Rachel Mac
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racmac.bsky.social
Rachel Mac
@racmac.bsky.social
130 followers 650 following 7 posts
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Reposted by Rachel Mac
bcmerchant.bsky.social
Spotify is garbage on every count: Its treatment of artists, its ICE advertising, the CEO's investment in military AI, its leading role in the commodification and AI slopification of music, its terrible audio quality—you name it.

So I quit, and put together a complete guide to getting off Spotify:
How to quit Spotify
This Black Friday, here's a guide to finding the best Spotify alternative
www.bloodinthemachine.com
December 3, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
brittanytrang.com
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
racmac.bsky.social
Fabulous
soozuk.bsky.social Sooz Kempner @soozuk.bsky.social · Oct 18
🧵Some real Jilly Cooper quotes from her Rutshire Chronicles, the series of books that Rivals is from.

1) "Her breasts swayed like party balloons when the front door opens"
October 6, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
gkfunkdub.bsky.social
Mutant Disco mix, has a very high cowbell quotient, artwork by 3DJ & tracklist for the Bluesky crew, listen in!

www.mixcloud.com/funkdub/disc...
Mutant Disco logo - using the colour scheme & flash of the recent Funkdub logo, combined with the DFA aesthetic 1. Cristina - Drive My Car (DJ Steef's Mutant Disco Edit) 2. Pixeltan - Get Up / Say What (DFA Remix) 3. LCD Soundsystem - Disco Infiltrator 4. Crooked Man - It's My Pleasure Part 2 (Generalisation Edit) 5. Soulwax - NY Lipps (Kawazaki DUB) 6. Giorgio Moroder - On The Radio (feat Amor - DJ Pierre remix) 7. Queen - Invisible Man (Man Power's Power Rework) 8. Theus Mago & Curses - Antidoto 9. Fcukers - Homie Don't Shake 10. lan Dury & the Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (Bleaching Agent Japan to Yucatan Edit) 11. MADMADMAD - Spin Wave 12. Working Men's Club - Teeth (Gabe Gurnsey Remix) 13. LCD Soundsystem - Us V Them
September 4, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
oddthisday.bsky.social
Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out
A man with a spectacular 1970s mullet, wearing big wellies and a v-neck jumper over a T-shirt, looks at camera as he stands on a boat which is itself standing on the muddy bottom of an empty canal. He is holding up an enormous wooden plug on a long chunky chain
August 10, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
ramiismail.com
Bye forever, WeTransfer.
WeTransfer TOS says they can use all your uploaded content for genAI
July 14, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
mwhoyle96.bsky.social
"Confusion today as budget retail chain poundland accidentally sold itself for £1"
June 12, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
adamjkucharski.bsky.social
Ever since I dug into this story while researching Proof, and realised I was doing tea sub-optimally, I’ve been overthinking all other hot drink making…

www.wired.com/story/how-a-...
How a Cup of Tea Laid the Foundations for Modern Statistical Analysis
Scientific experiments run today are based on research practices that evolved out of a British tea-tasting experiment in the 1920s.
www.wired.com
June 2, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
gidmk.bsky.social
I'm reading the report behind these headlines about glyphosate and it may be the most scientifically illiterate thing I've come across (although it's a close thing with the recent MAHA report). 1/n
June 2, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
hankgreen.bsky.social
The new Neil Halloran documentary on Smallpox has completely changed how I see the RFK Jr. version of the world. Neil (softly) argues that realizing that disease isn't the fault of the sick /or/ the fault of the Gods ushered in a new future where we felt the authority to care for each other.
May 17, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
whatthetrans.com
Planned action!

Protest planned at parliament square on Saturday at 1pm to protest supreme court ruling.
Boadicea and Her Daughters. Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2JH 4.6 Sculpture g.co URGENT: Join Us in Parliament Square This Saturday 1pm- Stand for Trans Rights Dear Friends, We need your support now more than ever. This Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Parliament Square, there will be a critical protest in support of trans rights, following the recent Supreme Court decision that threatens the recognition and dignity of trans people across the UK. sure no one misses it!!! SHARE SHARE SHARE!!! I'll share some social media graphics soon for you to post. By 6pm Let's show up and show out for trans lives. See you in Parliament Square this Saturday. Meeting Point: Boadicea and Her Daughters Statue - https://g.co/kgs /pkDwGp3 Trans women are women Trans men are men Non-binary people exist and deserve rights too UNISON branches are supporting this protest, and we are calling on every member, friend, and ally to join us in solidarity. We need a huge turnout to show that we will not stand by while rights are taken from our family. Please reach out to everyone you know- colleagues, friends, family, union members - and ask them to come along. Bring signs, bring energy, and most importantly, bring your voice. This is very last minute, so we need everyone to shout about this protest as loudly and widely as possible. Share it with your networks, post it online, tell your friends. let's make sure no one misses it!!! SHARE SHARE SHARE!!!
April 16, 2025 at 3:23 PM
racmac.bsky.social
I could watch this all day.
garius.bsky.social John Bull @garius.bsky.social · Apr 3
I'll take any excuse to post the Pokemons dancing to Orinoco Flow again.
April 3, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
helenczerski.bsky.social
Great stuff here from @adamrutherford.bsky.social on the science (or not) of what 23andMe was actually doing & why.

The real question is about the vast amount of genetic data they collected. It will get sold to someone - but who, and what will *they* use it for?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
As a geneticist, I will not mourn 23andMe and its jumble of useless health information | Adam Rutherford
Millions paid to give away their most personal data. At least in return they found out more about their earwax, says academic and author Adam Rutherford
www.theguardian.com
March 27, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
gkfunkdub.bsky.social
New Mix - 40 minutes, 17 tracks, party hip hop and all that business:

www.mixcloud.com/funkdub/put-...
Ident for the new Funkdub mux “PUT ‘EM UP, STICK ‘EM UP” by G-Kush - featuring a cream coloured gun
March 7, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
carnage4life.bsky.social
The coolest thing I’ve seen today is that a bunch of volunteer public health professionals and developers have restored the CDC website from before January 20th 2025.

This differs from an archive in that they want to rebuild the links between pages and replicate the full website.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
restoredcdc.org
March 9, 2025 at 1:11 PM
racmac.bsky.social
I didn't have it as bad as this, but I can definitely relate.
adrianaguatame.bsky.social Adriana Guatame-García @adrianaguatame.bsky.social · Mar 6
A friend included this anti-acknowledgement section on her PhD thesis. She also added the proposition: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.”
Absurd we still need to go through this
🧪👩‍🔬
There have been people less than helpful in my journey here. I wanted to acknowledge those too, bc I know I am not unique in this experience. No thank you to the physics study assoc that made me sing songs about how women couldn't study physics without sleeping with the professor, the day I stepped into university life. No thank you to the 5th year physics student that decided to assign me a stripper name within the first minute of meeting me in the physics coffee corner in my first year. No thank you to the technician that was responsible for onboarding me on the use of the cluster in my third year who raised his eyebrows and asked me if that meant I was some sort of computer girl. No thank you to the senior researcher that sent me utterly inappropriate texts after a conference, then proceeded to apologise months later by telling me they had not been meant for me anyway so no hard feelings remain hopefully And no thank you to him for attending every conference I've been to since. No thank you to the people who told me that it was surprising that I was doing a PhD since I was a girl. No thank you to the man who mistook me for a coffee lady at a conference, and after having to correct him two times that I did not work there, responded with you should consider it. No thank you to the researcher that asked me what I was wearing underneath my outfit during a conference. No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists don't know how to design an experiment. No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent. And finally, no thank you to the exec board of the TU Delft, whose knee-jerk reaction to being held up a mirror about the social safety at the university, was to sue the party holding up the mirror instead of looking at the problems they highlighted. ... You have made me feel like I do not belong in science & I cannot forgive you for that.
March 6, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
traceydepellegrin.bsky.social
my first bsky post!

scientific societies are advocating as hard as we can right now to preserve and protect science & researchers. your individual (and collective) voices matter.

raise 'em.
A Call to Action: Learn what you can do now to protect science
A message to the GSA Community from The Executive Committee of the Genetics Society of America
genestogenomes.org
February 19, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
riotgrlerin.bsky.social
just over here photoshopping muppets onto the cover of elle magazine: thread
Beaker as Dua Lipa on the cover of Elle magazine.
February 7, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
paulilett.bsky.social
The Cass Review has been discredited internationally. It’s only in the UK that the government continues to promote it as a credible report. Please sign this petition.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
Petition: An independent evaluation of the Cass review on child gender services
We believe that trans healthcare should be based on unbiased research that is peer reviewed. We think that the Cass review's findings have led to restrictive practices that are being directly felt by ...
petition.parliament.uk
January 16, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
georgemonbiot.bsky.social
1. As Zuckerberg abandons fact checking in the name of “free speech”, let’s take a moment to examine this concept. 🧵
January 8, 2025 at 6:53 AM
racmac.bsky.social
Important research
samillingworth.com Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Dec 24
🎄🦌 Santa’s research tips!

Even Santa needs clear research questions! This fun commentary highlights how precise trial design - like testing mince pies vs. carrots - can optimise outcomes.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#Christmas #SciComm #ResearchDesign 🧪
All I want for Christmas…is a precisely defined research question - Trials
link.springer.com
December 24, 2024 at 6:24 PM
racmac.bsky.social
Fascinating and concerning thread.
altmetric.com Altmetric @altmetric.com · Dec 19
THREAD

This Is The Story Of The The Pernicious Rise of AI-Generated Papers and their Online Impact

An Incomplete History Told In The Voice of Documentarian Adam Curtis
1/31
Adam Curtis Title Card: We Too Are Trapped In A System. Text over a background of a large office building
December 20, 2024 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
catsofyore.bsky.social
Posting this again because a lot of people said they found it helpful! Guide to ALT text: www.perkins.org/resource/how...
ALT text copied and pasted from the linked website: An infographic titled “How To Write Alt Text” featuring a photo of a capybara. Parts of alt text are divided by color, including identify who, expression, description, colour, and interesting features. The finished description reads “A capybara looking relaxed in a hot spa. Yellow yuzu fruits are floating in the water, and one is balanced on the top of the capybara’s head.”
April 19, 2024 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Rachel Mac
paulisci.bsky.social
A List of Things People Blamed on Jazz

🧵
November 15, 2024 at 9:18 PM