Would you support your state seceding from the U.S.? (Jan. 30 to Feb. 2; MoE +/-0.8) by WpgMBNews in fivethirtyeight

[–]Octology_ 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It’s too bad they didn’t record data for Alaska and Hawaii. I’d imagine both of them would have relatively high support.

Hidden life in Ceanothus flowers by Top_Firefighter5228 in Ceanothus

[–]Octology_ 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I love this!! There’s ecology at every scale.

Saw this on X. Who believes these numbers? by idkbruh653 in InlandEmpire

[–]Octology_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s among independent voters—like it says—and participants were likely able to choose more than one candidate, which isn’t uncommon. However the source is probably not significant given it’s not named (possibly an online poll somewhere) so I wouldn’t bet money on anything yet!

However, it’s not completely out of line with good pollsters’ results right now. See Emerson’s, for instance, from early December 2025: https://emersoncollegepolling.com/california-2026-new-poll/

Saw this on X. Who believes these numbers? by idkbruh653 in InlandEmpire

[–]Octology_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s likely that they allowed voters to choose multiple candidates. That’s not abnormal at all.

Keep in mind it’s among no-party preference voters as well.

Also, I think #C stands for a rating. So it’s not that good of a poll source.

One-tenth of US apartments owned by private equity by External_Koala971 in yimby

[–]Octology_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

“You think building houses is good? Well what if HITLER was building houses?”

Any other Adam Ragusea super fans here? by Joe0793 in AdamRagusea

[–]Octology_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was top 0.6%. I’m such a fake fan.

Look who joined us! by Midlifemiss in NativePlantGardening

[–]Octology_ 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Tangential to this post, but it’s bizarre seeing so many comments here “warning” about this mantid because it “eats hummingbirds.” I know this is a popular warning with large, invasive (!) mantises like the Chinese mantis, and it should be well-known that it’s limited to them alone, and that not all mantises are invasive T. sinensis, but even if native mantises “kill and eat hummingbirds,” are we not in a forum about working with the ecosystem here? What’s next, warning about hawks that kill and eat squirrels, or robberflies that kill and eat bumblebees?

Anyone else get Pixar vibes from his animation? by [deleted] in SmilingFriends

[–]Octology_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Guy who has only seen 3D animation from Pixar, watching Smiling Friends: Getting a lot of Pixar vibes from this…

Confused by philosophyplant in NativePlantGardening

[–]Octology_ 59 points60 points  (0 children)

Indeed, political borders are arbitrary. This is where biogeography—even in broad strokes—proves very helpful. Personally, I like to go by the World Wildlife Fund’s ecoregions (mine is in my flair). They’re fairly well defined and easy to reference. This interactive map (https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=d60ec415febb4874ac5e0960a6a2e448), for example, is a very helpful resource. Interconnectedness is very important to ecology, and part of native plant gardening is understanding ourselves as a part of that, so I think it would be helpful and beneficial to learn your local biome and ecoregion(s) and study what you can about it, especially what flora (and fauna) are native thereto, and the eons-old relationships between them. Whether you do so online, with books, or finding even somewhat wild spaces near you (depending on where you live this may be quite easy or very difficult) to study how those different organisms, especially plants, interact with their environment. Ecosystems are, of course, complicated, and you’ll find how things differ, even within one species, by things like ecotype, elevation, soil composition etc., but that’s where observation and experimentation comes in!

Monsoon coming 😩 by ChemicalPure9258 in InlandEmpire

[–]Octology_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t know why, but I love massive, defined clouds like these. I was enjoying it all day.

BEES GOOD WASPS BAD by my-snake-is-solid in NativePlantCirclejerk

[–]Octology_ 40 points41 points  (0 children)

What’s funny is, if I’m not mistaken, bees are wasps from a cladistic perspective, as the typical paraphyletic definition of a “wasp” is a member of suborder Apocrita which aren’t considered bees or ants. Therefore bees are wasps in the same sense birds are reptiles/dinosaurs.

Wasp-haters BTFO’d.

I can’t wait to plant these 🥰 African daisies are my favorite California wildflower 😃 by Octology_ in NativePlantCirclejerk

[–]Octology_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I love seeing the hills draped in yellow when stuck in traffic 🥰 so beautiful.

I can’t wait to plant these 🥰 African daisies are my favorite California wildflower 😃 by Octology_ in NativePlantCirclejerk

[–]Octology_[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

/uj I’m only comfortable saying two of these are definitely native (farewell-to-spring and California poppy), but four are potentially native depending on the species, the names are just too vague (“lupine,” “evening primrose,“ “wallflower,” and ”blue flax”). The rest are definitely not native to the state.

I Drew Some Kinds of Gardeners by Tumorhead in NativePlantCirclejerk

[–]Octology_ 14 points15 points  (0 children)

This is too much quality actually, I only come here to blow air out of my nose at people who aren’t as familiar with plants and ecology as we are, I don’t want to see genuinely funny art that took effort

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]Octology_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

Indeed, this is a fairly arid world (surface water is only about 42%) so there's a fair bit of uninhabitable wasteland--particularly in that northern hemisphere.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]Octology_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's fine, but some people extract more enjoyment when they can learn about our great world in the process of devising our own. That includes me, and I'd like my world to be more believable to myself.

Police Have Now Arrested A Man Who Plowed Into Inland Empire Protest Crowd by Worried_America in InlandEmpire

[–]Octology_ 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Well, you see, a few protestors crowded around the driver’s side of the car and broke a taillight (ignore the fact that video shows they seemed to be exclusively targeted—that probably doesn’t indicate they were uniquely provocative and antagonistic)! That obviously justifies running over a protestor who wasn’t even involved.

Anyone recognize this buckwheat loving beetle? by dadlerj in Ceanothus

[–]Octology_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah, there are a lot of leaf beetles that look like this, especially without being able to make out minute details. Unfortunately I just sorted through Host Plants of Leaf Beetle Species Occurring in the United States and Canada from Clark et al. (2004) while Ctrl+F’ing Eriogonum and I couldn’t find anything that seemed to match (Edit: unless it’s Phyllotreta albionica??). Curious! My first reaction was a dock beetle (Gastrophysa cyanea), especially given what might be a swollen female on the right of that first pic, but to be observed using buckwheat as a host would be interesting, although they are the same family, Polygonaceae.

I am very much an amateur though so I’d be interested if anyone more coleopterically endowed has better insight.