@peachfront@toot.community
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

peachfront

@peachfront@toot.community

Senior parrots, birds, birding, rock swaps, crystals & stone-cutting. Sometimes I write funny dialogue for the birds in your photographs. I read books, & I vote!

Formerly known as Peachfront on Twitter & Instagram, & Amethyst Qu on Medium.

Haven't owned peachfront.com domain in years but you may find my old trip reports at peachfront.diaryland.com.

Pro Tip: Diaryland does not have any www's.

#birds #crystals #photography #fedi22 #books #writing #selfpublishing #birding #nature

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

LincolnRamirez, to bookstodon
@LincolnRamirez@mstdn.social avatar

I've been thinking of finally reading some Stephen King, but no idea where to start.

Go for one of the likes of his famous work, like the Shining or the Green Mile? Or something lesser known?

@bookstodon

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@StonerMetal @LincolnRamirez @bookstodon

those are both great suggestions, i almost suggested Cujo...

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@LincolnRamirez @bookstodon

a standalone classic like Carrie or The Dead Zone

some of his later books are very long & would be better for someone who already knows they like his style, for that matter, relatively early work The Stand is too long although the first shorter part (where the flu escapes) is genuinely terrifying

JimsPhotos, to nature
@JimsPhotos@ohai.social avatar

3 Photos of a Great Crested Grebe

he great crested grebe has an impressive plume on its head and orange ruff around its neck during the breeding season. It has white cheeks, a dark cap, a white neck and a dark body.
he great crested grebe has an impressive plume on its head and orange ruff around its neck during the breeding season. It has white cheeks, a dark cap, a white neck and a dark body.

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@JimsPhotos

"no, you may not pet the crest..."

what a beauty!

peachfront, to Birds
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

Love is real & never dies!!! Nyota the lovebirb & Boobear the 27-year-old cockatiel are being so cute together today...

thisismissem, to random
@thisismissem@hachyderm.io avatar

Let's all watch Musk learn about Section 2257 and just how much that'll fuck him up, and also about all the age verification laws around the globe..
https://mstdn.social/@TechCrunch/112552496940815329

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@thisismissem

i dunno, looks to me like he intends to take all the profit from producing the porn while the small producer will still continue to shoulder all the risk of doing all the actual production including the record-keeping hassles > typical billionaire BS

aehdeschaine, to Stoicism
@aehdeschaine@zirk.us avatar

I've never been able to get into Stoicism, but I still like reading about different philosophies. However, I also know that that is one where a lot of popular works deviate badly from the original.

So, a question: are Ryan Holiday's books solid/accurate? Are they in line with ancient Stoic philosophy? Are they a purely modern interpretation? Are they worth reading for growing my non-expert knowledge (in a positive, not just critiquing, way)?

@bookstodon

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@wendypalmer @aehdeschaine @bookstodon

not unfair at all...
Ryan Halliday was literally director of marketing or some such for American Apparel, if he's not commercial the word has no meaning

ergative, to SF
@ergative@wandering.shop avatar

Hey, friends, I wrote a review of Foundation (the book--the OG!) for Nerds of a Feather.

(Don't click through if you love this book. I didn't much care for it.)

http://www.nerds-feather.com/2024/05/first-contact-foundation-by-isaac-asimov.html

#SF #BookReview @bookstodon #sff

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@ergative @bookstodon

read it as a child, so a long time ago, but didn't we all read it as a parable about Marxism & politics not science -- if you assume psychohistory is real math, i guess it does read silly but that's because the silly idea was meant to be Marxism, wasn't it?

didn't they kind of astrology like just assume Seldon's predictions were relevant ea. time "he" appeared? to the 20th c. reader i don't think they appeared to be?

gosh it's been a LONG time

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@jpaskaruk @ergative @bookstodon

i don't know

i think i may have read something on the topic by Norman Spinrad when he wrote reviews/criticism in the 80s?

but everything SF (& even some fantasy) written in that era had an awareness of the Cold War conflict, when i was 7th or 8th grade a teacher pointed it out, and once you see as a late 20th c. person you can't unsee it

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@emeraldzak @bookstodon @jpaskaruk @ergative

"The interesting story is not whether psychohistory is correct or how it works. The interesting story is told around what people do when they assume "psychohistory" (prevailing philosophy) is correct, and what happens with people who don't subscribe to that "truth."

yeah, i would agree with that read 100%

peachfront, to Birds
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

A Loggerhead Shrike fledgling sits on a branch. This little birb is approaching independence slowly but don't worry, one of the parents is watching over from a nearby tree.

wevdap, to Birding

I finally got a solid photo of a Wilson's Warbler, while on Plum Island in yesterday

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@wevdap

"check out my new beanie"

peachfront, to Birds
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

109 frickin' degrees on this beach, my toes have learned to levitate

Black-headed Weaver, Djoudj, Senegal

Free_Press, to news
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

DID WE HIT TIPPING POINT?

Yesterday, the Midwest saw more death and destruction as tornadoes tore through the heartland.

So far this year, the US has seen a 50%+ increase in tornadoes.

The average high temperature outside the office of Aure Free Press is 67F, with a forecasted high today of 89F!

Super-charged storms and heat are bringing misery, with the worst yet to come this Summer!

WHAT IS NEXT!?

Droughts
Floods

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@Free_Press

the howler monkeys are dropping off the trees of heat exhaustion in May in Tabasco, a Gulf state of Mexico

no one knows yet if it's going to be another killer summer of heat domes on the Gulf coast but Magic 8 balls says all signs point to It Doesn't Look Good

GottaLaff, to legal
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

started earlier than I did today. Grabbing coffee, starting THREAD HERE🧵1/…

Here’s the list of Trump’s allies attending his trial today:

AG Alan Wilson
Rep. Eric Burlison
Rep. Andrew Clyde
Rep. Mary Miller
Rep. Keith Self
John Coale
Alan Dershowitz
Will Scharf
Steve Witkoff
Bernie Kerik
Kash Patel
Vernon Jones
Jerry Kassar
Chuck Zito

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@PattyHanson @GottaLaff

don't people nod off in court all the time

IANAL but i always heard that even the JUDGE doesn't have to be awake & i don't think that's just in grisham's novels, one second of googling turned up a case https://www.mirandolacriminaldefense.com/elgin-criminal-defense-lawyer/judge-falls-asleep-conviction-stands

if i was TFG's lawyers, i'd be thinking it's better he be sedated/asleep than that he f up this trial the way he did his recent civil court trial w/ all his acting out

TheConversationUS, to news
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social avatar

The Republican road from a deep faith in freedom given by God, to a candidate hawking $59.99 bibles

https://theconversation.com/reagans-great-america-shining-on-a-hill-twisted-into-trumps-dark-vision-of-christian-nationalism-226997
@histodons

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@TheConversationUS @histodons

don't make me laugh

Ronald Reagan was a racist who campaigned on racist dog whistles -- source: was alive in the 1980s

Trump & Reagan are the same f'n guy in slightly different packaging at different points on the path to GOP fascism designed to deny freedom to all women, all LGBTQ+, & all POC

so same-y are they that they are both Z-list actors who built on their fake persona to persuade their billionaire donors to let them be the figureheads of fascism!

xgranade, to random
@xgranade@wandering.shop avatar

Fuck me, fuck everything, fuck this whole climate-burning labor-killing fraud. I just want to touch computers, not constantly guard against rogue scams taking over evey aspect of my online life.

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@xgranade

i... had a typewriter

trust me

you don't want this

(flashback to a traumatic experience where it took 45 minutes to change a f'n ribbon)

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

A video filmed during Donald 's New Jersey rally on Saturday has shown "thousands" of people leaving while the former president was still talking.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-new-jersey-rally-crowd-walks-out-speech-video-1899832

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@mastodonmigration @LockEx @GottaLaff

is there a video clip?

i'd like to hear how slurred/sedated or how manic he is when he delivers this line

honestly just reading it cold on the page, it comes across as dementia

some (not all but definitely some) with dementia can be very angry & unpleasant

gerrymcgovern, to random
@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar

"By now it’s been made fairly clear that the bedazzling wonderment that is “AI” doesn’t come cheap. Story after story have highlighted how the technology consumes massive amounts of electricity and water, and we’re not really adapting to keep pace. This is also occurring alongside a destabilizing climate crisis that’s already putting a capacity and financial strain on aging electrical infrastructure."

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/10/ceo-ai-power-drain-could-cause-data-centers-to-run-out-of-power-within-two-years/

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@gerrymcgovern

AI/LLMs should be shut down world wide as a crime aga. humanity

unbelievable this is allowed to go on after the energy to fuel whole small countries got wasted on utter garbage like crypto that has no legit reason to be

has nothing been learned

tech bros boast about creating disruptive tech because they enjoy burning the world to feed their own sick egos> it's a show of power

time to shut this **** down

but they won't, they'd rather let the world end than offend a tech bro

GottaLaff, to France
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Even Lying Trump will have had enough of her lies.

Via Kyle Griffin:

's government is disputing a portion of 's book that describes a canceled meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

A representative from the Élysée Palace disputed Noem's account, saying there’s no record of a scheduled meeting, nor was there an invitation extended to her.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/french-official-disputes-kristi-noem-book-passage-emmanuel-macron-rcna151742

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@GottaLaff

in Paris they ❤️ their puppies

JimsPhotos, to nature
@JimsPhotos@ohai.social avatar

As its , here is the start of a few bird toots (cos there is no ).

I have my mum down for the weekend, so took here and the dogs down to Titchmarsh Nature Reserve.

Here is a Jackdaw with a mouth full of damsel flies that flew above us as we walked

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@JimsPhotos

full crop!

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@JimsPhotos

oops, i mean the jackdaw had a full crop... it's really well rounded

should have thought about the possible misunderstanding

flexghost, to random
@flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

After the parasite, that feeds off brain activity, starved to death leaving only a black spot, RFK jr was asked for a comment:

“Sometimes duck with cheese can purple. Tartar baby staples. Vaccines bad.”

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@flexghost

i did not have that one on my bingo card & yet, in retrospect, all the signs were there

i guess i never spent much time wondering about the source of his obvious long-standing intellectual deficits, i probably just thought drugs or something

but, sure, brain worm works for me as an explanation, i don't think anybody would admit to having brain worm when "i partied too hard in the 80s" is right there... unless there really was a brain worm

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@atzanteol @flexghost

we're not talking about every person who ever picked up a parasite, we're very clearly talking about the raving loon who wants my immune-compromised husband dead -- who, in fact, wants to kill thousands, if not millions, by destroying trust in vaccine technology

please don't ask us to walk on eggshells when some of us have been badly hurt by vaccine and/or science denialism

let's try making the real enemy walk on eggshells for a change

thanks for your understanding

franciscawrites, to movies
@franciscawrites@mastodon.scot avatar

Can you name a film that was adapted not from a novel, but from a short story?
Here's one:

The Illusionist (2006)

@bookstodon

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@franciscawrites @bookstodon

or a shorter story is PKD's Second Variety, made into a film called Screamers

in that case, i thought the terrifying & delightfully paranoid short story was less effective as a movie while Minority Report was pretty clearly better as a movie

mastodonmigration, to random
@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

For those losing their heads over today's actions by Judge Cannon, take a deep breath. This was always going to happen. The writing has been on the wall since Judge Cannon was drawn for the case. Getting all worked up about it is only going to make you crazy and desperate. The way we will rid ourselves of this menace is at the polls in November.

For a sober discussion on this topic this exchange today between @Teri_Kanefield and @JonChevreau is highly recommended:

https://mstdn.ca/@JonChevreau/112401937598899929

peachfront,
@peachfront@toot.community avatar

@GreenFire @mastodonmigration @MaggyWells @Teri_Kanefield @JonChevreau

there is no amount of voting that can remove a corrupt judge, even one openly taking bribes from billionaires -- only the FBI can do that & when's the last time they arrested a crooked judge?

also many of us live in states and/or districts where our vote doesn't count, you may thank the Electoral College created by plantation owners for plantation owners

a little rage is forgivable, i hope

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