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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 18h

Happy weekend! Here’s a 3,500 year-old Minoan clay flask decorated with a wide-eyed octopus! 🐙❤️ From Palaikastro, Crete. Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

My photo shows a frontal view of a clay flask with warm-yellow coloured slip with black hand painted decoration depicting an octopus. The octopus is swimming diagonally with eight writhing, sucker-lined arms covering the surface of the flask. It stares out at the viewer with wide, almost cartoon-like eyes. Additional black painted motifs include sea urchins, tritons, small rocks and seaweed. Minoan decoration depicting sea motifs is known by scholars as the 'Marine Style'. The flask measures 27 cm (about 10.5 inches) in height. It has a short spout at the top with a small loop handle at either side and a small base so that it can stand upright.

“Its shape is somewhat unusual, constructed by slipping together, while still leather hard (clay that is not quite dry), two shallow plates which had been made on a fast spinning potter’s wheel and with highly refined clay. The circular bases of these shallow plates are still visible in the center of both sides of the flask” (Smart History article “Octopus Vase” by Dr Senta German https://smarthistory.org/octopus-vase/)

The flask was excavated in 1903 at a Bronze Age settlement site at Palaikastro. The excavations between 1902 and 1906, were run by R. Bosanquet and R.M. Dawkins from the British School of Athens. The flask is part of the collections at Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Heraklion, Crete.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I realized the other day that I scheduled a stressful (albeit routine) trip to the vet for the day after the midterms. Probably not a wise choice either way it goes.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

In "I'll take crazy unrealistic job ads for $200, Alex" news, I've just seen a job ad where the institution seems to be wanting someone to run pre-award AND post-award for grant administration, plus proposal development, plus run the IRB. 👀

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Happy "The Yankees are Eliminated" day to all who celebrate! #baseball

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There is a lot of "oh dear" to go around in the results of this very thorough Pew study on the issues with synthetic samples, but this strikes me as particularly "oh dear" www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/20...

AI polling results can lean on racial or partisan stereotypes

In many cases, our AI poll took beliefs or attitudes that are reasonably common among a particular subgroup and portrayed them as nearly ubiquitous. For example, our AI poll would indicate that:

97% of Hispanic adults are at least somewhat likely to follow the World Cup (while the actual share is 43%).

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

And I am disgusted to be getting "please don't cancel your subscription!" emails from McLatchy that are like, "keep us so you can support local!" Paris Hilton and the like; I ask you (rhetorically).

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Ugh, I think we might have gotten the same one. Two alerts in like 4 minutes while I was in a meeting.

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Once again, I gotta say: you cannot treat anything you’re feeding into an AI as anonymous. There are enormous ethics implications for, e.g. referees who are clearly uploading others’ unpublished papers without consent, let alone health care professionals or law enforcement

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Melissa Johnson, PhD @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

We should let people dream of something besides labor

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

There have been more realistic opportunities for 10K points recently, I think.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Settling in with a paper copy of the Vermont Country Store catalog and the Red Sox on the radio, like the good New Englander in their eighties whom I aspire to be.

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Brown paper packages tied up with string. Those are a few of my favorite things. Also, whiskers on kittens. And on dogs.

A box full of trifolded court records wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine and red tape.

An orange and white cat with twizzly whiskers

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

AP Stylebook @apstylebook.com · 23/09/2026

Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics.

apnews.com

https://apnews.com/article/openai-safety-ai-framework-089e75b95bc935af092da7b79d92706d

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

These are not normal times. Your internalized expectations of what you *should* be able to accomplish right now are likely not calibrated for the kind of distress we're all experiencing. Forgive yourself for struggling, forgive your colleagues and friends and family and strangers for struggling.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Looks okay for me at the moment on a Mac with Firefox?

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Katie Hodges-Kluck, PhD @klhkhistorian.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

**Lights Out Alert Sunday & Monday Nights** Birdcast is estimating 300-400 million birds will be in flight.

From meteorologist Eric Snitil

**Lights Out Alert Sunday & Monday Nights**

"Heads up birders, I would not be surprised if the biggest bird migration night of the year happens over the next 2 nights. Birdcast is estimating 300-400 million birds will be in flight. That is a lot, but the pattern could not be better for migratory birds. A massive area of high pressure will turn the low level winds from the northeast to the southwest across most of the US. The last time we had anything similar to this in the fall was early October last year when a record 1.25 billion birds were in flight. I doubt we get to that level, but I suspect the number will top 500 million especially Monday night which looks to be the bigger of the two nights. You can help by turning off those outdoor lights on big migration nights, and the next 2 nights is about as big as it gets."

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Honestly, this also really scares me because it's not _just_ dorms where this stuff is going in at UK.

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

you can have job training or you can have education, and there will be some overlap either way, but you can't have something that is first and foremost both

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Cats with Jobs ⚒️ @catworkers.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

When break time is over but I'm not ready to go back yet. 📸 alice7110105519

Tabby cat wearing a collar and tag sits calmly beneath a folded red A-frame floor sign inside a retail store.

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It ys tyme for Tulip skeptics to face some difficulte trouthes. Tulips are the waye of the future. Yf you do not invest yn Tulips you are way behinde. Yf you do not teache your children about Tulips thei will not be able to compete on the jobbe market. Onlye Luddites dislyke Tulips.

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

TashasEv @tashasev.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I had to get the goth violas for my autumn stoop

A closeup of a green blanket of viola leaves punctuated by charcoal to black viola flowers

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Watching the Red Sox vs Rays, and almost all the ads are for betting apps; the majority of those for the prediction markets as opposed to the standalone sports betting apps. Then we got Gordon Ramsay with an ad for cookware finally as a little treat. But yeow.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Gully is great, but if I am rooting for an adult male bear to take it all, it's got to be Bucky Dent (164), aka "Shower Bear," aka the one who sometimes stands at the base of the falls waiting for the salmon to jump and miss.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I am so sorry, and I understand. Scritches and kisses distributed to our feline overladies on your behalf.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Freshly vaxxed with Nuvaxovid (Novavax) at Costco today. I appreciate the lack of side effects compared to the mRNA versions. Thanks, science!

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Ryan Hermens @ryanhermens.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Last week, half of my coworkers at the Lexington Herald-Leader were laid off. Veteran reporters who have been here for 25 years along with recent hires who moved to Kentucky in the last year for the job were let go. If you can, please consider: www.gofundme.com/f/support-la...

gofundme.com

Donate to Support laid off Lexington Herald-Leader journalists, organized by Ryan Hermens

On Thursday, Sept. 10, 13 journalists were laid off from the Lexin… Ryan Hermens needs your support for Support laid off Lexington Herald-Leader journalists

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I always feel better immediately the minute we show up at the gate and the plane hasn't left yet, so hope the same will be true for you. (have a fabulous time)

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I'll be thinking of you and hoping that all goes as well as possible.

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Found a gravestone that definitely contains a trapped soul, and which comes to life at midnight in order to dispense grave warnings to anyone foolish enough to pass by at such a late hour.

A roughly carved face at the apex of an old gravestone.

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I resigned from ExxonMobil today. I spent the last three years doing fossil fuel extraction research at both BP and ExxonMobil. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing to maximize extraction while the window to act closes, and gambling with our lives. More below.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Have you tried any Smitten Kitchen recipes that you _didn't_ like?

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I am so sorry. You and the other folks let go do not deserve this. You deserve better, and so does Lexington. I'm really disappointed and will be writing the editor and canceling my subscription (for all the good that won't really do). :(

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

So what you're saying is we should all go out and stock up on yanno, the Costco sized canisters of Morton's. And then work on our circles.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I am so sorry. I never met him in person, but enjoyed having him here in this space. The work you guys have done together has provided some sparks of hope for me.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It was probably the time when I temped for a week for an insurance agency that was convinced they needed a sub for the regular receptionist who was on vacay. "Just in case the phone rings." The phone never did ring, they didn't want me to do any work, so I just sat around & wrote letters!

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I am so sorry. He's lovely. Our much beloved former kitty was a brown tabby, so I will always have a soft spot for them.

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Reposted by Lori Waits All Year for October

Mark Trushkowsky @marktrushkowsky.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

More beautiful quilts from the Minnesota State Fair. 2/3

A rainbow quilt with an optical illusion design of a curving tunnel, using geometric patchwork blocks fading into a bright yellow center against a dark frame.

A multi-colored quilt featuring a grid of bright rectangular blocks.

A quilt made of repeating star, triangle, and square patterns, created with rainbow-colored fabrics framed by bright white fabric.

A rainbow quilt featuring a central black flower with colorful fabric ribbons spiralling out against a textured gray background.

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Lori Waits All Year for October @lorimmiller.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

...everybody knows about the pickle pie at the Minnesota State Fair this year, right? (not for me, but maybe for some of y'all) www.mnstatefair.org/new/food/pic...

mnstatefair.org

New Food: Pickle Pie

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