Over the weekend, I learned of the death of a fellow employee. The first response to the news- over Teams- was a list of university-owned devices that needed to be returned to IT. Work does not love you back. Act accordingly.

Public transportation is key to allowing elderly (and disabled folks) to live without a car. Which is why I will be moving post-retirement, even though I enjoy where I live now. Do we have public transportation? Technically. But it sucks.

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Not Right Now Lads.

Putting aside the question of AI personhood, a slur requires a history of dehumanization. In order to fuction, the slur has to call into being that history of dehumanization for its injurious force. There is no such history for LLMs, regardless of claims otherwise.

how about you care about actual fucking people on this planet before you start wondering if your toaster has a soul. Once everyone materially demonstrates they care for all people on this planet and we deal WITH ALL THAT and all the animals too then we can talk about your nonsense.

I do not suffer from #autism. I'm actually very good at it.

When I see people post that “this is not who we are,” I take a picture of the comment (and what they are referring to) and send it to the historian, along with a question mark, and usually the historian replies “No, it is,” though sometimes she adds “but it doesn’t have to be.”

This video makes this Great Lakes Gen Xer very happy! Thank you @neorsd.org

After this shocking discovery last night, I decided to see if other government websites had this propaganda. Not the state department. Not social security. Not BLM, which had this relatively normal notification. Only the USDA sites had the propaganda.

I was looking at the Forest Service website, trying to plan a trip next year... There have been many government shutdowns over the years. I've never seen *anything* like this before.

“We can’t leave people in abject poverty, so we need to raise the standard of living for 80% of the world’s people, while bringing it down considerably for the 20% who are destroying our natural resources.” Blessed be your memory and legacy, Jane Goodall. We will do our best to continue the work.

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

What I know from being Black my whole life, and poor for the majority of it, is that politely ignoring a root issue to attend to one closer to the surface is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s a band-aid on a gaping wound, and it will not hold your flesh together for long. The US needs stitches.

Congratz for the only second blue mineral to win #MinCup! This year was all on blue, with strong contenders like azurite and haüyne sadly being eliminated one by one. But Kyanite withstood and thrived under the pressure - as it's its nature.

I am super excited about this!!

This is the best result. Otherwise, 10 years from now you'd all look back and think "wait, Shakespeare in Love won best picture?"

In today's @latimes.com, @georgianndavis.bsky.social writes about teaching statistics as an intersex scholar, and having to choose between lying to her students about the biological realities of sex and gender or teaching what the administration insists is true. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Oh SHIT I was so busy getting all the printing etc. done today that I didn't get a chance to vote in the Mineral Cup finals!

My friends I have just submitted my application materials for promotion to associate professor. If I calculate correctly, it is 637 pages.

MW correctly reading the room

Oh my gosh. I have always wanted kyanite to win, but I live in Hematite-land...what to do? Reluctantly #TeamHematite.

This. If we as profs are supposed to be preparing our students for this uncertain world, then it is ever more our job to teach them our subjects and how to think, read, and write WITHOUT the planet guzzling thieving machines owned by some of the worst people on the planet. THAT is what students need

you'll notice two things. 1st, that lincoln made repeated concessions to the public's anti-black racism. and 2nd, that lincoln never budged on his view of the declaration ("all men *are* created equal") or compromised on his opposition to the extension of slavery

Gonna read this book as my reward for getting my portfolio done

As always, Nikita Gill's writing makes me happy

Imagine living in a country as diverse as this one and hating it. Weird stuff.

Your war correspondent on the ground in battle-ravaged inner northeast Portland

Team #Kyanite

Coming down the home stretch on my promotion portfolio: Collecting all the documentation into two PDFs; revising first draft of narrative. With any luck, the print copies (yes, we need to make two print copies of all this stuff) will be finished this weekend.

If you’ve been following the RFK Jr autism news, then you’ve probably heard that there’s a systematic review “proving” Tylenol causes autism. Here’s my review of that paper👇🏼 open.substack.com/pub/epiellie...

"Syllabus" refers to a single document that no one reads. "Syllabi" refers to multiple documents that no one reads.

In March of 1945, the US Army issued this "fact sheet" to guide conversations with soldiers on the topic of fascism, paying particular attention to the ongoing threat that domestic fascist movements posed to the US. Their analysis of what a homegrown US fascism would look like is interesting.

Disability accommodation represents a failure to plan and build accessible infrastructure —work structures, public spaces, events. We force people thru appts, paperwork, mtgs w their boss and HR…bc of structural failures. The work of being included too often falls to individual disabled people.

I guess my big question for white people who aren't bigots is, don't you on some level feel empowered to intervene? Guilt is meaningless, it does nothing, but privilege is power, and power can be used.

Yes, tugtupite is pretty pink and all, but is it as gorgeous as this little iridescent #perovskite dendritic crystal? Vote #perovskite! Vote here: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3... #MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

I'm rooting for the final to be two useful minerals...hematite vs. perovskite. So, just for today, I'm #TeamPerovskite. (I want hematite to win the finals.)

Wait, this is an option? Let me know where.

It looks like Dinosaur Field Station of NJ is closing and selling their Dino sculptures

I have four more things to grade but my brain wants to be done for the day. Not four stacks of things. Four things that each take something like 5-10 minutes. C'mon, brain.

IT'S HAPPENING: House Democrats are introducing articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr for slashing research funding and spreading medical misinformation.

"OMB said that Alderaan could be spared if Leia decided to share the location of the rebel base"

“I use it for brainstorming.” is quickly becoming my most hated pro-AI statement. YOU TOOK YOUR BRAIN OUT OF THE EQUATION. THAT IS NOT BRAINSTORMING.

I am probably autistic. Undiagnosed. But probably. I wrote This Wolf Was Different because I realized the first wolf to step toward domestication must have felt different from its peers, too. If you know someone who needs to know being different can lead to wonderful things, consider this book.

Speaking of voices under attack…can we be just as loud about Black journalists and comedians who are silenced, even by our so-called liberal outlets. • Joy Reid • Don Lemon • Melissa Harris-Perry • Tiffany Cross • Jemele Hill • Marc Lamont Hill • Karen Attiah • Amber Ruffin

Mom gets coins for the penny machine But first, you find the real treasure: A basin of stones, polished and perfect A simple, reliable pleasure Plunge your hands in the cold, hard pieces Then roll them around in your fingers One has a heft you don't want to let go The feeling of hematite lingers

🤎🪶 "I want there to be more of us, so we can show that women care deeply about what is happening to our territories, our rivers and our cochas [lagoons or flooded lowlands in the Amazon, formed by rivers]. The more women there are, the stronger we become.”

Really in-depth article that everyone should read.

There are many things in modern life that would be possible without hematite (or other iron ores). #TeamHematite