Ralph Drayton
@rddrayton.bsky.social
Historian of science and medicine, esp. c.1250-1700, esp. France, esp. medical authority, astrology, religion, and magic
Portland, Oregon, the biofilm
Portland, Oregon, the biofilm
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Word of the Day is ‘catchfart’ (17th century): an obsequious individual who sucks up to the boss and always follows the political wind.
November 7, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Word of the Day is ‘catchfart’ (17th century): an obsequious individual who sucks up to the boss and always follows the political wind.
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
Defense says that the officer's testimony was "very questionable" because he said the sandwich both exploded in spray of mustard and onions and also landed in its wrapper on the ground.
November 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 3:33 AM
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
From this time last year
November 1, 2025 at 6:38 PM
From this time last year
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
"Many of the deals OpenAI has struck — with chipmakers, cloud computing companies and others — are strangely circular. OpenAI receives billions from tech companies before sending those billions back to the same companies to pay for computing power and other services." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
How OpenAI Uses Complex and Circular Deals to Fuel Its Multibillion-Dollar Rise
Here are seven unusual financial agreements helping to drive the ambitions of the poster child of the A.I. revolution.
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:58 AM
"Many of the deals OpenAI has struck — with chipmakers, cloud computing companies and others — are strangely circular. OpenAI receives billions from tech companies before sending those billions back to the same companies to pay for computing power and other services." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
My latest: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Cleaning the scientific house: Rebuilding trust in science requires confronting the harms of ghostwriting
American science is under attack. Recent cuts to funding and staffing of federal agencies, layoffs of scientists, and rescission of billions of dollars in grants are unprecedented in US history and th...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:52 PM
My latest: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning
Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
October 27, 2025 at 10:19 PM
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
A grave of a Roman physician in Bingen dating to the 2nd c. AD contained a remarkable set of medical instruments, including cupping cups with a stand in the shape of a grapevine.
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2
📷 me
🏺
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2
📷 me
🏺
October 22, 2025 at 7:06 AM
A grave of a Roman physician in Bingen dating to the 2nd c. AD contained a remarkable set of medical instruments, including cupping cups with a stand in the shape of a grapevine.
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2
📷 me
🏺
These cups were used for therapeutic suction or bloodletting, a practice with deep roots in Greco-Roman . 🧵1/ 2
📷 me
🏺
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Baltimore high school student Taki Allen was swarmed by police after an artificial intelligence system apparently mistook his bag of Doritos for a gun www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
October 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Baltimore high school student Taki Allen was swarmed by police after an artificial intelligence system apparently mistook his bag of Doritos for a gun www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Here's a photo of my friend and colleague, Jorge Bautista, getting shot in the face with a flashbang grenade. The ICE Agent is so afraid of Jorge (who was posing no threat) that he has wet himself. Please share this photo. Everyone needs to know what cowards ICE agents are.
October 23, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Here's a photo of my friend and colleague, Jorge Bautista, getting shot in the face with a flashbang grenade. The ICE Agent is so afraid of Jorge (who was posing no threat) that he has wet himself. Please share this photo. Everyone needs to know what cowards ICE agents are.
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
the most popular smartphone maker in history literally had to stop using "AI" because it would constantly just make things up and had zero contextual "understanding" of what it was doing
October 21, 2025 at 10:19 PM
the most popular smartphone maker in history literally had to stop using "AI" because it would constantly just make things up and had zero contextual "understanding" of what it was doing
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
(Talk) The Body and the Stars. New Evidence on Early Modern Astro-Medicine in the Manuscripts of the Vitali Archive histoiresante.blogspot.com/2025/10/le-c... #histmed
October 19, 2025 at 12:51 PM
(Talk) The Body and the Stars. New Evidence on Early Modern Astro-Medicine in the Manuscripts of the Vitali Archive histoiresante.blogspot.com/2025/10/le-c... #histmed
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.
October 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
New fantastic @nursingclio.bsky.social ER post from Kathleen Crowther: "Trump, Tylenol, and 2000 Years of Bad Advice" 💊
nursingclio.org/2025/10/16/t...
nursingclio.org/2025/10/16/t...
Trump, Tylenol, and 2000 Years of Bad Advice
On Monday, September 22, President Trump, flanked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., stated that pregnant women should not take Tylenol because fetal exposure to acetaminophen causes autism…
nursingclio.org
October 16, 2025 at 5:15 PM
New fantastic @nursingclio.bsky.social ER post from Kathleen Crowther: "Trump, Tylenol, and 2000 Years of Bad Advice" 💊
nursingclio.org/2025/10/16/t...
nursingclio.org/2025/10/16/t...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
Oriana Korol, a clarinetist with the Unpresidented Brass Band, was arrested after a man and federal agents barreled into band members who were standing across the street from the ICE office and playing the theme from “Ghostbusters.”
Read more: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
Read more: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
October 16, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Oriana Korol, a clarinetist with the Unpresidented Brass Band, was arrested after a man and federal agents barreled into band members who were standing across the street from the ICE office and playing the theme from “Ghostbusters.”
Read more: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
Read more: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson calls Sunday's naked bike ride in protest of the Portland ICE facility and and Trump troop deployment "the most threatening thing I’ve seen yet"
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
October 14, 2025 at 11:41 PM
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson calls Sunday's naked bike ride in protest of the Portland ICE facility and and Trump troop deployment "the most threatening thing I’ve seen yet"
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
In Portland, an ambulance was summoned to the ICE office to treat an injured protester (not clear how he was injured). But when the patient was loaded inside, ICE officers refused to let the ambulance leave and threatened to shoot the ambulance driver: www.wweek.com/news/2025/10...
Documents Allege a Federal Agent at Portland ICE Threatened to Shoot an Ambulance Driver
Feds delayed medics who had come to pick up an injured protester. Then, according to confidential incident reports, the agents became aggressive.
www.wweek.com
October 13, 2025 at 2:30 PM
In Portland, an ambulance was summoned to the ICE office to treat an injured protester (not clear how he was injured). But when the patient was loaded inside, ICE officers refused to let the ambulance leave and threatened to shoot the ambulance driver: www.wweek.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
What The Hell Is Going On, a thread:
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
October 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
What The Hell Is Going On, a thread:
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand
More a comment, really […]
More a comment, really […]
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand
I actually admire Pinder.
I actually admire Pinder.
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand
Where are your gloves?
Where are your gloves?
October 13, 2025 at 2:57 AM
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand
More a comment, really […]
More a comment, really […]
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
The Evansville Press, April 10,1916
May 30, 2025 at 6:31 AM
The Evansville Press, April 10,1916
Reposted by Ralph Drayton
NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4
October 11, 2025 at 12:49 PM
NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4