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When the federal employees go to work. They work to ensure the mission succeeds regardless of who is on them. It would mean a lot in this moment to have the community support them, reach out & tell them that their work is seen & appreciated because that is not happening in their performance reviews.

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And to say that you're not supporting people when an unfair regulations and policies are put into place at their work is just mean-spirited. 6/

It means that when people from the outside come into HQ, they already look at Goddard as low performing and have a bias with respect to how they interact with the scientists there. And in that position they have a lot of control over those scientists. 5/

NASA scientist at Goddard having to compete for their coverage has hurt this relationship between them and the scientific community in my opinion. 4/

Secondly, these people are great scientists and I recognize that when we're all competing for the same pots of money and when we all need to have that funding in order to live, it can be hard to acknowledge that great work is being done both inside and outside the government. 3/

But also it is untrue and detrimental. First off people outside of the government don't know all the things that the federal civil service do. A lot of that is unseen work. A lot of that is more boring work but it is the work that enables the science and the mission to get done. 2/

This is happening across the federal government. I've had people in the heliophysics community state that they don't believe Goddard folks should not be getting 4s and 5s as they aren't productive, clearly aren't as good as those in academia or industry and hearing that first hurt's. 1/

toilet bones @toiletbones.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Reposted by PlasmaNerd

Found the email I sent when I got accidentally added to the faculty listserv of an orthopedic surgery clinic and nobody would remove me so I sent this email to all faculty/staff/med students and they removed me almost immediately

Hello Bone Colleagues,
I have invented a new type of ankle and I'm very excited to show it to you. Early raccoon trials suggest a 60% increase in scurrying speed and dramatic increases in fine motor banditry. I know we are not supposed to create super raccoons, but I think you'll change your mind and professional ethics when you see how cute they are. I believe we are on the cusp of a new era in advanced human scurrying because if medical science has taught me anything, it's that improvements in raccoons correspond 1:1 to improvements in humans.

--
[My name]
Chief Bone Inventor
Chair, Department of Foot and Leg Innovation
Lord Mayor, Musculoskeletal Medicine
Hartford HealthCare,
The Bone & Joint Institute at Hartford Hospital.

190113863094

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Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The IceCube neutrino detector has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in physics. The Trump administration has proposed slashing its budget in half in 2027.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 06/10/2026

We voted! Early and in person! Your turn!

Me and Krissy smiling because we have exercised our constitutional franchise

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AltFDA @altfda.altgov.info · 06/10/2026

What I like to remind ppl, is that all the patents for the mRNA vaccine were held by a woman and for the vaccine to happen, she made them public domain to save your fucking ass because for 20yrs big pharma would not buy them!

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

TODAY is the last day to register to vote in several states. I urge you to double check your state's deadline, verify that you are registered, and make changes to your registration if needed. Then contact three friends or family members and have them do the same. whenweallvote.org

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 05/10/2026

This is your occasional reminder that generative "AI" in particular could have been developed on public domain materials and/or licensed and compensated works but the major players intentionally, methodically and systemically chose to steal labor from working creative folks instead

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elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The National Science Foundation withheld $1.4 billion that Congress intended for research in 2026. The White House wants to redirect the money to a limited set of administration priorities, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Ignoring Congress. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...

nytimes.com

National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress (Gift Article)

The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

By late summer 2025, I wasn’t only asking whether I could keep my job at NASA. I was asking what I might someday be asked to do to keep it. The latest in The Oath: scientific integrity, public service, and the lines we hope we’ll never be asked to cross. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...

The Oath Ep 16: Stretching the Lines

The space between compromise and conscience.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 02/10/2026

The rush to accuse, without anything approaching due diligence, artists of using "AI," should be treated with contempt. An artist gets their work *ripped off* to train a plagiarism machine, which then shits out inferior versions of that work, so then you accuse the artist of using "AI"? Fuck you.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

At the start of the new fiscal & performance year for US CS, I want to say Thank You. And while many of you will get less-than-stellar ratings due to the new cap, I see your hard work. I thank you for trying to do what is right & keep our country afloat. ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10....

ajph.aphapublications.org

Hope From the Front Lines: Reflections From the Bethesda Declaration Movement | Hope: A Public Health Blueprint for Action

American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA)

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 01/10/2026

We’re making all Meidas+ news updates completely paywall-free through the midterm elections. Quality information shouldn’t be locked away right now. This may hurt our business, but some things are more important. Spread the word and join us: meidasplus.com

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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 30/09/2026

G’morning, friends. ☀️ You know that person who thinks changing guidance as we learn more (like during COVID) means scientists didn’t know what they were doing? ☕️ Some morning reading for our very confident friend: “When Scientists Admit Mistakes, That Means Science Is Working.”

greatergood.berkeley.edu

When Scientists Admit Mistakes, That Means Science Is Working

Public health experts need to be allowed to admit when they’re wrong—and share with the public what they are learning.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Having to move offices was a pain, but the loss of the library at NASA Goddard was demoralizing to many. The Library was a place where we held our knowledge, our past, a place where we congregated to hold meetings and network... It's loss felt like defeat. www.urgentmatter.press/nasa-adminis...

urgentmatter.press

NASA boss questioned Goddard library review, emails show

Two weeks earlier, a Goddard official learned the GSA needed no manifest for the books NASA was giving up.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

While I'm no longer a Lab/branch chief at NASA Goddard, today is hitting me hard. The division I was in is going through a reorganization & so today is their last Lab meeting... And I'm sitting here grieving the loss of the lab with them, even if from afar plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...

The Oath Ep. 1: My Foundation

The Decisions Before the Decision

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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I know there is a hell of a lot going on right now. But not all of it is bad. Some is astonishingly good - like the results of this study from June. Cervical cancer is a terribly cruel thing. This might, at long last, be the beginning of the end of it. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BBC News headline "Young women now have 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death after HPV jab"

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Qasim Rashid, Esq. @qasimrashid.com · 28/09/2026

To the people complaining these sex abuse cases have created a world where men now have to think 10 times before they touch a woman. Yes, that's the point. It's called consent. Welcome to human decency.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

How do you decide whether to stay at NASA when no one can tell you what staying will mean? In summer 2025, I tried to help my lab answer that question. By August, a quarter of the lab was gone. My latest essay is about uncertainty, responsibility, and grief. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...

The Oath Ep. 15: Deciding in the Dark

When the deadline came before the answers.

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Chase Million @millionconcepts.com · 26/09/2026

This is incredibly well written, informative, and important. Most civil servants (who remain) are working their asses off, trying to hold the institution together. But they are also often prevented from say true (even obvious) things in public. Those of us with the freedom to do so must speak.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Budgets can be restored. Scientific communities take much longer to rebuild. My latest essay explores funding uncertainty inside NASA, the difficulty of speaking up as a civil servant, and why the costs begin before cuts become law. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...

The Oath Ep 14: Constraints

The rules that shaped every decision.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

To get full social security benefits you have to retire at age 67. The average life expectancy in the US for men is 76. Already the US is expecting that men will enjoy less than a decade of life after work. If you started paying in at age 20, you will work 47 years to then enjoy 10.

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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

JIM HENSON started the show “Sam and Friends” in 1955 whilst a 19yr old Freshman at the University of Maryland. Here he is with the puppets from that show including an early version of Kermit.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I hope in another 50+ years another plaque is added saying "Possibly or probably dead, so enjoy this bench in Lucy's remembrance. "

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Science is better with friends. What happens when the people who built a scientific community start looking for a future elsewhere? In episode 13 of The Oath: NASA, belonging, and following the evidence when it becomes politically inconvenient. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...

The Oath Ep 13: Per Aspera Ad Astra—through hardship to the stars

Starting to see the impacts of this new golden science.

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 18/09/2026

While RFK Jr.'s been shouting "Make America Healthy Again" from the rooftops, over 160 foods have been recalled so far this year. There’s nothing healthy about food-borne illness.

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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The "cloud" is really misnamed and should be something more like the "ground". The data doesn't live in the sky, it lives in these data centers and gets past around them - so your data could be in any number of countries...

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Sometimes writing with only simple words does not help you sound like you know what you are talking about, but it is fun. So, with that. I hope you enjoy it, and try writing and talking more simply with us at EGU this coming spring. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/simple-wor...

Simple words about what I work on

A random forest model to predict the neutral density at 400 km to help understand why our satellites sometimes fall down faster than we think they should

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At this week's meeting, there was also a lot of talk about how we need to find ways to talk across jobs, which often means not using the not-so-simple words.

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so I thought in the spirit of the EGU meeting group that we hope to have next spring, I would write up what my talk at this meeting is in simple words using the XKCD simple writer.

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This week has been a lot of fun talking about space things & how they change over short times (weather). I also wanted to write something that was more fun than normal...

I think you are right. But I think they are also out of touch… blissful ignorance?

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