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Chris Vermilion

@verm.me

Software nerd. Order Muppet. Recovering physicist. Not really that sad of a dad. https://verm.me Be the friend you want to have everywhere.

5077 Posts1508 Follower1626 Folgt
Colin Carlson@colincarlson.bsky.social · 3d ago

year 1: there's still grant funding, but we may need to change how we talk about our work, or what we work on year 2: the government has disappeared one billion dollars of science funding. it is unclear why they did that or where that sits within concepts like "the rule of law"

Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 3d ago

Scoop: For nearly a year, NSF has struggled to make new grants. Now we know that it will not catch up. In fact, NSF will award just 6,100 new grants—a 30% y/o/y decline, itself down from a previous avg. of 11,000+. In fact, the last time NSF awarded so few grants was in the early '80s.

Chris Vermilion@verm.me · 3d ago

it would be an unacceptable intrusion of politics into good government to not do business with the company whose motto is "we're the evil company founded to do evil and just to make sure you understand we're going to name ourselves after a fictional technology that corrupts everyone who touches it"

Archie Hall@archiehall.bsky.social · 3d ago

BRITAIN WOULD BE BONKERS TO DITCH PALANTIR New @economist.com leader from me on Palantir. I most wanted to highlight its critics' troubling illiberalism—many seem far too blasé letting politics determine which businesses governments buy from. You can read it here: www.economist.com/leaders/202...

Andy Craig@andycraig.bsky.social · 4d ago

It's a bad system, perhaps the only idea genuinely and unambiguously worse than traditional FPTP and party primaries. I'm an electoral reform nerd and I would vote against it. California's very likely to repeal it soon, it's been such a complete failure.

Stephen Wolf@stephenwolf.bsky.social · 4d ago

Ugh: A new Massachusetts poll has a 51-32 lead for a ballot initiative to adopt the top-two “primary” system. This system has been a wreck in California. The majority party frequently risks getting shut out of general elections, so party organizations often pick favorites in primaries to avoid that

John Pfaff@johnpfaff.bsky.social · 7d ago

I am glad people are increasingly aware of and angry about how we detain ppl in ICE facilities. But. There is one thing I think we need to REALLY make sure they get. This is not abt ICE. Or the Feds. Or private prisons. Our ENTIRE SYSTEM is like this. All the time. State, local, public, private.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · last wk.

Pay attention as well to how his wife echoes many complaints made about treatment of people in ICE custody, ones that Trump appointees routinely dismiss as leftist lies; inadequate medical care, filthy conditions, and a lack of basic care from ICE officers and prison guards.

She was held in a frigid room with a handful of women. She recalled a gaunt diabetic immigrant in her 70s pleading for insulin, to no avail. Ms. Bobreneva curled up on the ground under a foil blanket. About 18 hours later, she was shackled at the ankles, waist and wrists and loaded into an unmarked van with several other immigrants. They bounced up and down in the sweltering vehicle as it raced toward the detention center in Adelanto. "I felt like a piece of meat, not like a human," recalled Ms. Bobreneva.
Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · last wk.

One thing that’s always bothered me about the “lab leak” theory, is how many of its proponents shift back and forth from “bioweapon” to “unethical science” (gain of function) to “negligent science” (leak of naturally occurring virus) to adapt to different debates and for max political effect.

Philipp Markolin@philippmarkolin.eurosky.social · last wk.

The lab leak theory is not a strict scientific theory, but mostly a narrative of different allegations Rand Paul is not only falsely accusing Fauci of creating SARS-CoV-2, he is endorsing a very stupid version of the origin theory that has incredibly strong evidence against it. Let me illustrate:

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · last wk.

Philosophers often bring up the "principle of charity": a willingness to assume good faith in an interlocutor and treat them accordingly. It's good to do in many circumstances. But it is worth formulating a principle of not being a fucking mark. If not during the rise of fascism, then when? 12/

Drew Flanagan Ph.D@drewflanaganphd.bsky.social · last wk.

He lighted a cigar with a "D'you mind?" to Albertine, as one who asks permission to finish, while going on talking, an urgent piece of work. For he was one of those people who can never be "doing nothing," although there was nothing, for that matter, that he could ever be said to do. -Marcel Proust

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · last wk.

Wow. Proponents of the ICE taser gloves are openly saying that one reason they love the gloves is that they doesn’t leave any marks or proof that they were used, making it harder for people to sue when they’re shocked excessively.

Mother Jones "In today's society, you know, everybody's filming everything, everybody has a cell phone," Glueck said. If an officer punches someone on camera, that can go viral in an instant; even a standard taser leaves puncture wounds. But "the glove is low optic, and it looks better on camera, and it looks better to those witnesses. With a glove, there are no burn marks or scars."But local police across the country are still eagerly buying the gloves—in large part so that they can harm people and avoid being sued for it. It's been successful "from the patrolmen to the jailers," Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said in a Compliant Technologies promotional video. "It's been a great tool as far as mitigating liability," according to Nelson County Jailer Justin Hall. Bob Couey of the Floyd County Sheriff's Department sung the GLOVE's praises, too: "I highly recommend these gloves to anybody that's looking for a utility they can use that is conducive to not leading to lawsuits."
Sophie Hurwitz@hurwitz.bsky.social · last wk.

This story’s got everything: Spiderman-villain weaponry, Black Hawk Down, vaccine conspiracy theories, weird YouTube videos www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Phillip Maciak@pjmaciak.bsky.social · last wk.

Fifteen years ago, in the classroom, wikipedia was annoying because it was hard to describe to kids who relied on it why it wasn't a good source to cite in a paper. Now, it's the final remaining example of citational responsibility any of them have ever seen.

Rodger Sherman@rodger.bsky.social · last wk.

Lowkey excellent thing about Wikipedia: accurately describing the extremism and lies of right-wingers because its sole concern is provable truth, while the media tiptoes around accurately describing whats happening to avoid appearing “biased” against the extremists and liars

Ryan Enos@ryanenos.bsky.social · last wk.

These are people who legally entered this country and now, because of ancestry and a conspiracy theory pushed by an aspiring politician, are being pursued by the government and fitted with special monitoring devices. This should remind of the darkest events in history.

Ohio Capital Journal@ohiocapitaljournal.com · last wk.

Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio are being required to wear ankle monitors and turn their passports over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/08/14/h...