va2lam

futurebird , 9 days ago to random

I decided to find out if any progress had been made on the science behind why some ants are attracted to electrical fields. After filtering out exterminators (it's so demoralizing to search for information on creatures you love and find nothing but people who know nothing about them boasting about how they will kill them all) I found what looked like a blog. But, who the heck is "James Brown"? Never heard of the dude. Maybe he could be my new friend if he likes ants enough to blog about them!

va2lam , 15 days ago to random

Did I post these pictures of Buller's mollymawks yet? #NZBirds

Another bird coasting. Island to the right and some rocks to the left.
Mighty bird over purple water.

va2lam , 22 days ago to random

Pictures that I processed in May: from the 2021 Wellington archives; some pictures from West Coast of North America; and Tasmania (Melbourne, Launceston, and Overland Track).

https://patricklam.ca/post/20240601-may-photos/

Black-fronted dotterel, a small bird with a black stripe across its eye and brown wings on a white belly. (Launceston)
Moonrise at Cradle Mountain National Park between two hills. Left hill is vegetated while right hill is rocky.
View of tablelands from between two rock walls while ascending Cradle Mountain.

futurebird , 1 month ago to random

E-bikes are very cool and I'm glad they are getting popular.

However.

There is a big difference between a crash at 12mph and one at 20mph.

Your ebike can give you injuries normally only found in motorcycle accidents. And there isn't enough advice on what constitutes sufficient maintenance for ebikes.

If you don't get balding tires fixed on a regular bike you could fall off and bruise or break a leg.

At ebike speeds that same fall will shatter your leg in dozens of pieces.

BE CAREFUL

futurebird , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

The bald eagle could have easily gone extinct. But we did all sorts of "woke" things protecting it legally, ran conservation and study programs, banned DDT (that was good for other reasons too) and in 2007 they were removed from the endangered species list.

Likewise pine forests could be dead from acid rain.

The ozone could have a huge hole.

We CAN take care of nature when we want to. And the successes have been worth it.

I feel like we forget this, you know?

ml , 1 month ago to AcademicChatter group

Let's get this @academicchatter moving with a question every academic can chime in on:

What are the top websites/blogs you go to for news of what's going on in your field? #AcademicChatter

va2lam , 2 months ago to random

Bird interaction in Sydney. The miner got even closer! #birds

The miner gets even closer and the camera angle makes it look like it's almost touching.

futurebird , 2 months ago to random

I remember getting called in for jury duty once and the lawyer was asking us what we did for work just going around the room:

"Bus Driver"
"Teacher"
"Real Estate"
"TV Camera man"

Then they get to this one guy who was in the back, half asleep. "What about you? What do you do?"

"Wa?"
"What do you do for work?"
"I don't know man, I'm like, kinda in to music"

To this day I don't know if he played music... or just like... listened to it.

I don't know if they picked him. They kicked me out.