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Conor R

@alienitems.bsky.social
393 followers 1K following 122 posts

"...at the time you just thought, yes, of course. More, more of this."

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Reposted by Conor R
Dr Dean Burnett @drdeanburnett.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"By using AI, tasks like essays that used to take hours can be completed in minutes!" Sure, like how if I arrive at the gym and immediately go for a shower, my workout is done in record time. And if I throw my sandwiches straight in the bin, I can finish my lunch in under 10 seconds.
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Jay Gunn/Wilson @gunnwriter.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I had the absolute pleasure over the weekend to visit Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin’s SmallFilms museum in Canterbury. Utter delightful to see such artistry and unbound creativity from the analogue world of animation. Where low budgets and imagination and a mend-make-do attitude triumphs.
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Rob Tilsley @stargazerrob.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Update to my Saturns. This goes: 2015, 2016, then annually from 2020 onwards.
9 telescopic closeups of Saturn presenting in a horizontal row, oldest captures on the left with poorer technique and equipment going through to run of clearer images. The ring tilt can be seen going from open to closed, and now opening in the other direction.
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Conor R @alienitems.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
More great ambient work from anthéne - well worth a listen and a purchase for a good cause
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We can spend our lives debating the justifications (I more or less have); but we are wasting our time. What we need is a massive clampdown on the influence of money over politics, including lobbying transparency, campaign finance reform, an end to the revolving door between politics and lobbying.
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The Quietus @thequietus.com · 24/09/2026
'In its 75-year history, rock music never underwent such a profound and massive change as it did in 1991, and the culprits were: ‘Nevermind’, ‘The Black Album' and ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik'' Discover how grunge forced metal to grow up in our latest Extended Play feature: buff.ly/riq2nbQ
Composite image made from three album covers: ‘Nevermind’, ‘The Black Album' and ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik'.
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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Lagoon Nebula in Infrared light - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/egmQmU
This infrared image of the Lagoon nebula contrasts heavily with traditional images taken in visible light. Such images primarily display the striking magenta colour from glowing Hydrogen gas, as well as large dark obscuring clouds of dust.

The infrared part of the spectrum penetrates these clouds better and reveals complex details and thousands of young stars that are otherwise completely invisible. These stars shine primarily in the infrared and appear as golden red in this image. Only a minority of these are visible in traditional optical images. 

To create this image I used a special infrared filter. Effectively the band observed is 700-1100nm since the sillicon CCD chip is not responsive to wavelengths longer than that, and this band is called NIR (Near Infrared). One issue arising from this technique is that the NIR band does not have a colour as such, since it lies outside the visible light spectrum. 
To create a colour image from the NIR data I have developed a colour stacking technique which has produced promising results so far. 
I use the NIR filter together with G and B filters to create a colour composite. The resulting images are assigned to the different channels as NIR->Luminance, NIR->Red, G->Green and B->Blue. 

Substituting the R channel with NIR nicely brings out the contrast between the nebula itself and all the young obscured stars that shine primarily in infrared. This colour image is then overlaid with the NIR frame used as luminousity....
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A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs @500songspodcast.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs can only be brought to you by the generosity of our monthly Patreon supporters. Become one today and support the podcast! Sign up! Sign up!
patreon.com
Get more from Andrew Hickey on Patreon
Get more from Andrew Hickey on Patreon. Become a member for just $1/month. I've been writing for several years, and many people have told me they enjoy…
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nico @nicodelort.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
since i am working on my first new alt movie posters in *quite* a while, thought i'd share a selection of my favs from over the years ! title and description in alt text all of them are ink on claybord/scratchboard
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 21/09/2026
One of the less remarked-upon aspects of atheism is how it changes the way you see sunsets. If you believe in an omnipresent God, then sunsets are one of God's intentional creations, which means that the beautiful colors refracting through the darkling sky were *chosen* to produce that effect.
Two cross-sectioned anatomical drawings of men's heads revealing their brains, which have been filled with marching robots from old pulp magazines. Their stare at one another with raw, exposed anatomical drawing eyeballs, which radiate a halo of spiky lines. The background is a psychedelic, fractal-shot colored cloudscape.
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David Blanchflower BSc @davidbflower.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Waning Crescent Moon through clouds. 0325UT 8 September 2026. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour #Moon
The Moon at waning crescent phase with clouds in foreground.
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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 08/09/2026
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.
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Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
A quick edit of tonight's beautiful lunar #eclipse.
A close-up photo of the full Moon during a 96% lunar eclipse. The top of the Moon is bright white, but most of the rest is orange to red in color.
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Conor R @alienitems.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Deftones and Idles in Dublin tonight, both excellent
Deftones playing live with a rising sun as their backdropIdles playing live at IMMA, Dublin
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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
DAYUM that IS SO frickin' COOL
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Aaron Becker @aaronjbecker.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Every map slices the ocean apart to keep the land whole. This one does the opposite: on the Spilhaus projection, every ocean on Earth is one connected body of water, with a year of real satellite-tracked currents flowing across it. Data: NASA OSCAR + NOAA OISST #oceanography #cartography #dataviz
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I've been inundated with messages from people telling me how much they loved the 1st part of An Irish Atlantic Rainforest on @rteone.rte.ie last night. You can watch it again anytime on RTÉ Player tps://www.rte.ie/player/series/an-irish-atlantic-rainforest/10011258-00-0000?epguid=IP10011327-01-0001
rte.ie
An Irish Atlantic Rainforest S01E01
Two part documentary series that tells the story of Eoghan Daltun, a leading climate activist at the forefront of saving native Irish oak forests. Watch An Irish Atlantic Rainforest S01E01 on RTÉ Play...
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 22/08/2026
Any frank assessment of your achievements starts with an equally frank assessment of the world-historic forces that attended those achievements. For example, I often tell people who want to get into tech, "If you lack the foresight and work ethic to be born in 1971, I can't really help you." 1/
An old-timey baseball player sliding into base in a great dust-cloud. The background is a high-magnification multicore CPU.
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This coming Sunday at 6.30pm, the first of the 2-part tv version of An Irish Atlantic Rainforest will air on @rteone.rte.ie. It's a portrait of astonishing beauty, and of the raw joy and hope that rewilding brings into our lives. about.rte.ie/2026/08/18/a...
about.rte.ie
An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: The Story of a West Cork Rainforest on the edges of the Beara Peninsula  – About RTÉ
The two-part series begins Sunday 23 August at 6.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player An Irish Atlantic Rainforest tells the story of Eoghan Daltun, who has created his very own rainforest by rewilding an o...
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 17/08/2026
Here's a photo of a total solar eclipse. Except that's Earth in front of the Sun. And this photo was taken by the crew of Apollo 12 on their return to Earth on or about 23 November 1969.
A sliver of a planet, and a bright diamond shining in the dark.
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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/dQYhJB
This image shows Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) as it appeared on 28th January 2013. Although not a naked-eye object the comet was easily visible in my 12x80 finderscope under a full Moon.
 I also imaged this comet on 26th and 27th January and it became noticeably brighter during these three days alone. This image was made with the data from 28th January as it showed the faint tail best. Clearly visible are both the thin straight gas tail and the more diffuse dust tail that is curving down towards the left below the gas tail.
 
The comet was moving quite rapidly against the background sky. I measured the movement to be roughly 5 arcseconds per minute. This causes a problem when stacking the data, because either the stars or the comet itself will appear trailed in the final image. To avoid this I had to combine four different stacks of the data. First I used SD Mask in Maxim DL to combine the luminance data aligned om the comet nucleus. This allows for an image of the comet alone and the stars are ignored due to their shifting positions from frame to frame. This was repeated for the RGB data. Then I did another stack aligned on the stars, both for L and RGB. So I ended up with an LRGB of the comet alone and an LRGB of the stars with a smudge from the trailed/blurred comet.
 In short, I then combined these in Photoshop and selected the stars as a layer over the comet image in order to produce this final image where both the stars and the comet are aligned properly.
 
Image details...
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Radio Lento @radiolento.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Hello + welcome to a flurry of new followers! 👋 We're a podcast of sounds from real places. No ads. No music. No AI. No talking. Just quiet. We have 300 episodes to explore. Here's a good first listen 🎧
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BC_Gemma @bcgemma.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The solar eclipse from Ballycotton, 12/08/26 #Ballycotton #Eclipse
Partial solar eclipse in a cloud sky
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Pᴜʀᴇ Dᴇᴀᴅ Gᴀᴍɪɴɢ @puredeadgaming.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The results of the video I posted earlier was this iconic shot 👏 Danny León and his crew smashed it.
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Count Cormacula @cormacos.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Just as Soundgarden (1994) theorised.
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Conor R @alienitems.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
This is a great watch, some job by everyone involved
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Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 20/07/2026
Protostar IRAS 04302+2247 will one day emerge from its “cocoon” of gas and dust. 🦋 #NASAWebb and Hubble looked at this baby star, capturing aspects like the protoplanetary disk and two wing-shaped reflection nebulas. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Villenave et. al.
Toward the top left is protostar IRAS 04302+2247, which looks like a butterfly against the black background of space. The nebula’s bright core is split by a narrow, vertical dark band, its “body.” Two rainbow lobes of light radiate outward from the dark band, shaped like butterfly wings. The right lobe is more diffuse and significantly larger than the left lobe, extending toward the bottom right. Numerous background galaxies and stars are visible across the field.
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Aimee @aimeenvironment.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This string helped me articulate feelings I haven’t yet been able to turn into words. I’ve often been an early adopter of tech. But not AI. The narrative around it sets my teeth on edge. I was starting to chalk up the discordance I feel about its use to getting older. That I was missing something.
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Reproducing this excellent comment by @frank.computer here because I don't want to give more oxygen to the blockheaded post it's responding to
 Frank Elavsky
Incoming Assistant Professor of Data Science, Cal Poly SLO. I work on interactive visualization + accessibility, systems and tools.

I don't call it "slop" because of arbitrary "taste." It is slop because I am a consequentialist and I observe what it does. It produces a firehose of impossible-to-follow information (worsens my experience of finding things) and because it contributes to environmental/ethical problems (makes the environment worse, IP theft, and so on). The slop is slop because it has material impact on the world, not because I think it is bad looking or low quality. I actually *love* some low resolution, janky stuff. Hito Steyerl's "In Defense of the Poor Image" is a cornerstone piece for me, in that regard. But I despise the impacts that massively-produced media has on the world. And this is also why I don't find modern LLM/genAI slop to be particularly novel kind of slop. We already had this problem! Social media had this issue in the past decade and decades before that the problem was (and still is) mass-produced plastics. It's just even worse in magnitude now. We produce immense amounts of waste and damage for our lived environment and the costs are significant. Arguments about industry or market forces are also funny because we are just getting better at hiding the damage/risks/costs or offloading them elsewhere.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
This video clip of a swan landing on a lake is best enjoyed with AUDIO ON. Mute swans (Cygnus olor) are among the heaviest flying birds & require a long runway, which means we get the majestic approach, a few furious moments of webbed feet slapping on water, then the majestic splashdown.
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Imbibe Coffee Roasters @imbibecoffee.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Still trying & failing to make our unique business model common. We're one of best coffee roasters in the country but more importantly give up 4% of all our revenue (over 30% of profits each year). Need coffee you can buy here imbibe.ie/pages/shop . If not would be great if you share how we're run.
imbibe.ie
Shop
We are an Irish Coffee Roasting Business. We give away 4% of all we earn before we make a cent. We roast coffee very well.
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Conor R @alienitems.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Just finished Experts in a Dying Field by @patrickfreyne.bsky.social given to me for my 50th. A great story, proper funny in the right places and a touch of magic realism. Would gladly recommend it to anyone. Played at a few of the same gigs as himself back in the day so that chimed too of course
The cover of Experts in a Dying Field by Patrick Freyne, a shiny weaving fox with a city skyline on its back
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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Universities can’t pretend LLMs don’t exist, but centering curricula around AI’s capabilities is a fool’s errand: AI is evolving rapidly & we have no idea what it’ll look like in 5 years. It’ll be incredibly useful in some areas. But people who know how to think for themselves will ALWAYS be useful.
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KarrahE @karrahe.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
It's my birthday! 🤗 As per tradition, I'm humbly asking for some reposts of this or any other of my art today ❤️
Stylised bust paintings of characters from Severance. Irving is on the left looking thoughtfully to the viewer's left and wears his work attire: pale blue shirt, navy tie and vest. 

At the top Mark S is looking towards the viewer with a confused frown, mouth slightly open. He's wearing a navy blue suit and tie with a white shirt. 

On the right is Helly R, mouth slightly open, eyes wide and posture stunned as she looks to the viewer's left. She has a blue green dress on.

Dylan is at the bottom, brow scrunched and mouth open in confusion. He's wearing a dress shirt and jacket.Painterly portrait of a young androgynous Kender looking tired and lost in thought. They have a scrappy brown pixie cut, fair skin and bright, icy blue eyes ringed with dark circles. A scar marks their right cheek, and part of the ear on that side is missing. Their clothing is simple and practical: dark leathers and a forest-green cloak. They wear a gold button as a pendant.One half body painting of Luke in his Bespin outfit holding a blaster and looking vigilant. One sketchy black and white drawing of him in side profile looking left Stylised painting of Peter Falk as Columbo. He's in his mac and holding his trademark cigar. He looks go the viewer with a twinkle in his eye and knowing smile
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Brian Phillips @brianphillips.lol · 28/05/2026
Here's the serious bit for anyone who'd rather skip the 4000 words of jokes
Because the truth is, tech doesn't have an image problem. It doesn't have a message problem. It has an intention problem. What's wrong with the axe murderer who broke into my house is not that he hasn't successfully persuaded me to buy into his narrative. What's wrong is that he's trying to kill me with an axe. Similarly, when you launch a product that's designed to put millions of people out of work, block access to sources of verifiable truth, replace human creativity with slop, and lower the barriers to every sort of atrocity, the problem isn't that you haven't told the public a good story about those things. The problem is that you are trying to do them. (
There are things in the world that are more important than money. The fact that you seem not to believe this, that you seem to think any motive beyond ruthless acquisitiveness is fake, dishonest, or childish, is the heart of your problem. Your attitude is not by any means unique to tech, but the
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Alex Elizabeth Byrne McMillan @undeniablyalex.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
thank you to everyone who sent this to me
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Seán Doran @theseaning.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
'Water World' Water vapor IR bands spanning 6 days in September 2024 are repaired, remastered, resized & retimed to create this film with music by Stellardrone. Earth's atmosphere is in constant flux and beauty is everywhere. Credit: GOES16 / NASA / NOAA / Seán Doran 40m50s 4K youtu.be/OTnJyARSqL4
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 13/05/2026
there’s nothing that makes me more hopeful than discussing AI with kids & young people (& i have been getting plenty of emails from students and their teachers). this reply from a young student, a big fan of technology who ended up writing his project on the dangers of AI has made my day 😍
email reads: Dear Dr. Abeba Birhane,

Thank you so much for sharing your time and knowledge of artificial intelligence with me. I learned a lot from you, including the facial recognition mistake and the certain biases in artificial intelligence's system. 

Because of you, I  will be better able to share information about AI when I present my project to my class soon.

Thank you again,
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David Fletcher @artfletch.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Starting a new Rome thread. The Arch Of Gallienus. 3D: skfb.ly/pJn9Y
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Kate Avery @kateaveryart.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
My massive art sale is now live! All paintings are now HALF OFF the listed price! Free shipping in the US and I also offer worldwide shipping! Check it out, buy some paintings, and help me keep a roof over my head! 😝 KateAveryArt.com
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RJ Palmer 🔜 LBX 637 @rj-palmer.com · 01/05/2026
good tweet
screenshot of a very long rant tweet about the state of technology. Its too long to paste into the alt text
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Conor R @alienitems.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Really interesting one from @paulmsmithphoto.bsky.social with lots of red sprite, aurora and meteor footage - www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j1Z...
youtube.com
I Filmed Unbelievable Things In the Night Sky During Storms And A Meteor Shower
YouTube video by Paul M Smith Photography
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Foggy Notions @foggynotions.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Tickets for all shows on sale now www.paviliontheatre.ie/events/view/...
paviliontheatre.ie
Dún Laoghaire Folk Fesitval 2026 | Wed 9 - Sun 13 Sep - Pavilion Theatre
Dún Laoghaire Folk Fest returns after a three-year break, with a glittering line-up drawing on psychic happenstance, gloom-folk, the authentic voice, and the elemental energy of Dún Laoghaire itself.
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Beyond the Machina! @beyondthemachina.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Along with no job response I have 2 days, counting today, to get 400$ somehow ☠️. Its an emergency This piece is still for Sale! It comes framed, signed, and with a hand drawn token! PLEASE message me if you’re interested in getting a truly iconic logo! Like & share plz! #MTG
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Another sun sets on an Irish Atlantic rainforest.
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David Blanchflower BSc @davidbflower.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Latest image from Artemis II spacecraft. Taken by Reid Wiseman. 🔭 🧪
Planet Earth taken from Artemis II Orion space capsule.
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Radio Lento @radiolento.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
We were not expecting this on our day-off walk yesterday. A full carpet of bluebells stretching in all directions. A haze of blue. Beautiful scent in the air. What a way to welcome April.
carpet of bluebells in a wood. green leaves of the plant, single stem of flowers. just perfect. took our breath away as it was so beautiful.
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NE Ohio Regional Sewer District @neorsd.org · 31/03/2026
not ‘shopped. not cropped. not stock. straight from the phone of stormwater inspector Lindsay Schiel snapped yesterday at a basin in Hudson.
vertical image of a still retention basin and sunlit sky. the sky is split starkly down the middle, clear on the left, gray clouds on the right, sun at the center. the cloud line is reflected perfectly on the basin surface below the horizon.

photo by Lindsay Schiel NEORSD
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Gerard Cunningham @faduda.eurosky.social · 17/03/2024
As is tradition... www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbu...
youtube.com
Danny Boy
Clearly the three best singers the Muppets have ever had to offer, together at last.
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