Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦

It's not a person but it can also do a lot more than copy things.

Yes, this is bleak. It is also hilarious.
It is bleak.
It is hilarious.
It is bleakly hilarious.
It is hilariously bleak.

I really, really hope you meant to do that.

That's just the mode they're in, I guess.

Missed opportunity to put her in charge of the WH grounds and turn her into a garden Noem.

Reviewers are human and I am sure I've made errors, too. But it sure would be nice to have some sort of error correction mechanism that's more direct and precise than what we actually have.

This is about meningitis caused by Streptococcus, but unfortunately more relevant than ever now that the dangerous idiot grifters running DHS/CDC have rolled back recommendations for the meningococcal meningitis vaccine.

Oh they'll comply all right. It will just take a while.

Two different reviewers, for two different cited papers, cool.

Always a favorite: claiming I didn't show "preliminary" data when I cited our preprinted, in-press paper.

a little girl in a red and purple dress is brushing her hair with a brush . ALT: a little girl in a red and purple dress is brushing her hair with a brush .

I knew how reading this summary statement was going to go. Mission accomplished!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Even the Stasi didn't wear masks, you low-grade Dollar Store fascist.

Put them in a jar with broken glass and piano wire, screw down the lid, shake

This is what Francois Jacob had to do during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Draw your own conclusions.

I finally got Zoom's "AI Companion" to tell me how to disable it.

There's no option in the phone or desktop app, you have to go to your account on the Zoom website.

Bay of Pig

been saying the same

They clearly are not. Just as clearly, they are all-in on his war: 80% approval.

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]

Coalitions work differently in parliamentary systems than in winner-take-all systems like the one here, and I imagine you know that. Apples/oranges.

How long does he last as DHS secretary? A year? Six months? Eight weeks? But he's out of the Senate forever.

What he's talking about is he wants Mullin out of the Senate, and especially out of a safe seat. That's what.

(Algorithms, not social science.)

I generally agree but here is a fascinating counterexample.

Can AI Replace Social Science Researchers? No. No it can't. Come on, now.

Karpf: "If you think Claude Code is a better social scientist than you, then you’re probably right. But that means, at some point, you stopped trying to answer interesting/puzzling questions and started trying to win the publish-the-most-articles race." davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/can-ai-rep...

Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently

Grim.

And, disturbing that it was suppressed.

I’m not sure whether I’m bothered more by the habit of suppressing contrary information or by its effectiveness.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/c...

Yup.

I do not understand why this is funny but it is.

Usenet - Wikipedia

just sayin