Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández
@mathchaos.bsky.social
I'm a Palaeobiologist working on #dinosaur evolution and #phylogenetics (🧁🍇🥤). 🇲🇽
Advocate for #decolonisation in palaeo and STEM (he/him).
ORCID: 0000-0002-6247-6181
Advocate for #decolonisation in palaeo and STEM (he/him).
ORCID: 0000-0002-6247-6181
Pinned
Thread 1 (from 12 September 2022)
This flower is called a Poinsettia in English. September is the best time to discuss the name's connection to colonialism and why I would never call this plant a poinsettia.
This flower is called a Poinsettia in English. September is the best time to discuss the name's connection to colonialism and why I would never call this plant a poinsettia.
Colonial heritage in natural history
Thread 1 - Poinsettia and Monroe's Doctrine
Thread 1 - Poinsettia and Monroe's Doctrine
Mostly because nationality terms in English are wrongly used as interchangeable with ethnicity. So Mexicans think correctly of themselves as Mexican nationals but then are forced into the "Mexican ethnicity" bin, and they play the part.
February 10, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Mostly because nationality terms in English are wrongly used as interchangeable with ethnicity. So Mexicans think correctly of themselves as Mexican nationals but then are forced into the "Mexican ethnicity" bin, and they play the part.
I must say I have only seen that dissonance from afar. Many times, when I encountered people in that situation, they take offense in that "they don't look Mexican" because the interlocutor is assuming Mexican=brown, so they are seeing racism but through a disenfranchising lens.
February 10, 2026 at 9:57 AM
I must say I have only seen that dissonance from afar. Many times, when I encountered people in that situation, they take offense in that "they don't look Mexican" because the interlocutor is assuming Mexican=brown, so they are seeing racism but through a disenfranchising lens.
Those people quickly identify as either mestizo, the "casta" that corresponds to a "pure blood" Spaniard marrying an Indigenous person, or simply as Spaniard.
In Mexico, during the Independence war, this system was viewed as an imperial symbol and pushed to get rid of it. They pretty much failed
In Mexico, during the Independence war, this system was viewed as an imperial symbol and pushed to get rid of it. They pretty much failed
February 10, 2026 at 7:56 AM
Those people quickly identify as either mestizo, the "casta" that corresponds to a "pure blood" Spaniard marrying an Indigenous person, or simply as Spaniard.
In Mexico, during the Independence war, this system was viewed as an imperial symbol and pushed to get rid of it. They pretty much failed
In Mexico, during the Independence war, this system was viewed as an imperial symbol and pushed to get rid of it. They pretty much failed
The eugenics in Latin America has a different flavour. There is a saying that goes: "think about improving the breed when marrying". For Hispanics, race is something you are and something you aspire to be. It comes from the strict caste system imposed on the Spanish and Portuguese colonies.
February 10, 2026 at 7:47 AM
The eugenics in Latin America has a different flavour. There is a saying that goes: "think about improving the breed when marrying". For Hispanics, race is something you are and something you aspire to be. It comes from the strict caste system imposed on the Spanish and Portuguese colonies.
People with Hispanic names are joining ICE because they are white supremacists. They blame the racism towards them on the communities with Hispanic names that are not white and they want to ethnically cleanse their white names.
They thrive on that confusion. Unlearn the propaganda.
They thrive on that confusion. Unlearn the propaganda.
February 10, 2026 at 7:39 AM
People with Hispanic names are joining ICE because they are white supremacists. They blame the racism towards them on the communities with Hispanic names that are not white and they want to ethnically cleanse their white names.
They thrive on that confusion. Unlearn the propaganda.
They thrive on that confusion. Unlearn the propaganda.
It drives me crazy that US journalists and commentators say stuff like "he was a white supremacist but his name was non-European: García". García is a Spanish name, brought to the Americas by Spain, a country in Europe. A fact the supremacist knows and embraces.
Learnt racism preventing learning
Learnt racism preventing learning
February 10, 2026 at 7:33 AM
It drives me crazy that US journalists and commentators say stuff like "he was a white supremacist but his name was non-European: García". García is a Spanish name, brought to the Americas by Spain, a country in Europe. A fact the supremacist knows and embraces.
Learnt racism preventing learning
Learnt racism preventing learning
Reposted by Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández
Lol Ah the made up world fascists live in... this is not a left-right issue. Everyone in the Spanish-speaking world sees América as a continent. In fact, several countries even use “estadounidense” (United-Statian). This is about history and cartography. Plus, before 1898 loads of Americans agreed
February 9, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Lol Ah the made up world fascists live in... this is not a left-right issue. Everyone in the Spanish-speaking world sees América as a continent. In fact, several countries even use “estadounidense” (United-Statian). This is about history and cartography. Plus, before 1898 loads of Americans agreed
Also, the antagonist in También la lluvia is the Bechtel Corp., and in my head, that's the reason the anti- part is washed down. Those colonialists built the Euro-Tunnel and were rebuilding Iraq, you couldn't make people go look too much into that company in 2010.
February 9, 2026 at 9:39 AM
Also, the antagonist in También la lluvia is the Bechtel Corp., and in my head, that's the reason the anti- part is washed down. Those colonialists built the Euro-Tunnel and were rebuilding Iraq, you couldn't make people go look too much into that company in 2010.
I enjoyed this video-essay on historical self-righteousness and anticolonialism.
Also timely about the movie "También la lluvia", which would help you understand the Republican regime's obsession with Columbus.
youtu.be/6lBcdJOQUVo
Also timely about the movie "También la lluvia", which would help you understand the Republican regime's obsession with Columbus.
youtu.be/6lBcdJOQUVo
When Europeans Try To Make Anticolonial Movies
YouTube video by Shawn Grenier | The Canvas
youtu.be
February 9, 2026 at 9:39 AM
I enjoyed this video-essay on historical self-righteousness and anticolonialism.
Also timely about the movie "También la lluvia", which would help you understand the Republican regime's obsession with Columbus.
youtu.be/6lBcdJOQUVo
Also timely about the movie "También la lluvia", which would help you understand the Republican regime's obsession with Columbus.
youtu.be/6lBcdJOQUVo
I also asked (bothered) him because my suspition-meter got to a 100 when I saw we were getting into Online Etymology territory in the discussion.
Also sore topic since we spent a fair amount discussing this pre-Cretaceous angiosperms issue at our journal club last Friday.
We haven't moved on 😅
Also sore topic since we spent a fair amount discussing this pre-Cretaceous angiosperms issue at our journal club last Friday.
We haven't moved on 😅
February 8, 2026 at 7:53 PM
I also asked (bothered) him because my suspition-meter got to a 100 when I saw we were getting into Online Etymology territory in the discussion.
Also sore topic since we spent a fair amount discussing this pre-Cretaceous angiosperms issue at our journal club last Friday.
We haven't moved on 😅
Also sore topic since we spent a fair amount discussing this pre-Cretaceous angiosperms issue at our journal club last Friday.
We haven't moved on 😅
Reposted by Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández
This is truly baffling. A seed does not become an angiosperm fruit only because there are some vague lines on it. It is the equivalent of having a full diapsid skull and saying you found Permian dinosaurs...
Wang, X., Huang, W., Fu, Q. et al. A new early permian fruit, Dengfengfructus maxima gen. et sp. nov., supports the pre-cretaceous origin of angiosperms. BMC Ecol Evo 26, 17 (2026). doi.org/10.1186/s128...
A new early permian fruit, Dengfengfructus maxima gen. et sp. nov., supports the pre-cretaceous origin of angiosperms - BMC Ecology and Evolution
BMC Ecology and Evolution - Angiosperms are the most important plant group for humans in the current earth’s ecosystem. Although angiosperms are clearly defined by enclosed seeds/ovules, the...
doi.org
February 8, 2026 at 7:16 PM
This is truly baffling. A seed does not become an angiosperm fruit only because there are some vague lines on it. It is the equivalent of having a full diapsid skull and saying you found Permian dinosaurs...
Reposted by Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández
Regarding events of last week in SVP and the wider vertebrate paleontology community.
February 8, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Regarding events of last week in SVP and the wider vertebrate paleontology community.
They wrote their emails thinking they were never going to be caught.
They write their excuses because they are sorry they got caught.
They write their excuses because they are sorry they got caught.
The biggest privilege afforded to men in positions of power is that of being dumb.
There are people willing to accept the excuse that a world-class researcher neglected to do a 10-minute Google search on a sponsor, in the 2010s, as part of the process for accepting research funding.
There are people willing to accept the excuse that a world-class researcher neglected to do a 10-minute Google search on a sponsor, in the 2010s, as part of the process for accepting research funding.
February 7, 2026 at 9:47 AM
They wrote their emails thinking they were never going to be caught.
They write their excuses because they are sorry they got caught.
They write their excuses because they are sorry they got caught.
★"The trip actually took place in South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where collecting fossils on reservation land without explicit tribal permission is considered looting."
February 7, 2026 at 9:35 AM
★"The trip actually took place in South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where collecting fossils on reservation land without explicit tribal permission is considered looting."
★"“We took my kids fossil hunting in Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. That was the extent of anything that I had to do with Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane,” he said."
February 7, 2026 at 9:35 AM
★"“We took my kids fossil hunting in Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. That was the extent of anything that I had to do with Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane,” he said."
★"One of those plane rides, [RFK Jr] told NewsNation at the time, took place “in 1993, when I went down to visit my mother in Palm Beach” in Florida. The other, he said, took place two years later."
February 7, 2026 at 9:35 AM
★"One of those plane rides, [RFK Jr] told NewsNation at the time, took place “in 1993, when I went down to visit my mother in Palm Beach” in Florida. The other, he said, took place two years later."
Excerpts:
★"In one email, Epstein writes to Maxwell about a trip involving “dinosaur and fossill hunitng (sic) with jack horner on the ranch, found 90 million year old clams and fossils.”"
“Love that - didn’t we go fossil hunting with him and Bobby Kennedy in N Dakota?”
“Yes,” Epstein replies."
★"In one email, Epstein writes to Maxwell about a trip involving “dinosaur and fossill hunitng (sic) with jack horner on the ranch, found 90 million year old clams and fossils.”"
“Love that - didn’t we go fossil hunting with him and Bobby Kennedy in N Dakota?”
“Yes,” Epstein replies."
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went hunting for dinosaur bones in the Dakotas with child sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
RFK Jr.’s Bizarre Trip With Epstein and Ghislaine Exposed in Files
The trip took place on a Native reservation where collecting fossils without explicit tribal permission is considered looting.
trib.al
February 7, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Excerpts:
★"In one email, Epstein writes to Maxwell about a trip involving “dinosaur and fossill hunitng (sic) with jack horner on the ranch, found 90 million year old clams and fossils.”"
“Love that - didn’t we go fossil hunting with him and Bobby Kennedy in N Dakota?”
“Yes,” Epstein replies."
★"In one email, Epstein writes to Maxwell about a trip involving “dinosaur and fossill hunitng (sic) with jack horner on the ranch, found 90 million year old clams and fossils.”"
“Love that - didn’t we go fossil hunting with him and Bobby Kennedy in N Dakota?”
“Yes,” Epstein replies."
Reposted by Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández
Isn't it super random that all of the "anti-woke" cancel culture academics who all leaned into transphobia and race science later in their careers all seem to be connected through Jeffrey Epstein?
February 6, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Isn't it super random that all of the "anti-woke" cancel culture academics who all leaned into transphobia and race science later in their careers all seem to be connected through Jeffrey Epstein?
Reposted by Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández
Really SVP? You’re just going to ignore decades of sexual and academic misconduct, marrying a student AT one of your conferences, and every report I’ve filed (implying that’s what you do with reports) to defend famous Horner? You’d rather have pedophiles than students is your message?
February 4, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Really SVP? You’re just going to ignore decades of sexual and academic misconduct, marrying a student AT one of your conferences, and every report I’ve filed (implying that’s what you do with reports) to defend famous Horner? You’d rather have pedophiles than students is your message?
How quickly many colleagues are ready to accept this dumb excuse and move on is not just disappointing; it is disheartening.
We have nothing to do with each other.
We have nothing to do with each other.
February 6, 2026 at 9:41 AM
How quickly many colleagues are ready to accept this dumb excuse and move on is not just disappointing; it is disheartening.
We have nothing to do with each other.
We have nothing to do with each other.
Wikipedia, which in the teens became the 5th most visited website, had this as the second sentence on JE's page: "He served 13 months in jail of an 18-month sentence as a convicted sex offender in the state of Florida for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution"
web.archive.org/web/20111124...
web.archive.org/web/20111124...
Jeffrey Epstein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
web.archive.org
February 6, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Wikipedia, which in the teens became the 5th most visited website, had this as the second sentence on JE's page: "He served 13 months in jail of an 18-month sentence as a convicted sex offender in the state of Florida for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution"
web.archive.org/web/20111124...
web.archive.org/web/20111124...
The biggest privilege afforded to men in positions of power is that of being dumb.
There are people willing to accept the excuse that a world-class researcher neglected to do a 10-minute Google search on a sponsor, in the 2010s, as part of the process for accepting research funding.
There are people willing to accept the excuse that a world-class researcher neglected to do a 10-minute Google search on a sponsor, in the 2010s, as part of the process for accepting research funding.
February 6, 2026 at 9:34 AM
The biggest privilege afforded to men in positions of power is that of being dumb.
There are people willing to accept the excuse that a world-class researcher neglected to do a 10-minute Google search on a sponsor, in the 2010s, as part of the process for accepting research funding.
There are people willing to accept the excuse that a world-class researcher neglected to do a 10-minute Google search on a sponsor, in the 2010s, as part of the process for accepting research funding.
I know I made it not my business but this is so disrespectful then... What is the point of having committees then?
February 5, 2026 at 1:51 PM
I know I made it not my business but this is so disrespectful then... What is the point of having committees then?
Reposted by Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández
(11) Maybe it is time for SVP and its Annual Meeting to go the way of the creatures we study: Extinct. You either adapt or die and right now @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social is not changing for the better. [End]
February 4, 2026 at 8:11 PM
(11) Maybe it is time for SVP and its Annual Meeting to go the way of the creatures we study: Extinct. You either adapt or die and right now @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social is not changing for the better. [End]
Reposted by Omar Rafael Regalado Fernández
(10) I would also encourage friends and followers to consider their own ethics: Does being a member of @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social align with *your* values? Do you condone this spineless protection? Sometimes the rot may be too great and it is time to cut the tree down and start over...
February 4, 2026 at 8:11 PM
(10) I would also encourage friends and followers to consider their own ethics: Does being a member of @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social align with *your* values? Do you condone this spineless protection? Sometimes the rot may be too great and it is time to cut the tree down and start over...