RDS (formerly shawphd)
banner
rds773.myatproto.social
RDS (formerly shawphd)
@rds773.myatproto.social
Former historian, current indexer. She/her, cis. Cats, nature, crafts, sci fi/fantasy. Covid aware. Chicago parent. GenX. West Coast ex-pat. I block & mute freely.

[email protected]

Need an index for your book in the humanities or social sciences? DM me.
Pinned
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

Indexes in books are written by actual humans and cannot be done automatically by computers
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

More than half the CO₂ emissions of the Industrial Age have been pumped into the atmosphere since 1990.
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?

Literally nothing is 'carbon neutral'. It is a physical impossibility. If someone's telling you their product has zero climate impact, they're actively deciding to lie to you.
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Look, I'm just gonna tell cishet white people right now--Newsom ain't the one. You got Walz and Pritzker out here. You do not need a Bill Clinton clone wearing Mitt Romney's skin.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the Democratic Party needed to be “more culturally normal” and “less judgmental.”
December 7, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
it's really a deliberate white supremacist choice that "lynching" is now a generic term for any public shaming. 1
December 7, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
The thing about being an US born person of immigrant extraction who has also lived in a couple of other countries and traveled to a bunch more is... I can be both very clear eyed in the way the US sucks while also being aware of how other countries use the USA's failings to distract from their own.
December 7, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
I've mentioned this before but here's what I mean. The first drawing is unmasked—me taking full advantage of skills that come easily to me. The second drawing is masked—it has much more deliberately honed creativity and stylization. I worked hard for both. But how do you decide which has more value?
December 7, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Just what we need in an environment where people are refusing to get their children vaccinated, the CDC is actively uninterested in public health, and an avian flu is waiting in the wings
Read this twice.

“Our findings redefine SARS-CoV-2 infection as a condition of long-lasting immune compromise.”

www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com
December 7, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Seems fine, mild even?
December 6, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Again: "AI" actively harms critical thinking skills, users actively reject Less sycophantic "AI," getting increasingly hostile toward/less likely to help or be helped by humans, creating cylces of dependence on tools that Actively Harm Critical Thinking.

What better dirt for disinformation to grow?
Preliminary results show that the current framework of "AI" makes ppl less likely to help or seek help from other humans, or to seek to soothe conflict, and that people actively prefer that framework to any others, literally serving to make them more dependent on it.
Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence
Both the general public and academic communities have raised concerns about sycophancy, the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) excessively agreeing with or flattering users. Yet, beyond isolat...
arxiv.org
December 5, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Little goblin girl
December 6, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Lucky is here to encourage parents to get their kids all the available vaccines, even if the government is being silly.
December 6, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
we are going to have to start taking the good behavior clause much more seriously
November 19, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
When you’re troubleshooting quilt stuff, you want sites from before 2004 by a lady named Barb or Carol.

Knitting? Late 40s women who almost certainly are computer scientists or would have been.

Embroidery is 30s women who say fuck a lot.

Sewing is bored fashion school graduates.
December 6, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
greatest mural ever?
it's in the running
December 5, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
People don’t understand that stripping the guardrails of regulation and oversight doesn’t just apply to like better business bureau type shit but also like on a practical level when I get into an elevator I expect that it has passed a safety inspection & that type of security will be gone soon
December 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Happening right now. Community members in Elgin, IL are in a standoff with Feds who are trying to abduct their neighbor.

ERO guy in picture on left just peppered sprayed person I screencapped.
December 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Feels annoying that I have to specify that from here on out, politicians need to have adult-level emotional regulation.
December 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
hey, I am not gonna doompost about it necessarily but, a glance around will tell you it's a hard & stressful time for artists, and especially so this year

consider dropping a kofi donation, or reposting a shop link, or even just, leave a comment so someone knows you like their work

it does matter
December 6, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
It only took four of us making a two-minute public comment about the library at the city council meeting for the councilors to restore the funding the mayor’s office had cut.
I really can't emphasize enough that if you care about local politics, all you gotta do is show up. Just a regular schmegular person showing up. Literally just show up consistently in person and within a remarkably short amount of time, you will have a shocking amount of influence.
December 6, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
In short, the mess allows 🍊 to decide at any given moment if you’re a citizen, and anybody can be kicked out to who knows where on a whim.

*Everyone’s* citizenship if being threatened.
December 6, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
December 6, 2025 at 7:24 AM
It’s apparently Squirrel Saturday
December 6, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Squirrel of the Day for December 6, 2025 is keeping a close eye on teh hoomins #sqrlpix
December 6, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
For #squirrelsaturday I have a few shots of a plump Red Squirrel I met eating berries on a sunny morning last week.

#mammals #naturetherapy #naturephotography #wildlifetherapy #eastcoastkin #redsquirrel #squirrel #mammalphotography #sqrlpix #ireland #irishwildlife
December 6, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Gray squirrel eating snow & twirling it like corn on the cob.- next to one of my front yard cypress trees #Sqrlpix
December 5, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
I have only ever seen the holiday train by accident
I SWTG I didn’t plan this, looked over and there it was!
Call me the Forrest Gump of the CTA Holiday Train
December 6, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by RDS (formerly shawphd)
Trump's dementia has grown so extreme that a select group of advisors are now running the country without his input. To find who those advisors are and what their plans are, buy my new book, which will appear in March 2029.
December 6, 2025 at 5:05 PM