David Rain
@davidrain.bsky.social
Human geographer, cyclist, husband, parent and grandparent, lover of cats, truth, and the outdoors.
All of us for our rain* gathering @raincooks.
Merry Christmas to all !
Merry Christmas to all !
December 30, 2025 at 2:52 AM
All of us for our rain* gathering @raincooks.
Merry Christmas to all !
Merry Christmas to all !
Reposted by David Rain
Published a year ago, and still my favourite bit of research to date—it involved, among other things, dozens if not hundreds of hours of playing with string.
A fun paper on one of the most commonly shared forms of entertainment across human cultures, string figures (cat's cradles):
A fun paper on one of the most commonly shared forms of entertainment across human cultures, string figures (cat's cradles):
I am delighted to share our latest piece of research:
‘A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation’.
This was long in the works and is by far the largest project I’ve led to date.
A thread:
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
‘A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation’.
This was long in the works and is by far the largest project I’ve led to date.
A thread:
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
December 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Published a year ago, and still my favourite bit of research to date—it involved, among other things, dozens if not hundreds of hours of playing with string.
A fun paper on one of the most commonly shared forms of entertainment across human cultures, string figures (cat's cradles):
A fun paper on one of the most commonly shared forms of entertainment across human cultures, string figures (cat's cradles):
Reposted by David Rain
A timeline of Earth’s average temperature since the last ice age. Spoiler alert: It’s definitely getting warmer. And it’s happening increasingly, scarily fast. xkcd.com/1732/
Earth Temperature Timeline
xkcd.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:58 PM
A timeline of Earth’s average temperature since the last ice age. Spoiler alert: It’s definitely getting warmer. And it’s happening increasingly, scarily fast. xkcd.com/1732/
Reposted by David Rain
(WSJ) Just when I thought that Trump couldn't surprise me anymore (SHAME ON ME), the latest edict proposes making Europe the BAD GUYS in our eyes and the Russians as OK. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Can Trump get any more embarrassing?
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
U.S. Flips History by Casting Europe—Not Russia—as Villain in New Security Policy
An annual strategy document, which has described threats from China to Russia, directs some of its harshest language at NATO allies.
www.wsj.com
December 6, 2025 at 7:29 AM
(WSJ) Just when I thought that Trump couldn't surprise me anymore (SHAME ON ME), the latest edict proposes making Europe the BAD GUYS in our eyes and the Russians as OK. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Can Trump get any more embarrassing?
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
Reposted by David Rain
WOW! AN HONOR! — GCN
December 6, 2025 at 4:16 AM
WOW! AN HONOR! — GCN
Dear World: please disregard this as it’s not what we stand for or represent.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov
December 6, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Dear World: please disregard this as it’s not what we stand for or represent.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
November 27, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by David Rain
Please check your kids’ Halloween candy carefully this year.
I bit into a chocolate bar and found Microsoft Teams.
I bit into a chocolate bar and found Microsoft Teams.
October 26, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Please check your kids’ Halloween candy carefully this year.
I bit into a chocolate bar and found Microsoft Teams.
I bit into a chocolate bar and found Microsoft Teams.
I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS in Washington, D.C.” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
NO KINGS in Washington, D.C. · No Kings
**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.**
Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...
www.mobilize.us
October 18, 2025 at 10:41 AM
I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS in Washington, D.C.” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...
share.google/oRwfd1g98Icy...
This is very cool. Tonika “folds her maps” to align the same address in a different quadrant of the same city, like NW versus SE, and compares the results which reveal longstanding patterns of wealth concentration by race. Kudos to Tonika for the Award.
This is very cool. Tonika “folds her maps” to align the same address in a different quadrant of the same city, like NW versus SE, and compares the results which reveal longstanding patterns of wealth concentration by race. Kudos to Tonika for the Award.
Tonika Lewis Johnson
Documenting disparities in Chicago’s neighborhoods through participatory art projects that empower residents to confront and disrupt these inequities.
share.google
October 10, 2025 at 3:12 AM
share.google/oRwfd1g98Icy...
This is very cool. Tonika “folds her maps” to align the same address in a different quadrant of the same city, like NW versus SE, and compares the results which reveal longstanding patterns of wealth concentration by race. Kudos to Tonika for the Award.
This is very cool. Tonika “folds her maps” to align the same address in a different quadrant of the same city, like NW versus SE, and compares the results which reveal longstanding patterns of wealth concentration by race. Kudos to Tonika for the Award.
George himself would be proud: GW earned a platinum rating in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), a comprehensive framework for colleges and universities that addresses the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability
gwtoday.gwu.edu/gw-earns-sta...
gwtoday.gwu.edu/gw-earns-sta...
GW Earns STARS Platinum Rating for Sustainability Performance | GW Today | The George Washington University
The university is the ninth U.S. institution to earn the highest possible rating in the sustainability assessment framework.
gwtoday.gwu.edu
October 7, 2025 at 3:05 AM
George himself would be proud: GW earned a platinum rating in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), a comprehensive framework for colleges and universities that addresses the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability
gwtoday.gwu.edu/gw-earns-sta...
gwtoday.gwu.edu/gw-earns-sta...
Reposted by David Rain
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
Reposted by David Rain
Right-wing Sinclair Broadcasting owns all these local media stations and many others all across America. This is not journalism, it is scripted propaganda.
September 18, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Right-wing Sinclair Broadcasting owns all these local media stations and many others all across America. This is not journalism, it is scripted propaganda.
Reposted by David Rain
Yet there are stations decades older where @bikeshare.bsky.social still has not been placed (ahem, Greenbelt). Why can’t Prince George’s County (who funds the system within the county boundaries) figure this out and create an actual usable “last mile” network???
They see me rollin…. at a new Metrorail station! 🚲☀️
📍Capital Bikeshare is now located at Metro’s Innovation Center station, making your ride with us even more convenient!
📍Capital Bikeshare is now located at Metro’s Innovation Center station, making your ride with us even more convenient!
September 1, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Yet there are stations decades older where @bikeshare.bsky.social still has not been placed (ahem, Greenbelt). Why can’t Prince George’s County (who funds the system within the county boundaries) figure this out and create an actual usable “last mile” network???
Geography matters. Borders matter. Neighbors matter.
President Stubb:
Some of the international media might wonder, "Why is the President of Finland here?" I think the reason is probably that we might come from a small country, but we have a long border with Russia, over 800 miles⤵️
Some of the international media might wonder, "Why is the President of Finland here?" I think the reason is probably that we might come from a small country, but we have a long border with Russia, over 800 miles⤵️
August 19, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Geography matters. Borders matter. Neighbors matter.
re: the Trump-Putin documents found on a hotel printer, NPR is being very low key about it being their scoop.
www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...
Government papers found in an Alaskan hotel reveal new details of Trump-Putin summit
Documents with sensitive details about the meeting between President Trump and Russian President Putin were left behind on a public hotel printer.
www.npr.org
August 17, 2025 at 9:46 PM
re: the Trump-Putin documents found on a hotel printer, NPR is being very low key about it being their scoop.
www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...
Keystone Kops at it again.
Documents with sensitive details about the meeting between President Trump and Russian President Putin were left behind on a public hotel printer.
Government papers found in an Alaskan hotel reveal new details of Trump-Putin summit
Documents with sensitive details about the meeting between President Trump and Russian President Putin were left behind on a public hotel printer.
n.pr
August 16, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Keystone Kops at it again.
Reposted by David Rain
In honor of the extremely clever Tom Lehrer, who has died, here is his song about religion that was rather controversial. It is also very funny.
youtu.be/pvhYqeGp_Do?...
youtu.be/pvhYqeGp_Do?...
Tom Lehrer - The Vatican Rag - fabulous version - LIVE FILM From Copenhagen in 1967
YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel
youtu.be
July 27, 2025 at 9:06 PM
In honor of the extremely clever Tom Lehrer, who has died, here is his song about religion that was rather controversial. It is also very funny.
youtu.be/pvhYqeGp_Do?...
youtu.be/pvhYqeGp_Do?...
RIP Tom Lehrer- who wrote the soundtrack to a nerdy boomer boston burb childhood.
“If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while.”
wapo.st/3J6GVeA
“If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while.”
wapo.st/3J6GVeA
July 27, 2025 at 8:33 PM
RIP Tom Lehrer- who wrote the soundtrack to a nerdy boomer boston burb childhood.
“If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while.”
wapo.st/3J6GVeA
“If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while.”
wapo.st/3J6GVeA
In case you wondered how summer visitors to Washington coped with the heat and humidity before air conditioning, they didn’t. They stayed home. Most Washington hotels closed in the summer, according to Karl Baedeker’s United States- Handbook for Travellers, 1909, p. 211.
#dc #heat #climate #swamp
#dc #heat #climate #swamp
June 23, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Posting this in support of ABC News senior national correspondent Terry Moran.
June 8, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Posting this in support of ABC News senior national correspondent Terry Moran.
Reposted by David Rain
Some of the CDC's main channels for communicating urgent health information to the public have gone silent.
Diseases are spreading. The CDC isn't warning the public like it was months ago
Some of the CDC's main channels for communicating urgent health information to the public have gone silent.
www.npr.org
May 21, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Some of the CDC's main channels for communicating urgent health information to the public have gone silent.
Reposted by David Rain
"the president defied a Supreme Court ruling to return a man mistakenly sent to a gulag... and spoke of sending Americans to foreign concentration camps.
This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped"
snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror
This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped"
snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror
State Terror
A brief guide for Americans
snyder.substack.com
April 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM
"the president defied a Supreme Court ruling to return a man mistakenly sent to a gulag... and spoke of sending Americans to foreign concentration camps.
This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped"
snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror
This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped"
snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror
Reposted by David Rain
Special Vermont Resistance edition
Lucy Welch, a hero for the moment.
billmckibben.substack.com
March 1, 2025 at 10:21 PM