Sheril

Sheril, 9 months ago to mastodon

I’ve now been enjoying #Mastodon for 10 months & am delighted by the thoughtful engagement here. I’m also increasingly interested to learn more about who I’m connecting with in the fediverse.

Where are you from?

Sheril, 10 months ago to twitter

I don’t like to mention that rich guy over at #Twitter, but he’s rambling on about #ClimateChange & agriculture, which is in my wheelhouse. And he is also unabashedly & absurdly wrong.

Misinformation on climate change is irresponsible & dangerous, so let’s be clear:

25% to 30% of global emissions come from our #food system.

As UT Austin’s Michael Webber describes, agriculture is a major cause, victim and - importantly - meaningful solution to #climate change.

More at https://ourworldindata.org/greenhouse-gas-emissions-food

Sheril, 9 months ago to Energy

In the U.S., recent annual estimates of bird deaths due to:

Cats = 2.4 billion bird deaths

Collisions from building glass = 600 million bird deaths

Land wind turbines = <200,000 bird deaths

Some politicians claim wind turbines “kill all the birds.”

But… they’re not really worried about birds. Rather, they prefer we stick with oil & gas over renewable #energy.

https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/15195/wind-turbines-are-not-killing-fields-for-birds/ #climatechange

Sheril, 7 months ago to random

Just a reminder that we don’t have to argue with people on the Internet when they’re wrong.

Sheril, 7 months ago to history

“Vote NO on Woman Suffrage” 🙄

Not ancient #history, but just a century ago.

Source: State Archives of North Carolina

Sheril, 8 months ago to science

Evolution doesn’t look how it’s depicted in pop culture. We often picture the famous “March of Progress” illustration where a series of apes stand in line leading to a modern human.

But evolution is not linear. It branches & divides without an intended direction or endpoint through natural selection.

Illustration by @keesey #science #history

Sheril, 9 months ago to twitter

Could the failure of #Twitter have been the point all along?

I'm still quite skeptical, but with each new seemingly poor decision & "mistake," I can't help but wonder...

Sheril, 8 months ago to random

Short story: I have curly hair. But I straighten it for work to appear “professional.” Or I wear a bun to look “serious.”

These ideas were shaped by social norms + experiences where I’ve been the only woman in the room or dealt w sexual harassment/bias.

But when my 15yo niece visited last week, I marveled at her stunning curls. “It just dries this way,” she said.

And it dawned on me - Wait, mine does too! Or would if I paid less attention to cultural expectations. So I think I’ll do that now.

Sheril, 8 months ago to history

Alan Turing was a mathematician & cryptographer who was a leading code-breaker in the team that decrypted Nazi Germany’s Enigma machine during WWII. He inspired modern computing & what became AI.

Instead of being hailed as a genius & hero, Turing was convicted as a homosexual & forced to endure chemical castration. He died by suicide at 41 in 1954.

The British government didn’t apologize until 2009 & Queen Elizabeth II finally pardoned him in 2013. #history #science

Sheril, 10 months ago to mastodon

A big welcome to everyone new to #Mastodon! 👋

You’re going to like it here.

Unlike #Twitter, this place isn’t set up as a race for RTs & likes & feels more like an ongoing conversation. Engagement is high & on the whole, there’s less outrage & more thoughtful content. I’ve been enjoying the chance to get to meet interesting new folks.

Tip: Start with an #introduction & share your interests. @feditips is a helpful follow to get oriented too.

Sheril, 6 months ago to animals

We had to say goodbye to our sweet Happy. She was the very best girl & we had so many adventures together. Happy hiked mountains in Colorado, camped with us in Texas, ran across California’s beaches & pranced through the Michigan snow.

She named herself Happy & loved every person she ever met. We have always felt extremely lucky to find her on Congress Ave & came to call her our Austin terrier since she was a little bit of every breed. We will miss her every day. #dogsofmastodon

Adorable black and white terrier mix puppy in 2010
Adorable black and white terrier mix

Sheril, 8 months ago to art

“Describe what you can bring to this company.”

#Art by Will McPhail

Sheril, 8 months ago to books

“What an astonishing thing a book is… one glance at it & you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly & silently inside your head, directly to you.

Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. #Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”

• Carl Sagan

Sheril, 10 months ago to random

Imagine if the fate of the planet captivated the world as much as the fate of one deep sea submersible.

Sheril, 9 months ago to random

What the dystopia?

Virginia School Board attorneys argued that Abigail Zwerner - the 1st grade teacher shot in her classroom by a 6yo - is not entitled to more than worker’s compensation bc the shooting was “a workplace injury” & “hazard of the job.”

https://www.denverpost.com/2023/05/03/educators-outraged-teacher-shot-in-school-workplace-injury/

Sheril, 7 months ago to Birds

Buildings are extremely deadly for migrating #birds every year, but they can be designed & updated to minimize collisions. https://birdcast.info/news/major-collision-event-in-chicago-4-5-october-2023/

Sheril, 8 months ago to random

With the new #COVID vaccine approved, a reminder that we’re all indebted to the ancient & wondrous horseshoe crab.

Their blue blood contains Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) which clumps at contact with bacterial toxins. They are caught for their blood to test sterility of medical equipment & injections.

Unfortunately the harvest is unsustainable & populations are in decline. An effective synthetic substitute has been around for 2 decades & we just need the biomedical industry to switch.

Sheril, 9 months ago to mastodon

An observation on how #Mastodon is growing 👀

Over the past month, multiple journalists from top outlets have contacted me related to content I’ve shared.

While this was not uncommon on #Twitter when I was active there, it’s relatively new for me in the #fediverse. I suspect this suggests professional news outlets are becoming more comfortable here & posts have increasing impact. Good.

Sheril, 7 months ago to random

I feel seen 📚

Sheril, 7 months ago to climate

This morning on a panel for Missouri State University related to #climatechange, food security & the future, I got a version of the same question I'm asked at every event:

"What can I do personally to make a meaningful difference?"

There are so many ways to answer this, but I thought it would be interesting to share the question on #Mastodon.

How do you have impact? Find hope? Take action?

Sheril, 11 months ago to ai

It's wild to me that there's currently so much panic & fear about what #AI might do to "destroy" humanity, yet - at the same time - so little attention to the way that human behaviors are already, knowingly, putting billions of people & global biodiversity at tremendous risk. 🌍 #climatechange

Sheril, 8 months ago to news

I understand that newspapers need support through subscriptions, but I often worry about about how this makes reliable information a luxury for those with the means to afford it.

Meanwhile misinformation & disinformation are widely accessible & free. #news #journalism

Sheril, 7 months ago to random

I just heard a car company advertise they’ll be “carbon neutral” by 2050.

27 years 🙄

It’s like the slowest, laziest greenwashing.

Sheril, 9 months ago to random

Multiple bright, young scientists I know have told me they will not be applying to jobs in TX & FL.

Faculty friends at institutions in these states have shared they are having trouble recruiting new students & concerned about what they could be accused of.

Having spent years working at UT Austin where I loved our weird & welcoming community, I’m deeply troubled watching things fall apart. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/25/texas-a-m-professor-opioids-dan-patrick/

Sheril, 10 months ago to science

About 109 billion people have lived & died. Each grain of sand represents 10 million.
This stunning data visualization of human life by Max Roser was published in 2022.

Today there would be 805 green grains representing 8.05 billion people living on Earth. #science #art