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MTH

@megt.bsky.social

1.5K followers 1.6K following 1.7K posts

SFF author. PhD in mass comm, anthro/archaeo, folklore, environment. Freelance writer/editor. Grantmaking and public policy. Operator at defunct farm. Cheesehead 🧀 Badger alum. Reposts not necessarily an endorsement. web: https://oaklandhillsfarm.com

oaklandhillsfarm.com

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · Aug 17

A #book is the perfect escape! Want a portal to other worlds? BLACK RIVER can transport you. Like nobledark #fantasy trilogies full of political intrigue, desperate battles and epic journeys? Check out The Enchanter's Web! oaklandhillsfarm.com/novel (Alt txt for deets) #writingcommunity #sff 📚🪐 📚💙

For more info: oaklandhillsfarm.com/novel
4 covers. BLACK RIVER, pub'd by Mystique Press: moonlit waters flanked by pine forest with scudding clouds on the horizon. Cover design: M. Turville Heitz & David Dodd. What if Uncle Rupert’s fanciful stories of world-hopping wizards scavenging exotic animals, magic stones, and weapons of mass destruction were real?
Praise for BR: “Is it science fiction? Fantasy? Or... well, I don't care, I just know it was a wild ride and I was sorry when it was over.” LS
EW 1: SPECTERS FROM A DREAM. Cover by Ingrid Kallick: a burning barn, a figure silhouetted in the flames and flaming arrows. Smoke coils up and away. They thought their dreams guided them. What if they were wrong? An epic fantasy of intrigue and sorcery, EW 1 finds our heroes trying to manage powers beyond their control in a desperate war against stronger forces with a mission to destroy the world.
Praise for EW1: “A rousing high fantasy novel. This kept me up reading for several nights. This is an intricate, well-developed world and characters readers of fantasy will love. I can't wait to read the next in the series.” ESR
EW2: DREAD WARRIOR. Ingrid's cover shows a giant wave crashing over a small overturned sailboat with a sword-bearing warrior clinging to the hull of the vessel as a storm rages overhead. What could go wrong when a peaceful land plans a war? In EW2 our heroes must face tribal rivalries and class divisions to somehow unite Shande and her allies to save themselves.
EW3: THE RISING OF KEDTAIR. Ingrid's cover shows dragon-like conjurations sent to attack a white-clad, dagger-wielding figure. When all the pieces come together, what if it was always to another’s plan? EW3 finds our heroes desperately gathering armies in an occupied land controlled by a better-armed, better-trained enemy. They must meet an impossible timeline. They count on many pieces falling into place. They didn’t count on the Enchanter’s web.

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 1d

Snapshot Wisconsin bobcat ... since I missed caturday. 🐈🌿

A bobcat looks off into the distance in a pine forest.

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe he noticed there's no one working in the fields and processing plants and car washes and hotels and restaurants when they've deported them -- legally here or not -- and now they desperately think they're going to find mythical able-bodied shirkers to milk cows and pick veggies.

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American Meteorological Society @ametsoc.org · 1d

Newly published research indicates that poor water quality can drastically affect air quality—an observation with important implications for global waterways.

Read more about how pollution in the Tijuana River impacts nearby communities: https://bit.ly/3KuchfZ

University of California, San Diego Research and Development Engineer Greg Sandstrom takes measurements with a Coriolis air sampler at the river hotspot. Photo credit: Beatriz Klimeck/UC San Diego.

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

Chickens all came inside because their butts were acting like sails.

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

And boy is it windy!

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

The Sopranos. Lots of others. Don't have Netflix, HBO, AppleTV, etc. Also failed to read some books that became famous movies that I never saw either. Totally not a cool kid.

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

Interesting take on #HigherEd censorship. Apologies, it didn't all fit in alt text and I had to cut 1800 characters. Key rhetorical question he asks: is it cowardice to not write the column he wanted to write. It highlights the weird times we live in. #edsky

"Here's the column I didn't write as a UW professor" 2 long 2 alt w/o editing.
"I am not going to b that professor who posts on social media & is promptly pilloried 4 expressing an opinion.
Like many academics these days, I [want] 2 weigh in on recent crises...[in] the news cycle. [That] hardly seems wise. Scores of profs & teachers have been fired or suspended after making posts laced w/ political content, according 2 the NYTimes. Gls...issued by the AAUP recommend that faculty take precautions “2 protect yourself in the current climate” when posting on sm.
So instead of writing that article & committing 2 any beliefs or view, I will simply explain what [I'd say] were I not writing in America in 2025.
[Here] I would express a political opinion. Next comes the bit where I would trot out my academic credentials, certifying myself as an authority...of a charged topic that is on everyone’s minds.
But I know enough not 2 paint myself into a corner. Here, as a prof. of Amer lit, I would pause 2 make a literary allusion both 2 (a) showcase expert knowledge & (b) hide behind the words of some great but now dead author...I would [then] want 2 spend at least 2 clause-burdened sentences signaling my virtue...
The next paragraph would b devoted 2 trying 2 indoctrinate readers w/ some outlandish ideology. Many of my colleagues have [tried] 2 indoctrinate students 4 decades w/o much success....I am well enough aware of the limits of my own charisma 2 know that I can’t compete with YouTube or Insta. & besides, this semester I am concentrating on indoctrinating my students to...not rely on generative AI.
[Next], readers would be ready for some trademark academic subtlety...
[Then], I would wonder if I was being clever enough. & in the next, I would worry that I was being too clever.
[In] conclusion, [I] would wrap things up w/ an urgent call or a dire warning... [N]ow—& not in some hypothetical never-written essay—I might wonder if I have been a coward.
Russ Castronovo-UW-Madison.

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

Good luck! Hope you have a great audience!

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

Disastrous wildfires are 4x more likely than in the 80s due to climate change and people closer to wildlands, a new study in Science finds. It measured economic and human damage rather than acreage and ID'd a “climate-linked escalation" of disastrous wildfires. 🌎 🌿 apnews.com/article/cali...

Study says climate change made conditions that fed California wildfires more likely, more intense

A quick scientific study finds that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern Ca...

apnews.com

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

I'm doing three panels (two readings and writing workshop) at an inaugural writing festival next weekend. I'm not optimistic ... I'll be so happy if anyone attends.

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

Mine are still flowering as well ... kind of doubt that will go anywhere.

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

Knowing Wisconsin, we'll have a polar vortex and 10 inches of snow on Halloween 🙄 followed by another week in the 80s 😆

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 2d

But Texas, I kind of expect to be a bit warmer even in fall. Our normal for this time of year is highs in the low 60s F, and lows in the 40s with frost expected by mid-month. Our 10-day forecast shows one normal day, followed by 70s again.

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 3d

While we've had warm spells in Oct, it's like we had fall for one week in August and slid back into high summer. While me tomatoes needed a couple of extra weeks this year after a rainy spring, we don't have a significant cool down in sight. 🌱

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 3d

AND we had a great discussion, ranging from writing to reading to great books and my books 😉

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 3d

2 people showed up at my author event. It was so much better than none (and I sold 3 books).

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 3d

Garden still yielding peppers, tomatoes, arugula and zucchini with more likely to ripen in the next few days as upper Midwest bakes in record-breaking heat wave and, for southern Wis., drought. Feels like August as we flirt with 90F ...in Wis. in Oct. smh 🌱🌎

A collection of tomatoes sweet ans jalapeno peppers on a table.

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 3d

Don't Worry, Be Happy.

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 3d

Oh yikes!
I was about to bail after 25 minutes, but 2 people came in who ended up picking up 3 books and we chatted for like an hour but still, rough timing.

MTH @megt.bsky.social · 3d

Patiently waiting for my author event to start and the crowd to hush... hmm. Maybe i should have asked about being schedules against baseball, football, Octoberfest and a harvest festival? At least there's AC (unreasonably hot out) #writingcommunity

Empty book store sitting area 8n blues and Yellowstone with the children's and fath sections visible.

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Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 3d

Their efficacy was confirmed against LIVE viruses including Ebola, Marburg, Nipah, Hendra, SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), AND Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

The study has been published in Science Advances. YES, it is PEER-REVIEWED.
• www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🧪🧵⬇️

ABSTRACT
Viral pandemics continue to threaten global health and economic stability. Despite medical advances, the absence of broad-spectrum antivirals (BSAs) prevents rapid responses to emerging viral threats. This is largely due to the lack of universal drug targets across diverse viral families and high variability among viral proteins.
In this study, we evaluated 57 synthetic carbohydrate receptors (SCRs) for antiviral activity in cellulo using pseudotyped virus particles (PVPs) from six high-risk viruses across three families: Paramyxoviridae, Filoviridae, and Coronaviridae.
Four SCRs inhibited all tested PVPs, and their efficacy was confirmed against live viruses including SARS-CoV-2, MERS-COV, EBOV, MARV, NiV, and HeV.
Notably, SCR005 and SCR007, which exhibited minimal toxicity, significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection in a severe animal model with a single dose.
Mechanistic studies suggested that SCRs bind viral envelope N-glycans, blocking viral attachment and/or fusion.
These results identify conserved viral N-glycans as promising BSA targets and establish SCRs as candidate prophylactic agents against enveloped viruses with pandemic potential.

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 8d

Keith Woods' keynote (starts @ 24:00) is powerful. He frames "In Defense of #Journalism" with the ravages of Helene that took his home. "How do I complain about the troubles of one profession when the country itself seems to be sliding into autocracy." #SciComm

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiVx...

2025 Journalism Ethics Conference: Journalism Ethics in a Fracturing World

YouTube video by UW School of Journalism & Mass Communication

www.youtube.com

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MTH @megt.bsky.social · 4d

I'm starting to see gift-giving ads from big bookstores like B&N. A #book is a wonderful way to help someone you care about escape the doomscroll. Check out indie bookstores! Looking for intriguing #fantasy for someone special? oaklandhillsfarm.com/novel/
🪐📚 📚💙 #readers

MTH @megt.bsky.social · Aug 17

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UW Center for Journalism Ethics @uwethics.bsky.social · 4d

Many thanks to all who came to our conference "Journalism Ethics in a Fracturing World" last week, including our keynote speakers and panelists. You can still catch the program via livestream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiVx...

Kara Swisher is shown seated on a stage interviewing Jessica Yellin

Student fellows Ella Hanley, Jonas Tijerino and Maggie Schreiner post at the registration table

Keynote speaker Keith Woods stands at a podium delivering his opening speech

Panelists Sewell Chan and Timothy Karr are shown on stage during their panel

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Factal @factal.com · 5d

Emerging: Media, eyewitnesses report explosion and fire at Chevron refinery in El Segundo, Calif.; no further details immediately available

Large fire erupts at Los Angeles County refinery

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said the original report came from the intersection of Aviation and Rosecrans.

www.cbsnews.com

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