iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Russian armed forces hit the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences today with a drone, burning it to the ground. The Kholodny Institute of Botany, which houses the National Herbarium of Ukraine, is 210 yards away. 2.04 million specimens.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

So many questions. Besides the obvious ones- were candidates barred from voting for themselves? If I lived in Mexico I’d dress up as Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda every f&*$#g year for Halloween.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

When we're hiding from Skynet in underground bunkers in 6 months we'll at least know that the folks that brought us the AI technology were super handsome. Christ almighty.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I hope to post this at 9:28 EST, the exact moment Ziad Jarrah and Saeed al-Ghamdi breached the cockpit of United 93, 25 years ago. Their struggle with pilot Jason Dahl and First Officer LeRoy Homer was relayed to Cleveland air traffic, as these pilots thought to key their mics as they fought back.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I've been really surprised at the lack of coverage of Gloria Steinem's death. This woman was a true gangster- someone who knew how to keep people's attention AND respect. Someone who knew the value of clear rhetoric, unlike the over-thought word salads we often hear today. RIP.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This ad is for a "plant biodiversity postdoc" at the University of Kansas, but what goes unsaid is that this _could_ turn into a tenure-track gig as the KANU curator. Depends on future funding and of course performance Please get this to junior folks who are serious about herbarium curation!

sjobs.brassring.com

Plant Biodiversity Postdoctoral Researcher - University of Kansas - Job Details

Job Details: Plants define terrestrial ecosystems worldwide and plants influence the biodiversity, functioning and services

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Soooo... we just not gonna talk about this? And by "we" I of course mean the overwhelmingly white liberal academics (like me) in this digital echo-chamber we've created. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

theatlantic.com

Why I Quit the Tenure Track

The insufferable hypocrisy of elite academia

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Happy birthday to the sprawling, wild, gifted colossus that has provided myself and my family more than I could ever list. If you can't love a flawed thing, you probably can't love anything at all.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Congratulations! And unlike George Constanza you are now a "Guggenheimer." www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/3e...

getyarn.io

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Can you guess which one of these three statements will be in hundreds of GOP ads this cycle? When the Democratic candidate in your district loses by 0.8 points this fall you can thank brain-dead rhetoric like this. "defund the police" anyone?

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

I'm grateful that clear-headed people like this are saying these things. We should oppose destructive and hateful current events, but that shouldn't disorient our perspective or optimism. The arc of moral history does indeed bend toward justice.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

"Sweet" and waterfowl are not words I typically use in the same sentence. I guess they could be describing the water, not the ducks. But perhaps I have a thing or two to learn about them!

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

As a Kentuckian I am compelled to also point out that KY has two endemic Solidago species: S. albopilosa and S. shortii. Well actually S. shortii is known from one site in southern IN. Damn you Hoosiers.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

While I'm on the record as generally hating AI (and trying in vain to turn it off in Google), lookey what I saw the other day. @tropicalbotany.bsky.social @mobotgarden.bsky.social

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

An early leader for the most tone-deaf higher-ed article of the year? I'll be sure to pass out Amherst, Davidson, Smith, and Vassar brochures to the working class (and working) kids we're fighting tooth and nail to serve here at Wichita State.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

How did I miss this yesterday? Somewhere Gary Larson is feeling mighty satisfied.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

I typically tell people I'm an architect.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

I assume that when this hits the radio in an avian rehabilitation center the place is just electric for 3 minutes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKhN...

youtube.com

Mr. Mister - Broken Wings (Official Video)

YouTube video by MrMisterVEVO

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Oh the cognitive dissonance of a "center for resilience" housed in one of the most unsustainable cities in North America. If the truth hurts just say ouch and be done with it.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

First met Lúcia back in grad school days, and was really excited to see her take the reins of the garden. All of us used to walk by the President's house there on Tower Grove and think how cool it would be to run the place. GenX power!

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

You know how you tell your students that one should bring as many datasets to bear as you can? This is a study you should show them.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

That didn't take long. The only difference between this and Trump's "Mexico will pay for the wall," is that hiring more teachers is actually a good idea. But both are lies that people told to get elected. www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

politico.com

Mamdani vowed to lower class sizes. But he’s facing major financial and logistical hurdles.

The city is projecting up to $1.7 billion for teacher salaries and $18 billion for school construction.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Mixed feelings today about starting my Gen Bio II lectures on natural selection dressed as Jim Jones.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Enjoyed running a chromosome counting workshop for @mossmatters.bsky.social and his students at TTU this weekend. Also enjoyed working with Xanthisma texanum, which has one of the lowest chromosome numbers in plants (2n = 8). #GunsUp

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Purple thumb Thursday- meiotic chromosome count of Iva annua (Sedgwick Co., KS). 34 chromosomes at prophase I, then 17 chromosomes in the haploid cells of anaphase II.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

If you've never seen any of Teri's exquisite cytological work, you should start now.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Those Democrats tired of getting their teeth knocked down their throats should read this. Those that are fine with that should feel free to ignore it. www.thirdway.org/memo/was-it-...

thirdway.org

Third Way

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Let me be the (perhaps) the first to promote this job on bsky. BRIT is a super important herbarium run by some of the nicest folks I've met in Botany. I'd love to have another great colleague in this neck of the woods... www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.p...

shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

My #McClintockLetters to the editor was published last week in my hometown newspaper- the Hickman Co. (KY) Times. Thanks to @cornellasap.bsky.social‬ for coordinating this effort.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Somewhere LBJ is smiling watching MAGA Republicans realize they can't touch Medicaid without feeling 100,000 volts.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Besides the gross AI angle here, there's an uncomfortable geographic component to this story. Best of luck getting anyone to talk about that.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

A comprehensive yet remarkably concise review of the systematics of Brassicaceae. Bonus- written by the mustard godfather and perhaps the nicest person in botany, Ihsan Al-Shehbaz.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Instead of pulling out the hacksaw to add it to the voucher, I think @sutherlandbl.bsky.social probably wants the large Claytonia virginica tuber on the left for cultivation. Didn't know they got this large- FNA says up to 20cm! Sumner Co., KS.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Many of my fellow faculty appear surprised at the speed with which universities have capitulated. Consider that the only layer between us and the federal government consists of ladder-climbing admins and university lawyers.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

See Harpo's post below. I've not met Arnold Clifford, but have seen many many of his specimens. He's more or less legendary in SW botanical circles. His collection on the Navajo Nation needs our help to get into a secure, permanent building.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

My latest picture of "Snowball," the piebald fox squirrel on WSU campus.

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shockerbotany.bsky.social @shockerbotany.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

One of the saddest and perverse legacies of communism is its failure to build a tolerant society, despite this being a central goal. This is the map of the winners of each of Germany's constituencies yesterday. Blue is the AfD, and yes that is the former East Germany.

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