Paul Nance

Paul Nance

@paulnance.bsky.social

Student of the flora of Albany's Pine Bush and of the tallgrass prairie, photography, language, music, the Horn and the history of "this Antient and respectable City of Albany."

373 followers978 following70 posts

Paul Nance reposted

Sarah E. Bond
@sarahebond.bsky.social

lol. RAGBRAI has over 20,000 bike riders peddling 400 miles every year—and it is one of the biggest events in the entire state bringing in millions in tourism and economic stimulus to small towns. Also, we have 11 bikes. 🚲 We ride bikes in Iowa, sir.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Joe Mitchell: "Thank God you're building the ballroom. Thank God you're getting rid of those awful bike lanes. We don't ride bicycles in Iowa."

Paul Nance reposted

Nina Willburger
@drnwillburger.bsky.social

Fascinating world of ancient #glass: a stunning Egyptian glass vessel in the shape of a #fish, it was probably used to hold ointments. Found in El-Amarna, #Egypt, 14th century BC. 📷 British Museum

Paul Nance reposted

Dr Danny Bate
@dannybate.com

Greetings from the path from Prague to Stará Boleslav, where Czechs (and at least one Englishman) are gathering in honour of that "good king" from the carol. For the day that's in it, here's a new piece about why his name in English has an N, but not so in Czech. dannybate.com/2026/09/28/g...

dannybate.comGood King VáclavEvery September 28th, thanks to a brutal fratricide over a thousand years ago, the Czech Republic gives itself a day off. The victim of that crime was Wenceslaus, ruler of Bohemia from 921 to maybe…

Paul Nance reposted

Garrett M. Graff
@vermontgmg.bsky.social

There have to be so many prosecutions. This all can’t just be forgotten or papered over.

Kyle Cheney@kyledcheney.bsky.social

JUST IN: A federal judge concludes that DHS leaders arbitrarily decided to cut FEMA staff by 50% even though it damaged the agency's ability to fulfill its mission — and leaders hid their comms about it on auto-delete Signal chains. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Paul Nance reposted

Peter Sokolowski
@petersokolowski.bsky.social

"a public strumpet" was Samuel Johnson's definition about 25% of Webster's big 1828 dictionary was from Johnson, but "a public strumpet, a mere hireling" is word-for-word from Entick's 1791 dictionary, primary source for Webster Entick was looking at Johnson's 'Dictionary'

Noah Webster's Dictionary Online - 1806, 1828@nwdictionary.bsky.social

Prostitute, n. a public strumpet, a mere hireling webstersdictionaryonline.com/1806/az/00269

Paul Nance reposted

Philolithia@bsky.social
@philolithia.bsky.social

The 3m tall standing stone at Maes Coch in the hills above Dolgellau for #StandingStoneSunday. Too big for a medieval stone, but in a strange position on the hillside for a prehistoric one (acc to online records) - so a mystery!

Paul Nance reposted

Cindy Crosby
@phrelanzer.bsky.social

#18 in our “26 in 2026” hikes: Shepard Prairie at Knox College’s Green Oaks Research area (Victoria, IL -Knox County). Second oldest institutionally planted prairie in the world (1950s). Beautiful! #prairie #hiking #nature #illinois #midwest

Paul Nance reposted

Cindy Crosby
@phrelanzer.bsky.social

#19 in our “26 in 2026” hikes: Brownlee Cemetery Prairie (Alexis, IL, Mercer County). Beautiful remnant tallgrass; poignant to think our last vestiges of original prairie are in these out-of-the-way rural places. Thanks to everyone who cares for them!#nativeplants #prairie #conservation #nature

Paul Nance reposted

jessamyn
@librarian.bsky.social

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

Paul Nance reposted

Gray
@grays.art

Happy #FlyDay. We made it! Bristle fly nectaring (Peleteria iavana) on Shrubby False Buttonweed (Spermacoce verticillata) CREW flint pen strand trails & lakes Bonita Springs, #Florida 7-6-26 #bugsky #eck #flies #diptera #macro #photography #macroPhotography #nature #art #threewordgenre #insects

Paul Nance reposted

FrontRangeWildflowers
@frwildflowers.bsky.social

Four years ago today 🌿 Aquilegia saximontana, our endemic Rocky Mountain Blue Columbine, blooming on a moraine slope above the Grays and Torreys Trailhead, ~11,650’. So small these are compared to thumb! This species & its North American cousins diverged about 2.29 Mya per Hodges. #nativeplants

Paul Nance reposted

Casey Seiler
@caseyseiler.bsky.social

Central Warehouse would like to remind tourists that whatever might befall them inside its crumbling walls, they will almost certainly not be attacked by a beaver.

Paul Nance reposted

Dr Danny Bate
@dannybate.com

The word 'wilderness' visibly comprises the elements 'wild' and '-ness', but where does its middle ER come from? A third ingredient has gone into the word, namely Old English dēor 'animal' (the source of today's narrower term 'deer'), making 'wilderness' literally 'wild-animal-ness'.

Paul Nance reposted

Malcolm Stoneman
@malcolmstoneman.bsky.social

Quillebeuf-sur-Seine, France 1894 memorial window to the River Seine pilots. 50+ died in ship wrecks while navigating on the river. Hazards to contend with were violent currents & whirlpools, the treacherous river bottom due to the perpetual shifting of the banks, fog & ice. #StainedGlassSunday

Paul Nance reposted

KetAnthropic JoshAI
@ketanjoshi.co

Just announced: OpenAI plans to lease a 9.2 gigawatt 100% fossil-fuelled data centre on Ohio. Its emissions will be between 20 - 37 MTCO2-e - somewhere between the total grid emissions of France -> Netherlands As much GHGs as 9.5 average coal plants. Will raise US total emissions by 0.5%

Paul Nance reposted

Peter Tarras
@petertarras.bsky.social

Last week, I gave a guest lecture on Jewish-Arabic Bible translations. I began with a series of examples of their physical form to illustrate the diversity of the Arabic Bible. I’m sharing the images here for your viewing pleasure in this thread, along with a few notes. 1/n

Paul Nance reposted

Jeremy Butterfield
@jeremybutterfield.bsky.social

Exploring the lexical delights of words with the -arian suffix The author explores the suffix "-arian" in words, using the Oxford English Dictionary as a rich resource. Notable terms include "flexitarian," "Trustafarian," and "antidisestablishmentarian," highlighting their meanings and historical…

jeremybutterfield.comExploring the lexical delights of words with the -arian suffixThe author explores the suffix "-arian" in words, using the Oxford English Dictionary as a rich resource. Notable terms include "flexitarian," "Trustafarian," and "antidisestablishmentarian," highlighting their meanings and historical contexts. The discussion reflects on language evolution, the charm of neologisms, and the cultural implications of these terms.