Roger Shaw
@chirpn.bsky.social
Birding, health data and policy, always looking for rich longform journalism, playing way too much Wingspan.
Reposted by Roger Shaw
Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
December 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
Reposted by Roger Shaw
MY LATEST: Chain dollar stores promise big savings—but the low prices listed on the shelves often don’t materialize at checkout. As the cost of living soars, the customers bearing the burden are those who can least afford it. An investigation for @theguardian.com with @jocelynzuck.bsky.social.
How the dollar-store industry overcharges cash-strapped customers while promising low prices
A Guardian investigation reveals Dollar General and Family Dollar stores often fail to honor their shelf prices – charging more at checkout for everything from frying pans to Frosted Flakes
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:55 AM
MY LATEST: Chain dollar stores promise big savings—but the low prices listed on the shelves often don’t materialize at checkout. As the cost of living soars, the customers bearing the burden are those who can least afford it. An investigation for @theguardian.com with @jocelynzuck.bsky.social.
Reposted by Roger Shaw
LLMs are bullshitters. But that doesn't mean they're not useful.
Read this personal essay by Matt Ranger, Kagi’s head of ML:
blog.kagi.com/llms
Read this personal essay by Matt Ranger, Kagi’s head of ML:
blog.kagi.com/llms
LLMs are bullshitters. But that doesn't mean they're not useful | Kagi Blog
*Note:* This is a personal essay by Matt Ranger, Kagi’s head of ML In 1986, Harry Frankfurt wrote On Bullshit ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Bullshit ).
blog.kagi.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:03 PM
LLMs are bullshitters. But that doesn't mean they're not useful.
Read this personal essay by Matt Ranger, Kagi’s head of ML:
blog.kagi.com/llms
Read this personal essay by Matt Ranger, Kagi’s head of ML:
blog.kagi.com/llms
Reposted by Roger Shaw
I love this self-portrait by Na Kim. It’s somehow bold *and* subtle? Wow. [kottke.org]
Na Kim, in the Abstract
I love this self-portrait by Na Kim. It’s somehow bold and subtle? Wow.
kottke.org
September 30, 2025 at 8:06 PM
I love this self-portrait by Na Kim. It’s somehow bold *and* subtle? Wow. [kottke.org]
Just came across this concept of the Digital Garden, a personal site where you capture your thoughts and information, and continue to edit, iterate, build, and connect on them, breaking the trappings of linear scrolling. Love this, and want to start growing my own. maggieappleton.com/garden-history
A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden
A newly revived philosophy for publishing personal knowledge on the web
maggieappleton.com
September 28, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Just came across this concept of the Digital Garden, a personal site where you capture your thoughts and information, and continue to edit, iterate, build, and connect on them, breaking the trappings of linear scrolling. Love this, and want to start growing my own. maggieappleton.com/garden-history
Reposted by Roger Shaw
Re: iNaturalist, reading the blowback, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. This isn't replacing the community of experts. It's taking the ID suggestions that already exist, and trying to add text. That will have to be based on attempts at image analysis, not on taxonomic literature. Thread below.
June 12, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Re: iNaturalist, reading the blowback, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. This isn't replacing the community of experts. It's taking the ID suggestions that already exist, and trying to add text. That will have to be based on attempts at image analysis, not on taxonomic literature. Thread below.
I think this explains Haliburton’s sorcery. www.basketball-reference.com/friv/birthda...
List of all the NBA, ABA and WNBA Players Born on February 29 | Basketball-Reference.com
Get the list of all the NBA, ABA and WNBA Players Born on February 29 on Basketball-Reference.com
www.basketball-reference.com
June 6, 2025 at 4:02 PM
I think this explains Haliburton’s sorcery. www.basketball-reference.com/friv/birthda...
Reposted by Roger Shaw
Reposted by Roger Shaw
Can we please all just get behind this man? It would heal our world.
April 21, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Can we please all just get behind this man? It would heal our world.
Reposted by Roger Shaw
Tucked away in a cluster of warehouses on the outskirts of town, Miso Master has stayed true to the centuries-old technique of naturally aging handcrafted miso with the seasons since 1980.
www.theassemblync.com/culture/miso...
www.theassemblync.com/culture/miso...
Miso Made the Masterful Way–But in North Carolina
Miso Master in Rutherford County honors an ancient craft. It has become the world's largest organic producer of a Japanese culinary staple.
www.theassemblync.com
March 17, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Tucked away in a cluster of warehouses on the outskirts of town, Miso Master has stayed true to the centuries-old technique of naturally aging handcrafted miso with the seasons since 1980.
www.theassemblync.com/culture/miso...
www.theassemblync.com/culture/miso...
Reposted by Roger Shaw
State Sen. Sydney Batch ousted one of North Carolina’s most venerated leaders to head a caucus languishing as a superminority. Can she lead them back to relevance?
www.theassemblync.com/politics/nc-...
www.theassemblync.com/politics/nc-...
The Senate Democrats’ New Boss
tate Sen. Sydney Batch ousted Dan Blue—one of North Carolina's most venerated leaders—from the job, but can she lead Democrats to relevance?
www.theassemblync.com
March 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM
State Sen. Sydney Batch ousted one of North Carolina’s most venerated leaders to head a caucus languishing as a superminority. Can she lead them back to relevance?
www.theassemblync.com/politics/nc-...
www.theassemblync.com/politics/nc-...
Excellent, thorough article on the issues and tradeoffs facing Lake Mattamuskeet, a place that many of us love.
Lake Mattamuskeet is in trouble. The aquatic vegetation that once carpeted the lake bed and fed waterfowl gradually disappeared over the last three decades, and they are now completely gone.
www.theassemblync.com/environment/...
www.theassemblync.com/environment/...
Can Lake Mattamuskeet Be Saved?
Mattamuskeet is the state's largest natural lake and a refuge for migratory birds in eastern NC. It's facing an ecological catastrophe.
www.theassemblync.com
March 10, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Excellent, thorough article on the issues and tradeoffs facing Lake Mattamuskeet, a place that many of us love.
Reposted by Roger Shaw
One of my former students. I’m so proud, and so angry.
Yet another dedicated scientist and public servant, this time from US Fish and Wildlife, showing up unpaid after she was fired to volunteer to protect an endangered species.
What are we even doing here.
🎁 link: 🧪
What are we even doing here.
🎁 link: 🧪
After Elon Musk Fired Her, She Kept Showing Up to Work—for Free
The billionaire and his followers are out to cull federal employees they think are lazy and overpaid. But without people like Bianca Sicich, the Attwater’s prairie chicken could go extinct.
www.texasmonthly.com
March 6, 2025 at 2:17 AM
One of my former students. I’m so proud, and so angry.
Reposted by Roger Shaw
Saddened to learn of David Johansen's death. For the story behind why he gifted me this small Mao portrait, see my newsletter.
Also in the newsletter: A portrait of my hero, Ganesh Devy, in the New Yorker, and Isabella Weber on "cheapflation" and price controls.
triptych.oxus.net/kerims-tript...
Also in the newsletter: A portrait of my hero, Ganesh Devy, in the New Yorker, and Isabella Weber on "cheapflation" and price controls.
triptych.oxus.net/kerims-tript...
March 2, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Saddened to learn of David Johansen's death. For the story behind why he gifted me this small Mao portrait, see my newsletter.
Also in the newsletter: A portrait of my hero, Ganesh Devy, in the New Yorker, and Isabella Weber on "cheapflation" and price controls.
triptych.oxus.net/kerims-tript...
Also in the newsletter: A portrait of my hero, Ganesh Devy, in the New Yorker, and Isabella Weber on "cheapflation" and price controls.
triptych.oxus.net/kerims-tript...
Reposted by Roger Shaw
Your map’s legend can be turned into a histogram, helping your audience understand the distribution in addition to decoding the colours.
November 25, 2024 at 6:38 PM
Your map’s legend can be turned into a histogram, helping your audience understand the distribution in addition to decoding the colours.
Reposted by Roger Shaw
“Regardless of who understood it, was the beauty ever up for debate?” Richards on Basho www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Review | Robbie Basho was a cult guitarist searching for a cult
Robbie Basho was a visionary guitarist who failed to find wide acclaim. A new set of lost recordings frames his music’s beauty as the result of tireless toil.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 28, 2024 at 4:02 PM
“Regardless of who understood it, was the beauty ever up for debate?” Richards on Basho www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Reposted by Roger Shaw
In Taiwan, years back, some civic hackers created the Gov0 campaign (or g0v) in which they got the domain name g0v.tw (it's a zero in the middle) and created alternatives to every gov website of what they would do if they were in charge. Anyone could see the plans by replacing the o with the 0.
Form the equivalent of a "shadow cabinet": have a spokesperson to shadow every significant official in the Administration, and make sure that person speaks out and counters every statement, decision and policy in their "portfolio". Give the media a focus/contact point on everything.
February 3, 2025 at 4:52 AM
In Taiwan, years back, some civic hackers created the Gov0 campaign (or g0v) in which they got the domain name g0v.tw (it's a zero in the middle) and created alternatives to every gov website of what they would do if they were in charge. Anyone could see the plans by replacing the o with the 0.
Reposted by Roger Shaw
A sick sunfish stopped eating after its aquarium closed for renovations so the staff put cutouts of humans and pictures of smiling faces outside the tank and then it started eating the next day. [apnews.com]
Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts
A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fish tank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations.
apnews.com
January 23, 2025 at 2:06 PM
A sick sunfish stopped eating after its aquarium closed for renovations so the staff put cutouts of humans and pictures of smiling faces outside the tank and then it started eating the next day. [apnews.com]
Reposted by Roger Shaw
Commuting on the local Amtrak route is fast, comfortable, and mostly convenient. But too few trains running daily, and unforeseen accidents, can make it challenging to be a regular passenger.
I Traveled Between Durham and Raleigh on Amtrak. It Was Great, Until It Wasn't.
I traveled between Durham and Raleigh on Amtrak. It was great, until it wasn’t.
indyweek.com
January 17, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Commuting on the local Amtrak route is fast, comfortable, and mostly convenient. But too few trains running daily, and unforeseen accidents, can make it challenging to be a regular passenger.
Every frame a painting. This is art. @lukewinkie.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/music/articl...
On board the Creed cruise: the unfathomable return of the ‘worst band of the 90s’
The long read: I took a cruise with thousands of fellow lunatics to find out how this much-mocked rock band became so beloved
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Every frame a painting. This is art. @lukewinkie.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/music/articl...
The title is inflammatory clickbait, but the idea of ‘democracy by lottery’ has been interesting for me to chew on in the months since I first read this. www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Case for Abolishing Elections - Boston Review
They may seem the cornerstone of democracy, but in reality they do little to promote it. There's a far better way to empower ordinary citizens: democracy by lottery.
www.bostonreview.net
January 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The title is inflammatory clickbait, but the idea of ‘democracy by lottery’ has been interesting for me to chew on in the months since I first read this. www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...