Almost forgot today is Ball Hoffman Day. Happy bday to the late great taxonomists George Ball (Carabidae) and Richard Hoffman (Diplopoda and everything-Virginia), both born on 25 Sept., 99 and 98 years ago, respectively.

The Box O' Beetles is my favorite "outreach" tool. These are mostly specimens without data from our collection, but I snuck in some goodies. "Find the blind cave beetle" might be a fun activity.

Aw yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about. #Osoriinae

this is hilarious. Serious cognitive disadvantage indeed.

#LiteratureNotice Maruyama et al. The second species of the enigmatic genus Microblattellus Ferrer, 2006 ( #Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) from Cambodia: A possibility of termitophily in the genus doi.org/10.11646/zoo... #Beetle #Beetles #NewSpecies #DarklingBeetles .

I set these beetles on the couch so I wouldn't forget them tomorrow, and if this isn't a cozy sight to behold, I don't know what is...

#UrbanStump Charleston, WV

RIP Hermeto Pascoal (June 22, 1936 – September 13, 2025) youtu.be/lZbfNtDCHdM?...

Hermeto Pascoal poem spoken on stage tonight

This quietly got published amongst all the horror of late 2020, and I feel like it got overlooked. Beautiful color plates for every mecopteran in Virginia! Flint et al 2020. The Insects of Virginia Number 16.

It's getting to be Harpalus (Pseudoophonus) season, nocturnal grassy lawn carabids that eat your weed seeds. Just surveyed my yard here in WV with a headlamp and got a surprising diversity. You'll have to take my word for it, but there are four species here!

A nice, buggy morning walk at the South Carolina Botanical Garden. Nothing too rare, but life practically everywhere you looked!

Holy moly, this is great. Sappy lonesome country song about an insect. (just heard on the Fool's Paradise program on @wfmu.bsky.social)

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

Stenus, with its deadly labium protruded #Staphylinidae

I've wanted a standing scope setup ever since seeing one in Ichauway's ent lab a few years ago, and today I made it happen. Won't work for everything, but for perusing vials/trays and sorting raw samples it is mighty nice.

All Children Left Behind

Never seen this before, but if your vial cap is loose enough for all of the ethanol to evaporate, it might also be loose enough for dermestids to get in and raid it after it dries out! Found in a box of bycatch that had been sitting ignored for 20+ years.

Jewelweed seedpods explode when touched.

enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits

found a nice artifact. I like this old logo. #Desmocerus

is that what i think it is

AI is starting to secretly edit your files. This is a red alert as Big Tech slips into authoritarianism. New from me: buttondown.com/creativegood...

FUN FACT: "Atlantic article author James Manyika is Google's first Senior Vice President of Technology and Society, reporting directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. He focuses on "shaping and sharing" the company's view." bsky.app/profile/hype...

Field Notes from the end of August, with damaged woods, resilient birds, late capitalist brutalism, ancient wild edibles, paperback preorder giveaways, and a nature writing class coming this fall: fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/dogs-days-...

Identifying southeastern US Pselaphinae remains challenging. Many species have been treated in scattered revisions, but existing illustrations are hard to interpret. I'm starting to put together a photo atlas to help. What I've got so far is on Flickr. www.flickr.com/photos/18348...

First litter sample since moving to WV! #humid #sweatingfreely

“Imagine a billionaire’s digital boot stamping on a human face — forever.” That’s the future Silicon Valley is building, writes astrophysicist Adam Becker in his blistering takedown of tech’s most delusional prophets. www.truthdig.com/articles/the...

This is a great example showing how all the AI being force fed to us is hollow marketing crap. It's not useful, can't do what they claim, and wastes your time. That's why I think you're dumb for using it.

it took one (1) question for the amazing new agentic LLM iChatBio to start fabricating data out of nothing. I asked for a list of clam shrimp in Florida, and it skipped a whole genus. when I told it that it was missing one, it confidently replied that Cyzicus also lives in Florida (it doesn't).

That's a tiny caterpillar... dwarfed by Rhexius! #Lepidoptera #Pselaphinae

come spiral out with me!

hi this is my favorite writing advice, it's from former simpsons writer john swartzwelder (i think about the crappy little elf all the time) www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

If you’re poor CPS will come take your kids because they believe you’re endangering your child. If you’re rich and prefer to give your baby ham bones you get a write up in the Wall Street Journal.

Bonne fête Ed Sanders! 86 ans de jeunesse!

If you missed it, my weekend read is about why we're never, ever, moving to Mars. buttondown.com/creativegood...

The Asian Tachyura lutea, likely introduced to N America in the 2010s, came to my backyard light sheet in Kanawha Co, WV, a not too surprising state record. Previously known from VA, TN, AL, and MO. All US specimens are from lights, except 2 collected under rocks in a cave entrance... #Carabidae

Not sure how many entomologists have heard any version of this obscure song (written by Sly Stone), but it features the word "specimen" twice in the 2nd bridge, and it's so fun to hear that word in a love song. This is my fav recording of it - funky and weird.

Happy to see there are plenty of unsorted beetles at my new workplace, including several drawers of staphylinids. Perfect for a cozy future winter afternoon.

beautiful handwritten lyrics/collage in the Daniel Johnston exhibit at the WV Music Hall of Fame #WestVirginia #Texas

1. This week, the FBI released its comprehensive crime report for 2024, which revealed that both VIOLENT CRIME and PROPERTY CRIME reached their LOWEST LEVELS SINCE THE 1960s This a massive story. But you might not have heard about it, even if you follow the news closely. Here's why.

Silicon Valley for years has been shocked, SHOCKED at the suggestion that their devices are listening to us. Now they just brag about it. (via @hypervisible.bsky.social )

Digging up a buried hay bait trap after 11 weeks underground...cross your fingers that there are some intriguing soil-dwellers within!

The "mirror-window" is a fun stage of moving

When someone dies using Autopilot, Tesla says A) they deserved it, B) their death is offset by Autopilot's fake safety advantage, and C) soon they will "solve self-driving" and make all road deaths a thing of the past. These are all lies. The only offset for these deaths is more wealth for Elon Musk

You can't get a prettier Julida than this! Chelojulus, a small family from the Pacific Northwest. You'd be forgiven for thinking it's in the Spirostreptida. Just look at that sculpturing!

Neat note on the potential for needle ants to be transported in mulch. www.doi.org/10.18474/JES...

Favorite sounds of the year.

Found while packing - the Steely Dan mix CD my buddy down the hall gave me freshman year at VCU in 2007... One of the few cds I've physically worn out.