Mike Kaspari
@mikekaspari.bsky.social
I’m a college professor immersed in #teaching and #ecology. I visit lots of ecosystems, combine observations and simple experiments, and look for generalities. I #garden, #cook, play #music and #read to round things out.
This is slightly out of my normal lane, and I could charge six (hell maybe seven) figure to deliver this message as a consultant, but I’m gonna do it for free. Because I’m ✨enraged✨ People in the think tank/policy/inside the beltway DC world have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE how mad people are abt Cornell. 🧵
The National Mall in Washington DC is full of secular cathedrals. This is my favorite.
1/6 Update four weeks after my total knee replacement surgery: zero regrets. I was terrified going in. The photos and horror stories almost made me bail. But I had major instability and bone-on-bone wear bowing my legs, and it was only going to get worse. A thread on what helped. 🧵
Good news! The US National Gallery loans out special glasses for the color blind. No super improvement in my case (medium red green cb) but boy howdy can you scare the young’uns with these things!
We’re in Washington DC for a few days for the food, people, and museums. D is also on a mission to document some of the damage to the Mall. But first, the magnificent memorial building at Gallaudet University, a green oasis next to the Union Market.
Couldn't resist making this. #KatieBritt #StanleyKubrick #BarryLyndon #Congress
Read this, and it will help.
Sam Weller@samwellerauthor.bsky.social · 5d agoThis is the most remarkable story Ray Bradbury ever shared with me. He told it to me late one night, sitting in his den of antiquities and mementos. Take five minutes to read this. It’s pure magic. #Writing #Living #Creativity #RayBradbury #BookSky
This is amazing. I especially love how excited the bros behind him look to bring out the board… then their faces at the end. Good on Klobochur here.
Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur.bsky.social · 5d agoA phenomenal moment in the Senate. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., claims he has evidence Jack Smith went to a HAWKS game in Atlanta. Smith denies it. Schmitt declares he has busted Jack Smith for perjury. Smith, vexed, says he went to HAWKEYES game in Maryland. WATCH IN FULL, UNINTERRUPTED
WSJ headline on AI agents: “The more data you hand over, the more this talented personal assistant can do for you”. If “my work is really important” is indeed a good predictor of nervous breakdowns howabout the obsession to eliminate every quotidian task because your time is so important?
Please pass along: I’m recruiting PhD students to join our Macroecology Lab. We study physical ecology, macroecology, and biodiversity — spanning scaling, trait-based ecology, theory, comparative biology & ecoinformatics. Several avenues for funding. Please reach out if interested 🧪🌐🌾
AL PACINO with a terrific story about his first time at the Oscars.
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
nyti.ms
A good look at the consequences of using AI to generate art, and insights as to how humans actually do it. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Opinion | A.I. Shortcuts Are Ruining How We Think (Gift Article)
Anything worth remembering came from a person who did not know where she or he was going until arriving.
nytimes.com
“My mind is clearer now.” My favorite album opening lyric, ever.
Covid shots in US now available. We got flu/covid vax at the local cvs in 10m. A lot better than 4 achey days on the couch.
Linsey Marr@linseymarr.bsky.social · last wk.Air sampling in airports found SARS-CoV-2 and flu in 98% (!) and 17% of samples. Presence of flu virus in air correlated with positivity of travelers' nasal swabs, but not for SARS-CoV-2. journals.plos.org/globalpublic... HT: my postdoc Mahender Rawat
The GOP has long perfected the legislative poison suppository.
Askme@askme99.bsky.social · last wk.I know I've posted this many times - needs to flood the media until election day.
The newest issue of the Faculty Voice is live! DM us or stop by our office (Yon Hall 308) to get your copy, and make sure all your coworkers stay in the know too.
After 2016, MAGA governors accumulated in state houses across the country. In a lot of red states, gov’s appoint the Board of Regents. In this way, MAGA trickled down to state universities, large and small.
Heartland Signal@heartlandsignal.com · last wk.Michigan State Sen. Chedrick Greene (D) warns of efforts to dismantle education by targeting local school boards and uni. boards of regents. "You know what's the easiest way to cut educational things is you can start from the inside. And that's not at the federal level, that's at your local level."
Incredible. First Secretary Mullin claimed that DHS had identified 15,903 noncitizens on Nevada’s voter roll. Then DHS officials told a skeptical Nevada, no no no, that’s just people we flagged. Here are the names of 185 people we KNOW aren’t citizens. All 185 were citizens. DHS got 100% wrong.
Ryan Goodman@rgoodlaw.bsky.social · last wk.From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle. "The state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen."
Between 29 and 35 percent of the American citizenry is too fucking ignorant to operate a republic. As Churchill noted, democracy is the worst form of government there is -- until you consider every alternative. It's hard, quotidian labor to self-govern, so the worst of us are exploring alternatives.
Hollywood is flooded with money and good actors. But as William Goldman said, "In Hollywood's golden age, 30 writers were responsible for all the good movies. Now today... 30 writers are responsible for all the good movies." It's still the script. And writers don't grow on trees.
Vulture@vulture.com · 2w agoMatthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s deeply meta brodown ‘Brothers’ is good for an occasional chuckle, but significantly less interesting than popping an edible and thinking about the decision-making that led to its creation.
++ Claims of an end to theory—since if you have all the data you’ve completely described the system—is as antiquated as Mathematica. We induce theory from data; we deduce theory from…somewhere ineffable. Either way, you’re looking for the best explanations that match the data. That’s science.
Brian J. Enquist@bjenquist.bsky.social · 2w agoA good reminder "Data science" isn't Science..."Without models, mathematical or conceptual, data are just noise...science advances only if it can provide explanations...there is an area where petabytes of information can be used...But don't call it science" link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🧪🌐
Along these lines, we @sustainablep.bsky.social and @steps-stc.bsky.social are working to call attention to the role of phosphorus-driven eutrophication in amplifying methane release from lakes. Laying the foundation for carbon-trading schemes that can help finance improved P management.
I’m spending the week in Omaha, my now-Democratic hometown in red Nebraska. In 2024 their genius election yard sign was the elegant blue dot. This time in yard after yard it’s the blue dot with a wave.
When great writers die, it is an ineffable good that they live on in our mind’s corridors, nudging you this way and that. Sam Anderson on the oh-so great Annie Dillard. May her memory be a blessing. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/m...
One of Our Greatest Writers Has Died. But Not for Me. (Gift Article)
Annie Dillard died this week. But her voice — wild and holy and hilarious — continues to live in my head, my soul and, somehow, my dog.
nytimes.com
Fish flavored eggplant to the dulcet tones of D on the banjo. The tune is “Arab Bounce” by Vernon Derrick of Arab Alabama.
Gift link: "[T]he bullet, which was lodged near his spine, was not removed at the hospital where he was taken because a doctor said that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were in a hurry to transport him." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/u...
Man Shot by ICE Agent Says His Car Was Struck Twice Before He Was Shot (Gift Article)
A Venezuelan immigrant, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, was shot in Austin, Texas, on Sunday after a traffic stop. The shooting prompted calls from local officials for a transparent investigation.
nytimes.com
Student newspapers have been a breath of fresh air in these times of stifled media. You can bet that every newspaper—and a whole helluva lotta journalism school assignments—will be taking on the AI Slop of university administrators.
Oh Boy, Is This Great!
ALT: Oh Boy, Is This Great!
static.klipy.com
Jeff Sharlet@jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 2w agoThe provost of Dartmouth, at which I teach, has been using AI to write both academic papers & national op-eds, according to brave reporting by @thedartmouth.bsky.social. Many students are already bitter about AI. This leaves us as faculty no ground to stand on. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...
Remember that movie Apollo 13? How all those scientists worked 24/7 devising ingenious solutions to save the crew? Imagine half those folks got the pink slip the week before.
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2w agoResearch units from across government have been gutted. More than 10,000 PhDs have left government. For example the research arm of the Department of Education lost 90% of their staff and the research office for the Secretary of Health and Human Services lost an estimated 60% of their staff.
