@apheliotropism.bsky.social

A collection of interesting facts with a personality precariously perched on top. They/them.

One of my favourite moments from Taronga Zoo Sydney: This beautiful Andean Condor. She was on the aviary floor when I arrived, but on seeing me she flew up to a perch and started preening right in front of me. All the other park visitors just walked past, but I was smitten. #birds

Photo of an Andean Condor standing on a rock in the sunlight. She is a very large vulture with black and white feathers, a bald head, and bright red eyes. She is facing away from the viewer (towards the sun), with her wings partly spread.Same subject, much closer to the viewer. She has her back towards the viewer but has turned her head to preen her back feathers and is looking at the viewer with her bright red eyes. Her back feathers are black with subtle iridescent highlights in the sunlight, and she has a fluffy white ruff around the base of her neck.Same subject but she has turned to look directly at the viewer, face-on. With her long, hooked beak foreshortened she looks quite sweet and friendly.Same subject, still close to the viewer but now in profile as she has turned to face the sun. Her long, viciously hooked beak is prominent, but she still has a look of wide-eyed innocence about her.

Most of the photos in my collection don’t have any writing on them, sadly, but this one is a real treat. “Janice French and Judy Wilson and our cat John Rumpus at 706 Dittman.”

Black-and-white photo of two light skinned girls sitting on the couch together, smiling happily at the camera. They are holding a long-haired black cat, which is sitting on their laps. 

The most absolutely massive flex from the state fair exhibit. This quilt is made of 40 years of prize ribbons from various categories at the New Mexico State Fair won by Carol St. Clair Johnson. She also won a prize for this quilt.

Massive quilt made of prize ribbons in blue, red, yellow, and whiteCenter square of quilt made of yellow and red ribbons and yellow rosettesBlock of quilt made of blue, yellow, red, and white ribbons. Ribbons state the year. Some have the prize winning object written on in markerCarol St. Clair Johnson
born 1954; resides Albuquerque, NM

O Fair New Mexico-41 Fair Years
2023
satin ribbons

After unexpectedly winning her first blue ribbon for a sewn cape in 1981, Carol St. Clair Johnson developed an enduring love for the New Mexico State Fair. The quilt Fair New Mexico-41 Fair Years incorporates more than six hundred of the ribbons she won at the fair every subsequent year except 2020 (when the fair was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson earned ribbons for needlework, knitting, crochet, pies, cookies, cakes, canning, jewelry, flowers, vegetables, and potted plants. The title of the quilt is a reference to the state song, and the design places the state's Zia sun symbol at the center. The quilt earned Johnson yet another ribbon: Best in Category (miscellaneous quilt) at the 2023 New Mexico State Fair.

Courtesy of Carol St. Clair Johnson

I need to start dressing weirder again. My wardrobe has become dominated by clothes that are practical/appropriate wear to work - a pretty loose and relaxed category at my work, but still. I find myself looking at my clothes when deciding what to wear in my free time & being quite bored by them.

Get a copy while you still can. Store it locally on your device, not in cloud storage. Maybe print a few copies and distribute them as free zines...

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I feel like I need a sign that says "Stop complaining and start volunteering" to tap loudly every time people come and sound off with their uninformed opinions in posts related to animal rescue. Don't weigh in unless you're ready to lend a hand or a buck.

Cats of Yore@catsofyore.bsky.social · last mo.

Once again begging people to learn about the reasons for the ear tipping of most TNR cats instead of complaining that "it's cruel" or "there must be a better way". Stop whining and start learning and volunteering if you're so concerned about these cats! www.alleycat.org/resources/fe...

I don't want to name names, because a nobody like me starting online beef with a popular podcast is pointless. But repeatedly including AI generated audio in your show, even to reflect (or dunk) on the prevalence of AI content is *still using AI to make your show* with all the harms that entails.

Bluesky is entirely the wrong place to talk about this, but I can't bear to talk about it in person, lest my rage and grief makes me say things to friends that are hurtful. My long term, behaviorally complex foster cat Rafi died this morning. I will never get over this. We all failed him so badly.

Love to spend my free time getting into arguments about my day job on social media 🫠 This is the downside of now doing work that I actually give a shit about - it's hard to switch off.

I'm not sure how likely it is, but if we manage to get about 450 more submissions in the next 8 hours or so, that'll be 23,000 by the end of the day. :) In theory very attainable, as most days of the survey so far have been over 1,000!

Gender Census@gendercensus.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The 13th annual international Gender Census 2026 is now open until at least 13th August 2026! survey.gendercensus.com It's for anyone whose gender (or lack thereof) isn't described by the M/F binary. It's short and easy, and results are useful in academia, business and self-advocacy. #LGBTQ

Promotional image. Title: Gender Census 2026. Text: If you can't easily put yourself into just one of these two boxes, you are invited to take part. Images: On the left, a box with a Venus/female symbol on it, patterned with tree bark. On the right, a box with a Mars/male symbol on it, patterned with grass.

This is so delightful. The mouse in particular, but I also love the idea of decorating your floor with an elaborate artwork that imitates the mess that would be left after a really wild party 😂

Alison Fisk@alisonfisk.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Delightful little brown mouse nibbling at a walnut. From a #Roman ‘unswept floor’ mosaic by Heraclitus. Superb use of darker tiles for subtle shadow effects! 2nd century AD. Vatican Museums www.museivaticani.va/content/muse... #MosaicMonday #Archaeology

The image shows detail from a Roman ‘unswept floor’ mosaic depicting a small brown mouse in profile facing left. It has a rounded body, crouching low to the ground, with a front and a back paw showing tucked beneath its body. It has a glossy black eye and two pinkish pointed ears. The mosaicist has used a mix of light and dark brown tiles for the mouse’s body to hint at fur. It has a long, thin, dark tail which stretches out behind. Its pointed nose is almost touching half a walnut in its shell. The walnut is created with warmer light and dark brown tiles. The mouse and walnut are set against a pale-cream tile background, with slightly darker background tiles beneath the mouse and walnut to create subtle shadows.

The Greek mosaicist Heraclitus was inspired by an ancient Greek decorative theme known as ‘unswept floor’ (asàrotos òikos). He created this floor mosaic, seemingly covered with scraps of food from a banquet, for a villa on the Aventine Hill in Rome which dates to the time of Emperor Hadrian. The mosaic is now part of the collections at the Vatican Museums

🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ One milkshake to rule the boys, one milkshake to find them, one milkshake to bring the boys and in my yard to bind them 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️

Have just become aware that there is a lively and dedicated community of feral pigeon rescuers in Sydney, and this pleases me no end. Anyone who steps up to care for animals is good in my book, but especially those who care for the despised and unwanted animals ❤️

It's a hazard of my job that I will occasionally become deeply obsessed with some aspect of audiovisual/broadcasting history & want to talk about it non-stop. Unfortunately no-one I know socially wants to hear me obsess over the early years of Australian Television or weird scientific film equipment