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Butterfly Blues

@choving.bsky.social
119 followers 159 following 404 posts

Wildlife ecologist, adaptation scientist, complex adaptive systems modeler, Cassandra-type prophet (apparently), avid gardener and hiker. Personal account; views are my own.

PostsRepliesMedia
Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
My favorite side character since Bob
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Spotted this silver-spotted skipper while hiking at a local land conservacy preserve
Silver spotted skipper on teasel
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 22/08/2024
Alongside "who built Hadrian's wall?", another great example of knowledge falling foul of 'common understanding' is scurvy. The Royal Navy discovered the cure for scurvy, won the Napoleonic War, humanity then lost that knowledge without realising, then got saved by two Norwegian guinea pigs 🧵 /1
A black and white Guinea pig called George. He is amazing.
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Doctora Malka Older @older.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
It's MAYDAY! which, among other things, means that at @globalvoices.org we're closing out last month's AI Spotlight (my editorial will be publishing soon...😬) and kicking off POSITIVE ACTION ON CLIMATE! The Spotlight will fill up over May with articles, essays, & analysis from all over the world!
globalvoices.org
Positive action on climate · Global Voices
Through this series, we will not just lay out the problems surfacing because of the climate crisis, but also explore the solutions: what is being built, grown, fought for, and imagined from the ground...
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Unlearning is underappreciated. I wonder if that is really the difference between a university education (ideally, if not in practice) and the illusion of expertise you get from too much AI chat or too much scrolling through algorithm-driven social media? Sycophantic algorithms don't challenge.
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Biodiversity Pics @biodiversitypix.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
🦄 Historiae naturalis de quadrupedibus libri: . Amstelodami: Apud Ioannem Iacobi Fil. Schipper, MDCLVII [1657]. [Source]
Historical illustration from 1657 depicting three unicorn-like creatures. The top figure shows a horse-like unicorn with a long, straight horn and a raised front leg, labeled “Onager Wald Esel.” The middle figure is a stocky, muscular unicorn with a thick neck, a straight horn, and a protruding tongue, labeled “Lupus Marinus Meer Wolff.” The bottom figure is a shaggy goat-like creature with curved horns and a unicorn horn on its forehead, labeled “Capra Sylvestris wild Geiß art.” Each creature is set against a simple natural background with smaller animals in the distance. The style is detailed line engraving typical of natural history works.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
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Ida B Wells' Winchester Rifle @dytsras.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Freedom is only a hop away. Can he make it?
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Fun to read as my wife and I are literally on the road driving to Carleton to visit our kiddo. This piece really captures the quirky and caring atmosphere.
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
If any more awful men wish to file their resignation from Congress, for heaven’s sake, send them in. I’m quite at my leisure.
media.tenor.com
a man with long white hair and a beard wears a brown vest
Alt: a man with long white hair and a beard wears a brown vest
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 07/04/2026
just to be clear, everyone, when 8 pm EDT comes and goes, regardless of what does or does not happen, the president still threatened genocide and war crimes and we should still impeach, arrest, and try him
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Scroll All The Way D O W N
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Fun woodcock trivia: the brain is upside down. Because evolution and the need to have eyes closer to the back of its head and apparently upside down brain is more adaptive than long optic nerves. Or something.
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Adam S. Green @adamsgreen.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Democracy isn't a modern luxury—it's a political strategy with deep roots. In our new study for Science Advances, we analyse 40 different societies and develop a framework for measuring human governance along a collective-autocratic axis. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The distribution of power and inclusiveness across deep time
Democratic practice in the premodern world was not the exclusive domain of Greece and Rome.
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Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Excellent reading to pass along to anybody who thinks violent revolution would be an improvement on our current non-violent protests -- short form is, the success rate of the former is abysmal, the latter very good (and working *very well* right now): acoup.blog/2026/02/13/c...
acoup.blog
Collections: Against the State – A Primer on Terrorism, Insurgency and Protest
This week, continuing in the vein of some of our previous strategy and military theory primers, I wanted to off a basic 101-level survey of the strategic theory behind efforts, in a sense, directed…
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Went for a hike. Saw ice. (The cool kind.) Thoroughly documented was ice was doing with my cell phone.
Neat geometric patterns in the ice at a local pond
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AGU (American Geophysical Union) @agu.org · 12/03/2026
NASA scientists and engineers have developed low-cost lightweight #RemoteSensing instruments that anyone can build and use to bring remote sensing science to communities beyond traditional professional scientists. 🔗 Learn more in AGU's Perspectives:  buff.ly/tfFIR95 #AGUPubs #STEM #Education
New in Perspectives
Science and Technology Education for Land / Life Assessment (STELLA): Democratizing Remote Sensing Science With Low-Cost Open-Source Instruments for Research and Education
By Mirel et al 2025
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Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Passages in a tower. Marvelous (and very calm) work by Egbert van der Poel of Delft, who tended more toward catastrophe. He was born on this day in 1621..
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Posting this now. #2026MMM starts soon. I am team Honey Badger, and actually I do care. I care very much.
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Semi-feral Post Monger @dwaynefuhlhage.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
TWO HONORARY MAMMALS ENTER ONE HONORARY MAMMAL LEAVES If you are deeply confused, tune in at 7:00 PM CDT for the strange and terrible tale of the #2026MMM That's So Metal Wild Card round. The winner gets to go up against my beloved Honey Badger.
media.tenor.com
a couple of muppets giving the horns sign with their hands
ALT: a couple of muppets giving the horns sign with their hands
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Not just water governance. My bosses want science based on old, simple, well-established methods. Novelty might get you published, but it also might mean the results are less likely to impact policy or practice outside academia.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Thank you! Yes! As a government planner, this is one of my pet peeves. So glad to see this in the literature. I thought maybe it was just me.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Any chance that the UN Foundation will spin up a mechanism for sub-national units of government to participate formally and collectively in IPBES, similar to the IPCC and the United States Climate Alliance? usclimatealliance.org
usclimatealliance.org
U.S. Climate Alliance
States United for Climate Action | The U.S. Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of governors securing America’s net-zero future by advancing state-led, high-impact climate action.
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sirosenbaum.bsky.social @sirosenbaum.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
this is such a classic villain quote
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Can you expand on "one of my solar punk communities?" Is there a list or starter pack? How do I sign up? :)
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Years do not have plans (that we can share with mere mortals), but I can assure you that we years are not just making sh*t up as we go along. It is definitely not just random carp that you humans selectively remember into a neat personal narrative to create the illusion of order and control.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Hi, I am my teammate's Dad who thought it would be cool to try to throw a fastball to the other teammate's Dad right behind me during the first day of "t-ball," a beginner version of the sport baseball, a game in which men throw a round white rock at each other.
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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
This Upton Sinclair quote never misses “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
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Solaris Books @solarisbooks.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
We do NOT have 8 maids-a-milking but we do have a linguist who could probably tell us why it's 'a-milking' - Sean Wren from @taranhunt.bsky.social 's THE KYSTROM CHRONICLES! Open to US/CAN/UK & IE only. Like, follow, repost & drop a ☄️in the comments to enter! Ends 11th Jan 2026 23:59 GMT🪐📚💙
Two paperbacks from Taran Hunt's KYSTROM CHRONICLES - THE IMMORTALITY THIEF and THE UNKILLABLE PRINCESS - surrounded by blue, gold and white Christmas decorations.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
☄️
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In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
I feel this is probably quite important information. You wouldn't want to get it wrong.
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Mel, the Herohom ( • `ω´ • ) ➡️ FFXIV Fanfest 🇯🇵 @herohommel.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
I've waited 3 years to make this post
screenshot of tweet saying "who the fuck is playing pokemon in antarctica" with a trade partner in antarcticaphoto of me in antarctica playing my switch. adelie penguins are in the backgroundphoto of me in antarctica playing my switch, with pokemon legends z-a. adelie penguins are in the background.
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 29/12/2025
You probably heard the US admin is threatening to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research: but did you know they already froze funding for the 9 regional Climate Science Adaptation Centers? From tracking invasives to helping tribes with drought, here's why the CASCs matter ⬇️
theconversation.com
From invasive species tracking to water security – what’s lost with federal funding cuts at US Climate Adaptation Science Centers
The people who manage America’s aquifers, wetlands, shorelines and recreation areas rely on federal science as they face new and rising risks in a changing climate.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Tech-savvy female survivalist influencer from The Future, thanks to @naomialderman.bsky.social
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
My favorite minor celebrity interaction was reconnecting with my college roommate, Jim C Hines @jimchines.com We chatted about our jobs, and I described a wolf management plan I was working on. Years later I discovered that plan referenced in Libriomancer as a secret werewolf protection program.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Duck penises is one of my go to wildlife trivia as well. To my knowledge, no minor celebrities involved in my explanations.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Knives Out rickroll
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Politicians, influencers, and entertainment "news" shows operate on the same incentive structure. Which is how we got (waves arms) all this.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
AI is about as accurate as someone who sounds smart because they are good at improv that sounds like it could be true. But because truth is often stranger than fiction, that person is often wrong. Like this type of person, the system is rewarded by popularity, not accuracy.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
A Half-built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys. Near future alien contact in which both sides are nursing at contact. And that is just the opening scene. Lots of climate and gender politics, and one of the few books that I re-started immediately after finishing because I missed the characters.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
The Future by Naomi Alderman. I just finished it today. Near future sci-fi with f/f romance. Tech monopolies, the end of the world, activism and hope... basically politics with an engaging plot.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
I was a newbie making newbie mistakes back in July. Chatted with a newbie back in November, and she needed no help. Last month there was a whole thing with two EV delivery drivers of two trucks. Neither driver had any idea and it was GM chargers which are buggy anyway. This is all Michigan.
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Butterfly Blues @choving.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Perhaps this dates me, but I remember listening to that show when I was a graduate student.
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Marie Brennan @swantower.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
My entire existence has been summed up in a t-shirt . . .
A dark green shirt showing a grumpy-looking black cat holding a mug of tea, and the text "That's what I do: I read books, I drink tea, and I know things"
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Samuel Pepys @samuelpepys.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
To my office, practising arithmetique alone and making an end of last night’s book with great content, and so home to supper and to bed.
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★Jay ✩ Funkiest Bug @erujayy.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Merry Holidays and Happy #InverteFest !! Hope everyone is having a tentalicious time today ✨🐙 #inverts 🦐🐞
A red octopus with orange spots is holding up or hiding inside a christmas hat with the text surrounding it "Octoclause is coming to town"
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Evelyndroid's Aperture Science and Bugge-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Day 25 of my 2025 Favorites: the most festive of boys Phidippus cardinalis. Just a lovely little velvet ant mimic lad. That red is so striking in the sandy scrub. ❤️ #EmotionalSupportSpood #InverteFest Merry Whatever-The-Hell-You're-Doing-Today Day to you all
Soft fuzzy jumping spider with black legs and a bright red "cap" CNN a bright red booty visible behind him. He's peering at you from a dry oak leaf View of the lad from behind, as he peers at something to upper right of frame. The top of his entire body is just bright velvety red
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Pork-Sly @pork-sly.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
I can relate, Murderbot. I can relate. #murderbot #slyart
Fan art of the character Murderbot from the TV show Murderbot. Murderbot is standing in a building that is burning down around it. It’s body language looks resigned. The thought bubble next to the character reads: I JUST WANT TO WATCH MY SHOWS.
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