The Benefits of Tiny Friends

If you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend making a tiny friend. How tiny, you ask? I think it helps if your friend is big enough to be visible to you (though this isn’t strictly necessary) but small enough to be outside of the category of beings you would normally consider friend material. The […]

The Personalities of Jumping Spiders

This is Diego. He is a Phidippus johnsoni jumping spider, and he lives on a jade plant in my front yard. There are several spiders of this species that can be found on the jade plant on any given day, but I know when it’s Diego I’ve spotted. Adult males of this species are around […]

Escape from the Wonder Killer

Going into nature, how long does it take till you feel like you’re there? There meaning not sending emails in your head and not wincing at shifts of temperature or humidity when sun turns to rain? There’s a comfort that comes over you. Hands and the heart are no longer so far apart and pulling […]

The Fallacy of the Last Move HA!

Well this story is just a pure delight. In 2017, the Chinese said that by 2030, they were going to be the world champions of AI. So in 2022, the U.S. put export controls on the fancy computer chips, especially Nvidia chips, that AI needed. Then in 2025, the Chinese announced an AI entity called […]

Behavioral Observation

Colony: Punta Tombo, Chubut, Argentina Date: 9 November Site: RFID B Nest: 708H Nest type: Burrow, northwest-facing, mid-slope, concealed from above Penguin: Male, toe-tag no. 14113/RFID no. 37189 Device: AX3 accelerometer no. 99290, day three of a five-day deployment Nest Contents: Two eggs Notes: Purpose is to ground truth time-stamped accelerometry data from AX3 with […]

The Archaeology of You

This post ran back in 2018 and digging it up was another act unearthing oneself, something I end up doing when rummaging in my car, when I clean my desk. Our own lives are archaeology. Put a trowel in your hand and go through your past. Bounce ground penetrating radar through your heart. See what […]

What Happens in the Wild

I’ve been setting up wildlife cameras at natural pinch points and along trackways to see what’s going on when I’m not looking. I’ll admit, it feels invasive. Candid moments of animals are caught without permission, my cameras quiet enough that subjects don’t glance up even for the second or third shot, a black bear strolling […]

What the Kids Are Doing

The kids aren’t doing this any more. I miss it. I still have random people asking me about the kid arrangements, so apparently other people miss it too. But kids grow, that’s what they do; they move on. In this case, they’ve moved on to jumping rope, blowing conch shells, and digging bunkers — like […]