Françoise Bourdonnec

Years ago I went to a talk that summed up sleep in this way (with the caveat that I haven't kept up with sleep science in the intervening decade): all animals have to sleep, we don't know why, and what we do know is if you don't sleep you die.

how sad...hope they were able to salvage some part of it.

Environmental impact and net-zero pathways for sustainable artificial intelligence servers in the USA - Nature Sustainability The rapid expansion of AI server installations in the United States poses sustainability challenges in terms of water usage and carbon emissions. A study now quantifies these potential impacts and out...

A new state-by-state evaluation of the projected energy and water use of "AI" data centers in the US. Looks… real bad. Like, "undoing tech sector climate gains" bad.

Strongly recommends immediately ensuring any & all new "AI" data centers to run on existing & expanded renewables grids. Which… yeah.

Meet Yusuf of Istanbul: professional vibe setter, part-time window king, full-time legend.

#YusufTheCat #Caturday #catsofistanbul #Citystreets #RockstarCat #CoolCatEnergy #photography #Istanbul #Turkishdelight

😅 #Caturday #humor #caturdayeve #caturdayeveryday

Basic light pollution diagram showing four different streetlight set ups ranging from more light pollution on the left to less light pollution on the right. The most pollution option, labelled "very bad" is a street lamp with a round uncovered bulb on top, making a sphere of light in the air. The next option, labelled "bad" has a tiny cap on top, that limits the upward pollution a bit. The "better" option is mostly uncovered on top, limiting pollution above the streetlight. The final option, labelled "best" has a full shroud overtop, limiting the light to only below the streetlight, where it is needed for pedestrians and vehicles.

Lots of folks captioning aurora photos like "for a few minutes we didn't think about politics"

guess I'm built different, every time I'm out trying to see night sky stuff I frequently think about how much light pollution is entirely preventable with just a tiny bit of regulation

11 novembre 1918
Sur six hommes français de 20 à 40 ans en 1914, il n'en reste que deux indemnes à ce moment-là.
Un a été tué, un est mutilé à vie dans sa chair ou son âme, deux ont été blessés plus ou moins gravement.
L'espérance de vie masculine est passée de 48 à 38 ans en quatre ans.

Full-color image of the Cathedral of Barcelona, composed on a typewriter by Montserrat Alberich Escardívol. Image from WikiMedia.

Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.

Screenshot from twitter showing two small grey cats standing near an air vent.

Small but extremely qualified.

spoke with the executive director of my local food bank today and got this really incredible line: "if you donate 1 can of green beans, we can give away 1 can of green beans. but if you donate a dollar, we can give away 6 cans of green beans"

Proper Book Etiquette is constant acquisition so you can browse your hoard and read according to your whims from your own stash.

Old fishing nets from France become vital protection against Russian drones in Ukraine Fishers from the Brittany coast are sending horse-hair nets to catch weapons and shield civilians and soldiers

this is very cool - and who knew monkfish were that strong?
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Poster from 1936 says: Join the March to Old Age Security, with a long line of happy people

Poster with picture of old man holding pipe: More Security for the American Family (1939)

The Social Security Administration used to have an incredible communications arm, including even a film unit. This was crucial in helping people understand the program, and how it would work. From 1936, 1939.
www.ssa.gov/history/puba...

I was an FBI agent for 25 years. I never felt the horror of a fully wrapped Subway sandwich caroming off my tactical vest in the darkness of night on the mean city streets; the smell of cheap yellow mustard and raw onions lingering in my olfactory banks only to retraumatize at every family picnic.

❤️ COVID infection poses a higher heart risk in children than vaccination, according to the largest study of its kind involving 14 million kids in England. Read more - www.thelancet.com/jo...
#COVID19 #Vaccines #HeartHealth #ChildHealth #Research

Four kittens watching a movie on a laptop computer.

The interns are here.

📸 egg_family4

I snickered at “artisanal blocking” - lovely concept

Kittens! So cute. Do I want to take one home ? No!

Right? This is the job you put on your resume.

in the early 90s a friend of mine once had their kiddo excitedly come in and ask "did you know paul mccartney was in a group before wings"?
it made all of us feel very old.

From a European perspective, it’s the weirdest medieval thing to hear a modern nation using God and Christianity as justification for military strikes.

Oh bummer…

A spaceship landed in the park. A door dilated. A strange-looking alien with artificial antennae made from tin foil emerged.

"Greetings, Earthlings!! We come in..." It consulted a device. "In trick or treat?"

"In a world of pleasers, I choose to be the disruptor."

#Halloween2025
#Caturday #CatsOfBluesky

Picture of a venerable naval tortoise with a sign tied to her shell

The last survivor of the Crimean War died in 2004.

"Timothy" spent 40 years in the Navy. After retirement, having moved in with the Earl of Devon, she revealed she was a girl.

She would wander round his garden wearing a sign that said. "My name is Timothy. I am very old. Pease do not pick me up".

Depuis. Damn 2 language autocorrect

Et j’en rigole depots hier soir….

And he was 77!