Rory (they/them)
@roryq.bsky.social
Taxonomist (MSc @ Imperial/NHM) | (Ethno) botanist | Autistic/ADHD/ME | Queer | Ex-(ethno)musicologist | Excited about cross stitch, mosses, fantasy plants, Tolkien | also @historicalplant.substack.com on here
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Rory (they/them)
@roryq.bsky.social
· Nov 17
Hello friends! I'm your friendly local queer, disabled botanist-with-a-music-degree who also side-hustles in queer and/or botanical Tolkien studies, bookworming, embroidery, and trying to make the world a bit better while also being twelve tangents in a trench coat 😁
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
November 15, 2025 at 6:15 AM
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
I woke up to the news that @sfdirewolf.bsky.social has passed away. I made sure to always give Alice her flowers when we texted or saw each other. I know she knew how much I loved her & appreciated the way she believed in & supported me. But I still wish I could tell her one last time.
November 15, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I woke up to the news that @sfdirewolf.bsky.social has passed away. I made sure to always give Alice her flowers when we texted or saw each other. I know she knew how much I loved her & appreciated the way she believed in & supported me. But I still wish I could tell her one last time.
I graduated last week!
📷 Steve Tanner
📷 Steve Tanner
November 14, 2025 at 7:54 PM
I graduated last week!
📷 Steve Tanner
📷 Steve Tanner
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
So apparently, the US Gov, in their most recent series of dog whistles, are pulling LOTR references and are outright saying that their fascist reign of terror is akin to protecting the Shire. Absolutely fucking not. The comparison is a straightforward dogwhistle, don't let them confuse you.
October 29, 2025 at 11:20 PM
So apparently, the US Gov, in their most recent series of dog whistles, are pulling LOTR references and are outright saying that their fascist reign of terror is akin to protecting the Shire. Absolutely fucking not. The comparison is a straightforward dogwhistle, don't let them confuse you.
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
The Walton family (who own Walmart) are worth over $400 billion, yet many of their employees are on SNAP.
Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.
The people who need help are not the problem.
It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.
Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.
The people who need help are not the problem.
It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.
October 27, 2025 at 9:08 PM
The Walton family (who own Walmart) are worth over $400 billion, yet many of their employees are on SNAP.
Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.
The people who need help are not the problem.
It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.
Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.
The people who need help are not the problem.
It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
It’s more than just bad priorities. It’s about lack of basic decency.
October 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
It’s more than just bad priorities. It’s about lack of basic decency.
Well, I had that conversation today and it was so much better than I anticipated! They accepted the evidence I have that I'm better with earplugs, and the actual problem was more that other people might not know I was using them. SO they're going to get me bright green ear defenders 😅
I'm less excited about having the conversation with Imperial that says "your rules demanding no earplugs will make me and those around me less safe, I have Evidence of this". While I absolutely get that, say, earphones in the lab *can* be a risk, overload makes me riskier.
October 23, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Well, I had that conversation today and it was so much better than I anticipated! They accepted the evidence I have that I'm better with earplugs, and the actual problem was more that other people might not know I was using them. SO they're going to get me bright green ear defenders 😅
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
lol
October 19, 2025 at 7:52 AM
lol
First afternoon back at my desk after being flattened by a virus and I have two questions.
1. why is R?
2. why is Outlook?
I expect no sane answers, but seeing as both have robbed me of my sanity today, that's just fine 🤪
1. why is R?
2. why is Outlook?
I expect no sane answers, but seeing as both have robbed me of my sanity today, that's just fine 🤪
October 16, 2025 at 2:31 PM
First afternoon back at my desk after being flattened by a virus and I have two questions.
1. why is R?
2. why is Outlook?
I expect no sane answers, but seeing as both have robbed me of my sanity today, that's just fine 🤪
1. why is R?
2. why is Outlook?
I expect no sane answers, but seeing as both have robbed me of my sanity today, that's just fine 🤪
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
I’m in a room where a whole ass faculty member said “Chat GPT 5 would be able to write a better NSF proposal than me” and… well…
My inside thoughts got the best of me BC I said loud as fuck “that’s unfortunate, because there’s not a machine on earth that writes better than me.”
My inside thoughts got the best of me BC I said loud as fuck “that’s unfortunate, because there’s not a machine on earth that writes better than me.”
October 16, 2025 at 1:37 AM
I’m in a room where a whole ass faculty member said “Chat GPT 5 would be able to write a better NSF proposal than me” and… well…
My inside thoughts got the best of me BC I said loud as fuck “that’s unfortunate, because there’s not a machine on earth that writes better than me.”
My inside thoughts got the best of me BC I said loud as fuck “that’s unfortunate, because there’s not a machine on earth that writes better than me.”
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
Video shows the aftermath of drone and artillery strikes on a shelter in the besieged city of el-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state, which killed at least 60 people. The attack was carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to a Sudanese medical advocacy group.
October 12, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Video shows the aftermath of drone and artillery strikes on a shelter in the besieged city of el-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state, which killed at least 60 people. The attack was carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to a Sudanese medical advocacy group.
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
It's also not "just another" extinction, it's the first from mainland Europe in centuries. CENTURIES.
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
XC398794 Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris)
Awful wind noise in the original!
See sonogram and notes of the recording circumstances on p12 of Gretton A. (1991) The ecology and conservation of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris). ...
xeno-canto.org
October 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM
It's also not "just another" extinction, it's the first from mainland Europe in centuries. CENTURIES.
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
As discord suffers a massive data breach of people's personal data and ID documents congrats to the UK Government for bringing in the undercooked law that made it absolutely inevitable this would happen, repeatedly
October 9, 2025 at 8:33 AM
As discord suffers a massive data breach of people's personal data and ID documents congrats to the UK Government for bringing in the undercooked law that made it absolutely inevitable this would happen, repeatedly
By the way, I absolutely mean the "no shade" bit - everyone at Eden is fabulous, and being a smaller place with fewer ppl meant everything could just be made to work 'cause you didn't have to go through, like, 12 people for everything 😅 It's just very weird going from St Austell to feckin' London!
With *absolutely* no shade to my last uni, it's absolutely wild to me how many adaptations, adjustments, accommodations, and provisions can be made at big universities like Imperial. There's so much I've improvised, sorted out direct with lecturers, or just gone without...
September 30, 2025 at 3:23 PM
By the way, I absolutely mean the "no shade" bit - everyone at Eden is fabulous, and being a smaller place with fewer ppl meant everything could just be made to work 'cause you didn't have to go through, like, 12 people for everything 😅 It's just very weird going from St Austell to feckin' London!
With *absolutely* no shade to my last uni, it's absolutely wild to me how many adaptations, adjustments, accommodations, and provisions can be made at big universities like Imperial. There's so much I've improvised, sorted out direct with lecturers, or just gone without...
September 30, 2025 at 3:17 PM
With *absolutely* no shade to my last uni, it's absolutely wild to me how many adaptations, adjustments, accommodations, and provisions can be made at big universities like Imperial. There's so much I've improvised, sorted out direct with lecturers, or just gone without...
Day 1! And of course I did what had to be done with the socks 😁
September 29, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Day 1! And of course I did what had to be done with the socks 😁
New bio ready for day 1 on Monday! Eek!
September 26, 2025 at 9:10 AM
New bio ready for day 1 on Monday! Eek!
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
Robert Redford on Richard Nixon's death. Not much changes, I guess.
September 17, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Robert Redford on Richard Nixon's death. Not much changes, I guess.
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has finally confirmed that his party would cut support for many claimants of disability benefits if it won power at the next general election, with the cuts focusing on those he claims do not “genuinely deserve help”.
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/farage-final...
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/farage-final...
Farage finally confirms: A Reform UK government would slash spending on disability benefits
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has finally confirmed that his party would cut support for many claimants of disability benefits if it won power at the next general election, with the cuts focusing o…
www.disabilitynewsservice.com
September 12, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has finally confirmed that his party would cut support for many claimants of disability benefits if it won power at the next general election, with the cuts focusing on those he claims do not “genuinely deserve help”.
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/farage-final...
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/farage-final...
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
This is true and correct but I want to add that wearing a respirator not only protects you from contracting airborne viruses but--in the case that you do get infected--lowers your viral load which means you get less sick, are less infectious, are less likely to face the long-term consequences, etc.
Why are some still spreading misinfo that "masks only work when everyone wears one," & use it as an excuse not to mask as "no-one else is."
It isn't all or nothing. While it's safer when more mask because there's less virus in the air, a well-fitting mask protects you even if no-one else masks.
It isn't all or nothing. While it's safer when more mask because there's less virus in the air, a well-fitting mask protects you even if no-one else masks.
August 15, 2025 at 11:24 PM
This is true and correct but I want to add that wearing a respirator not only protects you from contracting airborne viruses but--in the case that you do get infected--lowers your viral load which means you get less sick, are less infectious, are less likely to face the long-term consequences, etc.
Taking a break from packing to write back to my online plant ID course tutor and say that I won't be able to complete it. I'd really hoped I could, I was so excited, but trying to access places for plant-spotting is haaaard in St Austell in a wheelchair.
September 8, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Taking a break from packing to write back to my online plant ID course tutor and say that I won't be able to complete it. I'd really hoped I could, I was so excited, but trying to access places for plant-spotting is haaaard in St Austell in a wheelchair.
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
Look at us, world we're starving in Gaza. Your support our only hope for survival. Prices are insane, and we can't afford anything without your help. My family hasn't received any aid; we buy at sky-high prices
We still desperately need you
Stand with us please🙏🏻👇
chuffed.org/project/anas...
We still desperately need you
Stand with us please🙏🏻👇
chuffed.org/project/anas...
Help Anas & Ahmed escape the war zone in Gaza
Our Story: I am Anas Basil, a recent high school graduate with dreams of pursuing a degree in e-business management and building a career. However, due to my family's financial hardships, I enrolled a...
chuffed.org
July 5, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Look at us, world we're starving in Gaza. Your support our only hope for survival. Prices are insane, and we can't afford anything without your help. My family hasn't received any aid; we buy at sky-high prices
We still desperately need you
Stand with us please🙏🏻👇
chuffed.org/project/anas...
We still desperately need you
Stand with us please🙏🏻👇
chuffed.org/project/anas...
Reposted by Rory (they/them)
Hugh Bonneville started his live ITV London News interview on Downton Abbey by talking about Gaza.
September 4, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Hugh Bonneville started his live ITV London News interview on Downton Abbey by talking about Gaza.