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@porcoesphino.bsky.social

270 followers 470 following 1.2K posts

Exploring the world • Programmer • Flying • Scuba Ex-mechatronics grad learning more about geology and biology and refreshing my maths and physics (Also, set "alt text before posting" in accessibility.) https://porcoesphino.github.io/phylogeny/

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · Nov 30

I had to stop to film this during my Thanksgiving drive

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 19h

Sounds a lot like ramping up to sort of genocide that the Germans did to the Jews

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 20h

Reading this now. It’s the opinion explaining the reason for granting a TRO (the order came out yesterday) against the National Guard deployment in Illinois. It begins with a quote from Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers against the idea.

Big Cases Bot @bigcases.bots.law · 20h

New filing: "Illinois v. Trump (national guard deployment)"
Doc #70: memorandum opinion and order

Download PDF | View Full Case

#CL71559895

Thumbnail of page 1 of the PDF linked above.

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 20h

For anyone looking for context, Trump seems to be referring to China adding export controls to rare earth metals:

www.ft.com/content/c4b2...

China unveils sweeping rare-earth export controls to protect ‘national security’

Rules come ahead of expected meeting this month between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping

www.ft.com

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Gordon Pennycook @gordpennycook.bsky.social · 1d

And RFKJr has a history of using limited and weak (ostensibly) scientific findings to support positions that are consistent with his narrative. I really don't think there's a valid comparison between what he's saying and legitimate processes in science. Hence, I think the original criticism stands.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

A master class from MIT in responding to authoritarian overreach:

Your “premise … is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
… America’s leadership in science & innovation depends on independent thinking & open competition for excellence.

Dear Madam Secretary,
I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges.
We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
• MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.
• MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%.

source:
https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact

• We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.
These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 1d

And 4-13% of Dems aren't...

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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 1d

Canada isn't immune to US culture war skirmishes. Our Parliament is once again rehashing the validity of systemic discrimination.

A rule, neutral on its face, can still have a disparate impact on a specific population.

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 3d

Just openly cheering the destruction of any representation of gay people in public space. They think their power is totally unrestricted, and the entire country will support them rolling back society to the 1950s, or maybe the 1850s

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 3d

It's kind of more that Blacksky was still using some Bluesky infrastructure and they're rushing to add their own (I think its opensourced and provided by the Bluesky team, just run by Blacksky like the infrastructure they currently have).

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 3d

BEST BIG CITY IN THE US 9 YEARS IN A ROW.

While critics try to paint Chicago as something to fear, the rest of the world knows the truth — this is the best big city in America.

Best Big City: Chicago Wins Award 9th Year in a Row

Learn why Chicago was voted the Best Big City for the 9th consecutive year by exploring our vibrant culture, welcoming inclusion, and so much more.

www.choosechicago.com

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 4d

For anyone looking for a non-US alternative to image hosting, I've found PixelFed to be great so far

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Media Matters for America @mmfa.bsky.social · 4d

After Jesse Watters said last week that America needed to bomb or “maybe gas” the United Nations headquarters, the UN reached out to Fox News and Watters privately apologized. The incident is part of a much larger pattern: www.mediamatters.org/jesse-watter...

Jesse Watters' history of inflammatory and dehumanizing remarks

Fox News host Jesse Watters’ inflammatory rhetoric has reached new lows during the second Trump administration. After the right-wing prime-time host said last week that America needed to bomb or “mayb...

www.mediamatters.org

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Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 4d

Head of OLC is a former Alito clerk
www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/p...

Exclusive: Classified Justice Department opinion authorizes strikes on secret list of cartels, sources say | CNN Politics

The Trump administration has produced a classified legal opinion that justifies lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers, according to multiple peop...

www.cnn.com

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wordsornumbers.bsky.social @wordsornumbers.bsky.social · 5d

“Trump’s incoherent ramblings about Osama Bin Laden raises new concerns about Biden’s cognitive decline.”

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Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 5d

Dancing across the sky. #photography

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competentposter @competentposter.bsky.social · 6d

wizard frog is insane

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Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · 5d

Jane Goodall offers sage advice for the rest of us. #3E

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 6d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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WatchYourRepsSC @watchyourrepssc.bsky.social · 5d

He is so clueless. He sold out Afghanistan to the Taliban and was too chicken to join the military during Vietnam.

He's never been politically correct, but now we have his permission to say what we want, and he cannot arrest anyone for their free speech.

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 5d

Yeah, this. Everyone that is complaining about the Dems not doing enough kind of seem to be ignoring how if they did, based on the polls, it would look bad. Even having them aiming to show more of what's happening has a pretty high risk of backfiring I think. Still, I think they really should be

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Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 6d

Robert Goddard, rocketry and space flight pioneer, was born #OTD in 1882.
🧪🔭🚀

After a 1926 liquid-fuel launch:
"It looked almost magical as it rose, without any appreciably greater noise or flame, as if it said, 'I've been here long enough; I think I'll be going somewhere else if you don't mind.’”

Goddard, in a heavy long coat, standing next to his wire frame liquid fuel rocket prototype. It is winter out, with bare branches and cloudy skies.

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The Upshot @upshot.nytimes.com · 5d

Who Still Has Temporary Protected Status in the U.S.?

Conflicting court rulings have plunged hundreds of thousands of people with temporary protection from deportation into uncertainty.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/u...

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 7d

An edit would be lovely: and that's huge

porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 7d

I thought these were meta tags with property="og:image" and content set to the image. Is it just that the server response fills in the profile image, and thats hugs. The server just needs to point to a smaller one?

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porcoesphino.bsky.social @porcoesphino.bsky.social · 7d

SMBC is great, here's the link to that comic:

smbc-comics.com/index.php?db...

And @zachweinersmith.bsky.social is on here and is worth following too

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - AAA

smbc-comics.com