Otter in a Hoomyn Suit
@ottermagically.bsky.social
Applied Polymath (Evolutionary Biologist, AI Ethics, Information Architect, Professional Musician, Ecological Economist, Biostatistician, Poet/Essayist), Yale/AMZN Alum, Frequent Flaneur & Sometime Snorkeler
Pacific Rim Friends: For in-depth Earthquake news, this channel is one of my favourites. m.youtube.com/watch?v=lNUk...
4.3 Earthquake Southern California with EQ Swarm. Hundreds of aftershock from 8.8 Russia quake.
YouTube video by TheEarthMaster
m.youtube.com
July 31, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Pacific Rim Friends: For in-depth Earthquake news, this channel is one of my favourites. m.youtube.com/watch?v=lNUk...
Ever have the feeling you're being watched? (1962 photo from Taiwan, of a cluster of Optometrist offices)
July 17, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Ever have the feeling you're being watched? (1962 photo from Taiwan, of a cluster of Optometrist offices)
Even in 95F heat, this song gives me chills. So stunning! www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwE3...
Trust The Light - KNOWER
YouTube video by KNOWER MUSIC
www.youtube.com
July 16, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Even in 95F heat, this song gives me chills. So stunning! www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwE3...
Today I learned that the earliest known sexual organism, from 1 billion years ago, was a red alga, with the scientific name... Bangiomorpha pubescens.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangiom...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangiom...
Bangiomorpha - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
July 16, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Today I learned that the earliest known sexual organism, from 1 billion years ago, was a red alga, with the scientific name... Bangiomorpha pubescens.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangiom...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangiom...
I much prefer capturing phantastical images from Reality as opposed to using Generative AI. In this case, a fiery and bossy red-haired Sky-Siren shrieks above the South Atlantic between Antarctica and me. The beach was evidently sculpted and colored by the French Surrealist Yves Tanguy.
July 12, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I much prefer capturing phantastical images from Reality as opposed to using Generative AI. In this case, a fiery and bossy red-haired Sky-Siren shrieks above the South Atlantic between Antarctica and me. The beach was evidently sculpted and colored by the French Surrealist Yves Tanguy.
“Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms. [and] The machine world reciprocates man’s love...” – Marshal McLuhan (1964) "Understanding Media", p. 46
mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/m...
mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/m...
“Man Becomes the Sex Organs of the Machine World”
“Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms. The machine world reciprocates man’s…
mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com
July 6, 2025 at 5:44 AM
“Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms. [and] The machine world reciprocates man’s love...” – Marshal McLuhan (1964) "Understanding Media", p. 46
mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/m...
mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/m...
An exceedingly clever quasi-homonymic wordplay:
"Gödels all the way down"
(to describe the likelihood that one can never eliminate all unprovable true statements in an axiomatic system)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles...
"Gödels all the way down"
(to describe the likelihood that one can never eliminate all unprovable true statements in an axiomatic system)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles...
Turtles all the way down - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
July 4, 2025 at 9:43 PM
An exceedingly clever quasi-homonymic wordplay:
"Gödels all the way down"
(to describe the likelihood that one can never eliminate all unprovable true statements in an axiomatic system)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles...
"Gödels all the way down"
(to describe the likelihood that one can never eliminate all unprovable true statements in an axiomatic system)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles...
Digital versus Analog / Summation versus Integration / imagery for Math education... "summed up" as it were (I couldn't resist).
July 4, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Digital versus Analog / Summation versus Integration / imagery for Math education... "summed up" as it were (I couldn't resist).
An LLM having a writer's block panic-attack core-dump... best example I've seen yet:
June 30, 2025 at 2:51 AM
An LLM having a writer's block panic-attack core-dump... best example I've seen yet:
I greatlly admire TheForestJar's philosophical mini-videos. www.instagram.com/reel/DLDD_jX...
Login • Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
www.instagram.com
June 30, 2025 at 2:13 AM
I greatlly admire TheForestJar's philosophical mini-videos. www.instagram.com/reel/DLDD_jX...
Technically speaking, Arthropleura (this 10 foot long Millipede from the Carboniferous) is not an ancestor of hoomyns, but I find this meme amusing anyway.
June 30, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Technically speaking, Arthropleura (this 10 foot long Millipede from the Carboniferous) is not an ancestor of hoomyns, but I find this meme amusing anyway.
I'm not a believer in Astrology but... I think Mercury must be in Gatorade. Only possible explanation for current events...
June 30, 2025 at 1:25 AM
I'm not a believer in Astrology but... I think Mercury must be in Gatorade. Only possible explanation for current events...
A very coincidental (and likely utterly meaningless) "pattern" I just "discovered". There are currently:
ca. 2.5 x 10^5 distinct English words:
ca. 2.3 x 10^6 named biological species
ca. 2.5 x 10^7 place names on Earth in largest registry
ca. 2.2 x 10^8 unique Chemical Names
ca. 2.5 x 10^5 distinct English words:
ca. 2.3 x 10^6 named biological species
ca. 2.5 x 10^7 place names on Earth in largest registry
ca. 2.2 x 10^8 unique Chemical Names
June 26, 2025 at 12:08 AM
A very coincidental (and likely utterly meaningless) "pattern" I just "discovered". There are currently:
ca. 2.5 x 10^5 distinct English words:
ca. 2.3 x 10^6 named biological species
ca. 2.5 x 10^7 place names on Earth in largest registry
ca. 2.2 x 10^8 unique Chemical Names
ca. 2.5 x 10^5 distinct English words:
ca. 2.3 x 10^6 named biological species
ca. 2.5 x 10^7 place names on Earth in largest registry
ca. 2.2 x 10^8 unique Chemical Names
Fascinating. I note with special interest "Head Injury" as plausible causal explanation for the mysterious "Florida Man" phenomenon.
Geographical clustering of "Suffocation" in High Desert biogeophysical region is also thought-provoking.
Geographical clustering of "Suffocation" in High Desert biogeophysical region is also thought-provoking.
June 18, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Fascinating. I note with special interest "Head Injury" as plausible causal explanation for the mysterious "Florida Man" phenomenon.
Geographical clustering of "Suffocation" in High Desert biogeophysical region is also thought-provoking.
Geographical clustering of "Suffocation" in High Desert biogeophysical region is also thought-provoking.
As my Poppa always said, "Finding that the field of play has been distorted can be hopelessly confounding, even if the rules of the game have not changed".
(and, yes: planning moves on this geometrically altered 8x8 matrix would be exhausting...)
(and, yes: planning moves on this geometrically altered 8x8 matrix would be exhausting...)
June 17, 2025 at 2:11 AM
As my Poppa always said, "Finding that the field of play has been distorted can be hopelessly confounding, even if the rules of the game have not changed".
(and, yes: planning moves on this geometrically altered 8x8 matrix would be exhausting...)
(and, yes: planning moves on this geometrically altered 8x8 matrix would be exhausting...)
Please help this survey effort.
Do you fish in freshwater? Please share or/and complete our survey gathering data on observations of insects for our study on aquatic insect population declines! The link to our survey is here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/VXLMY89. Please share if you know anyone who might be interested in participating!
June 15, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Please help this survey effort.
What an alarming finding:
🐟🌬️ Jet stream shift is starving the sea
The northward drift of the jet stream has caused a 40% drop in marine primary production in the NW Mediterranean since 2000. That means less food for fish – and less carbon pulled from the atmosphere.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#SciComm 🧪
The northward drift of the jet stream has caused a 40% drop in marine primary production in the NW Mediterranean since 2000. That means less food for fish – and less carbon pulled from the atmosphere.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#SciComm 🧪
Jet stream poleward migration leads to marine primary production decrease
Jet Streams (JS) are powerful upper-tropospheric winds that significantly influence weather and climate. As anthropogenic climate change alters temper…
www.sciencedirect.com
June 15, 2025 at 6:55 AM
What an alarming finding:
filing for later perusal
A terrific review of my recent book in this month's Biological Theory:
Enrico Petracca argues that "Evolution Evolving marks a tip-
ping point in the study of evolution".
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Enrico Petracca argues that "Evolution Evolving marks a tip-
ping point in the study of evolution".
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Evolution at a Tipping Point - Biological Theory
This is a review essay on Evolution Evolving, by Kevin Lala, Tobias Uller, Nathalie Feiner, Marcus Feldman, and Scott Gilbert. The review suggests that the book marks a tipping point in the debate ove...
link.springer.com
June 14, 2025 at 5:17 AM
filing for later perusal
I so love this, even if outdated in detail.
QRP with your header art!
Evolutionary tree of vertebrates I drew as an undergrad in 2015. Pretty outdated now but folks seem to like it still!
Evolutionary tree of vertebrates I drew as an undergrad in 2015. Pretty outdated now but folks seem to like it still!
June 13, 2025 at 6:03 AM
I so love this, even if outdated in detail.
Life finds a way
June 10, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Life finds a way
A counter to prevailing narrative about superiority of LRMs.
There's a lot of big news today/this week, but Apple just dropped a nuke of a paper about LLMs & LRMs, specially around "high-complexity tasks where both models experience complete collapse." This is the biggest sign yet that if AI ever lives up the hype, it won't be via those approaches:
The Illusion of Thinking: Understanding the Strengths and Limitations of Reasoning Models via the Lens of Problem Complexity
Recent generations of frontier language models have introduced Large Reasoning Models
(LRMs) that generate detailed thinking processes…
machinelearning.apple.com
June 8, 2025 at 2:22 AM
A counter to prevailing narrative about superiority of LRMs.
The contagiousness of yawns has puzzled me for years. Interestingly, here is a study of contagiousness of yawning behaviors from humanoid models to chimpanzees:
Chimpanzees can ‘catch’ yawns from an android imitating human facial expressions, according to research in Scientific Reports. The study shows that chimpanzees will both yawn and lie down, suggesting that it may act as a cue to rest. go.nature.com/3T9Zy37 🧪
June 7, 2025 at 2:28 AM
The contagiousness of yawns has puzzled me for years. Interestingly, here is a study of contagiousness of yawning behaviors from humanoid models to chimpanzees:
Closeup of head of the ant Rhytidoponera metallica from Australia. The name "metallica" is most apropos.
June 4, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Closeup of head of the ant Rhytidoponera metallica from Australia. The name "metallica" is most apropos.