Val Syverson 🕷️
@vjpsyverson.bsky.social
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.)
🏳️🌈🇵🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼
🏳️🌈🇵🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼
Pinned
Val Syverson 🕷️
@vjpsyverson.bsky.social
· Mar 20
There's a magnificent passage in "The Dispossessed" about this.
I like this game! Within 5 km of where I live right now:
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Grape sphinx moth
River otter
California alligator lizard
Mexican free-tailed bat
And special birds-only list because birds are easy:
Wild turkey
Mexican bluebird
Great horned owl
Snow goose
Cedar waxwing
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Grape sphinx moth
River otter
California alligator lizard
Mexican free-tailed bat
And special birds-only list because birds are easy:
Wild turkey
Mexican bluebird
Great horned owl
Snow goose
Cedar waxwing
Five animals i've seen within five kilometers of my house
Black bear
Coyote
Deer
Magpie
Northern flicker
Marmot
Black bear
Coyote
Deer
Magpie
Northern flicker
Marmot
i feel like this could be improved with ' five animals i've seen within five kilometers of my house' or something
November 29, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I like this game! Within 5 km of where I live right now:
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Grape sphinx moth
River otter
California alligator lizard
Mexican free-tailed bat
And special birds-only list because birds are easy:
Wild turkey
Mexican bluebird
Great horned owl
Snow goose
Cedar waxwing
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Grape sphinx moth
River otter
California alligator lizard
Mexican free-tailed bat
And special birds-only list because birds are easy:
Wild turkey
Mexican bluebird
Great horned owl
Snow goose
Cedar waxwing
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Oooo I first heard about this here
substack.com/@kelseytuoc/...
Lemme see what this Atlantic article is all about
substack.com/@kelseytuoc/...
Lemme see what this Atlantic article is all about
When grades stop meaning anything
The UC San Diego math scandal is a warning
substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Oooo I first heard about this here
substack.com/@kelseytuoc/...
Lemme see what this Atlantic article is all about
substack.com/@kelseytuoc/...
Lemme see what this Atlantic article is all about
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
"You say failed states are a result of material realities and social history and the wider international balance of power and miscellaneous shit like that, but I say they're the result of mystical auras that adhere to their inhabitants and their bloodline. I am a very serious no-nonsense statesman."
November 28, 2025 at 5:40 AM
"You say failed states are a result of material realities and social history and the wider international balance of power and miscellaneous shit like that, but I say they're the result of mystical auras that adhere to their inhabitants and their bloodline. I am a very serious no-nonsense statesman."
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
The US federal government is openly warring against its own nonwhite population in a way no one alive has ever experienced. It’s not even getting to hide it. The overt bigotry is comparable to Jim Crow. And our pathetic, cowed, putrid political class just keeps pretending it isn’t even happening.
November 28, 2025 at 5:43 AM
The US federal government is openly warring against its own nonwhite population in a way no one alive has ever experienced. It’s not even getting to hide it. The overt bigotry is comparable to Jim Crow. And our pathetic, cowed, putrid political class just keeps pretending it isn’t even happening.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Fucking Grinch level shit. We should have thanksgiving every single full moon. THIRTEEN TIMES A YEAR. AND WE SHOULD OFFER THE LEFTOVERS TO HEKATE FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE TO EAT BEFORE IT TOUCHES THE GROUND
November 27, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Fucking Grinch level shit. We should have thanksgiving every single full moon. THIRTEEN TIMES A YEAR. AND WE SHOULD OFFER THE LEFTOVERS TO HEKATE FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE TO EAT BEFORE IT TOUCHES THE GROUND
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
here's my first test at annotating/blurring a video. It needs some work to be less flickery but it's a start.
November 26, 2025 at 8:26 AM
here's my first test at annotating/blurring a video. It needs some work to be less flickery but it's a start.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
@rweingarten.bsky.social and @aft.org, you must cancel your partnership with OpenAI now. This company cannot be allowed anywhere near children.
November 27, 2025 at 4:37 AM
@rweingarten.bsky.social and @aft.org, you must cancel your partnership with OpenAI now. This company cannot be allowed anywhere near children.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Good. It appears one way to pop this bubble earlier than expected and hopefully reduce some harm is by killing off these data centers.
big late breaking news: the market monitor for the largest energy grid in the u.s., covering much of the midwest and mid-atlantic, has called to block new data centers connections to the grid, saying current course of growth assures regular blackouts
No more PJM data centers unless they can be reliably served: market monitor
The PJM Interconnection’s market monitor urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to rule that large data centers can only come online if the grid operator can still meet reliability metrics.
www.utilitydive.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Good. It appears one way to pop this bubble earlier than expected and hopefully reduce some harm is by killing off these data centers.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Metformin started soon after #COVID19 infection linked to ~50% lower risk of long COVID or death at 6 months, echoing prior RCT signals.
Cheap, generic, worth a hard look.
#LongCOVID #EpiSky #MedSky #bsky
Cheap, generic, worth a hard look.
#LongCOVID #EpiSky #MedSky #bsky
Metformin at the time of Covid-19 infection and risk of Long Covid: A Target Trial Emulation Study
Background: Our objective was to evaluate metformin prescribed at the time of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the risk of developing Long Covid (LC) in electronic health record data. Methods: We conducted a n...
www.authorea.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Metformin started soon after #COVID19 infection linked to ~50% lower risk of long COVID or death at 6 months, echoing prior RCT signals.
Cheap, generic, worth a hard look.
#LongCOVID #EpiSky #MedSky #bsky
Cheap, generic, worth a hard look.
#LongCOVID #EpiSky #MedSky #bsky
incorrect; personally, I don't have nearly *enough* pieces of rustic pottery
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 24, 2025 at 2:53 AM
incorrect; personally, I don't have nearly *enough* pieces of rustic pottery
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
[sits up in bed] The Sun is sincerely non-rival and non-excludable. The Sun is a public good.
Anti-solar NIMBYs aren't beating the accusations of being pretty dim bulbs. "Extracting from the sky" is a good one
November 24, 2025 at 1:35 AM
[sits up in bed] The Sun is sincerely non-rival and non-excludable. The Sun is a public good.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
One of the many terrible consequences of making education impossibly unaffordable is that getting one for any reason other than making money isn't feasible for most people.
Also expecting people to have their whole lives mapped out before they're adults is a bad thing.
Also expecting people to have their whole lives mapped out before they're adults is a bad thing.
One of the bragging rights that the US ed system had in the 20th century is that we didn't have education tracks. Essentially, any kid could go to a CC or state school & major in whatever they wanted to (obviously an oversimplification). I fear this aspect of the American dream is dying.
November 23, 2025 at 9:40 PM
One of the many terrible consequences of making education impossibly unaffordable is that getting one for any reason other than making money isn't feasible for most people.
Also expecting people to have their whole lives mapped out before they're adults is a bad thing.
Also expecting people to have their whole lives mapped out before they're adults is a bad thing.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
“For ABA practitioners, social skills are analogous to computer programs: we are merely to carry out the tasks without protest, & the execution of the program is what counts, not the values that make those programs necessary.” Finn Gardiner, at TPGA:
thinkingautismguide.com/2021/01/teac... #autism
thinkingautismguide.com/2021/01/teac... #autism
Teach Social Skills As Values, Not Like Computer Programs — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM
ABA taught me that social skills were context-free rules I had to follow at the expense of my happiness and overall well-being.
thinkingautismguide.com
November 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
“For ABA practitioners, social skills are analogous to computer programs: we are merely to carry out the tasks without protest, & the execution of the program is what counts, not the values that make those programs necessary.” Finn Gardiner, at TPGA:
thinkingautismguide.com/2021/01/teac... #autism
thinkingautismguide.com/2021/01/teac... #autism
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
This, by @giacgrassi.bsky.social, remains one of the simplest and best climate visuals
November 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
This, by @giacgrassi.bsky.social, remains one of the simplest and best climate visuals
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Yes, I agree with all of you. It was <great> when child poverty halved & everyone had large income spikes in 2020-21. We should make that permanent. But you, too, can imagine the debt hysteria & SOCIALISM hysteria in the media if Biden/Harris/The Democrats had made that their platform in 2024.
It's clear now that what we really meant by "Recession" & "Suffering From Inflation" in 2022-24 was "folks liked the large income spike in 2020-21 & wanted more stimulus checks & welfare spending like what came with the ARP, perhaps permanently," but we are clearly not ready for <that> discussion.
November 23, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Yes, I agree with all of you. It was <great> when child poverty halved & everyone had large income spikes in 2020-21. We should make that permanent. But you, too, can imagine the debt hysteria & SOCIALISM hysteria in the media if Biden/Harris/The Democrats had made that their platform in 2024.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Tenet Media was barely scratching the surface.
November 23, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Tenet Media was barely scratching the surface.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
PLEASE this.
And also to scientists writing press releases, too - calling something "AI" when it was actually your student spending 12 months fitting and validating a model is disingenuous
And also to scientists writing press releases, too - calling something "AI" when it was actually your student spending 12 months fitting and validating a model is disingenuous
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 23, 2025 at 9:12 AM
PLEASE this.
And also to scientists writing press releases, too - calling something "AI" when it was actually your student spending 12 months fitting and validating a model is disingenuous
And also to scientists writing press releases, too - calling something "AI" when it was actually your student spending 12 months fitting and validating a model is disingenuous
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
I am aware that scattered trees in grassland is just the natural landscape in some parts of the central valley, and not devoid of ecological value. But the question is not “do you want solar panels or sheep ranches?” so much as “where do we put the solar panels?”
November 23, 2025 at 5:19 AM
I am aware that scattered trees in grassland is just the natural landscape in some parts of the central valley, and not devoid of ecological value. But the question is not “do you want solar panels or sheep ranches?” so much as “where do we put the solar panels?”
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Sacramento County approved a big solar panel and grid battery site. People are complaining about cutting of trees. You might think that means there is currently a forest. These are pictures of the actual landscape in question, which is currently a sheep ranch.
I looked at where this is to be built. This is what it looks like. You’re making it sound like a forest.
November 23, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Sacramento County approved a big solar panel and grid battery site. People are complaining about cutting of trees. You might think that means there is currently a forest. These are pictures of the actual landscape in question, which is currently a sheep ranch.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Want to know the cost/benefit balance of outing 🏳️🌈 oneself* to your students? Here’s the analysis from 9 instructors, 2045 student surveys, implying mostly positive &/or beneficial to the students.
*I don’t think anyone should feel obliged to, not least bc the study features no trans/nb instructors.
*I don’t think anyone should feel obliged to, not least bc the study features no trans/nb instructors.
Nine Undergraduate Biology Instructors Revealing their LGBTQ+ Identities in Class Resulted in Benefits for their LGBTQ+ Students and Students with Other Marginalized Identities | CBE—Life Sciences Edu...
Few LGBTQ+ biology instructors reveal their identities to undergraduates, often without considering the potential student benefits. Although instructors who have revealed their LGBTQ+ identity perceiv...
www.lifescied.org
November 23, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Want to know the cost/benefit balance of outing 🏳️🌈 oneself* to your students? Here’s the analysis from 9 instructors, 2045 student surveys, implying mostly positive &/or beneficial to the students.
*I don’t think anyone should feel obliged to, not least bc the study features no trans/nb instructors.
*I don’t think anyone should feel obliged to, not least bc the study features no trans/nb instructors.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Topline: Ariana is a young journalist targeted by the Ortega regime in Nicaragua. ICE is just straight up attempting to have a journalist—who was granted asylum—executed using a single missed phone call (if it even was made and they’re not just lying) as a bogus justification
So this is someone I know who got snatched by ICE for the crime of missing a phone call while she was at work. She needs help and it would be good to help her.
Donate to Help Free Ariana from I.C.E., organized by Lisa Munyan
My name is Lisa Munyan; I'm just your average, semi-retired old woman living on a s… Lisa Munyan needs your support for Donate to Help Free Ariana from I.C.E.
gofund.me
November 14, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Topline: Ariana is a young journalist targeted by the Ortega regime in Nicaragua. ICE is just straight up attempting to have a journalist—who was granted asylum—executed using a single missed phone call (if it even was made and they’re not just lying) as a bogus justification
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
flip.it/6XsqjC Elon Musk’s Boring Company Caught Hiding Toxic Waste Pond in Vegas - Confronted with cameras, a worker raged that "you’re fake news."
Elon Musk's Boring Company Caught Hiding Toxic Waste Pond in Vegas
Elon Musk's Boring Company has been illegally dumping toxic waste byproduct for months, landing itself a $500k fine from local officials.
flip.it
November 23, 2025 at 4:48 AM
flip.it/6XsqjC Elon Musk’s Boring Company Caught Hiding Toxic Waste Pond in Vegas - Confronted with cameras, a worker raged that "you’re fake news."
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Begging of us also to stand in solidarity with Iranians who are fighting a corrupt regime that has mismanaged water, which has made this far far worse. We need to get better at our intersectionality in this as talking about it just from the climate perspective doesn’t help Iranians.
November 22, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Begging of us also to stand in solidarity with Iranians who are fighting a corrupt regime that has mismanaged water, which has made this far far worse. We need to get better at our intersectionality in this as talking about it just from the climate perspective doesn’t help Iranians.
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
you'd think the forced displacement of 10 million people from one of the oldest centres of civilisation in human history would get a little more news attention than beltway journalists writing essays on how Olivia Nuzzi is a genius because they want to bone her and you'd be wrong
'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain'
#Iran 🇮🇷
#Iran 🇮🇷
Iran president says capital move now a necessity as water crisis deepens
Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has mad...
www.iranintl.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:59 PM
you'd think the forced displacement of 10 million people from one of the oldest centres of civilisation in human history would get a little more news attention than beltway journalists writing essays on how Olivia Nuzzi is a genius because they want to bone her and you'd be wrong
Reposted by Val Syverson 🕷️
Chaco Canyon is one of the most important living cultural landscapes on the planet and we have long called for its permanent protection. It's not about the past–it’s about the generations to come. I’ll continue to fight for it because it is a place worth protecting.
November 22, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Chaco Canyon is one of the most important living cultural landscapes on the planet and we have long called for its permanent protection. It's not about the past–it’s about the generations to come. I’ll continue to fight for it because it is a place worth protecting.