Monica Sircar, PhD (she/her)
@phenomonica.bsky.social
Science Ed PhD @ Stanford GSE| NSF GRFP Fellow | Knowles Senior Fellow| Here to wonder, learn, and grow.
I think about this comic panel a lot when I see yet another study about how it would be both cheaper, and save more lives, to do some policy thing (UBI, M4A, House the homeless, etc) that we then never actually do.
Dr. Michael D. L. Johnson@copperbae.bsky.social · 3d ago
LOVELY NEWS: An American renewable developer that wanted to pivot to fossil-fuelled data centres has cancelled those plans and is sticking with renewables. The pressure works folks. Keep it up, turn up the volume, spread the word, etc www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/clea...
When a bear fucks something up in the Silo.
explore.org@explore.org · 3w agoYearly bear cam maintenance staff reporting for duty.
This is a triggering image of a museum display in the natural history museum in DC about life before smartphones. Me and a fellow 40+ person were laughing at how we are now LITERAL MUSEUM PIECES. MY teen was like did you have a clear phone? An address book? A book of maps. Yes, yes I did. 🫠🫠🫠
Smoke has arrived in Seattle, but the other side of the Cascades is absolutely brutal. Wenatchee and other towns (e.g., Plain, Entiat) have been over 1,000 AQI today. Please use air purifiers, N95 masks, and avoid being outdoors if you’re able - there is no safe level of wildfire smoke exposure.
Pro-life blue states and Californian “policies extend life expectancy. found that if all 50 states had followed the lead of California policies ranging from labor, immigration and civil rights to tobacco, gun control and environment, it could have added years to the average American life expectancy"
Liberal policies, like California’s, keep blue-state residents living longer, study finds
The United States’ life expectancy could match that of its Western European counterparts if it widely adopted a broad range of liberal policies, according to a new study. In fact, California has done ...
mercurynews.com
NYTimes: affirmative action for mediocre editors angry at MeToo@originalist.bsky.social · last yr."Texans 17% more likely to be murdered than Californians Texans 34% more likely to be raped earn 13% less and pay 3.8% more in taxes" (overall) Every MSM only mentions the word "crime" right before an election! "Germans call this "a permanent bailout." We just call it "Missouri."
happy "There Will Come Soft Rains" day to all who celebrate
Adam Rawnsley@arawnsley.bsky.social · last wk.Today, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast.
That's what taxes are, man. That's the definition of taxes. "You are subsidizing things you might never use" man shut the fuck up. My taxes currently subsidize like oil company exec private jets, you think I'm upset at low-income people eating inexpensive bananas?
USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 2w agoOpinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.
« Hansen’s team found PFOS in Swedish blood samples from 1957 and 1971. After that, her lab analyzed blood that had been collected before 3M created PFOS. It tested negative. Apparently, fluorochemicals had … leached out of 3M’s sprays, coatings and factories — and into all of us.
ProPublica@propublica.org · 2w agoDecades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people's bodies. Her bosses halted her work. Now she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world. (Published May 2024)
“Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones, with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you’re the one filming it.”
This is Loki, our Maine Coon and the cat of our hearts, and he went missing today. We have no idea how he got out, but he’s an elder, indoor cat, the whole region’s in an intense heat wave, and we’re really scared. I doubt I have any followers here in Martinez, CA, but if so, help? It’s SO hot
Twin Cities friends, note that Earthbound Farms is a subsidiary of Taylor Farms, and their products are carried by the food co-ops.
Chad Loder@chadloder.dev · 2w agoThe diarrhea lettuce company, Taylor Farms, uses slave labor contracted from the Arizona Dept. of Corrections. The backbreaking labor is often performed by imprisoned Mexican nationals who would be otherwise ineligble to work in the US. They are paid $1.50 an hour.
Damn... 300% higher yields for peppers 200% for tomatoes. 65% lower water use for jalapenos. #agsky #agrivoltaics ,🌱🌞🔌..
hoergen cencored by Bluesky@hoergen.bsky.social · 2w ago*American farmers slid solar panels over 62,000 acres of farmland, and the biggest payoff had almost nothing to do with electricity* #Erneuerbare #Renewable #Solar #Photovoltaik energiesmedia.com/solar-panels…
“Maj. What are you like on the beach?” Words cannot describe how this is and has been literally me on the beach every single time. #letsgofranklin
A question: does anyone know about communities or groups for scientists who are committed to writing without the use of LLMs / genAI?
NY Times subscribers can now share unlimited gift links (vs. 10 per month before). There’s no reason to whine about paywalls from the NY Times anymore.
I'd be more excited if any of those other lines started going down
Simon Evans@drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 3w agoRenewables are now the world's largest source of electricity – and the main source of new supplies
Insane new research. Scientists gave asthma patients free electric stoves to replace their gas stoves, then checked to see if symptoms improved. Not only did symptoms improve, ditching gas was *better than medicine.* Details in today's newsletter: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/electric-s...
Researchers used electric stoves to treat asthma. It worked.
The latest evidence that gas is bad for your health.
climatecoloredgoggles.com
Historian friend was reading a civil war era letter in an archive, the letter said “In this envelope I include my smallpox scabs” and sure enough there they were. Had to call CDC for a hazmat team.
This is one of my favorite optical illusions, because even when you know specifically HOW IT WORKS, it's still hard to make your brain believe it. The image below is real-world video, but you're being tricked into believing it's an elaborate miniature by the DIORAMA EFFECT. Let's talk about it.
Why is my Bluesky “Following” feed half folks I do not follow? 🤨
🚨my wife saw a BABY porcupine crossing the road today 🚨
Leave my boy Taco Bell out of it, it was bitch ass Taylor Farms, the world's largest salad processor. Fight the real enemy Big Salad
The Taco Bell finger pointing is a psyop to redirect attention from the real culprit, the deregulation and lack of oversight in our food supply
I hate to be that guy, but please go to Taco Bell's contact page and tell them that you appreciate that they took cyclosporiasis seriously and intend to eat there more often as a result. Corporate needs to hear positive feedback or they won't do it next time. tacobell.com/contact-us/
tacobell.com
Mar Hicks@histoftech.bsky.social · 4w agoThis lettuce is literally everywhere and usually it’s in contexts where no one knows/discloses it. Taco Bell is one of the only places doing the right, proactive thing here and misleading headlines are flipping things around making seem like they’re a site of danger instead.