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Josh Kurutz

@jkurutz.bsky.social

NMR Facility Manager, University of Chicago Chemistry. ACS Chicago Councilor, Historian, Secretary, Web backup; ACS Chemists With Disabilities comms. PhD Biophysics, BS Chemistry. Opinions here are my own, not institutional.

649 Posts702 Follower211 Folgt
Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · 4w ago

NMR people: is your NMR spectrometer room on its own HVAC/air handler? Ours is conking out, and there’s discussion about integrating it with the rest of the building’s HVAC rather than replacing the one unit. I have thoughts about the whys of this arrangement, but I’d like others’ insights. #nmrchat

Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · 4w ago

Well, the Sears/Willis Tower is in there somewhere. Photo taken 8 blocks away (12th St / Roosevelt Rd). Where’s the rest of the Chicago skyscrapers? They’re just a few blocks more north, behind more smoke/soot.

Photo of the Sears/Willis Tower in Chicago, taken from a bridge 8 blocks south, over a river. Smoke from Canadian wildfires is dense enough that this enormous building is barely visible. The other skyscrapers to the north of the Sears Tower are not visible at all
Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Today is Groundhog Accuracy Assessment Day! 6 weeks ago, Woodstock Willie, our closest meteorology rodent, did NOT see his shadow, thus he predicted an early Spring. Apparently, he got it wrong this year. For accountability, we must find that either Willie has failed or that he needs glasses.

Photo of a suburban Chicagoland neighborhood with a blanket of snow, indicating an early Spring has not arrivedPhoto of a small plaza outside an office building in downtown Chicago, showing a blanket of snow over a planter. Early shoots of bulb-based flowers are poking up about 4” above the snow. The snow indicates we are not experiencing an early SpringPhoto of snow-covered buildings at the University of Chicago. The blanket of snow indicates we are not experiencing the early Spring predicted the the groundhog Woodstock Willie
Resistbot@resist.bot · 5mo ago

🖋️ “Demand OMB Release Appropriated Science Funds and Hold Vought Accountable” hit 250 signers! 💬 Text SIGN PYTADC to 50409

Demand OMB Release Appropriated Science Funds and Hold Vought Accountable

Text SIGN PYTADC to 50409 — I am writing to demand immediate congressional action to force the Office of Management and Budget to release science funding that Congress has already appropriated. While Congress rejected the Trump administration's proposed 30% cuts to federal research and development in favor of a 4% reduction for fiscal year 2026, OMB Director Russel Vought has weaponized bureaucratic mechanisms to achieve those cuts anyway through invisible impoundment that violates the Impoundment Control Act. The National Institutes of Health, the world's largest public funder of biomedical research, has awarded just 30% of its usual volume of new research grants this fiscal year. The National Science Foundation, responsible for a quarter of all federally supported basic research, saw grant awards plummet by approximately 25% before receiving authorization to spend in mid-February. OMB has placed unprecedented restrictions on ten specific science programs, including critical Earth-science satellites and missions to Venus, halting them until agencies justify their existence to political appointees. This bureaucratic asphyxiation is causing a brain drain crisis. More than 10,000 Ph.D.-trained STEM and health experts left the federal government in 2025, with departures outpacing hiring by 11 to 1. We have lost more than 106,000 years of federal service experience. Our best scientists are leaving for other countries because they cannot conduct research without funding. Congress controls appropriations, but Vought has modified the Budget Bible, Circular A-11, to bypass your legislative intent. This is not just a procedural violation. It is undermining American scientific leadership, threatening public health research, and forcing critical laboratories to close. I urge you to take immediate action to compel OMB to release all appropriated science funds, hold Russel Vought accountable for violating the Impoundment Control Act, and restore congressional authority over the budget. More than a quarter of our workforce is employed in STEM fields. We cannot afford to lose this generation of scientific talent and research capacity.

resist.bot

Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · 6mo ago

White noise in an analytical core lab #NMR - how much is acceptable? I’m moving 2 NMRs, and the new space has noisy pipes and ducts in it. My phone app dB meter shows “inside of a car” levels w/o even any equipment in it. I worry about distraction and spectrum noise. 1/ #NMRChat #DisabledInSTEM

Mrs. Betty Bowers@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Pew Research Institute (2023): • Red State Texas has about 2.1 million undocumented immigrants • Red State Florida has 1.6 M undocumented immigrants • Blue State Minnesota has 130,000. And yet only Minnesota is being occupied by masked thugs over "immigration." It's *not* about immigration.

Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Please help stop the mad dotard and sign this Resistbot petition, which sends a message to your members of Congress to take action. It’s not much, but if you agree with the language, this is a very easy way to get their office staff to register another voice saying the madness must stop.

Resistbot petition entitled “Trump’s Unauthorized Wars and the Illegal Seizure of Venezuela’s President", urging people to send a text, “Sign PZWETF” to 50409
Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · 8mo ago

I don’t know what to think of Pantone’s Color of the Year, “Cloud Dancer”. Every year I try matching my paper NMR account applications to the COTY. Mocha Mousse and Peach Fuzz were challenging. But I don’t know if I can handle plain white. www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...

You read that white: Pantone's 2026 Color of the Year is 'Cloud Dancer'

This is the first time Pantone has chosen a shade of white. The company says it's "a lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection."

npr.org

RNIB@rnib.bsky.social · 9mo ago

If you don’t add alt text, your image is just vibes and mystery 🕵️‍♀️ Uncover the mystery, simply click "Alt" after you've uploaded your image, write a description and post.

Jeffrey J. Hall@mrjeffu.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Video: a Japanese scientist was attacked by flies while giving the acceptance speech for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research paper that proved painting Zebra-like stripes on cows led to a decrease in biting fly attacks.

Kat Abughazaleh@katmabu.bsky.social · 11mo ago

I don’t give a shit if JD Vance doesn’t give a shit about the Constitution. Striking civilian boats in international waters is both unconstitutional and a war crime. The party of “law and order” clearly doesn’t care about respecting it.

Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Happy Labor Day! Remember how we got here? People were murdered in Chicago and Pullman in the fight give you this day off. @katmabu.bsky.social here speaks to how this history is especially relevant, as federal troops are about to invade Chicago AGAIN. (Yes, *again!*)

Kat Abughazaleh@katmabu.bsky.social · 12mo ago

History often rhymes, but sometimes it just repeats. Watch the full video — and see how we can use the Haymarket Massacre and the Pullman Strike as a compass for us today — here: youtu.be/9EYC75wtwCM

Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · 12mo ago

The horror!! 😱 I’m in Washington DC and I personally witnessed a large group of people outside, in the dark, at night, unbelievably close to my civilized hotel… … watching movies in the park!! Egad! Someone call the National Guard to keep us safe from this audience!!

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Josh Kurutz@jkurutz.bsky.social · last yr.

Well this is frightening. I just verified this myself. Sections 9 and 10 of Article I of the constitution are indeed missing from constitution.congress.gov/constitution/. For the moment, the version at the Archives still has them, www.archives.gov/founding-doc...

constitution.congress.gov

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · last yr.

The official version of the constitution on Congress.gov has removed Article I, Section 9 and 10 from the website which includes the writ of habeus corpus. web.archive.org/web/diff/202...