A profile picture of a cormorant at in the morning sun

All Cormorants Are Beautiful

People’s Commissar, obv

Trump wants to reverse America’s decline. Good luck | Samuel Moyn Trump and his supporters would like to buck the tide of history, but they could end up pulled further into it, and have no way to stop it

Excellent piece by @samuelmoyn.bsky.social:

Trump “is the symptom of imperial decline who purports to be the cure … He and his supporters would like to buck the tide of history, but they could end up pulled further into it, and have no way to stop it.”

Disco Elysium is so good, ugh. I feel like I made it my personality for at least a year afterwards.

Fifth book of the year, Alien Clay by @aptshadow.bsky.social (a first from the author). Bogdanov's Red Star meets @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social Southern Reach series with the specter of Le Guin. Many nods to Gilbert's Symbiotic View of Life. A revolutionary brightness, totally not mind control spores.

Already added to bio but am officially a professional environmental engineer 🎉 have likely two, possibly three interviews next week with Portland #pdx firms

Lan Su Chinese Gardens in Portland, Oregon this past summer.

Such a beautiful night. #sunset #oregon #oregoncoast #saltyraven #oregonartist #photography

Good evening, drinking unsmoked old bush lapsang and reading this classic

A friend of my grandfather biked almost 200km in 1945 just to go see Mussolini hanged upside-down. We need to bring that spirit back

I like that your city's rain is mostly a light drizzle... here it's flash flooding and a wall of water. I'm slowly building my wardrobe, trying to decide if I need to keep the like 6 pairs of jean shorts I somehow have for Portland. When I visited in late September I stuck out a bit 🤣

ughhh I'm in Florida and it was in the upper 30's and raining this morn... I was too much of a wimp to bike in. Telling myself that with the right amount of layers and a raincoat I'd be fine 🫣

From disastrous “floating suburbs” to fully monopolized/privatized coastlines, it’s just depressing. This easement would extend maybe 20 ft at max from the high tide line through protected sand dune habitats. Most of these communities got wrecked this past year, though.

Meanwhile property owners (pre- Idalia and Milton at least) in west central Florida were refusing to give the army corp of engineers easements (which includes public access) as a prerequisite for public funds for beach renourishment. Only up to the mean high tide is considered public in Florida.

It's a beautiful sunny and warm day and we're outside in a park environment. The view goes a long distance and it has a big water fountain in the background as well as flowers, trees, and some buildings. At an up close cafe table sits a blond woman. She's looking at someone at her table and not at what's behind her and she's smiling and having a really fun time, not a care in the world. In the far distance behind her but ominously visible is a huge and devastating explosion of fire growing, as of a nuclear bomb just landed a mile away. No caption, what's left to say at this point.

Two other bangers

After following up on the engineering job applications in Portland I sent in two weeks ago I now have: one scheduled interview, one pending interview, and waiting on a third to reach out with more details. About 8 weeks in to my Florida PE application process but only need executive approval 😵‍💫

Stellar vanity plate in my neighborhood

Moving to Florida is absolutely a wrong move, for a variety of reasons, including terrible governance. Quality of life is plummeting. Climate crisis is manifesting more deadly every year.

From "Historical ecology reveals the “surprising” direction and extent of shifting baselines for the Florida manatee" (2024) really cool paper on manatee population shifts with anthropogenic coastal impacts

Submitted two serious job applications for environmental/ecological engineering firms in Portland, OR. One I seem to satisfy the qualifications of exactly, the other a bit more of a stretch. Fingers crossed 🤞

Sunday afternoon— One River Tea’s 2023 Dong Guo sheng Tropics and the final chapter of Phil A. Neel’s Hinterland

Vicariously living through your posts as I begin the relocation process to Portland myself.

When I bike toured to St. Marks from Tally the first thing my fiancee & I noticed was the sprawl/garbage especially in ponds & natural areas. This is obviously impacted by class/underdevelopment of particular communities (having lived in Gainesville, St. Pete, & Tampa) but the PNW hits differently.

Thanks for the reccs! How does the titanium affect the flavor of oolong and puerh if you've noticed? I typically use a qingzhou pot for sheng puerh and stoneware/porcelain for oolong.

I regret to this day not buying this cheap lot of GDR glassware I came across about a decade ago 😭

Where did you get your gaiwan / how much is the volume? Been looking for a ~130 ml titanium gaiwan for a bit now

My old teak bookshelf from uni is literally slanting to the side, I’ll prob splurge on a sale item from west elm or article once it fails totally

Marco island itself sucks but yeah there were at least 6 burrows in a 5 minute walk from where I was staying.

Visited Marco island FL over the summer which has a huge concentration of burrowing owls, was losing my shit