Max Helmberger
@vermivorax.bsky.social
Teacher of applied entomology. Grew up off the grid. No kings, no slavers, no Nazis, and no suburban assholes who think they're country because they drive an $80,000 pickup truck.
Reposted by Max Helmberger
InFURiating that we all have to write/think/talk about vaccines this much, outside of celebrating new successes (HPV vax largely *eliminating* cervical cancer, my god), this shit was settled as one of the great scientific and public health triumphs EVER and now these dipshits are trying to ruin it
November 30, 2025 at 12:14 AM
InFURiating that we all have to write/think/talk about vaccines this much, outside of celebrating new successes (HPV vax largely *eliminating* cervical cancer, my god), this shit was settled as one of the great scientific and public health triumphs EVER and now these dipshits are trying to ruin it
Reposted by Max Helmberger
"Elon Musk is personally responsible for the deaths of at least 400,000 children" is a stat that should be cited every time he and his pervert fanboys start yapping about birth rates
Elon Musk and the Trump administration gleefully shutting down USAID “has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children.”
People throw around terms like genocide quite freely online but it’s hard to find other words to describe this level of man-made death.
People throw around terms like genocide quite freely online but it’s hard to find other words to describe this level of man-made death.
USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The Trump administration’s decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition, accord...
hsph.harvard.edu
November 29, 2025 at 1:05 AM
"Elon Musk is personally responsible for the deaths of at least 400,000 children" is a stat that should be cited every time he and his pervert fanboys start yapping about birth rates
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Wolves
Pine martens
Bobcats
Bison
Loons
Wolves
Pine martens
Bobcats
Bison
Loons
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Moose
Humpback whales
Giraffes
African Elephants
West African or Nile monitor lizard
Moose
Humpback whales
Giraffes
African Elephants
West African or Nile monitor lizard
November 28, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Wolves
Pine martens
Bobcats
Bison
Loons
Wolves
Pine martens
Bobcats
Bison
Loons
Reposted by Max Helmberger
This isn't a military strike. This is premeditated murder and Pete Hegseth is going to spend the rest of his fucking life rotting away in the deepest hole in Leavenworth once America is liberated from this illegitimate, illegal regime.
November 28, 2025 at 6:13 PM
This isn't a military strike. This is premeditated murder and Pete Hegseth is going to spend the rest of his fucking life rotting away in the deepest hole in Leavenworth once America is liberated from this illegitimate, illegal regime.
Reposted by Max Helmberger
In another era, the political media would be shoveling dirt onto Trump's political grave as a hopeless lame duck and shifting their focus to the 2028 Presidential race. But in this era they'll keep rooting for the Reichstag Fire or other event to keep pretending he's popular
New Gallup poll shows Trump's approval hit a new low for his second term:
-36% approve
-60% disapprove
His approval among Republicans went from 91% in January to 84% in November
news.gallup.com/poll/699221/...
-36% approve
-60% disapprove
His approval among Republicans went from 91% in January to 84% in November
news.gallup.com/poll/699221/...
Trump's Approval Rating Drops to 36%, New Second-Term Low
President Donald Trump's job approval rating has slipped to a new second-term low point and is approaching his all-time low of 34%.
news.gallup.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:53 PM
In another era, the political media would be shoveling dirt onto Trump's political grave as a hopeless lame duck and shifting their focus to the 2028 Presidential race. But in this era they'll keep rooting for the Reichstag Fire or other event to keep pretending he's popular
Reposted by Max Helmberger
This is so deeply at odds with the vision and history of America. Take pretty much any ethnic or racial group that are part of the American mosaic America today - they have all faced the same accusation. The moment these accusations are turned into policy are some of the most shameful in US history
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 1:58 PM
This is so deeply at odds with the vision and history of America. Take pretty much any ethnic or racial group that are part of the American mosaic America today - they have all faced the same accusation. The moment these accusations are turned into policy are some of the most shameful in US history
The only economic anxiety Trump supporters feel is "the property values are going down because *those people* moved in"
The tribune of the poor, the downtrodden? Studies clearly indicate that Trump’s most ardent supporters, especially in poorer areas, are, by local standards, quite wealthy / financially stable. Their “economic anxiety” is mostly downstream from anxieties over racial and cultural status.
November 27, 2025 at 2:27 PM
The only economic anxiety Trump supporters feel is "the property values are going down because *those people* moved in"
BREAKING: USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins hard at work finding a turkey that's also a crypto-scamming child molester for Trump to pardon.
November 27, 2025 at 2:20 PM
BREAKING: USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins hard at work finding a turkey that's also a crypto-scamming child molester for Trump to pardon.
Reposted by Max Helmberger
The shop is back & the sale is on! ✨
15% off shopwide with "CROWN15" this whole weekend! EVERYTHING! Get some delightful buggy treats and support a tiny artist, win-win!
shop.mothmonar.ch 🐛
[#sciart #bsnm #shopsmall #insectart]
15% off shopwide with "CROWN15" this whole weekend! EVERYTHING! Get some delightful buggy treats and support a tiny artist, win-win!
shop.mothmonar.ch 🐛
[#sciart #bsnm #shopsmall #insectart]
November 26, 2025 at 11:31 PM
The shop is back & the sale is on! ✨
15% off shopwide with "CROWN15" this whole weekend! EVERYTHING! Get some delightful buggy treats and support a tiny artist, win-win!
shop.mothmonar.ch 🐛
[#sciart #bsnm #shopsmall #insectart]
15% off shopwide with "CROWN15" this whole weekend! EVERYTHING! Get some delightful buggy treats and support a tiny artist, win-win!
shop.mothmonar.ch 🐛
[#sciart #bsnm #shopsmall #insectart]
Reposted by Max Helmberger
Generative AI will totally save the world, and I think Factor Fexcectorn will have an important role to play.
(Also: yeah, nope! What a clusterfuck. Try to be better than this, authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers)
(Also: yeah, nope! What a clusterfuck. Try to be better than this, authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers)
Uhh,,, Figure 1 shows you... what exactly? Trying to understand Medical fryrmbial, runctitional features and mum's legs going through concrete.
This whole article is a bit of a disaster. And it's very difficult to find other published work for the author. Strange! 🧪
(via @smutclyde.bsky.social)
This whole article is a bit of a disaster. And it's very difficult to find other published work for the author. Strange! 🧪
(via @smutclyde.bsky.social)
November 27, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Generative AI will totally save the world, and I think Factor Fexcectorn will have an important role to play.
(Also: yeah, nope! What a clusterfuck. Try to be better than this, authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers)
(Also: yeah, nope! What a clusterfuck. Try to be better than this, authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers)
Reposted by Max Helmberger
90% of the responses: "It's not about our public safety lies. It's just the fact they're here illegally." But that's a lie too! They're canceling millions of people's status. Every other week, it's 100K more stripped of status. FFS they're even trying to deport US-born children!
NEW data I've received: Just 5% of people detained by ICE since October 1 have had violent criminal convictions, 3/4 had no criminal convictions at all. Most "criminals" had immigration, traffic, and vice offenses. Not the "worst of the worst"...
November 27, 2025 at 1:33 AM
90% of the responses: "It's not about our public safety lies. It's just the fact they're here illegally." But that's a lie too! They're canceling millions of people's status. Every other week, it's 100K more stripped of status. FFS they're even trying to deport US-born children!
Reposted by Max Helmberger
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
To bear out this rosy projection, HSBC assumes that OpenAI will become "as ubiquitous [...] as Microsoft 365" (345mm users worldwide) while bringing in 10x the number of users (3bn).
November 25, 2025 at 11:11 PM
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
Yeah, what happens when ChatGPT for students starts saying "your professor is lying to you"?
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Yeah, what happens when ChatGPT for students starts saying "your professor is lying to you"?
Reposted by Max Helmberger
1) good, they should be prosecuted, they are responsible for countless deaths
2) always very funny when these people realize the extent to which their billionaire patrons could not possibly give less of a shit about them
2) always very funny when these people realize the extent to which their billionaire patrons could not possibly give less of a shit about them
'Suddenly exposed' DOGE employees fear prosecution after Musk abandoned them: report
www.rawstory.com/doge-employe...
www.rawstory.com/doge-employe...
'Suddenly exposed' DOGE employees fear prosecution after Musk abandoned them: report
Current and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers are growing increasingly concerned that the work they did slashing government programs and eliminating jobs will come back to hau...
www.rawstory.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:41 PM
1) good, they should be prosecuted, they are responsible for countless deaths
2) always very funny when these people realize the extent to which their billionaire patrons could not possibly give less of a shit about them
2) always very funny when these people realize the extent to which their billionaire patrons could not possibly give less of a shit about them
Even leaving aside the massive conflicts of interest and ethical breaches present in Wakefield's paper, he "asked a question" with a case report which other scientists then used actual epidemiological studies to answer with a resounding no.
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is crowing about Robert Kennedy Jr.’s CDC pushing debunked vaccine misinformation.
“Time to apologize to Dr. Andrew Wakefield and all the others who were maligned and vilified for simply asking the right questions,” he says.
Wakefield’s paper was *fraudulent.*
“Time to apologize to Dr. Andrew Wakefield and all the others who were maligned and vilified for simply asking the right questions,” he says.
Wakefield’s paper was *fraudulent.*
November 21, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Even leaving aside the massive conflicts of interest and ethical breaches present in Wakefield's paper, he "asked a question" with a case report which other scientists then used actual epidemiological studies to answer with a resounding no.
First it was "MMR causes autism via the gut". Then it was "thimerosal, which isn't in the MMR vaccine, causes autism via hormonal pathways". Then it was "aluminum, which also isn't in the MMR vaccine, causes autism via genetic pathways". Always moving the goalposts.
“Studies have not ruled out the possibility” is just code for “we can always move the goalposts and claim something else in the vaccines causes the autism”. Like yeah, no shit, you can’t prove a negative.
CDC has overhauled its website to assert that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim”
November 20, 2025 at 9:05 PM
First it was "MMR causes autism via the gut". Then it was "thimerosal, which isn't in the MMR vaccine, causes autism via hormonal pathways". Then it was "aluminum, which also isn't in the MMR vaccine, causes autism via genetic pathways". Always moving the goalposts.
Reposted by Max Helmberger
A long shot, but does anyone know of an English translation of this book? De animalibus insectis libri septem by Ulysse Aldrovando, published 1602 wellcomecollection.org/works/dbtrvx2q
November 20, 2025 at 8:34 PM
A long shot, but does anyone know of an English translation of this book? De animalibus insectis libri septem by Ulysse Aldrovando, published 1602 wellcomecollection.org/works/dbtrvx2q
Reposted by Max Helmberger
This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
The CDC website now disseminates disinformation about vaccines, claiming erroneously that infant vaccines might cause autism, when we know conclusively that they do not. It is difficult to overstate just how dangerous this is. www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
November 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
Reposted by Max Helmberger
xAI is currently in talks to raise $15 billion at a $230 billion valuation.
The flagship product is self-identified "MechaHitler" chatbot with training so warped it describes Elon Musk as more physically fit than LeBron James. It is powered by gas turbines poisoning South Memphis.
The flagship product is self-identified "MechaHitler" chatbot with training so warped it describes Elon Musk as more physically fit than LeBron James. It is powered by gas turbines poisoning South Memphis.
November 20, 2025 at 2:18 PM
xAI is currently in talks to raise $15 billion at a $230 billion valuation.
The flagship product is self-identified "MechaHitler" chatbot with training so warped it describes Elon Musk as more physically fit than LeBron James. It is powered by gas turbines poisoning South Memphis.
The flagship product is self-identified "MechaHitler" chatbot with training so warped it describes Elon Musk as more physically fit than LeBron James. It is powered by gas turbines poisoning South Memphis.
Reposted by Max Helmberger
Note for Democratic politicians: you don't have to start your condemnations of ICE raids with "We all want to catch violent criminals, but..." Just say "These raids have nothing to do with catching criminals and everything to do with terrorizing innocent minority groups."
November 20, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Note for Democratic politicians: you don't have to start your condemnations of ICE raids with "We all want to catch violent criminals, but..." Just say "These raids have nothing to do with catching criminals and everything to do with terrorizing innocent minority groups."
Reposted by Max Helmberger
i think if you want to have those disgusting LED headlights on your car, you should have to do a test where they blast you point blank with your own headlights and then you have 15 seconds to successfully complete some sort of vision-based task, and if you can't do it they push your car off a cliff
November 20, 2025 at 2:25 AM
i think if you want to have those disgusting LED headlights on your car, you should have to do a test where they blast you point blank with your own headlights and then you have 15 seconds to successfully complete some sort of vision-based task, and if you can't do it they push your car off a cliff
“Studies have not ruled out the possibility” is just code for “we can always move the goalposts and claim something else in the vaccines causes the autism”. Like yeah, no shit, you can’t prove a negative.
CDC has overhauled its website to assert that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim”
November 20, 2025 at 7:52 AM
“Studies have not ruled out the possibility” is just code for “we can always move the goalposts and claim something else in the vaccines causes the autism”. Like yeah, no shit, you can’t prove a negative.
Reposted by Max Helmberger
just outright disinformation — American Lysenkoism wreaking havoc and endangering our lives
CDC has overhauled its website to assert that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim”
November 20, 2025 at 2:32 AM
just outright disinformation — American Lysenkoism wreaking havoc and endangering our lives
Reposted by Max Helmberger
They're so fucking stupid and don't realize it. The only reason many white students can afford graduate degrees is because foreign students pay for the programs and allow them to be economically efficient. Without foreign students, many programs will now simply collapse. Genius.
The White House just blasted this out under the headline "Good News You May Have Missed"
November 19, 2025 at 11:52 PM
They're so fucking stupid and don't realize it. The only reason many white students can afford graduate degrees is because foreign students pay for the programs and allow them to be economically efficient. Without foreign students, many programs will now simply collapse. Genius.
BREAKING: Shovel company makes money in gold rush
November 19, 2025 at 9:28 PM
BREAKING: Shovel company makes money in gold rush