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Weekend Editor

@weekend-editor.bsky.social
354 followers 127 following 2.8K posts

Retired physicist, after a career in machine learning & stats mostly for cancer drug discovery. Also @weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz. Now blogging about stats in the news: www.someweekendreading.blog

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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 16h
Today's blog post: A review of the hosta and hydrangea flora of summer 2026. Not as crazy-good as 2024, but still pretty good. www.someweekendreading.blog/hydrangeae-2...
someweekendreading.blog
Hydrageæ 2026
This has been a pretty good year for the Weekend Hydrangea Team. Let’s check in on them.
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Failbetter Games | Wishlist Mandrake on Steam! @failbettergames.com · 30/09/2026
We're hiring! We're looking for a Writer and Narrative Designer to join the Fallen London team at a senior or mid level. This position is permanent, remote, and full time, which for us means 35 hours a week. #GamesJobs
Night. The House of Chimes - a tower which you might immediately think of as Big Ben - is adrift in the River Thames. It still seems to be keeping time. In the background, a large, alien building looms over the city of London.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The horror!
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Harry Turtledove @hntdove.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Safety first!
Door with DO NOT BLOCK--FIRE EXIT sign...and a lock on the door
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
They're saying out loud what we all knew they were thinking anyway.
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Now, if only there were some way to get people to take the vaccine...
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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The models for ‘American Gothic’ pose in front of the iconic painting, 1942.
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Jessica Ritchey @jmritchey.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
TL cleanse with Little Richard doing a fire cover of "Rubber Duckie." www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWCE...
youtube.com
Sesame Street: Little Richard Sings Rubber Duckie
YouTube video by Sesame Street
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
#MedicareForAllNOW
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
California is weaning itself off fossil gas, fast. Gas-fired electricity generation in California fell by 26% in the first half of 2026, as utility-scale solar, batteries and the new SunZia wind project feed power in via a dedicated transmission line. buff.ly/QWQoLPc #ShareGoodNewsToo
buff.ly
How California Is Kicking Its Natural Gas Habit - Inside Climate News
Solar and batteries matter, but they’re not the only reasons for the steep decline in gas-fired electricity.
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Mario @miniaci.co.uk · 27/09/2026
The sky was the colour of recycled cardboard, delivered to the wrong address...
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Reminder that Grassley is 3rd in the line of succession for the US presidency. In his capacity as president pro-tem of the Senate, he's in 3rd position after the VP and the Speaker of the House. Grassley is 93. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...
en.wikipedia.org
United States presidential line of succession - Wikipedia
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Here's a walk-through of the Ahlqvist, et al. paper and some related materials. Quite convincingly exonerates acetaminophen and several other drugs from any link to autism. www.someweekendreading.blog/autism-aceta...
someweekendreading.blog
Autism and Acetaminophen
So, Trump and Kennedy announce ex cathedra that acetaminophen during pregnancy causes autism. Is this stupid or not?
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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
@dennisgoris.bsky.social
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Reminder that in Canada upon becoming an engineer you get an iron ring made of a collapsed bridge, purposely designed to be uncomfortable, to remind you that your ethics demand you give a fuck even about the boring grudgework of such as double-checking your math. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring
en.wikipedia.org
Iron Ring - Wikipedia
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CRSerenity2132 @crserenity2132.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
As @johnrogers.bsky.social regularly says: "Because the companies. DO NOT. Play by the Rules. Visibly. Repeatedly. Pathologically."
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Micah @rincewind.run · 24/09/2026
"they're coming for birth control" is not alarmism, that is absolutely next on the agenda I have my doubts on how successful it'll be but they're going to make a real go of it
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WBUR @wbur.org · 24/09/2026
In a post Tuesday on X, the party’s account wrote: “We openly support the assassination of basically every elected Democrat in New Hampshire.” The state Libertarian Party lost its national affiliation in May for violating the party’s rules and ideals.
trib.al
N.H. Libertarian Party endorses ‘assassination’ of elected Democrats
In a post Tuesday on X, the party’s account wrote: “We openly support the assassination of basically every elected Democrat in New Hampshire.” The state Libertarian Party lost its national affiliation in May for violating the party’s rules and ideals.
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Jury Nelson, the Writer @jurynelson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
If AI DOES become indispensable to the functioning of society, it won't even be because it's any better at doing stuff. It will be because large institutions that dictate the shapes of our lives have surrendered key functionalities to, like, three companies.
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
It belonged to my father, actually -- I'm not *quite* old enough to have had a 1930s slide rule, but I certainly used one as a kid.
A slide rule, very like the one belonging to my father that I used as a kid.  This one is a Keufel + Esser K&E 4081-3S (ca. 1938).
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Matt Wood @astromattwood.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Disability support policy is a giant test of the principle “Innocent Until Proven Guilty”. Systems that gatekeep disability benefits to prevent supposed grifting are betraying that principle by deciding it’s worth making many innocents struggle & starve to stop a few bad actors. Same with welfare.
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Sorta like non-citizen voting, which also happens so seldom as to be negligible. They're creating phobias, not public policy.
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Dilek Sayedahmed @dileksayedahmed.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I truly, deeply, sincerely do think the guy flipping burgers at McDonalds should be able to afford rent, bills, and groceries with his paycheck alone. That's kind of the whole point of having a job and I can't believe this is considered a radical position.🤷🏽‍♀️
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
👇👇👇👇
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Quinn Daedal @quinnanya.me · 19/09/2026
Of all the ways I imagined Google Scholar going up in flames, being made inaccessible from university IP addresses due to AI-driven scraping wasn't at the top of my list.
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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Given the outrageous, dangerous, and outright false statements made about how the polio (and other) vaccine was a "fraud" (at the Children's Health Defense conference), here's a reminder of what a massive success it was. RFK Jr. & his minions must be stopped from destroying the US healthcare system.
Graph of the number of cases and deaths from polio from 1910 to 2022, showing how polio completely disappeared after the introduction of the vaccine -- one of the most important health advances of the 20th century. Data from the US Public Health Services; the Center for Disease Control.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
By moving to the “center,” Democrats have failed to fight the forces that led us to Donald Trump: widening inequality, economic insecurity, and the unchecked political power of corporations and the rich. Political centrism is nonsense. There is no middle ground between democracy and oligarchy.
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molly conger @socialistdogmom.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
you ever thought about what it’s like to be a little dog in the tall grass at the park on a warm day at the very end of summer
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M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
THIS 👇 HERE.......
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
No wonder these AI companies are worrying about human extinction via AI created biological pathogens: They’re starting their own wet labs.
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: Anthropic quietly sets up biology lab as it ramps AI drug program
At a time when fears of AI are gripping the public, the startup has built a wet lab — or ​place for physical experiments — in the San Francisco Bay Area, two people familiar with the matter said.
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"... my god, we're all so cute and so old" Absolutely perfect. Thank you.
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The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv) @theserfstv.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is the most masculine video on the internet right now
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Same people who seem to think it’s bad for China to beat us at AI are perfectly fine with China beating us at high speed rail, solar energy, wind energy, shall we go on
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muscular baby jeb lund @mobute.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"We are retasking our satellites. Our war against the Persians depends on finding Prester John."
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Amelia Sandrine Reisinger 🏳️‍⚧️ @ameliasandrine.com · 17/09/2026
Gonna start referring to Democrats who take anti-trans stances as “Biological Republicans”
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Just send the meteor already
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Bayesian probability: If we initially assume the probability of DOJ success is a random number between 0 and 1, then after 0/23 wins we update our median estimate for their success going forward to 2.8%. Some details, back when it was 0/20: www.someweekendreading.blog/doj-smackdow...
Bayesian posterior Beta distribution for the DOJ's probability of success going forward, after observing 0 wins out of 23 tries.
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Who else put down a Polymarket bet on “Erick Erickson and Jamelle Bouie offer the same interpretation of the GOP on the same day “?
By Jamelle Bouie
Opinion Columnist
The Republican Party has a neo-Nazi problem.
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Bethany Black @bethanyblack.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
My classics Phd professor: “I want you to do a thesis” Me: “you want me to kill a minotaur?” Them: “congratulations, you’ve passed”
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
“If the move survives expected legal challenges, it could also prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.” Absolutely fucking demonic. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/c...
NYT headline: E.P.A. Expected to Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power Plants

Generation of electricity is the second largest source of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gases in the United States.
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Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 14/09/2026
Ursula reminded us: "We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable - but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings."
Outside Agitators - Any Human Power poster by Ryan Henyard; features the quote from Ursula K. Le Guin "Any human power can be resisted & changed by human beings" and an american crow captured in profile
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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I’ve now lived so much longer than I would ever have expected to that I feel I’m living in the future. This is when I imagined Neuromancer happening. And now the creators of today’s AI warn us that it threatens humanity.
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Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
No lie told. A vote for Republicans is support for avoidable maternal deaths; respiratory ailments that kill slowly; pollution disproportionately experienced by poor people; unfettered gun violence; climate change acceleration; etc. It is a vote against US economic, political, and cultural power.
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David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I was excitedly telling a friend about finally getting Inventing The Renaissance, and explaining who @adapalmer.bsky.social was... which led to me reading her magnificent disability essay for at least the third time. It's where I first learned of Ada's work (and that of @bluejo.eurosky.social).
strangehorizons.com
Writing/Realizing Disability + Power
I chose the photo where I’m with Dad outside the Hugo Losers Party, with my bright blue jacket and my squidgy-handled cane—Dad’s injured hand is in his pocket, not visible, but I know.  So there it…
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Students often come to me ashamed, saying they don’t know why so much is going wrong (health, injuries, family), that they feel cursed & fear teachers will think they’re lying. When I say it’s normal, everyone is having crises b/c mind & body r worn down by world crisis, they’re so relieved they cry
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Imani Gandy @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 12/09/2026
The international chess Federation banned trans women from playing women's chess. CHESS. It's not about fairness. The fairness argument is intended to radicalize people into more violent forms of transphobia.
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Weekend Editor @weekend-editor.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Today's blog post: On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, we look abroad at yet more war: 1.5 million Russian dead in Ukraine. A segmented regression model helps us understand when Ukraine began fighting really efficiently. www.someweekendreading.blog/ukraine-1500k/
someweekendreading.blog
Ukraine War: 1.5 Million Russian Dead
On the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US, we also note another sad milestone of Russian casualty counts in their Ukraine invasion.
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Catherynne M. Valente @catvalente.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I think about this essay a lot. About the low-level stress & aggravation literally everything is now designed to incite & maintain. What this constant emotional histamine response to our digital-logistical environment does to us, how it degrades our days. www.wheresyoured.at/never-forgiv...
wheresyoured.at
Never Forgive Them
In the last year, I’ve spent about 200,000 words on a kind of personal journey where I’ve tried again and again to work out why everything digital feels so broken, and why it seems to keep getting wor...
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Catherynne M. Valente @catvalente.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Everywhere, signs directed me to use a QR code to talk to more AI agents about my flight issues. When they lost my baggage, I could NOT talk to a human until the delivery driver called. AI chat only The level of time, effort & aggravation all this added was UNREAL. AI made NOTHING faster or easier
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