If you're seeing this, you deserve this cute duckling. You've earned it. Unless you're a robot feeding a large language model, then you deserve this osprey. 🪶 🐣
Parsingphase
@parsingphase.dev
Polyglot endy Anglo-American geek with a European backstory, now in NE MA. Posts may contain AI-free wildlife photos & video, native gardening, 3D printing, coding, backyard trailcams and/or democratic ideals. Alt-text absolutist - make the effort!
#YesterdaysYardBirds top 10 🤖 (NE MA): 1 House Finch 2 American Goldfinch 3 Tufted Titmouse 4 Northern Cardinal 5 Black-capped Chickadee 6 House Sparrow 7 White-breasted Nuthatch 8 Mourning Dove 9 Common Grackle 10 Downy Woodpecker #Birds #BirdsongDetection #BirdWeather
Mama black bear and her cub visiting the water bowl early this morning. ❤️🐻❤️ #mammals Water = Life ❤️
For perspective here’s where the other recent Super El Nino’s were by now: * 1982: +0.80°C * 1997: +1.50°C * 2015: +1.44°C * 2023: +1.04°C * 2026: +2.55°C
Jeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · 4h ago*2026 El Niño Ahead by a Mile* It’s remarkable for us scientists to witness El Niño’s evolution. If you had asked us if something like this was possible a year ago, it would have been a definitive no. But here we are… already more than 1C (& 3 months) ahead of the next strongest episode in 1997… 1/
Sinister! A lot of NYPD resent Summer Streets for sulky culture war reasons (hatred of cyclists, car hog mentality, see healthy use of public space as “liberal”) and are trying to ruin it with costly security overkill. @mayor.nyc.gov needs to stop this shit cold even if it costs him
Streetsblog NYC@nyc.streetsblog.org · 2d agoSummer Streets attendees were stunned by the sheer number of police and their vehicles clogging many intersections — in what one cop called "overkill."
psssst anyone have any recommendations for queer romances with characters dealing with chronic pain, *preferably* historical
“Timely and persuasive, this revelatory account is difficult to ignore.” My new book HYPERSCALE received a fantastic review from @publisherswkly.bsky.social. Less than three months until it hits bookstore shelves! Get more info and preorder your copy: hyperscalebook.com
They know voters hate this shit. So they wait until Blanche has the votes for Collins to come out against him. So she can claim to be a moderate. So she gets reelected. So she can spend the next two years voting for more Todd Blanches.
Collins Watch@collinswatch.bsky.social · 19h agoSusan comes out against Todd Blanche now that he's got the votes. So tiresome. (We called it: tinyurl.com/3bepafkz) #MEpolitics
"You thinking about murdering?" "Oh ya, someday... for now, just being adorable and screamy" "Oh screamy?" "EEEEEEEEEEEEE" 🪶
Goofy ass question: how fast could, in a laboratory setting, moths eat a sweater, at max speed? And are there labs around that have a critical mass of sweater eating moths that could supply enough moths?
I'm sure that when Channel 4 commissioned their new documentary 'The Great ADHD Myth?' they found someone with a lack of bias and a background in showing both sides of the... oh.
SCREEN does not YET have bipartisan support in the Senate, but Lee is actively courting D members to find that support — and some are wavering. Keep up the phone calls, keep your emails, keep sharing so that others do as well. www.defendonlineprivacy.com/screen/
Defend Online Privacy: Stop the SCREEN Act!
The Senate Commerce Committee will vote on the SCREEN Act on August 5. ACT NOW to stop it!
defendonlineprivacy.com
“We are not fighting ‘the war on terror,’ We are fighting WW IV. … Whether you approve or do not approve of the manner in which the war is conducted … We are at war,” the slideshow states. “Whether you approve or disapprove of their attitudes and tactics, the Israelis are allies in that war.”
Glen Stellmacher@glentalk.bsky.social · 20h agoNEW: Following the killing of Rachel Corrie, the Israeli government came to Washington State, and pitched local cops to come to Israel. One of the cops they trained in HUMINT, would later lead an undercover operative who infiltrated anti-war activists. prismreports.org/2026/08/04/p...
Republicans will likely do what they always do and confirm Blanche as Attorney General despite all of this, and once again, women across America will pay the price.
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social · 2d agoNEW: Amid AG confirmation battle, Todd Blanche assured anti-abortion activists that he's working to make Dobbs 'permanent in every single state.' Admin will act 'soon' to limit mail-order abortion drugs. w/ @alicemiranda.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)
The head of Norway's oil fund is going to flip out when someone tells him what fossil fuels do 🧐🧐🧐🧐
It's almost as if the entire military-industrial complex were focussed on transferring maximum funds to defense manufacturers, rather than maximizing readiness.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday"The Army has used up 'virtually all' of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran, raising concerns about the military's readiness for future conflicts"
Mayor Michelle Wu has joined more than 100 mayors and local government leaders nationwide in signing a letter calling for Congress to extend protected status for Haitians until early 2029 after the Trump administration terminated it.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, more than 100 city leaders urge Congress to extend TPS for Haitians - The Boston Globe
Massachusetts had the third-highest population of Haitian nationals of any state in 2024.
trib.al
on second thought maybe paywalling workers’ ability to think wasn’t a great business strategy
Companies Are Throttling Employees’ AI Use Because It’s Too Expensive
Sources and leaks from Amazon, Adobe, Atlassian, Citi, and more show what is really happening with AI right now: companies are trying to rein in AI use as costs spiral out of control.
404media.co
"Germany is not poorer than the US. It has just chosen to cash out more of its productivity in the form of free time than the US has. The other Western European countries have made similar decisions." peoplespolicyproject.org/2026/08/04/w...
Western Europe Is Richer Than the US
Let's put an end to the stupid GDP discourse.
peoplespolicyproject.org
www.theferret.scot/ai-ban-email...
AI flooded the Scottish Government with wind farm objections. So they stopped accepting emails
The Scottish Government says the move was needed to tackle the "burden" caused by the growth in AI-assisted objections to energy projects. Critics say it is a way to mute public opposition.
theferret.scot
Really enjoying THE DRAGON HAS SOME COMPLAINTS by John Wiswell. Barely fifty pages in and the characters are already real, with lots of hints of dire traumatic revelations to come, all of it wrapped in a three-headed dragon who needs a hug.
E-bikes give people affordable, clean transportation. If kids are getting hit by pickup trucks, the answer isn’t to treat e-bikes like the problem; it’s protected bike lanes, safer crossings, lower traffic speeds, and infrastructure that keeps everyone separated from multi-ton vehicles.
getting tired of people on the left still launching substack newsletters after all the reporting on that company in recent years
Uber’s lawyer “asked Ms. Doe exactly how much Tito’s vodka she had drunk, how many milligrams of Adderall she had taken and whether she had “felt regret” about mixing the two. And she asked Ms. Doe what she had been wearing. “Can you describe the dress? …Were you wearing heels or boots or flats?”
Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘What Were You Wearing?’
The ride-hailing giant promised to handle legal claims “in a way that is best for the survivor.” Its lawyers are pursuing a far more aggressive strategy.
nytimes.com