Matt
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xenomatt.bsky.social
Matt
@xenomatt.bsky.social
630 followers 680 following 1.5K posts
Scuba, nerdery, science, and what makes people tick. Expat Brit in Canada.

Pics mine unless otherwise credited.
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xenomatt.bsky.social
New law just dropped
mnemonic.bsky.social Mike Godwin @mnemonic.bsky.social · 8h
As online journalistic gossip continues, the probability of a comparison to Nuzzi approaches 1.
December 1, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Reposted by Matt
gilduran.com
Unfortunately, in US journalism it is considered neutral to spread a lie, but it is considered "biased" to call out a lie. So, there is a structural asymmetry that rewards colorful lies with virality.
November 30, 2025 at 1:16 AM
xenomatt.bsky.social
Awesome show this afternoon! If you're in Ottawa and at a loose end this evening, I'd definitely recommend it!
charlieangus104.bsky.social Charlie Angus @charlieangus104.bsky.social · 23h
Looking forward to seeing folks today at the Rainbow Bistro in Ottawa.
The @grievousangels104.bsky.social afternoon show is sold out.
Tickets available for the 7pm show.
Rainbow Bistro in the Market.
See you there.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pPt...
HEARTBREAK TOWN - GRIEVOUS ANGELS
YouTube video by Grievous Angels
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:10 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
The thing that I'd been putting off for a month took ten minutes. Welcome to my life...
November 30, 2025 at 5:31 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
One last #Nudivember post. Here is Doriprismatica atromarginata coming to check you out. Most places seem to call this a black-margined nudibranch (rather boring) but I also saw it referred to as a cheesecake nudibranch, which is a much better name!

#MarineLife #Invertebrates 🌿
A nudibranch moving toward the camera over algae-covered rock. It is white, with a dark brown back and a black marginal band; it has black rhinopores and gills. The mantle is raised at the front so the oral tentacles are visible. #UnderwaterPhotography #MacroPhotography #Macro #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Nature #NaturePhotography
November 30, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Matt
punkrockscience.bsky.social
Apparently this is a thing, and I am obscurely delighted that it is.
A screenshot of a zsh command line session on MacOS, where someone has used ßh instead of ssh and it worked
November 30, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Matt
catacalypto.bsky.social
A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”
November 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
If there were more ambassadors like this, the world would be a better place.
batevladi.bsky.social bate Vladi @batevladi.bsky.social · 2d
Taiwanese ambassador to Finland performs with his metal band at Taiwan-Finland cultural event! 🤘✊️
That's what I call great ambassador
November 28, 2025 at 11:50 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

Indri
Vicuna
Wobbegong
Common Loon
Brown Argonaut
napaaqtuk.bsky.social Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 2d
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
mostlymammoths.bsky.social Jeanne Timmons @mostlymammoths.bsky.social · 2d
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

Moose
Humpback whales
Giraffes
African Elephants
West African or Nile monitor lizard
November 28, 2025 at 11:05 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
This true, #MarineLife folks? :)
acabylonbee.bsky.social punished acabylon bee @acabylonbee.bsky.social · 2d
no shit evolutionary biologists have been perplexed by kissing for decades. if they were good at kissing they'd be marine biologists
washingtonpost.com The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 2d
Animals have been kissing for over 17 million years, a new study suggests.

Kissing has long perplexed evolutionary biologists, given it has no obvious benefit to reproducing or finding food, while carrying the risk of disease transmission.
November 28, 2025 at 10:57 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
Nudibutt!

#Nudivember #Invertebrates #MarineLife 🌿

Chromodoris sp., but I really don't know which species
A nudibranch crawling away from the camera over algae-covered rock. It is pale blue with a white marginal band, yellow rhinopores and gills, and irregular black stripes on the body #UnderwaterPhotography #Macro #Wildlife #Nature
November 28, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Matt
thomasbenner.bsky.social
When America Has Your Back
.
Cartoon by Kevin KAL Kallaugher
November 27, 2025 at 9:19 AM
xenomatt.bsky.social
Chamberlain's Nembrotha (Nembrotha chamberlaini) having a good look around... or at least, it would be, if it had eyes!

#MarineLife #Nudivember #Invertebrates 🌿
A white nudibranch with large brown patches on its back; there are smaller yellow and blue areas as well. It has reddish rhinopores. It is rearing up so only the rear part of it is on the rock. #UnderwaterPhotography #WildlifePhotography #Macro #Wildlife #Nature
November 27, 2025 at 12:46 AM
xenomatt.bsky.social
I don't think I'd ever seen the Christmas Island crab babies before. I had no idea how adorable they are!

🦀
c0nc0rdance.bsky.social c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 5d
There are so many that they form the base of a lot of food webs, including filter-feeding whale sharks who swallow them by the thousands.

Those that survive a few months will return to forage in the forests until they're about 3 yrs old & reach sexual maturity, ready to join Crab Spring Break.
November 26, 2025 at 2:40 AM
xenomatt.bsky.social
You will be visited by three spirits
Motorhead. This is a cropped version of the photo that was the cover of Ace of Spades
November 26, 2025 at 2:33 AM
xenomatt.bsky.social
I can't help but wonder if someone set out to leverage the Streisand Effect here. The BBC gets to avoid directly antagonizing the tangerine fuckmuppet, and the outrage ensures that the comment gets far more coverage than might otherwise be the case. Was that the plan when they cut it?
gregsargent.bsky.social Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rutgerbregman.com's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."

BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Trump’s Fury at BBC Gets Unnerving Results with Pro-MAGA Edit Stunner
First, British Broadcasting Corporation execs resigned after Trump complained about a segment. Now the BBC edited out a line from a historian that was critical of Trump. Where does this end?
newrepublic.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Reposted by Matt
jowolff.bsky.social
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
A couple of pics of a pair from a blackwater dive in Balayan Bay, Anilao. I think this is a phyllosoma (the larval stage of a lobster) riding a purple-striped jelly which is really too small for it... ID very tentative in both cases though!

#MarineLife #Invertebrates 🦀🌿
A translucent, ten-legged crustacean on top of a jellyfish. The crustacean has very few visible features. The jellyfish has a few short, pale brown tentacles, and some purple organs are visible inside the bell. The pair are seen from underneath which makes it obvious that the crustacean is larger than the jellyfish it has commandeered for a ride. #UnderwaterPhotography #Macro #WildlifePhotography #Wildlife #Nature #NaturePhotography A translucent, ten-legged crustacean on top of a jellyfish. The crustacean has small hairs/spines on its legs but very few other visible features. The jellyfish has a few short, pale brown tentacles, and some purple organs are visible inside the bell. The two are about the same size which gives a very top-heavy appearance to the picture. #UnderwaterPhotography #Macro #WildlifePhotography #Wildlife #Nature #NaturePhotography
November 23, 2025 at 4:41 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
Well, this is interesting....
noahwithfish.bsky.social Noah Bressman, PhD @noahwithfish.bsky.social · 8d
The Batman Effect, just published in NATURE:

When an experimenter dressed as Batman boarded a train, passengers were significantly more likely to offer their seats to another “pregnant” experimenter than if Batman wasn’t present (67.21% vs. 37.66%) #SciComm 1/2

www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect - npj Mental Health Research
npj Mental Health Research - Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect
www.nature.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Matt
molly.wiki
Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide quote: "Vogon poetry is of course the third worst in the Universe. The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their Poet Master Grunthos the Flatulent of his poem "Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning" four of his audience members died of internal haemorrhaging, and the President of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one of his own legs off. Grunthos is reported to have been "disappointed" by the poem's reception, and was about to embark on a reading of his twelve-book epic entitled My Favorite Bathtime Gurgles when his own major intestine, in a desperate attempt to save life and civilization, leapt straight up through his neck and throttled his brain. The very worst poetry of all perished along with its creator, Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge, Essex, England, in the destruction of the planet Earth." "Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings" has been superimposed with "Robert F Kennedy Jr"
November 22, 2025 at 2:15 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
One of the great things about being a nudibranch is that if you have no eyes, you can't see what's happening on Bluesky last night/this morning.

This is Caloria indica. Pic from Anilao.

#MarineLife 🌿 #Invertebrates
A relatively long, thin nudibranch. Its body is white with orange stripes. It has a white tail, white rhinopores with a blue/purple band at the base, and it is covered in cerata that have an orange base, a blue band at the midpoint, and a white tip. #UnderwaterPhotography #Macro #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Nature
November 22, 2025 at 4:13 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
Lovely day on the internet meme
November 22, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Matt
robdenbleyker.com
🤔
November 21, 2025 at 5:31 PM
xenomatt.bsky.social
This is a pinkeye goby (Bryaninops natans) from Anilao. Or maybe a purple-eye goby, depending on who you listen to. I think it's more pink :)

#MarineLife 🌿🐟
A small fish sheltering on the lobes of a finger coral. It has a large, bright pink eye and part of its head is also pink; the rest of the fish is largely transparent but the spine and some internal organs are visible #UnderwaterPhotography #Nature #Wildlife #Macro #WildlifePhotography
November 21, 2025 at 1:36 AM