jaybaeta

jaybaeta, 1 month ago to movies

I had the privilege yesterday of handling various snakes, including a ground boa (shown below) and slug-eating snake. This was after #filming several spitting #cobra species from around Indonesia, which were being sunbathed (and were very unhappy about it).

I should have the footage up soon, but am still deciding if I should go back and get more before publishing.

Close-up of a spitting cobra, facing slightly to the right of the camera.
Screenshot of a spitting cobra in the process of spraying venom at a shoe. It's a close-up and we see the back of the hood.

jaybaeta, 2 months ago to random

Finished filming part six of our #exploration of Yogyakarta's rivers. I wrote about it in (a bit of) detail here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/filming-part-six-101024208?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

TLDR: finally found a snake, and some big fish. Also dead animals and a lot of garbage.

Shot of a river with a rocky bank. The water is green. There are hanging aerial roots on the right of the frame and on the bottom left, a camera and microphone.
Shot of a river with a water snake shown slithering past.
Yellow-green river water with a dark-coloured fish coming to the surface for air.

jaybaeta, 2 months ago to random

Some good/bad news.

Good: I finished filming another part of our exploration of the life in #Yogyakarta's rivers.

Bad: one of the cards got corrupted, so I might lose some of the footage. Still working on recovery and we'll see how that goes (I have no idea what I'm doing :blobpeek:).

POV of two feet stand on the edge of a cement wall; below is a flowing river.
A man stands on a rock inside a small, shallow river. The river has tall walls, full of moss and vegetation.
Screenshot of the program ddrescue, showing progress on SD card data recovery.

jaybaeta, 2 months ago to random

Still can't watch Dune 2 because CGV is continuing to dedicate six screens to Exhuma, a Korean film starring Choi Min-sik, because Indonesians really love their horror. :blobcatcoffee:

jaybaeta, 2 months ago to academicchatter

Incidentally, if anyone is interested in publishing a paper that analyses a literary work, especially one from a marginalised voice, please consider Poetika.

They desperately need authors from outside Indonesia, which is always a struggle for small journals here. If you want a fee waiver, you can probably even name-drop me to get it. 😊

https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/poetika/index

@academicchatter

jaybaeta, 2 months ago to random

I always enjoying visiting UGM's Faculty of Cultural Sciences. The atmosphere is laid back, everyone is friendly, and it has lovely views of the rest of UGM.

jaybaeta, 3 months ago to random

I've returned from Jakarta! It's not an appealing city, I'm afraid, and had my wife not told me to go before the election, I may have continued to put it off.

Fortunately, it turned out to be less stressful than expected, thanks to Beatriz and Rossy at the Portuguese embassy. They were delightful and incredibly helpful. 🥰

During my walk from/to the train station, I counted at least 20 cats and met a young women who feeds them. They were just chilling there, unbothered by the traffic. 🥴

Two cats on a pavement. One white one watches another tortoiseshell one eating.
Passing through a station in Jakarta. The foreground is a blurry sign and roof; the background is five tall, white buildings through the open wall.
Two feet on a wooden floor. One has a black sock with grey toe and the other a black sock with grey ankle stripe. I failed to pack matching socks. I sign of good luck?

jaybaeta, 3 months ago to random

I've never listened through Gabriel Kahane's "Empire Liquor Mart" without crying. The Apartment Sessions version, particular, is a marvel but oh so difficult to get through. 😔

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_QaK0dE0is

jaybaeta, 4 months ago to random

A quick update on what Scenoptica is up to: https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-were-on-96114585?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

TLDR: bunch of documentaries, but until we've moved and ensured the safety of our cats, filming some of them must wait.

Upward shot of a man with long hair as he looks at something off-camera. He has a microphone in front of him (deadcat shown). He is outside and there's a wall and vegetation behind him.

jaybaeta, 5 months ago to random

This sentence in Struebig et al. (2022; https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biac085) pulls no punches.

jaybaeta, 5 months ago to animals

Observe the pancake cat, so flat, round, and fluffy.

#catsofmastodon #caturday

Top view of a white and brown cat. From this shot, he looks very plump, but it's really all fur.

jaybaeta, 5 months ago to random

Fun fact (from Plant Ecology; Schulze et al. 2005): it takes water 2–3 months to travel from the roots to the tips of the giant sequoia. That's (1) a big tree and (2) a lot of gravity to overcome!

jaybaeta, 5 months ago to random

It's December (again), which means we did another round of getting the environmental science students to watch the #StudioGhibli classic, "Pom Poko," and then analyse it.

I'll be releasing the videos soon, but in the meantime, the most pleasant surprise was that a few groups not only discussed #degrowth but cited @jasonhickel in the process.

When we talked about it, I felt that I didn't do well enough in explaining global economics to biology students, but I guess something sunk in! 😊

jaybaeta, 5 months ago to random Indonesian

It's a herculean task to summarise the depth of Henry Kissinger's criminality. Not just in Asia, but Africa, too. My humble thoughts are that besides being an evil man, he was an incompetent, arrogant "diplomat," and the shame of humanity through both the power he was allowed to wield and the fact that the people he hurt died too long ago to be able to celebrate the rotting of his fetid corpse and urinate on his grave. Regardless, may he rest in the piss of the children of those who survived.

jaybaeta, 6 months ago to random

Just me teaching.

jaybaeta, 6 months ago to random

Revisiting an old #silentsunday with an upscaled remaster of "Hello," the brief meditation on time passed: https://youtu.be/4y_tp_6Fk5o.

I wrote a thread about using Real-ESRGAN previously (https://mastodon.social/@jaybaeta/110729517199709375), and go into more detail on the method I used in this Patreon post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/revisiting-hello-92820043.

In general, the upscale produces some interesting artifacts, mostly smudging the image and creating something a bit more ethereal...

jaybaeta, 6 months ago to random

Doing some quick accounting and the cost* of one of my domains on #Gandi was £11.55/year in 2021, £13.78/year in February of this year, and as of today £19.99/year.

I'd like to see the return of cool personal websites, but registrars being gobbled up by evil conglomerates that immediately and consistently raise prices is putting a real damper on my hopes.

These price hikes are not only unreasonable but they're done purely because they can get away with it.

*Assuming my shaky math is correct.

jaybaeta, 6 months ago to animals

Short thread about a man and his dog. Apologies in advance for the insta link; I don't think this story is here.

• 29-year-old man in Wonosobo with stage 4 brain cancer has a service dog to keep him company.

• Problem is some of his neighbours are prejudiced against dogs (common issue here) and complained to the cops.

• Cops showed up, caged the dog, and took the key. If you see below, this was utter, senseless cruelty and torture.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzF7glgSRCJ/

#dogsofmastodon

jaybaeta, 6 months ago to random

So, today I met with my friend, Donan, to discuss filming something in one of the many dry rivers in Yogyakarta, while the drought keeps them dry. I thought it would be interesting to walk in the empty waterways and want to discuss the local effects of El Niño.

Since that conversation, it has rained and now I hear heavy thunder, indicating even heavier rain coming. Excellent timing, climate! 😂

jaybaeta, 6 months ago to random

Issue 140 of @thecontinent features some great #Springboks photos.

As I say in biogeography, a snapshot of today is not the same is one of yesterday or tomorrow. Time changes things.

Despite Mandela and Pienaar, where I grew up, it wasn't a mystery which sports were for whom. Politics invaded the lives of innocent kids, and rugby wasn't "for me." I found no unity in it.

Now, I find myself watching it and happy(!) to see the Bokke win. I still struggle to believe it. Today is not yesterday.

Screenshot of a page in The Continent #140, showing Springbok captain Siya Kolisi holding up and looking at the Rugby World Cup trophy. His expression is one of joy.

jaybaeta, 6 months ago to academicchatter

It's a seminal article, but yes, I will complain about having to pay 50 smackaroos for a paper published 54 years ago.

@academicchatter

jaybaeta, 7 months ago to random

A friendly neighbour started chatting with me about the cats today. When I said two were shot in the eye, she nonchalantly implicated a neighbour who likes to shoot chickens for target practice. I suspected them already but didn't know about the chickens. I don't know if they'd poison a cat, but regardless it's clear that our friendliest ones were targeted, which honestly makes the act worse.

Still, I appreciate the chat and could have learned more if my Bahasa Indonesia was not so rudimentary.

jaybaeta, 7 months ago to random

I'm continuing my slow first watch of TNG, and it looks like the casting director of the first X-Men movie was a fan of the show. 😉

jaybaeta, 7 months ago to random

I've collected the bloopers and outtakes for "The Lab of Ecology and Conservation is Stuck in the Middle of Nowhere," the video we made for UGM's #ecology lab. It mostly features me barking instructions at the lecturers and lab members who graciously agreed to masquerade as musicians. 😆

https://youtu.be/v6LJnRb-kH4

jaybaeta, 7 months ago to random

I will post obituaries when I have the time, but right now we're in crisis mode. We suspect all or most of our cats have been poisoned. Three have died, one is missing, and one (Princess, seen below) is in critical condition and spasming as I type this. It's horrific to see her like this, but at least she's home with us (vet lent us their oxygen tank and we have an IV set up). The rest are receiving pretreatment and we hope they don't show symptoms.