Today is #HAMradio #FieldDay

https://www.arrl.org/field-day

If you are interested in HAM Radio. Or would like to partidicapte. Find your local Field Day event here.

https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

Have an oustanding day.

73 from KM7GHS

🚨 It is time to check in to the #FediFridayWinlinkNet!

Send your #Winlink message between 0000-2359 UTC Friday June 26.

Try to use a different band or mode to check in each week.

To: FFWN
Subject: check-in

Message body line1: [callsign], [firstname], [city], [state/province/locale], [country], [mastodon username], [VHF/HF/APRS/Telnet, etc]

Message body line2: Will you be on the air for field day this weekend? [Y/N]

Message body line3: Do you agree to have your callsign shared in the check-in list? [Y or N/opt-out]

Follow #FFWN for details and conversation, and be sure to check the net webpage at https://w0rmt.net/ffwn/ for a list of weekly check-ins and responses to the question of the week.

Please boost and share with your #hamradio friends!

#amateurradio

"Following the fatal earthquake in Venezuela on Wednesday at 5:04 PM local time (10:04 PM UTC), local radio amateurs have asked that that all amateur radio colleagues in the Americas and the rest of the world protect the following frequency used by Venezuelan amateur radio operators:

40 m: 7135 kHz."

https://www.iaru-r1.org/2026/venezuela-earthquake-25th-june-2026-frequency-clearance-requested/

#amateurradio

Carl Sagan’s classic essay, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection, is 30 years old—and fresh as ever.

This is both testimony to its insightfulness at the time, and to the little progress we’ve made. There are few boxes we can tick…:

https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/06/the-fine-art-of-baloney-detection-sagans-essay-three-decades-later/

Matter support in Home Assistant just got faster, more stable, and more capable than ever. 🎉

See what’s changed and why it’s a big deal for your smart home.👇

#HomeAssistant #SmartHome #HomeAutomation
https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/06/23/the-matter-upgrade-youve-been-waiting-for/

🐝 Honeybees once gummed up an entire genus of orchids and it took a century to figure out why

In the rainforests of Central and South America, a group of orchids called Coryanthes have evolved one of the most elaborate insect-trapping reproductive systems in the plant kingdom. The flower produces a bucket-shaped structure that it continuously fills with fluid from two glands. Male orchid bees are lured in by a special fragrance the flower secretes which they collect to attract females. A bee often loses its footing on the slick, waxy interior and tumbles into the liquid bath.

The only escape is a narrow spout-like tunnel at the front. As the soaked bee squeezes through, the orchid clamps down for a few minutes, gluing two pollen sacs to its back before releasing it. When that bee later falls into a different bucket orchid of the same species and crawls out the same way, the flower removes the pollen, completing pollination. It's a precisely engineered detour that forces the insect through a specific path at a specific moment.

What makes this scientifically remarkable is that it's coevolution so tight the two organisms can't easily live without each other. The orchid is literally exploiting the bees' courtship rituals to reproduce. Darwin studied these orchids in detail in 1862 and considered them some of his most persuasive evidence for natural selection; such baroque, interlocking adaptations are nearly impossible to explain without it.

The deeper twist, uncovered later, is that these chemical lures are species-specific: each orchid produces a distinct fragrance "recipe" that attracts only its matching bee species. This chemical specificity acts as a reproductive isolation mechanism, helping explain why orchids are among the most diverse plant families on Earth, with over 25,000 species. A subtle shift in a flower's scent can attract a new pollinator and effectively launch a new species, evolution happening through the language of smell.

A major new version of Mastodon's server software (v4.6.0) has just been released 🥳 You can find out more at:

➡️ https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/06/mastodon-4.6

Some highlights:

- Collections (starter packs)
- Newsletters (following by email)
- Export/import of filters
- Longer account display names
- Alt text on profile pictures & headers
- Simplified profile editing on web interface

...and lots more. Techy people might want to check out the full changelog at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.6.0

#FediTips #Mastodon