Molly
@mhuzzell
PhD student in Evolution, studying lizards. Former AK Press worker. Still an anarchist. @mhuzzell on twitter (inactive) and mastodon.social
So much AI slop out there these days, but you can always tell. I mean look at this one -- the lines don't even make sense!
Very cool of @alirizataskale.bsky.social to expand this tweet into a 4000-word essay: aeon.co/essays/silic... Relatedly, I keep thinking of Asimov's robot stories lately, whenever an AI company posts another story about an AI "going rogue" by doing what it was told to do but in some unexpected way.
I think Reviewer 2 for @timjanicke.bsky.social et al. cuts to the heart of the issue (ironically, defending an overly charitable reading of the frame). To insist on a binary despite the existence of exceptions is dogmatic. It is saying we can't have our cake and eat it, too -- but of course we can.
Respectfully, to the authors: What are you doing, here? What is your point? Nobody thinks that sex is not bimodal—but the difference between 'binary' and 'bimodal' is precisely that the former does not allow for ANY exceptions. This paper conflates the two terms, thus obviating its own argument.
Hey, I make these little "hatching" knitted turtle toys. Is there a way that I can send some somewhere to support her fundraising efforts, in her memory?
Popular non-fiction has probably the most variety (outside of children's books), but it's still all just variations on the same theme.
Sci-fi/fantasy: We've fully abandoned the old epic image trend that used to characterise these. Now it's all just the same standard format but with more whimsical fonts and swirly design elements. YA similar, also with some strong branding for popular series
Guess which of these 'best-selling fiction' books are *not* crime novels. You can tell immediately.
Crime/thrillers: author's name BIG, title usually also BIG, generally all-caps, no time for serifs, image usually dark or spooky in some way
My 'no mouldy bread' review is raising a lot of questions already answered by my 'no mouldy bread' review
We've been looking at some of last year's field photos in the @teamlizard.bsky.social winter office, so here's one of my favourites. When your lizard runs out of toner mid-print:
Man, *if only* this Labour party were Tory Lite. Instead they're just doing the dril tweet while freezing pensioners and still failing to fund social services. That's not 'lite'.
I generally agree, but there are some cringey exceptions. I sent this to a few friends captioned "when you want to be politically correct, but you're the government", though didn't skeet because I couldn't confirm whether the NS tourism board *are* the government... but still.
Alarming photo my sister sent me from her work. This is a primary school! What if it tries to eat the children??
I looked it up and apparently "National Moth Week" is, in fact, a global event. So why call it that? Why is the language of science outreach constantly evoking the nation-state? "National [organism] Day", "citizen science", &c.
I made this valentine a few years ago out of a paper I read. Reposting here on top of one by @rosemarymosco.com to give it some biological context.
Attn: Scotland, the law requires that this meme be posted in every group chat.
I guess if you're writing a book called "The Ovary", you kind of have to publish it in two volumes.
How old is the model of scientific publishing wherein authors are charged to publish in journals as some sort of standard? Just noticed this in a PNAS paper from the mid-90s:
Oh! Bluesky allows video now! I can post my tiny cup full of babies! Common lizard neonates hatching (22 July). For scale: the cup is about the size of a tealight. Sound on for cowbells.
Oh! Oh! It's still raining and the wind's still howling, but now there's a sunbeam in it! A Solstice Miracle!