Mordecai-Mark Mac Low

Excerpt from proposed NOAA budget showing zero funding for Climate Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes

Proposed NOAA budget zeros out ALL climate laboratories and cooperative institutions.

GFDL, NSSL, GML, etc.

This appears to also end the US greenhouse gas sampling network, including at Mauna Loa, the oldest continuous carbon dioxide monitoring site on Earth.

www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul...

I’ve been a bit quiet on here lately, but I’ve been working on a project.
After 65 hours of integration, my largest and longest astro image to date is finally complete. This is a 4-panel mosaic of the Fighting Dragons of Ara 🐉🔥

#Astrophotography #nebula #NGC6188 #FightingDragonsOfAra #tasmania

I'm advising one NSF graduate fellow working on understanding how heavy elements produced by the first stars mixed into subsequent generations of stars, ultimately leading to our own existence, and have another considering thesis work with me on planet formation.

Well... I just found out today that the proposed FY26 president's budget will eliminate the NSF graduate research fellowship program that is funding my Ph.D. I have an award in progress, too. This won't just affect future funding or applications.

Immediately after the Vietnam War, I just opted out of the pledge entirely in sixth grade. My homeroom teacher (also taught classical history) had me provide a written justification, and the rest of the year I stayed seated and silent.

Well, ready to gamble?

Encounters in the Milky Way: Hayden Planetarium Space Show | AMNH Experience the dynamism and diversity of the worlds that share our solar system, and the unique conditions that make life on Earth possible.

Well, Pedro Pascal took the hint, and narrated our new Space Show, Encounters in the Milky Way! @amnh.org www.amnh.org/exhibitions/...

But you made it to the free world, so there's that

Critical Hurricane Forecast Tool Abruptly Terminated U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday it would no longer process and deliver data essential to most hurricane forecasts

A huge blow was dealt to hurricane forecasters this week as a critical tool was abruptly terminated by the Department of Defense and NOAA. The immediate discontinuation of data from three weather satellites will severely impact hurricane forecasts this season and beyond. More ⬇️

The destruction of the US scientific enterprise continues. Or, at least, work from home just got another boost.

Unfortunately, the answer is unambiguously yes. www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace...

All @columbiauniversity.bsky.social Astronomy episode!

Support Federal Science Funding: A Call to Action The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance physics by fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and global community dedicated to science and society.

Join the American Physical Society @apsphysics.bsky.social in opposing crippling cuts to US science funding. www.aps.org/initiatives/...

Plot of the full sky in equatorial coordinates, showing the northern hemisphere almost entirely grey, while the southern hemisphere shows colors calibrated by a color bar to show 700 to 1200 visits over 10 years.

Well, the entire visible universe aside from the part blocked by that pesky rock it's sitting on (the grey area in this plot) community.lsst.org/uploads/defa...

Jargon overload: I am revising two papers using the acronym SFE. In one of them it stands for star formation efficiency, while in the other it stands for surface free energy. Yikes!

For the record, I've also recently kayaked in the Hudson in NYC and despite getting quite wet remained healthy.

Swimming in the Seine Paris Swimming in the Seine Paris returns in 2025 with new river bathing sites, summer hours, and safety measures. Here's what to know before you dive in.

"For the first time in over a century, swimming in the Seine Paris is no longer a wild idea — it's official. Thanks to an ambitious city-wide cleanup and a nudge from the 2024 Olympics, the Seine is open for swimming in summer 2025." www.parisinsidersguide.com/swimming-in-...

Perplexity suggests: 'The "Colby" referenced here is most likely Elbridge Colby, a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and a prominent defense policy analyst. He is known for advocating a significant military buildup, especially regarding U.S. alliances in Asia to counter China.'

Indeed. I'd love to see NYC as civilized as Paris was when I visited last summer. Blooming parks, extensive bicycle network, street dining, single payer healthcare. Now, admittedly, they also have serious issues with affordability of housing, but on the margin, yep, I'd take it.

I am privileged to announce the publication of the Anti-Autocracy Handbook: sks.to/autocracy 1/12

8 Places to Celebrate Oktoberfest in Illinois | Enjoy Illinois Beer? Check. Brats? Yep. Oktoberfest in Illinois is the place for you, and there are events across the state that offer you a place to celebrate. Find an Oktoberfest event near you.

That word has been enthusiastically adopted into English in its original spelling (e.g. www.enjoyillinois.com/plan-your-tr...)

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for SpaceX Starship - NASA NASA has awarded SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, a modification under the NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract to add Starship to their existing Falcon 9 and

www.nasa.gov/news-release...

I have a colleague who got a substantial award, while I had two rejected. No word yet on whether there will be any funding actions in support of the award, though.

Unfortunate echoes of Wilson here.

New @amnh.org curator Jackie Faherty's (co-mentored) student celebrating her thesis defense. Congratulations!

The massive Republican effort over the last 15 years at voter suppression and gerrymandering was successful.

Marching for gun control, students fill Washington streets 'for our dead friends' WASHINGTON — Summoned to action by student survivors of the Florida school shooting, hundreds of thousands of teenagers and their supporters...

Unfortunately, the bottom picture is from a 2018 anti-gun rally. There were plenty of good crowd scenes on June 14, so a shame that misinformation was used instead.
www.dallasnews.com/news/nationa...

And as a result, you can show that 1 km/s ~ 1 pc/Myr, an approximation good to about 4%, and thus a very handy rule of thumb if you're studying the interstellar medium.

Behind the Scenes of a Planetarium Show | AMNH Go behind the scenes of Encounters in the Milky Way with the creative team behind the Museum’s latest Space Show.

🚀 Curious about how the Museum produces its iconic Hayden Planetarium Space Shows? Join us on June 25 for a look at the making of the Museum’s new Space Show: Encounters in the Milky Way. Learn how scientists transformed data into a journey through our galactic neighborhood: bit.ly/4jQi2AE

"No Kings Day" protests turn out millions, rebuking Trump Our unofficial estimate is that around 4-6 million people attended a protest event yesterday. Anti-Trump resistance is outpacing 2017.

Oh, found it: www.gelliottmorris.com/p/no-kings-d...