Chuck Olsen

So many socials, so little time 😃

When the Icebergs Came to Town A few weeks ago, a pair of icebergs drifted close to Innaarsuit, Greenland. Photographer Dennis Lehtonen captured the visit — you can see the photos on Instagram or in the Arctic gallery on his website. From Colossal

When the Icebergs Came to Town. A pair of icebergs drifted close to a town in Greenland, “dwarfing the fishing village’s modest wooden houses”. [kottke.org]

Lake Superior is my favorite ocean 🌊

Sunset in Superior National Forest

Switzerland's Open-Source LLM Sets New Standard Developed entirely on public infrastructure, Switzerland's open-source LLM is set for release in late summer 2025, and aims to redefine open-source AI.

“Switzerland announced a fully open‑source large language model, trained on its carbon‑neutral Alps supercomputer…Supporting over 1,000 languages, with transparent training data and code…setting a new international benchmark for sovereign, ethical AI.”

www.winssolutions.org/switzerland-...

Temperance River carves a steep canyon o’er hidden (and not-so-hidden) falls, to her chilly Lake Superior destiny.

Please enjoy this Baltimore Oriole eating oranges to-day

Frosty moose breakfast in Superior National Forest

My first 🫎 sightings this year! A lovely pair having breakfast on a frosty 23° morning in Superior National Forest. Let’s protect this precious watershed and habitat.

Exclusive: Most Americans now see Trump as "a dangerous dictator," poll says It's the latest sign of the president losing support for his immigration and economic policies — issues that largely fueled his election.

People are waking up, hopefully in time?

www.axios.com/2025/04/29/p...

They played The Whole in the basement of Coffman Union around then too. My friend went and was very excited to tell me about this new thing called “moshing”!

Happy International Dark Sky Week. Here’s an excerpt from my WTIP interview with night sky photographer and Grand Portage tribal member Travis Novitsky, paired with my night sky photos. The full interview: wtip.org/grand-portag...

Yep! It’s called Hollow Rock, found at Hollow Rock resort in Grand Portage.

Happy #EarthDay to my fellow humans, and to the trees, rocks, air, water and wildlife we are privileged to protect.

This reckless administration is trying to roll back 150 years of environmental protections and plunder our public lands for profit. Let’s fight to protect our world!

YouTube video by The Current First Avenue Prince Memorial – April 21, 2016 (360/VR)

Remembering Prince, gone from this world 9 years ago. I (badly) captured 360° video of the spontaneous memorial outside First Avenue that day for MPR: youtu.be/FHlZ_MD5VWU?...

High Falls on a cloudy spring day 💦 Pigeon River, between Grand Portage and Canada (our two nations to the north)

this is just a horrible, pathological liar. we know that. but they know they've lost the public on this one. the escalation is the giveaway

Spotted the first Northern Flicker woodpecker in our yard today - it was hunting for bugs in the ground while light snow was falling. (This photo from April ‘24)

In early spring, the male Pileated Woodpecker excavates a large nest hole in a dead tree. I was very happy to run across this walking in Tofte today! I only had my iPhone so the quality isn’t great. If he attracts a female, the two of them will finish excavating the nest cavity.

The Rise of End Times Fascism. “This is a belief system that is genocidal at its core and treasonous to the wonder and beauty of this world.” [kottke.org]

I would not have predicted that large universities would show more courage than either Big Law or corporate media. Good for them.

This is devastating to rural community radio. My station is the only broadcast news source in a region with a huge number of wilderness tourists that rely on our services and signal - not to mention locals. Please call your Senators & protest this clawing back of funds already allocated by Congress!

It’s currently snowing in Tofte ❄️ also—

Bukele’s Offense Against the American People Here’s how I look at today’s White House spectacle. I don’t really...

Any Democratic politician who doesn't understand Nayib Bukele's grave offense against the sovereignty of the American people and constitutional order and say as much publicly should have no future in elected office. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/bukel...

Iskigamizige-giizis (Boiling Sap Moon)

Mirrorworld

👌👨🏻‍🍳

Temperance River is so lovely in the springtime

Hang in there folks! (Bumble bee on St. John’s Wort from the archives)

Oberg Mountain sunset