It's #SureFineWhatever time! Mute or follow along as we start with S3 E1: The Blessing Way. Mulder is missing, possibly dead! One nice thing I really appreciated about this show at the time is the equal-opportunity peril. Scully isn't always the damsel.
Just once I want Scully to say, "The files are up your ass," or something similarly crass. She's much more professional than I feel like I'd be at that point. (Also, I'm loving the 1940's feel on her hairstyle.) #SureFineWhatever
"With all due respect, sir, I think you overestimate your position in the chain of command."
I mean, she's not wrong. It's not like any of these guys are playing by the rules here, even aside from the secret international cabal. Black ops helicopters, etc.
What do we think the mistake is that Dana is referring to, that her dad would be so ashamed of? Because somehow, I don't think she's talking about lying to the FBI to protect Mulder. #SureFineWhatever
Frohike showing up drunk and grizzled at Scully's house in grief, and their dedication to finding the truth, is such a tender moment.
I'm basically avoiding commenting on the eponymous Navajo ceremony depicted in this episode, because I'm not qualified (I'm still looking for a good Native critique). But I suspect that, like so may Hollywood depictions of Native culture, it's a settler fantasy. #SureFineWhatever
No, Cancer Man, I'm pretty sure it's just unfortunate for you.
Um, yes, please remove the small metal object embedded in my skin, immediately, post-haste, right now, ASAP, stat. #SureFineWhatever
Here's a thesis that talks about Native representations in popular media that talks about missteps in "Anasazi," and how Chris Carter was invited to meet with Navajo (Diné) people to learn more afterwards: scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewconten…#SureFineWhatever
Can you imagine someone telling you that they think your immediate family member isn't actually dead, at their funeral? I feel like they sort of glossed over that.
Honestly, this was a way worse cliff-hanger for me than the season 2 finale somehow. Yes, we'd waited all summer, but the Skinner threat was so intense! And right after Melissa's death, too. I wasn't a fan of Melissa, but I knew it was going to crush Scully. #SureFineWhatever
Starting S3 E2: Paper Clip!
I think I'm going to start talking like Skinner at work. "You've been relieved of your administrative function."
I want a spinoff show about Albert Hosteen and the Navajo code-talkers. #SureFineWhatever
And alien-human hybrids have officially been added to the Mythology.
(I never understood what "post-apocalyptic identification" meant. In a post-apocalypse, I feel like identifying bodies using DNA would be low on the list? Am I misunderstanding that?)
It's amazing to me how this show makes us kind of root for Krycek, after everything he's done. I think a lot of that is Nicholas Lea's acting. #SureFineWhatever
Whew! We made it through the three-episode mythology arc. Next week, we've got D.P.O. (a young Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi!) and Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (a Darin Morgan episode, Emmy winner, and one of my favorites). Goodnight, all! #SureFineWhatever
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A lot of the debates about whether to bring politics into science, teaching, or other spheres of public life would be easily avoided if people remembered that being political is not the same as being partisan.
Politics involves how decisions are made, how power is structured, and how resources are allocated within and among groups.
Partisanship is an allegiance to a specific faction, party, or politician.
The two concepts are related, but they are not the same.
My research has policy implications. My ability to do my job is influenced by state and federal funding for research and education. We teach students to be well-rounded, informed members of society. We exist within systems that affect who gets to do science, or get an education.
Over a month after the vote, the think pieces on the "rejected" Anthropocene are still coming strong, so I wanted to take a moment to (finally!) offer some background and thoughts about the vote, the process, and what it all means.
Geologists define different intervals in Earth's past so we can share a common language. Earth's 4.5 billion year history is divided into a series of eons (longest), eras, periods, epochs, and ages (shortest), based on visible changes in rock layers and fossil ecosystems.
For example, the Cenozoic Era began 66 million years ago with the impact that killed the dinosaurs. Within that, the Paleocene (66 to 56 mya) was the first epoch within the Paleogene Period (66 to 23 mya). Each is defined by rock layers that record extinctions and climate events.
Last December, a @DukeU Magazine article explored the "uncertain future" of the Duke Herbarium.
The scientific community is now learning that Duke has decided that this facility will be closed. This is bad, and here's why.dukemag.duke.edu/stories/nowher…
A herbarium is basically a collection of plant specimens that are preserved for research and teaching. They're a vital resource to help scientists identify species, understand changes in biodiversity patterns, or even changes in flowering time or other climate change impacts.
Herbaria require resources and space, as well as staff, who use the collections for research and outreach, and who assist visiting scientists to conduct research. Many collections are digitized, but the actual specimens have tons of value. Internet photos aren't enough.
If you say humanity is doomed to extinction and that nothing we can do can prevent total climate breakdown and ecosystem collapse, I need you to know's just as unscientific as saying there's no climate crisis.
I don't platform disinformation. I don't care what kind it is.
Sadly, I've learned that just as there's no convincing the dismissives the climate crisis is real, there's no convicing defeatists that this isn't pass-fail, and that our work will always matter. I only have so much time and energy. It needs to go where it can be of the most use.
Most defeatists seem to come from demographics that haven't historically faced the loss of their bodily autonomy, rights, homelands, or cultures. I empathize with those experiencing their first-ever existential threats, but I really wish their first instinct wasn't to give up.
I woke up this morning full of pain at so much violence, to each other and to the planet. I wrote a short message to my lab, and it helped me see a clearer path. I'm sharing it here in case it helps you, too.
Witnessing trauma is its own kind of trauma, especially in a society that wants us to suppress that trauma so we can continue to function as well-oiled cogs. We don't have a lot of good tools for how to bear witness without becoming numb. And we cannot become numb.
I wish I had the answers, but I'm fumbling through this, myself. What I can say is that when things are difficult, anything we can do to show up for each other and our communities makes a difference. The fabric of society is threadbare and torn; we must patch and weave.
Since 2009, the Anthropocene Working Group has been trying to decide whether geologists should revise the geologic timeline to include a new epoch defined by human impacts, and if so, when. 🧵
If you're not familiar with this project or the debates about when the Anthropocene would start, here's a thread I did on exactly that:
Now that you're all caught up on golden spikes, here's an update:
Today, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) announced their recommendation, which is that we should have a new geologic epoch, and it started in 1950, as recorded in lake sediments from Crawford Lake, Ontario.