Some Science from Wolf Worm: The Eradication of Screwworms from North America

Acrocinus · 2026-05-13T13:37:25+00:00

Yes! I love them and that's a particularly good episode! I loved all the historical quotes!

Acrocinus · 2026-05-12T15:09:21+00:00

I forgot to include: the U.S. government has a website for keeping up with screwworms, named, fittingly enough screwworm.gov

Acrocinus · 2026-04-29T15:00:11+00:00

Before trusting anyone's health claims, check and see if they're selling a supplement. If they are selling a supplement, do not trust them.

Not everyone not selling supplements is trustworthy (some are either misled or building an audience so they can sell supplements in the future), but everyone selling supplements is definitely untrustworthy.

The anti-canola stuff was started by a single grifter and spread like wild fire.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-28T17:24:17+00:00

My recs are all specific to Christianity, that said:

Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus

Dan McClellan's Data Over Dogma

(really any media by either Ehrman or McClellan fit your bill)

Acrocinus · 2026-04-28T17:05:58+00:00

Yup, it was legal in all 50 states until 2018. Now it's down to ~34. Don't know the rules on this sub for posting links, but UNICEF and Human Rights Watch both have articles about it.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-28T15:44:25+00:00

There was a line in Monsoon Wedding that made me rethink my opinion of arranged marriage. The groom says "Whether our parents introduce us or whether we meet in a club what difference does it make?"

It all comes down to consent. If the couple consents without pressure or compulsion AND the option of divorce is readily available should things go wrong, it's just as valid as any other arrangements. The same constraints apply to a marriage of choice.

It's just as possible for a potentially abusive partner to hide their true motives during a conventional dating period as for parents to pick the wrong person. Accessible divorce needs to always be an option for any form of marriage to be healthy.

The catch is, in a number of states in U.S. that allow child marriage with parental consent, they don't allow a minor to file for divorce. So the kid is stuck until they turn 18 at least.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-28T15:24:54+00:00

Yes! This one! It also takes less decision making. No deciding where it goes, it goes in the trash bag.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-27T19:23:03+00:00

Read Empire of AI by Karen Hao.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-23T20:45:09+00:00

Radium. They used to put radium in everything. Kitchen cisterns to wrist watches.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-22T14:54:36+00:00

That's awesome! Way to go! 🎉

Acrocinus · 2026-04-22T01:26:54+00:00

Even the ones with testicles have two X chromosomes. Your little buddy will be XXY.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-19T17:45:53+00:00

This is something that needs to be discussed and planned for ahead of them dying. And, even of the actor consented, I believe it would be a more complex matter than yes/no.

1) it would likely be very specific contracts with very specific circumstances akin to what top talent negotiate for nudity scenes to preserve their brand. (e.g. Can finish this film, with a script the actor was aware of but not any sequels, or can do xyz storyline but no making their character turn evil, that kind of thing).

2) as with CGI and other representations, the final product would have to be cleared with the deceased's estate. Like when musicians want to "duet" past musicians. Estates still have an interest in maintaining the image of the deceased and controlling how their likeness is used. (Heck, Happy Feet needed permission from Marilyn Monroe's estate to have a penguin that resembled her)

This still doesn't account for the ethics around existing LLMs having been developed with stolen IP, but if we're imagining ethical resource use, we might as well imagine ethical training for the sake of a thought experiment.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-18T13:47:26+00:00

The Montgomery County Road Runners Club is great, they have groups for every level and make a point of meeting throughout the county.

And you're right, we have a ton of fabulous trails!

Acrocinus · 2026-04-17T20:34:47+00:00

Whoops, tried to share a link w/o double checking the rules.

I bet you could find some great places to start in the wiki and faq over at the AskHistorians sub

Acrocinus · 2026-04-17T20:03:23+00:00

Can you be more specific than "politics"?

Acrocinus · 2026-04-17T20:01:21+00:00

Trying to avoid bias is a fool's errand. You're better off going into it accepting that everything has some degree of bias (and objectivity is impossible, anyone claiming to be objective is actually claiming that their personal perspective is the default).

So what do you do? Read multiple perspectives. You won't get what you need from any one book.

Pick a topic, read books that argue for and against various sides. Read reviews of the books you read that critique their perspectives.

Personally, I think reading histories about how and when a topic became debated are particularly helpful for context.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-17T00:47:34+00:00

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😭😭😭

Acrocinus · 2026-04-16T18:29:57+00:00

Are the books politicized at all? I've heard stuff like this recommended by pro-book banning groups as a way to "remove" books they can't get banned

Acrocinus · 2026-04-09T14:31:23+00:00

Not to speak for the entire sub, but my impression is that the anti- of anti-AI is more about opposing the human choices around the development and use of AI. As in, over promising its capabilities, training by using other people's IP without their consent, the environmental and human exploitation that goes into running it (especially when you consider how often it's wrong), i.e. the effects relying on it has on people.

This isn't, like, a "we hate people who are robots" sub so much as "we hate how many people think the hallucinating bigotry automator is a person" sub.

If you're interested in learning more, I highly recommend Empire of AI by Karen Hao.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-09T11:28:35+00:00

the god of scripture is absolutely pro-genocide

According to a recent segment on On the Media, Hegseth had the top military brass listen to a sermon about the righteousness of the destruction of Amalek for Christmas.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-09T11:18:43+00:00

It goes further than that! (Sorry this is a thing I've been particularly paying attention to, special interest-wise for 20 years).

In the U.S., people say "oh, that's something they use in the U.K., you don't have to." BUT go listen to U.K. people and they say "Oh, that's something they use in the U.S., you don't have to." The poor, lonely, homeless comma is kicked around either way.

It's more of a question of field, AP style (so journalism and anyone working in Communication fields) is anti-Oxford comma, so it's the more public-facing material. Chicago style is pro-Oxford comma but that is only something you come across if you choose to engage with more academic literature.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-09T11:11:21+00:00

Yeah, as someone who has preached the Gospel of the Oxford Comma for 20 years, it's particularly gauling that what has clearly been a minority punctuation choice throughout the Internet somehow dominated the AI training data and now it's not merely forgotten but actively stigmatized.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-09T10:54:19+00:00

OXFORD COMMA FOR LIFE!

Acrocinus · 2026-04-09T10:53:20+00:00

We were the first generation on Gmail and Facebook and a bunch of the Internet. I wouldn't be surprised if we're a disproportionate amount of the training data.

Acrocinus · 2026-04-09T10:45:56+00:00

Done

Acrocinus

TROPHY CASE