God, the ASMR obsession has made mindlessly binging online videos so deeply, existentially unpleasant

Whoa, if I'm reading Pliny the Elder right, Romans used to have observational beehives that were made with the same kind of transparent horn that they used in lieu of glass panes in lanterns. (Book 11, ch 16 in The Natural History)

Apparently there's a minor movement in beekeeping to name bees less colonially (e.g. no to "queen," "worker," "drone," etc) and I just need to know what you can possibly call a male bee who literally does nothing except be fed and impregnate except "fuckboi."

Hey herbal witch classicist nerds. I have a mystery from Columella's beekeeping treatise in de Rustica. He recommends "amelli radix, cuius est frutex luteus purpureus flos" as an herbal bee remedy ("root of amelli, the bushy part of which is yellow and which has purple flowers") What is amelli? ..🧵

Imagine knowing this little about a cuisine and telling the entire world how little you know with your whole entire chest.

Can I turn it off and then back on real quick, we could use a reboot

I’m Dr. Kerry Pray, and I’m conducting an experiment to determine if posting about a book on social media can change its Amazon ranking This week’s book is The Sky Blues by Robbie Couch and the initial ranking is: 2,086,589

This was not intentional, but the three herbal wines I'm making are a very pretty array of colours!

I have complicated opinions about guns, but telling a bunch of people in Northern Fucken Ireland that more people having guns is a surefire way to guarantee political stability is ... there isn't a word in any language on earth to fully capture the fathomless depths of misplaced this take exhibits

Oh my god, I would already be rich if I had a nickel for every time a beekeeper encouraged people to plant invasive species that honeybees like. WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU. There are so many exceptional choices available that are not invasive and that will not destroy everything else around them!!!

Perimenopause brain fog is no joke. Like how do the rest of y'all even function on bad days, this is a terrible ride and I would like to get off

I have become that middle aged rando standing up to my thighs in weeds in the hedge alongside the walking path pulling out Himalayan Balsam. I have chosen my midlife crisis path

I used to think that John Waters just made stories up to be outrageous (e.g. adorable grannies rage screaming about felch holes at gas stations). Then I lived in Baltimore and now it all makes sense.

Have decided that the early 20th century is not, in fact, where it's at for enjoying a project on the historical development of beekeeping in the UK.

I went from Susan Sontag to Robert Downey Jr

I spent the whole morning doing actual beekeeping. I also knocked down several wasps' nests and was all set to bring that shit home for magical witch things until I realized they were filled with very wriggly larvae. Anyway. Crisis averted, they live in the hedge now.

How not to defend science. A Decalogue for science defenders. (2020) Sven Ove Hansson. studiahumanitatis.eu/ojs/index.php/…… (1) Do not portray science as a unique type of knowledge. (2) Do not underestimate scientific uncertainty. (3) Do not describe science as infallible. 1/n

I think a more salient framing othat captures the stakes is that science is a human right. It is a human right to try & make sense of the world using one's own eyes & experience. Technologies like AI & systems like Big Science that blackbox the process or make it inaccessible contravene that right

If you had asked me as a child raised by a rabidly dogmatic anti-theist whether I would be wholeheartedly agreeing with the Pope as a middle aged hippie dirtbag, I would have assumed you had lost your mind. And yet. Here we are.

They had retsina on the bargain rack at Lidl and now I have....regrets is not exactly the right word, HOWEVER

Y’all need to read this GoFundMe my bff @lhistorienne.bsky.social posted because you don’t think it will get worse after the dead body, but then the building catches on fire (I know Megan from DAR and things been WILD this administration) gofund.me/3d2679850

Several new bee sightings today. IDs were a little tricky, but I think we have: An unknown cuckoo bee(?) An early bumblebee A brown banded carder bee A white zoned furrow bee

My birthday present to myself has arrived!

Today the bees have discovered the blackberry flowers

My witch wine absolutely TOOK OFF two days ago. I looked up all the ingredients and suspect the nettles and/or comfrey are acting as nutritional powerhouses for the yeast: both hold a fair bit of nitrogen in their leaves. Planning to experiment with different herbs to find natural yeast nutrient.

My father's birthday is tomorrow. He fell a few days ago. I'm not sure he's going to rebound this time.

I am so hooked on this story already

Fun fact: Welsh leftists' commitment to nationalism through language combines with their overrepresentation in the cultural sector to undermine their commitment to being welcoming to new immigrants, who can't get jobs in the cultural sector if they aren't already bilingual in both Welsh and English.

Just read about some smarmy "entrepreneur" who married a geneticist for his name notoriety & is now using the media to write "stories" about her latest scam to raise funds from investors, and I just really wonder at what point the media will stop letting itself be a baldfaced PR service for grifters

A bird just shit in my eyeball ama

Also making some weird experimental witch ass wine, which may or may not be drinkable.

I saw sun dogs today!

My family is kind of going through it at the moment and I would like it if people posted cool things for me to look at

god help me, I'm about to go into Greek class and don't know how to tell them "sorry I'm going to be completely useless and stupid today, my perimenopause is acting up and I barely know my own name."

Making some foraged mint wine for when my bestie comes to visit this summer.

NGL, I am fascinated by this battle of the social media giants

Hey gentlemen, did you know that there are special trash cans designed for your unique bathroom needs ?

This is in the men's room in Wales because Welsh people aren't miserable cunts.

Ugh, tricked by British sandwiches yet again, where I think I'm getting a sandwich but actually it's just half a cup of mayo and a single cold cut on the whitest processed white bread

Although the sage is still blooming and a few bees are still enjoying it, the flowers are fading. Most of the bees today were on the fresh blossoms of this San Luis Obispo Blueblossom (volume up to hear just how many bees!)

Do I want to go on another hike to forage some sorrel, mint, and dandelion for hortopita tonight or do I want to rot inside like a hermit all day. Truly, a dilemma.

I had every intention of getting up early to go to the library, but I am still cooking breakfast so

Repost with the Russian agent that spies on your posts

I like Wales.

Why did I think it would be a good idea to stick my nose in the bottle of Camden tablets to see how they smell

Claybaugh didn't mention that Harvard's current system drags students with B's into meetings with their house deans and then forces them to take a leave of absence if they don't get their grades up so the College can brag about high achievements. Guess she forgot the part where it's a suic* factory

Oooo, new bee fave: rakai hebe/shrubby veronica. There were so many on this bush I could actually hear them as I walked past

Starting to be more aware of an annoying but also extremely British tendency in all the beekeeping manuals, histories, and trainings that I'm reading to treat the entire affair as having to do with a) technology, b) disease, c) genetics, and d) product and nothing else.

I know that I'm supposed to trust expert advice where "expert" means "scientist," but when all the expert advice says pollinators are obsessed with red valerian and I don't see a single pollinator on the extremely copious red valerian growing everywhere, I think I'll trust the pollinators themselves

Trans people have been around your whole life. You’ve been sharing bathrooms with them your whole life. They’ve been in your communities your whole life. They’ve even been playing sport your whole life. And you didn’t care *at all* till a few years ago when every right wing org decided you should