Rachel Dobbs

Obviously feeling very “three weasels in a trench coat” about this, which I suspect is obvious because it is gauche to post about such things but also: eeeeeeeee!

Setting aside the insanity of a list including Ian McEwan, Peter Frankopan, the former head of MI6 and me - I am v jazzed to be part of the (gorgeous) literary festival on (gorgeous) Kardamyli in Greece in October. I’ll be speaking about climate + AI. kardamylifestival.com/programme/

What is the charge? Walking a path? A succulent salt path?

After the cardinals are sequestered, are they emitted? Does that mean the abatement is reversible?

An old church with “ENTER, REST & PRAY” inscribed above the door, except it is now a WeWork.

something something late stage capitalism

LNER trains now have signs in the toilets informing people that period products are available, for free—just ask the staff for "a package for a friend". Which is excellent except that I can't think of anything more Austin-Powers-bananas to overhear someone saying to a conductor on a moving train.

A line graph showing atmospheric CO2 levels at Mauna Loa Observatory from 1955 to 2025. The y-axis represents CO2 mole fraction in parts per million (ppm), ranging from 320 to 420 ppm, while the x-axis is years.

The most iconic figure in the environmental sciences is the Keeling Curve, the CO₂ record from Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

@noaa.gov had a wonderful site where you could visualize and download these data, and now it's just gone. These data belong to us and we should not let this happen!

One Gen-Z girl to another in the cinema last night, having just been shown an add for Audible: "Imagine listening to Atomic Habits as an audiobook. You couldn't skip anything!" 💙

A photo of the front of a bookshop. Above the shop windows, under the name of the shop is a quote attributed to Neil Gaiman. A man on a ladder is scraping Gaiman’s name off.

A friend of mine took this photo yesterday

pardoning turkeys okay

actually more to the point i think presidents having the power to pardon people is a bad move. mad, roman emperor boy king type thing to be able to do. silly

So I think Biden pardoning Hunter is broadly a bad move BUT also I really want someone to write a "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" style play about how that decision got made over Thanksgiving in the Biden household

My underwhelmed & unenthused wrap of #COP29:
www.economist.com/internationa...

The Panaman hat!

Good morning from what India’s NDTV colourfully and correctly calls the “hog wash loop” of #COP29

Ferris wheel on Baku seafront, overlooking an eerily still Caspian Sea

Haunted Baku morning

Favourite from the carbon brief press sweepstake is Sunday 03:00-04:00

Aruna.

oof

unfccc.int/sites/defaul...

9 days in—& w 2 official days left—latest draft suggests that #COP29 negotiators have agreed that new climate finance goal should be “USD X trillion” per year.

On one hand: lol, I too could have guessed it would be X amount of money

On the other: X *trillions* in the text feels significant (?)

A map of flight paths emanating from breeding colony of gulls, with this caption: Early on, LifeWatch noticed something odd. Most gulls were making daily trips to Mouscron, a city on the French border 65 km away. They went to investigate and found the birds bingeing on discarded snacks at the Roger & Roger potato factory.

Today in relatable science: Gulls making a mysterious daily trip that turned out to be to a potato chip factory

You are such a wonderful nerd

3D-printed map of Soho in 1854. Black marks on top of the buildings represent deaths from cholera caused by infected water from the Broad Street Pump (note the missing handle!). Top-down view.

3D-printed map of Soho in 1854. Black marks on top of the buildings represent deaths from cholera caused by infected water from the Broad Street Pump (note the missing handle!). Side view.

3D-printed map of Soho in 1854. Black marks on top of the buildings represent deaths from cholera caused by infected water from the Broad Street Pump (note the missing handle!). Framed, close-up.

3D-printed map of Soho in 1854. Black marks on top of the buildings represent deaths from cholera caused by infected water from the Broad Street Pump (note the missing handle!). Frame, "artful" shot.

Day 18 #30DayMapChallenge
I 3D-printed John Snow's 1854 cholera map of Soho. It took ages.

What does this bit represent?

The boss has arrived

What a chart.
www.economist.com/interactive/...

It's only right that my first post here is sharing Scotland's map of named ice gritters. You can follow where they all are in real-time.

Some favourites this year:

Sir David Attenbrrrrrr
Stone Cold Steve Frostin
Lord Coldemort
You're a blizzard, Harry

www.traffic.gov.scot/gritter-trac...

oh I’m fine (it was the succession theme tune year)