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a lemmy observation:

I'm subscribed to [email protected]. I just opened lemmy and my front page was 90% threads about US politicians (all involving conservatives, I noticed). I'll probably need to leave it through the election, but I think we can all join together in a shared "here we fucking go" sentiment. US national elections are like the world's favorite reality show: There's no escaping it.

irl:

It finally got cold enough to freeze out the winter crops, although I think I see some new vegetation on a few already. The weather was "nice" so I pulled weeds the other day. I had let them get a little wild in order to condition the soil. I have a lot of things that need maintenance but I'm too overwhelmed and/or broke to deal with them. I had to chop up some limbs a few days back, though, and I will definitely be sharpening my axe before doing that again. I wonder how many amps the grinder pulls. I have chainsaws but I've used them enough to know that I don't like chainsaws.

I read a good paper recently discussing plant adaptations to extreme temperatures, hardening conditions, etc. My, uh, "applied science" has been less than ideal. I lost quite a few plants in my hardening station - I think some could have better handled the cold, except that it came as a wild swing from warm temperatures with a serious delta between the two. (I sometimes tear up about all the good soldiers I've lost, no joke lol.) Those kinds of deltas are going to be a serious challenge to plants' rapid adaptation responses, and if they can't handle that then they will not survive to harden.

I have an awesome young olive tree that made it through, and a few exotics. I expect they experienced some hardening as a result. It's gruesome progress but it's in the right direction for local landraces. I also had tomatoes in there, and they had lasted so long that I was actually hoping to get a harvest out of them by that point. But completely unsurprisingly, the fruit were cut short in a proper freeze.

I also read a nice paper on optimal conditions for C3 and C4 plants, demonstrating that temperature, atmospheric partial pressures, and other factors are at play. In general, though, further warming is bad for productivity of both. Which I've read before, but due to not having anyone to discuss these things with, it's nice to read it again.