Alex Wild
@alexwild.bsky.social
Pinned
Alex Wild
@alexwild.bsky.social
· Jul 9
The thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than anything you could imagine on your own.
Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.
Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.
Reposted by Alex Wild
Texas censorship news.
The Texas A&M University System will vote on Thursday on whether to prohibit faculty at its 11 universities from teaching “race or gender ideology” unless those lessons are pre-approved by each campus president or a delegate.
Texas A&M to vote on banning “race and gender ideology”
The proposal appears to mark the first time a Texas university system offers definitions of what kind of instruction related to race and gender should not be permitted.
www.texastribune.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Texas censorship news.
Reposted by Alex Wild
EPA To Monarch Butterflies: ‘Count Your Fucking Days’ https://theonion.com/epa-to-monarch-butterflies-count-your-fucking-days/
November 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
EPA To Monarch Butterflies: ‘Count Your Fucking Days’ https://theonion.com/epa-to-monarch-butterflies-count-your-fucking-days/
Reposted by Alex Wild
Once again I'm begging people not to compare politicians to invertebrates. Inverts are cool and diverse and play an important ecological role. Politicians are the lower order.
November 10, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Once again I'm begging people not to compare politicians to invertebrates. Inverts are cool and diverse and play an important ecological role. Politicians are the lower order.
Reposted by Alex Wild
Since the Democrats worked extra hard to hide who actually supported this, I think the No Kings/Resistance position should be to primary every Democrat unless they publicly call for Schumer's ouster this week
Either they go into total rebellion mode, which they won't, or the people will
Either they go into total rebellion mode, which they won't, or the people will
November 10, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Since the Democrats worked extra hard to hide who actually supported this, I think the No Kings/Resistance position should be to primary every Democrat unless they publicly call for Schumer's ouster this week
Either they go into total rebellion mode, which they won't, or the people will
Either they go into total rebellion mode, which they won't, or the people will
Two things from the last few days:
1. Republicans want to starve Americans so badly they'll deploy armies of lawyers to make sure it happens.
2. Democrats are not prepared to stop them, especially if action slightly inconveniences their air travel.
1. Republicans want to starve Americans so badly they'll deploy armies of lawyers to make sure it happens.
2. Democrats are not prepared to stop them, especially if action slightly inconveniences their air travel.
November 10, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Two things from the last few days:
1. Republicans want to starve Americans so badly they'll deploy armies of lawyers to make sure it happens.
2. Democrats are not prepared to stop them, especially if action slightly inconveniences their air travel.
1. Republicans want to starve Americans so badly they'll deploy armies of lawyers to make sure it happens.
2. Democrats are not prepared to stop them, especially if action slightly inconveniences their air travel.
Reposted by Alex Wild
Temnothorax isabellae, from the rainforests of Puerto Rico, is one of the more colorful ant species I have photographed.
October 11, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Temnothorax isabellae, from the rainforests of Puerto Rico, is one of the more colorful ant species I have photographed.
Austin is really trying, I'll give them that.
Austin Energy says it's on track to meet its 2027 goal of supplying nearly 2/3rds of customers with renewable energy generation.
‘Unprecedented’: Austin Energy adds 18 MW of solar in 2025, is on track to meet 2027 goal
Austin’s public electric utility said that it added 18.8 megawatts (MW) of solar generation in 2025, an amount that Austin Energy called “unprecedented” in a press release Monday …
www.kxan.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Austin is really trying, I'll give them that.
Trying to identify African Crematogaster is a mess. I *think* this photo I took in 2012 in Uganda shows C. nigrans, but there are a zillion published species names with inadequate descriptions and no modern research that ties these names to real world populations.
November 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Trying to identify African Crematogaster is a mess. I *think* this photo I took in 2012 in Uganda shows C. nigrans, but there are a zillion published species names with inadequate descriptions and no modern research that ties these names to real world populations.
Democratic leadership wants the autocracy, and they are helping it coalesce in the strategy most effective from their position: blocking an actual opposition party by squatting ineffectively in the opposition space.
We are less than a week after a massive Democratic blowout against Republicans that flipped multiple jurisdictions, while Republicans were being blamed for the shut down and Trump was being booed in public. And the 4D chess caucus thought “NOW is the time to stop fighting?” It’s inexplicable logic.
November 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Democratic leadership wants the autocracy, and they are helping it coalesce in the strategy most effective from their position: blocking an actual opposition party by squatting ineffectively in the opposition space.
The function of a toothless opposition party in dictatorship is to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the regime, allowing it to commit further crimes with even deeper impunity.
As such, it's best to consider Schumer and ilk as part of the rising autocracy.
As such, it's best to consider Schumer and ilk as part of the rising autocracy.
weirdly honest messaging from the breakaway mod/institutionalist leaders who blew up the party strategy
they're explicitly giving up. "It wasn't working so we quit" that's the message
they're explicitly giving up. "It wasn't working so we quit" that's the message
November 10, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The function of a toothless opposition party in dictatorship is to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the regime, allowing it to commit further crimes with even deeper impunity.
As such, it's best to consider Schumer and ilk as part of the rising autocracy.
As such, it's best to consider Schumer and ilk as part of the rising autocracy.
Reposted by Alex Wild
Anyway a great way to radicalize people is for them to realize that you just abandoned their chance at being able to access and afford health care because you didn’t like waiting in line at the airport.
November 10, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Anyway a great way to radicalize people is for them to realize that you just abandoned their chance at being able to access and afford health care because you didn’t like waiting in line at the airport.
This is why police should not engage in chases.
A speeding car fleeing police slammed into a crowded bar early Saturday, killing four people and injuring 11 in a historic district of Tampa, Florida, that is known for its nightlife and tourists.
Car fleeing police slams into crowd outside bar in Florida, killing four people and injuring 11
A speeding car fleeing police slammed into a crowded bar early Saturday, killing four people and injuring 11 in a historic district of Tampa, Florida, that is known for its nightlife and tourists.
apnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:49 AM
This is why police should not engage in chases.
And now voters will think Democrats are the party that priced healthcare out of reach. And they aren't wrong.
November 10, 2025 at 2:04 AM
And now voters will think Democrats are the party that priced healthcare out of reach. And they aren't wrong.
Reposted by Alex Wild
Your boss at the Takes factory called. He needs you to pull a triple shift tonight. Just passing along the message.
November 10, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Your boss at the Takes factory called. He needs you to pull a triple shift tonight. Just passing along the message.
Reposted by Alex Wild
Ashley Bui of UCR is giving a great talk on eucharitid phylogeny, but most importantly she tells us what the giant scutal spines are for: handles for grabbing by suspicious ants (their hosts)
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Ashley Bui of UCR is giving a great talk on eucharitid phylogeny, but most importantly she tells us what the giant scutal spines are for: handles for grabbing by suspicious ants (their hosts)
Tag yourself
Excellent psyllid evolution talk from Meg Licht of USU; we are all being very serious and professional about the gall morphology terms
November 9, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Tag yourself
Both the 9 and the 12 year old somehow know the lyrics to "Milkshake" in spite of the song being a decade before their time and now I'm questioning all my parenting decisions.
November 9, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Both the 9 and the 12 year old somehow know the lyrics to "Milkshake" in spite of the song being a decade before their time and now I'm questioning all my parenting decisions.
The largest mass media- NYT, CNN, CBS, etc- are owned by billionaires. They own media not to make money, but to control the information space to be friendly to class interests.
Those outlets will never report positive political outcomes for regular people in any kind of objective framing.
Those outlets will never report positive political outcomes for regular people in any kind of objective framing.
After a week in which Dems exceeded expectations in elections, Trump's popularity continues to tank, the GOP largely abandoned the task of governing (just as Thanksgiving travel approaches), I'm a bit surprised to see many more stories highlighting weakness in the Dem than in the GOP coalition.
This NYT framing is ludicrously overstated. Sure, there are primaries. But if anything, the results showed a lot of Dems that there's a way to unify the factions around anti-Trump and affordability politics (as I try to argue in the piece/thread below).
November 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM
The largest mass media- NYT, CNN, CBS, etc- are owned by billionaires. They own media not to make money, but to control the information space to be friendly to class interests.
Those outlets will never report positive political outcomes for regular people in any kind of objective framing.
Those outlets will never report positive political outcomes for regular people in any kind of objective framing.
The correct interpretation of the Trump regime blocking states from feeding their own people is that the Republican Party hates the United States and is destroying it.
November 9, 2025 at 5:22 PM
The correct interpretation of the Trump regime blocking states from feeding their own people is that the Republican Party hates the United States and is destroying it.
Republicans are deliberately starving Americans.
“.. The Agriculture Department issued the command in a late-night Saturday memo .. That guidance threatened to impose financial penalties on states that did not “comply” quickly with the government’s new orders.”
@tonyromm.bsky.social #SNAP
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...
@tonyromm.bsky.social #SNAP
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...
November 9, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Republicans are deliberately starving Americans.
Reposted by Alex Wild
Any food which has gotten to poor families the states must send agents to reclaim the food before it is eaten or face new federal penalties
“.. The Agriculture Department issued the command in a late-night Saturday memo .. That guidance threatened to impose financial penalties on states that did not “comply” quickly with the government’s new orders.”
@tonyromm.bsky.social #SNAP
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...
@tonyromm.bsky.social #SNAP
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...
November 9, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Any food which has gotten to poor families the states must send agents to reclaim the food before it is eaten or face new federal penalties
East Texas, east of Huntsville.
TEXAS folks — the Carter Lake Dam is at risk of failure! Evacuate NOW if you live south of the dam, especially along Henry Darden Road, Marie Road, Community Drive, Bo Peep, Herb Collins Road, Girard, Rafford Road, and Cleophas Lane.
November 9, 2025 at 3:10 PM
East Texas, east of Huntsville.
Reposted by Alex Wild
I LEARNED THE ANSWER TO THIS
Chris's Steakhouse was a New Orleans landmark
Chris Matulich periodically got bored, sold it, waited for the new owner to fail, and bought it back cheap
The sale conditions: Can't move it, can't change the name
He did this six times
Then he sold it to Ruth Fertel
Chris's Steakhouse was a New Orleans landmark
Chris Matulich periodically got bored, sold it, waited for the new owner to fail, and bought it back cheap
The sale conditions: Can't move it, can't change the name
He did this six times
Then he sold it to Ruth Fertel
what did ruth mean when she said her steakhouse was "chris"
November 7, 2025 at 5:33 PM
I LEARNED THE ANSWER TO THIS
Chris's Steakhouse was a New Orleans landmark
Chris Matulich periodically got bored, sold it, waited for the new owner to fail, and bought it back cheap
The sale conditions: Can't move it, can't change the name
He did this six times
Then he sold it to Ruth Fertel
Chris's Steakhouse was a New Orleans landmark
Chris Matulich periodically got bored, sold it, waited for the new owner to fail, and bought it back cheap
The sale conditions: Can't move it, can't change the name
He did this six times
Then he sold it to Ruth Fertel
Fundamentally, the United States economy is going to crash out unless the elite classes decide to invest in things that create boatloads of well-paying middle class jobs.
Mortage accounting tricks won't work. LLM-powered layoff machines will kill their own market.
Mortage accounting tricks won't work. LLM-powered layoff machines will kill their own market.
November 9, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Fundamentally, the United States economy is going to crash out unless the elite classes decide to invest in things that create boatloads of well-paying middle class jobs.
Mortage accounting tricks won't work. LLM-powered layoff machines will kill their own market.
Mortage accounting tricks won't work. LLM-powered layoff machines will kill their own market.