Joseph

I enjoy well-crafted novels and nonfiction in the sciences. I spend much of my time as a caregiver for disabled dependents. I enjoy hiking, music, and do-it-myself projects. I believe in dog. Banner photo is from the mountains of El Cielo Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, above the morning clouds.
🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️BLM

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Last Notes

2026-06-12 21:48:43 UTC

Guapo sporting an Elizabethan collar (aka cone of shame) because he licked one of his paws until it was raw due to a yeast and bacterial infection. #Dogs
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/116/739/308/657/341/166/original/3c1419bd8dc6c34c.jpeg

2026-06-01 12:26:14 UTC

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@nprofile…v9vp I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything other than the coffee loosening up your neck and jaw. But I can see how it can be interpreted otherwise and now regret that.

2026-06-01 10:08:31 UTC

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@nprofile…v9vp I’m sorry your neck and jaw are tight. I hope the iced coffee works like an effective penetrating lubricant.

2026-05-30 21:28:35 UTC

“Religion is a smile on a dog.” - Edie Brickell
#Music #Dog #EdieBrickell

2026-05-30 13:25:35 UTC

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@nprofile…egn4 I note that humans did not make the top-10 list.

2026-05-26 22:17:04 UTC

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@nprofile…pfuj Maybe some prey left behind a chemical scent that fooled this ant into identifying the leaf as prey.

2026-05-03 15:10:46 UTC

Five Good Books about Mental Illness. As a parent and caregiver for an adult living with a serious psychiatric illness, I have read a lot about the subject. Here are my five favorite books about psychiatric illness.
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness (1996) by Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD. The best memoir about living with a serious mental illness and the best book overall that I have read about mental illness, in this case bipolar disorder. Fine literature written by a brilliant author who earned a PhD in psychology and has been awarded about a dozen honorary doctorates. It is inspirational.
The Mad Among Us: A History of the Care of America’s Mentally Ill (1995) by Gerald Grob, PhD. The author was a medical historian who wrote this balanced and objective book about the history of psychiatry. It includes the good and the bad. Despite the unfortunate title, this is a great non-fiction book about the history of psychiatry in the USA.
We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication (2010) by Judith Warner. This book, written by a journalist, was originally intended to be a critique of psychiatry and the parents of children with mental illnesses. But as the author met families and did her research, she changed her mind and wrote a balanced book about parents trying to help their children. As the author points out, we parents are not eager to put our children on psychiatric medications; in fact the opposite is true.
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of An American Family (2020) by Robert Kolker. This biography was written by a journalist about the lives of a large family with twelve children, six of whom were eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is intense and disturbing, as is living with schizophrenia. It is not an encouraging or feel-good book.
Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are (2018) by Kevin Mitchell, PhD. This book by a neuroscientist is more broadly about neuroscience, rather than specifically about mental illness. But the author addresses serious mental illness and the state of our knowledge about possible underlying causes of it as a developmental disorder. This book focuses on modern scientific evidence, rather than assumptions and the blame game often associated with attitudes about mental illnesses.
#Books #Bookstodon #MentalIllness #MentalHealth #Psychiatry #Caregiving #Disability #Schizophrenia #Neuroscience

2026-05-03 14:07:41 UTC

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@nprofile…ryua It seems like you attend a very nice church. My guess is that others attend not-so-nice churches, like the one attended by a neighbor of ours who told my wife that her pastor said children with problems like our son had devil worshippers as parents. Then our son, and now our transgender daughter, she has schizophrenia and was adopted as a newborn by us from a family with an extensive history of serious psychiatric illness. Presumably our neighbor was referring to them and not us. Peace.

2026-05-02 13:37:46 UTC

“The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it". - Alberto Brandolini
There are many reputable bloggers and journalists, but also many disreputable ones today. If you want to write on any topic you choose, even if you have no related credentials or expertise, be an unprincipled journalist or an ignorant blogger on the internet. I have some journalists in mind, though I won’t name them. I don’t bother reading blogs written by those with no credentials. Academicians, on the other hand, more generally stick to their areas of expertise and publish in refereed journals, backing their findings with reviews of existing literature and empirical research. They are often corrected by faculty colleagues or themselves when they err. Institutions of higher education are necessary for the advancement of civilization. Write to your favorite college professors and thank them for helping you develop critical thinking skills and a love for lifelong learning.
#Misinformation #Disinformation #Blogging #Journalism #Internet #HigherEducation #CriticalThinking
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/116/505/208/147/353/847/original/0f4f80394d5cd391.jpeg

2026-04-30 16:20:09 UTC

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@nprofile…l70y In 2009, President Barack Obama announced that he would speak nationally to school children by television. The purpose was to encourage them to take their studies seriously and become good citizens. My two boys were enrolled at a public elementary school in Austin, Texas at the time. Some parents—I do not know how many—were so upset by what President Obama might say that they complained to school district leaders and principals of individual schools. The principal of the school my children attended could have responded by telling those parents she would not interfere with the US president. Or, though distasteful, she could have allowed parents to ask for their children to be excused from the event. But, instead, she chose the most disgusting and racist approach of requiring all parents to submit a permission slip for their children to watch and listen to President of the United States Barack Obama. Without a signed permission slip students were not allowed to watch or listen, but were sent to the cafeteria. The solution appeased the bigots. Would this have happened if a white president had chosen to speak to school children? I think not. So this is when I realized that some of my neighbors are racists. They would deny it, and Supreme Court justices would do the same.

2026-04-29 14:32:00 UTC

Believing, as I do, that the universe is an absurd place with no meaning or purpose sometimes makes it difficult for me to balance my fondness for empathy with that belief and a concomitant acceptance that bad things happen for no reason: Children are born with terrible disabilities, young people starve or die of cancer; narcissists rule the world; no one will be punished or rewarded. I believe that our consciousness is a useful illusion and we will simply disappear at the ends of our lives. Yet relying on empiricism to understand our planet and life itself as products of chemical and evolutionary processes, then using reasoning to try forming a holistic scientific philosophy that is compatible with my chosen values, is an interesting endeavor. Albert Camus, who is generally credited with absurdism, did a nice job of defending such an outlook in his writings. So did his friend, Jacques Monod, who along with Camus was a member of the French Resistance in World War II.
#Camus #Monod #Absurdism #Philosophy

2026-04-29 13:24:07 UTC

Found in Benavides, Texas (pop. 1183)
https://texashighways.com/travel-news/roadside-oddity-how-a-champion-baton-twirler-inspired-benavides-welcome-sign/
#Texas #Tourism #Travel

2026-04-28 23:22:16 UTC

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@nprofile…pfuj I can’t tell if they are eating it, because the toothpaste residue is minimal and their mouths are so tiny. 😃
Some sources claim ants are attracted to sorbitol and glycerin in toothpaste.
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/116/484/891/999/195/598/original/2b6072b3e8020415.jpeg

2026-04-28 23:10:02 UTC

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@nprofile…pfuj I loved reading GEB by Hofstadter and consider it a brilliant book written by an author who is almost infinitely smarter than me. But I think there is a part of the book where he underestimates the capacity of species to switch over to new and unfamiliar food sources, which is something successful invasive species must do. In fact, at this very minute, little black ants are beating a trail to toothpaste residue in my bathroom and I doubt it is a natural food source for them. I will add they can run really fast for their size when they realize a human is about to rinse them off a toothbrush and down a drain.

2026-04-25 14:32:21 UTC

Does anyone really like leaf blowers? I don’t often use profanity. But in this case it is justified: Damn them and their noise pollution to fucking hell, especially the gasoline-powered ones! Buy a rake or broom, instead. Your neighbors and wildlife will appreciate it. As stated in the article, “Texass” has of course banned local governments from regulating them. #pollution #noise #stress
https://grist.org/solutions/gas-powered-leaf-blowers-bans-challenges/

2026-04-23 16:35:33 UTC

The instructor who taught a field biology course I completed about 50 years ago did not devote much class time to identifying animal tracks. But based on my knowledge that it is the only primate that occurs naturally in this area, I believe this footprint on a muddy hiking trail was made by a member of the Homo sapiens species. #Hiking #Humor
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/116/454/968/430/139/608/original/5f3ba16298cde886.png

2026-04-22 14:36:55 UTC

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@nprofile…l70y I think shallowness of thinking is a big piece of what makes MAGA philosophy attractive to many of its followers: Tell me what to think instead of challenging me to think critically, especIally if you will validate my biases. I pointed out conflicts between the modern teachings of Christianity and MAGA dogma to my baptized-Catholic son who supports Trump and who recently told me he now identifies as a born-again Christian. From my perspective, it seemed to be a fruitless conversation. Of course one never knows the longterm effects of what one says to another.

2026-04-21 23:47:51 UTC

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@nprofile…926n Those are three very good things. 😊

2026-04-14 14:16:22 UTC

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@nprofile…0xjm I see my Fedi experience as being local in terms of the like-minded people I follow, but not in terms of geography. I have only met face-to-face with a few people who I follow here and they are not very active. None of my relatives or in-laws are here. As a person in the US, regrettably, what I like is the cosmopolitan nature of the Fedi and my ability to follow interesting and kind people all over the world.

2026-04-13 17:05:46 UTC

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@nprofile…musx I have commented here on Mastodon about the cowardice and complicity of journalists on several occasions. And, I have tagged the journalism profession in such comments. But never has a journalist replied in defense of their behavior. My guess is that they are afraid of being punished or fired.

2026-04-13 14:53:59 UTC

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@nprofile…l70y Pew Research found that 55% of Catholic voters voted for Trump in 2024. How could that be? Might Catholic leaders themselves have misled their flock?

2026-04-12 18:08:24 UTC

Fifteen Texas wildflowers seen on this morning’s muddy trail hike.
#iPhone #Photography #Bloomscrolling #Nature #Texas #Hiking
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/116/393/060/593/194/654/original/4c7f779714347178.png

2026-04-01 13:23:01 UTC

I offer up these two nominees for the worst business names, ever:
1. A hair stylist: Curl Up and Dye.
2. A restaurant: La Cucaracha.
The first of these Texas businesses still exists with multiple locations. The second seems to be permanently closed.
#Business #Misnomer

2026-03-31 11:20:29 UTC

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@nprofile…pfuj And Brian Kilmeade didn’t lose his job for saying it.

2026-03-22 17:28:38 UTC

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@nprofile…l70y They must be whispering over the past couple of years, because I haven’t been hearing much from them. Meanwhile, I have been hearing a lot of largely unchallenged hate from the right here in Texas. Maybe corporate media just isn’t giving people like Talarico the air time granted to corporate prophets. (Pun intended)
Edit: It has been nice to hear the pope calling out hypocrites. More church leaders should be doing the same, and loudly.

2026-03-22 11:06:15 UTC

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@nprofile…l70y Why did it take so long for the Democratic Party to find a candidate willing to challenge the blatant heresy and hypocrisy of the religious right?

2026-03-21 14:08:03 UTC

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@nprofile…v9vp You must be referring to Germany, because you’re much too intelligent to think of the USA as a sensible country.

2026-03-02 18:12:45 UTC

I didn’t feel like going on a hike this morning. But seeing this Rough Green Snake made it worthwhile. #Hiking #Snake #Photography #Nature #Austin #Texas
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/116/160/913/089/632/560/original/2a2d8aa60f17e490.png

2026-02-01 01:31:16 UTC

Seen on a neighborhood walk a while back. #BumperSticker #Rainbow #Ethics #Voting
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/115/992/770/241/982/299/original/42be5a6812a1f103.png

2026-01-15 16:41:30 UTC

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@nprofile…l70y Another great thread. I don’t know how you do it so consistently. Many years ago, a late friend of mine who was active in the gay rights movement stood during his pastor’s call for intercessionary prayers and asked members of the congregation to “pray that God would enter their hearts and inspire them to give up their hateful attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community.” It may be that most pastors only ask for special intentions in silence, but perhaps evangelical churches still call for such intentions to be spoken aloud. It might be a useful tactic to use today, on behalf of the broader community that is experiencing hateful discrimination, and a tactic that even I as a non-believer am tempted to try at some local congregations.

2026-01-11 21:20:56 UTC

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@nprofile…n00n I caught the measles in Senegal in 1984 when I was a 20-something Peace Corps volunteer, presumably because I received an ineffective vaccine in childhood. It was the sickest I’ve ever been—high fever, double vision, and it left me with a permanent heart arrhythmia. After being bedridden for 2 weeks, I was out of breath from walking short distances and it took months for me to regain my strength. You don’t want the measles.

2025-12-25 12:05:54 UTC

This is me with Guapo who is named after my favorite local espresso bean roast and for his handsomeness. What is your dog’s name and why is s/he so named? #Dogs #DogsOfMastodon #DogsOfFediverse
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/115/780/092/970/150/696/original/ebb140c6e787c6dd.png

2025-12-24 01:14:23 UTC

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@nprofile…e4ry My oldest child’s baby tooth.

2025-12-04 12:22:12 UTC

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@nprofile…lggw
I wish you a rapid and full recovery. Please give yourself plenty of rest.

2025-12-03 11:57:18 UTC

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@nprofile…ysx6 AltText: In a video titled, 梦核里的CNC (CNC in the Dream Core), a machinist first mounts a cucumber with one end cut off in the chuck of a large industrial lathe and uses the tool to drill a hole into the cut end. Next, the machinist mounts a large carrot with the top cut off in the lathe and cuts threads onto the top to make it resemble a machine bolt. Last, he screws the carrot into the cucumber. The diameters of the mated vegetables are nearly identical.

2025-11-08 20:07:23 UTC

I rebuilt seven BrassCraft multi-turn water shutoff valves in my home that were 38 years old in anticipation of having new bathroom countertops installed. (Three others shutoff valves were replaced recently with other renovations.)
Of the seven valves, four no longer had rubber washers, which were nowhere to be found—perhaps they completely disintegrated or are stuck in faucets. Two other valve stems were missing their rubber washers but they were stuck inside the shutoff valves. One washer was still attached to the valve stem but was mostly deteriorated.
Internet sources say water shutoff valves should be changed or rebuilt every 10-15 years to avoid leaks and water damage. But you must be careful to make sure they do not leak after the rebuild or replacement. I had one that was dripping and needed additional tightening after I turned the main water line back on. #DIY #Plumbing

2025-11-05 01:59:34 UTC

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@nprofile…e4ry I wish they were tears of joy, which can be a byproduct of new and profound understanding. But there are other worthy fields of study if mathematics is not one’s forte.

2025-11-03 17:24:37 UTC

A grasshopper clings to the stub of a broken branch on a mesquite tree in Texas.
#Nature #Fauna #Insects #Photography
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/115/486/906/882/613/541/original/b58ee5cb396971ec.png

2025-10-19 20:18:01 UTC

A transgender woman tooted 2-3 days ago that people don’t send flowers to trans women, and not doing so sends a message that they’re not thought of as real women. She encouraged family and friends of trans women to send them flowers. The toot was nicely composed and I regret not boosting it right away. Now I cannot find it again. I want to show my wife. If anyone has the original toot and can share it with me, I would appreciate it. I will be sending flowers to my trans daughter. #Trans

2025-10-11 15:10:46 UTC

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@nprofile…r5mx I am so encouraged by Pope Leo’s “I Have Loved You” document. It is long overdue to emphasize that MAGA and prosperity ideologies are wholly incompatible with Christianity. Anyone with a modicum of empathy has known this from the start.

2025-10-10 13:55:42 UTC

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@nprofile…l326 That paragraph from the Nobel Committee also caught my eye and made me wonder who in the U.S. is best putting such principles into consistent practice with their oratorial or writing skills. Anyone?

2025-08-22 23:04:39 UTC

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@nprofile…v4qx I enjoyed listening to the interview. Having now read several books about neuroscience and listened to several taped interviews of neuroscientists mathematicians, and philosophers the integrative nature of work by researchers from different fields is striking to me. One example is the emphasis on the importance of modeling in neuroscience that you, Douglas Hofstadter, Stanislas Dehaene, and the late Daniel Dennett seem to agree about. In one interview, Dennett points out that when a model predicts the brain should be able to do something it has never been seen to do before and you can make the brain do that something, it is validating of the model. Fascinating stuff.

2025-06-20 00:14:12 UTC

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@nprofile…2kgy There were news reports two days ago that Trump removed the MLK, Jr. bust from the Oval Office.

2025-06-19 21:54:40 UTC

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@nprofile…wjfe That’s exactly how my dog makes his decisions.

2025-06-19 10:08:01 UTC

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@nprofile…qhlu Wow! That was the most impressive SpaceX Starship explosion so far.

2025-06-18 22:11:31 UTC

You may have heard of Tito’s Vodka made in Austin, Texas. But you probably haven’t heard of Toto’s Pawdka made in Pawstin, Texas.
#Dogs #DogsOfMastodon #Austin #Texas
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/706/636/251/297/726/original/0b594b7ff7c764e9.png

2025-06-18 20:17:39 UTC

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@nprofile…qjvy ❤️

2025-06-18 20:11:01 UTC

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@nprofile…qjvy Well done. 🙂

2025-06-18 15:25:28 UTC

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@nprofile…kvnh Sorry for writing this book. Your toots are thought-provoking.
I was pretty incurious and unaware until midway through my college years when a friend invited me to join a CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) student organization on campus. I was then a practicing Catholic. The murder of Catholic priests and nuns in El Salvador by members of paramilitary groups, some trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas in Fort Benning, further awoke my interest in social justice. Many of those events were covered by news articles in Today’s Catholic, which my parents subscribed to and Christianity Today which I read in the library. After graduating from college and having a hard time finding a job, I joined the U.S. Peace Corps because it appealed to my newfound wokeness. My two years living and interacting with rural farmers in Senegal reinforced my belief that people everywhere are more alike than different. And, I think most of us wish good things to happen for those who we see as being like us. My wife helped me become more woke by introducing me to her many gay and lesbian friends after we began dating.
But, is the above cause or effect? I think much of my wokeness may possibly be related to my natural personality. My brother and I are both pretty far left, and my more than a dozen cousins on my mother’s side of the family seem to lean left. Strong family genes for empathy, perhaps? Some of my left-leaning politics are surely learned. But, my wife and I were unable to inculcate those values in one of two children we adopted as newborns with different biological parents.
My transgender daughter is woke and has been since childhood. But, I saw early traits in my 25-year-old son that suggest he may have had a genetic tendency for a conservative’s personality. We see those traits in some of his biological relatives, too. He has struggled with anxiety since childhood when he often worried about robbers breaking into our home; he still sees the world as a scary place; he is a gun owner; he is incurious and seeks simple explanations for complex issues; he is a MAGA Republican who wears a golf cross on a chain around his neck. My wife says that evangelical Christians tend to believe people are inherently bad, rather than good, and that aligns with right-wing thinking and policies.
(Now might be a good time for me to rewatch Children of Heaven or The Color of Paradise by Iranian director Majid Majidi to get a balanced perspective on the lives of Iranian people.)

2025-06-18 00:31:16 UTC

I am pleased to report that I aced my dementia test at my annual doctor’s exam today, just like Donald Trump did several years ago. Do I earn national press coverage or a gold star? ⭐️

2025-06-17 19:35:52 UTC

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@nprofile…euhg I assume the one on the far right is slightly rusty radiator water from an older vehicle.

2025-06-17 15:28:55 UTC

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@nprofile…7x4l I rely on a friend from Spain who earned her doctorate at UCL for all my English colloquialisms.

2025-06-17 15:10:26 UTC

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@nprofile…7x4l I was unfamiliar with the expression. I looked it up and thought of Amelie melting in the movie by the same name.

2025-06-16 23:02:24 UTC

U.S. Conservatives Like Borders, Fences, Walls
Is this true in other countries? When we bought our home 35 years ago, it and 4 other homes backed up to one another and formed about a 1-acre area of shared green space where children could play and adults could socialize. One neighbor’s young child even let himself into our house through the rear door whenever he needed a cookie. It was a delightful little community. During the first ten years that open space remained undivided with an informal agreement to keep it that way. Then, gradually, our neighbors began to break that agreement and put up wooden privacy fences. I know three of those four other homeowners are Republicans and they all installed privacy fences. (One of the Republican neighbors actually fenced in my sprinklers on their side of the fence, argued that maybe my sprinklers were on their property, and left the responsibility of hiring a surveyor to prove my property line up to me, only having installers move the fence after I had done so.) The one neighbor who I believe is Democrat, like me, left one side of our property unfenced. At that point we added fencing to close in the yard for a dog, though we would have much preferred to keep things the way they were when we purchased the house and just walk the dog as needed, which we do anyway. #Conservatives #Republicans #Borders #Fences #Walls #Barriers #Community #USA #Texas

2025-06-16 22:32:45 UTC

I’m sitting on my back porch with Guapo, my rescue dog. A squirrel passed by on top of the wooden fence. Guapo typically chases such intruders, eliciting scolding from them. Today he decided it is too hot to give chase and jump against the fence below an unreachable adversary. #DogsOfMastodon #Dogs #RescueDogs #Squirrels
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/695/394/188/903/109/original/594f52ca8fc27c7c.png

2025-06-16 22:21:19 UTC

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@nprofile…5qlu Although it is something that has not occurred to me before, and it may not be intentional, the removal of physical copies of printed books from libraries and their replacement with licensed electronic copies will make it easier for authorities to control access to books.

2025-06-16 19:46:28 UTC

Sometimes one of the worst things about being a non-believer is thinking that no eternal punishment awaits MAGA people. /S

2025-06-16 17:06:08 UTC

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@nprofile…glg0
I have been recently listening to some old songs by a defunct band from Sweden that was called The Concretes. Their founder and lead singer, Victoria Bergsman, left to pursue a solo career under the name Taken By Trees a couple decade ago. I am less a fan of her new musical endeavors. But, you might appreciate these lyrics even though they are not among my favorite songs by The Concretes.
Under Your Leaves
“Under your leaves I lay
With wishes you'd call my name
And bring me to your well
So my thirst no longer is
You know I'll do anything for you
Bring singing birds to your crown
Climb to the very top of you
Though I might fall
But one day I must go
To get myself a warmer coat
I promise I'll be back real soon
Back under your leaves again”
- by Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes
Branches
“Among the branches
I feel no fear
I rest my head
Against their bark
Remember how
I used to watch them
From the ground
But now it's me in the branches
Cause I made up my mind
That I wanted to be one of their leaves”
- by Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes

2025-06-16 16:19:29 UTC

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@nprofile…chpz Not even to toss rolls of paper towels to the peasants?

2025-06-16 15:58:18 UTC

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@nprofile…em33 Well, don’t forget that Michelle Obama once scandalously wore a sleeveless dress. /S

2025-06-16 13:53:46 UTC

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@nprofile…ddzg It’s kind of funny that a piece of rotting wood dangling from a chain is still there in photos taken 12 years apart.
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/693/370/524/373/557/original/a585e395caafd75d.png

2025-06-16 13:47:44 UTC

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@nprofile…f7v6 @nprofile…t5vy I think having another human write an essay is a near analogy to the first group in ethics. Whether human or machine results are better probably varies by human and machine.

2025-06-16 13:24:05 UTC

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@nprofile…ddzg A photo at Texasescapes.com, taken in 2013 and credited to Vicki Harris, identifies this building as the San Gabriel Schoolhouse which reportedly closed in 1960 when it merged with a school in Thorndale. The rotting piece of wood hanging from a chain appears in both photos—perhaps it was the school sign. The person who hung the “Private Property, No Trespassing” sign is probably gone. Former students would now be in their seventies or older.

2025-06-15 22:32:34 UTC

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@nprofile…nf98 D’Oh!

2025-06-15 20:55:11 UTC

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@nprofile…280l Maybe he would accept $1 billion in tax funds to resign?

2025-06-15 15:53:10 UTC

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@nprofile…sqxk So much correct spelling on the signs! That’s the first thing that catches my eye.

2025-06-15 03:57:23 UTC

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The relevant part of this video that purports to be Vance Boelter begins at 36:30
https://www.youtube.com/live/jf5zld0Ixu0?si=oLoGPAMJzGURcZeG

2025-06-15 03:45:38 UTC

There is a YouTube video that purports to be Vance Luther Boelter, the assassin who today killed Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband. That video, if real, shows Boelter preaching to a congregation while an interpreter translates into French. Some news reports claim he is an anti-abortionist with a long hit list. One might wonder if religious fanaticism on the issue of abortion was his motivation for murder. If so, what extremes of behavior can religious leaders persuade their followers to perpetuate, and what are the implications of that for society? The late philosopher, Daniel Dennett, shares his thoughts.
#Religion #Society #Extremism #Philosophy #Dennett
https://youtu.be/5WhQ8bSvcHQ

2025-06-14 12:48:45 UTC

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@nprofile…3cap @nprofile…4kmp Thank you for this. Just yesterday, I was thinking about the analogous situation in the United States of America. Of course, like other countries, we have no restrictions on movement across our state borders. And, until recently, crossing our border with Canada was easy. It has only been our border with Mexico that most of my fellow countrymen have long insisted on policing. Why is that? Well there is the matter of darker skin color which has also contributed to unequal treatment of indigenous peoples, African Americans, and Japanese Americans in the United Stares. My white skin color is a structural advantage and I suspect the same is true for white Europeans—they’re not the problem. Greta Thunberg is correct that racism and other -isms are the problem. Alas, despite UN documents that discourage the practice, ableism seems to be a serious obstacle to my disabled transgender daughter immigrating and obtaining residency in a friendly European country. So, I guess we will stay here in this shithole country.

2025-06-14 10:19:40 UTC

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@nprofile…yu7f Almost 40 years ago, a classmate of mine was studying ocelots. She had a trail cam that made a loud click when the shutter activated, which often caused her subjects and other nocturnal animals to have a startle response. Many of her pictures were of feet extending down from the top of the frame with bodies entirely out of the picture. I guess engineers have improved the designs of trail cams since then.

2025-06-13 20:41:57 UTC

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@nprofile…hkax Woof, woof 😀

2025-06-13 20:27:04 UTC

Guapo visited a groomer today. #Dogs #DogsOfMastodon
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/677/916/986/905/237/original/4c402209bd0229a8.png

2025-06-13 13:51:27 UTC

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@nprofile…wjfe Is this decision intended to give the California National Guard time to instigate more violence, and perhaps achieve a level of mayhem that might justify their presence?

2025-06-13 13:28:23 UTC

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@nprofile…fc7h I’m surprised Amsterdam ever did this. They may have acquired the idea to fine homeless persons from Ronald Reagan.

2025-06-13 13:05:52 UTC

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@nprofile…xel2 @nprofile…kvnh That is very sad. I’m sorry you, your family, and others experience such abuse. 😢

2025-06-13 12:18:44 UTC

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@nprofile…64wd
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/676/007/549/930/422/original/036720f1ab188614.png

2025-06-12 23:30:20 UTC

There was a movie with a riveting scene of a plutonium core almost going critical when a researcher put it into a vise and applied pressure. I think it might have been the movie Infinity with Matthew Broderick playing Richard Feynman. Well, I just heated a crab cake in my microwave oven for two minutes, as per instructions, and am pretty sure from its energized state when I opened the oven door that it was quite close to going critical.
#Movies #Feynman #CrabCakes #Microwave #Humor #Physics #IYKYK

2025-06-12 22:27:27 UTC

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@nprofile…z8kp Those who handcuffed him should be disciplined or fired, which is what Republicans would demand if the same happened to one of their U.S. senators under a Democratic president.

2025-06-12 21:55:50 UTC

When novelist Richard Powers flipped a Bible verse to read “blessed are those who do not believe yet see,” he probably wasn’t referring to the capsulotomies this non-believer had performed today to correct posterior capsule opacification (PCO), a common and minor complication that followed my cataract and lens replacement surgery. Regardless, I will be grateful to see clearly again. #RichardPowers #Optometry #Ophthalmology #Cataracts

2025-06-12 15:57:22 UTC

I’m feeling a bit blue this morning about various things including the deplorable state of some fellow citizens. But I am uplifted by the thought of my good fortune to not be like them. I am not a world-class hater. #Blue
#JoniMitchell #Music #USA #TerryMoran
https://youtu.be/MvR7Dkg4NQU

2025-06-12 14:13:17 UTC

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@nprofile…46gu Regrettably, we had many U.S. presidents who were criminals before Donald Trump.

2025-06-12 02:40:05 UTC

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@nprofile…4y47 I wonder if it would be okay to fly inverted U.S. flags along Trump’s military parade route.

2025-06-12 01:52:45 UTC

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@nprofile…wjfe I think I’m going to remember Senator Todd Young’s response and use it myself.

2025-05-25 16:10:42 UTC

Record profits are unpaid wages.
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/114/569/334/356/671/600/original/da8e4f96f0a44b68.png

2025-04-22 19:44:07 UTC

I finished reading Consciousness Explained by Daniel Dennett last night. I liked the author’s interdisciplinary approach to his theory of consciousness. He accomplished his aim of causing me to think differently, and I expect to continue thinking about what I read when I’m less sleepy. One trivial way the book influenced me is by changing my opinion from “hating AI” to “hating how AI is used today.” I think AI can be more useful in research for understanding consciousness, than as a tool for profit. #Consciousness #Philosophy #Psychology #Neuroscience #AI #Dennett #DanielDennett
#Books #ComputerScience #Science

2025-03-24 12:45:15 UTC

Sometimes alternative text (i.e., alt txt) is the most edifying and important part of a tooted photo. It can be delightful and memorable, like artfully crafted literature or original metaphors. As a sighted person, I save viewing the alt text for the last and possibly best part, anticipating it like extra frosting that has tumbled onto my plate from a slice of cake. Alt text sometimes merely explains what I am viewing; other times it draws my attention to special details in a photo that I would have otherwise missed. For those with visual impairments, it is essential, of course. Regrettably, alt text is sometimes banal or missing altogether. When you read exceptional alt text, do you ever compliment its author? What is the epitome of alt text, either in general terms or using a specific example?
#AltText #Writing #Photography #Art #Communication #Disability

2025-01-05 20:18:25 UTC

Found objects as seen and left undisturbed on this morning’s hike. Someone, not I, is hanging random objects on the trees.
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/113/777/538/448/187/063/original/c00da7f5270066a0.png
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/113/777/538/778/548/957/original/62824c69f28670cb.png
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/113/777/539/051/311/941/original/967aa0f4ba2dc2c3.png
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/113/777/539/366/499/041/original/a51368af9f0a18e1.png

2024-12-28 17:18:22 UTC

Safely home from a 7-mile hike with Guapo, the last 2.5 miles in a thunderstorm. It was not much fun for either of us. Several years ago, a young woman who had just finished her PhD at The University of Texas was struck by lightning and killed while hiking in a hilly part of Austin. #Austin #Texas #Walking #Hiking #Dogs
#DogsOfMastodon
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/113/731/575/071/118/353/original/afc20be13dd8e9b7.png