arigeosci.bsky.social

Tech people think we want AI, robots, and a colony on Mars but what I actually want is a home printer that simply works.

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

Two cats sitting on top of cages and looking at the ceiling

Two cars on the floor staring up at the ceiling

Two young kittens in a cage taking notice

A cat standing on her hind legs to reach for a moth

A moth got into the shelter tonight and it was the event of the season.

This shit is so dangerous. It's insane.

Widespread rain (and mountain snow) will fall with this early-season storm in California, as depicted in this precipitation accumulation map from the ECMWF model. Widespread totals of one half to an inch are likely, with some local spots seeing double or more that amount where heavy downpours align.

An unusually cold and strong early season storm will affect most of California over next 2 days. As rain sweeps southward, expect mountain snow, locally gusty winds, and a progressively higher chance of thunderstorms from north to south from SF Bay Area to LA region. #CAwx

EFF: Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/flock-safety-and-texas-sheriff-claimed-license-plate-search-was-missing-person-it

#privacy #bigbrother #surveillance #fascism

Chaos Inside FEMA as Death Threats Distract From Hurricane Response Internal documents show how online conspiracies and personal attacks disrupted FEMA during back-to-back hurricanes last year.

New docs obtained via FOIA reveal how the personal attacks to FEMA staff last hurricane season were much worse than previously known, including swatting & doxxing of officials.

Story @bloomberg.com, w/ @davey.bsky.social @jasonleopold.bsky.social (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Hard to express to those not in the weeds just how much the current state of the immigration detention system is just utter chaos.

When Is Your Home Safe After Wildfire Smoke? LA Researchers Have Some Answers Smoke from the Los Angeles fires spread toxins across thousands of homes, but in the absence of government guidelines, residents say they’re struggling to clean up.

What does “safe” really mean after a wildfire? You might first think of the homes that have been destroyed, but there’s another category of victims that doesn’t often get much attention. Months after the LA fires, they're still trying to get answers.

For @bloomberg.com (+ my first Bluesky post!):

Plan-B Power System Rolling Out Soon Across Santa Barbara County

This is a fabulous disaster preparedness idea (at the community level)

h/t @knowattitude https://www.independent.com/2025/08/29/plan-b-power-system-rolling-out-soon-across-santa-barbara-county/

#DisasterPreparedness #power #comms #community #climateemergency

IRS asks for public input on free tax filing options to inform congressional report | Internal Revenue Service IR-2025-85, Aug. 21, 2025 — The IRS invites the public to participate in an anonymous feedback survey on tax preparation and filing options, which will run through Sept. 5, 2025.

The IRS wants Americans to weigh in on Direct File, the agency's free tax filing program.

We already know Direct File has been widely popular and successful.

The program could save Americans billions annually between filing fees and time costs.
www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs...

Elon Musk’s xAI Published Hundreds Of Thousands Of Grok Chatbot Conversations xAI published conversations with Grok and made them searchable on Google, including a plan to assassinate Elon Musk and instructions for making fentanyl and bombs.

xAI is publishing users' conversations with Grok on its website and making them searchable.

If you've ever shared a Grok conversation with a friend, through a text message, or slack, or email, Grok may have gone and published it and made it indexable on Google.

www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

The Day of Action to Save NASA Science Join us in Washington, D.C., to advocate for NASA science.

Live in the U.S.? We’re organizing in-person meetings for you to speak directly with your elected officials in Washington, D.C.
October 5–6, join us and nearly a dozen partner organizations for the Day of Action to save NASA’s space science.
Make your voice heard. www.planetary.org/advocacy/day...

It's been 3 days since I put in these numbers and just to make sure I am super angry as I go to bed, I checked again.

There area now 8,093 Starlink satellites in orbit, out of 12,308 total active satellites. 1,243 Starlink satellites have burned up.

As with almost everything else happening […]

A yellow and black patterned butterfly perches on a large green leaf in the foreground, with trees and shrubs visible in the background

UPDATE: We just received word that federal workers are attempting to shut down the stream at the NASA GISS building. Stay tuned as our scientists try to relocate: www.youtube.com/@wclivestrea...

Graphic for the Weather & Climate Livestream.

Federal weather & climate science is under threat. Starting TODAY at 3:00 PM ET, join a coalition of scientists--including AMS leaders--for a 100-hour livestream. Learn what federal science does for you, ask questions, and help build awareness to "Save Our Forecasts": wclivestream.com

We're living through the Who Cares Era, where completely disposable things are shoddily produced for people to mostly ignore, while the government stomps its uncaring boot on our necks. But there's an easy way to fight back: Care.

I wrote about it: dansinker.com/posts/2025-0...

As Staffing Cuts at NWS Lead to Suspended Weather Balloon Launches in Western Alaska, WindBorne Systems Steps Up to Fill Atmospheric Data Gaps Following the announcement from the National Weather Service (NWS) that it is suspending its weather balloon launches in Kotzebue, Alaska indefinitely

This is exactly what they're trying to achieve by destroying government services that benefit the public. A VC-backed startup intervenes to gather data that the National Weather Service was previously collecting, and before we know it, we will be paying them for what was once funded by our taxes.

In case you missed it, this special live session was recorded live and is now available at the link below!

A public information statement announcing the end of some weather balloon launches due to staffing issues.

More fallout from the indiscriminate NWS firings:

"Effective immediately, and until further notice, the [NWS] is temporarily suspending some weather balloon launches in Albany, New York, and Gray, Maine, due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing."

www.weather.gov/media/notifi...

Trump’s Mass Layoffs at NOAA Cut Into the Bay Area Weather Service | KQED Hundreds of workers at the climate research agency are being fired, including at least three Bay Area weather service employees, raising concerns about NOAA’s ability to serve the public.

MON at 9AM:

@weatherwest.bsky.social and terminated NOAA scientists Heather Welch and Kayla Ann Besong join to talk about the layoffs at NOAA and how the cuts are impacting essential work the organization does in CA and nationwide.

🌧️ Are you affected by the @noaa.gov layoffs?
buff.ly/qc7eyoN

At 5 pm Fri, the Social Security Admin announced that it will withhold the *entire* Social Security benefits of overpaid seniors & people w/disabilities, even if not their fault—reversing a Biden-era reform that limited repayment to 10% of the monthly benefit.

This will cause needless suffering.

Observed multi-decadal increase in the surface ocean’s thermal inertia - Nature Climate Change Analysis of 42 years of daily sea surface temperature data shows increasing persistence of anomalies. These changes, which are attributed to deepening of the mixed layer, reduced oceanic forcing and r...

Observed multi-decadal increase in the surface ocean’s thermal inertia

…suggests that the ocean’s ability to sequester heat is weakening

Until now, the ocean has been perhaps the world's greatest ally against climate change

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We need to banish the phrase "claimed without evidence" from journalism. Because 100% of the time it means "This public figure told this lie, but my news organization's conventions prevent me from saying it's a lie, even though it's an obvious lie."

Calling a lie a lie ought to be the convention.

Foreign Aid Freeze Leaves Millions Without H.I.V. Treatment President Trump’s pause on aid, and the gutting of the primary aid agency, could jeopardize the health of more than 20 million people worldwide, including 500,000 children, experts say.

Without treatment, millions of people with H.I.V. would be at risk of severe illness and premature death. The loss of treatment also threatens the emergence of drug-resistant strains of H.I.V.; both outcomes could have a global impact, including in the United States.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/h...

This is effectively what led to the 1900 Galveston Hurricane being the most deadly storm in U.S. history.

We are so back, i guess. 😩

The U.S. #NationalWeatherService, housed within #NOAA, is a truly world-class meteorological predictive service, perhaps singularly so. It costs only ~$3/yr per taxpayer, & yields ~10:1 return on investment--saving economy 10s-100s of billions, not to mention thousands of lives.

Trump’s emergency water order responsible for water dump from Tulare County lakes – SJV Water The sudden announcement Thursday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that Kaweah and Success lakes would immediately begin dumping water was in response Trump’s emergency water order responsible for w...

“A decision to take summer water from local farmers and dump it out of these reservoirs shows a complete lack of understanding of how the system works and sets a very dangerous precedent." sjvwater.org/trumps-emerg...

The National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook is updated on the first workday of every month. The outlook offers a best guess as to where in the country we will see high fire danger. It's based on a lot of climate data, including work from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. 1/