Research vessels, like the RV Weatherbird shown here, are the lifeblood of oceanography. Although we can now make many measurements by satellite, we can only "see" the surface centimeters of a world ocean that is kilometers deep, and we can then only infer what it is below. We still need direct measurements, and ships like this are how we do it. The Weatherbird is operated by the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO), a consortium of universities which is housed in the building I work in at the University of South Florida. A larger network of research ships comprises another consortium, the Universities National Oceanographic Laboratories, or UNOLS. FIO is struggling for state funding to operate their three vessels, and UNOLS is decommissioning ships faster than new ones are being built. Thus, the U.S.A. is ceding their dominance in ocean sciences to other nations. A 🧵
#ships
#UNOLS
#ResearchVessels
#Oceanography
#ClimateScience
#MarineScience
1/n
An interesting scientific article about #oceanic #ClimateChange was published earlier this week, and the @nytimes@press.coop covered it. What has me tickled pink is that it was based in part on my Ph.D. dissertation research studying obscure sponges (#sclerosponges) which hold long records of climate in their skeletons. I'll put a thread out about this article in about a week (I've got a lot to do for early next week), but here is a gift link to the NYTimes coverage with a short quote by me:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/climate/global-warming-sponges.html?unlocked_article_code=1.T00.AMwi.KRytZRvouFII&smid=url-share
Research vessels, like the RV Weatherbird shown here, are the lifeblood of oceanography. Although we can now make many measurements by satellite, we can only "see" the surface centimeters of a world ocean that is kilometers deep, and we can then only infer what it is below. We still need direct measurements, and ships like this are how we do it. The Weatherbird is operated by the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO), a consortium of universities which is housed in the building I work in at the University of South Florida. A larger network of research ships comprises another consortium, the Universities National Oceanographic Laboratories, or UNOLS. FIO is struggling for state funding to operate their three vessels, and UNOLS is decommissioning ships faster than new ones are being built. Thus, the U.S.A. is ceding their dominance in ocean sciences to other nations. A 🧵
#ships
#UNOLS
#ResearchVessels
#Oceanography
#ClimateScience
#MarineScience
1/n
A feel good story about the environment (superficially, at least) and the people who work hard because they care about it. And it features Florida's endangered short tooth saw fish!
(I am not sure if this is paywalled because I subscribe, but, unfortunately, subscribers cannot send gift links.)
#Florida #environment #ClimateChange #climate #EcologicalBreakdown
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2025/08/13/an-endangered-sawfish-was-trapped-tampa-bay-pond-could-it-be-freed/
I point to this post I made a few months ago. Pay attention to number 6 - the protection of the right to protest was the surest improvement I could think of when I thought about the "what if..." if we had elected Harris over Trump. This is it - our inability to disrupt the system for US will put us into decades of this type of rule from despots who magnify the racial, inequitable faults this country was built on.
https://climatejustice.social/@Brad_Rosenheim/114727231867682207
How can you sign up for the #GeneralStrike? Information here:
https://generalstrikeus.com/
The time to strike is now. The strike needs to be simply staying home, and supporting those who risk losing work because of that. #MutualAid will be the only way through this. But we are not longer going to be able to take to the streets without the risk of sacrificing lives. So, the time to peacefully bring the economy to a crushing halt is now.
#GeneralStrike
#MilitarizedUnitedStates
#FreedomOfExpression
#MilitarizedCities
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pentagon-plan-would-create-military-reaction-force-for-civil-unrest/ar-AA1KmDsZ
I point to this post I made a few months ago. Pay attention to number 6 - the protection of the right to protest was the surest improvement I could think of when I thought about the "what if..." if we had elected Harris over Trump. This is it - our inability to disrupt the system for US will put us into decades of this type of rule from despots who magnify the racial, inequitable faults this country was built on.
https://climatejustice.social/@Brad_Rosenheim/114727231867682207
The time to strike is now. The strike needs to be simply staying home, and supporting those who risk losing work because of that. #MutualAid will be the only way through this. But we are not longer going to be able to take to the streets without the risk of sacrificing lives. So, the time to peacefully bring the economy to a crushing halt is now.
#GeneralStrike
#MilitarizedUnitedStates
#FreedomOfExpression
#MilitarizedCities
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pentagon-plan-would-create-military-reaction-force-for-civil-unrest/ar-AA1KmDsZ
Here is the longer version - I was a lot younger then, and I never like to read my writing from years ago. But the message is still good. I have no idea, though, how to get people in Congress to vote against their own best interests and in the interests of the people. (Hard to believe that this is still up on Tulane University's servers!)
https://www2.tulane.edu/~brosenhe/The%20Quadrilateral%20Congressional%20Rule.pdf
I'm better at coding now. Would anyone like to take a shot at this with me using Python and QGIS? Ultimately we would need census data (should be still freely available), and a UI easy enough for even someone in Congress to us it. Who's game?
Living in New Orleans more than a decade ago, I was concerned about gerrymandering and effect it was having at radicalizing our representative democracy in the U.S.A. Not only was it radicalizing our political choices, but it had the effect of bringing our legislative bodies to ideological gridlock. I wrote the paper about a new idea, and I posted a more detailed scheme online, sending letters to every senator at that time.
Back then, though, politicians still played the rules, waiting until census years, and using thinly-veiled political speak to make their actions seem more high-browed than simply gerrymandering to get more votes. Back then, admitting the truth would be akin to saying that your party had no good ideas and couldn't win elections on merit.
Now, that is exactly what the GOP is saying. And they are acting to cancel the mid-term elections (there goes all the "we just have to vote" people!) through gerrymandering. What I wrote back then still stands - it is a good idea (with a few faults, but better than what we have now).
#gerrymandering
#GOP
#IsItACoup
#USPol
#CongressionalDistricts
https://www.nola.com/opinions/technology-could-give-voters-a-square-deal-letter/article_d8014c53-0bd0-58b3-8a26-ee2c0c564609.html
Here is the longer version - I was a lot younger then, and I never like to read my writing from years ago. But the message is still good. I have no idea, though, how to get people in Congress to vote against their own best interests and in the interests of the people. (Hard to believe that this is still up on Tulane University's servers!)
https://www2.tulane.edu/~brosenhe/The%20Quadrilateral%20Congressional%20Rule.pdf
Living in New Orleans more than a decade ago, I was concerned about gerrymandering and effect it was having at radicalizing our representative democracy in the U.S.A. Not only was it radicalizing our political choices, but it had the effect of bringing our legislative bodies to ideological gridlock. I wrote the paper about a new idea, and I posted a more detailed scheme online, sending letters to every senator at that time.
Back then, though, politicians still played the rules, waiting until census years, and using thinly-veiled political speak to make their actions seem more high-browed than simply gerrymandering to get more votes. Back then, admitting the truth would be akin to saying that your party had no good ideas and couldn't win elections on merit.
Now, that is exactly what the GOP is saying. And they are acting to cancel the mid-term elections (there goes all the "we just have to vote" people!) through gerrymandering. What I wrote back then still stands - it is a good idea (with a few faults, but better than what we have now).
#gerrymandering
#GOP
#IsItACoup
#USPol
#CongressionalDistricts
https://www.nola.com/opinions/technology-could-give-voters-a-square-deal-letter/article_d8014c53-0bd0-58b3-8a26-ee2c0c564609.html
The Onion sees us, knows our frustration with this world of consumerism...
#TheOnion
#BurtsShrimp
#ecocide
#ClimateChange
An interesting scientific article about #oceanic #ClimateChange was published earlier this week, and the @nytimes@press.coop covered it. What has me tickled pink is that it was based in part on my Ph.D. dissertation research studying obscure sponges (#sclerosponges) which hold long records of climate in their skeletons. I'll put a thread out about this article in about a week (I've got a lot to do for early next week), but here is a gift link to the NYTimes coverage with a short quote by me:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/climate/global-warming-sponges.html?unlocked_article_code=1.T00.AMwi.KRytZRvouFII&smid=url-share
Brad Rosenheim