Val Syverson 🕷️

@vjpsyverson.bsky.social

1379 Followers 1421 Following

Paleontologist, teacher, parent, biophile, UU, intellectual omnivore. Topics: natural history, nerd stuff, surviving the culture war. Tenuous professor at UC Davis. Allergic to puns. (protogynous, he/they/Þei; Dr.) 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼

The minutes of the DSA meetings show participants discussing contacts with officials from China's ruling party in the name of "anti-imperialism," with some members saying the organization should avoid topics that are sensitive for Beijing, such as China's threats to invade Taiwan, its security crackdown in Hong Kong and abuses of the Uyghur Muslim minority. They also discuss visits to China. Chinese officials did not take part in the meetings themselves, but met with members in China and encouraged the DSA to set up exchanges, according to the minutes.
How to Stop the new OMB Rule What Is at Stake in the Comment Period Under the Administrative Procedure Act, OMB must respond to every significant comment before finalizing the rule. A large volume of substantive comments serves three purposes: • It creates a record of opposition that courts can review if the rule is challenged • It forces OMB to defend each provision individually, potentially causing them to drop or narrow the most indefensible ones • It signals to Congress that the rule is controversial enough to warrant legislative action or appropriations riders A form letter campaign is far less effective than individual substantive comments.
partial screenshot of post: "Also, the Han nationalist government of Taiwan does not need American defense."
"Slackbot's AI abilities are not available on Pro. Compare Plans"
someone's bottom half painted in Europe in the 1400s, wearing two separate red footie hosen attached to an invisible belt, with baggy white underpants underneath. it does not look like it would stay up, but clearly millions of people wore this successfully over the centuries
"WANTED: witnesses and information that may assist in the investigation of JONATHAN ROSS in connection with the killing of Renée Nicole Good on January 7 on Portland Avenue in Minneapolis, MN. Please contact the Hennepin County Attornbey at: Government Center, A-1200, 300 South Sixth St, Minneapolis, MN 55487 (612) 348-5550 citizeninfo@hennepin.us"
Bluesky quotepost: @donnieharrisonn.bsky.social: "Why is bsky hiding Jonathan Ross search results?? This is just weird behavior" [reposting: @cara.city: "literally zero results for Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot this woman, and plenty of results for Jonathan Ross, OBE, the British comedian, despite the latter being mentioned a few days ago [upside-down face emoji]"]
The Trump administration unveiled new actions aimed at eliminating transition-related medical care for minors across the US on Thursday, referring to such treatments as "sex-rejecting procedures", a term used by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
from Politifact: Says Trump "bragged about his building 40 Wall St. being 'the tallest' immediately after the towers fell" This is accurate. Trump first made this claim when he was asked about the condition of the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street during a live TV interview the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001. "40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest - and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second tallest. And now it's the tallest," Trump said.
me at the beach in Monterey last weekend: early-middle-aged, generically Eurasian looking guy with a short dark beard, ponytail, and facial piercings, wearing a flannel shirt. in the background is the rocky coastline at Asilomar on an overcast day
some kind of rodent pooping in a pitcher plant the exact right size and shape to be pooped in by some kind of rodent
the best bottled hot sauce I've had yet: Mexico Lindo brand, chiltepin flavor
six silkie or silkie-mix chickens going up and down a ramp in a coop
the "Everyone disliked that" Fallout meme
Chronicle caption: "Photos obtained by the Chronicle show California National Guard troops deployed by the Trump administration to Los Angeles packed together in what appear to federal building basements or loading docks. The source who provided the photo said they redacted the name of one soldier that appeared in this photo."
animated gif from "Knives Out": Benoit Blanc asks "What were the overheard words by the Nazi child masturbatin' in the bathroom?"
email from Academia.edu saying "An AI created a podcast of your paper"
Erin Reed's adult trans legislative safety map, showing Texas as "Do Not Travel"
This little party horn toy is apparently, in Limburgs, called a "feep"
me: a bearded guy with horn rimmed glasses and gold facial piercings. fortyish, whitish, dark hair going grey at the temples. green tie-dye shirt, skeptical expression. messy bookshelf in the background
a piece of fabric about 2.5 m x 0.5 m, ice dyed blue and pink in the "geode" or "agate" style, drying on a clothesline
Computer color gamuts depicted as triangles, superimposed on the CIE-1931 Chromaticity Diagram, which shows the chromatic range of human perception; even the largest, the BT.2020 gamut used for UHDTV, leaves out a lot of the green-to-blue range.
honeybees crowding around a thumb-sized hive entrance in a light blue topbar hive
The court looked elsewhere in the Fish and Game Code for definitions to help clarify whether bees may qualify for protection under CESA. Importantly, the section 45 of the code defines “fish” as “a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals.” (Emphasis added). According to the court, the term “invertebrate” under the definition of fish includes both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, such as bees. The court ultimately held as follows: [W]e agree with the Department and the Commission that the Commission may list any invertebrate as an endangered or threatened species under 2062 and 2067, if the invertebrate meets the requirements of those statutes, and thus may also designate any invertebrate as a candidate species under section 2068, if the species or subspecies may otherwise qualify as an endangered or threatened species.
a small swarm of honeybees on the corner of a topbar hive; some of the bees are crawling in and out and some are standing on top fanning
List of Tables Table 1 Demographic characteristics of gender diverse offenders .............................................12 Table 2 Sentence and offence information of gender diverse offenders .....................................14 Table 3 Criminogenic characteristics of gender diverse offenders .............................................16 Table 4 Individualized protocol accommodations for gender diverse offenders .........................20 Table 5 Intervention accommodations identified in individualized protocols for gender diverse offenders ........................................................................................................................22 Table 6 Examination of abuse and trauma histories of gender diverse offenders........................23 Table 7 Demographic and sentence information of gender diverse offenders with sex offence history ............................................................................................................................25 Table 8 Criminogenic risk and need information of gender diverse offenders with sex offence history ............................................................................................................................26 Table 9 Institutional adjustment of gender diverse offenders ....................................................28 Table 10 Correctional programming and intervention participation information for gender diverse offenders throughout their sentence......................................................................30 Table 11 Release characteristics and post-release outcomes of gender diverse offenders ...........31
"Speak not of what men deserve. For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think." — Ursula K. LeGuin, The Dispossessed
Statue of Jesus on a parade float in a religious procession, covered in flowers and silk streamers and quite possibly perfumed too. From https://theitaliansouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ribera_pasqua_2010_cristo_risorto.jpg
fantasy art of a slug the size of a semi truck, with human for scale; artist Lius Lasahido
Graphic of the "Join, or Die" snake poster from the American Revolutionary War, but with the segments labeled L, G, B, T, Q, A, and + and colored in pride flag colors, from nerdykeppie.com.
transphobic reply from an account literally named "sentiment AI"
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta GA 30329-4027 January 29, 2025 Dear Recipient: This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) award is funded in whole or in part with United States Government funds. To implement Executive Orders entitled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEl Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Action, you must immediately terminate, to the maximum extent, all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts promoting "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) at every level and activity, regardless of your location or the citizenship of employees or contractors, that are supported with funds from this award. Any vestige, remnant, or renamed piece of any DEl programs funded by the U.S. government under this award are immediately, completely, and permanently terminated. No additional costs must be incurred that would be used to support any DEl programs, personnel, or activities. If you are a global recipient and have previously received this notification regarding DEl activities, please follow those instructions accordingly.
An enamel pin about 1" wide with trans flag background and text "It's Dr, Actually", on a card showing the artist's contact info, plus a vinyl sticker of a nice fluffy round deciduous tree with foliage also in trans flag colors.
me looking suspicious at a party in 2006
very credible papier mache horse skull on a pole!
Several brown cows behind a fence. The nearest one has a medical fistula in its side.
Photo of a zoo sign about eagle owls
A web strung between twigs, with many small brown cocoons suspended in it
Tiny green frog with a black eye stripe, maybe 1cm max, on the arm of a person with pale freckled skin (not me).
Close-up on a vein of yellowish quartz with magnetite halos in a block of slightly-pink pegmatitic Sierra Nevada granite.
The bottom half of a waterfall coming down a sheer granite cliff, with a little rainbow in the mist near the bottom.
photosynthetic sea slug Elysia chlorotica (the one that looks like a leaf); photo from animaldiversity.org
Moche ceramic vessel shaped like a snail with all four face tentacles
Figure 3A from the new Lheritier et al. Arthropleura paper, showing microCT reconstruction frontal view of head with eyestalks
the Wikipedia picture of the Torres Blancas building, Madrid
Grapevines outside a paned window. Spiderwebs are marked with yellow arrows. One of them has a drawing of a spider next to the arrow, but you can't see a spider in the image; either I missed it or it's just too little to see.
A big red dumpster with some dirt in it. The side says “recycling www.BOOGERS.nl” and a phone number. Taken in Stein, Zuid-Limburg, NL.