take a fucking sip babes

i’m liz, she/her

[crunchymayo]

[jabberding0]

tree grafting techniques

[darkmodepls]

isn't it bizarre that people and animals have to match precise genetic markers for organ donation and take immunosuppressive medication for the rest of their life or else the body will reject it, yet you can pull all sorts of Frankenstein nonsense on plants and it will work so long as they're roughly in the same family

[dogpuppy]

[praypanic]

[elbiotipo]

More than "here in the Southern Hemisphere we have inverted seasons :)" thing, which is TECHNICALLY true, I would go a step further and encourage to think about that "much of the world does not exactly has a spring-summer-fall-winter season sequence as they show in cartoons"

[paperdragonsong]

I will scream about this to anyone who listens forever. AUSTRALIA DOES NOT HAVE "ENGLISH SEASONS BUT BACKWARDS" and the insistence that it does creates a massive layer of alienation from the natural world.

I never really realised how much difference it makes until I went to England and realised that here the change of seasons is an obvious, visible, physical change in the world. Like, everything REALLY IS orange and foggy in autumn! In spring there are flowers EVERYWHERE, so much more than any other season, and the trees really do have all blossom and no leaves. Even if it doesn't snow, in winter there's frost all the time and the trees are bare and the sky is visibly greyer all the time. You don't need to be told "this date is the first day of spring", you can SEE IT (although this is getting way messier and less precise due to climate change).

By contrast, most places in Australia the seasons we're taught feel like arbitrary categories - and is it any surprise considering they're colonial constructs? Orange-leaved autumn and blossom-covered spring is a cartoon stereotype with no relevance on a continent where ALL NATIVE TREES ARE EVERGREEN!! Snowy winters are a joke in the desert, and even sunny summers don't ring particularly true considering that much of the country is in the tropics, where summer means monsoons - not that I've ever seen the concept that WE HAVE A MONSOON SEASON taught at an Australian school.

Most Indigenous nations around Australia had six or more seasons, revolving around wet and dry times as much as hot and cold, and marked by the appearances of certain native animals and flowers. Schools need to start teaching the real seasons, and explaining that climate cycles are too complex to generalise globally, or else we will keep raising generations who view the natural world as hostile and unpredictable and climate predictions as generally irrelevent and frequently wrong - and I'm sure I don't need to spell out why that's a problem in the era of climate crisis.

[tiredtransgal]

i want to add that 40% of the world's population lives in the tropics, and the 4 season model just doesn't make much sense for a lot of places in there. usually it's just the wet season/monsoon season and the dry season. it's often hot year round.

the 4 season model as you and i know it is a european invention, though 4 season models aren't unique to europe! most notably china has the same type of season subdivision.

in general the way humans define seasons is largely subjective and varies across cultures. the one you were taught is not at all universal!

[grimalditeuthis]

Learn about climate zones across Australia

Indigenous culture and seasonal knowledge | The Bureau of Meteorology

Find out how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture incorporates seasonal knowledge about Australia's varied climate

Indigenous seasonal calendars | The Bureau of Meteorology

Explore traditional calendars from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

[kitschmelange]

Things of Summer - from "The New Golden Almanac" by Kathryn Jackson, illustrated by Richard Scarry, 1952

[sophsun1]

Seinfeld – 7.18: The Friars Club 

[snototter]

Entrance to the 28th Unnamed Cave, Tennessee, USA

by Alan Cressler

[horsefigureoftheday]

Horse figure of the day: Breyer #410185 Parade of Breeds Saddlebred

[biitchb0y]

i finally found this shit i never want to lose it again

[seinfeldandgarfunkel]

when you gotta take a quick break from having tummy issues to read about pirates

[frostedmagnolias]

Boots

c. 1915-1919

American

Kent State University Museum

[worldhistoryfacts]

In the 19th century, Americans idealized wilderness, which they defined as natural areas without people in them. The issue with this, of course, was that the “wilderness” areas that they wanted to turn into national parks had people in them.

So what was it like for the people who lived in these “wildernesses,” what happened to them, and what evidence is left of their lives?

Only to the White Man Was Nature a Wilderness

Native Americans in the national parks

[anarchistmemedistro]

The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature

The influential essay that prompted a lively public conversation about the meaning of wilderness in American culture.

[obscurecurse]

Seasonal Variation of Polyphenols and Pigments in Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) Leaves [x]

[kisxmesoft]

[seinfeldandgarfunkel]

my own father posted an ai-generated picture of himself

[thelawfulchaotic]

Gemini had the fucking GALL to get in my email and summarize a 3-line email, taking up more space than the email did visually.

Hit the “thumbs down.” It’s like, what’s wrong??? Was our summary wrong? Were there offensive words? Thank you for helping us improve our AI tools :)

I selected “other.”

Text box popped up. Please elaborate!

Wrote in “I can fucking read” submit comment

Then had to spend several minutes torching all my settings with a flamethrower. Let me be clear: I’m (a lawyer) notoriously picky with my words FOR GOOD REASON (lawyering) so I overwhelmingly reject Gmail’s “helpful” little assistance. My privacy settings were set to “full paranoia” a little less than a year ago when I saw the writing on the wall and knew public defenders could become a target in the future. Better to lock it all down now.

Gemini had crept in there and turned ALL that shit back on. And showed itself by saying “Jane Doe says she’s so sorry for your loss and offers to reschedule for Thursday at 3” over an email from Jane Doe saying “I’m so sorry for your loss. We could reschedule for Thursday at 3?”

Why would I possibly need this. In what universe would I need this. I have eyes and a brain and a reading speed that twenty years ago was measured at 1500 wpm with full comprehension on dense scientific text. Furthermore! If I read a summary, I’m not reading what they actually wrote. If I’m not reading what they actually wrote, I’m not using my own judgment on the words and phrases that they used.

I literally don’t understand why this is helpful at all. This is just avoidance. Using LLMs to write is specifically Not Writing. Using LLMs to summarize is Not Reading. Using them to make art is Avoiding Making Art. Just READ! Just WRITE! I was not put on this fucking planet to not read and not write and not make art! Avoidance is an anxiety symptom and indulging it gives it more power.

If I had an AI to do my most dreaded task, answer the phone for clients, I wouldn’t use it. Because an AI cannot help them. An AI cannot hear the facts of their case, make appropriate noises, be thoughtful and insightful, and then give them a realistic estimate of what could happen in court. I am unique. I cannot be replaced by machine learning. I have style. I have expertise. I don’t hallucinate unless I’m having a really great Friday night and I’m off the clock.

When I need to outsource tasks from my own brain, I give them to people I know can do them and that I trust to do them right.

Fuck, it just sneaks up on you, doesn’t it?? Goddamn Gemini jumpscare right in my own fucking email