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   myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:51 JST myrmepropagandist

   I decided to find out if any progress had been made on the science behind why some ants are attracted to electrical fields. After filtering out exterminators (it's so demoralizing to search for information on creatures you love and find nothing but people who know nothing about them boasting about how they will kill them all) I found what looked like a blog. But, who the heck is "James Brown"? Never heard of the dude. Maybe he could be my new friend if he likes ants enough to blog about them!

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:34 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • mistergibson
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd

     Tree planting schemes have been used as green-washing more often than they have been sincere or effective means to care for the earth. Some "tree planting" operations are just logging companies who sell the rights of their monoculture fields to companies who want to claim they planted trees. The trees are harvested years later.

     In NYC we planted millions of trees. But they just sent saplings and let amateurs spam them wherever. Years later they have all died.

     Aral Balkan and clacke repeated this.
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     mistergibson (mistergibson@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:35 JST mistergibson

     in reply to

     • Alex Wild
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @wa7iut @futurebird @wmd @alexwild Someone turned me onto this: https://www.ecosia.org/

     they plant trees with ad revenue --> very cool

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:35 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • mistergibson
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd

     I don't have a good feeling about this. "Planting trees" is almost a red flag for me at this point since very few people seem to understand how complex and the real investment needed to plant a tree.

     You can't just spam saplings and expect a forest. A forest is a living complex system easier to preserve than it is to build.

     "planting trees?" Really? What kind? Are they native species? Who will care for them in the critical first years? Who owns the land?

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     Bob Davidson (wa7iut@mastodon.radio)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:45 JST Bob Davidson

     in reply to

     • Alex Wild
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄

     @futurebird @wmd @alexwild

     I wonder if a non-profit search engine is possible. I can’t believe Google is willing to burn down their brand like this. Also, an opening for curated information services like Wikipedia and Encylopedia Brittanica.

     I was initially skeptical of Wikipedia and I feel a little bad about the article I contributed about hummingbirds hitching rides on the backs of geese (it didn’t last long) but Wikipedia has proven very reliable for what I need.

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:46 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • Alex Wild
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄

     @wmd @alexwild

     These fake pages ought to be blacklisted to oblivion. But I don't see any search engines taking this seriously at all.

     Not really in their interest to do that. We need to make more noise about just how terrible these pages are. Fake experts? Fake people? Fake images? Fake facts?

     Information pollution & fragmentation of natural networks of human learning. A rot on the body of human knowledge: any search engine that puts such pages at the top should be ashamed.

     clacke likes this.
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     🌈☔🌦️🍄 (wmd@chaos.social)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:48 JST 🌈☔🌦️🍄

     in reply to

     • Alex Wild

     @futurebird @alexwild SEO and the marketing as a whole are toxic as fuck. They want to push themselves in your space, without your consent only to gain more power/money. There is not a single acceptable thing about it ...

     clacke repeated this.
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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:49 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     As far as I can tell these people are phantoms. That's cruel on multiple levels. If I was not familiar with this SEO trick I'd spend time looking for them both (to politely tell them about the errors in their blog... which I would assume they would care about since they love insects.)

     But I know what this is now. It's probably the exterminators. To get their page ranks up they need "legitimate" pages... like personal blogs by enthusiasts to link to them.

     They are pretending to be *ME*😡😳😩

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:11:49 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • Alex Wild

     We are expected to take this kind of BS as "harmless gaming of the system." but I find it incredibly distrustful and hurtful. It's making it harder for people to find each other by putting all these fake people in the way. It's LIES the pages are full of half-true nonsense. It's making people know less and filling their heads with false facts.

     And this kind of page is what you find FIRST. You won't find @alexwild or the formiculture forum.

     You find these mendacious SEO ghosts.

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:12:15 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • mistergibson
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd

     This is why I'm deeply suspicious of anyone who claims to be "planting X trees when you do Y"

     These are just indulgences of our modern time.

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:12:59 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • mistergibson
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd Next you’ll tell me carbon offsets are a scam.

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     Azuaron (azuaron@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:26:41 JST Azuaron

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • mistergibson
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @aral @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd I do believe there was literally a big criminal bust in Brazil regarding a carbon offsets company that was using the money dedicated to carbon offsets to log the rainforest.

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     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:26:41 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • mistergibson
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Azuaron
     • Bob Davidson

     @Azuaron @futurebird @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd Clearly the sarcasm in my post didn’t come through :)

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     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:34:12 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Azuaron

     @Azuaron 💕

   • Embed this notice
     Azuaron (azuaron@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:34:13 JST Azuaron

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan

     @aral No, it did, I was just adding some recent specific news I saw to it.

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     botvolution (botvolution@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 22:48:58 JST botvolution

     in reply to

     @futurebird
     The profile images are quite "old fashioned" (in current technology terms) GAN generated images, probably from thispersondoesnotexist dot com.

     Once you're familiar with the type and "have your eye in" they become easy to spot even in thumbnails. Any content using them is almost always suspect.

     Note the coincidence of major facial features (eyes & mouth especially).

     Newer tech versions are often *much* more difficult to spot.

   • Embed this notice
     botvolution (botvolution@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Sunday, 16-Jun-2024 23:09:18 JST botvolution

     in reply to

     • Conspirador Norteño

     @futurebird
     Accounts using such avatars were (maybe still are) all over twiter like a rash. When the API was still open a few of us did track the growth of swarms of fakes like this.

     @conspirator0 has some articles on their substack going into much more detail.

     Fellow Brits who are still on twiter should note that I found hundreds (of probable thousands) of them using the "FPBE" hashtag

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     Mans R (mansr@society.oftrolls.com)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 00:59:45 JST Mans R

     in reply to

     @futurebird I always assumed ants appeared around wall sockets because the wiring conduits provided an easy path for them to get inside at all.

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:06:54 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     I wish James and Tina were real.

     I hate this so much.

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     clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:06:58 JST clacke

     in reply to

     @futurebird L.A. Style: "James Brown is Dead"

     farside.link/invidious/watch?v…

     youtube.com/watch?v=dN8e9b2ON8…

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     Rivetgeek (He/Him) (rivetgeek@dice.camp)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:07:00 JST Rivetgeek (He/Him)

     in reply to

     @futurebird And just as bad, the ant picture in the screenshot is AI generated.

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     Mast0b1t (mastobit@awscommunity.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:07:12 JST Mast0b1t

     in reply to

     • Alex Wild
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄

     @futurebird @wmd @alexwild

     Some are beginning to go back to actual, physical encyclopedias given the increased unreliability of search.

     I went looking for a Wikipedia article two days ago. Had no problem finding it any other time. Now? I have to put extra words in or choose alternative phrases within Wikipedia’s search. 🤦♂️

     clacke likes this.
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     Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝ (richpuchalsky@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:07:49 JST Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝

     in reply to

     • Alex Wild
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄

     @futurebird

     I would find and dust off my "why LLMs are horrible for librarians" thread, but there are too many catastrophes these days.

     @wmd @alexwild

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:07:50 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @wa7iut @wmd

     I make a monthly contribution to wikipedia. I used to have many problems with them (and still do) but I realized how lost I'd be if they ever became like the rest of the web. I need them to be the way that they are.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Nathalia Assaad (nathaliaassaad@mastodon.world)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:07:55 JST Nathalia Assaad

     in reply to

     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @futurebird @wa7iut @wmd
     Me too!
     I use their website almost daily.
     Every time I use my phone to ID a plant, I am directed to Wikipedia to confirm the information. I adore Wikipedia and I feel that I can help protect it with my small contribution. I use iNaturalist to triple confirm or when Wikipedia and my phone ID function aren’t helpful, but they usually help when I need info quickly.

     clacke likes this.
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     clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:08:38 JST clacke

     in reply to

     • Chartodon
     Calling @Chartodon Spine
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     Poligofsky (brent@thecanadian.social)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:08:56 JST Poligofsky

     in reply to

     @futurebird

     Bullshit is an existential threat to civil society. "Free speech" is a giant security hole in the body politic. It has to be more nuanced. A sophisticated society would find a way to encourage sincere discourse, while filtering out noise that destroys it.

     We cannot function if we cannot communicate.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:09:02 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • mistergibson
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd

     So if you planed a tree and it died don't feel so bad.

     We can't just spend a day planting trees and call our problems solved. We all need to learn a lot more about the ecosystems we live in.

   • Embed this notice
     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:09:03 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • mistergibson
     • 🌈☔🌦️🍄
     • Bob Davidson

     @mistergibson @wa7iut @wmd

     I still think the NYC tree planting events were good for the community. People got together and dug around in the soils of their local parks and medians. We noticed the little wild places tucked between the buildings and met other people who cared. I think a better event could feature:

     * identifying insects and wildlife
     * better guides for the local groups
     * planting native PLANTS not just trees
     * weeding species that don't fit
     * housing for bees and ants

     clacke repeated this.
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     clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Monday, 17-Jun-2024 13:09:07 JST clacke

     in reply to

     • Chartodon
     Calling @Chartodon Spine this