today's bat

There's this misconception that if a species has traits that evolved earlier in the history of life on Earth, that it must be "primitive", a "living fossil". This hinges on the idea that newer adaptations must be more advanced than older ones, and newer species more highly evolved than their predecessors.

The problem with that is that life and evolution are not strictly linear; nature is much more cyclical. Think about all the various geological forces that have been at play since before life even appeared. Tectonic plates have formed, broken apart, subducted under other plates and been melted back into the mantle. Mountains rise, then erode away, all the while having massive effects on the land around them. Rivers cut courses again, and again, and again, meandering across the landscape for many miles. The climate has warmed and cooled and warmed again (though not normally to the extreme amount we're seeing today.)

All of these conditions and more have required life to adapt, sometimes in a relatively short period of time. And so we've seen species come and go; at times, entire genera, families, orders, even classes disappear into extinction. But every living being is the same distance from the first spark of life over three billion years ago, and every lineage alive today has survived changing conditions to be here now.

The arrogance of humanity, of course, is the belief that we are somehow more special than every other species. We tell ourselves stories in which we are the pinnacle of life, and every other being must bow down before us because obviously they are only there for us to use as we see fit. Even in evolutionary terms we are newcomers; the archaic Homo sapiens appeared a mere 300,000 years ago. Doesn't that mean we are the shining end result of all that evolution?

Not really. Species come and go, and even as clever as we are, eventually we will likely cease to be, whether we evolve into other species in the future, or simply reach the dead end of total extinction. Sure, we have some pretty neat adaptations we've carried along from various primate ancestors--upright walking, an efficient cooling system, opposable thumbs, and a great big brain that allows us to tell those stories of how superior we supposedly are.

But life will continue, as will evolution. Mountains and tectonic plates and rivers will rise and fall, and the conditions of the planet will continue to change--and life with it. Even if we only have another billion years or so of life-supporting conditions on Earth ahead of us, that's still plenty of time for things to happen. A large mammal species like humans might average a few million years on Earth before being supplanted or changing into something different; we haven't even made it through our first half million yet.

Some might find that sad, to think of a world without us. I find it comforting, though, to know that we're part of this incredible parade of a diversity of life that has continued to shift and change and adapt over billions of years, and which will continue in this incredible dance long after we're gone. We burn brightly while we're here--perhaps a little too brightly right now--and it's debatable how positive our mark on this world is turning out to be.

But no one will be able to erase the fact that we were here, with our stories and songs, our communities and our inventions, and so, so much love and joy and connection. Even if our sort of self-awareness eventually dies out, it doesn't make the present moment any less precious. If anything, it makes it moreso, because we know our time here is limited. So how shall we each spend our few decades here, as part of the handful of millennia that our species may enjoy?

I'm currently reading Dan Flores' excellent book, Coyote America. The first chapter spends a great deal of time on indigenous American Coyote stories and what they say about both the land and the people here. This article reminds me of a poignant observation:

So it was Coyote who "made it law" (the Yanas said) that humans would have to die to create space for the generations down through time. When the first humans heard this, however, they resented it deeply. According to the Yanas, Coyote then came up with a second rationale for death, this time as the ultimate reason for appreciating being alive: "Well, you know, if you die, then you really have to take life seriously, you have to think about things more." (Flores, p. 45)

Largest species in the British Isles: Noctule Bat (Nyctalus noctula) with a wingspan of 32-40cm (12.6 to 15.7 inches) Another large bat species: Serotine Bat (Eptesicus serotinus) with a wingspan of 32-38cm (12.6 to 15.0 inches), less common species found in southern England and Wales Most common: Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) with a wingspan of 19-23cm (7.5 to 9.1 inches) Second Most common: the visually nearly identical (though slightly bigger) Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) with a wingspan up to 20cm (7.9 inches)

source for above: woodland trust

Now those would be the bats that Mina considers normal sized. Now bats certainly range much larger, such as the golden crowned flying fox with a wingspan of five feet. But I don't think we need to look so far from England for a bat that Dracula might turn into that Mina perhaps would view as "giant"

the largest species in mainland Europe is the greater noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus), with a wingspan up to 46cm (18 in). The greater noctule bat is also one of the few bats known to eat passerine birds*, and the only species that hunts them on the wing (in flight) versus while roosting*.

It's rare in Romania, but it's there. And it looks incredibly adorable

image description: a chocolate brown bat with a silver band on one wing upside down on what appears to be either rock or wood, it is hard to tell for sure. The bat has its mouth open, displaying its teeth, including its pointy fangs. image source: wikipedia

However, I do think this case is great example of what happens when smart people decide they can use these systems “responsibly.”

Let’s put aside the plagiarism and the energy use for a second (not that these don’t matter, but they’re not relevant to my point at the moment) and pretend these systems were made with entirely properly obtained info and ran on only solar, but otherwise were entirely the same. If you’re a person, you might think “okay, I’m going to only use this to come up with ideas for my next paper: I’m going to do all the research myself and the writing, I’m just gonna brainstorm topics.”

The thing is, even if you’re trying to limit use to just “brainstorming” the chatbot isn’t going to limit itself to just brainstorming. You might ask it “what should I write about involving Greek history” and it may suggest “the plague of Athens” but it’s also going to suggest some “basic info” on the plague of Athens that you might end up picking up and deciding your topic is. It’s going to provide you with “research.” And even if you decide to check that research yourself, that’s still setting you down a specific path you might not have picked organically.

And speaking of double checking its “research”, fact checking is a time heavy process. Not only now do you have to read the original text the bot provided, but you also have to compare it line by line with the summary the bot provided. That’s more time than it would have taken to just read the article by itself. And with any time heavy task, people are going to get lazy. And in original research being lazy might mean skimming a paper or an abstract, chatbots allow you to be lazy without looking at the article at all.

And soon enough, despite telling yourself you were only going to use it for brainstorming, you have offloaded topic generation, research and eventually even drafting because that’s what these bots are intended to do. They are not meant to serve as research tools or help brainstorm or serve as a bouncing off board: they are built to encourage maximum engagement. And that means if you go at them with the best of ethical intentions, they are built to tempt you to use them as much as possible, regardless of whatever line you drew in the sand for yourself.

Common Vampire Bat -- at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, North Carolina.

Image description: a series of photos of brown-grey bats on similarly colored stone. Pictures are dimly lit, like they were taken in a dark room (which they were). In the third picture is a dish of a red liquid, which is blood (probably pig's blood, very easy to get in North Carolina).

Like worstie, I can barely promote my own published book without wanting to curl up and die.

They’re just not disclosing it as ads, which they are supposed to do, and instead it's marketed in a very Tumblr-esque way which can be summed up as “omg guys look how CUTE this is” followed by a different account underneath going “omg found it!!” and it links to a drop ship site with the item(s).

And the link usually has an affiliate tracker in it, which you may or may not be able to spot unless you’re familiar with them, which is also something you are legally supposed to disclose.

I used to get a lot of offers from around 2016-2020 to sell “moon lamps” on here, y’know those orb lights that look like a moon? Yeah. I was offered a higher kickback to make it look like I wasnt posting an add because these sellers know Tumblrites don’t like ads.

They wanted it to look as organic and hyped up as possible and then I’d just so happen to be like “omg you guys it's on sale” and post a link. Which is skeevy as shit and also illegal af in the US.

It’s like the insta/tiktok girlies saying “link in bio” to get around saying “here’s a product I make money on if you buy it” because they want to sound like your friend because people are more likely to impulse buy stuff if a “friend” is recommending something.

They’re also trusting that everyone knows “link in bio” means “affiliate link” which is technically not enough of a disclosure but whatever.

This is why I tag all my own book promos with “affiliate links” because depending on which storefront you buy Hunger Pangs from, I may get a kickback from the vender which I do to help mediate the fees I lose from distribution. It’s not much—literal pennies in some cases—but I’m still legally required to state it.

It’s also why when I do post products I use or like, I make a point of letting people know I’m not an affiliate and not sponsored because despite the legal ramifications these people are flirting with by not disclosing their affiliate status, I want to be fully transparent with my followers when it comes to me trying to sell them things.

Y’all keep my lights on by reading my work and through my ko-fi and patreon. I am not about to risk that trust for the sake of some shitty vibrator sales from a sketch-ass drop shipper who wants me to pretend I’m not selling you things.

So, yeah. People do successfully sell stuff on here. A lot of us small indie creators sell our own work all the time.

Yes, because the Washington state government activated like a sleeper-cell and ruthlessly, systematically hunted them down and annihilated them.

“Y2K came to nothing amirite?”

Yes because an army of software engineers working around the clock, losing sleep, and busting ass till the last minute prevented it from happening.

“Remember the hole in the ozone layer?”

You mean the one that was fixed through rigorous world wide government action?

One of the root problems of our society is a refusal or inability by media to articulate that all those “it’s gonna be an apocalypse” disasters were not disasters because we collectively did something about them.

The good news is this is actually quite correctable. I maintain my firm belief that we as humans are capable of solving almost all of our problems, when we decide to do so.

And I still think that’s going to happen. I don’t know when or how, but I do know that abandoning hope won’t help bring it about.

Posted may 15, 2026

Important quote from article:

But not all faulty information online is being spread in bad faith. Though public health officials have said the hantavirus outbreak poses a low risk to the public, fear is its own kind of contagion. “We’re still recovering from the collective trauma of going through COVID-19. People are still carrying that residual fear, exhaustion and distrust,” says Monica Wang, a public health researcher at Boston University, who specializes in health misinformation.

Posted: may 6, 2023

I went to a talk about pollinators over the weekend and the presenter mentioned Xenohyla truncata, a frog species I had never heard of before.

In north Alabama, if it matters, so I’m mostly worried about the fire ants.

I generally ignore ants outside in the garden. However, I don't have to deal with fire ants.

So, me and bugs? I am extremely careful of basically all life as much as I can be, I don't even do Pest Control on my property indoors or out besides oils in the eaves and attic to discourage rodents and termites from wanting to go in there. I am friends with all the spiders, I allow wasps to nest, I feed bees, I rescue silly stinkbugs from my windowsills, I put most moths outside- I squish Clothes moths quickly and with an apology, though mostly the spiders get them. There's many perks to befriending predatory bugs. I don't have ants in this house because my darling tippy-toed Yellow Sac Spiders get them. (love those guys)

I say all this because I want Systlin and You Readers All to know who I am when I say

molten aluminum, lead free pewter, or other VERY VERY hot substances poured into the nest directly is the best way i know of to deal with invasive Fire Ants. It kills pretty instantly, and afterward you can dig up some neat art. But Fire Ants are super invasive to North America and the best thing to do is eradicate them as thoroughly as you can. Lead Free Pewter melts at a pretty low temperature, so do your due diligence on safely melting and handling it, then get busy.