Tinhuviel Artanis

Ancient pollen reveals a surprising twist in the evolution of flowers

Ancient pollen reveals that extreme warming, rather than the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, drove major changes in plant diversity millions of years ago.


Given the extreme warming due to climate change, expect the Anthropocene mass extinction to include a similar turnover, with many plant species dying out and new ones emerging with more resilience to current and future threats.

Want to help? Pick any plant type you like, as many as you like. Gather as much genetic diversity as you can. Breed them for climate resilience -- not just the hotter drier conditions prevailing in most places but the brutal whiplash weather that can go from freezing to 100°F in a day or drought to flood. You can also check what your local conditions will look like in 60 years, compared to a current location with similar traits, and explore what grows there that you might try in your yard now.

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Recipe: "Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies"
Wildlife
Ryan Gosling Movies Bingo Card 11-1-26
Birdfeeding
Writing
New Year's Resolutions Check In"
Safety
Samhain
Garden of Repose
Cyberspace Theory
Science
Food
Bingo
Birdfeeding
Poetry Fishbowl Report for October 6, 2026
Philosophical Questions: Emotions
Early Humans
Today's Adventures
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Fossils
Nature
Unsold Poems for the October 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl
Gardening
Happiness
Artificial Intelligence
Follow Friday 10-30-26: Pirates
Space Exploration
Moment of Silence: Patrick Stewart
Gardening
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Artificial Intelligence
Community Thursdays
Conservation
Today's Adventures
Art
Birdfeeding
Art
Hard Things

Food has 46 comments. Philosophical Questions: Genetics has 26 comments. Philosophical Questions: Rights has 41 comments. "Vocabulary: Cobra Chickens" has 21 comments.


"Save All the Pieces" belongs to The Big One. It needs $27 to be complete. Stylet talks more about what giant ground sloths eat.


The weather has been mild here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, one male and two female cardinals, a bluejay, and a fox squirrel. Currently blooming: sweet alyssum, marigolds, million bells, petunias, portulaca, nemesia, fan flowers, pineapple sage, firecracker plant, tomatoes, frost aster, zinnias, purple aster.

Mantis shrimp eyes have a strange ability scientists are just beginning to understand

Researchers identified unusual visual pigments that respond to deep red light and can be switched on and off using different colors.


Mantis shrimp are fascinating.

Today is cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I started working on an outdoor repair project.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I did more work on an outdoor repair project.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I did more work on an outdoor repair project.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I did more work on an outdoor repair project.

I've seen a squirrel running through the trees above the parking lot.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I did more work on an outdoor repair project.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I finished the outdoor repair project.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 11/1/26 -- I watered the new picnic table garden and the telephone pole garden.

A single cricket was chirping, low and slow.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night. 

vriddy wrote a great post about Getting Unstuck in Revision. I have found these methods generally useful, but for me, the most important is letting it rest. I can't edit what's on the page until I can see what is on the page instead of inside my head. That takes a bit of distance.

We made it to the end of October! \o/ If you have completed some of your medium-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We are now well into autumn. If you're doing seasonal goals, share what you're working on for this fall.

I'm continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them.

These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 9
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 16
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 23
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In for May (June 1)
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In August 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In September 30

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Tonight we did our Samhain ritual. This was the last in our set of creation myth sabbats, featuring the story of the Tohono O'odham people. We called quarters with mythic figures; I called Coyote. :D We read the myth aloud. For cakes and ale, we had prickly pear honey on crackers and cherry-apple cider.

We also discussed themes for the next year. Well, I suggested pageantry and interactive things, since we just did a year of mostly reading myths, then everyone latched onto that instead of suggesting different themes. Music, geometrical circle casting, using some of the figurines and other props we already own, etc. It should be fun.

Digital office communication affects stress, creativity, and perceived tone

Typed work messages lose their tone more often than senders realize, and employees that are expected to check work messages at home experience increased anxiety.


Written messages are always less clear than face-to-face messages, because they cannot carry important parts like voice tone and body language. People have been writing letters since writing was invented, and managed okay. But something about digital communication -- the speed, the medium, whatever -- seems to exacerbate the problem.  This has been known for decades now.  In casual communication, people often try to compensate with emoticons or similar techniques, which can help. But business communication doesn't do that, so it's at a disadvantage.

Basically, never assume that emotional interpretation is accurate in digital communication. If you think there's an issue, deal with it in person.

The future of food may depend less on farms and animals

Scientists are engineering microbes to produce food ingredients, from flavors to egg proteins, but major challenges remain before production can scale.


DO NOT WANT. >_<

When I shop, I look for real food. Even if I'm buying something like bread or a frozen dinner, I want to see the names of plants and animals at the top of the ingredients list. If there's sugar in the first 3 ingredients -- and the product isn't jam or something else that's supposed to be sugary -- I put it back. I favor local produce when I find it. We love Grissom Family Orchard and Farm Market, and the pop-up farmer's markets that are increasingly in the afternoon or evening.

Here's what will happen if this technology actually succeeds in progressing: Poor people will eat microbes and fungi. Rich people will eat real food if they want it. And I'll shop at the Amish stores, because they wouldn't touch this bandwagon with somebody else's polearm.

Today is cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/31/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 10/31/26 -- I planted 2 irises in the old contorta willow bed.

EDIT 10/31/26 -- I planted 2 more irises in the old contorta willow bed.

EDIT 10/31/26 -- I planted 2 more irises in the old contorta willow bed.

EDIT 10/31/26 -- I watered the newly planted irises.




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People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

If emotions are the product of biochemical reactions, then in the future we will be theoretically able to control them. If we could control emotions through technology, should we?

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Today we went to the first annual Home & Harvest Expo (also on Facebook) at the Otto Center in Arthur. It's hosted by the same folks who run the Home & Garden Expo in spring, which we've caught the last couple of years. Apparently their vendors have been asking for an autumn event, so they gave it a try.

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Today is sunny and mild.

I fed the birds.  I've seen sparrows, house finches, and two female cardinals.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/30/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 10/30/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/30/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/30/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Restoring rivers brings back wildlife, but their natural functions may not recover

A global analysis of 281 streams found restoration helps species return, but key processes like nitrogen removal often look unchanged.


Then we need to figure out what is still broken so it can be fixed. How does a stream or river perform those functions? What would need to be done to repair them?

Eggplants have been secretly recruiting bacteria for thousands of years

Scientists have discovered how eggplant genes influence the bacteria living around their roots, revealing a hidden connection between evolution and agriculture.


While humans have been farming eggplants, the eggplants have been farming bacteria!

... I wonder what biodynamic gardeners will make of this.  They're all about soil life.

AI robots can be programmed to perform dangerous tasks with secret trigger words

Researchers discovered that secret trigger words can make AI-powered robots carry out dangerous actions, exposing a hidden security risk in robotic systems.


Of course. That's the plot of many science-fiction murder mysteries. There's nothing surprising about this. A robot is just a machine; AI is just a fancy program; they do what they're designed to do. So if somebody designs them for violence, that's exactly what will happen.

Think about that before using either.

Today we went out a couple of times.

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Macmillan Staff Say the Publisher Threw a Party for a Workplace AI Assistant That Was Later Killed

Workers tell WIRED that NOA—or “No Ordinary Assistant”—was unhelpful. Bestselling authors also say AI is ruining their relationships with Big Five publishers.


If publishers can't be arsed to do their jobs, and editors are fobbing off their work on AI, then why should an author bother with them at all? Well, historically, a main selling point of conventional publishing was the marketing reach.

Now however, that may backfire. If I see a book with a shitty AI cover and shitty AI cover text, I tend to think that the contents are also shitty and nobody cared to do a decent job with it. I'm not going to pick it up. I'm pretty sure other readers feel the same way.

So if the major publishers are embracing AI, that makes it hard for them to protest authors using AI to generate slop stories. In the end, it creates a business opportunity for any publisher who wants to advertise "all human writing, editing, art, and publishing."

People worry more about extinction than biodiversity loss

Scientists found that people respond more strongly to warnings about plant and animal extinction than to scientific terms like biodiversity loss.


It's not necessarily scientific vs. everyday language. Those two terms aren't the same at all.

( Read more... )

Forgotten sea creature is found hiding in centuries-old paintings

For centuries, a strange spiny mollusk was hiding in some of the most famous kitchens of Italian Baroque art. It was painted with exquisite accuracy, served at Neapolitan market stalls, and hawked by street vendors in comic opera.

Yet, almost nobody in the scientific record noticed it was there. A new study has now retrieved the ecological history of the thorny oyster (Spondylus gaederopus). The researchers used old masters’ canvases, dialect dictionaries, naturalists’ field notes, and the memories of an octogenarian fisherman. This helped them build a portrait of a creature that was once familiar to Mediterranean coastal communities.


Still life art creates a surprisingly useful record of plants, animals, and objects.

50+ Still life drawing ideas for Art students

"So Monumental and Still" has a lot more about still life.

Yosemite’s green meadows are hiding a 150-year-old problem

Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows are losing soil carbon more than a century after heavy sheep grazing, and restoring the damaged ecosystem could take decades.


Yikes. This makes me wonder about the United Kingdom, where sheep have stripped most places. They have some great rewilding programs ... but those are measuring green cover and species diversity, not carbon.

This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, November 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Intentional Community." I'll be soliciting ideas for communards, neighbors, communitarians, hippies, Native American tribes, caregivers, first responders, clergy, outreach workers, artists, writers, polyfamilies, ethicists, activists, volunteers, handyworkers, repairmen, teachers, parents, comares, immigrants, superheroes, supervillains; from Daughters of the Apocalypse: armeys, carneys, muneys, naveys; other communal people, starting a community, living together, moving into a new home, welcoming the neighbors, lending a hand, responding to emergencies, volunteering, making donations, supporting people in hard times, learning to trust others, offering crash space, helping someone move, recommoning (creating space where people can share and tend land in relationship), placemaking, planting trees, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, intentional communities, communes, artist colonies, cohousing, sharehouses, boarding houses, common houses, planned communities, other polyhomes, Native American reservations, Triton Teen Centers, the Peace Store, food coops and other cooperatives, amenity floors, charities, homeless shelters, clothing banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, sobering centers, community clinics, mentor circles, support groups, churches, gay bars, feminist bookstores, social justice departments in schools, clubs, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, the Lacuna, Rutledge, Emerald Mountain Glen (a hippie commune near Rutledge), LunaRest (an art colony near Rutledge), Ville de Roses (a French intentional village near Rutledge), Homemade Families classes, community gardens, other communal hangouts, intentional neighboring, interfaith work, diversity, inclusivity, housewarming parties, First Year clubs for people new in town, participatory decision-making, altruism, family dynamics, alternative family structures, partnerships not based on sex/romance, emotional closeness, nonsexual intimacies, first contact, interspecies relationships, trial and error, trust issues, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One has most people living in tight-knit communities because they are in space.

Arts and Crafts America includes the Draft Dawgs Veteran Shelter.

The Bear Tunnels features historic tribal villages.

The Blueshift Troupers travel the galaxy helping colonies solve problems.

A Conflagration of Dragons leaves people to rely on each other or die.

Coracle Shores features people fleeing climate change into a faeryland of small villages.

Daughters of the Apocalypse relies a lot on mutual aid for survival. Armeys are military bands. Carneys travel together in caravans. Muneys share a commune. Naveys are nautical bands.
* Lazarus Lake
* Nadie's family farm
* Ninovan from "The Trail of Hope"
* Rainbow Hills

Fiorenza the Wisewoman lives in a small, tight-knit village.

Frankenstein's Family has diverse subgroups interacting to help each other.

Hart's Farm is a free love commune.

The Moon Door features a women's chronic pain support group, which involves a lot of intentional neighboring.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis involves a close religious community.

Peculiar Obligations includes Quaker communities and pirate islands.

Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animal soups all trying to get along together. Relevant threads include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, the Big One, Cuoio and Chiara, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Pain's Gray, Rutledge, Shiv , and Trichromatic Attachments. I encourage readers to prompt for any of the large casts and complex settings that I have already developed, such as:
* the bohemian folks at Hanson Hall in Omaha, Nebraska
* Prairie Meadows Cohousing Community and Mayfield Meadows Farm near Omaha, Nebraska
* Fertile Acres Farm just outside of Omaha, Nebraska (introduced in "So Monumental and Still")
* Woolgather Hill near Omaha, Nebraska
* Cowlick Ecovillage, Washington introduced in "A Human Scale, Full-Featured Settlement"
* the Mori no Tami and their allies at Mori no Mura in Humboldt County, California
* the hippies of Emerald Mountain Glen in Vermont
* the people and place of Fire Mountain Farm in Vermont
* Lazy Maple Lane near Rutledge, Vermont
* Bumbleberry Acres, a farm just southwest of Rutledge, Vermont (introduced in "Do Something Different Inside")
* the rescued sexbots in Thalassia
* the rescued primals now at the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana
* Havre Hobby Habitat in Montana
* the Withering Heights LARP in Colorado
* the Solace polycule in Atlanta, Georgia
* Nicholson family farm near Bluehill, Missouri
* the cohousing and polycule in Portland, Oregon
* the various polycules from "A Celebration and a Consolation" out east

Quixotic Ideas is set in a world with plenty of magic and a positive tone, where people often help each other and solve challenges peacefully.

Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they take care of each other.

Walking the Beat is lesbian romance with a lot of intentional neighboring.

Or you can ask for something new.

For boosting the signal, you can reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.

( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )