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Jer Thorp

@jerthorp.bsky.social

5.5K followers 830 following 2.9K posts

Artist, writer, educator, birder & nudibranch enthusiast. Author of Living in Data (MCDxFSG).

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · Aug 28

My course about birding & creative code is also secretly (shhhh) a course about critical data thinking.

Which is one of the most important skills you could possibly cultivate in this age of AI and misinformation.

Autumn cohorts start September 23rd... join me?

jerthorp.me/learning

🪶📊🎨

Why birds & data?
To see the whole picture.
Data is a system, not a thing.
To truly understand data, you need to know how it gets made, how it is changed by the processes of computation, and how the choices we make in representing it affect the stories that can be told.
Birding offers a way to get intimate with this entire system. To watch as our observations become data. To see how they are recast and reshaped by algorithms and models. To explore the many practical and poetic ways we might tell our data's story.
Through birding, data is revealed not as static record, but as a living process of which we (and our feathered neighbors) are very much a part.

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Reposted by Jer Thorp

Ignacio GHOULup-Diaz @igallupd.bsky.social · 15h

BABY NUMBATSNUMBATSNUMBATS:

"Baby numbats spotted at two wildlife sanctuaries in hopeful sign for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials"

"Video shows some of the juveniles exploring outside their den at Mallee Cliffs national park in south-western NSW"

Baby numbats spotted at two wildlife sanctuaries in hopeful sign for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials

Video shows some of the juveniles exploring outside their den at Mallee Cliffs national park in south-western NSW

www.theguardian.com

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

Halloween idea

Bevis Musson @bevismusson.bsky.social · 1d

Mr Laos. Just when you though this year was a bit quiet on the insanely huge, bedazzled, symbolic costumes along comes Mr Laos and blows everyone else out of the water. This is insane, but it's also *so* good.

A photo of a contestant at Mister Global 2025

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

To be fair clipboard coach turned out to be very kind, too

Reposted by Jer Thorp

Jeff Doctor @jeff.doctor · 1d

I am once again asking Canadian journalists to ask the most basic-ass question of "on whose land will these be built?" How is it that every other major industry must consider Indigenous rights but with tech it's like "meh".
www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

ANALYSIS | Why OpenAI wants to help Canada build homegrown artificial intelligence | CBC News

OpenAI wants to help Canada build a sovereign digital infrastructure for artificial intelligence, putting the country in a tough spot as it tries to distance itself from overreliance on U.S. tech comp...

www.cbc.ca

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

"Trans issues aren't this shameful thing that Democratic consultants suggest we hide from, it's the same fight undocumented immigrants are fighting, or those who can't access health care are fighting."

Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 1d

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

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Reposted by Jer Thorp

Sasha Costanza-Chock @schock.cc · 1d

It's ok to cry

Thank you @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

💙💜

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

My son plays in a community ⚽ league on Saturdays and the range of vibe from team to team and coach to coach is hilarious.

Our coach is very positive and just great.

The other guy today has set plays drawn up 😂

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Reposted by Jer Thorp

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 2d

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

Favorite GBV song?

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Reposted by Jer Thorp

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 3d

Stretch maybe but if someone could hook me up with a ticket for NYCC on Sunday, my kid would be very pleased.

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Reposted by Jer Thorp

cow tools daily @cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social · 2d

it's not FOR us

edited comic panel. Batman is breaking a lump-with-handle cow tool over his knee and saying "this is the tool of the cow. we do not understand it. we will not use it."

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Reposted by Jer Thorp

David Reamer @anchistorian.bsky.social · 2d

1984 Cal Worthington Ford of Anchorage commercial, this time with a bull as his dog Spot. Like a lot of his later commercials, this one splices together old clips with newer footage of him and the cars. #alaskahistory #alaska #anchoragehistory

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Reposted by Jer Thorp

Leah | Miyazaki Mango arc 🎃 @ideocene.net · 2d

I made a bot about Cumberbatch called Cumberbotch based on exactly this

My Twitter bot "cumberbotch" that just botches Cumberbatch's name

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

Oh great!

I'll see you there.

Reposted by Jer Thorp

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 3d

My friend and hero Brian House has spent the last few years building macrophones designed for recording ultra low frequency sound.

His new album gets as close as it is possible to get to the voice of the 🌍🌎🌏

Record release in NYC!!

new-ear.org/2025/10/04/r...

Record release: Brian House’s Everyday Infrasound in an Uncertain World

Thursday, October 30

new-ear.org

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

You've already been supporting me and I *really* appreciate it!

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

In case you missed it, I now have three tiers of monthly membership for Binoculars to Binomials:

binoculars-to-binomials.disco.co/memberships

Starting at $5 per month you can get writing and learning content from me, and early access and discounts for retreats, trips and courses.

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

Fixed this, thanks!

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

This image did things to young me

Michael Whelan @michaelwhelan.bsky.social · 2d

FRIDAY (1982)
Acrylic - 30” x 20”

Robert Heinlein does create memorable characters!

Not even halfway through this book, I had a nearly photographic image of Friday in my mind. By the time I finished, I felt confident about the substance and approach my painting would have. 1/4

A woman in a blue denim jumpsuit stands in front of a view of space as seen through a gold trimmed porthole. The central zipper of her outfit is drawn down to her waist exposing bare skin. Her short cropped, sandy blonde hair has a slight curl. Her eyes reflect vibrant blue set in a gaze directly forward. The silhouette of a planet can be seen in the round viewport behind her. A star emerges from behind the planet and flares above her right shoulder. A moon with bright crescent highlight hangs over her left shoulder.

Reposted by Jer Thorp

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 2d

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 3d

Managed to source one ticket but he'd straight up murder me if I went with out him

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 3d

Stretch maybe but if someone could hook me up with a ticket for NYCC on Sunday, my kid would be very pleased.

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Reposted by Jer Thorp

Torrance Coste @torrancecoste.bsky.social · 3d

not if it continues to advance and improve for another 1000 years could AI generate an idea I hate more than "kevin o'leary building the world's biggest data centre in a drought-prone region without consent from local Nations"

thenarwhal.ca/ai-data-cent...

What will the AI data centre boom mean for Canada? | The Narwhal

Sprawling AI data centres, like Kevin O’Leary’s plans for Wonder Valley in Alberta, are hungry for land, water and power

thenarwhal.ca

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 3d

If it's not clear, that thing in the photo sitting in the field *is* the microphone.

The wavelengths of these sounds are so long the apparatus needs to be huge.

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 3d

It's so fucking hard to promote projects here that aren't either instagrammily bombastic or purposely controversial.

I wish the quiet, important stuff would get some traction.

(This *is* important)