Newly published whale taxonomy paper

Democratic candidates who won't support trans people do not deserve support.

Good photosynthesis thread

From Stephan Zweig's The World of Yesterday.

Perhaps overshadowed today by the tragic news about Sam Neill, but we also lost another great actor today: Wai Ching Ho. A well-kent face most widely known for playing as Matriarch crime boss Madame Gao in the Marvel Defenders shows, and the voice of Grandma in Turning Red.

I don't have a lot of nice things to say because Lindsey backtracked on almost any good political position he had. He was in favor of bipartisan climate change legislation in October of 2009, until he decided that his constituents no longer cared, so he stopped caring. Terrible political figure.

I'll try to find the time to read this but I'm seeing some interesting comments here on Bluesky

"stay in character" implies that somehow there is something inauthentic about Count Binface?!?! He's obviously a nobleman of House Binface.

Alright Maine here's your reminder of who to run for US Senate.

A good thread

Max Planck is back

The worst thing about the gift of prophecy is that no one listens to the prophecy at the time.

I'm not a Maine voter, I don't know if I know anyone who donated money to Graham, but if I do know anybody here's a reminder that you can (potentially) get your money back

I generally agree with a lot of Mallory's political takes, but during her campaign for US Senate she was visibly demonstrating her limitations as a left of center candidate. It's better for Michigan Democrats that she suspends her campaign.

I often wonder how much The History Channel and other, similar, media sources deciding to promote pseudoscientific nonsense is part of the reason why we're stuck with this bad reality we're stuck in.

Complete and utter trans liberation. Now. If not now, tomorrow. If not tomorrow, why not.

Sharing without comment because I don't have any new negative things to say about Colossal. I've already said negative things about them.

US Supreme Court decisions are temporary roadblocks to equal rights for all Americans. The nonsense one today will be eventually overturned, but in the meantime some states should simply ignore it. Current SCOTUS isn't even legitimate; who cares what "I like beer" has to say about anything.

"Bill Maher tells JD Vance he could vote Republican in 2028" Oh no they found a fork. They found a fork in the kitchen. However did a fork (in this case, an increasingly out of touch white man) get found in the kitchen (in this case, thinking of voting for Republicans)

Truly bonkers story of how the digital copies of two papers authored by Max Planck have become inaccessible thanks to (it is assumed) the actions of a mindless algorithm.

Items restricted at the Great American State Fair include "Raspberry-Pi Enagbled Devices" Do NOT bring any Enagbled devices. That's wrong ❌ But maybe you can bring Enabled devices? Rules As Written suggest it's fine.

I don't want to give up on the country I was fortunate enough to be born in but SCOTUS decisions like this are incredible rollbacks of US federal law back into 18th and 19th century white supremacy. Immigration is the only reason our country exists, this decision is anti-American, how dare they.

🤣

This is how I found out Craig Venter died. He walked so that Colossal Biosciences could run.

Ten years ago, as a consequence of the UK government weirdly deciding to put international coordination to the vote, the UK population extra weirdly decided to vote against international coordination. Terrible decision caused, in part, by lying liars who ::checks notes:: are still lying.

Alan Greenspan was an architect of the (ongoing) collapse of the United States of America. He lived for long enough to see the country he worked hard to destroy make some really bad choices but he left this mortal coil early enough to really truly feel the repercussions of his actions.

Saw a post this morning about the National Fossil Act and finding a paucity of posting about it. Here's a press release about it debbiedingell.house.gov/news/documen...

“Most of these policies are based on the assumption that transgender women retain inherent physical advantages and would therefore dominate women’s competitions. The data does not support this idea.” Alright good I look forward to sports organizations making better decisions about trans inclusion.

DinoCon continues to showcase what good and respectful scientific/science-adjacent conferences are supposed to look like. Good on them having a strong stance on generative algorithms.

So. Part of realizing how white privilege works is in realizing that non-white people, in a white supremacist society, are viewed by (far too many members of) law enforcement as always "committing a crime". Eg "driving while black/brown". Non-white Americans are always at a higher threat of death

www.foliosociety.com/uk/a-game-of... This is a really fancy copy of a book as a signed limited edition. I'm sure there's people (collectors?) who will pay that price but my goodness.

Really enjoying Vince Staples's new album _Cry Baby_. Glad that my friends who know music more than I do introduced me to his work.

On Friday I took my *luckiest* and *most disgusting* wildlife shot so far: a California sea lion (Z. californianus) puking up a bunch of rocks! 🤮🪨 That's right - many pinnipeds use gastroliths. The gastroliths are in mid-air! 🦖🐬🦑 #nature #photography #sealion

Ríhanna doesn't have an official legal defense fund because multiple crowdfunding websites have shut down her campaigns. please donate to her directly and send her well-wishes on Facebook. Venmo: venmo.com/u/Rihanna_Ke... www.facebook.com/share/p/18uT...

It is primary election day in California so all of us who voted get to find out if the governor's race in November will make the voters decide between two Democrats, or a Democrat and a Republican, or, if somehow millions of ballots were eaten by Chad, Chad and someone else.

A program like this could happen in the United States of America if our country was better (less racist, less misogynistic). Unfortunately, by a thin minority, voting Americans do not want our country to be better. So my unhoused neighbors in California will suffer needless suffering.

Watching the California gubernatorial election has been weird because the best candidate is the one with the most money. Wish that wasn't true but here we are. Steyer says the most humane things. I'll vote Steyer.

We all can be an Absolute Unit (of scale) if we try hard enough

This is what it looks like when science journalists actually bother to fact check the claims of a company that is grifting. Great explainer of the real world challenges facing Colossal's claims in re: moa

Genuinely one of the nicest people I met in paleontology. Grateful to have met him and interacted with him, even if just a little, and sending thoughts to his loved ones.

Worst thing about this post is that everyone in academia is aware of at least one case in the past and one case in the present. The systemic nature of the offensive activity is truly sinister.

"please clap"

Jeffrey Kluger at Time Magazine is carrying water for Colossal Biosciences and he keeps writing these uncritical articles about the company.

There's a lot of reasons to be critical of generative algorithms but the fact that Richard Dawkins wants to extend consciousness to them isn't one of those reasons. I'm okay with him acting the fool, it's definitely his niche.

Honestly I'd say the fact that there were only four posts yesterday about this incredible new fossil whale is a representation of how pop sci paleontology is still working on growing up beyond being Dinosaur Science Outreach

I have changed my taxonomic opinions with new evidence plenty of times but Whippomorpha is one of the best clade names of all time. Of all time.

I'm not a Maine voter and I only indirectly know people in Maine but I think this is the best idea for Maine voters.

Sharing in case any of my followers can financially help a family dealing with ICE nonsense

This also works with oreodonts. Sure they were really abundant in the Eocene but where are they now? Skeletons, that's all they left.