Cartoon by Dave Walker showing different types of private belongings stored on the street. Credit: davewalker.com
Bosh.
[2/2]
06.03.2026 08:53
👍 28
🔁 10
💬 0
📌 1
Cartoon by Dave Walker showing different types of private belongings stored on the street. Credit: davewalker.com
Bosh.
[2/2]
Page 2 of letter by Daniel Swain. It begins: constructive suggestions regarding how the already remarkable institutional efficiency and societal impact of NCAR could be further enhanced through increased (not decreased) federal support in the years to come. Please note: To ensure the highest level of technical rigor, this response focuses exclusively on the core atmospheric and natural hazard science topics within the author’s primary domain of expertise; for this reason, I have omitted a response to Topic 4 (Space Weather)." NCAR weather modeling and atmospheric observing capabilities a) Management and operations of weather-related observational platforms, modeling and science as a stand-alone activity. The proposed management of weather-related research as a stand-alone activity is a scientifically regressive path that ignores the fundamental physical reality of the Earth system. Modern atmospheric science has demonstrated (largely, it is worth noting, due to groundbreaking researc
Page 3 of letter by Daniel Swain. It begins: b) Management and operations of weather-related observational platforms, modeling and science as combined with other NSF investments/facilities. The highly specialized nature of the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) infrastructure represents an extraordinary value proposition that cannot be replicated by combining it with more generalized NSF programs. The NWSC is not a generic high-performance computing (HPC) facility; it is a laboratory uniquely optimized for atmospheric science workflows, with a hardware and storage architecture specifically designed to handle the massive, high-bandwidth data demands of Earth system modeling. Furthermore, its model of providing an excellent, free-at-point-of-use technical support team ensures that the focus remains on the science rather than the overhead of systems administration. This centralized expertise allows individual researchers, smaller labs, and even entire universities—who would otherwi
Page 4 of letter by Daniel Swain. It begins: NCAR Mesa Lab (located in Boulder, Colorado) a/b) Ownership of the NSF NCAR Mesa Lab building for public and private use. Far more than just an office building, NSF NCAR Mesa Lab is an iconic and purpose-built facility designed specifically for the study of atmospheric science. Its position at the physical interface of the Rocky Mountain foothills and the Great Plains is a deliberate reflection of its mission, serving as a visible symbol—in an iconically American setting—of the federal government's enduring commitment to science in service of society. For many in the field, including myself, the Mesa Lab holds singular importance as a focal gathering point for the global atmospheric science community. My own early career exposure to weather and Earth system modeling, in fact, occurred within these walls, and I have long felt that the facility’s architecture and location inspire a necessary sense of awe regarding the atmosphere’s complexity a
Page 1 of letter by Daniel Swain. It begins: Dear Acting Director Stone and the NSF NCAR restructuring team: I am writing to provide a formal response to the Request for Information (RFI) regarding the proposed restructuring of the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and its critical weather science infrastructure contained within the January 23, 2026 Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) entitled “NSF Intent to Restructure Critical Weather Infrastructure.” I submit these comments in my professional capacity as an atmospheric research scientist within the University of California, where my research focuses on the physics and dynamics of atmospheric processes related to extreme weather events and their role in shifting natural hazard and disaster risk. My perspective is informed by a public-sector career dedicated to bridging the gap between fundamental atmospheric research and real-world application in an academic context, with a particular focus on understanding and mitigating
I just submitted my letter to NSF responding to its proposal to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). I argue that doing so would be an astonishing and avoidable misstep, and that federal support for the institution should in fact be *increased.* [1/4]
JOB OPENING! If you want to work as a reporter with Nature's US news team, this is a VERY RARE opportunity. The beat is physical sciences/energy & environment/technology. DC or NYC location. Deadline 3/27. Join our awesome team! #journojobs
springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/es/SpringerN...
I came of age in Thatcher’s Britain and there is a certain stoicism that comes from that.
You can do both!
That and avoiding illegal wars of choice with no plan or endgame of course.
Seems to me that perpetual gas and oil crises might be avoidable if we replaced them with more locally sourced non-depletable resources. There might be other benefits too. Just a thought. 🤷
A lot of people say AI isn't very good for the world and its outputs are routinely unreliable, but these haters fail to see how it's revolutionizing how we incinerate schoolchildren.
Two more YDIH papers bite the dust.
retractionwatch.com/2026/03/04/c...
For all the but how can we afford space exploration folks…this means we’ve already spent more on this war that started last week than Cassini cost in the 26 years it took to build, launch, and operate it.
Emmanuel Damas in a patterned dress shirt and striped tie leaning against a metal railing on a sunny residential street with red brick rowhouses and flowering trees in the background.
Emmanuel Damas, 56, died in ICE custody on Monday.
Damas came to the U.S. from Haiti seeking asylum. After six months in ICE custody—the last four at CoreCivic's Florence Correctional Center—he died from complications from a tooth infection.
A tooth infection.
1/3
tucson.com/news/local/b...
In troubled times, it's always calming to go back to the basics: How hard flood-mapping is.
From @leslieatlarge.bsky.social and @mrgopal.bsky.social
🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Scientific American has updated the figure, now grouped into swimmers, fliers, walkers/runners, and vehicles. A person on a bicycle remains the most efficient way to travel, compared to all forms of biological locomotion and mechanical transport.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...
Time series chart showing the fraction of new car sales by year that are electric for China and selected other countries.
China knows the liability that oil import dependencies create, and how to play the long game.
New car sales in China have gone from 6% electric in 2020 to 51% electric in 2025.
This is large-scale industrial policy in service of national security goals.
'once projects are given a chance to embed, it’s only a small percentage of people who keep ranting on about such projects. Few to no political voices advocate ripping out projects (with some exceptions to populists). The general public acceptance grows over time'
There is a mandatory set of training videos that we've all been assigned by OPM. And all of them are one-on-one interviews with Hillsdale professors with, let us say, "particular" views on the role of the executive and the constitution...
Can someone please explain how OPM has outsourced all executive service training to professors from Hillsdale College?
it was in the lead up to the first gulf war, and we were there on holiday, but mostly everyone else had cancelled all plans out of an 'abundance of caution'. So by the time we got to Luxor, we were basically the only tourists around. Possibly not solo, but very few!
January 1991!
Iranian embassy 1979?
Annual number of objects launched into space Line chart showing annual counts from 1957 to 2025 on the horizontal axis and counts from 0 to 5,000 on the vertical axis. The caption notes this includes satellites, probes, landers, crewed spacecraft, and space station flight elements launched into Earth orbit or beyond. From 1957 through about 2015, the plotted lines for individual countries and the world stay low and relatively flat; after about 2018, there is a sudden, steep rise, with the world total climbing to roughly 4,000 to 5,000 launches per year and the United States rising to just under the world total. Other series shown in the legend — China, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, United Kingdom, India, and European Space Agency — also increase more modestly and remain well below the world and United States lines. Data source: United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (2026). License: CC BY.
A record number of objects went into space in 2025—
4,510 objects were launched into space in 2025, surpassing the previous peak of 2,903 objects in 2023 by a large margin.
The data shows that US agencies and companies were responsible for launching 3,708 of these objects — 82% of the global total
28 scientists say political pressure to remove a chapter on climate science in a manual for judges is a troubling turn for other disciplines, too. @defendpublichealth.bsky.social @standupforscience.bsky.social
sciencepolitics.org/2026/03/02/a...
PS. the Heathrow express has been in operation for over 20 years. A tiny little extension to make it easier to go left instead of right should not take that long!
The lack of demand argument is just BS. There is a huge flux of folks going to Paddington and then just going back the way they came to go to points west (Bristol, Bath, Exeter, etc.) and Reading is a better junction for much of the midlands too. And trains are able to go both ways!
If they had an option to go directly to Reading, it’d be much more useful… never understood why not.
While no country that imports oil will be immune from global price volatility, some are more exposed than others.
Structural reduction of oil & gas import dependence is the only durable protection against shocks like this. That means investment in renewables, storage, efficiency and grids at home.
One year in the federal assault on climate science — a review and prospective
That's right. Worse than Pointless
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o...
A long time ago, I used to know a lot about foreign-imposed regime change (FIRC) and study them.
I guess that makes me qualified to write a thread about them, especially in wake of Trump bombing Iran.
So here goes nothing. 🧵
Building your economy on inherently volatile fossil fuel supplies really does come with lots of downsides, even before you consider the whole climate change thing.