Sean D. Johnson
@seanjohnson.bsky.social
Extragalactic astronomer; LSA Collegiate Fellow & Assistant Professor at @michiganastro. Dog lover. Pronouns: he/him/his 🏳️🌈
Cynthia Harrison (Ward 1 CM incumbent, endorsed by incumbent Mayor Taylor) and Yousef Rabhi (challenging Taylor) both ahead in every ward 1 precinct among votes counted so far. Utterly bizarre local election. Odds of increased yelling on #A2Council looking high.
This is going to be a disaster for students and colleges alike. That is the point.
The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d agoPresident Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v
I don’t care what side you are on… if you see a random person on the internet post a political position you disagree with and then decide to take the time to look up and publicly post information on their home, it’s time to stop, touch grass, and find a more productive outlet for your frustration.
Michigan Medicine is notably absent from Ann Arbor Pride. Kudos to the organizers. Denying them a place and sponsorship privileges was the right decision after the University’s betrayal of trans patients.
I’ve asked a similar version of this question of electeds who represent me in the Federal & State government, some elected locally & some state-wide… this is the worst response I’ve seen so far. Disagree with a constituent? Take a moment, just a moment, to explain. Can’t do that? Won’t get my vote.
A.R. Moxon@juliusgoat.bsky.social · last wk.Cannot get over how electable just drifting away from a constituent who asked you a challenging question makes you.
Nothing a big dose of hyper local politics photobombing the front page of the NYT right before the primary
Why is this night (and tomorrow) different from all other nights? On these nights, I am become NIMBY
I did not have an email from Alan Haber on my bingo card for today, there it is.
A few months ago I gave a public talk about satellites at a local brewery & afterwards one of the attendees asked me if I'd like to collaborate on an OpEd to spread the word about the growing problem of space junk. Long story short, today it's on the front page of the digital WaPo: wapo.st/4yqgbLn
Opinion | Look at Earth’s orbit. This mess is dangerous.
Space debris is a safety risk, both on the Earth’s surface and in orbit.
wapo.st
Did UMich decide that wildfire smoke is a controversial political issue subject to institutional neutrality?? What is the point of a V. P. level a Chief Health Officer+staff who reports directly to the President on “promotion of health and well-being” if you are going to be radio silent?
Deadly fact: The smaller the particle, the easier it is to get across cellular barriers and do damage. PM2.5 (particulate matter < 2.5 micron) is fhe most hazardous. ISM dust is ~< 0.1 micron, and not something I would like to breathe in in real life.
Sean D. Johnson@seanjohnson.bsky.social · 3w agoU-M Astro interns covered interstellar dust and reddening with analogies to wildfire smoke and car exhaust yesterday… real life demo not appreciated.
U-M Astro interns covered interstellar dust and reddening with analogies to wildfire smoke and car exhaust yesterday… real life demo not appreciated.
DOJ is arguing that Skrmetti covers adult care as well and that gender affirming surgeries are never medically necessary. They're setting up the legal arguments for adult coverage restrictions.
Christopher Wiggins@cwnewser.bsky.social · 3w agoSo, then it’s not actually about protecting taxpayer funds from being spent on this care they find objectionable, right? Since private insurance is the "you pay for it" part the anti-trans right goes on about, no? 🤔 www.advocate.com/politics/nat...
Well this is bleak. And smoke is likely going to get worse before it gets better. Take care of yourselves
the online dashboard for my university's on-campus printing service keeps track of how many trees the pages I've printed equate to, but the interface for my university's proprietary GPT software (as well as all the ads for our proprietary mobile AI tool) does not highlight any environmental impacts
University of Michigan C.S. Mott Hospital Corewell Health
Rare #goodnews. Thanks to @sbagen.bsky.social for the tireless efforts on this!
Trump’s HHS abandons threat to withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding over trans care — NPR
NPR has learned that the Department of Health and Human Services will not be finalizing its most aggressive attempt to end gender-affirming care for youth nationally.
apple.news
There is still time to submit your comment and tell the government that you don't want US research to be completely destroyed by politicians meddling in individual grants. You can submit your comments here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM...
Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 4w agoComments due by Monday on the attempt to politicize science/aka kill American research as we know it. Do it at the link (counter the ton of Heritage-foudnatoin-prompted comments): www.regulations.gov/document/OMB...
Comment period ends today! www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM...
Jessica Kant@jessdkant.bsky.social · 4w agoWhite House OMB is proposing huge changes to $1.1T of funding assistance that will decimate services and social programs, gut Medicaid, and amplify existing inequities in academia and science. Comment deadline: July 13, 2026. A tool has been created to help! Please reshare. ombcomment.netlify.app
I learned from a friend-who-does-not-need-to-be-tagged that Michigan's numbers are so high because our state public health authority is doing a better job than others, which, of course, isn't the story here Also, the CDC used to track this stuff
The Associated Press@apnews.com · 4w agoMichigan is experiencing its largest outbreak of a parasitic infection that causes severe diarrhea. Cyclospora spreads through contaminated food and water, often linked to fresh produce. As of early July, the source remains unidentified. Here's how to reduce risk when eating fruits and vegetables.
Where are my live Swift updates?!?!? No, not Taylor! (Also, this mission patch is quite something) science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/...
This is where we need states to be at. Just stepping up and setting the bar so high to protect trans people. In every aspect of their lives, they should encounter nothing but state support and encouragement. (We experienced that in Washington, and it was such a gift.)
Ghost Astrid@disastridf.bsky.social · last mo.This is cool (the first one especially)
Sleeping on airplanes is a skill I really wish I had.
Passed a driver today who was ranting about the "asshole of a city" for "discrimination against cars" today. I get some frustration about on-street parking & annoyance when familiar traffic patterns change... but this motorist almost drove through the Diag before realizing something was up
Walked past a neighborhood restaurant and it had posters up with a picture of the mayor and claims he wants to demolish an adjacent historic building. Building+restaurant owner previously declined to get the building protected historical status. Seems totally legit and not at all unhinged.
One of the weird things about living close to UMich is you can take kids to a festival with a (good) amateur band, think “wow, that conductor is really good” and then realize he is the former director of the US Marine Band having fun on a weekend
