Really fun and interesting chat with @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social about teaching religion in a university setting.

Japan has: < economic inequality > education system > walkable cities > public transportation < guns & gun violence < obesity > healthcare And, yes, many of its own probs... 👇 MAHA as sophisticted as a grade school science project. via @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social

In A Christmas Carol, Dickens describes Marley's face having a dismal light "like a bad lobster in a dark cellar." Huh? He was likely referring to the glow of bioluminescent bacteria that can grow in/on crustaceans, presumably a more common observation at the time. 📷 tinyurl.com/6cj6knjw

Feeling despair? So did this guy in 1875, who couldn't believe there were STILL anti-vaxxers: "One might suppose that the popular prejudice against vaccination had died out by this time, considering that it has been practiced for nearly a century"

The preprint also also mentions by favourite spoof paper: "What's the Deal with Birds" by @evornithology.bsky.social. The abstract is fantastic ....

Can we not fucking rationalize/equivocate about murder? Is it too fucking much to ask for a space where, when someone is murdered, it isn’t seen as an opportunity to score political points? Bluesky, paragon of civilized discourse. My God it’s all broken.

FBI Director nominee. Sigh. HT @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social

“For every Galileo there are 1000 idiots.” The recent Fifth Column podcast with @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social was an invigorating listen. Reclaiming and reframing science via honest, practical no bullshit discussions like this are vital. Thanks Alan.

I don’t normally cross post, but this thread from @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social is so insightful and novel (as in I haven’t heard a lot of these ideas articulated so clearly before) that I can’t help myself. x.com/AlanLevinovi...

Especially this part, for me.

Wondering why I'm skeptical of health influencers who "know the secret THEY are keeping from YOU"? Okay, buckle up, and let me tell you about someone you've never heard of...one of the biggest health influencers of the 20th century. Horace Fletcher, aka "The Great Masticator."

There's been a LOT about why RFK Jr is a terrible pick, but I want to focus on something that is very concerning to me, but no one seems to be mentioning. He appeals to a widespread, common-sense idea that the problem with our food is that it has "lots of artificial ingredients".

@meredithhartwriter.bsky.social Hi Meredith!

🚨🚨🚨 MY SUBSTACK FOR BOOK LOVERS🚨🚨🚨 My new Substack is Book Glory, all about fascinating books, the stories behind them, and how to collect them. Here's a taste. We'll start with a mystery. Can you guess the author of this book?

@matthewbroome.bsky.social @nicolecrust.bsky.social @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social @dranniehickox.bsky.social @meganranney.bsky.social

*taps mic* Would really appreciate if folks from my X community who have found me here (a) let me know, and (b) share my Bluesky handle with others. To make this transition I need a community here!

Polar bears have taken over an ancient abandoned village in eastern Russia. Incredible photographs by Dmitry Kokh who won the Urban Wildlife category award in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

I feel like the academic community doesn't talk enough about the tradition of fighting a snake during your thesis defense. Given its importance, we should spend more time on it in grad school. For example: Tactical Snake Fighting 101 should be taught in year 1 of PhD programs. Anyone agree?

Amazing farmer’s market buy, I never want to store garlic any other way. Beautiful, functional, and lasts three months.

Incredible passage in the book I’m reading. I’ve redacted it. Without looking anything up, who do you think is being described?

I've been working on a book that's (in part) about jesters, and this is the exact opposite of a jester. Jesters don't enable tyrants—they are the transgressive presence that prevents leaders from becoming tyrants. Jesters are precisely what Trump needs and can't tolerate.

"To the mouse & any smaller animal gravity presents practically no dangers. You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft & on arriving at the bottom it gets a slight shock & walks away. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes." - JBS Haldane.

My copy of Orwell's Burmese Days finally arrived, and the description on the back is...really something! I include the cover in the next photo so you know it is for real.

Well THAT was a successful visit to the liquor store. Grown-ass men crying behind me because they got there too late and the last bottle had sold. 😁

In 1993, twelve year old me wrote to Michael Crichton asking him how to become a writer. And he wrote back! “I have no real advice to give in such an individual undertaking other than to start doing it.”

Okay, time to start seriously investing in my community and presence on here. I really hope I can recreate my Twitter experience as it once was. Really appreciate those of you who have come over here and followed me.

Tardigrade eggs! 🧪 Some bizarre surfaces on these things. I'm trying (and failing) to imagine the cellular processes that give rise to the branched surface structures. Any ideas? Let me know. From Vecchi et al 2021: https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/75978

As long as there are legal restrictions on scientific research, as long as research subjects have rights, and as long as research must be funded, science remains inherently political and moral. There is no “apolitical” or “amoral” science.

discouraged by Twitter getting worse, then better, then worse again, and paralyzed by the choice between different social media apps and finding that it's pushing me towards in-person friendships and communities, which could be a hilarious consequence of all this!