I better get no guff from any of these king-of-the-hill paleobotanists on my handwaving generic foreground grass
Daniel Loxton 🇨🇦
@danielloxton.bsky.social
Author, illustrator, and researcher of misinformation and fringe claims. Former Editor (2002–2021) of Junior Skeptic, and author of Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be and other science books for kids and adults. https://www.danielloxton.com
Procrastinating painting more tedious foreground grass today, but I’m gonna have to start eventually. (I’ve never had that much luck isolating grass from photos as base coat elements, though I’ve tried at various times over the years, including the last few days)
Gotta say, I’m getting just a wee bit tired of the biggest tech platforms just happily letting the money pour in from fully detectable scammers and predators at our expense
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12h agoToday's threads (a thread) Inside: Google is a scammer's paradise; and more! Archived at: pluralistic.net/2026/08/05/a... #Pluralistic 1/
One thing about painting is how much time you spend destroying work you already spent a lot of time on. It’s just kinda how layering and developing a painting works
"Pastors in Name Only" "Wicked Witch of Woke" “I've never seen anyone commit so much blasphemy against the word of God." As pastors become Democratic nominees — at least 5 so far, and likely one more tonight — their Republican opponents are attacking their faith. religionnews.com/2026/08/04/p...
'They're not real pastors': As clergy run as Democrats, Republicans question their faith
(RNS) — 'It's a sign that they are really scared they're gonna lose this seat,' the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran pastor running for Congress in Iowa, said. She is part of a wave of religious ...
religionnews.com
Big crowds down to watch the astonishing Snowbirds show off the #yyj waterfront, so of course I was taking reference pics of grass between passes
Heatwaves reaching the upper thermal limits of mammals Poor lions, poor residents of Tokyo And yes, we should be worried and yes we know what to collectively do
Sanho Tree@sanho.bsky.social · 2d ago“Three female lions died of suspected heatstroke at Tokyo's Tama Zoo, the first heat-related deaths among the facility's lion population in its 62-year history. The lions, aged 3, 11 and 15 and all born in the zoo, showed signs of severe dehydration and multiple organ failure in post-mortem exams”
I’m gonna be rolling my eyes till I die over being accused of wasting time on “skepticism from 30,000 feet” for asking things like “What are we even trying to do here? How will we do that? Who will do what things, exactly? Who will support us doing them? Do we have the resources to accomplish that?”
“The most important discomfort that powerful people experience is having ego-shattering conflicts with subordinates who know how to do things they do not know how to do.” From experience: Business Idiots do not like fundamental questions they comically cannot answer about the thing they run
Steve B@steveb.wsocial.eu · yesterdayMust-read essential level insight from Cory @doctorow.pluralistic.net for @thenerve.news: 'This has created a situation in which everyone – "boards, executives, employees, vendors, consultants" – has a strong incentive to lie about how much AI is delivering for their companies.'
Friends who love books! I suggested to Aine that there were plenty of us on here who would donate to help her raise money for her woefully under-funded school library. Please help prove me right by donating whatever you can.
AineMcCaul ✍🏼@ainemccaul.bsky.social · yesterdayHi Alom, I finally got a fundraiser set up and approved by the school board (thanks for that wonderful idea btw) and here is the link below. gofund.me/55e46e8ca
Pretty much no one in my art school thought they’d be making a steady living from fine art or even commercial decorative painting. (I know a rare few who did though.) Art school’s a feeder stream out to graphic design, advertising, architecture, publishing, photography, jewelry, all kinds of stuff
The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d agoPresident Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v
Star Wars and Star Trek both added the stars later. Talk about false advertising!
mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 2d agoyes! one of the first things they teacher editors: "if the audience doesn't notice it, it's not a cheat"
Did you know governments build roads I may never drive on, and schools I may never attend?
USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 3d agoOpinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.
If you think of yourself as someone who “can’t draw,” you could probably learn to draw much better than you imagine. Talent’s a real thing, or rather a few things—not all even relevant! Like, not everyone can win the Boston marathon, but who cares? Ordinary talent is mostly just a drive to practice
Brooke@brooklynmarie.bsky.social · 3d agoYes!!!! I learn best by reading and doing so if you are like me these three books might be very helpful: The Art of Drawing: The Complete Course (no author listed, but the publisher is listed as Sterling) Rendering in Pen and Ink (by Arthur L. Guptill) What It Is (by Lynda Barry)
Out of curiosity, I took a look at our mutual former publication's homepage and I'm sure you'll be < "Shocked, shocked!" gif > surprised to know that it's now a Superfund site of AI slop, lol.
“Fantasy of the Optional Pandemic” is a phrase I might keep in mind. It was maddening hearing GBD-type arguments that widespread transmission would be just fine with focused protection of the vulnerable. We were already trying and failing to protect the vulnerable even with constrained transmission!
Jonathan Howard@joho.bsky.social · 4d agoThis is what I mean when I talk about the Fantasy of the Optional Pandemic, where the virus was erased from the equation and mitigation measures were always portrayed as an avoidable choice. Headlines about what actually happened are never even acknowledged.
The "Now we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier" gotcha quote from Fauci's January 26, 2020 journal entry is really misleading (as well as being stripped from its context from the very fluid early days of an emerging situation).
“Fantasy of the Optional Pandemic” is a phrase I might keep in mind. It was maddening hearing GBD-type arguments that widespread transmission would be just fine with focused protection of the vulnerable. We were already trying and failing to protect the vulnerable even with constrained transmission!
Jonathan Howard@joho.bsky.social · 4d agoThis is what I mean when I talk about the Fantasy of the Optional Pandemic, where the virus was erased from the equation and mitigation measures were always portrayed as an avoidable choice. Headlines about what actually happened are never even acknowledged.
Posner tries to make gotcha hay from the 6 feet or 2m Covid social distancing standard “was never tested at all.” That number always seemed arbitrary to me. No one knew exactly how Covid transmitted! It’s just “keep some distance” expressed as an easy to remember equivalent of a body length or so
Daniel Loxton 🇨🇦@danielloxton.bsky.social · 4d agoPosner seems to have gotten pretty conspiratorial somewhere along the way. Here his article claims only 2 of 12 virologists on a Feb 1 conference call "believed a natural origin was likely.” Those 2 instead thought "we should not waste our time and divert effort" investigating "deliberate insertion"
Useful reminder thread on Covid school closures (discussing the UK situation specifically, but generally applicable)
Prof Christina Pagel@chrischirp.bsky.social · 5d agoKeeping schools open is a goal not a policy. A blanket "never close schools" is a bad lesson. I suggest these: 1. Do not prejudge next pandemic which will be a different virus and could have very different age profile of who it attacks 9/12
The "Now we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier" gotcha quote from Fauci's January 26, 2020 journal entry is really misleading (as well as being stripped from its context from the very fluid early days of an emerging situation).
My favorite research success story, the moral of which is: always be nosey. I am writing on a subject on which everyone cites a prize-winning MA thesis that seems to be *un-gettable.* I contacted the archivist at the university where the thesis was written, and they got nothing. 1/6
I’m slow turning back to this painting project today partly because I have to make brain decisions about foreground elements, instead of just letting my hands make choices on autopilot. (Also, brain tired)