alexwild

alexwild, 2 days ago to random

A plains bee assassin (Apiomerus spissipes) waits for a tasty bee treat to arrive at its sunflower. Dripping Springs, Texas.

#Insects #Reduviidae

alexwild, 3 days ago to random

Just look at this odd little fly. Nemotelus kansensis (Stratiomyidae), photographed yesterday in Texas hill country.

#Insects #Stratiomyidae #Diptera

alexwild, 4 days ago to climate

Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, is facing a tough few weeks in the aftermath of an unexpectedly strong storm system.

#climate #houston #texas

https://apnews.com/article/houston-texas-severe-weather-storms-d14447267de0a8900e1475a8ad7ed8ba

alexwild, 6 days ago to random

The state of Texas basically giving vigilantes a green light to murder its perceived foes is a sign things will be going downhill fast here.

alexwild, 7 days ago to Texas

While the Texas GOP’s ongoing destruction of public education may seem ideological, it’s worth looking past the culture war smokescreen. It’s simpler than that. The people doing it are pouring state money into their own pockets.

It’s just crime.

#Texas #HISD #MikeMiles

https://www.fox26houston.com/news/report-texas-tax-dollars-diverted-out-of-state-to-charter-schools-founded-by-mike-miles

alexwild, 7 days ago to Texas

One thing I love about Austin Public Library is that they run an open seed-sharing service:

#Texas #Austin #Gardening

https://library.austintexas.libguides.com/seedsandsustainability

alexwild, 9 days ago to random

The police state advances in North Carolina, as a white supremacist UNC board transfers millions of DEI funds to policing.

#Fascism

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article288473709.html

alexwild, 12 days ago to Texas

Austin is paying up to $3000 in rebates to homeowners who replace grass lawn with low-water alternatives.

#Texas #Water

https://www.austintexas.gov/news/austin-waters-waterwise-landscape-rebate-program-helps-residents-save-money-and-conserve-water

alexwild, 12 days ago to random

UT Austin has unjustly fired a professor at the Pro-palestinian protests.

Jay Hartzell is a toxic racist whose tenure at UT has brought violence, mistrust, and mass violations of constitutional rights. He cannot lead this university and must resign.

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/crime/2024/05/10/professor-richard-heyman-ut-austin-pro-palestine-protest-arrested-fired-interfering-police/73639778007/

alexwild, 15 days ago to random

Every now and again I put a few photos into the public domain.

Here's a gallery:

https://www.alexanderwild.com/Professional/Public-Domain

alexwild, 16 days ago to random

Rare photo of developing larvae inside a nest of Mexican honey wasps, Brachygastra mellifica.

#Insects #Vespidae #Wasps

alexwild, 16 days ago to random

Portrait of a blow fly, Lucilia cuprina.

#Calliphoridae #Diptera #Lucilia #Insects

alexwild, 16 days ago to random

Bloomscrolling.

alexwild, 19 days ago to Texas

UT Austin, my employer, beats and jails students engaged in peaceful protest, then manufactures propaganda that deeply misrepresents what the students were doing and had planned to do.

How am I supposed to work at an institution willing to hurt any students I recruit to come here? This is untenable.

#UTAustin #Texas

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2024-05-03/uts-war-on-students/

alexwild, 19 days ago to Texas

Texas Republicans are poised to gut higher ed in Texas, purging faculty for their political views and replacing independent academic inquiry with ruling party propaganda.

#Texas #Fascism

https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2024/05/01/university-texas-pro-palestinian-protests-ut

alexwild, 20 days ago to Texas

For all the hand-wringing over “illegals” breaking the law, this story of an illegal dam that messed with the water supply of millions of people downstream, built on the private ranch of one of the border wall contractors, is something.

#Texas #Water

https://www.kxan.com/texas-water/illegal-dam-on-james-river-torn-down-while-another-dam-pops-up-in-mason-county/

alexwild, 20 days ago to random

One of my favorite local insects is the Mexican honey wasp Brachygastra mellifica, a relative of hornets that makes and stores honey.

Earlier this week I took a new photo of a live nest, in cutaway, thanks to Jo-anne Holley's research lab here at UT.

#Brachygastra #Wasps #Insects #Entomology #Vespidae

alexwild, 21 days ago to random

Biology faculty at UT are meeting today to talk about a hiring plan. I really don't envy their job of trying to make a department located in Texas attractive.

We're in the middle of an ongoing purge of black staff, the adminstration just called in the state police to beat and jail students, and no one in their right mind would want to risk pregnancy to have a family here. It's bleak.

alexwild, 24 days ago to random

Gotta say, Jill Stein showing up to a protest is a big red flag of political ratfuckery. I hope WashU student protesters can figure out how to keep these outside manipulations and grifters at arms’ length.

https://www.studlife.com/news/2024/04/27/protestors-hold-pro-palestine-march-through-campus-start-encampment

alexwild, 25 days ago to random

The UT Austin Reddit has a large collection of student perspectives on the protests and administrative response. And it does not look good for the administration.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UTAustin/

alexwild, 26 days ago to random

Campuses aren't being rocked by protests.

They're being rocked by politicized administrators ordering students beaten and jailed to satisfy the political elite.

Let's be clear who is causing the violence.