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infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson
@infpwriter.bsky.social
15K followers 12K following 890 posts

USAF veteran ('72-'78) embracing reason, rational thinking, education, facts, and objective truth; insatiably curious; exploring climate science, cosmology, photography, and whatever cats dream about all day.

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Economics 35%
Engineering 16%
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infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · Dec 3
"The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world." - Dr. Paul Farmer

Reposted by David Johnson, Suzanne de Cheveigné

zacklabe.com
Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 5h
🚨 Friday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the lowest on record (JAXA data)

• about 910,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,500,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 2,170,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,660,000 km² below the 1980s mean

Graphics zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
Line graph time series of 2025's daily Arctic sea ice extent compared to decadal averages from the 1980s to the 2010s. The decadal averages are shown with different colored lines with purple for the 1980s, blue for the 1990s, green for the 2000s, and white for the 2010s. Thin white lines are also shown for each year from 2000 to 2024. 2025 is shown with a thick gold line, which is currently a record low for the current date. There is a long-term decreasing trend in ice extent for every day of the year shown on this graph between October and January by looking at the decadal average line positions.

infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 18h
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others" – Marcus Tullius Cicero #quote #gratitude
QUOTE: "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others" – Cicero

Reposted by David Johnson, David Peetz

michaelemann.bsky.social
Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 1d
Is this 2025 United States or 1938 Germany?
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
Penn Refuses to Disclose Jewish Faculty, Student Names
The Trump administration asked the university to hand over personal information for the members of Jewish clubs and organizations as well as the Jewish Studies department.
www.insidehighered.com

Reposted by David Johnson

theguardian.com
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 1d
Hong Kong fire live updates: rescue crews search apartment blocks for survivors; dozens killed and hundreds missing after blaze – latest
Hong Kong fire live updates: rescue crews search apartment blocks for survivors; dozens killed and hundreds missing after blaze – latest
Three men arrested as 26 rescue teams on site at Wang Fuk Court residential apartment complex in Tai Po district. Follow the latest updates live * Full report: Death toll in Hong Kong tower block fire rises to 36 with 279 reported missing * What we know so far about the blaze * Bamboo scaffolding may be to blame for spread of Hong Kong tower block fire The death toll has risen again to 44, fire officials say. Officials said they are still having difficulties proceeding into the upper floors in some of the buildings in the residential complex as the fire continues. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by David Johnson

meadowbee.bsky.social
Meadowbee @meadowbee.bsky.social · 1d
Time to Wake Up 303: Recapping COP30 (the big international climate crisis conference that just happened in Brazil) -- Always informative, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse discusses the huge risks and dangers of the climate crisis for Americans. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvW4...
Time to Wake Up 303: Recapping COP30
YouTube video by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
www.youtube.com

Reposted by David Johnson

sagan.bsky.social
Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 1d
"Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you.”

― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 1d
"It’s time to take responsibility for our future into our own hands. If all the national delegations really can’t give up the circus of COP, fine, let them have two weeks to pretend. But for the other 50 weeks, it’s up to us." - Hunter Lovins #COP30
climateandcap.bsky.social Climate and Capital Media @climateandcap.bsky.social · 1d
#COP30 made abundantly clear that as long as petrostates can block any action the whole structure of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is no longer fit for purpose, writes @hlovins.bsky.social in her final report from Cop30 in Brazil.

www.climateandcapitalmedia.com/dispatch-fro...
Dispatch from COP: Leaving “Belhell” behind — but for what?
COP30 was a big loss; We have a better way
www.climateandcapitalmedia.com

Reposted by David Johnson

climateandcap.bsky.social
Climate and Capital Media @climateandcap.bsky.social · 1d
#COP30 made abundantly clear that as long as petrostates can block any action the whole structure of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is no longer fit for purpose, writes @hlovins.bsky.social in her final report from Cop30 in Brazil.

www.climateandcapitalmedia.com/dispatch-fro...
Dispatch from COP: Leaving “Belhell” behind — but for what?
COP30 was a big loss; We have a better way
www.climateandcapitalmedia.com

infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 2d
"Few things in the universe are as perplexing as dark matter — the invisible and exotic “stuff” that is thought to make up most of the matter in galaxies." #cosmology

www.nbcnews.com/science/spac...
Scientists have searched for dark matter for decades. One thinks he may have caught a glimpse.
Research published Tuesday by a Japanese astrophysicist says gamma rays may have been generated by the collision of dark matter particles.
www.nbcnews.com

infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 2d
"In 1933, Fritz Swicky hypothesized that there must be some elusive yet pervasive form of matter that keeps the universe ticking, and he called that substance 'dark matter.'" #cosmology

Scientists May Have Just Spotted the First Direct Evidence of Dark Matter

www.msn.com/en-us/news/t...
MSN
www.msn.com

Reposted by David Johnson

sagan.bsky.social
Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 2d
"We invented phonetic writing so we could put our sounds down on paper and, by glancing at a page, hear someone speaking in our head—an invention that became so widespread in the last few thousand years that we hardly ever stop to consider how astonishing it is."

-Carl Sagan, Billions & Billions

Reposted by David Johnson

zacklabe.com
Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d
Last month was the hottest October on record for North America in this dataset... yet another extreme event

Data from @noaa.gov: www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/lan...
A line graph shows the time series of North America mean surface temperature anomalies for each October from 1850 through 2025. There is a long-term increasing trend and large year-to-year variability. The mean surface temperature anomaly in October 2025 was 2.82°C for this region. Anomalies are computed relative to a 1910-2000 climate baseline. All data is from NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI NOAAGlobalTemp v6.0.0 on this graphic.

Reposted by David Johnson, Rosemary A. Joyce

nilikm.bsky.social
Dr Nili Kaplan-Myrth, MD PhD @nilikm.bsky.social · 3d
Patient came in with sore throat. While waiting for rapid Strep test result we glanced back at the Covid-19 RAT result: positive. Reminder that masking in health care makes sense, if you don’t want everyone in your waiting room to go home sick, your staff to get sick, and physicians to get sick.
Positive Covid-19 result for a patient this morning - reasons abound to mask in health care

infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 4d
“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Planet Earth as seen from space.

infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 4d
"As infections surge again this fall, the USDA continues to urge farmers to improve biosecurity while it dismisses a significant way the virus could be spreading." - Nat Lash #virology #science @natlash.bsky.social

Reposted by David Johnson

sagan.bsky.social
Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 4d
“Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.”

― Jules Verne, A Journey to the Center of the Earth

Reposted by Wolfgang Crämer, David Johnson, David J. Galbreath , and 3 more

michaelemann.bsky.social
Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 4d
We saw it with big tobacco, we saw it with the fossil fuels industry. When their own internal research showed the harm from their product, the defunded the research and attacked independent researchers coming to the very same conclusions.
#ScienceUnderSiege
lorak.bsky.social Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · 4d
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com

Reposted by David Johnson

whitehouse.senate.gov
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse @whitehouse.senate.gov · 4d
The pile of lies is stunning.

First, no crimes at 1/6. Second, wrong to investigate. Third, unusual to get toll records of people instigators called. Fourth, wrong to suspend notice while investigation ongoing.

Cherry on top: vote yourself $500k as victim of nothing wrong.
The scandalous self-enrichment scheme in the US Senate
Once celebrated as “the world’s most deliberative body,” the U.S. Senate has sunk to new lows.  Buried in the 394-page bill to end the federal government shutdown, one provision serves as an exampl…
thehill.com

Reposted by David Johnson, Stephen D. Murphy

propublica.org
ProPublica @propublica.org · 5d
Early this year, bird flu ripped through 80 farms in Ohio and Indiana.

Using genetic markers, wind simulations, satellite imagery, property records and more, we found that the virus could’ve been airborne.

By @natlash.bsky.social
How ProPublica Investigated a Bird Flu Outbreak in America’s Heartland
Early this year, bird flu ripped through 80 farms in Ohio and Indiana. Using genetic markers, wind simulations, satellite imagery, property records and more, we found that the virus could’ve been airb...
www.propublica.org

infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 5d
"The Cop30 summit could be represented as a vast shrug of rich-world indifference: we neither know nor care, so why should we confront our populations with the need for change, with all the political difficulty that involves?" - George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social #climatecrisis

Reposted by Du Toit, David Johnson

jonathan-watts.bsky.social
Jonathan Watts @jonathan-watts.bsky.social · 5d
Trump, war, attention deficit: five threats to climate progress that dogged Cop30

Did the talks succeed or fail? The verdict must take account of the geopolitical minefield in which they took place

Jonathan Watts in Belém

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Trump, war, absent media: five threats to climate progress that dogged Cop30
Did the talks succeed or fail? The verdict must take account of the geopolitical minefield they took place in
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by David Johnson

carbonbrief.org
Carbon Brief @carbonbrief.org · 5d
Recommended read: Columnist @georgemonbiot.bsky.social wrote in the Guardian about the “vast black hole” of climate data in some parts of the world – which he says is a “gift” to climate deniers.
There’s a catastrophic black hole in our climate data – and it’s a gift to deniers | George Monbiot
Climate sceptics tell us that more people die of extreme cold than extreme heat. What’s the truth? asks Guardian columnist George Monbiot
buff.ly

Reposted by David Johnson, Gerald Friedman, Els Torreele

rbreich.bsky.social
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 6d
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

-FDR, 1937

infpwriter.bsky.social
David Johnson @infpwriter.bsky.social · 6d
"A group of around 30 natiòns had signed a letter saying they wouldn't commit to any new deal that doesn't mention fossil fuels."

"The huge hole in this deal is there is no direct reference to fossil fuels - remember the burning of oil, gas and coal is the main driver of climate change." #COP30
COP30 live: Closing plenary under way as fossil fuels left out of new deal
A conclusion is set to be made in Belém, Brazil, at the end of days of negotiations between delegations from nearly 200 countries.
www.bbc.com

Reposted by Alessandro Tagliabue, David Johnson, Paddy Hillyard

zacklabe.com
Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 6d
Was there any coverage of the recent record warmth in both the Arctic and Antarctic? Multiple global datasets now confirm these records, and I think it's really quite striking.

Here's some very quick plots showing NOAAGlobalTempv6 data from October too. And see my earlier posts.
A line graph shows the time series of Arctic mean surface temperature anomalies for each October from 1850 through 2025. There is a long-term increasing trend and large year-to-year variability. The mean surface temperature anomaly in October 2025 was 3.78°C for this region. Anomalies are computed relative to a 1910-2000 climate baseline. All data is from NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI NOAAGlobalTemp v6.0.0 on this graphic. A line graph shows the time series of Antarctic mean surface temperature anomalies for each October from 1850 through 2025. There is a long-term increasing trend and large year-to-year variability. The mean surface temperature anomaly in October 2025 was 1.43°C for this region. Anomalies are computed relative to a 1910-2000 climate baseline. All data is from NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI NOAAGlobalTemp v6.0.0 on this graphic.

Reposted by Michael E. Mann, Elizabeth Saunders, Mark Petticrew , and 24 more

nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 7d
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms

Reposted by David Johnson

npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 7d
Less than a year from the midterm elections, state and local voting officials from both major political parties are actively preparing for the possibility of interference by the Trump administration. n.pr/3KcqSNg
How could Trump interfere in the midterms? Here's what voting officials are watching
Less than a year from the midterm elections, state and local voting officials from both major political parties are actively preparing for the possibility of interference by the Trump administration.
n.pr

Reposted by Peter Thorne, David Johnson, Jared Yates Sexton

astrokatie.com
Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 7d
In a world in which people with too much power and influence desperately need to be told and to understand when they are wrong, we are suddenly all inescapably drowning in sycophancy machines.

Reposted by David Johnson

alexsteffen.bsky.social
Alex Steffen @alexsteffen.bsky.social · 7d
This Atlantic piece significantly underestimates the magnitude of discontinuity around us.

It treats as futures to be avoided realities that are already unfolding now.

I suspect largely because it absolutely sucks to acknowledge we lost the Orderly Transition.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century
Many places may become uninhabitable. Many people may be on their own.
www.theatlantic.com