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  I don’t know why gwern gof isaf has such terrible SEO that their neighbouring campsite at gwern gof uchaf gets higher search engine rankings, but they do have this very nifty 360 degree aerial view thingy that I feel more campsites should have. Bonus marks for taking the images on a cloudy day instead of tourist-board-blue-skies, giving an almost authentic eryri weather experience. https://gwerngofisaf.co.uk/about/360-view/

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  I can tell when there’s too much moss growing on our roof, because the jackdaws swing by at sunrise, shout at each other and hammer on it to see what’s living in there. There’s no roof space above me, so it’s quite loud.

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  Reading the bluesky head of trust and safety’s own posts saying that bluesky got rid of its comms teams because they kept telling staff to stop posting through it and wondering how on earth they continue to function as a social network. Or even as a company for that matter. It can’t be good for anyone to receive an apparently endless stream of money to become increasing unhinged and provide a service to people you apparently hate.

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  RE: https://toot.wales/@NationCymru/117398435976022484 I’m guessing that the goal will be to sell the soul of the nation to private interests who will be able to use it more effectively.

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  Fun new bluesky failure. Couldn’t log in to bluesky itself or view my profile on clearsky, but it was visible on bluesky and blacksky. Seems a bit careless to break with such an unhelpful error.

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  For reasons I don’t understand, there were two small field mice foraging at the edge of the road. They were utterly fearless, so I assume something will run them over or eat them shortly. My phone was much more interested in focusing on the tarmac or debris than the mouse. I have got to get a new portable camera. #mouse

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  #covid vaccine time rolled around again. Boots is still serving pfizer (this season’s flavour is XFG) and I’ve been wondering again when we’ll get the next-gen vaccines, eg. kostaive, that’s been widely approved but still isn’t available. The companies involved in it have had a falling out, with the marketing rights going to the company that can’t do the manufacturing. I’m guessing that means we won’t see it being actually used next year, and possibly not ever 🫩 https://allsci.com/news/licensi...

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  Here’s an interesting thing: build a frog sauna to help protect frogs from deadly chytrid infection. Turns out frogs like warm places, but the fungus can’t survive about 30 degrees C. The disease doesn’t seem to be a threat in europe, yet, but one to remember just in case. Also, the idea of a frog sauna is adorable. https://sites.google.com/view/anthonywaddle (via https://bsky.app/profile/bivouacchillin.bsky.social/post/3mtlrlhvmss2z

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  Welp, there goes another small social network: pillowfort is shutting up shop in december. Just too expensive to run in the end, between development and moderation and low user numbers, regardless of how much they cut their overheads (and I think they were paid rather less than the cohost team were). https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/8413273/

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  Bah, openvibe is having issues with bluesky again, which is unfortunate as they’re trying to sell people a “pro” version. If I update to fix the problem, my crosspostings will get a little advert tacked on the end, unless I pay up, which I’m not entirely inclined to do right now 😕

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  RE: https://toot.wales/@NationCymru/116690647100057885 This seems like a bit of a non-starter. Hydrogen has absolutely terrible energy density compared to conventional fuels… even liquid hydrogen is pretty poor, and it has all the associated cryonic storage issues. This means you can’t fit enough hydrogen on a plane for long distance flights, and I don’t know if small passenger aircraft could carry enough for useful distances. If you’re going to keep flying, I don’t think you can realisticall...

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  Hoverfly on an oxeye. Apparently it’s called a “long hoverfly”, but I feel like it’s too small to deserve that name. Should have been a “skinny hoverfly” instead. #insect #daisy #hoverfly

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  i don’t recall seeing this before, which seems odd, so maybe I’m misremembering. It’s got the dead-nettle look, but it’s much taller than the white and purple deadnettle that are much more common around here and the flowers are smaller and more numerous. Wikipedia says it might be a Ballota nigra, which has the common name “black horehound” which I’ve definitely never heard before. It’s not in the Lamia genus, but is in the Lamiaceae family, which explain sthe similar appearance. #wildflowers

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  I’ve seen double flowering opium poppies quite often… they have a tissue substitution thing that replaces stamens with fluffy petals, but this ridiculous pompom mutant has taken it a step further and is nearly. spherical. #doubleflowering #poppies

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  First of the summer fruit! Raspberries and dwarf mulberries. The mulberry suffered a bit from the weather last year and dropped most of its fruit, but it’s looking much better now. #garden #fruit

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@MAKS23/116704666251127858 Spotted on bluesky where it was suggested that this was the opening of a new william gibson book. I was thinking more peter watts. More depressing than gibson’s work.

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  @oglaf apparently there’s a guy called “doctor randy” who has engineered some goats to make silky milk. Funny old place, the real world. https://agfundernews.com/what-happened-to-those-gm-spider-goats-with-the-silky-milk

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  One day, I like to imagine that we’ll get more sea travel and less air travel again. Looking at how to get to iceland from the uk without flying and it is A Bit Of A Hassle. 20 years ago there was a ferry from the shetland islands, but not anymore 😕

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  Another one from last month when I didn’t have my nice camera. I think this is female large red damselfly showing the “melanotum” colouration where the abdomen is much more black than red. #damselfly

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  Things you can see in places with clean air and plenty of rain. Not enough of either where I spend most of my time. The papery looking lichen might be Platismatia glauca, and I’m guessing the fluffy one is an Usnea but I don’t know what kind. #lichensubscribe

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  A satisfyingly woolly rock. #lichensubscribe