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ijk64✅ boosted
ijk64✅ boosted
ijk64✅ boosted
ijk64✅ boosted

"I guess we should retire the expression "avoid it like the plague" given how little effort people put into avoiding an actual plague."

#CovidIsNotOver #WearAMask 🥴​

ijk64✅ boosted

Yes, NYT editors should revisit the sourcing of that story, and let the public know if a Russian operative was their main source. The public -- and historians -- deserve to know. @nycscribe
---
RT @protecttruth_
What will the NYT say or not now that this FBI agent has been indicted? Was McGonigle an NYT source? Was he the boss of people who were NYT sources for this story?

Seems like Joe Kahn and AG Sulzberger should be telling us a…
twitter.com/protecttruth_/stat

ijk64✅ boosted

I’m sure you’ve seen one of these on the internet before. Or maybe IRL!

This is a #Amorphophallustitanum… the largest stemmed flowering plant (an inflorescence - ie a cluster of flowers arranged on a single stalk) on earth.

It is native to the island of Sumatra in western Indonesia.

The first pic is from the #Cairns #Botanicgardens, #Queensland #Australia (2022).

Intriguing info:

The Amorphophallus titanum is also known as the "#corpseflower" because of its pungent smell when it blooms.

The odour is designed to attract carrion flies for pollination by imitating the stench of a dead animal.

Some #Amorphophalli will go through an entire life cycle in three or four years, although most (a #titanarum, pictured) can be expected to live for several decades.

The titanarum stores energy in its corm, or underground stem. This energy (food) is later used to fuel the rapid growth, following a period of dormancy.

Usually takes 4–10 years or more between flowerings (ie, for a titanarum).

The corm can weigh around 70–90 kg (154–200 pounds).

While in bloom, the plant structure generates heat, more than 90 °F (32 °C)

They typically grow around 2.5m (8 feet) tall. Some grow larger.

How intriguing!

Source: abc.net.au.
Also Wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphop and Britannica.com.

#urbanflora #flora #gardening #garden #melbourne #aesthetichedonist #januaryjoy #gardeningAU #gardening #narrm #victoria #Australia #godmustbeabotanist #makesmehappy

ijk64✅ boosted
ijk64✅ boosted

Everyone talks about “rockstar developers.” And sure you might need some of those but not many.

Usually, you’re looking for the software equivalent of the session or studio musician. The folks who can turn out amazing stuff in varying styles, but can do it all the time, on demand, consistently. They’re not going to have design philosophies, or manifestos, or lofty-sounding stuff in their bios.

They’re going to have code, and a long list of folks who say “this engineer, you want them. Really.”

ijk64✅ boosted

First large crochet project of the year completed. Started 20th December, completed 28th January. KnitCompanion tells me it took 171 hours and 9 minutes! 
Making this made me realise my brain occasionally forgets the difference between ”front” and “back” and I often cannot count :D At some points I had 27 different balls of yarn attached!
Pattern Astrid’s Cat Blanket
Yarn Catona in ”all the greens” and Shadow Purple.
#crochet #green #cats #roomwithaview

ijk64✅ boosted
ijk64✅ boosted

#January 29, 1882
#OTD Berton Braley, American #Poet, is born.

Here's an excerpt from his 1929 #Epic #Limerick about #Botany.

There should be no monotony
In studying your botany;
It helps to train
& spur the #Brain
Unless you haven't gotany.

It teaches you, does Botany,
To know the #Plants & spotany,
& learn just why
They live or die —
In case you #Plant or potany.

Your time, if you'll allotany,
Will teach you how & what any
Old plant or #Tree
Can do or be —
& that's the use of Botany!

ijk64✅ boosted

How likely is it that you will still be on Mastodon a year from now?

#BOOST OK

ijk64✅ boosted
ijk64✅ boosted
ijk64✅ boosted

@danyork I was walking up the stairs three steps from the top when my sister told me “the space shuttle’s blown up” - and reaching the top of the stairs I saw the vision on TV (which was on repeat for many hours).

ijk64✅ boosted

37 years ago today, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch. Most of us of a certain age can remember where we were. I was in the common area of a dorm at the University of New Hampshire, watching the 1 TV with another student.

What I did NOT remember, until reading Scott Monty's newsletter today, was that President Reagan was supposed to give the State of the Union address that night, but instead said these power words:

history.nasa.gov/reagan12886.h

youtube.com/watch?v=ynuDA8A42I

1/2

ijk64✅ boosted

Not only do you need leap seconds to keep solar time and atomic time in sync, you'll need a different kind of leap second to keep Lunar atomic time and Earth atomic time in sync, because mass distorts spacetime. So good luck with that... Defining lunar...
jwz.org/b/yj9T

ijk64✅ boosted

#Gumtrees are my favourite large growing mass within the flora world.

They’re known as #eucalypts and csiro.com.au reports that there are 934 species of #eucalypt trees native to #Australia.

Gums typically grow to a height of 45 m (148 ft) but may sometimes only be a stunted shrub. Alternatively under ideal conditions, they can grow as tall as 90–100 m (300–330 ft).

IMO, they’re an emphatic statement of strength and resilience.

Gums can withstand prolonged drought conditions and still stand tall and present happy and healthy. Their trunks and branches are normally covered in a thin layer of white bark that sheds annually around this time of year (summer time).

Their leaves vary in size and shape, depending on the species.

My favourite are the shape as seen in these photos taken a couple of days ago near #Melbournes #Botanicgardens. They’re long (elongated), 10+cm (4+ inch) long and 1.5-2.0cm (3/4 inch) in width at their widest point.

Their leaves often possess a slight curved appearance, are usually deep dark green and clumped together, facing downward toward the ground, hanging from their branches.

This specific tree caught my eye. Its trunk is mottled with varying shades of whites, browns and greys. It is also pitted and indented along its entire length.

It really is a beauty

#urbanflora #flora #gardening #garden #melbourne #butterfly #aesthetichedonist #januaryjoy #gardeningAU #gardening #narrm #victoria #Australia #godmustbeabotanist #makesmehappy

@mookie@orangebunny.net question: how well do they work when using for phone calls? My $10 ones are good for quite room@listening, but have an almost useless microphone.

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