The USDA’s gardening zones shifted. This map shows you what’s changed in vivid detail There's a good chance your zone shifted when the USDA updated its plant hardiness map in 2023. Zoom in on what that means for your garden.

There's a good chance your zone shifted when the USDA updated its plant hardiness map in 2023. Zoom in on what that means for your garden. From the NPR archives.

Yeah, I got one of them too. Stratford Literary Festival in the UK. Fortunately the real person whose name they used had a publicly available email address and quickly confirmed my suspicion that the invitation was fake.

Portland’s Lloyd Center to permanently close on Aug. 8 ahead of demolition The well-known shopping mall and ice skating rink have been a fixture in Northeast Portland since the 1960s.

Portland’s Lloyd Center to permanently close on Aug. 8 ahead of demolition 😢

Hey Portland people! Don't miss Cascade Writer's next Chat & Chill event with @daviddlevine.com
Saturday 4/18, 2pm - 4pm
Rose City Book Pub
Join our Discord to stay up to date on future Chat & Chill events! More info can be found on our website, cascadewriters.org

Thanks for the info!

(Still looks like AI to me though.)

The Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny (Original Video HD) YouTube video by Srsly Wrong

Looks like The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny! youtu.be/HDXYfulsRBA?...

Got it

New large pterosaur tracks from Korea and their implications on terrestrial behavior - Scientific Reports Pterosaurs were important components of Mesozoic ecosystems, occupying diverse ecological niches from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous. Among them, neoazhdarchians have been hypothesized as terrestrial carnivorous based on anatomical and functional evidence, yet direct indications of predation on land have remained elusive. Here we report Jinjuichnus procerus ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov., a new pterosaur track discovered in the Jinju Formation of South Korea. The track, characterized by a compact and long metatarsus in its pedal configuration, is consistent with neoazhdarchian pterosaurs. The trackway is preserved in close association with a small tetrapod trackway that exhibits abrupt changes in direction and increased stride length. This association provides the potential ichnological evidence of terrestrial vertebrate interaction by a pterosaur. Nonetheless, an alternative interpretation of the two trackways remains possible, making it difficult to confirm any direct interaction between the trackmakers. The paired trackways offer insight into the factors to consider when evaluating potential interactions with the trackmaker. While scenarios such as predation remain ambiguous, they nonetheless highlight the interpretive complexity inherent in assessing behavioral associations preserved in trackway assemblages.

This paper is really dense with paleo-terminology, but if you can infer meaning from context it’s actually the exciting story of a pterosaur chasing a small lizard-type creature, captured in fossilized hundred-million-year-old footprints.

NASA keeping the proud tradition of working with Nazis alive since the days of Operation Paperclip!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I retweeted a few of their images myself before looking deeper. Blocked now.

How to serve one of Nelson's 32-pounders - dawlish chronicles How to serve one of Nelson's 32-pounders The fact that often strikes one regarding even the largest ships of “The Age of Fighting Sail” is the sheer number of men – and of guns – they carried. As an…

"The number of guns determined the total number of men carried, since the number needed for sailing only was considerably fewer."

Don't forget that traditionally published authors will be splitting that big big $3000 payout with their publisher, so that's $1500 per plagiarized title. (And that's only if the copyright was properly registered, which my publisher failed to do for the middle book of my trilogy.) This is an insult.

Google AI (sorry) analysis of this image: "The selected region shows a U.S. Navy leather name tag typically worn on flight suits or various working uniforms like the Two-Piece Organizational Clothing (2POC). Ship Emblem: The profile of Abraham Lincoln on the left indicates the sailor is assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Job Specialty (Rating): The three-bladed propeller pin on the right identifies the sailor as a Machinist's Mate (MM). Machinist's Mates are responsible for maintaining and repairing major machinery, including propulsion plants and auxiliary equipment. Name and Branch: The tag is for a sailor named Robinson, and USN denotes the United States Navy. Designation Code: The "M MM" likely refers to his specific rating and perhaps a duty classification. While "MM" stands for Machinist's Mate, additional prefixes like "M" can sometimes denote specific sub-fields or historical designations within the engineering department."

Would a Machinist's Mate (MM and three-bladed propeller) be serving food? Serious question.

Both platforms are built on the same architecture, but Macs let you focus on your task, without as much effort expended on building, maintaining, and fixing the platform. There are tradeoffs, to be sure, but for most people (even developers!) the Mac's ease of use wins over Linux's flexibility.

Christopher Hooks (@cd_hooks) quote tweets Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex) saying: "The sea and the desert have been places of mutual enrichment among peoples and cultures for millennia. Woe to us if we turn them into graveyards where even hope dies! Let us free these tremendous reservoirs of history and the future from evil! Let us denounce and remove causes." Hooks comments: "the pope—deeply suspicious of thinking machines—is cultivating desert power. it's happening out of order but it's happening."

Bring the Butlerian Jihad

That whole account is nothing but AI-generated slop.

Anthropic Settlement Update: 91.3 Percent of Books Claimed in Settlement - The Authors Guild Yesterday, class counsel in the Bartz v. Anthropic lawsuit filed papers apprising the court that 440,490 of the 482,460 eligible works had been claimed—a remarkable 91.3 percent rate (the typical clas...

New on the Anthropic settlement from the @authorsguild.org : over 91% (!!) of eligible books were claimed as of the claims deadline (I would not have predicted such a high number!)

Looks like the payout will be close to the $3000 originally estimated authorsguild.org/news/anthrop...

Asif Kapadia to direct 70 Up, last chapter of influential ITV documentary series 70 Up to conclude long-running show following group of children into adulthood, revisiting them every seven years

Asif Kapadia to direct 70 Up, last chapter of influential ITV documentary series

Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job The FBI director has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

This is a big one. Stellar reporting from Sarah Fitzpatrick. To call it a must-read is an understatement: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

ECO25: The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction shortlist The shortlisted stories for ECO25: The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction has been announced

Very pleased to announce that my story "Rust" (Analog Sep/Oct 2025) has been shortlisted for "ECO25: The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction"!

This is more broadly generalizable: If you don't do the research yourself, you have no idea if AI is making stuff up. And if you do the research yourself, then AI isn't saving you much labor, if any.

‘Photo from Artemis II’ of moon crater with Earth in background is fake – Full Fact fullfact.org/technology/art…

Have you heard about this submission opportunity? Multonmah County Library is seeking e-books from local writers! Submissions will be open from May 1 -30. There are a lot of details and rules so check their website for more information. Why not follow them while you're at it!

🧵 The idea that AI will never “ask for a raise” is some seriously outside the bounds of reality nonsense. Yeah, I’m positive the AI service providers won’t jack your rates the second you’ve gotten rid of your workers and been locked into their complete control over your workflow. (Sure, Jan. meme)

The Legend of F. Scott: A Response to the Response to the Response to Linkle I’m old enough to remember getting an original gold cartridge for Nintendo’s The Legend of F. Scott back in 1986. Even before I inserted the game into my NES, that gold design exuded a sense of magic,...

In an alternate universe, he did. carolynpetit.tumblr.com/post/1334307...

Odysseus – First Light by Ellarion Tales - Indiegogo Odysseus – First Light is an epic sci-fi larp about survival. Help us build a spaceship and join us onboard!

Today is the last day to back the Ellarion Tales crowdfunding campaign!

The bottom 95% of taxpayers will see tax INCREASES on average this year, driven primarily by expanded tariffs and expiration of health insurance credits.

Meanwhile, the richest 1% alone will receive $117 billion in tax CUTS in 2026.

Never forget who Trump governs for.

Quintet (1979), an exceptionally weird and chilly (in multiple senses) movie which incorporates an actually-playable game. www.imdb.com/title/tt0079...

First poster for ‘COYOTE VS ACME’ in HD.

In theaters on August 28.

Text Shot: The LGBTQ movement did not achieve what it has achieved by abandoning its most vulnerable members when the political cost of defending them seemed high. It achieved what it has achieved by insisting, repeatedly, and in the face of enormous opposition, that the humanity and dignity of every member of the community was non-negotiable. That insistence was not naive idealism. It was the strategic foundation of every coalition the movement built and every institutional ally it won.

Long but important essay about why the Right is attacking trans people (it's strategy, not policy) and why the Left must remain united. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/the-bus-is-c…