MattBille

Ferris Jabr @ferrisjabr.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 11, 2024 at 20:58 UTC

For Nautilus Magazine, I wrote about a question that has obsessed me: What are the oldest surviving ecosystems on Earth?

Turns out some extant meadows, reefs, and rainforests have persisted for hundreds of thousands to *tens of millions* of years.

What can they teach us?
nautil.us/the-oldest-e...

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 10, 2024 at 03:38 UTC

Well, mine too, the post just triggered something else, as often happens :)

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 10, 2024 at 00:29 UTC

Thinking of specificplaces like the Humboldt Current upwelling off Peru.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 09, 2024 at 21:58 UTC

I thought I read the giant I am of fishes had to do with cold-water upwellings of nutrients.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 09, 2024 at 21:43 UTC

Joke from the Civil War, from my brother the CW history buff:"I bit into my hardtack and but something soft!" "Worm?" "Ten penny nail."

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 09, 2024 at 03:35 UTC

Well, people like Musk start with romantic reasons, but the first things his people have developed involve massive old-fashioned business opportunities in launch and global communications, grabbed by moving faster and taking more risks. No large-scale mining for decades, though: can't make $.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 09, 2024 at 03:19 UTC

That's pretty good. The Antarctic Treaty is a logical beginning, and the Moon Treaty drew on it and the Law of the Sea Treaty, but there's no indication a global deal will be accomplished. Nation-states remain responsible for the actions of their citizens (including their corporations).

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 09, 2024 at 03:15 UTC

An unforgettable week in spaceflight. mattbille.blogspot.com/2024/06/spac...

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 06, 2024 at 13:12 UTC

Perhaps they should have preceded it with a study in extending mass transit to cover more of these people from lower income neighborhoods.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 06, 2024 at 13:07 UTC

Still, 1.5 is tens of thousands of people, many unable to afford this.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 06, 2024 at 03:46 UTC

I can't access it, but the stated rationale is that people for whom mass transit does not work for getting to their jobs, for whatever reason, would pay $3600 /year they could not afford. While the real reason is likely elections, do you have a thought on that cost?

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 06, 2024 at 02:03 UTC

As an ex-GOP voter, I'm telling everyone Biden is the only choice we've got. Of the two other prominent candidates, one is an irrational anti-science egotist with a famous name, and the other is.. huh, that's interesting.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 05, 2024 at 18:33 UTC

Hope this isn't self-aggrandizing: First major SF story MC wasn't intended to be lesbian, she just was. My lesbian daughter reviewed: then friend LJ Hachmeister, L SF writer/activist, died, and her widow ok'd revising the character as a homage. I never set out to add representation, just write well.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 05, 2024 at 00:49 UTC

MAGA of course, but Administration didn't help: constant policy changes, changing claims of what exec orders could do, no vaccination requirements (why?), calling concerns/fears bigotry vs never trying hard to engage and explain why this was a positive thing. Needed a dedicated Presidential address.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 05, 2024 at 00:39 UTC

This is outstanding. This is Barry Lopez -level writing, or perhaps Arctic Dreams was Colin Dickey-level writing. I hope we will see a book.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 05, 2024 at 00:33 UTC

Superb, haunting article. Rather than building to fit the harsh environment, they built a typical Soviet town and tried controlling the environment with dams and permafrost-freezing systems. A lesson in hubris for all of us.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 05, 2024 at 00:12 UTC

I wonder if he considered, but deleted,something like, "I'm sorry I failed. I'm sorry we no longer care about ethics, about copyright, about accuracy, about misuse of our tools. I tried. "

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 05, 2024 at 00:05 UTC

Superb.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 04, 2024 at 23:54 UTC

We can't just call antivaxxers dumb: It's not like we learned virology, immunology, or trial design in high school. We DID (in mainstream, not advanced classes) learn scientific thought/methods, principles of vaccination, and history of beating epidemics. It's weird they forget or disregard that.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 04, 2024 at 17:41 UTC

Ideology aside, a very traditional journalist running the Beast seems like a mismatch from the beginning.

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