Alice Sheppard
@penguingalaxy.bsky.social
Citizen scientist, Brit in Sweden, endless maker of soup for babies. Galaxy Zoo turned me into a penguin. Always looking for more galaxies.
Apropos of absolutely nothing, I thought some of you might enjoy seeing a lot of toy octopuses 🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙
November 10, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Apropos of absolutely nothing, I thought some of you might enjoy seeing a lot of toy octopuses 🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙
Ya daftypuss 😆🥰
November 10, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Ya daftypuss 😆🥰
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
Who called it a colonoscopy and not a colitiscope?
November 9, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Who called it a colonoscopy and not a colitiscope?
Bollocks … and I just had a bloody vaccination against it 5 days ago 🙄
November 9, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Bollocks … and I just had a bloody vaccination against it 5 days ago 🙄
A very sweet essay about what it's like to expect one thing and to get quite another www.emilyperlkingsley.com/welcome-to-h...
Welcome To Holland — Emily Perl Kingsley
www.emilyperlkingsley.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:31 PM
A very sweet essay about what it's like to expect one thing and to get quite another www.emilyperlkingsley.com/welcome-to-h...
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
Generative AI is ruining my motivation to teach. It is not a bold new era of information that I'm excited to see my students explore. It's a cheat that prevents them from thinking. It lets them avoid even a moment of confusion and struggle, necessary to process new ideas.
November 8, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Generative AI is ruining my motivation to teach. It is not a bold new era of information that I'm excited to see my students explore. It's a cheat that prevents them from thinking. It lets them avoid even a moment of confusion and struggle, necessary to process new ideas.
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
I will henceforth only respect TV journalists who, after getting a typical response from a politician, follow up with:
"Cool. That's not what I asked you tho."
"Cool. That's not what I asked you tho."
November 6, 2025 at 11:51 PM
I will henceforth only respect TV journalists who, after getting a typical response from a politician, follow up with:
"Cool. That's not what I asked you tho."
"Cool. That's not what I asked you tho."
More people came to my daughter's birthday party than to my husband's and my wedding 😂
This COULD be because our daughter is cuter and more popular than us. Or it could be that Stockholm has better housing than London and we could accommodate more people into our flat here. You decide.
This COULD be because our daughter is cuter and more popular than us. Or it could be that Stockholm has better housing than London and we could accommodate more people into our flat here. You decide.
November 6, 2025 at 8:33 PM
More people came to my daughter's birthday party than to my husband's and my wedding 😂
This COULD be because our daughter is cuter and more popular than us. Or it could be that Stockholm has better housing than London and we could accommodate more people into our flat here. You decide.
This COULD be because our daughter is cuter and more popular than us. Or it could be that Stockholm has better housing than London and we could accommodate more people into our flat here. You decide.
Whoops-a-daisy.
Made chocolate fudgy icing for my daughter's birthday cake ... but poured it on while it was too hot and runny and instead of staying on the cake, it went *everywhere*.
Too late to make another one. It'll still taste nice.
Made chocolate fudgy icing for my daughter's birthday cake ... but poured it on while it was too hot and runny and instead of staying on the cake, it went *everywhere*.
Too late to make another one. It'll still taste nice.
November 6, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Whoops-a-daisy.
Made chocolate fudgy icing for my daughter's birthday cake ... but poured it on while it was too hot and runny and instead of staying on the cake, it went *everywhere*.
Too late to make another one. It'll still taste nice.
Made chocolate fudgy icing for my daughter's birthday cake ... but poured it on while it was too hot and runny and instead of staying on the cake, it went *everywhere*.
Too late to make another one. It'll still taste nice.
Blimey, only 2 hours and this project is finished! (Either that or I've finished classifying the pictures?!) It's good to know that so many people really want to help. I imagine there'll be another phase of looking specifically for damage to infrastructure. I don't know yet.
Oh this is nice. Just got this in an email. The Planetary Response Network and @zooniverse.bsky.social are asking the public to help map out area affected by Hurricane Melissa to assist with humanitarian work www.zooniverse.org/projects/ali...
Zooniverse
The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research.
www.zooniverse.org
November 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Blimey, only 2 hours and this project is finished! (Either that or I've finished classifying the pictures?!) It's good to know that so many people really want to help. I imagine there'll be another phase of looking specifically for damage to infrastructure. I don't know yet.
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
Maximum-likelihood image reconstruction is also not "AI".
I just saw a clickbait article about how "AI helped fix JWST's blurry vision." For the record, JWST's vision is just fine! This article is talking about a quirky mode of one instrument that doesn't work well and which few astronomers use anyway. JWST is doing great - at the peak of its game!
November 5, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Maximum-likelihood image reconstruction is also not "AI".
Oh this is nice. Just got this in an email. The Planetary Response Network and @zooniverse.bsky.social are asking the public to help map out area affected by Hurricane Melissa to assist with humanitarian work www.zooniverse.org/projects/ali...
Zooniverse
The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research.
www.zooniverse.org
November 5, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Oh this is nice. Just got this in an email. The Planetary Response Network and @zooniverse.bsky.social are asking the public to help map out area affected by Hurricane Melissa to assist with humanitarian work www.zooniverse.org/projects/ali...
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
Why do the racists hate New York and London?
Because both cities are an incredible mix of different people and both cities are incredibly successful.
Because both cities are an incredible mix of different people and both cities are incredibly successful.
Mamdani: "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant."
November 5, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Why do the racists hate New York and London?
Because both cities are an incredible mix of different people and both cities are incredibly successful.
Because both cities are an incredible mix of different people and both cities are incredibly successful.
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
Good things are possible and we don’t have to settle.
November 5, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Good things are possible and we don’t have to settle.
One of these things where you've had something like this in your mind for a while but hadn't put it into words and didn't know all these interesting details. Long live the city!
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
November 5, 2025 at 8:18 AM
One of these things where you've had something like this in your mind for a while but hadn't put it into words and didn't know all these interesting details. Long live the city!
Congratulations New York! Just heard while getting kid ready for preschool, so pleased all the way from Sweden 🙂
November 5, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Congratulations New York! Just heard while getting kid ready for preschool, so pleased all the way from Sweden 🙂
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
Deaf and Deaf-adjacent folks, I need some help.
I have a student who needs to hire a writing coach that specialises in helping folks who are primarily ASL speakers write in English. Where do I look to find one who is able to assist with dissertation-level academic writing? Does anyone know someone?
I have a student who needs to hire a writing coach that specialises in helping folks who are primarily ASL speakers write in English. Where do I look to find one who is able to assist with dissertation-level academic writing? Does anyone know someone?
November 4, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Deaf and Deaf-adjacent folks, I need some help.
I have a student who needs to hire a writing coach that specialises in helping folks who are primarily ASL speakers write in English. Where do I look to find one who is able to assist with dissertation-level academic writing? Does anyone know someone?
I have a student who needs to hire a writing coach that specialises in helping folks who are primarily ASL speakers write in English. Where do I look to find one who is able to assist with dissertation-level academic writing? Does anyone know someone?
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
We see something similar in the UK.
Most benefits go to people IN WORK.
Because there are not enough properly paid jobs.
Rather than insisting employers pay decent wages, governments use taxpayers’ money to subsidise employers who don’t.
Welfare was not meant to support employers.
This is wrong
Most benefits go to people IN WORK.
Because there are not enough properly paid jobs.
Rather than insisting employers pay decent wages, governments use taxpayers’ money to subsidise employers who don’t.
Welfare was not meant to support employers.
This is wrong
The fact a *single* Amazon full-time employee requires SNAP benefits should be a crime. The fact Amazon is the largest employer of SNAP recipients is a disgrace. Jeff Bezos shouldnt be that rich; he should be in jail.
November 4, 2025 at 9:36 AM
We see something similar in the UK.
Most benefits go to people IN WORK.
Because there are not enough properly paid jobs.
Rather than insisting employers pay decent wages, governments use taxpayers’ money to subsidise employers who don’t.
Welfare was not meant to support employers.
This is wrong
Most benefits go to people IN WORK.
Because there are not enough properly paid jobs.
Rather than insisting employers pay decent wages, governments use taxpayers’ money to subsidise employers who don’t.
Welfare was not meant to support employers.
This is wrong
Me: "Are you looking at opinions that aren't worth reading?"
Husband: "Yes. How did you know?"
Me: "Well, you told me about one earlier. And now you're looking at your phone and sighing and rolling your eyes and generally looking like you could be doing something much better."
Husband: "Yes. How did you know?"
Me: "Well, you told me about one earlier. And now you're looking at your phone and sighing and rolling your eyes and generally looking like you could be doing something much better."
November 3, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Me: "Are you looking at opinions that aren't worth reading?"
Husband: "Yes. How did you know?"
Me: "Well, you told me about one earlier. And now you're looking at your phone and sighing and rolling your eyes and generally looking like you could be doing something much better."
Husband: "Yes. How did you know?"
Me: "Well, you told me about one earlier. And now you're looking at your phone and sighing and rolling your eyes and generally looking like you could be doing something much better."
Well I wanted to get to my laptop earlier but
November 3, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Well I wanted to get to my laptop earlier but
You should totally buy some of these, I did and they look FANTASTIC, they're on really nice paper and Amelia makes such lovely parcels. My parents are going to have some raised eyebrows this Christmas.
#sorrynotsorry
Fowl-mouthed [sic] Christmas cards anyone?
#ukgiftam #bsnm #christmas #shopindie #mhhsbd
dippyfishcards.etsy.com/listing/6575...
Fowl-mouthed [sic] Christmas cards anyone?
#ukgiftam #bsnm #christmas #shopindie #mhhsbd
dippyfishcards.etsy.com/listing/6575...
November 3, 2025 at 5:17 PM
You should totally buy some of these, I did and they look FANTASTIC, they're on really nice paper and Amelia makes such lovely parcels. My parents are going to have some raised eyebrows this Christmas.
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
Journalist friends, please, banish "scientists are baffled" from your vocabulary.
In this article, the scientists clearly explain what happened. No one is baffled. It's sad but not the slighest bit baffling.
In this article, the scientists clearly explain what happened. No one is baffled. It's sad but not the slighest bit baffling.
November 3, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Journalist friends, please, banish "scientists are baffled" from your vocabulary.
In this article, the scientists clearly explain what happened. No one is baffled. It's sad but not the slighest bit baffling.
In this article, the scientists clearly explain what happened. No one is baffled. It's sad but not the slighest bit baffling.
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
This is from Autocracy, Inc, about how modern autocratic propaganda works.
I consider this every time I decide what to share and how to frame it.
I consider this every time I decide what to share and how to frame it.
November 2, 2025 at 12:04 PM
This is from Autocracy, Inc, about how modern autocratic propaganda works.
I consider this every time I decide what to share and how to frame it.
I consider this every time I decide what to share and how to frame it.
Reposted by Alice Sheppard
This is such a fascinating and useful approach to studying modern life in low Earth orbit. There has never been an international, multidisciplinary collaborative science project anything like the ISS before, and I desperately hope it won’t be the last.
25 Years of the International Space Station: What archaeology tells us about living and working in space 🧪 🏺 🔭 #SpaceArchaeology
25 Years of the International Space Station: What archaeology tells us about living and working in space
Archaeologists have studied how astronauts use the International Space Station to improve its potential future successors.
theconversation.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:36 AM
This is such a fascinating and useful approach to studying modern life in low Earth orbit. There has never been an international, multidisciplinary collaborative science project anything like the ISS before, and I desperately hope it won’t be the last.