Chad Briggs
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chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Chad Briggs
@chadmbriggs.bsky.social
12K followers 2.3K following 3.3K posts
Disaster risk & crisis management professor at AIM in Manila, hybrid warfare & disinfo researcher, purveyor of climate security and undesirable futures. RPG writer. Past lives in Alaska, Kosovo, Ukraine, Hungary, Ireland and elsewhere 🇨🇦
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chadmbriggs.bsky.social
You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who’s coming to save you?

I might be ok. I might really be in trouble. (And yes, I know this graphic is from the movie, not the show.)

Happy Turkey Day
Crow T Robot "Well believe me, Mike, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid... and I went ahead anyway."
November 26, 2025 at 3:53 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
The extremely modest and non-victimy book summary is... something
Amazon summary: On The Warpath is an autobiographical account of controversial anthropologist Elizabeth Weiss's storied career on the front lines of the culture war in our colleges and universities. Her opposition to the reburial of Native American skeletal remains, her insistence that indigenous knowledge is not science but myth, and her fight against wokeism and political correctness in academia exposed her to numerous controversies and cancel culture campaigns, and a court case. A photograph of Weiss with a skull - as natural to anthropologists as a doctor being pictured with a stethoscope - led to her university shutting her out of the collection and changing the locks. This became an international news story, as did the American Anthropological Association canceling one of her presentations because she explained that a skeleton's sex is binary and not gender fluid. This hard-hitting and often humorous book tells the story of Dr. Weiss's fight for science against superstition, and her attempts to promote free speech and academic freedom. It also exposes the current rot in today's universities, through the lens of her battles against day-to-day absurdities. These include an attempt to bar "menstruating personnel" (formerly known as women) from the curation facility, a campaign to ban research on ancient Carthaginian remains because the individuals concerned never consented to photography, and a plan to declare X-rays sacred, so that they can be repatriated to Native Americans (who may actually be Mexicans), prior to being burned or buried.
November 20, 2025 at 2:39 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Our Filipina rescue cat Daisy
A petite brown tabby female with bright orange eyes, wondering why I'm bothering her when she's found a comfortable spot on top of clean laundry on the bed
October 24, 2025 at 6:53 PM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
We visited Palau in April. Magical place with a dark WW2 history
Tropical waters near the German Channel in Paula, so blue it hurts your eyes
October 12, 2025 at 3:25 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Everything is horrible and the world is burning, but Daisy would like to remind you that she still needs to be fed at 6pm exactly
A petite female tabby cat sitting on a bed, with a small black nose and amber yellow eyes that judge everything you've done for the past 6 months, she was a street rescue following a series of Philippines storms in July
October 12, 2025 at 1:39 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Our Kosovo rescue cat Violet looking out the window of our Anchorage house to see a moose sticking her snout near the window #adorable
Silhouette of a cat looking out a window into a snowy front year, with the front nose of a large moose visible in the left side of the window. A family of 3 camped out in our yard ALL FRICKING DAY. But it was early 2021, and we had nowhere to go, the university campus was still shut down.
September 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Calling for a welfare check on @jaxbra.bsky.social
Robert Redford in a blue bathrobe in the 1986 movie Legal Eagles
September 16, 2025 at 3:20 PM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
When I graduated from Wisconsin I narrowed my choices to doing my MA in Ireland, or going to study marine biology in Palau. I chose Ireland, and always wondered what the Palau life path would have been like. It would have been DIFFERENT
The so-called German Channel in Palau, just north of Peleliu which had been some of the worst fighting during WW2. It's hard to mentally juggle such extraordinary beauty with the harsh histories of a place.
August 29, 2025 at 2:12 PM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
"The enemy cannot eat a hoagie if you disable his hand."
Scene from Starship Troopers (1997) when the sadistic drill sergeant throws a knife into the hand of a cocky recruit to prove a point. I think it was meant to be over the top, just like everything Paul Verhoeven ever did.
August 15, 2025 at 1:16 PM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
I think I've seen this movie
Still from Robocop [ Paul Verhoeven / 1987 / 103mins ], a movie that was way too ahead of its time.
August 12, 2025 at 10:20 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
I just can't...
A book cover boldly proclaiming 'How to Even FOR DUMMIES'—because apparently, the concept of 'even' is now so baffling humanity needs an instructional guide. The iconic 'Dummies' yellow and black design is used, with the promise to 'Learn to: Literally Even' (yes, that’s the entire skill set, but far too much for anyone in the current cabinet or DNC). The tagline 'Making Everything Easier!™' lingers below, dripping with irony, as if the universe itself is mocking our collective descent into incompetence and fascism. For those keeping score: This is either peak satire or rock bottom. Or both.
August 12, 2025 at 10:02 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Even when things were hopeful, say in early 2009, I remember a senior US official saying, "I hope we have enough time to build the trust we need."

That trust is now deliberately targeted, while fossil fuel extraction has yet to be slowed, let alone reversed
A line graph titled 'Global CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuels by Region, 1959-2024' shows trends in carbon dioxide emissions for five regions: China, the United States, the European Union, India, and the Rest of the World. The x-axis represents years from 1960 to 2024, and the y-axis measures CO2 emissions in gigatons (Gt CO2), ranging from 0 to 20. China's emissions (represented by one line) start low in 1960 but rise sharply after 2000, surpassing other regions by 2020. The United States and the European Union (two separate lines) begin with higher emissions in 1960, peak around the early 2000s, and then gradually decline. India's emissions (another line) start very low and increase steadily over time. The 'Rest of the World' category (a fifth line) shows moderate growth throughout the period. The graph is based on data from the Global Carbon Project and was published by CarbonBrief. Key Details Highlighted: Trends: China's rapid rise, U.S. and EU peaking then declining, India's steady growth. Units: Gigatons of CO2 (Gt CO2). Timeframe: 1960–2020 (projected to 2024). Source/Credit: Global Carbon Project, CarbonBrief.
August 12, 2025 at 9:49 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
A thought from the editor-in-chief of Kyiv Independent, Olga Rudenko: "Alaska has another meaning. It’s a land that was once owned by Russia, and Russia has a penchant for laying claim on its past territories. I’ve heard this one phrase many times from Ukrainians, and probably have said it myself: “If you wouldn’t give Alaska back to Russia, don’t force Ukraine to give away Crimea.”" I couldn't agree more.
August 10, 2025 at 8:41 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
It's #Caturday in SE Asia
A cat named Walter (she/her), clearly a creature of immense self-importance, sprawls across a pristine white bed, looking as if the world owes her a sardine. Her white and brown tabby fur is impeccably groomed, no doubt from hours of meticulous grooming and brushing, and her half-closed eyes convey an air of profound boredom, as if even the act of existing is too much effort. A rumpled white sheet beside her suggests she's just awoken from a beauty sleep that undoubtedly took precedence over any meaningful contribution to society.
July 19, 2025 at 3:04 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
I wouldn't tell anyone if I won the lottery, but there would be signs
Life-size Battlestar Galactica Viper having been built in some dude's garage, like Jethro building a boat in his basement in NCIS except even more eccentric.
July 11, 2025 at 5:16 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
It's Sunday in the Philippines, but Walter (she/her) would like to be part of Caturday
A white and tabby mix female cat who was misidentified as male after bsing rescued as a kitten, and by the time we figured out she was a girl, had learned her name and only responded to Walter.
June 22, 2025 at 1:54 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
#ShowYourStripes day, and Metro Manila has already been hit hard by climate change
A bar graph of temperature changes in Makati, with the recent years turning deep red.
June 21, 2025 at 6:48 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Everyone gets a war!
Oprah's "you get a car" meme changed to "you get a war!"
June 16, 2025 at 4:39 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
You have arrived at your destination.
June 9, 2025 at 6:57 PM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Early morning at the Taipei airport
Golden lighted concourse at the Taipei airport C gates, en route to Manila. Why are US airports so dumpy in comparison? (Yes I know why)
May 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Abstract A limited nuclear war between India and Pakistan could ignite fires large enough to emit more than 5 Tg of soot into the stratosphere. Climate model simulations have shown severe resulting climate perturbations with declines in global mean temperature by 1.8 °C and precipitation by 8%, for at least 5 y. Here we evaluate impacts for the global food system. Six harmonized state-of-the-art crop models show that global caloric production from maize, wheat, rice, and soybean falls by 11 (±1)%, 11 (±8)%, 3 (±5)%, and 17 (±2)% over 5 y. Total single-year losses of 12 (±4)% quadruple the largest observed historical anomaly and exceed impacts caused by historic droughts and volcanic eruptions. ...
May 10, 2025 at 2:02 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Even when visiting family, I can't seem to avoid rescuing animals. This friendly boy, Taco, jumped into my car in West Georgia
A medium-sized dog with a black back, tan legs and face, and floppy ears is lying down on a surface of dirt, leaves, and sparse green plants. The dog is positioned in the lower center of the frame, facing slightly to the upper left. Its front legs are extended forward, and its hind legs are out of view. The dog's expression is alert and somewhat inquisitive as it looks upward. The background is slightly blurred, suggesting a shallow depth of field, and consists of more
May 7, 2025 at 10:19 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Walter (she/her) sleeps hard when not stalking the residents of her apartment.
A female tabby with large areas of snow-white fur lays on a bed, her front paws curled. She is taking up most of the bed, despite her small size. It's a gift.
April 27, 2025 at 3:40 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
Photo from October 2020, when teaching everything from a small bedroom in our house in Anchorage, Alaska. Actually, my home desk now in the Philippines doesn't look too different (just a very different view out the window, and no need for a SAD light)
A medium eye-level shot captures a man sitting at a cluttered desk in front of two computer monitors. He is turned slightly to his left, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression typical of being burned out . The man has short, dark hair with graying temples and is wearing a light gray zip-up sweater over a darker shirt. His right hand rests on a black computer mouse, while his left hand hovers over a red and black gaming keyboard. The desk is light-colored and holds a variety of items, including a large monitor displaying a document, a laptop computer also displaying content, a microphone on a stand positioned between the monitors, a white seasonal affective disorder (SAD) light, a glass of water, various cables, papers, and a small blue container holding keys. Behind the monitors, a beige wall is visible, illuminated by a warm light source to the right, likely a lamp that is partially visible. To the left, a window with a dark wooden frame shows a glimpse of the outdoors with green foliage. Moose would at times wander past the window. A white calendar hanging on the wall above the desk displays the month "October". The overall impression is of a home office or workspace in a somewhat disorganized state, but wasn't everyone's in 2020?
April 27, 2025 at 3:25 AM
chadmbriggs.bsky.social
How I arrived on BlueSky
Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, asking "What do you wanna do tonight?" I did not want to post a graphic of both of the mice, because it should be clear that I'm not showing my brainy side when on here.
April 23, 2025 at 2:15 PM