They say AI is gonna automate all the meaningless/dumb tasks ... if that's the case can someone pls explain why there's still no graceful way to convert a PDF to a Word doc without fcking up the formatting???

I love birdwatching any season, but spring is a favorite because the birds are WILD this time of year! I wrote about some of my fav springtime bird behaviors this week on the newsletter: #birdsky #🪶 jgw.substack.com/p/its-dumb-b...

Hah okay, I guess it's been a while since I posted on here 😅 Life has been busy. And the only time I'm on social media is when I'm browsing LinkedIn for freelance gigs/advice or shitposting on my Instagram story. BlueSky is cool, but hasn't stuck for me yet. Maybe I'll give it another try?

My pal @itsdrfunk.bsky.social is better at sharing my essays than I am 😂 Anyway, meet my favorite bird, Harv (I think I've shared some pics of him on here a while back...) He's a robin with a beautiful white crown who's captured my heart.

Geez, the wave of science writing layoffs continues. I'm really unhappy to see this.

Love love love comics journalism and the niche audiences these kinds of publications can reach. This article only made me miss The Nib even more 💔 reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/very-yo...

A few weeks ago I went to the lake and saw what I thought was a young coot -- turns out it was a pied-billed grebe! I feel lucky to have spotted it a second time when I had my binoculars on hand. First grebe I've ever seen irl🪶 (@jenniferwhanson.bsky.social, you were right!) #birds #birdwatching

I never even thought of this, but now I'm never gonna look at SUV ads the same way again.

Absolutely love this time of year where I'll be sitting in my quiet apartment minding my own business when the distant sound of 300+ honking geese suddenly becomes louder until they're flying directly over my rooftop

Spotted a hooded merganser hanging out with a bunch of mallards! The ducks are officially on their way to Lake Michigan for the winter 🦆 #birds

Went for an impromptu lake walk today and didn't have my binoculars, but I did get to see some coots on the water! I think the one in the back is a juvenile? Kinda hard to see in this phone pic. Both birds are a similar size/shape and the only difference is their coloring... #birds #birdwatching

I learned recently that ChatGPT can communicate in many different languages, so I've been using it to practice German. It's a lot less stressful than talking to people online tbh... I think this is the most practical personal application I've found for the program thus far

Phenomenal, wrenching essay by Hala Alyan.

Dairy Workers on Wisconsin’s Small Farms Are Dying. Many of Those Deaths Are Never Investigated. OSHA sometimes investigates deaths on small farms if they provide housing to immigrant workers. Other times the agency says it can’t take action.

🚨 BUFFLEHEAD SEASON HAS BEGUN 🚨 🪶

This week's newsletter is part game recommendation and part analysis of why I seem to play more games when the weather gets colder. Anyone else do the same thing? I'd love to know I'm not the only one. jgw.substack.com/p/shifting-i...

1. Happy Friday, all. Time for a flu update, courtesy of CDC's latest FluView, with surveillance data for the week ending Oct. 14. A 🧵 Flu activity is still minimal in the US, though it appears to be picking up a little, notably in Alaska. FluView is here: www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/i...

My toxic trait is having my first cup of coffee at 1pm (I have been awake since 8am)

Love to see the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee getting some national attention (for a hilarious reason) www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/m...

The hottest statement piece in my wardrobe is a pair of fingerless weightlifting gloves that protect my hands during eczema flare-ups. Now that fall is here, I wrote about breaking out the gloves again:

Saw the eclipse this weekend, it looked like a perfect little cookie with a bite out of it

I was gone from Twitter for so long that I forgot how to use platforms like these an actually enjoy it. (Did anyone even *enjoy* being on Twitter? I have no idea)

Six months after leaving Twitter…not a lot has changed for NPR. My latest: niemanreports.org/articles/npr...

I would wear these unironically

Some days coffee turns me into a hyper-focused productivity machine and other days it backfires and I spend the entire day spacing out and opening the same three apps on my phone over and over. There is no in between

Just an FYI that some pharmacies are experiencing shortages in updated Covid shots right now, due to distribution changes. My appt at CVS got cancelled this morning. Pharmacist said their system is automatically cancelling appts when stock gets low. www.cnbc.com/2023/09/21/c...

1. Wondering where things stand with flu season? CDC released its latest FluView today, so let's take stock. This report is for the week ending Sept 30. It will be the last weekly report of the 2022-23 season, I think. Next week will be the first report for the 2024-24 season, I believe. 🧵

Stoked for this ngl Also the cover is so beautiful in person!! @taylorlorenz.bsky.social

The weather does not dictate the start of Soup Season. Your heart does

Man, how are y'all finding time to read books? Sometimes I get into the swing of reading a few chapters a day but most of the time I have a pile of started-but-not-finished novels sitting on my coffee table that I can't seem to get to. And my reading list is always so long. Ugh.

The WGA has “established regulations for the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) on MBA-covered projects in the following ways:” www.wgacontract2023.org/the-campaign...

OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule just landed successfully with pieces of the asteroid Bennu 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/osir...

I did NOT get to see the flamingos in Wisconsin yesterday but I did see some very cute sanderlings and a majestic double-crested cormorant!!

Flamingos were spotted for the first time in Wisconsin this week. This is truly nuts to me www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...

The details are as upsetting as they are damning. 🧪

This fig from a Reuter's Institute poll caught my eye: the more climate change news people read, the less they believe the government is doing enough to protect us from the climate crisis.

I'm so shocked. Who could ever have seen this one coming? Paint me pink and call me a banana my shockitude runneth over.

Pro tip: grind up cardamom seeds with your coffee beans before you brew it. So simple but makes the perfect aromatic fall drink

One of the coolest things I learned recently is that chickadees -- sweet, cute, little chickadees -- can be absolutely menacing when scaring predators away from the nest. They do something called the snake display, which was beautifully captured in this nest cam video: youtu.be/CgO_zDGgTjA?...

today in AI-generated garbage being published by mainstream aggregators. this is probably some of the laziest and (unintentionally?) offensive AI slop I've come across so far, and that's saying something. futurism.com/msn-ai-brand...

Friendly reminder to start taking your vitamin D soon <3 Winter is coming <3

Seems more like a Twitter thing, but some ~personal news~ that today is my last day at Inverse. I'm taking a job a little outside journalism, though I may still dust off my byline from time-to-time.

A few months ago I realized that I missed writing for the sake of writing. Not reporting, just good ol writing whatever's on my mind for the hell of it. So I started newslettering again. This week I tackled garage spiders, next week ... well, sign up to find out! jgw.substack.com

I have to share my banner pic on the feed bc it's very special to me. This is Harv, a robin that lives in our neighborhood and has a beautiful white crown on his head. He's a special boi!! We haven't seen him in a while but I hope he's okay...

Greetings, I am here