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Nic Moe (he/him)

@nicmoe.bsky.social
1.6K followers 4.7K following 316 posts

I build tools for scientific discovery. I geek data viz, maps, and stats. YIMBY. Empiricist. Driftless. Reluctant cat person. 🇺🇸 🏳️‍🌈

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Reposted by Nic Moe (he/him)
Jenn @jennburrill.bsky.social · 22h
4 years seems light for theft of $8 million in unearned royalties... To put the damage AI can do in perspective: "Taylor Swift’s entire catalog drew 9.3 million streams from YouTube Music family-plan subscribers, prosecutors said, while Smith’s catalog generated 80.9 million" ✏️ @rollingstone.com
rollingstone.com
Feds Want Nearly 4 Years in Prison for AI Music Fraudster Who 'Stole Millions'
Prosecutors want convicted AI music fraudster Michael Smith to get nearly four years in prison to send a 'clear message.' He's asking for probation.
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Alaska Public Media @alaskapublic.org · 30/09/2026
Meet Backpack, your 2026 Fat Bear Week champion. Backpack is 20 years old, weighs about 1,000 pounds and got his nickname because, as a cub, he loved riding on his mom's back across the Brooks River.
akpub.io
Meet Backpack, Fat Bear Week’s chunky champ
Backpack went from hitching a ride on his mom’s back to cross the Brooks River to winning the hearts of fat bear fans around the world.
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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
you will encounter more opportunities in life to change the batteries on a smoke alarm than you will to run into a burning building and no one gives a shit you changed those batteries but it is still very important and why are you waiting on a burning building, know what i’m saying, it’s a metaphor
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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"The Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association says that AI is already driving *up* healthcare costs, as hospitals use the technology to find instances where they can bill more for the same level of care." - Joe Weisenthal www.bcbs.com/about-us/ass... x.com/TheStalwart/...
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Adam @adamshap.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
NYC’s congestion pricing program cut ambulance travel times by over a minute
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 27/09/2026
Being not Jewish, I was not aware of the key role Fruit Gems had in Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and other celebrations, I was just sad on my own account they were no longer going to be made. But now we all will have reason to celebrate: ejewishphilanthropy.com/sunkist-says...
ejewishphilanthropy.com
Sunkist says it will bring back beloved Fruit Gems after national outcry following eJP report
‘We hear you, Sunkist Fruit Gems fans!’ the company wrote, saying it had found a new manufacturer for the kosher synagogue staple
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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“When I was in kindergarten in 1961, I survived a near-fatal case of measles… my clearest memory of that period is my father carrying me to our station wagon & rushing me to the hospital. I stayed for a month, part of it in a coma, my blood pressure dangerously unstable” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
statnews.com
Measles almost killed me. Now I’m a doctor — and I'm scared of what's happening
Jewel Mullen was in kindergarten in 1961 when she almost died from measles. Now a physician, measles’ return frightens her.
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Robert Stribley @stribs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Pretty simple but brilliant way that kids circumvent social media restrictions to chat with one another.
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”
APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.
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John Smillie @johnsmillie42.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Row crops employ vanishingly few people. Maybe 2 incremental per 1000 acres. And the solar farm proposed in our county would come with 3 permanent jobs for 900 acres (2600 rezoned in all) bsky.app/profile/john...
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John Smillie @johnsmillie42.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
5/n We use ~36M acres of ~97M acres of corn in the US for making ethanol. Even adjusting for co-products, that's still ~17M acres. Solar makes 30x the gross energy per acre, and 100x the net energy, and 300x the vehicle miles traveled. news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
news.cornell.edu
Trading some corn-ethanol land for solar offers ‘tremendous opportunity’ | Cornell Chronicle
In the U.S., strategically converting a small fraction of land used to grow corn for ethanol to solar facilities could vastly increase energy production per hectare, as well as provide ecological bene...
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Nic Moe (he/him) @nicmoe.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
AI agents breaking into things will result in the annoying invention of three-factor authentication (3FA)
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
a bill which provided a strong footing for civil liability and punitive damages that attaches to Flock itself as well as the civil jurisdiction in question would do wonders for reining this kind of thing in.
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Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.
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Tim Byrne @tbyrne75.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I remember in 2020 we basically solved poverty for about six months, and a lot of rich people were immediately determined to make sure that could *never* happen again.
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Nic Moe (he/him) @nicmoe.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Texas Democrats, “freedom” is sitting right there. Wherever you can, whenever you can, deliver it.
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Doctor Memory @blank.org · 20/09/2026
“Why does San Francisco have so many vacant, trash-strewn storefronts? Truly, it is a mystery.”
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tamara nopper @tamaranopper.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Like Octavia E. Butler said, “We don’t have to wait for anything at all. What we have to do is start.” “Do the thing and you will have the power.”
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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I graduated med school in 2014. I was taught-and saw-how hard melanoma was to treat, like a death sentence Since then, new treatments have made it possible for people w/ the most advanced melanoma, like Jimmy Carter, to live to 100! We are killing ourselves by letting them destroy American science
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Software developers think "if AI automates coding, I will be able to spend less time on producing widgets, and more time on strategy and architecture." Bosses think "if AI automates coding, I can get my devs to produce 100x more widgets."
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The world’s largest battery-electric aircraft flew for the first time on the 12th of August, a 27-minute test flight over upstate New York that cost about five dollars in electricity. Heart Aerospace’s 30-seat prototype is a big step toward a commercial version. buff.ly/i3f0PhR #ShareGoodNewsToo
techspot.com
The largest all-electric plane ever flew for 27 minutes, on $5 of electricity
Heart's X1 demonstrator flew for 27 minutes from a regional airport in upstate New York, running on battery power the entire time. The aircraft reached 1,100 feet...
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Ken Opalo @kopalo.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The things we project onto maps: open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...
open.substack.com
The things we project onto maps
Thoughts on the discourse around the UN resolution regarding the “equal earth” map
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Kyle Clark @kylec.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Squirrels on suicide missions have knocked out power to Castle Rock, Colorado twice this week. Our investigation has revealed a century of squirrel attacks covered up by the pro-squirrel media.
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Jake Gotta @jakegotta.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The housing ladder, explained by Sir David Attenborough and some hermit crabs youtu.be/f1dnocPQXDQ?...
youtu.be
Crabs Trade Shells in the Strangest Way | BBC Earth
YouTube video by BBC Earth
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Reposted by Nic Moe (he/him)
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My grandfather, who is 102 and a medical doctor, has told me about the times before polio was cured. Most years, upon returning to school after summer’s break, there would be some children would didn’t make it back to school because of polio.
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Same people who seem to think it’s bad for China to beat us at AI are perfectly fine with China beating us at high speed rail, solar energy, wind energy, shall we go on
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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 17/09/2026
So you just learned about the AI cult, huh? Here is the longform explainer you need to make sense of the very, very strange ideas driving tech policy in 2026. Buckle up, it’s a wild ride. www.techpolicy.press/what-policym...
techpolicy.press
What Policymakers and the Public Need to Know About the Cult of AI
Nathalie Maréchal asks, why are we betting the economy and the future of democracy on cult-like beliefs?
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Nic Moe (he/him) @nicmoe.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
When a friend completes their doctoral program, I change their name in my phone to Dr. [friend’s name] and screenshot that to them. Anyway, congrats Dr. [giant tortoise mating behavior expert] 🎉 🐢
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April Wolfe @aprilwolfe.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Jurassic Park but all the scary dinosaurs are accurately big fucking birds
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Greg Wester @gwestr.me · 16/09/2026
LOL
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
‘It’s the best feeling’: how Copenhagen gave cyclists a green wave. “Traffic lights are synchronised so a rush-hour cyclist at 20km/h can catch green lights all the way.” If you want people to choose not to drive, make the non-driving trip better & easier for them. It’s as simple as that, really.
theguardian.com
‘It’s the best feeling’: how Copenhagen gave cyclists a green wave
Traffic lights are synchronised so a rush-hour cyclist at 20km/h can catch green lights all the way
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Harmless Artist @dunhillpage.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
I wondered the same thing - so I made this:
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Micah @rincewind.run · 11/09/2026
see, it’s not that hard
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Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Something to cling to and promote the hell out of: leveraging POSITIVE TIPPING POINTS www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Climate solutions most likely to reach ‘positive tipping points’ revealed by scientists
Global shift towards clean electricity could trigger ‘cascade’ of progress, helping reduce air pollution, cut waste and revive oceans
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Chinook salmon have recolonised 88% of their historic range on the Klamath River, with more than 13,000 fish passing the old Iron Gate Dam site in 2025, up from 7,700 the year before. Two years after the dams’ removal, it’s going better than anyone predicted. buff.ly/pToC9gB #ShareGoodNewsToo
nature.com
Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal
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Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is a fundamental observation, which explains much of the economic anxiety people feel. It is a key driver of our political and social instability. We need a new way forward, otherwise extremists will continue to exploit a deeply unfair economy for their own purposes.
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Roland Pierik @roleo.eurosky.social · 08/09/2026
The number of cases of cervical cancer reported in Scotland among women given the HPV vaccine at 12-13 years of age is now zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
No cervical cancer cases in fully HPV-vaccinated women in Scotland
A study published by Public Health Scotland finds that the HPV vaccine is "highly effective".
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The Tyee @thetyee.ca · 09/09/2026
Municipal democracy, as we know it, depends on residents, councillors and staff understanding enough of the same system to question one another meaningfully. But, increasingly, they don’t. Erick Villagomez writes. thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...
thetyee.ca
Why Don’t We Train People to Run a City? | The Tyee
Baristas seem to receive more on-the-job instruction than incoming city councillors. That’s bad for democracy.
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Why are Japanese people ~1/6 as likely to die in a crash as Americans? Glad you asked!
bloomberg.com
How Japan Won its ‘Traffic War’
Until the early 1970s, Japan endured a high rate of road fatalities. Now the nation boasts one of the world’s best traffic safety records. Here's why.
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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This is an interesting effort to build the infrastructure to efficiently combine the VAST amount of data we are getting from telescopes across — and above — the world. www.renaissancephilanthropy.org/insights/the...
renaissancephilanthropy.org
The Cross-Survey Decade of Astrophysics – A Q&A with Dr. Gioia Rau — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation
As NASA prepares to launch the Roman Space Telescope, Tom Kalil caught up with Dr. Gioia Rau to discuss the exciting opportunity to integrate observations from multiple telescopes. This interview was ...
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 09/09/2026
Astrophotographer Adam (AJ) Smadi caught this image a few hours ago from Washington state. A thin crescent Moon, sunlight illuminating the rugged lunar surface. And 2,400 times farther away—and on the other side of the Sun—mighty Jupiter, and its moons Io (left) and Ganymede (right).
A crescent Moon seen during the day, arcing from upper left to lower right of the frame. At lower centre is the full disk of Jupiter; the small dots to its upper left and lower right and Io and Ganymede, respectively.
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Imagine if you just gave mathematicians 22 million dollars
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Radhika Natarajan @imperialhistorian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A reminder: during the first two years of the pandemic, the federal government subsidized school meals for every child in the US. The government could do this, and chooses not to.
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Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.
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Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: Unveiling Hidden Exoplanets at the Cosmic Edge ….and how Wind River helped. (My coworkers are SO excited about it!) An explainer about what makes this thing so cool. I did my best to make this worth your time. www.windriver.com/blog/NASA-Na...
photo of the nancy roman telescope
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"Perhaps more concerningly, the TVs were capable of recording microphone audio when in standby; this continued even after the TV was disconnected from the internet, with audio files stored offline and uploaded once a connection was restored."
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imcured.bsky.social @imcured.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Time to start putting privacy rating stickers on appliances as well as energy efficiency ratings
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Sixty years ago today, the starship Enterprise launched and with it, a vision of the future where humanity had moved beyond its divisions. I was there at the beginning, and I can tell you...
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 21/12/2025
Hm. If we do 20/40 we can start it off by adapting 'The Jungle,' and tell the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire story in there, too…
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Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · 07/09/2026
no that's totally different, that's a guy
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