iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Brett Ortler

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Incredible - and I am not being hyperbolic - pictures of a living mycorrhizal network, the first time we can really see what's going on in the rhizosphere - the thing which underpins all life on this planet. eos.org/articles/fun...

eos.org

Fungi Are Holding the Food Web Together. New Research Images This Underground Network. - Eos

By combining computer tomography—the same technology used for medical scans—with a high-powered particle accelerator, researchers have imaged the network of roots, fungal structures, and soil together...

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Driving range golf ball collector (in an up-armored golf cart). I would regularly dare folks to hit me as I zipped around in evasive maneuvers. When one inevitably connected it was like being inside a gong.

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I am very happy to share my article about #tardigrades from the latest issue of the #Minnesota Conservation Volunteer. It is a pretty personal piece and talks about the my journey into tardigrade hunting (and the amazing mentorship I was fortunate to have along the way).

dnr.state.mn.us

Feature: Tiny, Tough, and Totally Fascinating | July–August 2026 | Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 16/07/2026

Brennan Dettmann, a meterologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, said the smoke “might stick around for a while once it arrives. It all depends on the direction of the winds and how much gets sloshed around in the atmosphere.”

startribune.com

Wildfire smoke is arriving in the Twin Cities and central Minnesota. Here is what to expect.

Winds will determine how much makes it here, and how long it will stay around.

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

Ward Q. Normal (he/him) @wardqnormal.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

That's really remarkable--and troubling.

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

still the definitive statement on "can you cheer for team usa if the usa does bad things" discourse:

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I am quite stoked that I have a new article in the #Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, and this one is somewhat personal. In it, I talk about my journey as an amateur #tardigrade hunter (I call it the tardigrade rodeo) and the generous mentorship I have encountered along the way.

A magazine spread from the MN Conservation Volunteer article about tardigrades with a large digital rendering of a tardigrade on the right hand side

A magazine spread from the MN Conservation Volunteer article about tardigrades with a photomicrograph of a tardigrade found in Minnesota

A magazine spread from the MN Conservation Volunteer article about tardigrades with a closeup of a tardigrade microphotograph

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

King Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Enjoy this article from a Minnesota newspaper in 1882 noting that Scandinavians love their home countries so much that it will take them generations to assimilate into America. www.loc.gov/resource/sn8...

SCANDINAVIANS
No people on earth, probably excel the Scandinavians, and scarcely any equal them, unless it may be the Swiss mountaineers, in attachment to their native country. The Scandinavian emigrant
brings with him to this country, not only his love of home, but his attachments to customs and habits of his old home. So
strong is this passion that it is hard for him to assimilate to the customs of his new home, and to conform to the ideas of American citizenship, but he remains in his adopted land, a foreigner, in all that pertains to his modes, manners, habits,
likes and dislikes.

This peculiar habit of our Scandinavian fellow citizens, and this strong, over-mastering attachment to their native land, has not been generally known and appreciated by our own citizens, "to the manor born."
It will take several generations to wear away this foster land attachment, and to assimilate the Scandinavian emigrant, and
absorb him into the language, habits, customs and true idea of a homogeneous American citizenship.

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Mister pinchy (Pseudoscorpion)

A tiny black and white striped pseudoscorpion against a wall, zoomed in to show maximum pinceryness

A tiny black and white striped pseudoscorpion against a wall, actual size (grain of riceish)

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I regret to inform you that wood ticks, do, in fact fluoresce under UV light.

A wan brown, engorged dog tick under visible light in a sterescope

A eerie yellowish engorged dog tick under UV light in a sterescope

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

So one question that I wanted to answer when writing my book, Curious & Fascinating Facts: Minnesota, was "What's the most dangerous animal in the state?" The answer might be surprising! #minnesota You can take a gander at the book here: shop.adventurewithkeen.com/product/curi...

youtube.com

Ask the Author: Brett Ortler with Curious and Fascinating Facts: Minnesota #deadliestanimal

YouTube video by AdventureKEEN Publishing

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 18/06/2026

i fear we have no choice but to fill the reflecting pool with beans

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

tsutrav @tsutrav.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Congratulations!!!

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

lunch break with the lads

Assorted North American caterpillars eating their lunches on a branch high over the forest, posed in the manner of that one famous photo of construction workers sitting along an I-beam

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Need any…moths!? Cecropia moth and the Columbia silkmoth, from northern Minnesota last weekend. #TeamMoth #lamp #moths #inaturalist

A mostly gray Cecropia moth with a wingspan of five inches, but with bright pink to white teardrop shape markings on its hind wings and forewings and bright lines of pink, white, gray and black along the edges

A Columbia silk moth, held in hand, about 3 inches in wingspan and generally maroon in color but with cream tear like spots on its wings and prominent eye-like spots on its forewing tips

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

My book is now out! I first wrote #Minnesota Trivia Don’tcha Know back in 2014, and it is wholly updated with a new design and new features! 📚#books

A green and white book entitled Curious & Fascinating Facts Minnesota, with a loon, an agate, the northern lights and Bean and Bear Lake in MN

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

AdventureKEEN Publishing @adventurekeen.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

WE ALL LOVE WORDS! 😍 Climate Action for Kids storytime with Ian Hunt at WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn. #kidsbook #booksky

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Attention Synth Music lyricists: "The only thing that goes faster than light...is darkness."

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

Tom Olsen @olsenforparks.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Minnesota Nice.

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Math teachers everywhere are just shrieking.

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

The MN Twins had this like 1/3 scale plastic Twins helmet that was filled to the brim with nachos w the liquid cheese, zillions of jalapeños, and crumbly meat straight out of a 7th grade cafeteria. It was glorious.

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl @deardara.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

You guys. A goose is nesting under the Spoon Bridge and Cherry. This is our Romulus and Remus moment. We already became ungovernable. Now we become myth. #Minneapolis.

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Inadvertently made the best typo. Instead of "sandhill cranes," I typed "sandchill cranes." Sandchill crane: *eyes red* Like, bruh, we can do the mating dance later. Let's watch Looney Tunes re-runs.

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Also, me at every news headline these days

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 14/04/2026

The index of consumer sentiment isn't broken; models that try to predict it just don't have the right input variables. I fix that and find that, yes, high nominal price levels explain why the vibes are so off. It's the prices, stupid www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-14...

gelliottmorris.com

It's the Prices, Stupid

Consumer sentiment is at an all-time low because prices are at an all-time high. Consumer sentiment isn't broken, popular government data is just incomplete

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Reposted by Brett Ortler

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Breaking: ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota county investigates ICE arrest of Hmong American man as a potential case of kidnapping and false imprisonment.

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Brett Ortler @gutenfrog.bsky.social · 13/04/2026