David Hope
@davidhope.ca
Quantitative Biologist. Happiest on a bike or knee-deep in peat (Ottawa, Canada).
Pinned
David Hope
@davidhope.ca
· Jun 13
Had the privilege of a work trip to the Hudson Bay Coastal Lowlands this spring. Just amazing landscape up there. I'll post a few pictures here.
Reposted by David Hope
a few months ago I said "having generative AI handle absolutely anything with regards to healthcare is a nightmare and should be banned" and a bunch of people made fun of me and called me stupid. anyways,
November 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
a few months ago I said "having generative AI handle absolutely anything with regards to healthcare is a nightmare and should be banned" and a bunch of people made fun of me and called me stupid. anyways,
Reposted by David Hope
Good morning to the person who passed me on a winterized unicycle (?!) as I was walking to the LRT this morning.
November 10, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Good morning to the person who passed me on a winterized unicycle (?!) as I was walking to the LRT this morning.
Reposted by David Hope
If more of us choose cycle or ride the bus, was there even a car to begin with?
From @urbancyclinginstitute.org
From @urbancyclinginstitute.org
November 7, 2025 at 5:53 PM
If more of us choose cycle or ride the bus, was there even a car to begin with?
From @urbancyclinginstitute.org
From @urbancyclinginstitute.org
Reposted by David Hope
On the event of James Watson's death, I highly recommend this 2023 commentary from @matthewcobb.bsky.social and Nathaniel Comfort with crucial new insights into the discovery of the double helix. (And also check out Cobb's brand new biography of Francis Crick) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:25 PM
On the event of James Watson's death, I highly recommend this 2023 commentary from @matthewcobb.bsky.social and Nathaniel Comfort with crucial new insights into the discovery of the double helix. (And also check out Cobb's brand new biography of Francis Crick) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by David Hope
Because all y’all have been so supportive of my weird obsessive work:
This weekend you can use the code ALFHOG for 25% off anything in my store. 🪶📊🎨
www.jerthorp.me/category/of-...
This weekend you can use the code ALFHOG for 25% off anything in my store. 🪶📊🎨
www.jerthorp.me/category/of-...
November 7, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Because all y’all have been so supportive of my weird obsessive work:
This weekend you can use the code ALFHOG for 25% off anything in my store. 🪶📊🎨
www.jerthorp.me/category/of-...
This weekend you can use the code ALFHOG for 25% off anything in my store. 🪶📊🎨
www.jerthorp.me/category/of-...
Reposted by David Hope
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
DNA scientist James Watson has a remarkably long history of sexist, racist public comments
“People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty,” he said in 2003. “I think it would be great.”
www.vox.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
Reposted by David Hope
Like many others, I am disappointed and angry about the decision by @cyclinguk.bsky.social to change the eligibility criteria for Women in Cycling 2025 to exclude trans women.
Trans women are women 🏳️⚧️
I have requested for my name and face to be removed.
www.cyclingweekly.com/news/do-we-n...
Trans women are women 🏳️⚧️
I have requested for my name and face to be removed.
www.cyclingweekly.com/news/do-we-n...
'Do we need to exclude people even more?' – Cycling UK's 100 Women in Cycling criticised for not accepting nominations for trans women
Cycling charity say that only biological women can be on list
www.cyclingweekly.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Like many others, I am disappointed and angry about the decision by @cyclinguk.bsky.social to change the eligibility criteria for Women in Cycling 2025 to exclude trans women.
Trans women are women 🏳️⚧️
I have requested for my name and face to be removed.
www.cyclingweekly.com/news/do-we-n...
Trans women are women 🏳️⚧️
I have requested for my name and face to be removed.
www.cyclingweekly.com/news/do-we-n...
Reposted by David Hope
Hi Bluesky 👋
Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP
It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history
I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP
It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history
I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
November 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Hi Bluesky 👋
Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP
It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history
I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP
It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history
I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
Reposted by David Hope
There's some really big caveats to this. A thread.
New: Google says it has discovered at least 5 malware families that use AI to rewrite their code and generate new capabilities on the fly, suggesting AI-powered malware is finally starting to take off. cloud.google.com/blog/topics/...
Report also has interesting stories about state actors' AI use.
Report also has interesting stories about state actors' AI use.
November 5, 2025 at 3:52 PM
There's some really big caveats to this. A thread.
Reposted by David Hope
I’ve been writing R since 2008 and somehow NEVER noticed that functions can literally call themselves in some sort of evil self-recursion.
I don't remember ever seeing this thing in the wild!
#rstats
I don't remember ever seeing this thing in the wild!
#rstats
November 6, 2025 at 11:36 AM
I’ve been writing R since 2008 and somehow NEVER noticed that functions can literally call themselves in some sort of evil self-recursion.
I don't remember ever seeing this thing in the wild!
#rstats
I don't remember ever seeing this thing in the wild!
#rstats
I'm an expert at Bad Bird Photos, but actually like the way this one turned out.
November 6, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I'm an expert at Bad Bird Photos, but actually like the way this one turned out.
Reposted by David Hope
An alarming sidelight on the back doors AI is opening up into scientific publications: not paper factories, but insta-comments for the letters pages.
If you work with or rely on academic journals - don't miss this strange, funny, horrifying story about what happened when @carloschaccour.bsky.social published a paper on a malaria breakthrough in a prestigious journal – and AI came for the letters page. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/s...
The Editor Got a Letter From ‘Dr. B.S.’ So Did a Lot of Other Editors.
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:43 AM
An alarming sidelight on the back doors AI is opening up into scientific publications: not paper factories, but insta-comments for the letters pages.
Reposted by David Hope
What if, hear me out, we supported the researchers we already have (myself & my colleagues included) who are struggling to find finding & research positions as it is, & are frequently looking outside the continent for actual opportunities?
Canada makes pitch for US researchers to relocate with $1.7bn in new funding. My story for @science.org 🧪
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Canada’s new budget aims to lure U.S. researchers to relocate
Spending plan also calls for smaller research spending cut than feared
www.science.org
November 6, 2025 at 2:32 AM
What if, hear me out, we supported the researchers we already have (myself & my colleagues included) who are struggling to find finding & research positions as it is, & are frequently looking outside the continent for actual opportunities?
Reposted by David Hope
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.
November 5, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.
Reposted by David Hope
The full transcript of Zohran Mamdani's acceptance speech is very much worth reading in full. Even if you don't agree with your politics, it's very beautifully put together.
archive.is/8VqQJ
[this is a useable link to the NYT transcript]
archive.is/8VqQJ
[this is a useable link to the NYT transcript]
November 5, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The full transcript of Zohran Mamdani's acceptance speech is very much worth reading in full. Even if you don't agree with your politics, it's very beautifully put together.
archive.is/8VqQJ
[this is a useable link to the NYT transcript]
archive.is/8VqQJ
[this is a useable link to the NYT transcript]
Reposted by David Hope
Canada budget: AI is going to do an awful lot apparently. We can cut lots of money, AI will deliver instead!
Public safety? AI will deliver
RCMP? You guessed it, AI will save the day
Fisheries? Yup
ESDC? Also on the AI train
CRA? See above
Gosh I hope this AI thing works out
Public safety? AI will deliver
RCMP? You guessed it, AI will save the day
Fisheries? Yup
ESDC? Also on the AI train
CRA? See above
Gosh I hope this AI thing works out
November 5, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Canada budget: AI is going to do an awful lot apparently. We can cut lots of money, AI will deliver instead!
Public safety? AI will deliver
RCMP? You guessed it, AI will save the day
Fisheries? Yup
ESDC? Also on the AI train
CRA? See above
Gosh I hope this AI thing works out
Public safety? AI will deliver
RCMP? You guessed it, AI will save the day
Fisheries? Yup
ESDC? Also on the AI train
CRA? See above
Gosh I hope this AI thing works out
Reposted by David Hope
Remember when Aaron Swartz downloaded JSTOR archives that he had full legal rights to download and the FBI hounded him literally to death for it? Anyway,
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
The Nonprofit Feeding the Entire Internet to AI Companies
Common Crawl claims to provide a public benefit, but it lies to publishers about its activities.
www.theatlantic.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Remember when Aaron Swartz downloaded JSTOR archives that he had full legal rights to download and the FBI hounded him literally to death for it? Anyway,
Reposted by David Hope
Imagine seeing Dick Fucking Cheney anywhere outside of an iron maiden in Hell and finding something to be nostalgic about? www.welcometohellworld.com/god-will-pun...
God will punish them
I would want to drink their blood
www.welcometohellworld.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Imagine seeing Dick Fucking Cheney anywhere outside of an iron maiden in Hell and finding something to be nostalgic about? www.welcometohellworld.com/god-will-pun...
Reposted by David Hope
I am so upset.
Last week Time Magazine solicited a piece from me on Zohran Mamdani & anti-Muslim hate. I pitched a framing re the dehumanization of Muslims & how Mamdani’s inclusive, socialist campaign in its content resists that. They agreed. I wrote the piece. 1/
Last week Time Magazine solicited a piece from me on Zohran Mamdani & anti-Muslim hate. I pitched a framing re the dehumanization of Muslims & how Mamdani’s inclusive, socialist campaign in its content resists that. They agreed. I wrote the piece. 1/
To be asked to write about racism only to be racially aggressed in the editing process is a new level unlocked I have to say.
November 3, 2025 at 9:35 PM
I am so upset.
Last week Time Magazine solicited a piece from me on Zohran Mamdani & anti-Muslim hate. I pitched a framing re the dehumanization of Muslims & how Mamdani’s inclusive, socialist campaign in its content resists that. They agreed. I wrote the piece. 1/
Last week Time Magazine solicited a piece from me on Zohran Mamdani & anti-Muslim hate. I pitched a framing re the dehumanization of Muslims & how Mamdani’s inclusive, socialist campaign in its content resists that. They agreed. I wrote the piece. 1/
Reposted by David Hope
A quick explainer on Montreal’s election:
The urbanist Projet Montréal party of outgoing mayor Valérie Plante has lost the election to the opposition Ensemble Montréal.
Projet deserves a *lot* of credit for Montreal’s transformation in the past 10 or 15 years to be more bike/pedestrian-friendly.
The urbanist Projet Montréal party of outgoing mayor Valérie Plante has lost the election to the opposition Ensemble Montréal.
Projet deserves a *lot* of credit for Montreal’s transformation in the past 10 or 15 years to be more bike/pedestrian-friendly.
November 3, 2025 at 3:49 AM
A quick explainer on Montreal’s election:
The urbanist Projet Montréal party of outgoing mayor Valérie Plante has lost the election to the opposition Ensemble Montréal.
Projet deserves a *lot* of credit for Montreal’s transformation in the past 10 or 15 years to be more bike/pedestrian-friendly.
The urbanist Projet Montréal party of outgoing mayor Valérie Plante has lost the election to the opposition Ensemble Montréal.
Projet deserves a *lot* of credit for Montreal’s transformation in the past 10 or 15 years to be more bike/pedestrian-friendly.
Reposted by David Hope
Last chance to turn it off.
On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default.
To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default.
To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
October 31, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Last chance to turn it off.
On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default.
To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default.
To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
How did this vehicle manage to get past the magical paint?
November 2, 2025 at 4:15 PM
How did this vehicle manage to get past the magical paint?
Reposted by David Hope
The art of defending oneself with a bicycle
1904 guide
1904 guide
November 1, 2025 at 9:13 PM
The art of defending oneself with a bicycle
1904 guide
1904 guide
Reposted by David Hope
Avec 470 arbres plantés et 4 000m2 de nature en plein cœur du 14e arrondissement, la place de Catalogne s'est radicalement transformée en 2024 !
November 1, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Avec 470 arbres plantés et 4 000m2 de nature en plein cœur du 14e arrondissement, la place de Catalogne s'est radicalement transformée en 2024 !