Zane Selvans
@zaneselvans.org
Data Liberation Engineer @catalyst.coop. Climate, energy, bikes, cities, co-ops, and the strangeness of Our Modern Age. A former space explorer, now lost in the misty highlands of Mexico.
https://amateurearthling.org
🇺🇸/🇲🇽 he/él
https://amateurearthling.org
🇺🇸/🇲🇽 he/él
A weird side-effect of making it plausible that fossil asset owners will face future liability for climate damages is that then they have an incentive to self-liquidate rather than transition -- return all their value to shareholders and go bankrupt, so there are no guilty assets left to take.
December 1, 2025 at 6:24 AM
A weird side-effect of making it plausible that fossil asset owners will face future liability for climate damages is that then they have an incentive to self-liquidate rather than transition -- return all their value to shareholders and go bankrupt, so there are no guilty assets left to take.
The garbage truck comes by at like 7am on Tuesday and Fridays and I haven't been able to catch it for months. Luckily I don't make much trash. Those are also our meeting-free days. Maybe I should try to do trash + morning bike rides as a combo.
December 1, 2025 at 6:16 AM
The garbage truck comes by at like 7am on Tuesday and Fridays and I haven't been able to catch it for months. Luckily I don't make much trash. Those are also our meeting-free days. Maybe I should try to do trash + morning bike rides as a combo.
Tonight's double feature: "The Thinking Game" (2024) and "Unknown Killer Robots" (2023). 🍿🤖🔥
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5XF...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5XF...
The Thinking Game | Documentary Trailer
YouTube video by The Thinking Game Film
www.youtube.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Tonight's double feature: "The Thinking Game" (2024) and "Unknown Killer Robots" (2023). 🍿🤖🔥
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5XF...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5XF...
No kidding!
"Displaying the probability of a specific home flooding this year or within the next five years can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability of that property”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...
"Displaying the probability of a specific home flooding this year or within the next five years can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability of that property”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...
Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings
www.nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:16 AM
No kidding!
"Displaying the probability of a specific home flooding this year or within the next five years can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability of that property”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...
"Displaying the probability of a specific home flooding this year or within the next five years can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability of that property”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...
I just discovered the excellent @thresholdpodcast.bsky.social and am binging the 2022 season on climate change and it's weird how much it feels like a time capsule from another era entirely. #EnergySky
www.thresholdpodcast.org/season04
www.thresholdpodcast.org/season04
Threshold Season 4: Time to 1.5
On paper, the world has agreed to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. We're not on track to meet that goal, but the window is not yet closed. Time to 1.5 grapples w...
www.thresholdpodcast.org
December 1, 2025 at 12:53 AM
I just discovered the excellent @thresholdpodcast.bsky.social and am binging the 2022 season on climate change and it's weird how much it feels like a time capsule from another era entirely. #EnergySky
www.thresholdpodcast.org/season04
www.thresholdpodcast.org/season04
Self regulation in a nutshell.
Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c... (Basically because it was *working". The info prompted some changes in real estate shoppers' attitudes toward flood risk.) #greensky
Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Self regulation in a nutshell.
Coyote
Cacomixtle
Brown Bear
Gray Wolf
Orca
Cacomixtle
Brown Bear
Gray Wolf
Orca
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Moose
Stoplight parrotfish
Box turtle
Elephant
Wild horse
Moose
Stoplight parrotfish
Box turtle
Elephant
Wild horse
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
November 29, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Coyote
Cacomixtle
Brown Bear
Gray Wolf
Orca
Cacomixtle
Brown Bear
Gray Wolf
Orca
Reading about Mexico's student uprising in 1968 and thinking about how social & political progress happens in a world where old people structurally outnumber young people by a wide margin.
November 29, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Reading about Mexico's student uprising in 1968 and thinking about how social & political progress happens in a world where old people structurally outnumber young people by a wide margin.
"I think everyone agrees that we need more transmission." No, dude, we don't! That's the problem! Lots of utilities don't want it and people along the rights-of-way also don't want it! Something being a good idea in a global sense is extremely different from *everyone* wanting it.
November 28, 2025 at 10:52 PM
"I think everyone agrees that we need more transmission." No, dude, we don't! That's the problem! Lots of utilities don't want it and people along the rights-of-way also don't want it! Something being a good idea in a global sense is extremely different from *everyone* wanting it.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
Do you think democracy is a good idea? Why or why not? 1/
November 27, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Do you think democracy is a good idea? Why or why not? 1/
They way all the main characters in Stranger Things keep in touch with radios and freak out when they lose contact is a funny anachronism. Like we can relate to it because smartphones but it's such a crazy contrast to the actual 1980s.
November 27, 2025 at 7:17 AM
They way all the main characters in Stranger Things keep in touch with radios and freak out when they lose contact is a funny anachronism. Like we can relate to it because smartphones but it's such a crazy contrast to the actual 1980s.
Wait the US has more Spanish speakers than any other country except Mexico?! And there's like half as many Spanish speakers in the US as Mexico?
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
List of countries by Spanish-speaking population - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
simple.wikipedia.org
November 27, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Wait the US has more Spanish speakers than any other country except Mexico?! And there's like half as many Spanish speakers in the US as Mexico?
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
The materiality of these two energy systems is so wildly different.
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 AM
The materiality of these two energy systems is so wildly different.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
I don't feel like anyone really prepared me for how multiple decades of parasocial relationships would actually feel.
xkcd.com/3172/
xkcd.com/3172/
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:04 AM
I don't feel like anyone really prepared me for how multiple decades of parasocial relationships would actually feel.
xkcd.com/3172/
xkcd.com/3172/
Maybe I should get drunk and email some real estate agents.
November 23, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Maybe I should get drunk and email some real estate agents.
~80 million acres dedicated to corn ethanol and soy biodiesel with a 0.2% solar energy conversion efficiency (before processing losses!) but no 20% efficient PV. Sure.
Republicans move to stop solar panels being by farmers & ranchers on their land which improves production & cuts costs. Take note they are not stopping data centers & fossil fuel plants adjacent plants. Bankrupt the farmers/ranchers. Buy their land cheap. Destroy it
dailycaller.com/2025/11/20/e...
dailycaller.com/2025/11/20/e...
EXCLUSIVE: GOP Lawmaker Looks To Shield American Farmland From Taxpayer-Funded Solar Projects
Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn introduced legislation Thursday that would protect American farmland from government-subsidized solar panel projects.
dailycaller.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:21 PM
~80 million acres dedicated to corn ethanol and soy biodiesel with a 0.2% solar energy conversion efficiency (before processing losses!) but no 20% efficient PV. Sure.
I love that these scrapped vehicle batteries are just sitting out there in the desert on cinder blocks, covered with tarps, still working hard, like some kind of white trash energy storage junkyard. @greatdismal.bsky.social
Tech companies are turning to natural gas to help power U.S. data centers.
Jigar Shah, a former top Energy Department official, explains how installing batteries instead can strengthen the power grid, trim electric bills, and help curb emissions.
Jigar Shah, a former top Energy Department official, explains how installing batteries instead can strengthen the power grid, trim electric bills, and help curb emissions.
How Batteries, Not Natural Gas, Can Power the Data Center Boom
Tech companies are turning to natural gas to help power the growing number of U.S. data centers. Jigar Shah, a former top Energy Department official, explains how installing batteries instead can help...
e360.yale.edu
November 23, 2025 at 4:20 AM
I love that these scrapped vehicle batteries are just sitting out there in the desert on cinder blocks, covered with tarps, still working hard, like some kind of white trash energy storage junkyard. @greatdismal.bsky.social
Reposted by Zane Selvans
If you liked James Balog's movie, Chasing Ice, here is a follow-up (short) film, Chasing Time.
www.pbs.org/pov/films/ch...
www.pbs.org/pov/films/ch...
Chasing Time - POV
Photographer James Balog brings the 15-year Extreme Ice Survey project to a close.
www.pbs.org
November 23, 2025 at 2:34 AM
If you liked James Balog's movie, Chasing Ice, here is a follow-up (short) film, Chasing Time.
www.pbs.org/pov/films/ch...
www.pbs.org/pov/films/ch...
Reposted by Zane Selvans
Kazimierz Nowak and his bicycle in an African desert, circa 1930s.
Nowak, a Polish traveler, reporter, and photographer, was probably the first person to cross Africa alone from north to south and then from south to north. He took more than 10,000 photos of his journey.
🧵
Nowak, a Polish traveler, reporter, and photographer, was probably the first person to cross Africa alone from north to south and then from south to north. He took more than 10,000 photos of his journey.
🧵
November 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Kazimierz Nowak and his bicycle in an African desert, circa 1930s.
Nowak, a Polish traveler, reporter, and photographer, was probably the first person to cross Africa alone from north to south and then from south to north. He took more than 10,000 photos of his journey.
🧵
Nowak, a Polish traveler, reporter, and photographer, was probably the first person to cross Africa alone from north to south and then from south to north. He took more than 10,000 photos of his journey.
🧵
I feel better about forgetting my passphrase for 3 months after taking a month away from my computer.
November 22, 2025 at 4:04 AM
I feel better about forgetting my passphrase for 3 months after taking a month away from my computer.
I find myself rooting for the sweet release of the flow taking out the camera.
Absolutely incredible time lapse of yesterday's pyroclastic flows from #Indonesia and the #semuru #volcano @rpappalardo.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
GIANT Pyroclastic Flow from Semeru Volcano – November 19, 2025 (Level IV Alert)
YouTube video by afarTV
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I find myself rooting for the sweet release of the flow taking out the camera.
Absolutely incredible time lapse of yesterday's pyroclastic flows from #Indonesia and the #semuru #volcano @rpappalardo.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
GIANT Pyroclastic Flow from Semeru Volcano – November 19, 2025 (Level IV Alert)
YouTube video by afarTV
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Absolutely incredible time lapse of yesterday's pyroclastic flows from #Indonesia and the #semuru #volcano @rpappalardo.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0W...
Lol literal poetic justice.
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Lol literal poetic justice.