Rob von Thaden
@rvontha.bsky.social
Denizen of the North Coast who cogitates about cognition, sacred texts, and other sundries. Should be writing about Galatians. (Views are my own)
This is who we're deporting while we're importing sex traffickers like the Tate brothers and white supremacists who are nostalgic for Apartheid.
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
November 28, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
Epistemological collapse has *always* been the goal
sorta coming around to the view that the social danger of genAI images is less that they'll make people believe fabricated things are real and more that they'll make people believe real things are fabricated
November 27, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Epistemological collapse has *always* been the goal
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
The White Christian Supremacism of this administration is so extreme that it seems like it’s got to resolve with either a massive rejection of such illiberalism, or a violent, authoritarian imposition of it.
November 27, 2025 at 10:27 PM
The White Christian Supremacism of this administration is so extreme that it seems like it’s got to resolve with either a massive rejection of such illiberalism, or a violent, authoritarian imposition of it.
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
As CEO of Mott’s Applesauce I really have to question your mental state if Applesauce isn’t on your plate, in your toilet, in the bedroom, really everywhere that Applesauce could help
November 27, 2025 at 1:00 AM
As CEO of Mott’s Applesauce I really have to question your mental state if Applesauce isn’t on your plate, in your toilet, in the bedroom, really everywhere that Applesauce could help
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
TV twenty years ago: turn it on, watch something
TV now: turn it on, download app, enter PIN, hope internet works, pay per channel, wait for updates…
TV now: turn it on, download app, enter PIN, hope internet works, pay per channel, wait for updates…
November 27, 2025 at 2:20 PM
TV twenty years ago: turn it on, watch something
TV now: turn it on, download app, enter PIN, hope internet works, pay per channel, wait for updates…
TV now: turn it on, download app, enter PIN, hope internet works, pay per channel, wait for updates…
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
But let's take rash measures against all Afghan immigrants (and make crazed statements about Somalis) without any reckoning with American involvement in Afghanistan, including the use of that country's nationals as surrogate fighters, translators, and support personnel of all kinds.
November 27, 2025 at 2:24 PM
But let's take rash measures against all Afghan immigrants (and make crazed statements about Somalis) without any reckoning with American involvement in Afghanistan, including the use of that country's nationals as surrogate fighters, translators, and support personnel of all kinds.
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
Happy Thanksgiving! Today, I’m grateful to all the scientists, public health professionals, health care workers, and others who work so tirelessly and brilliantly to advance our scientific understanding and to save lives. Here is just one beautiful example of helping vulnerable kids flourish.
“Since SCID is caused by a faulty gene, scientists collect babies’ stem cells and, in the lab, introduce a healthy copy, using a harmless, disabled form of H.I.V. as the courier. (While the virus can’t replicate, it is still excellent at integrating its genetic cargo into cells’ D.N.A.)”
She Was Born Without an Immune System. Gene Therapy Saved Her Life.
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Happy Thanksgiving! Today, I’m grateful to all the scientists, public health professionals, health care workers, and others who work so tirelessly and brilliantly to advance our scientific understanding and to save lives. Here is just one beautiful example of helping vulnerable kids flourish.
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
📰 4,500-year-old "mega-oven" discovered on Cyprus, offering a glimpse into diet and culinary practice in the #BronzeAge
#ArchaeologyNews via KNEWS
#ArchaeologyNews via KNEWS
Archaeologists uncover giant Bronze Age “mega-oven” dating back 4,500 years
Archaeologists working north of Paphos have uncovered the remains of a substantial Bronze Age settlement at Kissonerga-Skalia, shedding light on a long-lived community active from roughly 2500 BC…
knews.kathimerini.com.cy
November 27, 2025 at 2:25 PM
📰 4,500-year-old "mega-oven" discovered on Cyprus, offering a glimpse into diet and culinary practice in the #BronzeAge
#ArchaeologyNews via KNEWS
#ArchaeologyNews via KNEWS
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election that are obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment
steady.page
November 27, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The Myth of a Rightward Realignment
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
Let’s discard some stubborn misconceptions about Trump’s support and what happened in the 2024 election. They are only obscuring our understanding of a profound de-alignment.
As the piece is partially behind a paywall, I’ll share some key thoughts:
🧵
Is Santa Real? Many users feel they're getting presents from him. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
can’t fucking catch a breath
make it stop
make it stop
November 27, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Ah the famously mono-ethnic Hapsburg Empire and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Branko is at it again (highly derogatory)
November 27, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
My book about how Americans have remembered, forgotten, and manipulated the history of George Washington and slavery over the past 250 years comes out in April. And Titus Kaphar’s art makes it the one of the coolest covers you’ll see next year. uncpress.org/978146969352...
November 26, 2025 at 11:31 PM
My book about how Americans have remembered, forgotten, and manipulated the history of George Washington and slavery over the past 250 years comes out in April. And Titus Kaphar’s art makes it the one of the coolest covers you’ll see next year. uncpress.org/978146969352...
The Internet Archive just released tens of thousands of seed catalogs, spanning over two centuries!
They are both lovely and interesting. Check them out!
archive.org/details/usda...
🗃️ #c18th #c19th #c20th #illustration
They are both lovely and interesting. Check them out!
archive.org/details/usda...
🗃️ #c18th #c19th #c20th #illustration
November 27, 2025 at 1:55 PM
'The dig team at the Ness, one of the most important Neolithic sites in the British Isles, are not revealing what they believe the find to be until more work is done.
But they say it is like nothing else ever found at the site – and may not even be Neolithic.'
But they say it is like nothing else ever found at the site – and may not even be Neolithic.'
'Extraordinary discovery' at Orkney's Ness of Brodgar Neolithic site
Archaeologists are to resume digging at the site after 3D radar technology uncovered a mystery find.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
“𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 ‘𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹’: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆”
My Julius Wellhausen Lecture is now available on YouTube (link below).
The lecture was presented on October 29, 2025 at the University of Göttingen in conjunction with the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony.
My Julius Wellhausen Lecture is now available on YouTube (link below).
The lecture was presented on October 29, 2025 at the University of Göttingen in conjunction with the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony.
November 25, 2025 at 5:40 PM
“𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 ‘𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹’: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆”
My Julius Wellhausen Lecture is now available on YouTube (link below).
The lecture was presented on October 29, 2025 at the University of Göttingen in conjunction with the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony.
My Julius Wellhausen Lecture is now available on YouTube (link below).
The lecture was presented on October 29, 2025 at the University of Göttingen in conjunction with the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony.
The reason that we reporters are focused so intensely on the L'affair Nuzzi is that, as Olivia notes, it is a basically apocalyptic scandal in the most literal sense of that term: a dropping of masks. It's acting as confirmation of every hideous story anybody's ever told about political journalists
this was bad before, but these are the most troubling and serious allegations you can make about a journalist. if they’re true, i genuinely can’t think of a worse scandal in the history of political journalism. devastating to our industry, to public trust as a whole, and to everyone in its orbit
November 27, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.
November 26, 2025 at 11:30 PM
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
fuck you
the memories of a generation lost because of Reagan's homophobia will not be erased
i think we should do something in DC that would make david wojnarowicz proud tbh
the memories of a generation lost because of Reagan's homophobia will not be erased
i think we should do something in DC that would make david wojnarowicz proud tbh
November 26, 2025 at 7:27 PM
fuck you
the memories of a generation lost because of Reagan's homophobia will not be erased
i think we should do something in DC that would make david wojnarowicz proud tbh
the memories of a generation lost because of Reagan's homophobia will not be erased
i think we should do something in DC that would make david wojnarowicz proud tbh
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
The people who do this, who conceived of it, who demand it, are real life monsters.
“I had to take the baby from my crying wife’s arms.“ It hasn’t even been a year, and this is not a scandal anymore? What is wrong with us?
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:02 PM
The people who do this, who conceived of it, who demand it, are real life monsters.
When I worked for Obama, I advised him on how to talk to Russian leaders. I never gave the Kremlin advice on how to talk to Obama (and I talked to Ushakov many times!).
November 26, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Some Indigenous/First Nations science fiction, fantasy, and horror recs for your Wednesday!
November 26, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
To bear out this rosy projection, HSBC assumes that OpenAI will become "as ubiquitous [...] as Microsoft 365" (345mm users worldwide) while bringing in 10x the number of users (3bn).
November 25, 2025 at 11:11 PM
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
“Silly-sounding science is what happens when researchers do exactly what they are supposed to do, which is thinking freely and exploring new ideas with wide-open curiosity.”
It occurs to me that this could also be said about education, and why leaving space for “just messing around” is important
It occurs to me that this could also be said about education, and why leaving space for “just messing around” is important
Every year around Thanksgiving, I see tons of grad students post heartbreaking messages on social media about how their loved ones don’t understand or support their decision to study what seems like something pointless or silly.
Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!
🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!
🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
“Why Are We Funding This?”
Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.
www.americanscientist.org
November 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
“Silly-sounding science is what happens when researchers do exactly what they are supposed to do, which is thinking freely and exploring new ideas with wide-open curiosity.”
It occurs to me that this could also be said about education, and why leaving space for “just messing around” is important
It occurs to me that this could also be said about education, and why leaving space for “just messing around” is important
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
I know that politicians absolutely need to offer a deeper vision than "we're not Republicans" in order to secure people's votes, but really, at this point, that could even just be "…and we'll fix what they broke (and what was broken before they started)" or even just "We'll Put A Stop To All This."
The EPA is starting to allow the use of pesticides containing PFAS on food. The move is part of an effort to roll back the regulation of PFAS — also known as "forever chemicals" because they don't break down easily in the environment.
November 26, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I know that politicians absolutely need to offer a deeper vision than "we're not Republicans" in order to secure people's votes, but really, at this point, that could even just be "…and we'll fix what they broke (and what was broken before they started)" or even just "We'll Put A Stop To All This."
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
"A death-haunted Trump is fed a steady stream of AI-generated news and polls while he focuses 100% of his efforts on building a ballroom that would dwarf the rest of the White House while navigating a series of accellerating and hidden health crises" is my take on the current situation.
November 26, 2025 at 3:17 PM
"A death-haunted Trump is fed a steady stream of AI-generated news and polls while he focuses 100% of his efforts on building a ballroom that would dwarf the rest of the White House while navigating a series of accellerating and hidden health crises" is my take on the current situation.