As a young teen aspiring artist, my greatest painting was of a Snow Leopard. I worked on that thing for weeks and weeks, and I learned so much about color from doing it as I had a great art teacher who taught me to look carefully at snow and see that it was anything BUT white. Anyway, I was over the moon about my accomplishment. I seriously could not believe that *I* had painted it.
When several years later I returned home from university, my mother had thrown the painting in the trash in my absence. "Why would you want that old thing from when you were only 13?" Then she wondered why I stopped coming home.
Never "wait till you retire." You never know the future has in store for you. To many people I know have died just as they were getting ready to retire or just afterwards. If you want to paint, start now.
Dreams are telling you something. Creativity is a lifeline. We need it on a cellular level. It's a map that shows us the way inward while connecting us more deeply with the outside world.
Apropos of nothing, I absolutely love how giant and bushy their tails are, both aesthetically and because of how cool it is that they're that way to enable them to balance and move with even more precision, counterbalancing their "trunk" mass. Science is so fucking fun.
When my cat was recovering her motor function in her rear legs after a bout of FIP, I noticed that her tail, especially at the root, had become larger and more muscular. She was using it to counterbalance her body weight.
I used to have a gato who'd blow up my nose to wake me up, then when he saw my eyes open, whack me in the face and run away. Not quite face eating, but smart.
It is NOT anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government. They like to shroud themselves in their nominal religion, but they are criminals, racists, and fascists.
These are older photographs of mine taken on the upper west side(Manhattan) of the same building at slightly different angles and distances and time of course. To match it up look at the building in the background.
Carbon removal works, but it's not practical yet. It's expensive and not scaled up. All of these things are being worked on, because ultimately we will have to do more than reach net zero. We need to go net negative for a period of time if we're going to avoid incinerating the planet.
Training LARGE language models on ginormous piles of random internet shit is expensive, time-consuming, and leads to some bizarre pathologies, so here's an idea: Have the old LLM make up a bunch (thousands!) of charming stories for the little bitty baby LLMs. When the little guys respond,
the big ones grade it for coherence, appropriateness and fundamental decency and feed that back. Turns out it works pretty good!
... If AIs are going to rule the world they should be raised in a nurturing environment. Well, duh!!
I didn't know Microsoft patented 1s and 0s. For a change on Hamas/Israel, let's all blame Yasser Arafat of PLO fame for doing shit all for the Palestinians for decades!!
Ta, Rebecca. Ta, Martini. Good day, beloved Wonketteers. I love and appreciate you all and I bless us all with love, health, peace, and grace. Just finished brunch with my darling Meccalopolis. We had an asparagus-maitake-Gouda omelette seasoned with thyme, MyBacon (made of mycelium), and air-fried (after steaming) red potatoes with rosemary, NM chile, and smoked salt. Everything vegan of course, and so very delicious. I love and adore you, sweetheart.
Please, please stay safe. Wear a mask or two, wash your hands, sanitize when you cannot wash and let the sanitizer dry completely, stop touching your face, take Vitamin D, get a bivalent booster or the new vaccine (I have a 6:15 pm appointment for mine), avoid indoor and crowded outdoor gatherings and when you must meet, remove masks only to eat, drink, and take quick photos, and stay the fuck away from me and everyone with whom you do not share a roof. Do this because you love yourself, and because I love you, too. Do this in memory of sweet friend Treg, among over seven million dead worldwide. Do this to honor the nurses and other frontline medical personnel, especially ICU Hera Mrs Land Shark RN. Stay safe.
Carbon Removal is like fighting a fire with a garden hose. It works but isn't very effective. To reduce the warming effect of carbon dioxide we would have to remove billions of tons from the atmosphere. At the same time, carbon dioxide is very dilute in the atmosphere so we would have to process a lot of air to get a ton of CO2. Then there's the question of where to put the CO2 that won't leak out later. And all of it is going to cost money. So in summary, current methods are inefficient and expensive but we've got to do something.
Traditionally, Zoroastrians are placed in a "Tower of Silence" after they die. This is a large circular elevated structure, that is protected from the sides but exposed from above.
Zoroastrians believe that burial would potentially pollute the earth and the water, and that cremation would pollute the air. This way, their bodies are left to the actions of carrion birds, insects, and environmental conditions. Eventually, the bones are collected and interred in the tower.
Of course, that thing in Colorado just sounds like the owner was either running a scam, or just fucked up somehow.
i have a dutch colleage and she's always apologizing for exactly that. also, she's one of the very best focus group moderators/interviewers i've ever seen.
Yah. There's a nasty string of antisemitism that runs straight across the horseshoe from the far-right to the far-left. Same tropes, too. We've all seen it, no?
Today’s hed gif comes via the Como Zoo. It’s cute baby Willow in her recent debut. Find out more at the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/willows-debut
Visual poetry counts.
"This is it? No mountains? No hunting? For some reason, I was expecting mountains."
"Yep, this is it, kid. We have a window, though. And a box. Window's kinda fun."
I'm still kinda stuck on the boing-boing-boing-hurry-UP-mommy babby rhino.
As a young teen aspiring artist, my greatest painting was of a Snow Leopard. I worked on that thing for weeks and weeks, and I learned so much about color from doing it as I had a great art teacher who taught me to look carefully at snow and see that it was anything BUT white. Anyway, I was over the moon about my accomplishment. I seriously could not believe that *I* had painted it.
When several years later I returned home from university, my mother had thrown the painting in the trash in my absence. "Why would you want that old thing from when you were only 13?" Then she wondered why I stopped coming home.
I’m so sorry.....
Holy shit. Nice way to insult/hurt you, both words and actions....
Issues 1 to 200 of 2000AD. "But they were taking up space".
Some wounds just don't heal. So sorry. There are more paintings in you, though.
Thank you for that. I haven't painted in decades, but I still *dream* paintings all the time. Maybe when I retire.
Never "wait till you retire." You never know the future has in store for you. To many people I know have died just as they were getting ready to retire or just afterwards. If you want to paint, start now.
Paint. Start now.
Dreams are telling you something. Creativity is a lifeline. We need it on a cellular level. It's a map that shows us the way inward while connecting us more deeply with the outside world.
Do eet!
Always open with poetry.
I’m a poet and I didn’t know it!
Hickory dickory dock
The world's fucked.
Concise, yet terse.
I refuse to be poetically constrained by rhyme, rhythm, or reason.
Snow Kitty!
https://substack.com/profile/671070-paulomatic/note/c-41541430?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=edsu
Let's designate this Snow Leopard Monday!
https://images.ctfassets.net/cnu0m8re1exe/4NJMEWXqdH8QyL4cSbDE1M/c2a6efb3d46269d404cbc1318c463ed4/Untitled_design_-_2023-05-26T153134.915.png
I love them. So amazing in their natural environment.
Often mistaken for Amur leopards, which are similar but not the same and critically endangered, whereas Snow leopards are merely (!) vulnerable. Look at this cheeky Amur chap! https://i.natgeofe.com/k/3550b018-dc62-4650-829f-ee0e2a95fc6d/amur-leopard-snow.jpg
Apropos of nothing, I absolutely love how giant and bushy their tails are, both aesthetically and because of how cool it is that they're that way to enable them to balance and move with even more precision, counterbalancing their "trunk" mass. Science is so fucking fun.
When my cat was recovering her motor function in her rear legs after a bout of FIP, I noticed that her tail, especially at the root, had become larger and more muscular. She was using it to counterbalance her body weight.
That Amur leopard is one cheeky chap for sure.
There is an International Snow Leopard Day, at least according to our Tiger Haven calendar (came free in the mail. It's Oct 23.
Wow...my mother's birthday (I'll NEVER forget)....
Hello Kitty!
Clouded leopards for me every time. https://youtu.be/7kUdpsMpAt8?si=QAPlxx6AmD6qD6cI
Too early in the morning for that very sincere voice, but they are beautiful. Their coat patterns remind me of snakes.
That captures the sinuousness perfectly, thanks!
We are spoiled for leopard choice!
(pic because some people won't click on video links, although this one is worth it)
https://www.thethirdpole.net/content/uploads/2021/12/Clouded-leopard-featured-image-alamy.jpg
Longest canines per body size or some such statistic also too.
The muscularity! The shading! The fucking precision!
See?
https://substack.com/profile/670009-tootsstansbury/note/c-41540864
I love all the leopards!
Me, too!
Ooh, so beautiful!
Snow Leopards Who Eat Your Faces Monday!!
I love my face eating gato. That’s what face transplants are for, Hamilton
Luckily, The Crew have determined that my face tastes terrible for some reason. I think it's the vitamins I take or something.
I used to have a gato who'd blow up my nose to wake me up, then when he saw my eyes open, whack me in the face and run away. Not quite face eating, but smart.
Simba wakes me up by glaring at me. Well, it seems like he does that two or three mornings a week.
Ooh, tabby cats!
Well, I applied for a cameo but that blue water jug got that part instead.
There's a casting call for a phone booth. It's a period piece, obvs.
Well, I'm not in good enough shape for phone booth roles at the moment.
Mailbox, then?
I need to get some dental work done before I can do Mailbox.
Actual lol
It is NOT anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government. They like to shroud themselves in their nominal religion, but they are criminals, racists, and fascists.
Because we always need a nice thing.
The passage of time. Both are beautiful to me.
These are older photographs of mine taken on the upper west side(Manhattan) of the same building at slightly different angles and distances and time of course. To match it up look at the building in the background.
https://substack.com/@ziggywiggy/note/c-41563060?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knfuc
Carbon removal works, but it's not practical yet. It's expensive and not scaled up. All of these things are being worked on, because ultimately we will have to do more than reach net zero. We need to go net negative for a period of time if we're going to avoid incinerating the planet.
This is one of my favorite teams that is working on it.
https://verdox.com
The news from tiny language models: https://www.quantamagazine.org/tiny-language-models-thrive-with-gpt-4-as-a-teacher-20231005/
Training LARGE language models on ginormous piles of random internet shit is expensive, time-consuming, and leads to some bizarre pathologies, so here's an idea: Have the old LLM make up a bunch (thousands!) of charming stories for the little bitty baby LLMs. When the little guys respond,
the big ones grade it for coherence, appropriateness and fundamental decency and feed that back. Turns out it works pretty good!
... If AIs are going to rule the world they should be raised in a nurturing environment. Well, duh!!
I didn't know Microsoft patented 1s and 0s. For a change on Hamas/Israel, let's all blame Yasser Arafat of PLO fame for doing shit all for the Palestinians for decades!!
Which red MAGA state will be the first to ban Cara Natterson, MD and Vanessa Kroll Bennett's book THIS IS SO AWKWARD?
Ta, Rebecca. Ta, Martini. Good day, beloved Wonketteers. I love and appreciate you all and I bless us all with love, health, peace, and grace. Just finished brunch with my darling Meccalopolis. We had an asparagus-maitake-Gouda omelette seasoned with thyme, MyBacon (made of mycelium), and air-fried (after steaming) red potatoes with rosemary, NM chile, and smoked salt. Everything vegan of course, and so very delicious. I love and adore you, sweetheart.
Please, please stay safe. Wear a mask or two, wash your hands, sanitize when you cannot wash and let the sanitizer dry completely, stop touching your face, take Vitamin D, get a bivalent booster or the new vaccine (I have a 6:15 pm appointment for mine), avoid indoor and crowded outdoor gatherings and when you must meet, remove masks only to eat, drink, and take quick photos, and stay the fuck away from me and everyone with whom you do not share a roof. Do this because you love yourself, and because I love you, too. Do this in memory of sweet friend Treg, among over seven million dead worldwide. Do this to honor the nurses and other frontline medical personnel, especially ICU Hera Mrs Land Shark RN. Stay safe.
Slava Ukraini. 🌻🇺🇦💙💛
My love!
Carbon Removal is like fighting a fire with a garden hose. It works but isn't very effective. To reduce the warming effect of carbon dioxide we would have to remove billions of tons from the atmosphere. At the same time, carbon dioxide is very dilute in the atmosphere so we would have to process a lot of air to get a ton of CO2. Then there's the question of where to put the CO2 that won't leak out later. And all of it is going to cost money. So in summary, current methods are inefficient and expensive but we've got to do something.
Okay, time to fucking carpe the diem. Some musics for you to Monday by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xLgepKv9oI
Sorry about this. Sorry... https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/bay-area-restaurants-throwing-up-brunch-18411628.php
It is sad, Editrix. I have no insight or expertise to offer. It is so sad.
Traditionally, Zoroastrians are placed in a "Tower of Silence" after they die. This is a large circular elevated structure, that is protected from the sides but exposed from above.
Zoroastrians believe that burial would potentially pollute the earth and the water, and that cremation would pollute the air. This way, their bodies are left to the actions of carrion birds, insects, and environmental conditions. Eventually, the bones are collected and interred in the tower.
Of course, that thing in Colorado just sounds like the owner was either running a scam, or just fucked up somehow.
OT: Remember former Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who captured world attention when she burst into a news broadcast with a placard that read "Stop the war" and "They're lying to you"? Still alive but was sentenced in absentia on Wednesday to eight and half years in jail. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-journalist-who-staged-tv-war-protest-handed-8-12-year-jail-term-absentia-2023-10-04/
How to Have the Sex Talk With a Dutch Mom?
I might have seen that online.
(Something) Hub 🤔
Dutch Mom Hub?
I know a number of Dutch women, those conversations will be blunt and factual.
i have a dutch colleage and she's always apologizing for exactly that. also, she's one of the very best focus group moderators/interviewers i've ever seen.
Oo- just how I like it!
Yah. There's a nasty string of antisemitism that runs straight across the horseshoe from the far-right to the far-left. Same tropes, too. We've all seen it, no?
It's because antisemitism is racism with a false face of liberation.