Tobias Wilson-Bates

Circe Invidiosa (1892)

John William Waterhouse (English, 1849 - 1917)

#art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

i’ve said this before, but when i’m writing and it really starts to flow, it feels like i’m playing piano. human writers don’t simply put words together—we allow intellect and inspiration to collide. a machine will never be inspired.

What

Insane considering that trees have as much biomass below ground as above it when you look at a Goliath like this one 😯😯😯

Mulberry trees are basically invulnerable. I used to work on a farm where they tried to clear a grove and they grew back with a vengeance.

Big thick old tree doing tree things

Here’s a 400 year old sugar maple. This bad boy predates steam power, longitudinal navigation, and the English Civil War

Funky old twisted tree

When things feel like they’re falling apart, find a very old tree to look at. Here’s a picture of a bristlecone pine, a tree that can live for 5,000 years.

It’s a bit tiresome, but I think a good general practice when you feel your own institutional/professional life eroding under the forces of late capital is to focus on mentally connecting that feeling of struggle to the many others experiencing versions of the same.

You finally made it, Matt

Anyway, this is the climate crisis.

The numbers are staggering:

Rent is now unaffordable for a record *half* of U.S. renters.

Some 30 million jobs pay less than $15 an hour. The average wage needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment has climbed to $28.17 — nearly four times the federal minimum wage, which hasn't gone up in 16 years.

🗣🗣 listen to me talk about college

In the past I’ve been pretty skeptical of gas price consumer panics, but I think the market is in its bag on this one.

Woah! Just stopped for gas, and honestly impressed by just how efficiently this price communicates the state of global politics.

I feel like claiming LLM use could "close the achievement gap" is a form of lacking object permanence. Like, do you understand there are people hiding behind the hands of the metrics you collect?

✊✊✊

And the monuments of past struggles and victories are all around us. It’s why we have limited working hours, weekends, and regulations concerning safety and child labor.

I think imagining that your own specific corner of culture is dying a slow death is overwhelming, but imagining that you are in solidarity with so many others can give those hard experiences meaning.

It’s a bit tiresome, but I think a good general practice when you feel your own institutional/professional life eroding under the forces of late capital is to focus on mentally connecting that feeling of struggle to the many others experiencing versions of the same.

Hello, book people! I am the book content editor for Reactor Mag and I'm looking for 2026 sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romantasy, and speculative books coming out in the second half of the year! If you have an adult or YA SFF/H book out July-Dec (or publicist), share the link/info here!

Will Smith Miami

Will Smith now the ancient Mariner

30 years of decline

A deeply underreported story. I know so many people struggling to pay their electric bills

Incredible Roman real estate opportunities on Pompeii with stunning views of Vesuvius

The New Miami Gold Rush

incredible that this article, which describes billionaire hedge fund managers & tech magnates all fighting each other to buy $50 million compounds inches above a rapidly rising ocean, doesn't mention climate change or the coming reinsurance crisis but i guess what is journalism

“Most infamous” that should say 😅

Christmas Carol, the most financier in literature

So good

Looking to organize a panel on #WilliamBlake at #MLA2027. Any Blake scholars interested in a "Blake at 200" to mark the bicentennial of Blake's death send me a note!

The thing I really don't get about academics using LLMs to generate ideas/write papers is: that's the part of my work I 💯 love: creative challenging & fulfilling. I pay the piper by sitting in committees, doing loads of paperwork & abiding by lots of procedures. Why give up the best part of the job?

The world we deserve