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)

Lichenomphalia ericetorum

Lichen Agaric

2025-03-21

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Psathyrella piluliformis

Common Stump Brittlestem

2025-03-21

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Taraxacum erythrospermum

red-seeded dandelion

2025-03-20

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Naematelia aurantia

golden ear

2025-03-20

ID confirmed

Nemophila parviflora

small-flowered nemophila

2025-03-20

ID confirmed

Rosa multiflora

multiflora rose

2025-03-20

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Leucolepis acanthoneura

Menzies' Tree Moss

2025-03-20

ID confirmed

Osmorhiza berteroi

mountain sweet cicely

2025-03-20

ID confirmed

Lactarius pseudomucidus

Gray-stemmed Milk Cap

2025-03-20

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Ribes divaricatum

spreading gooseberry

2025-03-20

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Cardamine oligosperma

little western bittercress

2025-03-20

ID confirmed

Tresus capax

Fat Gaper

2025-03-20

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Taphrina betulina

Birch Witch's-broom

2025-03-16

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Carex hendersonii

Henderson's Sedge

2025-03-16

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Montia parvifolia

Small-leaved Blinks

2025-03-11

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Scytinotus longinquus

Rosy Oysterling

2025-03-10

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Cirsium brevistylum

Short-styled Thistle

2025-03-10

ID confirmed

Fomitopsis ochracea

Ochre-banded Conk

2025-03-10

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Polytrichum formosum

Bank Haircap Moss

2025-03-10

Help me confirm this ID or suggest another!

Nidula candida

jellied bird's nest fungus

2025-03-10

ID confirmed


Bookwyrm.social

Ryan recently finished reading:

Logging in Grays Harbor

Gene Woodwick

Finished March 12, 2025

4 stars

Treaty Justice

Charles Wilkinson

Finished Jan. 25, 2025

5 stars

The Once and Future King

T. H. White

Finished Dec. 29, 2024

5 stars

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

...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