iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Carl Schmertmann

Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) @mpidr.bsky.social · 5h

🎂Happy Birthday to us!🍾 MPIDR is turning 30 on this very day. 🎉 Thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way, helps moving demography forward and, overall makes MPIDR such a fantastic place! www.demogr.mpg.de/go/30yMPIDR | English www.demogr.mpg.de/go/30jMPIDR | Deutsch

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Kris-Stella Trump @kstrump.bsky.social · 51m

It is the most perfect fall day here in Baltimore. What a great day to naturalize. And register to vote, finally.

OP standing in front of a court house on a sunny day holding an American flag, a copy of the constitution, and wearing an “I registered to vote” sticker.

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John Mullahy @johnmullahy.bsky.social · 46m

The Onion really needs to up its game if it's going to be competitive with whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2h

Man who could order a nuclear attack. From Eric Cortellessa TIME interview. time.com/article/2026... H/t @katzish.bsky.social

Do you trust Sam Altman?

I like him. Do I trust him? Who do I trust? I like Sam Altman. Smart. Dario's smart. They're all smart. We're dealing with a very high level of IQ. Very very high level. That's a good thing. I like that. I like it. Did you see the story about my uncle?

The one who taught at MIT?

I have the highest of IQs. I have the highest. I'm fine, and I understand that stuff. You know, my uncle was at MIT for 41 years, and you know, I'm a—I believe in genetics, frankly, and I understand. I understand it much more than I think any president would, because I do have an ability on this. I have an ability on those things that were the new frontiers.

What I've done is I've created, for instance, these massive plants have no—We have no electricity in our grid. These massive plants now are allowed to make their own electric—

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Jennifer Van Goethem @jennvg.bsky.social · 21h

He's trying to do George C. Scott from Patton but is mostly doing George C. Scott from Strangelove.

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Ángel Saavedra @polpsychangel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

To people on the academic job market right now: so much of this is luck. Don't forget that, and never stop doing what you think is best.

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Aaron Becker @aaronjbecker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The average colour of Europe, one day at a time for two years. Scandinavia and the Alps turn white every winter, the green rolls north through spring, and Spain, Italy and Greece bake gold all summer. Data: NASA MODIS, Eurostat GISCO #dataviz #maps #Europe

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Berkeley Population Sciences @berkeleypopcenter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Reminder: our tenure-track Assistant Professor search (open field) closes October 15, less than three weeks away. Please share!

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Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

John Oliver dedicates an episode to the Brazil elections. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIYC...

youtube.com

Brazil Elections 2026: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

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Alice Reid @amrcampop.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Interested in a PhD in historical demography/population studies at @camunicampop.bsky.social, @camunigeography.bsky.social, Cambridge University? We have 3 suggested topics (see thread): contact me to discuss, or to suggest your own idea. Apply by early December for funded places.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Economist and demographer Shelly Lundberg, a distinguished professor and Leonard Broom Professor of Demography at #UCSB, has won the 2026 Jacob Mincer Award by the Society of Labor Economists for her lifetime contributions to labor economics 🏆 Full story: ow.ly/nBns50ZRAyZ

ow.ly

Economist Shelly Lundberg wins prestigious Mincer Award, releases book on gender economics

Lundberg's Mincer Award for lifetime achievement in economics scholarship comes as her newest book, “How Economics Discovered Women” hits the shelves.

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Carl Schmertmann @cschmert.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

NYT estimates of (newly allowed) university payments to college football players. Tens of millions of dollars per year for many teams. American universities have better uses for these obscene piles of money.

Graphic showing levels of spending by major football schools -- ranging from over $50 million/year (Ohio State, Oregon, Texas) to ~$10 million /year (Boston College)

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Equal Justice Initiative @eji.org · 27/09/2026

On this day in 1958, after violent resistance to integrating Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, white residents voted to close local public schools rather than comply with federal desegregation orders.

calendar.eji.org

Sep. 27, 1958 | White Little Rock Voters Choose to Close Public Schools Rather Than Integrate

Learn more about our history of racial injustice

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M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

NO 👇 LIES DETECTED, BILL.......

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danitw000.bsky.social @danitw000.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Today the Trump admin are allowing representatives of a communist regime into the White House but not members of our supposed free press

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Jeffrey Vagle @jvagle.me · 23/09/2026

More accurately, OpenAI developers and management built an automated system with unfettered access, unmonitored agents, prompting an LLM with zero safeguards and trained to be persistent until it drops, suggesting an increasing number of crazy activities, and running it for days without monitoring.

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Katie Phang @katiephang.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Maybe Russia will pay for the G20 like it did for Don. Jr.'s wedding www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

politico.com

Trump invites Putin to G20 in Miami, Rubio says

The White House is hopeful it’s "an invitation he’ll accept."

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There is nothing like the cinematic experience of watching a college-age adult parallel park a new European compact suv during rush hour traffic in a college town. It has everything. Drama, comedy, satire, improv, ego, pathos.

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Equal Justice Initiative @eji.org · 23/09/2026

On this day in 1955, an all-white jury in Mississippi acquitted the two white men who murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till.

calendar.eji.org

Sep. 23, 1955 | All-White Jury Acquits White Men Who Murdered 14-Year-Old Emmett Till

Learn more about our history of racial injustice.

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 23/09/2026

This coin is illegal. The laws of our Congress specifically ban coinage depicting a living president (31 U.S. Code § 5112). What better metaphor could there be for the numb shattering of our constitutional order, than a $1 coin being sold to the American people for $10?

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James Goodwin @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

You're telling me the administration that doesn't understand how international trade works doesn't understand how the insurance industry works either?

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Rafael H. M. Pereira 🚡 Urban Demographics @urbandemog.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

📢 For those working with Brazilian Census data, some good news: the R package censobr has been updated. Version v1.0.0 is now available on CRAN. ipea.github.io/censobr/inde... This release includes:

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Reposted by Carl Schmertmann

Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"Gentlemen, our 29% approval rating is too high. Let's start take away people's health care."

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Jenn Dowd @drjenndowd.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

For decades, it's been a truism that younger generations are healthier & live longer (on average) than their parents' generation. Sadly, there are signs that our health may be "drifting" backward. Read more about "generational health drift": jenndowd.substack.com/p/is-50-the-... #demography

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

At her 22-week ultrasound, Amanda Jablonski learned their daughter had developed without a skull or a brain. There was no chance for survival, and every day Amanda stayed pregnant was a threat to her health and life. Under TN law, she was denied an abortion. www.wbir.com/article/news...

wbir.com

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

With the midterm elections shaping up to be a massive reckoning for the Republican Party, it's worth remembering that they had a fairly easy offramp from Trumpism in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th riot but they completely chickened out.

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/09/2026

Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign. The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers. Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵

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Corey Sparks @coreysparks1.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I’m recruiting a PhD student to come work with me at UT San Antonio. I have 3 years of support, so this would be good for someone with a masters degree. If you’re interested in working on Bayesian methods in demographic research, spatial analysis, and using AI tools for social science research

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It really is striking how many authoritarian states have ended up in this exact same place, where the leader seizes control of scientific inquiry. Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union, Aryan Physics in the Third Reich, Great Leap Forward (also related to Lysenko) in China.

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Aves do Brasil @avesbrasil.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

🇧🇷Ariramba-vermelha 🌎Galbalcyrhynchus leucotis Conservação: Pouco Preocupante A ariramba-vermelha é uma ave galbuliforme da família Galbulidae. 📷 Marco Cruz

Um pássaro de porte médio está empoleirado em um galho seco e coberto de musgo, posicionado diagonalmente no quadro. A ave possui uma plumagem predominantemente marrom-escura, com tons mais claros e avermelhados na região do peito e pescoço. Destaca-se uma mancha branca nítida ao redor dos olhos e na base do bico robusto, que é longo, reto e de uma coloração alaranjada clara. Sua cabeça apresenta um padrão de listras escuras no topo. O pássaro mantém uma postura ereta e vigilante, com o corpo voltado ligeiramente para a esquerda e a cabeça virada para a direita, observando o entorno. Suas patas são curtas e de tom alaranjado. O fundo é composto por um ambiente natural fora de foco, com manchas verdes e luz suave, sugerindo uma vegetação densa sob luz natural difusa.
Atenção: O alt da imagem foi gerado automaticamente.

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Carl Schmertmann @cschmert.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This may sound like beaucratic paper shuffling but it's actually a five-alarm fire. When allocating the nation's resources among competing research projects, replacing scientific experts with political apparatchiks is a recipe for waste, abuse, and slower progress. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/s...

nytimes.com

White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants (Gift Article)

Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.

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Carl Schmertmann @cschmert.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Truly scary. This president has lost touch with reality. 25th Amendment. Now.

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The plan requires all NIH awards to be directly approved by Vought. No NIH award could be made without his approval.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

In simpler terms, Trump and Vought are trying to abuse their office and undermine science in obvious ways that Congress does not want and no previous President attempted *because they think there is a good chance SCOTUS will help them.* donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-creep-...

donmoynihan.substack.com

The Creep of Politicization

A new assault on science highlights a broader pattern

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Mike Pusateri @mikepusateri.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Da Pope on a garbage truck is the most Chicago thing ever

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 19/09/2026

This miracle is the fruit of generations of enormous and bipartisan investments of public research support for our universities. Future versions of this miracle are what we are currently losing, due to the US Administration’s decision to shatter the public’s partnership with our universities.

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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 17/09/2026

We're gonna need a bigger sign

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 18/09/2026

This is illegal. The president is not the CEO of the country nor the owner of the White House, a great institution owned by the American public. Punishing media for dissent excretes on American values and our Constitution. It sullies all of us, every Conservative and every Liberal.

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Carl Schmertmann @cschmert.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

How did early crossword editors survive without rappers' names and texting abbreviations? 🤷‍♂️

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Allison Hantschel @allisonhantschel.com · 18/09/2026

Part of what Mamdani is doing is explaining to people how government works. We've had 50 years of the GOP making sure it doesn't do anything but hurt and troll, while they yell that it's useless. Mamdani is like "no, it's for fixing shit and making decisions" and

static.klipy.com

Surprised Pikachu Face - Mind Blown Meme

Alt: Surprised Pikachu Face - Mind Blown Meme

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A Jean Stevenson @amandajean.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

My 95 year old grandma cried when she heard people weren't vaccinating their kids against polio.

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Raphael Nishimura @rnishimura.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Quer entender melhor como funciona amostragem em estatística de uma forma visual e ilustrativa? Dê uma olhada nesse aplicação que eu criei (com ajuda do Claude): websites.umich.edu/~raphaeln/si... Todo feedback é bem-vindo!

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Karen Benjamin Guzzo @karenguzzo.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

@prbdata.bsky.social's 2026 World Population Data Sheet is here! It's interactive and lovely and full of all sorts of wonderful demographic data!

wpds.prb.org

World Population Data Explorer (2026 Data)

Explore population and health indicators for 200+ countries and territories.

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Equal Justice Initiative @eji.org · 15/09/2026

On this day in 1963, a white man detonated a bomb under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, with 400 congregants inside. Four Black children were killed in the blast.

calendar.eji.org

Sep. 15, 1963 | Four Black Girls Killed in Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama

Learn more about our history of racial injustice.

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