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halfagainasmuch.bsky.social

@halfagainasmuch.bsky.social
848 followers 5.1K following 27 posts

Working hard to be better than yesterday. Parent, partner, scientist (PhD), and aspiring gardener.

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Reposted by @halfagainasmuch.bsky.social
The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 21h
Sometimes my wife and I like to send each other text messages as though they’re democratic fundraising messages, and I believe she has produced the jewel of the form.
, it's
and I
have some personal news to share with you.
Being a mom is one of the greatest joys of my life, and I feel deeply that we should have salad tonight
This year has been challenging in many ways, and I have immense gratitude for the kindness and support of family, community, and people like you who have continued to stand by me through everything. It means the world, and I wanted you to be among the first to know that squash is in the oven and kale is in the fridge.As many of you are aware, ve been navigating one of the most challenging periods of my day while waiting for dinner.
Facing baseless federal hunger brought on by not eating since lunch, fighting for the working kids of this country, and now caring for a mean toddler and helping him grow up in a world that isn't always easy. But it has also reminded me exactly why I do this work and who I do it for.
I will never stop working to eat dinner. I will never stop fighting for what is right, even when there is also some feta in the fridge. And I will never stop being so very thankful that you are by my side in this important work and that there is tahini in the pantry for dressing
With love and gratitude,
stop to end
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 10h
I fear that any midterm “mandate” angry voters give them will be squandered on dinner party invites instead of building the accountability regime people are desperate for and are putting their bodies and lives on the line to get.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 9h
Study: Shock gloves traumatized Army volunteers
motherjones.com
Study: Shock gloves traumatized Army volunteers
After tests, military personnel said "just seeing the glove" that ICE plans to adopt scared them into obedience.
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 9h
This article (and Slade's book) are fan fiction. Trumpism isn't a break from Reaganism, it's the intended result, a gov't by, for, and of corruption, lawlessness, racism, and misogyny. That's why Reaganites with power—Thomas, Alito, Kennedy, McConnell—worked hard to empower and entrench Trumpism.
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 06/10/2026
I’m ready to be a CEO. I promise to take on debt, fire anyone who seems better than me at anything, and insist you’re going to love my product that kills you
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
People forget that J6 was successful. Everyone who participated was let out of jail and the guy who perpetrated it is President again. There were no consequences. They have plenty of incentive to do a much bigger and worse version.
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Jorge Morales @jorgemorales.me · 9h
Billionaires are so boring. If I had more money than god I would do funky stuff. E.g., I'd found the Voynich Institute with the goal of deciphering this bad boy. Success apart, the Institute would host historians, cryptographers, linguists, material physicists, artists, botanists, astrophysicists.
en.wikipedia.org
Voynich manuscript - Wikipedia
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
One thing I find endlessly funny about the rise of AI is that it has revealed that there is a large number of people who believe that the reason they wrote essays at school or university is their teachers were desperately waiting for them to provide a definite answer to “Lear: what’s up with him?”
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onion person @junlper.beer · 06/10/2026
one of the deepest sicknesses in the world are the people who feel personally attacked over other people getting the same rights as them
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rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
a little louder for the cheap seats in the back
One of the biggest myths is that men rape by mistake. Like, "Oh, they need consent training." But research is very clear: Sexual violence is not a mistake. It is an intentionally made decision by people who know they don't have consent. They just don't prioritize consent over things like status, power, domination, and sexual gratification.
For my research, I got a certificate of confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health, so my notes couldn't be subpoenaed. One of the reasons I call them perpetrators in my work is because every single person I interviewed confessed in that context. The first question I would ask them was, "When you received that email from Title IX that you were under investigation, did you know what it was about?" Every perpetrator I interviewed said "yes." If sexual assault were a miscommunication, you would be wondering, What have I possibly done wrong? That is not the way that any of them reacted because they knew.
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LorennaCleary.bsky.social @lorennacleary.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Google Maps updated their satellite imagery. It shows what Gaza looks like now. Apple has not updated theirs. At this moment you can see what Gaza looked liked three years ago vs today. Put your politics and religions in a box and just see what has happened. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
theguardian.com
New Google Maps images reveal massive scale of devastation in Gaza
Satellite imagery shows further destruction of homes, businesses and places of worship since fragile ceasefire
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maybe still jurijuri @hellonerds.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Kiddo said “u should do #Inktober” she said this like an hour after I bought this tiny adorable 5” square sketchbook and I figure the universe demands it. I give Inktober like three days before I forget it exists
A little 5 x 5” sketchbook with an inked sketch of an apple. It has a long stem with a little twig and a few leaves.
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Geoffrey Hughes @geofffhughes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
My mind is drawn to the idea that we have some sort of primal, animistic itch that LLMs are scratching: we're afraid of the disenchanted world. We don't want it to be just us. "AI" is a sort of ideological response to a metaphysical loneliness.
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Geoffrey Hughes @geofffhughes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Been thinking about this a lot. An LLM is in many ways a compendium of solved human problems mediated by a probabilistic lookup function, but for whatever reason we refuse to see it that way...
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Hemry, Local Bartender @bartenderhemry.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This thing where reporters simply do not check trump supporters' public social media posts at all, and editors don't give a shit either, has to stop
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I spent a year watching school administrators do their jobs—and interviewing the students most impacted. I spoke to @thecut.com in a long-form Q&A about what I saw. Mainly, a system designed to protect perpetrators and punish victims in each and every case.
thecut.com
The Reason Why Colleges Still Fail to Address Sexual Violence
The “Cornell Seven” case highlights what’s wrong with Trump’s Title IX rules — and how the system was always designed to fail.
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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
📣 📣 📣 UPDATE: The 2026-2027 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resource! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com
ecoevojobs.net 2026-27
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Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda @alejandrofabregastejeda.com · 06/10/2026
I am really happy to share that I have started as PI of an @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social-funded 3-year project @clpskuleuven.bsky.social. I'll investigate how scientists conceptualize, model & measure environments across the life, cognitive, social & Earth sciences! #philsci #philsky #evosky #envhum 🧪
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Dr. Stephanie @punkrockscience.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I think we all knew Watson’s “Rosie didn’t realize [because she was a woman and so obviously inferior to my genius]” schtick was bullshit. What’s boggling to me here is the implication that no one since ever looked at the rest of her notes. 🧪
science.org
How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t
New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51
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Kill Tim Faust 💀 @tbone.malware-virus.biz · 05/10/2026
I believe it is good to be polite to robots not because they have consciousness (they do not) but because it is bad for the soul to let oneself become a vehicle for cruelty, even if directed at inanimate objects.
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worm @rfksbrainworm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you ever wondered why visible light is those particular wavelengths, it's because life evolved to see in the narrow range where water is transparent
Diagram of absorption of emf by water. There's a gap right that dips in the 500 nm range
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🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
We’ve asked this question. I asked this question in my prediction for news . The people who ask this question get pushed out So when do we start asking what that means and how to repair it not just “The new vanguard will” www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
niemanlab.org
Journalism will ask better questions and listen to different answers
"Journalism isn't listening to people, and they are tired of waiting."
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Diedrich Bader @diedrichbader.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“This is for my boy Paul mthrfkr!”
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Unless Congress reclaims its power, this will just become the new normal. A good first step would be to impeach Vought. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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Adrie van der Luijt @traumainformedcontent.com · 02/10/2026
A quite extraordinary day in the Netherlands: King Willem-Alexander commissioned 60 historians to investigate the royal family’s historic involvement in slavery. This resulted in five books that were published today. First European monarchy to seek transparency.
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Erin Keane @erinkeane.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Why are issues like retirement age and the physical toll these jobs can take on the body so rarely mentioned? stevens.house.gov/media/press-...
stevens.house.gov
Rep. Haley Stevens Announces Bill to Lower Social Security Age for Americans Who Work With Their Hands
Washington, DC — Today, Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11) announced the Blue Collar Social Security Fairness Act, a bill to allow Americans who work in physically demanding jobs to collect ...
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I went to the grand reopening of the African American Civil War museum this week and the timing is just right — its mission to preserve Black history is more relevant now than ever
huffpost.com
The African American Civil War Museum Reopens To Honor The Black Soldiers Who Changed History
The museum recently held its grand reopening in Washington’s historic U Street Corridor.
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Razzball @razzball.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Announcing the merger with Titanic footage is an incredible bit
David Ellison • @ellisonskyd... 2h
What once was the peak, is now just the beginning.
Paramount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture. By combining them, we aren't rewriting history — we're equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine. Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first ho Show
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Dr. Or M. Bialik |📚|🔬|🌊|⚒️ @obialik.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
When a drought ends, groundwater doesn't immediately, magically, recover. It isn't even the same for different groundwater systems, with some recovering faster (assuming that there isn't over pumping as is in some regions). 🧪 Link: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/…
Schematic of drought event and recovery definition, as well as additional drought characteristics (total duration ($t_\mathrm{tot}$), development ($t_\mathrm{dev}$) and recovery time ($t_\mathrm{rec}$), and maximum intensity ($\Delta_{\text{maxInt}}$)) used in this study. The right part of the figure highlights the different event rates introduced to capture pre- and post-event conditions as well as development and recovery conditions.
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Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In one of the gravest scientific injustices I have encountered: herrings use gas to communicate, literally they fart to communicate and the effect is called "fast repetitive ticks" abbreviated "FRTs" And NOT PRONOUNCED FARTS. I'm still mad. www.snexplores.org/article/anim...
snexplores.org
Farting fish and tooting manatees — how some animals use gas
Humans think farts are funny — but some animals rely on farts for flotation, communication and more.
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🎃🧛🏾Vita Ahhhh-yala👻🙀 @definitelyvita.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A woman existing (in public or private) is not an invitation to assault her, period. Ion care if she walked in there naked or in a nun's habit, that has no weight on where she ought to be assaulted. Bc when you ask those questions, you are saying ppl who do those things ought to be assaulted.
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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I see people victim-blame and try to logic-out the Cornell 7 rape case. "Why would she go into the frat house? Why would she drink?" etc. It's easier than thinking about how many men have done similar things to women, and whether men *they personally know* have harassed or assaulted women.
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King Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Just came across a newspaper report about a speech by Frederick Douglass in 1862 that "abounded in humorous touches, which caused hearty laughter." Our mental picture of Douglass is of a stern and serious man, but he was also very funny!
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
But it’s also true that these systems are just misogynistic. And we’re so busy holding victims to an impossibly high standard that we forget to ask the most basic questions about whether people like police did their jobs effectively.
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In the age of technology, we all expect that every conversation will be recorded. But that isn’t true. A lot of records come from the recollections of someone in a position of power. And we know that investigators—including police and Title IX—severely overestimate the amount of false allegations.
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André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This story in @natcellbio.nature.com by the amazing @mathilda95.bsky.social is the final flourish in a series of papers over the last year during which we reported a solution to the lipid imaging problem in biology. Stay tuned for the next chapters!
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Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
One of the things to come from GamerGate was the gamification of torturing real, live women...hounding them out of their homes, making them look over their shoulders for years. It was treated as a joke, nbd, the work of a few bad apples--as all terrorism against women is--& that failure leads here.
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markpachucki @markpachucki.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In this moment of higher ed upheaval, the UMass Amherst Department of Sociology is initiating the Research Scholar Program to offer some safe harbor for recent sociology PhDs launched into an uncertain market. Share widely! (and imitation = sincerest form of flattery). @asanews.bsky.social
This program description details parameters of the UMass Amherst Sociology Department Scholar Program. As the description states, we cannot offer much, but what we can offer prospective Research Scholars is: (1) a listing on our department website, (2) use of our library resources, (3) an @soc.umass.edu email address, (4) permission to use departmental e-letterhead for professional correspondence, and (5) an invitation to any department intellectual events. Research Scholars will meet as a cohort twice over the course of the academic year (once in fall, once in spring). A brief one-page statement of interest, CV, and the names and contact information of 2 references should be sent to the Department Chair (David Cort, dcort@soc.umass.edu) by October 30, 2026. Applicants will be notified of the status of their application by mid-November.
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Evan Urquhart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Definitely click through on this story for the quotes from the Third Way spokesperson, who AGREED Democratic candidates should NOT adopt Republican language on trans issues. I was floored - even tried to get Billie to put it in the headline. This is not just analysis, these quotes are news.
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Erin Keane @erinkeane.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Posted this in 2018. Still remember the night that prompted it. Still so relevant today. 🐝 🐝 🐝
Tweet by me saying “Every woman I know has been storing anger for years in her body and it’s starting to feel like bees are going to pour out of all of our mouths at the same time.”
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Elliott Harris @elliottharris.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The phrase “Schmitt for brains” should be his lasting legacy.
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Dr SpookyGoth @ghostingdani.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Humanities will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no humanities.
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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I struggled to finish reading this important and horrifying reporting www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
The Babies Left Behind in America
The United States is deporting parents without their children, creating a whole new family-separation crisis.
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
nyti.ms
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
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Boo!-per Lund @cooperlund.online · 27/09/2026
This is also a sign that if you like something, like music, you should try to dig deeper if you aren’t already, because the best stuff is denser and won’t float to the top. That goes for any form of media you can think of, and it’s okay.
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Delilah✨BDAY 10/28 @delilahgallo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Assata said it best. Only a fool lets somebody else tell them who their enemy is.
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Sarah Tuttle @niais.cryptoanarchy.network · 26/09/2026
I want to draw attention to this as often as I can - not only is this *action* terrible, the intention behind it is to consolidate power and eliminate the three branches of government. The courts are already severely compromised. The power of the purse belongs to Congress.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I gave a talk about US demo backsliding to a visiting group of Brazilian academics yesterday &, in response to a question, found myself explaining that—w/ Congress sidelined—the US is being driven to the right by an intricate dance btwn a POTUS & SCOTUS who are reactionary in subtly different ways.
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Allows Expansive Voter Screening Tool Ahead of Midterms (Gift Article)
Critics of the Trump administration system to monitor the citizenship status of voters had raised alarms about privacy and improper voter purges.
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Omaya Dudin 𓂆 ¦🍉¦🦠¦🔬¦ @dudinlab.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
For two weeks, our entire lab is dropping everything to focus on one mission: deploying @embl.org's Advanced Mobile Laboratory to cultivate microbial eukaryotes from Alpine ecosystems. Our dream? Isolating new #Ichthyosporeans never cultured before. Let's see what we find. 🔬🏔️
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