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ignova

@ignova@mstdn.ca

writer with a day job in healthcare. sometime artist and photographer. collector of Virginia Woolf trivia. houseplant den mother.

occasional commentary on progressive politics.

cw for frequent cat pics + shmoopy pet discourse.

posts are deleted after 30 days.

have changed instances a few times; i've been on fedi for longer than it says

#reading #writing #photography #plants #houseplants #writerscoffeeclub #wordweavers #pennedpossibilities

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

ignova , to random
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

frog friend at the Japanese garden

ignova , to random
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

getting into bonsai exposes you to related arts like Suiseki, which is basically an elevated version of 'this is a cool rock, check out this rock'

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suiseki

ignova OP ,
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

i went looking for more examples and this was one of my favourite cool rocks, a type of waterfall stone. (source: https://bonsaitonight.com/2017/06/16/selections-japans-top-100-suiseki-world-bonsai-convention/ )

loren , to random
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i saw the most perfect bee today

ignova ,
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

@loren i think it's a carpenter bee? (judging by the fuzzy thorax and shiny butt [abdomen].) those things are badass. they can drill a perfectly round hole several inches deep into a deck rail in one afternoon. which is pretty incredible for something that only weighs about a gram or two.

ignova , to random
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after learning a bit about the 'red oak group,' i no longer feel bad about being flummoxed about the ID of my mystery oaks.

in addition to the Northern red oak and the scarlet oak, 'Black oak, live oak, willow oak (including water oak, laurel oak, shingle oak), and pin oak (qq.v.) are red oaks.'

Wikipedia says there are about 125 species in the group. oh and they are all known to hybridize freely. good luck

https://www.britannica.com/plant/red-oak-subgenus

ignova , to random
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the plant lady lifestyle:

help, i just realized that i have 15 plants in my bedroom

(don't ask me to count the other rooms)

ignova , to random
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it was New Mouse Day

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

FYI, someone just asked me, "Could you please put a CW on those US politics posts?"

I said no sorry,, just mute me.

I don't understand CWing political posts. And that doesn't mean you need to @ me explaining why. I know THEIR reasons, I just disagree with them and won't do it.

I respect CWs for other things, but not politics. Politics is news and people need to be aware of what's happening. It's not gory or violent, it's politics.

Kthxbye.

ignova ,
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

@artemesia @GottaLaff the culture around CWs is a small example of how the modern left has moved away from liberation and towards attempting to control everything people say and do in their personal lives. that's one of the reasons i also push back on it. it's courtesy to CW something like graphic violence, descriptions of sex abuse, or other extreme content that could blindside you on a public bus. but politics is not extreme. eye contact is not extreme. pictures of food are not extreme.

ignova , to random
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went back to the arboretum with the good camera. there were dozens of crabapples there in various stages of bloom. this one was one of my favourites.

ignova OP ,
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white blossoms on another tree. i love the mix of white blooms and pink buds.

ignova OP ,
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style and stamens peeking out of this buttery yellow magnolia

ignova OP ,
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trying to focus manually on that little redbud flower as it bounced around in the wind was god-tier difficulty

ignova OP ,
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

and finally, we walked through the trillium forest. for some reason we get a lot of pink colour morphs of white trilliums. they're not quite as showy as the red trilliums, but a neat curiosity all the same.

ignova , to random
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am i the only one who hates that dried up booger-like bit that comes out of the lotion pump first

flexghost , to random
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After the parasite, that feeds off brain activity, starved to death leaving only a black spot, RFK jr was asked for a comment:

“Sometimes duck with cheese can purple. Tartar baby staples. Vaccines bad.”

ignova ,
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@benroyce @flexghost @emmreef

GIF of zombies inspecting Homer Simpson's head, then angrily pushing him away for not having 'BRAINS!'

ignova , to random
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

from a more innocent age

https://youtu.be/l69Vi5IDc0g?feature=shared

ignova OP ,
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17 years ago, my god

flexghost , to random
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That’s because TikTok’s goal wasn’t making money…

ignova ,
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@flexghost honestly this might be the best outcome? having the propaganda engine simply change hands is hard to see as a W, but killing it could be.

ignova , to random
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is there a home insulation good enough to screen out the noise of your neighbour's bouncing basketball

futurebird , to random
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Thank the lord for Tish James. If you look at the research she did into this bond it made my head spin and I'm a math teacher. She understands all of these fancy finance games, and I guess you'd need to do her job in NYC. We have the worst/best "banking wizards" sometimes they break the laws of physics, sometimes they just break laws.

This bond is a stinker. I wonder what Trump promised the guy to let his company implode as sacrifice to avoid the full fee?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/letitia-james-says-company-put-162203280.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

ignova ,
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

@futurebird 'Hankey told Reuters that he didn’t expect the legal and media scrutiny that came with putting up Trump’s bond. “We thought it would be an easy procedure that wouldn’t involve other legal problems and it’s not turning out that way,” he said.'

i.e.

'We thought it would be easy to bullshit the court in one of the most important trials of the century. Somehow it wasn't. Weird!'

ignova , to random
@ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

brought home some new friends (in which the cats were a little too interested)

(before the plant pedants come at me - yes, i know they are poisonous. i moved them outside after this photo.)

ignova , to random
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cold frame update: the plants are tall enough to graduate to the 'hamburger lid' (another tub flipped upside down, and secured with clamps). so far, growth continues to be strong, and the plants are gradually getting used to lower temps at night.

A cold frame (mini greenhouse) made from two clear plastic tubs. One tub is flipped on top of the other to form a sort of 'hamburger' lid. The tubs are secured with plastic hardware clamps. You can see a tomato plant, and several morning glory plants through the plastic. The bottom bin is also lined with bubble wrap for insulation, and it has a reflective piece of mylar on the north side, for maximum light capture.
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    ignova OP ,
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    @sollat that particular piece of mylar came from a cheap car windshield reflector i bought at the dollar store. i bought it about 4 years ago, so i'm not sure if they still sell them there. in other stores they're more expensive.

    this one was nice because it was easy to cut, and it had a plastic bubble wrap structure on the inside that would double as insulation.

    flexghost , to random
    @flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

    Let’s chat

    Do you feel you have less interest posting about politics / current events lately?

    Why?

    Do you notice the same responses over and over again?

    Do you feel headlines and events seem to go nowhere or seem to repeat?

    Do you think people are more polarized or less polarized?

    Are people beholden to their sides’ ideology— the kind of people where if you looked at their profile you would know exactly what they think on most issues without nuance?

    I just wanna hear where you’re at…

    Image of kitten with eyes glazed over and paw crossed staring into screen captions sit down we need to talk Holy shit I might just be over this. The same shit over and over every fucking day. Except for a few people it feels just like an echo chamber wherever you look And when I step out of line with some nuance in my opinion.... what happened to nuance? If I even talk to someone right leaning online the left jumps and vice versa. Some of you were cool. Some of you. Many people are just fucking NPCs and it makes me sad.
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    • + flexghost
    ignova ,
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    @flexghost Mastodon is a lot better than most social media, but i still see polarization here. also in the news media, somewhat. it feels like it's no longer permissible to have a commonsense stance like 'let's wait for more information to come out about this complicated, very divisive issue before jumping to conclusions.' i.e. 'let's stop and think for a second.'

    people don't want to think. they want their favourite pundits to tell them what to think.

    GottaLaff , (edited ) to random
    @GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

    1/… I'll ask a favor of you.

    This trial hasn't even started yet, not one witness. Yet...

    I'm getting Doomers galore in my feed.

    A Trumpy helped convict him in an earlier trial.

    The prosecutors are vetting the jurors carefully.

    I am not Dooming. Not yet.

    Can we wait for the trial to be in full swing before predicting the worst possible outcome? Or do people thrive on constant pessimism? I just don't.

    Thanks so much for listening. Let's try to be hopeful.

    More…

    ignova ,
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    @GottaLaff what i don't understand is why they're so smug about their own defeatist bedwetting. 'Poor rubes, thinking they have a reason to try things, and hope for things.'

    they're basically taking the coward's position of minimizing the risks of being wrong, at the cost of undermining morale for everyone who's actually trying to be useful. a warped commitment to losing on purpose.

    ignova ,
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    @crazyeddie @GottaLaff defeatism depresses morale overall & reduces the will to act. even if you can't affect the outcome of e.g. the Stormy Daniels case, there are other actions ppl can take against Trump, which they may not take if they sit around convincing each other it's all hopeless.

    if defeatism is just a private attitude, then whatever. you do you. but spreading this shit around has negative effects on other people, & ppl should think twice before polluting strangers' mentions with it.

    ignova , to random
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    all of a sudden, all the flowers came up at once. these mini tulips were popular with the bees 🐝

    (hi res image - rewards zooming in)

    ignova , to random
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    Queen Tabby has that classic 'majestic indifference' personality that some people don't like about cats. she doesn't seem to give a shit about anything other than food. but she gets so excited when she thinks you're going to play with her, it kind of breaks my heart.

    ignova OP ,
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    she waits all day for me to take out that cheap little mouse toy. she will GALLOP up to me when she notices the signs that lead up to playtime. (she waits for the dog to be leashed up, because he will chase her if she plays while he's free.) then when you give her the mouse, she sings a weird little song with it in her mouth and rolls around on the floor. cat joy is real

    ignova , to random
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    saw this lil bugito on a viburnum at the park

    ignova , to random
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    i've waited for months to bring out the 'real' camera again. today was a great day to capture the forsythia.

    hi res photo - rewards zooming in

    ignova , to random
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    279. Does your MC or SC have a favorite type of food?

    Lucifer believes an honest appetite is a sign of the will to live. she takes the hedonist view that pleasure, beauty, and enjoyment are what justify Creation - without them, suffering makes every new life a net loss for the universe.

    her favourite foods are therefore full of the things we're supposed to feel guilty about enjoying. lots of fat, salt, sugar (for desserts), & meat. also wine. and don't skimp on the butter.

    ignova OP ,
    @ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

    you might find Julia Child an odd source of inspiration, but she has an almost perfectly satanic attitude to food. she hated our modern 'fear of food,' and the way eating was becoming more and more of a moral performance. (the Oscar Wilde quote was a fun coincidence, too.)

    pick that food up off the floor. dump in another splash of Vermouth. pile on that butter. it's your only life. make it count.

    Julia Child quotes, taken from Today.com. 1. "The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook." 2. "I enjoy cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food..." 3. "If you're afraid of butter, use cream." 4. "People who love to eat are always the best people." 5. "It's so beautifully arranged on the plate — you know someone's fingers have been all over it." 6. "Always remember: If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who's going to know?" 7. Child quoted Oscar Wilde when she said, "everything in moderation...including moderation." 8. "The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."
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    ignova , to random
    @ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

    looks like the third expensive food is the charm

    futurebird , to random
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    There can be something unseemly about a powerful person using their power to protect themself, their family. But there is also something dangerous in abstaining. Because the failure to use power when it is appropriate, when it is in keeping with civil human relations and expectations of good conduct implies the power does not exist. It implies craven weakness.

    You can't even protect yourself or your own!

    That is what we see. Not some impressive noblesse oblige.

    ignova ,
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    @futurebird i think in some movements there's a danger of equating powerlessness with moral authority. i.e. there's something about being downtrodden that makes you intrinsically better than other people. when taken to an extreme, this can actually create an incentive to remain powerless, instead of seeking the power that's within reach.

    but power is good. power is what enables you to do useful things that help people. but it comes with responsibility, from which some people shy away.

    loren , to random
    @loren@flipping.rocks avatar

    i originally thought that the kinglets were snacking on little tree buds and i guess i was techically correct if you consider whatever these little bugs are "little tree buds". anyone know what bugs they are? some kind of scale insect?

    a zoom in on the bugs that the kinglet was picking off the branch

    ignova ,
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    @loren if they are, those little guys are being good pals for the tree

    futurebird , to random
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    My dear sweet elderly mother just told me about a conversation with one of her neighbors. (They live in a small rural town in PA)

    This neighbor is a white guy and ... he sincerely thought that my mom had "Obamacare" because Obama made it for black people only. Or something like that.

    "Well at least you've got that Obamacare."

    I want them to move back to NYC. I wouldn't trust that guy to call a damn ambulance. Mom insists he's nice. And to be fair he has done some nice things IDK. WTF

    ignova ,
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    @futurebird i think this illustrates the difficulty of holding people responsible for supporting fascists in our current disinfo shitstorm. these people are both the victims and perpetrators of malicious lies. if you sincerely believe a ridiculous thing like 'Black people get unfair advantages in medical care' or 'gay people are out to molest your kids and nobody is willing to stop them'...wouldn't you vote for someone who promises to put a stop to these things?

    ignova ,
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    @futurebird there's a lot to feel discouraged about in the current political landscape. in a weird way it's actually a hopeful sign for human nature - to look at exactly how much money, time, and effort evil needs to spend to convince ordinary people to do evil. it takes a whole propaganda industry, and decades of devious political manipulation. even then Rs still lost in 2020, and they can lose again.

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    Why is anti-vax content so popular. Looking at places like Fox news, Rogan, others who fed into that content (and made it more legitimate seeming to many people) the only reason I can detect to make such content is that it's popular with a segment of the population.

    So, that explains why people make it. To make money.

    But why is it "popular" ?

    ignova ,
    @ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

    @futurebird another angle is probably anti-intellectualism & resentment. doctors & health experts are cast as Elites by cynical populists trying to undermine trust in science. people who are insecure about their own achievement & / or scientific knowledge love stories about how these Elites are actually stupid & wrong.

    (people trying to legitimize this sentiment by invoking a US context fail to account for why antivaxx-ism is still popular in countries with socialized healthcare systems)

    ignova , to plants group
    @ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

    decided to grow some fancy morning glories this year. (morning glories are sensitive to root damage, so some people do not recommend transplanting them. however, i have done so for a few years in a row, & had no issues.)

    you can sow MGs directly in the ground and they still do well. however, i like earlier blooms, and the fancy varieties tend to get out-competed by the plain purple ones if you don't give them a head start.

    @plants

    futurebird , (edited ) to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    Things people say, nod and agree with, but did we really think about that?

    "Short form video content is bad it makes for short attention spans."

    Been hearing this a lot with reference to tiktok. But, it's been around since I was a kid. (MTV is bad, see MaxHeadroom satirizing this through blipverts)

    OK, the way that tiktok can induce slack-jawed zoned out infi-scrolling seems "bad" because that seems like manipulation.

    But short form content? Is it really bad?

    ignova ,
    @ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

    @futurebird i think short form content works well for some subjects but not others. politics IMO becomes propaganda when everything is forced down to simplistic hot takes, memes, and bumper sticker slogans. (the key word being 'forced,' as happens with restrictive character limits.) a sprinkling of those things is not harmful, but when that's all the discourse on a platform is? intelligent conversation dies.

    for other subjects like e.g. watching a dog get a bath, short form is really just fine.

    futurebird , to random
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    Don't use "crawled out from under a rock" as an insult. Most of the things that live under rocks are much nicer than the people who get accused of being like them.

    ignova ,
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    @futurebird maybe not a rock but this little guy crawled out from under a log, and he concurs

    ignova , to random
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    even with the whole squalid horror show that's going through US politics right now, at the very least we're not seeing any of those brainless 'genius of Trump' articles anymore. it looks like his demented raving and self-kneecapping mistakes (i.e. E Jean Carroll) have finally made it too absurd to pretend that these are 12 dimensional chess moves anymore.

    ignova , to random
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    when you know you're a queen, every surface is a throne

    futurebird , (edited ) to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    Did you have "sex ed" (sometimes called "health class") in school? Did it help you in any way? Hurt?

    Which of the following apply (check more than one if needed, so if you had a multiple classes at different ages check both)

    If I could change one thing about the education we had it would be to have more focus on the reality of rape and the nature of consent. These topics weren't addressed much beyond a cartoon version of bogey men jumping out of bushes and I think it left many unprepared.

    ignova ,
    @ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

    @futurebird compared to what i've heard about other people's experiences, particularly in the US, my sex ed experience in Ontario was not that bad. there are things i would change about it. there were lots of dated videos shown in health class, and the usual emphasis on 'just say no' instead of a more complete understanding of consent. but it could have been worse. we did at least learn enough factual information about sex, contraception, & STIs to keep ourselves safe.

    futurebird , to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    It's this: "boys are cannon fodder and women are property, there is no third option" as @mhoye recently said

    It's always mystified me how angry and threatened conservatives are by non-binary people . . . existing and in other ways by asexual people simply . . . living. The anger & hysteria feels out of proportion until you remember the huge threat validation of such choices represents to their ideas of order.

    A third choice destabilizes the entire system.

    ignova ,
    @ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

    @futurebird i think about this sometimes, but i find it hard to pinpoint the visceral, emotional reason people revolt against gender nonconformity. in reality i don't think humans are driven by abstract principles like 'reinforcement of the social order' or whatever. i think they feel some primitive, inarticulate panic urge, and then they justify it ad-hoc with the nearest available excuse. it's not conscious. 1/

    lowqualityfacts , to random
    @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

    I believe it.
    https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

    ignova ,
    @ignova@mstdn.ca avatar

    @lowqualityfacts he's from the same species as Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart

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