Climate Jenny 2.1

Even my dad, who never met a gizmo he didn’t like, is ready to throw the Echo out the window. But my father still has all his marbles, and he knew he should tell me about this. What about the vulnerable elderly who don’t have the necessary defenses to push back? I’m both disgusted and a bit frightened. This needs to be exposed quickly. Suggestions welcome. #AI #ElderAbuse

@ascentale@sfba.social @kimu@wandering.shop @bikenite@fedigroups.social A1a. Northern Virginia as usual. A1b. Generally speaking, for a pre-surgery check-in, I'd focus on making sure you write "this side" and "not this side" with a Sharpie in the appropriate places. But, sure, keep bringing up the bike! When I broke my ankle a year ago, I was constantly pushing to be allowed back on the bike. It didn't make much difference -- they were not going to let me back on until the bones had set -- but they certainly heard about it. #BikeNite

Rebecca Solnit takes aim at the cynical defeatists in our lives, and nails it as usual. I am tempted to send this to my relative who, despite the fact that she knows I hate it, is constantly “joking” about how “we are all gonna die soon, so go ahead and order the French fries.” #ClimateCrisishttps://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/cynicism-and-naivete-in-the-summer-of-a-thousand-fires/?ref=meditations-in-an-emergency-newsletter

@inthehands@hachyderm.io My very non-technical historian husband says you should have multiple types of media and multiple locations.

@ascentale@sfba.social @bikenite@fedigroups.social A8. The weather and/or air quality finally improved this week and I got to take my #BikeNite sticker out for a ride. I feel 100 percent more cool with it on the bike. Thanks, @moira@mastodon.murkworks.net !

@ascentale@sfba.social @bikenite@fedigroups.social A8. Ugly picture for a happy story. This is the new bridge over the interstate that lets me get to the other side of the highway without risking death. Last week I gave it a try, riding to my favorite local organic grocery to load up with fun and unnecessary items, like a small watermelon and a case of hops water. Fun! Much more fun than buying actual necessities. #BikeNite

@ascentale@sfba.social @bikenite@fedigroups.social @DeltaWye@tiggi.es @trouble@masto.ai A6. Good question. I’ve been fiddling with the seat height, and it seems to be helping the knees. I don’t “mash” much any more, but I used to get knee pain right away from doing the exact opposite: pulling up on the pedals with toe clips. #BikeNite

@ascentale@sfba.social @nwarner@tenforward.social @bikenite@fedigroups.social A1a. Northern Virginia as usual. A1b. I’m kinda vibes based — if the tires feel soft, even if they don’t look low, I’ll add air. Otherwise I just hop on the bike and look at whether the tires react. We are all about precision around here. #BikeNight

Behold the Venus’ Fly Trap in bloom! #Botany

@ascentale@sfba.social @MartyCormack@urbanists.social @bikenite@fedigroups.social A1A. (That’s a Jimmy Buffet song.) Northern Virginia as usual. A1b. Protect the eyes while biking. That’s the lesson learned. #BikeNite

@PhoenixSerenity@beige.party I was at Costco today and I felt such pity for the landscaping shrubs that I was thinking of coming back with the pruners to clean up the dead branches.

@ascentale@sfba.social @geonz@mathstodon.xyz @bikenite@fedigroups.social A1a. Northern Virginia as always. Smoky here. A1b. Pretty sure not. Bike tires are a bit narrow to use as planters. #BikeNite

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org Nice work! Impressive!

If you need to go out in the heat anyway, this is the message you need right now. I say this as someone who hates YouTube and does NOT watch YouTube without an extremely compelling reason. Except Sarah Taber. I will actually watch to the end of a video of @sarahtaber@mastodon.online, because she is funny and smart and actually cares about keeping people from dying. And an actual farmer. #Heatwaves https://mastodon.online/@sarahtaber/116907540433115065

@ascentale@sfba.social @grammasaurus@mastodon.social @bikenite@fedigroups.social A1. Northern Virginia as usual. It’s hot as an oven out there. Bike tips? Hah. Don’t go if you don’t have to. Stay in the shade and move as slowly as possible. #bikeNite

Tidbit if you get one: The CO2 monitor takes quite a while to calibrate after you power it up. It tends to wake up and announce a very concerning CO2 level. After a couple hours, it seems to be a more reasonable reading. Keep this in mind if you are planning to use this out and about, so you don’t freak yourself out unnecessarily.

This is not an IKEA ad, but this is a very useful tool at $34.99 USD, plus a cable if you need one. I felt a bit silly when I bought it. Now I feel shocked that it only took six months to go from a cute toy to a serious and necessary tool.

… or maybe not! Cross your fingers. Too soon to know. https://mastodon.social/@ec_euclid/116982601534636611

@ascentale@sfba.social @sheromon@hachyderm.io @bikenite@fedigroups.social A3. Back in the day I liked Bike Nashbar for accessories and small stuff. It was pre-Internet mail order. I think the Internet did them in. I’ve never been lucky enough to have a LBS nearby, but I do have an REI nearby and bought my current bike there, so I’m kinda stuck. There is no ethical consumerism in late capitalism, right? #BikeNite

@inthehands Good points. He’s always rubbed me the wrong way as well, but the latest nonsense has forced me to think about why. Your take runs parallel to mine — he lacks self-awareness about the flaws in his thinking and his inherent biases and blind spots. What really galls me is that he has been a biologist all his life and yet fails to understand that humans are material beings enmeshed in the living world, not clockmaker Gods creating new life out of clever software.

@johncarlosbaez I’ve found ignoring Richard Dawkins has made my life marginally more pleasant for many years, but now I’m wondering in what sense he calls himself a “biologist.”

@futurebird@sauropods.win @michaelgemar@cosocial.ca @Npars01@mstdn.social Let’s celebrate myrmecochory! Pollinators are great and all, but who is going to distribute all those tiny violet seeds all over the landscape? Certainly not the birds.

@dillyd@turtleisland.social https://homegrownnationalpark.org/build-mosquito-bucket/ Have you tried this? Makes a huge dent in the number of mosquitos and doesn’t kill anything else. I also have a silly little fan that I wear around my neck. It looks like headphones. Also, permethrin-treated cloth. I’ll wrap this around my arms and torso after dark. https://www.insectshield.com/collections/wrap-scarves @czarbucks@vmst.io

@SallyStrange@eldritch.cafe Ah, here it is. https://nautil.us/what-if-every-roadkill-had-a-memorial-1219055

@ChristineMalec@mstdn.ca It would seem to be a Hong Kong $5 coin.

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org Nah, he was pop. Maybe he started out in country?

@blogdiva@mastodon.social @dangillmor@mastodon.social Are you referring to how their crappy opsec landed Reality Winner in prison? Surely that would have been enough to make them a lot more careful….

@CiaraNi@mastodon.green @juliette@mastodon.green We're all the skunk at the garden party now.

@johncarlosbaez I’m probably being unfair to a complicated man who may be becoming vulnerable as he ages, but I would hope that a career studying how life works would leave you a bit wiser than he seems to be.

@Nonilex@masto.ai @NatureMC@mastodon.online I am in mourning today.

@kevpeirce@aus.social That’s very fancy. Mine only has “potato” and it doesn’t work either.

@meshe@socialbc.ca This is beautiful.

@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz Good stuff. Do make sure to let us know when you’ve finished it.

@benlockwood@ecoevo.social It’s already here. It’s coffee.

@paco@infosec.exchange It’s almost noon. How many voters have you had?

@dan@discuss.systems Your mom didn’t go to med school in Virginia, did she?

@kenSwinson@indieweb.social Dang it, you really are going to make me drive down there, aren’t you? 😉

@DeliaChristina@sfba.social Oh no. This is terrible.

@tantramar@zeroes.ca One of the purest joys available in this space and time is Angine de Poitrine.

Coyote v. Acme, the movie, did not disappoint.

@rjohnsonmn@mastodon.social Thanks for the clarification!

@me_valentijn@m.ai6yr.org @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org Doesn’t suck if you need a quick and dirty (heh) reading on trends. My little toy told me that, whatever the actually particulate level indoors actually was, the level outdoors was about 50 times worse. That told me what I needed to know about the inside and outside air. They really should warn you about the CO2 meter taking a long time to settle. You would have a hard time using these to get a quick read in the air in the grocery store, for instance.

@samlitzinger@journa.host We need the rain.

@Fu@hostux.social For me, it (1) provides very local information on the outside air, rather than a Purple Air monitor a few miles away or a government monitoring station a dozen miles away; and (2) verifies that the in-house air filtration is doing a good job. It’s really very reassuring to bring the little box inside and watch the PM 2.5 reading drop from 200 to 5.

@bellegraylane@universeodon.com IKEA. Very cheap, but adequate. I got it for the CO2 meter but I’m also enjoying the particulate sensor! I’m not sure it’s terribly well calibrated but it’s perfectly fine for seeing trends and getting a rough idea of what’s happening. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/alpstuga-air-quality-sensor-smart-70609396/

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org I’ve been playing with the idea of enhancement number 4 as well, but I’m not sure it would be worth the expense.