New paper! How weird could Permian animals get? Turns out, pretty weird. Meet the stem tetrapod Tanyka amnicola from the Pedra de Fogo Formation of northeast Brazil
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
Given the ages of those holidays, I’d say the opposite is more likely 😂
This reminds me of when I was a PhD candidate during comps (prelims). I was surprised that *I* had to put together all 3 of my reading lists instead of my committee. But then I realized that the act of compiling was an important learning experience.
Crested Caracara looks down into her nest
I’m still processing images from Sunday morning… look at the size of this giant Saguaro, and nest! 🪶 🌵
JUST IN: Democrat Alex Holladay has flipped a GOP-held seat in *Arkansas*.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried hard to delay this race and wanted the seat to stay vacant for 8+ months, but the courts told her to hold it today. If she was worried, she was right to be.
Our full recap:
If you ever want to read a paper for free and can't find it otherwise, email the lead author and politely ask for a copy. You will not be bothering the person. You will in fact make their whole entire day. I have had scientists get so excited I asked they sent me everything they ever published.
Reminder that text extruders never have intent. Each model can emit positive or negative responses based on linguistic perturbation of the prompt. Models can have stronger biases than others, but even that is not an ideology. The epistemic nihilism is inherent to all such models.
If it’s so important for DHS to be funded while we fight foreign wars, then maybe our President should have worked with Congress to ensure DHS was funded before bombing another country.
Anyone know where we put the checks and balances?
“Do we even have these in the US?”
Yes, USian here with zaatar, sumac, and harissa in my spice cabinet. (Gotta say, I’m not sure what French style curry powder is, but I would just buy it and give it a try.)
I would like congress to bring at least half the urgency to this that I bring when the registrar makes mistakes in the schedule of classes
If it’s not too much trouble
Literally the only statement from an elected official I’ve read this morning worth our time. @schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @sanders.senate.gov take note!!
Thank you @mayor.nyc.gov @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
CC: @hebagowayed.bsky.social
I know this feels pointless but everyone has to call their congressional reps and say they oppose war with Iran and they oppose Trump illegally starting one without congressional approval — both
5 Calls can help you make the call:
5calls.org/issue/iran-i...
I keep thinking of Stanislav Petrov. If that malfunctioning Soviet early warning system had been one of these AIs, the world would be a smoking ruin right now.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisl...
Timeline cleanse:
Oh, to be an owl
Peacefully sleeping on an
Antique shop shelf. Shhhhhh.
Last week, amidst the hoopla over a new Speen, @fishfetisher.bsky.social suggested a review of naming papers in fancy journals in response to a post by @daveyfwright.bsky.social - I got bored after work and now I have (some) data!
🧵👇
#FossilFriday
#CharismaticTaxaAreOverrated
I’m guessing in this case “politics” simply means the professor who taught the course he TAed for didn’t take any of his suggestions.
This week's cover @thelancet.com
3 days notice from when this letter is dated (not when it was received) to get a new driver‘s license.
The cruelty is the point.
Publicly supporting women is nice, but what really matters is what men do behind closed doors. What matters is how they hold each other accountable.
The men’s hockey team shouldn’t get a pass because they were in the locker room—that’s where women need their support the most.
The principles of Nationalism are international in two ways. Firstly, in the sense that Nation-building has been one of our oldest misadventures. The desperate need to know who is one of ours and who will have your back, morphing into the violent tribalism that continues to haunt our species to this day. Secondly, in the sense that reactionaries, as Nationalist as they may be, favor the flow of their ideology across borders, tariff-free. Hindutva fascists are in conversation with white supremacists who are in conversation with Israeli settlers and Russian ethnonationalists and religious fundamentalists, and so on and on and on. The global resurgence of fascism is deeply rooted in the politics of male grievance. The libidinal masculinism of Silicon Valley nouveau riche clowns meeting the traditional fetishism of the zealous preacher and even the gendered anxieties of the young 20-something who desperately wants to get laid and mourns a world where he’d be guaranteed a wife and a family without putting any effort in. It is a response to the idea that women and queer people have a right to exist as equal to men, to be recognised as fully human instead of mere fodder for men’s sexual appetites. We need to recognise it as such.
I wrote about "Nationalism without borders": the way patriarchal conservatism is an ideological project whose adherents are in conversation worldwide. The politics of male grievance have become an animating force globally, an international brotherhood retrenching control of "their" property.
what even is the fucking point
I’m so sad to hear that Hans Sues has passed away. He was always kind, encouraging, and jolly—with an infectious laugh. He also coined some great dinosaur names (even if they’re not all valid).
He’ll be missed 💔
Posted a long-winded bit about @hanssues.bsky.social on FB. Summary here- I'm sad he's gone, glad I got to know him a little, appreciate all of his many kindnesses & encouragement, loved his humor and laugh. Just thankful for him. Will absolutely miss seeing him at SVP and in general. Few pics too
The FCC just opened public comments on SpaceX's plan to launch a million satellites to do AI compute in space. Under the current proposal, an environmental review won't be required. Please consider submitting a public comment to oppose this damaging plan.
darksky.org/news/two-sat...
If you are serious about "never again" then remember: it's not about standing up to a line of tanks when the camps are already running. It's about standing up to social & professional pressure when the whole thing is just getting started, when it's not yet cool to do so. That's bravery that matters.
Rather than telling ourselves that we have to “catch up” to some imagined goal of normalized AI use in higher education, Columbia should take advantage of its prominence as a university to propose something better, like classrooms free of screens, oral examinations, and an end to slippery, relativistic standards on AI use from university administrators. Our response to AI is an opportunity to distinguish Columbia as a reservation where minds are developed without the crutch of a chatbot. As incoming University President Mnookin begins to navigate Columbia’s many financial and political threats, she should reassert the true value of a liberal arts education: learning for learning’s sake
The administrators might have been conned by the AI hucksters, but the students, my friends, are all right.
(The author is a history and economics major, I'll note.)
www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2026...
Occasionally reminded that Georgia added a “post tenure review” process bc they were so certain that professors became deadweight once they had job security, and all the outcomes have proven JUST THE OPPOSITE! People work harder and in more complex ways when they feel secure in their employment.
I have my intro biostatistics students a challenge: create the ugliest graph you can given the data and your current skill set. Here are the top contenders. Warning: they are ugly. #rstats
