Brandon Bishop
@brandontbishop.bsky.social
Seismologist, investigates the Andes and subduction zones, currently complexly affiliated with St. Louis University and looking for new projects.
Replies to my geoscience posts that include ChatGPT content get hidden and get your account blocked.
Replies to my geoscience posts that include ChatGPT content get hidden and get your account blocked.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
Caseldine's paper does a good job bringing an understanding of soils and irrigation from the technical literature on that topic into the archeological literature. The disconnect in past work in AZ is evident in lots of historical and archeological literature from othe parts of the world, as well.
November 26, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Caseldine's paper does a good job bringing an understanding of soils and irrigation from the technical literature on that topic into the archeological literature. The disconnect in past work in AZ is evident in lots of historical and archeological literature from othe parts of the world, as well.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
I've been suspicious of the "Hohokam decline because of salinization" story for a long time, for some of the reasons Caseldine discusses, especially the lack of recognition that many of the salinity issues in irrigated areas are related to water table rise, not inadequate flushing of salts.
November 26, 2025 at 5:46 PM
I've been suspicious of the "Hohokam decline because of salinization" story for a long time, for some of the reasons Caseldine discusses, especially the lack of recognition that many of the salinity issues in irrigated areas are related to water table rise, not inadequate flushing of salts.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
If you write articles about library collection usage (university or public) and don’t discuss the issue of budgets, you’re doing it wrong.
November 26, 2025 at 5:13 PM
If you write articles about library collection usage (university or public) and don’t discuss the issue of budgets, you’re doing it wrong.
One surprising way to make American posters frothy is to point out the several thousand year long tradition of climate resilience in southern Arizona.
There's a deep psychic need to make deserts uninhabitable, for some reason.
There's a deep psychic need to make deserts uninhabitable, for some reason.
November 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
One surprising way to make American posters frothy is to point out the several thousand year long tradition of climate resilience in southern Arizona.
There's a deep psychic need to make deserts uninhabitable, for some reason.
There's a deep psychic need to make deserts uninhabitable, for some reason.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
Deeply troubling dukechronicle.com/article/duke...
Duke has sought to tighten faculty media engagement to minimize federal scrutiny
The messages reflect a broader University strategy: keeping Duke out of the national spotlight by exercising caution at the faculty level when it comes to politically sensitive topics.
dukechronicle.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Deeply troubling dukechronicle.com/article/duke...
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
Because yes, Thanksgiving as a national holiday has to do with the Civil War and not the Puritans or previously proclaimed days of Thanksgiving (of which there were hundreds) - so be sure, as you gather about the table, to give thanks for the victories brought by Union arms at Vicksburg & Gettysburg
November 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Because yes, Thanksgiving as a national holiday has to do with the Civil War and not the Puritans or previously proclaimed days of Thanksgiving (of which there were hundreds) - so be sure, as you gather about the table, to give thanks for the victories brought by Union arms at Vicksburg & Gettysburg
"Phoenix will be unlivable."
Phoenix is located in the only spot in North America with large, continuous occupied agricultural settlements over the last two and a half thousand years.
Including through the Medieval Megadrought.
Phoenix is located in the only spot in North America with large, continuous occupied agricultural settlements over the last two and a half thousand years.
Including through the Medieval Megadrought.
November 26, 2025 at 3:54 PM
"Phoenix will be unlivable."
Phoenix is located in the only spot in North America with large, continuous occupied agricultural settlements over the last two and a half thousand years.
Including through the Medieval Megadrought.
Phoenix is located in the only spot in North America with large, continuous occupied agricultural settlements over the last two and a half thousand years.
Including through the Medieval Megadrought.
"The official subtitles are wrong!"
Thankfully most people watching it in that version of that language will be watching the not-official version.
Thankfully most people watching it in that version of that language will be watching the not-official version.
November 26, 2025 at 3:47 PM
"The official subtitles are wrong!"
Thankfully most people watching it in that version of that language will be watching the not-official version.
Thankfully most people watching it in that version of that language will be watching the not-official version.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
A reminder of why we cannot give up on climate policy:
www.eenews.net/articles/ris...
www.eenews.net/articles/ris...
Rising seas threaten thousands of hazardous US facilities
Most of the at-risk sites are clustered in just seven states: Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, California, New York and Massachusetts.
www.eenews.net
November 26, 2025 at 2:40 PM
A reminder of why we cannot give up on climate policy:
www.eenews.net/articles/ris...
www.eenews.net/articles/ris...
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
But please hire an actual scientific artist next time. There are loads of them and most are really good in what they do. It diminishes your work too because people can see it’s AI. And I don’t think that was the intend.
November 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
But please hire an actual scientific artist next time. There are loads of them and most are really good in what they do. It diminishes your work too because people can see it’s AI. And I don’t think that was the intend.
The "You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who’s coming to save you?" thing is *really* making some assumptions on if you're before or after the title sequence....
November 26, 2025 at 3:33 PM
The "You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who’s coming to save you?" thing is *really* making some assumptions on if you're before or after the title sequence....
Now that the federal government is working again, it's going back to dissolving itself. 🙃
The NSF Bio Anthro Program DDRIG, Cultural Anthrpology DDRIG, and Archaeology DDRIG have all been archived (as of yesterday afternoon). Please speak with your grad students and plan accordingly. To say I am angry and depressed about this is an understatement.
November 26, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Now that the federal government is working again, it's going back to dissolving itself. 🙃
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
The NSF Bio Anthro Program DDRIG, Cultural Anthrpology DDRIG, and Archaeology DDRIG have all been archived (as of yesterday afternoon). Please speak with your grad students and plan accordingly. To say I am angry and depressed about this is an understatement.
November 26, 2025 at 3:25 PM
The NSF Bio Anthro Program DDRIG, Cultural Anthrpology DDRIG, and Archaeology DDRIG have all been archived (as of yesterday afternoon). Please speak with your grad students and plan accordingly. To say I am angry and depressed about this is an understatement.
Link to that actual manuscripts (Library of Congress) rather than a click-bait website.
And remember, Persian was a court language of everything from eastern Anatolia through India.
And remember, Persian was a court language of everything from eastern Anatolia through India.
November 26, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Link to that actual manuscripts (Library of Congress) rather than a click-bait website.
And remember, Persian was a court language of everything from eastern Anatolia through India.
And remember, Persian was a court language of everything from eastern Anatolia through India.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
Childcare costs is the trigger that pushes folks over the edge from affordability to not being able to make it. That makes childcare a “luxury” as housing is a necessity.
And the GOP clutches their pearls on why the birth rate is dropping. People cannot afford to have kids.
And the GOP clutches their pearls on why the birth rate is dropping. People cannot afford to have kids.
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Childcare costs is the trigger that pushes folks over the edge from affordability to not being able to make it. That makes childcare a “luxury” as housing is a necessity.
And the GOP clutches their pearls on why the birth rate is dropping. People cannot afford to have kids.
And the GOP clutches their pearls on why the birth rate is dropping. People cannot afford to have kids.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
There is a way out of this, but it requires the government providing subsidized material services for *everybody* rather than allowing everyone equal participation to a market, which leaves everyone else subject to the already wealthy
November 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
There is a way out of this, but it requires the government providing subsidized material services for *everybody* rather than allowing everyone equal participation to a market, which leaves everyone else subject to the already wealthy
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
Hard not to notice that this is describing a landscape where public aid is pretty brutally means tested, and thus it's very, very difficult to climb out of the trap of housing/childcare/healthcare if you aren't supremely lucky
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Hard not to notice that this is describing a landscape where public aid is pretty brutally means tested, and thus it's very, very difficult to climb out of the trap of housing/childcare/healthcare if you aren't supremely lucky
Loving this genre of post.
If the cost of childcare for 2 kids under five is a minimum of ~$25,000 in Tucson, Arizona (and it is), $32,000 elsewhere is very obviously possible.
The families that don't pay that are relying on a stay-at-home parent or (like mine) three generations living together.
If the cost of childcare for 2 kids under five is a minimum of ~$25,000 in Tucson, Arizona (and it is), $32,000 elsewhere is very obviously possible.
The families that don't pay that are relying on a stay-at-home parent or (like mine) three generations living together.
November 26, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Loving this genre of post.
If the cost of childcare for 2 kids under five is a minimum of ~$25,000 in Tucson, Arizona (and it is), $32,000 elsewhere is very obviously possible.
The families that don't pay that are relying on a stay-at-home parent or (like mine) three generations living together.
If the cost of childcare for 2 kids under five is a minimum of ~$25,000 in Tucson, Arizona (and it is), $32,000 elsewhere is very obviously possible.
The families that don't pay that are relying on a stay-at-home parent or (like mine) three generations living together.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
To be honest I'm not loving the genre "this is a real problem in the economy, but I, an experienced Poverty Knower, am just going to mock it for not being invented here"
This is rightly getting a lot of opprobrium for good reasons, but the meta lesson here is that back of the envelope math and tech/finance guy self-regard is a great way to get engagement and also a bad way to learn true facts about the world
Mike Green is writing some amazing stuff at the moment. It's not in the delta, it's in the level and the cost structure. Read this and you will understand Angrynomics on a new level: www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
November 26, 2025 at 10:54 AM
To be honest I'm not loving the genre "this is a real problem in the economy, but I, an experienced Poverty Knower, am just going to mock it for not being invented here"
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
A lot of people have got very very mad about the phrase "actual poverty line", but similar issues of stupidly high marginal tax rates and important life stages being unaffordable even on incomes well above the median are definitely a part of the story in the UK
November 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM
A lot of people have got very very mad about the phrase "actual poverty line", but similar issues of stupidly high marginal tax rates and important life stages being unaffordable even on incomes well above the median are definitely a part of the story in the UK
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
But, it is important to acknowledge how the idea of the poverty line entered into use and what it measured initially.
November 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
But, it is important to acknowledge how the idea of the poverty line entered into use and what it measured initially.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
There are all kinds of problems with social science and poverty, as Alice O'Connor has shown. Poverty as a metric and as a policy object remains a problem and reinforces negative stereotypes that are then used to justify further economic harms.
November 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
There are all kinds of problems with social science and poverty, as Alice O'Connor has shown. Poverty as a metric and as a policy object remains a problem and reinforces negative stereotypes that are then used to justify further economic harms.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
She calculated the number based on the famed 1955 USDA dietary study and mixed those with USDA nutritional recommended daily allowances to calculate the number. In other words, this was the minimum four people (2 adults and 2 kids) would need to spend each year to stay alive.
November 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
She calculated the number based on the famed 1955 USDA dietary study and mixed those with USDA nutritional recommended daily allowances to calculate the number. In other words, this was the minimum four people (2 adults and 2 kids) would need to spend each year to stay alive.
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
Mollie Orshansky, an economist at the Social Security Administration, was the person who first calculated the current poverty line back in 1965. Her estimation was $3000 for a family of 4 (or about $31,000 today). As she wrote, this low number ought to be temporary and only for "an emergency."
just read some Substack post with a maybe quarter-baked argument that the "real" poverty line is $136,000. come on
November 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Mollie Orshansky, an economist at the Social Security Administration, was the person who first calculated the current poverty line back in 1965. Her estimation was $3000 for a family of 4 (or about $31,000 today). As she wrote, this low number ought to be temporary and only for "an emergency."
Reposted by Brandon Bishop
The "DOGE is gone" articles are clickbait but this one gets it closer to the truth: DOGE is not gone, it just claims to have "no centralized leadership" anymore -- in other words, its leadership is hiding in an attempt to avoid blame.
DOGE no longer has ‘centralized leadership’ under White House tech team, personnel head says
The team that was altered to house DOGE — formerly the U.S. Digital Service — is also still doing its own technology work across agencies.
www.nextgov.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:09 AM
The "DOGE is gone" articles are clickbait but this one gets it closer to the truth: DOGE is not gone, it just claims to have "no centralized leadership" anymore -- in other words, its leadership is hiding in an attempt to avoid blame.