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Ethan White

@ethanwhite.weecology.org

Environmental data scientist/professor using technology to understand nature. #rstats, Python, open data, open source. he/him

690 Posts4243 Follower226 Folgt
Ethan White@ethanwhite.weecology.org · 6d ago

It is amazing to think about the scope of influence that @carpentries.carpentries.org has had on scientific computing. I still remember the chaos of the 1st workshop we ran at Utah State in 2012. @gvwilson.bsky.social would say "you know what would be useful" and then I'd run off to try to find it.

The Carpentries@carpentries.carpentries.org · 6d ago

🎉 The Carpentries has reached a significant milestone today: we have hosted our 5,000th registered workshop! 🎊 This monumental achievement is testament to the strengths and efforts of members of our incredible global community. None of this would have been possible without their inspired service! 🙌

A graphic with The Carpentries logo at the top and the title, "The Carpentries Celebrates 5,000 Workshops!" More text below reads: "On 30th July 2026, The Carpentries recorded its 5,000th delivered workshop! This important milestone is a result of the ongoing contributions of our incredible Instructors, and the support of the entire Carpentries community!" There is also the URL carpentries,org, as well as a photo of a Carpentries workshop taken by Dr. Kari L. Jordan.
The Carpentries@carpentries.carpentries.org · 6d ago

🎉 The Carpentries has reached a significant milestone today: we have hosted our 5,000th registered workshop! 🎊 This monumental achievement is testament to the strengths and efforts of members of our incredible global community. None of this would have been possible without their inspired service! 🙌

A graphic with The Carpentries logo at the top and the title, "The Carpentries Celebrates 5,000 Workshops!" More text below reads: "On 30th July 2026, The Carpentries recorded its 5,000th delivered workshop! This important milestone is a result of the ongoing contributions of our incredible Instructors, and the support of the entire Carpentries community!" There is also the URL carpentries,org, as well as a photo of a Carpentries workshop taken by Dr. Kari L. Jordan.
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Please contact your member of Congress and submit a comment on the new policy to (further) politicize science, and encourage others to do so. You don’t have to be a scientist! Some very good guidnace here: bsky.app/profile/eliz...

elizabethginexi.bsky.social@elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Calling all Scientists! Research Administrators! Deans! Fans of Science! No one is coming to save us. Here is your assignment. I have written a step by step, easy to understand "how-to" document to help you comment on the proposed OMB rule. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-we-ne...

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The new Trump policy does not occur in isolation. It combines 5 distinct tactics of politicization, the latter 3 of which really are relatively novel under Trump. #1: Centralize policy #2: Strategic use of appointees #3: Demand personal loyalty #4: Threaten #5: Weaken civil service protections

What we are seeing with the new science policy illustrates the interactive effect of the different politicization tactics. Vought sitting atop America’s scientific enterprise is a classic example of centralizing authority (tactic #1), away from career scientists and agencies (#2). Demands that science serve one man’s agenda is an example of personalism (tactic #3). Telling scientists that they will lose their grants based on political affiliations fits with the tactic #4 reliance on fear and threats. The career program officers overseeing science (themselves typically PhDs) know from grim experience that pushing back against appointees to defend science will mean being fired or put on administrative leave (tactic #5). In this context then, dissent within government or the scientific community against not just this policy, but Trump’s government becomes more risky, more costly, and therefore more rare. Science is silenced.
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The new policy would allow Vought, the Director of the OMB, to move scientific decisions away from the scientists and into the hands of political appointees. This is the complete politicization of every stage of science. It also allows exceptions from usual review for crony organizations.

Under the new policy, political appointees determine which grants should be funded, and can cancel them whenever they want. Grants must meet partisan litmus tests like “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities” but political identity can also be used in punitive ways: a scientist’s ties to disfavored groups can be used as a basis for cancelling grants. Using federal funding to attend scientific conferences, engage with non-US scientists, or communicate to the public or media is actively discouraged. The peer review process, the cornerstone of scientific rigor, is not just devalued in federal grants processes. Vought also carves out exceptions to public notice when it is in the “national interest.” This creates the potential for a back-door slush fund for favored universities or companies to receive public dollars for research. At the same time OMB would have a credible lever to punish disfavored individuals or institutions by withholding grants.
Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Jackson: "NSF’s flagrant disregard of its own mechanism for receiving and considering stakeholder and public feedback further illustrates the arbitrary and capricious nature of the agency’s decision."

Beginning on December 17, when NSF first announced its intent to review and restructure NCAR’s “research and observational capabilities,” it repeatedly assured NCAR, UCAR, other stakeholders, and the public that it would solicit and consider feedback to “inform the agency’s follow-on actions.” ECF No. 18-11; ECF No. 18-4; ECF No. 18-12. That was the ostensible purpose of the DCL issued on January 23, 2026, which explained that NSF was “exploring options to transfer stewardship of the NWSC to an appropriate operator,” and set a March 13 deadline for responses. ECF No. 18-2. Yet, fewer than three weeks after issuing the DCL— and more than a month before the official deadline—NSF informed UCAR that it had already decided to transfer stewardship and publicly announced the same. NSF’s flagrant disregard of its own mechanism for receiving and considering stakeholder and public feedback further illustrates the arbitrary and capricious nature of the agency’s decision.
Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Jackson: "The Court begins with NSF’s failure to articulate any rationale for divesting UCAR of stewardship over the NWSC and transferring its operations and maintenance responsibilities to another entity. This failure is dispositive."

Some internal NSF and OMB communications suggest that the transfer decision may have been motivated, at least in part, by concerns regarding UCAR’s promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives and the use of its Case No. 1:26-cv-01061-RBJ Document 47 filed 06/01/26 USDC Colorado pg 26 of 38 27 research in support of climate-change policies. See ECF No. 32-12; ECF No. 32-14 at 4–5. However, these rationales are not properly before the Court because NSF has never invoked them as the basis for its action. Regents, 591 U.S. at 65. Even if the Court were to consider them, the current record does not demonstrate “a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made,” especially because NSF intends to leave UCAR’s research and development functions intact while transferring only operations and maintenance responsibilities for the NWSC. State Farm, 463 U.S. at 43. Nor is it apparent how transferring stewardship of the NWSC meaningfully addresses NSF’s concern with UCAR’s purported DEI initiatives. In short, the agencies’ passing references to these rationales in internal communications are not a basis on which the action can be upheld.
Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is absolutely nuts: hackers are hijacking high-profile Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI chatbot to change the email on the account. Meta's AI does it, hacker gets password reset code, they're in. A staggering security issue www.404media.co/hackers-simp...

Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked

The exploit shows the extreme risk of offloading technical support to AI.

404media.co

Aparna Nair@disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I think one thing the AI age has taught me is how many of my colleagues: 1. genuinely hate writing. 2. are bad at writing. 3. are bad at assessing writing. 4. really do not care about how the writing gets done. Which seems bad, because writing=thinking.

Alexander Kustov reposted Alexander Kustov @akoustov I've seen @ATabarrok and some other folks recently joke that they're using Pangram to filter out the human-written content. Funny, except this is increasingly more true than funny: AI-assisted writing is often the more readable kind, and especially so in academia.
Jacky!@omg.jacky.wtf · 2mo ago

This is going to enable: - legitimate mutual aid support/crowdfunding - small businesses to consider moving even a fraction of sales to this (depending on how fees pan out) - encourage ethical/productive creators to grow on here (music, digital works, crafts)

Rude1 Haunted Badness. ⁂@rude1.blacksky.team · 2mo ago

Send and receive money with your friends on Blacksky. Build payments into your next Open Social Web project. Include your payment link in your Bluesky profile. Soon.

Blacksky Cash splash page and official logo
Drug Monkey@drugmonkey.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“agencies may consider an applicant’s history of questionable practices based on publicly available and verifiable information.” Potential perma bans for any University which ever supported any type of DEI activity.

Stand Up for Science!@standupforscience.net · 2mo ago

BREAKING: New proposed OMB regulation, applying to all federal grants, requiring grant reviews by senior political appointees and re-emphasizes that "peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion". #standupforscience public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10817.pdf

Mike Murphy@mjamurphy.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Public information should be public. Demand your local authorities make emergency information available to everyone.

Faine Greenwood@faineg.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The California Amber Alert system - which sends automatic messages - now directs people to a suspicious-looking bitly link that then sends them to X/Twitter. Some other states also rely on X/Twitter in these emergency alert links. If your state does, contact authorities and complain today.

Dave Jones@cleanpowerdave.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A NEW TWIST in Africa's soaring solar story: It's now manufacturing its own panels. The factories use imported Chinese cells, which are 40% of the value of panels, keeping much of the value domestically. 9 GW of cells+wafers in Mar/Apr alone🧵

Bild
Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"It’s as if much of big media has decided that it’s too much trouble to focus, in any sustained way, on developments that would have resulted in weeks of headlines, if not impeachment and conviction, in the pre-Trump era." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Trump self-deals, lies and seems to fall asleep in meetings. The media treats it all as ‘priced in’ | Margaret Sullivan

As the outrages continue, mainstream outlets just see Trump being Trump

theguardian.com

Taniel@taniel.bsky.social · 3mo ago

NEW: A California DA was prosecuting Stanford students for felonies over pro-Palestine protests. Bolts reported back in February that he was fundraising off these cases. Learning this, defense attorneys dug more, & filed a motion to force Rosen off the case for bias. A judge just removed him:

This DA Tried to Punish Stanford Protesters Again, Until Judge Pulled Him from Case - Bolts

Defendants had asked for Santa Clara DA Jeff Rosen to be recused after evidence emerged that he was using the ongoing prosecution to fundraise for his reelection bid on June 2.

boltsmag.org

Ethan White@ethanwhite.weecology.org · 3mo ago

When given a choice between "change things months in advance to meet a bureaucratic deadline" and "just leave it like it was last year", "just leave it like it was last year" will win most of the time. Innovation requires flexibility and proximate deadlines.

Ethan White@ethanwhite.weecology.org · 3mo ago

One of the unintended consequences of the growing policies and laws related to syllabi is that by requiring syllabi (in some cases) months before the course is taught it will reduce the rate of course material being updated and cause classes to fall farther behind the leading edge of knowledge.

Ethan White@ethanwhite.weecology.org · 3mo ago

One of the unintended consequences of the growing policies and laws related to syllabi is that by requiring syllabi (in some cases) months before the course is taught it will reduce the rate of course material being updated and cause classes to fall farther behind the leading edge of knowledge.

Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH@gavinyamey.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I wrote about how that NC bathroom bill was harming health. Bathroom bills can cause health conditions in trans people (eg urinary infections), suicidal thoughts, & harassment of trans people in bathrooms. The NC bill also harmed health research & the economy: globalhealth.duke.edu/sites/defaul...

Sarah Philo@sarah-philo357.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I remember the loud and coordinated pushback against the NC bathroom bill in 2016. So much has changed in 10 years.

Deva Woodly@devawo.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Sigh. I know I have to migrate away from google search and I know a lot of you already have (I’m good on recommendations, thanks) but I’m exhausted and I wish they’d just stop ruining things.

Gabriela Dawson Sighs

Alt: Gabriela Dawson sighs and tosses her head back with an exasperated expression.

static.klipy.com

TechCrunch@techcrunch.com · 3mo ago

Google is transforming Search from a list of links into an AI-powered experience filled with conversational answers, autonomous agents, and interactive interfaces — a shift that could further reduce traffic to publishers across the web.