Latest Blog Posts

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  • Ooh, Shiny!

    I finally returned to The Cnidae Gritty because I found a groove with Shiny app development again!

    Since my postdoc in France, I’ve been wanting to improve a barebones photo annotation script that I created there.

    ...read more


  • Trust Science!

    Trust the science?

    Trust the scientists?

    Trust {the |}scien{ce|tists}!

    Ahh. That’s safe.

    Wait, what science? Or which scientists?

    ...read more


  • Pseudoquasivegetarianism

    2016 was a pivotal year for me.

    For the past four years, I had been traveling the world and studying coral reefs from every region. I was becoming an expert on their evolution and their interactions with various microbes. I knew these ecosystems had been in decline for decades, that climate change was a major threat, and that some people had claimed that eating meat and flying in airplanes were major contributors to climate change.

    ...read more


  • Big guys shout 'merde!' louder

    New preprint!

    Bacterial sepsis triggers stronger transcriptomic responses in larger primates

    I am happy to report that a paper I’ve been working on for a long time is finally available

    ...read more


  • Maybe it doesn't Matern

    Calling all bored and crazy Stan coders. I need a long term coding partner.

    I’ve been doing a lot of completely solo work for a couple years now, and you can guess the result. I have a couple of really awesome models that I am proud of, and yet they’re (1) not quite what I want, (2) probably way more complicated and messy than necessary, and (3) sitting there, waiting for me to figure out how to be a real modeler and justify them.

    ...read more


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iNaturalist

Ryan's most recent taxonomic discoveries

(observations of taxa that he'd never before uploaded)

Gryllus lineaticeps

Variable Field Cricket

2024-12-16

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Erodium moschatum

musk stork's-bill

2024-12-15

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Azolla filiculoides

water fern

2024-12-15

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Uta stansburiana

Common Side-blotched Lizard

2024-12-15

ID confirmed

Andricus quercuscalifornicus

California Gall Wasp

2024-12-15

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Vitis californica

California wild grape

2024-12-15

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Salix laevigata

red willow

2024-12-15

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Amaranthus albus

prostrate pigweed

2024-12-15

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Erythrostemon mexicanus

Mexican holdback

2024-12-14

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Condalia globosa

Bitter Snakewood

2024-12-14

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Novomessor cockerelli

2024-12-14

ID confirmed

Acromyrmex versicolor

Desert Leaf-cutter Ant

2024-12-14

ID confirmed

Phainopepla nitens

Phainopepla

2024-12-14

ID confirmed

Chaenactis carphoclinia

pebble pincushion

2024-12-14

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Isocoma tenuisecta

burroweed

2024-12-14

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ephedra trifurca

longleaf ephedra

2024-12-14

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Zinnia acerosa

desert zinnia

2024-12-14

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Vachellia constricta

whitethorn acacia

2024-12-14

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Phoradendron californicum

Mesquite Mistletoe

2024-12-14

ID confirmed

Condalia warnockii

Warnock Condalia

2024-12-14

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!


Bookwyrm.social

Ryan recently finished reading:

The Last Resort

Sarah Stodola

Finished Dec. 5, 2024

4 stars

Coral Whisperers

Irus Braverman

Finished Nov. 23, 2024

4 stars

Parent Effectiveness Training

Gordon Staff

Finished July 11, 2024

4 stars

Dutch

Pimsleur

Finished July 11, 2024

4 stars

El león, la bruja y el ropero

C. S. Lewis

Finished March 2, 2024

4 stars

Exhalation

Ted Chiang

Finished June 26, 2023

5 stars

East of Eden

John Steinbeck

Finished June 11, 2023

4 stars

Erased: the untold story of the Panama Canal

Marixa Lasso

Finished June 4, 2023

4 stars

Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand

Finished Jan. 2, 2023

1 star

Unconquered People: Florida's Seminole and Miccosukee Indians

Brent R. Weisman

Finished Dec. 28, 2022

4 stars

...and is currently reading:

Le lion, la sorcière blanche et l'armoire magique

C. S. Lewis

The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri

Blood Struggle

Charles F. Wilkinson

Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Isaac Asimov

The Once and Future King

T. H. White