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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Kay in the End Times 🏳️‍🌈 💗💜💙📚 @jennykaynz.bsky.social · 19h

Pope Leo XIV’s 1st Apostolic Exhortation reminds us of the love of Christ for the poor, asks us to care for the sick, oppose slavery, defend women who experience exclusion and violence, make education available to all, work for equality and more.
#NZpol #USpol
www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...

Pope Leo in 'Dilexi te': Faith cannot be separated from love for the poor - Vatican News

Taking up Pope Francis’ desire “that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and His summons to care for the ...

www.vaticannews.va

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 16h

Ubi sunt ubisoft?

Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 3d

SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...

Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year

Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File

www.gamefile.news

Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 22h

This morning I created a Wikipedia article on Berberis glaucocarpa. Learned a few things in the process. And it went straight to C-class when it was reviewed, wahey.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berberi...

Berberis glaucocarpa - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Reposted by Richard Littauer

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 2d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Research Software Alliance @researchsoftware.bsky.social · 4d

Get involved with the new ReSA & @curiossorg.bsky.social task force on Succession Planning for Research Software. It builds on 10 quick tips for making your software outlive your job: arxiv.org/abs/2505.06484.

📅 First meeting: 20 October

Learn more & sign up: www.researchsoft.org/tf-successio...

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 3d

While in the middle of doom scrolling, I burst out laughing. Amazing.

Harry Turtledove @hntdove.bsky.social · 3d

Here's your daily dose of weirdness for today!

Altered Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

First panel. Calvin's dad says, "what story would you like to read tonight? Anything except..."

Calvin: "The Voynich Manuscript?"

Second panel. Calvin's dad, exasperated: "No! No Voynich Manuscript tonight!"

Calvin: "I want the Voynich Manuscript !"

Third panel. Calvin's sad: "Look, you know how the story goes! You've memorized the whole thing! It's completely unreadable!"

Calvin: "I want mysterious glyphs and symbols!"

Fourth panel. Calvin: "Wow! The story was different thatvtime!"

Hobbes: indecipherable squiggles

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Anne Bertucio @annebdh.bsky.social · 3d

Want to work on open source full time? The @roost.tools engineering team is starting to hatch! Come build OSS tools making a difference in Trust & Safety.

This is a fully remote role, though some schedule overlap with North American time zones is expected.

www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

ROOST.tools hiring Staff Software Engineer in United States | LinkedIn

Posted 8:52:18 PM. About ROOSTROOST is a community effort to build scalable and resilient safety infrastructure for…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.

www.linkedin.com

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Te Ara Paerangi Com - Research Advocacy Capability @te-ara-paerangi.community · 3d

We'd love to have a huge turn out for Nic's talk. Please help spread the word. There are downloadable pdf adverts in the link below. They can be emailed or printed. If you work in a public space (e.g. Library) you could help by printing and posting one of the flyers. Ngā mihi nui!

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Kiwi PyCon @kiwipycon.nz · 4d

Kiwi PyCon 2025 — Schedule’s Out & It’s Epic! 🐍
45 days till we gather in Wellington!
🎤 2 keynotes
🗣️ 22 talks across 2 tracks
⚡ Lightning Talks & Bottlenecks
🧰 Hands-on training Friday

See the full lineup 👉 kiwipycon.nz/schedule
Volunteer 👉 kiwipycon.nz/attend/become-a-volunteer

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 4d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 4d

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 4d

Molting cardinal plumage is sick. Good work.

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 4d

A script I used to remove names from a text before loading it into an LLM. If you're going to use an LLM, at least anonymise the data going into it.

codeberg.org/RichardLitt/...

ner-extraction

A short script to remove names from text. Useful for removing stuff before uploaded to an LLM.

codeberg.org

Reposted by Richard Littauer

Denis - The COVID Info Guy @thecovidinfoguy.bsky.social · 5d

Switzerland: Expert advises voluntary mask wearing.

Swiss epidemiologists warn of a severe infection season. Masks in crowded indoor spaces or on public transport help prevent infections and show solidarity. Extra care for those 65+, immunocompromised and those with cold symptoms.

archive.md/hDJVW

Corona experts recommend voluntary wearing of protective masks
Simon Huber
Simon Huber
Zurich ,05.10.2025 - 20:36

Switzerland is preparing for a severe virus season. Experts are recommending that vulnerable people voluntarily wear masks indoors again.

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Wilson Ornithological Society @wilsonornithsoc.bsky.social · 10d

From the current WJO issue: Renaming a bill type for Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus). #ornithology doi.org/10.1080/1559...

photo of two tundra swans in flight against a blue-gray sky

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

BF Francis Ouellette @bffo.bsky.social · 11d

From @richlitt.bsky.social and colleagues in @arxiv-cs-cl.bsky.social | 10 quick tips for making your software outlive your job | 🧪 🔓 #ProfessionalDevelopment #Education #OpenSource #OpenScience
⬇️
arxiv.org/abs/2505.06484

10 quick tips for making your software outlive your job

Loss of key personnel has always been a risk for research software projects. Key members of the team may have to step away due to illness or burnout, to care for a family member, from a loss of financ...

arxiv.org

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 12d

ahahahaha

If only I thought anyone else would attend.

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

JazzReads📚 @jazzreads.bsky.social · 13d

So exhausting..

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Margaret Stanley @ecostanley.bsky.social · 12d

A great initiative from Te Tira Whakamātaki - peltswithpurpose.raiselysite.com/en/
What is unwanted here (possums) is a taonga (treasure) in Te Whenua-a-Moemoeā (Australia). Māori possum hunters supply Aboriginal communities (for cultural revitalisation). Donations enable rangatahi exchanges.

(Re)storying the Possum - Pelts with Purpose

Possums destroy native species. But what is unwanted here is a taonga across the Tasman. Help us gather and prepare possum pelts for Aboriginal communities to use, all while restoring biodiversity at ...

peltswithpurpose.raiselysite.com

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Dr Jenn Lavers ᓲᐊᐧᐦᑫᔨᐤ @seabirdsentinel.bsky.social · 12d

#ornithology friends in south-eastern #Australia: please be on the look-out for #seabirds on beaches. Sadly, they will probably start washing up in ~2 weeks… #CitizenScience #BeachedBirds #AdriftLab #OzBirds

Adrift Lab (Marine Science) @adriftlab.bsky.social · 12d

Multiple species of #shearwater have begun arriving in Australian waters after completing their southward migration. We need your help recording if/when #seabirds start washing up on your local beaches #citizenscience

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 12d

Huh. Oh no.

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 12d

Today I passed 25,000 observations on iNaturalist.

Whoa.

I realize I may be a heavy user at this point.

www.inaturalist.org/people/1513074

richardlitt's Profile

I am a PhD student in Computer Science at [Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_University_of_Wellington) , focusing on bioacoustics and avian spec...

www.inaturalist.org

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

W. P. Mueller @wpmueller.bsky.social · 12d

#ornithology
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Threatened kārearea falcon wins New Zealand’s 2025 bird of the year

The country’s fastest bird has taken out the top prize in a scandal-free year for the annual poll

www.theguardian.com

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 12d

Also, I don't know of any conferences solely on taxonomic nomenclature. It's always a sideline to some other work, mostly based on the field. Very few researchers focus solely on the names themselves.

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Richard Littauer @richlitt.bsky.social · 12d

Today, I decided not to submit a talk for an early career researcher conference, because I don't feel like I am an early career researcher at this stage. I can't tell if this is hubris or helpful to others who need that space.

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Reposted by Richard Littauer

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · Sep 10

All I'm saying is that there's HEAPS of fodder for scholarly work about the pre-1970 history of Canadian ornithology and ornithologists.

Who were they?
Where did they go?
Who did they work with?
Did they collect? Where are their collections?

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