RDS (formerly shawphd)
@rds773.myatproto.social
Former historian, current indexer. She/her, cis. Cats, nature, crafts, sci fi/fantasy. Covid aware. Chicago parent. GenX. West Coast ex-pat. I block & mute freely.
shawrd773@zirk.us
Need an index for your book in the humanities or social sciences? DM me.
shawrd773@zirk.us
Need an index for your book in the humanities or social sciences? DM me.
Pinned
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?
More than half the CO₂ emissions of the Industrial Age have been pumped into the atmosphere since 1990.
More than half the CO₂ emissions of the Industrial Age have been pumped into the atmosphere since 1990.
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?
Literally nothing is 'carbon neutral'. It is a physical impossibility. If someone's telling you their product has zero climate impact, they're actively deciding to lie to you.
Literally nothing is 'carbon neutral'. It is a physical impossibility. If someone's telling you their product has zero climate impact, they're actively deciding to lie to you.
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?
Indexes in books are written by actual humans and cannot be done automatically by computers
Indexes in books are written by actual humans and cannot be done automatically by computers
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
A Dem that runs as pro trans gets a SIXTY ONE POINT BUMP WITH DEM VOTERS and a NINE POINT BUMP WITH INDIES over ones that go silent.
The failure to get this is a prior beliefs/incentives problem but it's also a research problem. The current establishment's understanding of voters is utterly cooked.
The failure to get this is a prior beliefs/incentives problem but it's also a research problem. The current establishment's understanding of voters is utterly cooked.
Relevant to that is another finding in the poll. A theoretical officeholder that speaks up about these issues is preferred by:
ICE raids D+72 I+40
Trans D+61 I+9
Gaza genocide D+33 I-24
Guessing that Gaza one was a question wording effect, but if you're running a a Dem, those are your voters.
ICE raids D+72 I+40
Trans D+61 I+9
Gaza genocide D+33 I-24
Guessing that Gaza one was a question wording effect, but if you're running a a Dem, those are your voters.
September 20, 2025 at 4:02 PM
A Dem that runs as pro trans gets a SIXTY ONE POINT BUMP WITH DEM VOTERS and a NINE POINT BUMP WITH INDIES over ones that go silent.
The failure to get this is a prior beliefs/incentives problem but it's also a research problem. The current establishment's understanding of voters is utterly cooked.
The failure to get this is a prior beliefs/incentives problem but it's also a research problem. The current establishment's understanding of voters is utterly cooked.
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Make sure you tell your offline friends and family about this too, especially if they live in red states. Every call in a red state is more effective than a social media post in a blue one
BREAKING: I read the new version of the “Save America Act” (S. 1383) so u don’t have to. Here’s my summary. Point 1 is new. It requires that all 50 states send their voter rolls to the DHS to run thru DHS’s faulty “SAVE” voter purge program. Points 6 & 7 are new too. Tell ur Senators #NoOnSAVE 1/
February 17, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Make sure you tell your offline friends and family about this too, especially if they live in red states. Every call in a red state is more effective than a social media post in a blue one
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
AI is revolutionizing the world! A Playstation now costs $5,000 and this is the last phone you will ever own.
“.. ‘many system vendors will go bankrupt or exit product lines due to a lack of memory. Mobile phone production will be reduced by 200-250 million units, and PC and TV production will be significantly reduced.’ Yikes.”
@pcgamer.com #DRAM
www.pcgamer.com/hardware/mem...
@pcgamer.com #DRAM
www.pcgamer.com/hardware/mem...
February 17, 2026 at 10:02 PM
AI is revolutionizing the world! A Playstation now costs $5,000 and this is the last phone you will ever own.
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
I promise you that you will learn something and be a better person from for it. go listen to @drkalyncoghill.blacksky.team
Join our very own @drkalyncoghill.blacksky.team at @medlabboulder.bsky.social on March 12 discussing how their own experience fueled their decades-long research on digital harm and how Blacksky is taking what was once considered "me-search" and creating a safer internet rooted in self-determination.
From Survivor, to Researcher, to Steward
www.colorado.edu
February 17, 2026 at 10:28 PM
I promise you that you will learn something and be a better person from for it. go listen to @drkalyncoghill.blacksky.team
My second pregnancy would have killed me and my child
People always ask, "What would you do if you were born in another time period?"
With my health the answer is almost always, "Die before kindergarten."
Medical progress is the real deal, buddies.
With my health the answer is almost always, "Die before kindergarten."
Medical progress is the real deal, buddies.
before antibiotics did people just die all the time from everything?
February 17, 2026 at 11:12 PM
My second pregnancy would have killed me and my child
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
I spent my childhood inside of American concentration camps. I know one when I see one. And that is what ICE is building.
February 17, 2026 at 9:00 PM
I spent my childhood inside of American concentration camps. I know one when I see one. And that is what ICE is building.
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
the ai situation is a nice summation of how capitalism's deepening crises and cannibalisation are also a way by which it launders its own reputation and protects itself. everyone is constantly nostalgic for the exploitation of ten years ago
February 17, 2026 at 10:19 PM
the ai situation is a nice summation of how capitalism's deepening crises and cannibalisation are also a way by which it launders its own reputation and protects itself. everyone is constantly nostalgic for the exploitation of ten years ago
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
undeniably true, no matter whatever functionalities we’ve gotten used to
consumer electronics are bad. they are wasteful to a degree that is, quite frankly, absurd. there is no reason we should be churning through, throwing away and upgrading technology built on genuinely rare metals to the degree that has been normalised over the last twenty years
February 17, 2026 at 10:37 PM
undeniably true, no matter whatever functionalities we’ve gotten used to
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
BREAKING: I read the new version of the “Save America Act” (S. 1383) so u don’t have to. Here’s my summary. Point 1 is new. It requires that all 50 states send their voter rolls to the DHS to run thru DHS’s faulty “SAVE” voter purge program. Points 6 & 7 are new too. Tell ur Senators #NoOnSAVE 1/
February 17, 2026 at 9:47 PM
BREAKING: I read the new version of the “Save America Act” (S. 1383) so u don’t have to. Here’s my summary. Point 1 is new. It requires that all 50 states send their voter rolls to the DHS to run thru DHS’s faulty “SAVE” voter purge program. Points 6 & 7 are new too. Tell ur Senators #NoOnSAVE 1/
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
The great part about @amtrak.com is not the giant seats and stress free travel but being gently rocked to sleep while reading each and every chapter of a great book. @thewaroncars.bsky.social)
February 17, 2026 at 10:23 PM
The great part about @amtrak.com is not the giant seats and stress free travel but being gently rocked to sleep while reading each and every chapter of a great book. @thewaroncars.bsky.social)
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
have you ever read one of my Discworld QOTDs and thought, hey, I should really get around to reading those books?
good news! the full series is back on Humble Bundle - it’s Kobo but it’s pretty easily to transfer those to your preferred e-reader
you won’t regret it
good news! the full series is back on Humble Bundle - it’s Kobo but it’s pretty easily to transfer those to your preferred e-reader
you won’t regret it
Humble Book Bundle: Best of Humble Bundle: Terry Pratchett's Discworld by HarperCollins Encore 2026
Experience Sir Terry Practchett’s beloved Discworld series! Get 35+ books covering all corners of this comic fantasy universe and help support Room to Read!
www.humblebundle.com
February 17, 2026 at 9:19 PM
have you ever read one of my Discworld QOTDs and thought, hey, I should really get around to reading those books?
good news! the full series is back on Humble Bundle - it’s Kobo but it’s pretty easily to transfer those to your preferred e-reader
you won’t regret it
good news! the full series is back on Humble Bundle - it’s Kobo but it’s pretty easily to transfer those to your preferred e-reader
you won’t regret it
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
First of all, that's despicable. It's never acceptable to lie about using deadly force on anyone.
Second, here are federal officers completely fabricating what happened when they charged Miramar Martinez with assault when they shot her five times.
www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/me...
Second, here are federal officers completely fabricating what happened when they charged Miramar Martinez with assault when they shot her five times.
www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/me...
February 16, 2026 at 8:41 PM
First of all, that's despicable. It's never acceptable to lie about using deadly force on anyone.
Second, here are federal officers completely fabricating what happened when they charged Miramar Martinez with assault when they shot her five times.
www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/me...
Second, here are federal officers completely fabricating what happened when they charged Miramar Martinez with assault when they shot her five times.
www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/me...
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Don't let them use this tragedy for their hateful agenda.
February 17, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Don't let them use this tragedy for their hateful agenda.
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
If you (whoever you are) give a few dollars away a month, you're beating Elon Musk in relative donations.
February 16, 2026 at 6:24 PM
If you (whoever you are) give a few dollars away a month, you're beating Elon Musk in relative donations.
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Hey, @lataco.bsky.social is raising money to launch an investigative news unit; their current priorities involve looking into "less lethal" weapons used on protesters and more thorough documentation of ICE kidnapping.
Chip in here:
givebutter.com/la-taco-inve...
Chip in here:
givebutter.com/la-taco-inve...
February 17, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Hey, @lataco.bsky.social is raising money to launch an investigative news unit; their current priorities involve looking into "less lethal" weapons used on protesters and more thorough documentation of ICE kidnapping.
Chip in here:
givebutter.com/la-taco-inve...
Chip in here:
givebutter.com/la-taco-inve...
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
You are literally trained in journalism school -not- to do this because it creates an agenda out of natural human speech patterns. Yes it’s racist and misogynistic. It’s also the NYTimes flouting a journalistic norm in a way that tells us basically everything we already knew about that paper.
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
February 17, 2026 at 12:41 PM
You are literally trained in journalism school -not- to do this because it creates an agenda out of natural human speech patterns. Yes it’s racist and misogynistic. It’s also the NYTimes flouting a journalistic norm in a way that tells us basically everything we already knew about that paper.
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Yes.
Staph infections were fatal so often that we distinguished them by what part of the body they attacked first. "Childbed fever" is a term for a variety of post-birth complications that killed a lot of women. There are reasons wet nurses used to be so common. (And they're not all class-based.)
Staph infections were fatal so often that we distinguished them by what part of the body they attacked first. "Childbed fever" is a term for a variety of post-birth complications that killed a lot of women. There are reasons wet nurses used to be so common. (And they're not all class-based.)
before antibiotics did people just die all the time from everything?
February 17, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Yes.
Staph infections were fatal so often that we distinguished them by what part of the body they attacked first. "Childbed fever" is a term for a variety of post-birth complications that killed a lot of women. There are reasons wet nurses used to be so common. (And they're not all class-based.)
Staph infections were fatal so often that we distinguished them by what part of the body they attacked first. "Childbed fever" is a term for a variety of post-birth complications that killed a lot of women. There are reasons wet nurses used to be so common. (And they're not all class-based.)
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
There's enough of this in one newspaper in one state in one day for a thread, so let's do it. Impunity for the wealthy has become such a background condition that it generally goes unremarked. Come find your issue and start agitating!
Restore The Rule of Law in California: A Thread
Restore The Rule of Law in California: A Thread
Great news, but this flagrant lawbreaking is going to get more and more common, and the case history here suggests CA isn't ready. The state paid for this closure, even though it's AllenCo's legal obligation. CA can sue to recover those costs, but afaik hasn't. Why?
www.latimes.com/environment/...
www.latimes.com/environment/...
Notoriously hazardous South L.A. oil wells finally plugged after decades of community pressure
A two-acre Los Angeles oil drill site near the St. Vincent Elementary School in University Park, had been releasing noxious fumes for years. Finally, the wells have been shut down.
www.latimes.com
February 17, 2026 at 8:26 PM
There's enough of this in one newspaper in one state in one day for a thread, so let's do it. Impunity for the wealthy has become such a background condition that it generally goes unremarked. Come find your issue and start agitating!
Restore The Rule of Law in California: A Thread
Restore The Rule of Law in California: A Thread
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
HELLO, FRIENDS!
The women's shelter where I volunteer lost almost all of their art and craft supplies last year. I can't fix everything, but I have a big network here, and so do a lot of you, and I'm pretty sure that together, we can fix this.
www.thingstogetme.com/2169641a9c163
The women's shelter where I volunteer lost almost all of their art and craft supplies last year. I can't fix everything, but I have a big network here, and so do a lot of you, and I'm pretty sure that together, we can fix this.
www.thingstogetme.com/2169641a9c163
Craft Supplies for Park Slope Women's Shelter
The Park Slope Women's Shelter serves unhoused women with mental health and/or substance-use disorder diagnoses in NYC.
Due to an incident this past year, the shelter is attempting to rebuild and re...
www.thingstogetme.com
February 17, 2026 at 8:53 PM
HELLO, FRIENDS!
The women's shelter where I volunteer lost almost all of their art and craft supplies last year. I can't fix everything, but I have a big network here, and so do a lot of you, and I'm pretty sure that together, we can fix this.
www.thingstogetme.com/2169641a9c163
The women's shelter where I volunteer lost almost all of their art and craft supplies last year. I can't fix everything, but I have a big network here, and so do a lot of you, and I'm pretty sure that together, we can fix this.
www.thingstogetme.com/2169641a9c163
CAT checkpoint. Show me the most recent cat image on your phone.
February 17, 2026 at 9:32 PM
CAT checkpoint. Show me the most recent cat image on your phone.
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
US Citizenship & Immigration Services is an agency most Americans rarely hear about. It administers the *legal* immigration system. Under Trump, the agency has turned into an enforcement tool in service of the broader crackdown. My latest @newyorker.com: www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
How Legal Immigration Became a Deportation Trap
Under Trump, the Homeland Security agency responsible for processing visas and green cards has become a site for easy arrests.
www.newyorker.com
February 17, 2026 at 2:38 PM
US Citizenship & Immigration Services is an agency most Americans rarely hear about. It administers the *legal* immigration system. Under Trump, the agency has turned into an enforcement tool in service of the broader crackdown. My latest @newyorker.com: www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
every time someone says something like "there weren't trans people when I was a kid" or some shit about trans people being a new thing because WOKE all I can think is "motherfucker Dog Day Afternoon was made in 1975"
February 17, 2026 at 1:52 AM
every time someone says something like "there weren't trans people when I was a kid" or some shit about trans people being a new thing because WOKE all I can think is "motherfucker Dog Day Afternoon was made in 1975"
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
I have a headache and had to spend $660 to not get chemotherapy for my cat today so I’m pretty cranky and maybe not rational, but I’m so tired of people posting about politics in a way that bears nearly 0 connection to real life
February 17, 2026 at 8:17 PM
I have a headache and had to spend $660 to not get chemotherapy for my cat today so I’m pretty cranky and maybe not rational, but I’m so tired of people posting about politics in a way that bears nearly 0 connection to real life
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
i keep coming back to the question of predictable failure modes.
often what drives our choices isn't "what can it sometimes do"
but rather, "what can it definitely absolutely not do under any circumstances"
for example, an FAQ page will *never* show people text you did not put there
often what drives our choices isn't "what can it sometimes do"
but rather, "what can it definitely absolutely not do under any circumstances"
for example, an FAQ page will *never* show people text you did not put there
Spent the last year effectively doing this, using the most powerful models available in the United States and it gave a bunch of farts until we gated it to a point where a FAQ page and a CMS to drive it would have been cheaper and more useful.
February 17, 2026 at 7:45 PM
i keep coming back to the question of predictable failure modes.
often what drives our choices isn't "what can it sometimes do"
but rather, "what can it definitely absolutely not do under any circumstances"
for example, an FAQ page will *never* show people text you did not put there
often what drives our choices isn't "what can it sometimes do"
but rather, "what can it definitely absolutely not do under any circumstances"
for example, an FAQ page will *never* show people text you did not put there
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Historian of medicine here. Yes. Yes, they did.
before antibiotics did people just die all the time from everything?
February 17, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Historian of medicine here. Yes. Yes, they did.