Matt
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xenomatt.bsky.social
Matt
@xenomatt.bsky.social
Scuba, nerdery, science, and what makes people tick. Expat Brit in Canada.

Pics mine unless otherwise credited.
New law just dropped
As online journalistic gossip continues, the probability of a comparison to Nuzzi approaches 1.
December 1, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Reposted by Matt
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
Awesome show this afternoon! If you're in Ottawa and at a loose end this evening, I'd definitely recommend it!
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
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
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 🌿
November 30, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Matt
Apparently this is a thing, and I am obscurely delighted that it is.
November 30, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Matt
A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:
November 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
If there were more ambassadors like this, the world would be a better place.
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
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

Indri
Vicuna
Wobbegong
Common Loon
Brown Argonaut
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:

Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
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
This true, #MarineLife folks? :)
no shit evolutionary biologists have been perplexed by kissing for decades. if they were good at kissing they'd be marine biologists
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
Nudibutt!

#Nudivember #Invertebrates #MarineLife 🌿

Chromodoris sp., but I really don't know which species
November 28, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Matt
When America Has Your Back
.
Cartoon by Kevin KAL Kallaugher
November 27, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Chamberlain's Nembrotha (Nembrotha chamberlaini) having a good look around... or at least, it would be, if it had eyes!

#MarineLife #Nudivember #Invertebrates 🌿
November 27, 2025 at 12:46 AM
I don't think I'd ever seen the Christmas Island crab babies before. I had no idea how adorable they are!

🦀
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
You will be visited by three spirits
November 26, 2025 at 2:33 AM
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?
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
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
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 🦀🌿
November 23, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Well, this is interesting....
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
November 22, 2025 at 2:15 PM
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
November 22, 2025 at 4:13 PM
November 22, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Matt
🤔
November 21, 2025 at 5:31 PM
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 🌿🐟
November 21, 2025 at 1:36 AM