xiffy

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lagoon creek - in the shade - ♂ splendid fairy-wren

Fat Burns ☮ has added a photo to the pool:

lagoon creek - in the shade - ♂ splendid fairy-wren

Thank you very much for the visits, faves and comments. Cheers.

Splendid Fairy-wren
Scientific Name: Malurus splendens

Description: The breeding plumage of the male is predominantly blue, varying from cobalt-blue in the east of its range to violet-blue in the west.It has black bands at the base of the tail (absent in the violet-blue birds), across the breast and from the beak, through the eyes to join a band across the back of its neck. Its crown and cheek patches are paler blue. Wings and long tail are brown with a blue wash. His beak is black and his legs and feet are brown-grey. In non-breeding plumage, called eclipse, he is very similar to the female, being pale brown above and buff to white underneath although he retains the blue wash on wings and tail. The female does not have the blue wash on her wings, but does have a reddish-tan line from beak to eye that extends into a ring around her eye. Her beak is reddish-tan.
Similar species: The male in breeding plumage is quite distinct but in eclipse he is similar to the males of other fairy-wrens in eclipse. A faint wash of blue on male wings during eclipse distinguishes this species from others. The female is similar to females of other fairy-wren species, but has a bluer tail than most.
Distribution: These birds are widely distributed across Australia in two areas. One area is from about Shark Bay south through WA, through SA except the coast to about the Flinders Ranges and the southern and central parts of NT. The eastern area include SA from the Flinders Ranges, the far north-western tip of Vic, NSW east to about Moree and Balranald and south central Qld.
Habitat: These birds live in arid to semi-arid areas, in mostly dense shrublands or woodlands of acacia, and mallee eucalypt with dense shrubs.
Seasonal movements: These birds are mostly sedentary, defending a territory all year, but the younger females may disperse to another territory. In some areas they are semi-nomadic, depending on local conditions.
Feeding: Like most of the fairy-wrens, Splendid Fairy-wrens eat mostly insects and forage on both the ground and in shrubs. They live in groups which forage together.
Breeding: The Splendid Fairy-wren female builds an oval domed nest of dry grass, strips of bark and rootlets, with an entrance two thirds of the way up one side. The female is the only member of the group to incubate the eggs, but all members of the group feed the chicks.
Calls: A rapid series of slightly metallic, high-pitched pips that blend into an "undulating" call.
Minimum Size: 12cm
Maximum Size: 14cm
Average size: 13cm
Average weight: 9g
Breeding season: mostly September-December, but can extend from August to April
Clutch Size: 2 to 4, mostly 3
Incubation: 15 days
Nestling Period: 11 days
(Source: www.birdsinbackyards.net)

© Chris Burns 2025
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Slashdot

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Apple Now Lets You Move Purchases Between Your 25 Years of Accounts

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Last night, Apple posted a new support document about migrating purchases between accounts, something that Apple users with long online histories have been waiting on for years, if not decades. If you have movies, music, or apps orphaned on various iTools/.Mac/MobileMe/iTunes accounts that preceded what you're using now, you can start the fairly involved process of moving them over.

"You can choose to migrate apps, music, and other content you've purchased from Apple on a secondary Apple Account to a primary Apple Account," the document reads, suggesting that people might have older accounts tied primarily to just certain movies, music, or other purchases that they can now bring forward to their primary, device-linked account. The process takes place on an iPhone or iPad inside the Settings app, in the "Media & Purchases" section in your named account section.

There are a few hitches to note. You can't migrate purchases from or into a child's account that exists inside Family Sharing. You can only migrate purchases to an account once a year. There are some complications if you have music libraries on both accounts and also if you have never used the primary account for purchases or downloads. And migration is not available in the EU, UK, or India. The process is also one direction, so you have to give some real thought to which account is your "primary" account going forward. If you goof it up, you can undo the migration. "The list of things you need to do on both the primary and secondary accounts to enable this migration is almost comically long and detailed: two-factor authentication must be turned on, there can be no purchases or rentals in the last 15 days, payment methods must be updated, and so on," notes Ars' Kevin Purdy.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

OpenAI Cancels Its o3 AI Model In Favor of a 'Unified' Next-Gen Release

OpenAI has canceled the release of o3 in favor of a "simplified" product lineup. CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X that, in the coming months, OpenAI will release a model called GPT-5 that "integrates a lot of [OpenAI's] technology," including o3. TechCrunch reports: The company originally said in December that it planned to launch o3 sometime early this year. Just a few weeks ago, Kevin Weil, OpenAI's chief product officer, said in an interview that o3 was on track for a "February-March" launch. "We want to do a better job of sharing our intended roadmap, and a much better job simplifying our product offerings," Altman wrote in the post. "We want AI to 'just work' for you; we realize how complicated our model and product offerings have gotten. We hate the model picker [in ChatGPT] as much as you do and want to return to magic unified intelligence."

Altman also announced that OpenAI plans to offer unlimited chat access to GPT-5 at the "standard intelligence setting," subject to "abuse thresholds," once the model is generally available. (Altman declined to provide more detail on what this setting -- and these abuse thresholds -- entail.) Subscribers to ChatGPT Plus will be able to run GPT-5 at a "higher level of intelligence," Altman said, while ChatGPT Pro subscribers will be able to run GPT-5 at an "even higher level of intelligence."

"These models will incorporate voice, canvas, search, deep research, and more," Altman said, referring to a range of features OpenAI has launched in ChatGPT over the past few months. "[A] top goal for us is to unify [our] models by creating systems that can use all our tools, know when to think for a long time or not, and generally be useful for a very wide range of tasks." Before GPT-5 launches, OpenAI plans to release its GPT-4.5 model, code-named "Orion," in the next several weeks, according to Altman's post on X. Altman says this will be the company's last "non-chain-of-thought model." Unlike o3 and OpenAI's other so-called reasoning models, non-chain-of-thought models tend to be less reliable in domains like math and physics.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More obeying in advance

I have a friend working on a decades-long Big Science project. "Hey, has the Space Nazi killed you yet?"

"The part of the project run out of █████ went nuts with pre-compliance, "proactively" deleting all the online community LGBTQIA+ discussion groups, etc. Then they doubled down in some project town halls, clearly expressing zero tolerance for anything that pressures funding, and willingness to throw anybody under the bus when the purse strings are pulled, without pushing back, with absolutely no spine and free of ethical regret."

"Our project does appear to be, unbelievably, at real risk."

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

The Mouse obeys in advance

Disney Changes Content Warnings Amid DEI "Strategy Shift"

Disney changed the wording in October 2020 to the longer content warning: "This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together. Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe."

Now it has reverted the content warning back to a version of the one inserted in 2019: "This program is presented as originally created and may contain stereotypes or negative depictions."

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

thexiffy

Last.fm last recent tracks from thexiffy.

The Clash - White Riot

The Clash

UNKLE - The Knock

UNKLE

Radio 4 - New Disco

Radio 4

The Waterboys - Gala

The Waterboys

Afro Celt Sound System - Hypnotica

Afro Celt Sound System

The National - Squalor Victoria

The National

Queens of the Stone Age - Tension Head

Queens of the Stone Age

Kyoto b/w

ravalli1 has added a photo to the pool:

Kyoto b/w

Field of flowers and a single

Fairwx Fotos has added a photo to the pool:

Field of flowers and a single

This small field of wild flowers and the single flower on the tree caught my eye in Japan near Mount Fuji.

Field of flowers and a single

Fairwx Fotos has added a photo to the pool:

Field of flowers and a single

This small field of wild flowers and the single flower on the tree caught my eye in Japan near Mount Fuji.

this isn't happiness.

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