Beki Jane 🦜

My latest artwork is, "Winter Pink". A long tailed tit on a winter bare sunflower stem. Hand drawn in Procreate on the iPad from a reference photo I took through my window in my garden.

@alexboge Photographed from a Canberra.

Next-Gen Stealth Fighter crosses paths with commercial jet …

@patbhamilton The 2.6°C trajectory has a margin of error, but it's right in the middle of current probabilistic modeling. The lower confidence applies equally to the high and low ends, meaning the old 4.5°C+ doomsday remains a statistical outlier based on updated real-world emissions data.

Another future projection giving 2.6C by the end of the century, but considerably narrower confidence intervals. climateactiontracker.org/media/images/C…

The temperature🌡of our planet 🌎 over the next 80 years in the context of the last 20,000 years. Without a lot more serious efforts to reduce CO2 emissions 🏭 ✈️ 🚗 & protect our forests 🌳. Link to the PPT slide. docs.google.com/presentation/d…

@meonmytwocents @benwehrman "Woman" comes from Old English "wīfmann" (female human). "Womb" comes from "wambe" (belly). They share zero linguistic roots, and "man" was originally a gender-neutral word for any human. Stop fabricating fake etymology to sound deep; google dictionary is free.

@benwehrman And woman comes from womb man. It originates from ancient Chinese philosophy, its conceptual roots over 3,000 years old and visual form, the Taijitu, developed during the Song Dynasty. White and black halves represent the good and evil, the light and the darkness in the world.

I am once again reminding you that this is where the Yin & Yang symbol actually came from, and I don't care how many times community notes says "NUH-UH!"

@OlafSimons @alexboge We're saying the same thing. That "show of disbelief" is how the campaign sustains itself. They don't have data, so they parasitize real events like Artemis to create content, farm clout, and get followers. It’s impossible to counter because they aren't even trying to debate.

@bekijane @alexboge 4/ ...eventually they have a political agenda. They do this in a broader context with an eye on Republican consipiracy theorists and their corona in other countries - and I bet that Russia's troll factories are part of the scenery. They feed the responsive web for these posts.

More than 2,300 years ago, the ancient Greeks already knew Earth was a globe. And learned its size. Aristotle laid out several basic observations that anyone could understand: ships disappear hull-first over the horizon and appear mast-first when approaching; during a lunar eclipse, Earth casts a round shadow on the Moon; and as you travel north or south, the visible stars change, with some constellations rising into view and others disappearing below the horizon. This was not guesswork. It was geometry, observation, and reason. There was no agenda. They were not defending NASA, protecting a government narrative, or trying to preserve some system of control. They were seeking the truth. They wanted to understand the world they lived on. There was no power to gain or lose from the answer. No religion needed to be defended. No institution needed to be protected. It was just logic. It was curiosity. It was the desire to learn, using the tools available to them: their eyes and their minds. Flat-earthers possess only the eyes, and still they cannot see. About a century later, armed with that knowledge, another Greek named Eratosthenes did something logically derived from simple geometry for a sphere: he calculated the circumference of Earth. At Syene, on a certain date, the Sun was directly overhead at noon, shining straight down into a well. At the same time in Alexandria, a vertical stick cast a shadow. Eratosthenes measured the shadow angle: about 7.2 degrees. A full circle is 360 degrees. 360 divided by 7.2 equals 50. That meant the distance from Alexandria to Syene represented 1/50 of Earth’s circumference. So all he had to do was multiply the distance between the two cities by 50 - and he got remarkably close to the real circumference of Earth. No satellites. No rockets. No NASA. No “trust the government.” Just sunlight, a stick, a well, distance, and geometry. And here’s the part flat-earthers hate: this experiment cannot succeed on a flat Earth. Sure, you can invent a small local Sun and place it in one very precise imaginary position to make one measurement appear to work. But the moment you move the stick to another location, the numbers fail. The angles no longer agree. The distances no longer scale. The model stops producing one consistent answer. On a globe, the measurements converge. On a flat Earth, they conflict. That is why Eratosthenes’ experiment is so devastating. It does not merely show that one shadow angle can be explained. It shows that distance, angle, and curvature all fit together into a single coherent geometry which only works on a globe. The ancient Greeks figured this out over two thousand years ago. Using observations, basic geometry, and a desire for truth. Modern flat-earthers still haven’t caught up. Even more sadly, Flerfs refuse to even try.

@OlafSimons @alexboge You can’t. It's a self-sustaining ecosystem built on circular logic and confirmation bias. It rewards people with attention and followers for rejecting reality, while treating outsiders as the enemy. You can't debunk a cult mindset with facts.

@alexboge Well, in fact, I see it as the far more problematic explanation. Ignorance is something you reach with information. A global desinformation campaign that rewards participants with followers and attention - how can you counter such a campaign?

‘GPs will no longer issue "sick notes" under a government trial. People will be directed to social prescribers instead. This is peak neoliberal governance: a structural refusal to allow people to be ill, rest, or temporarily step outside a certain model of productivity.

A broadcast isn't biased just because it offends you. If you only want your own thoughts reflected back, buy a mirror or a parrot. Hearing the other side is called journalism; only hearing yours is called a cult. #BBC

This account is truth-trolling the flerfers for interaction and I am so here for it. It is beautiful to watch. Must be a license to print money. I do so wish I'd thought of it first. Hats off. Chef's kiss. Standing ovation. Reading the comments with popcorn on every post.

I’d like to offer you a penny for your thoughts, but I’ve always been told it’s rude to overpay.

The benefits system effectively bans romance for disabled people. 💔 Move in with a partner? Your UC is slashed. You're forced into financial dependence or poverty. The choice: stay single to survive, or find love and lose your independence. It’s state-mandated isolation.

@KeruboSk All of the older generation around when I was growing up. I just missed the 1960s, but basically most of the over 70's I knew as a young child were born in the late 1800s.

Just out of curiosity… who out there has actually talked to someone born in the 1800s during their lifetime?

@emazing_lol @areyoflight I'm proud to report that I own part of those windmills. Scottish Government may have given permission, but it's a co-op that owns them. I see his rage and I'm pleased that my little bit is a permenant single finger at the turd.

@areyoflight Apparently his hate for windmills comes from the Scottish government putting a load next to his golf course. 🤣

@Hossylass @BlokeOnWheels @labourlewis Pratchett appears to have the last word for everything. I've just started my yearly re-read, so I'm in that headspace. But here it is. The way the conspiracies work. The way the political tribes work.

@Hossylass @BlokeOnWheels @labourlewis This is a real interaction though. The algorythm may have connected us, but the interaction is real. There's the difference. Not a swamp of likes and comments. A real conversation, even if it is in text. And yes, I've enjoyed it too.

It's amazing how many people are still prepared to defend people like Iain Duncan Smith when they come on here and post complete shite.

@Hossylass @BlokeOnWheels @labourlewis We're so constrained by that manipulation that it takes effort to even see it. I'm also too old and with too few spoons to deal with the ramifications of it. And no. I won't pay. I'm paying with my time already.

@bekijane @BlokeOnWheels @labourlewis If I write something dumb, in my opinion, but appealing, it gets attention. This grieves me. Then X tells me I could have 'earned' money from connecting with my tribe - if only I would pay for that opportunity. I'm too old for that sort of rubbish manipulation.

@Hossylass @BlokeOnWheels @labourlewis Reinforced by AI (a yes man confirming confirmation bias) and by the algorythms in social media serving people content that they will interact with. Down the funnel into the tribe we go.

@bekijane @BlokeOnWheels @labourlewis Its the certainty of the uninformed. As someone said, so stupid they dont know which slope of the Dunning-Kruger curve they are on.

@Hossylass @BlokeOnWheels The political system rewards adversarial behaviour. It selects for people who thrive in conflict, who treat politics like a blood sport, and who see the public as a resource to be mined rather than a constituency to be served. It's baked in. Don't have an answer though.

@bekijane @BlokeOnWheels Vimes was Terry far more than any other character - the clarity of thought of David Graeber, the down-to-earth speech of Mick Lynch, and the insight of every woman who deals with reality. But we have the likes of Iain Duncan Smith and Kemi Badenoch leading political parties. 😖

@Hossylass @BlokeOnWheels @labourlewis Algorithmic tribes. Political ones. People are sorted into camps & feudal stuff gets waved through. No scrutiny, no challenge, just team colours. Tories in blue ties. Tories in red. The system rewards certainty, not curiosity, and that’s how we end up defending the indefensible.

@bekijane @BlokeOnWheels It cant surely just be you and I who see this? Oh and @labourlewis Why is the public not raging?!!!

@Hossylass @BlokeOnWheels Landlords too. The bad ones. "And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions." Feet of Clay. Terry Pratchett. Man had a way with words

@Hossylass @BlokeOnWheels Water isn’t a service, it’s a tithe. A private lordship with a guaranteed income stream. You pay the levy, they pocket the profit, and the “oversight” is just pageantry. It’s feudalism in a hi‑vis jacket, and the public is treated like serfs tied to the pipe. Unpopular opinion :)