artifical intelligence. (3/?)
April 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
But machine learning for data analysis, fed on your data, with human oversight? Amazing. A+, bravo. In my non-tech opinion, they're basically just very fancy algorithms. A natural step in existing computer modelling. Conflating that with chatGPT? Absolutely not. (5/7?)