iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Hey folks! Was just made aware of this website that's "selling" Parks passes and USGS maps (which are always free in digital form). Just a reminder that legit government websites ALWAYS end in .gov, and you can only purchase NPS passes from the official NPS and USGS sites.

Screenshot of a fraudulent .com website purporting to be the USGS and "selling" USGS products. It features a Screenshot of the Lansat Earth as Art series and a typical shopify-type layout.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Good riddance. Let's spend 2026 not actively destroying the world, mkay?

One crudely drawn cartoon character kicking another screaming cartoon character off a cliff. The falling character is labeled 2025 because this year definitely deserves to die at the bottom of a pit

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

A very important doggo from one of today's #NoKings protests. (The other side of his signs says "No tariffs on treats") @weratedogs.com

A pale yellow lab on a red leash looks happily at the woman petting him. He is adorned with red white and blue pompoms and wearing a sign on each side. The visible sign reads "Pro Democracy, Pro Choice, Pro Science, Pro Women, Pro Dogs". Around him, protesterscmill about with similar signs.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Well, that's the presidential proposed USGS budget for FY26. It’s not just NSF and NASA that would be taking earth science research hits if it's enacted.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Not even in frame. That's gotta be over 400 meters

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Also this cute little goober. She's "helping". #geokitties 🐾

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Glad I have this elegant lady in my life. #geokitties 🐾

A long-haired tabby-tortie mixed cat sits demurely on a puffy blanket in the yard of an apartment complex

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Sharing today's USGS Volcanoes post...because. "Even volcanoes make resolutions! This New Year's Eve, we're sharing a few of our favorite self-help titles for improving eruptions, reshaping slopes, and becoming a better volcano. To all our followers, we wish you a very Happy New Year in 2025!"

A parody book cover of "The power of positive thinking" reading "The power of Pressurized steam" by Yellowstone Volcano

A parody book cover of "The 7 habits of highly effective people" reading "The 7 habits of highly effusive eruptions" by Kilauea Volcano, foreward by Mauna Loa

A parody book cover of "Who moved my cheese?" reading "Who moved my scoria?" by Mount St. Helens. A badge reads "A VEI 5 - Moderate but powerful"

A parody book cover of "Feel the fear and do it anyway" reading "Feel the tremor and erupt anyway" by Redoubt Volcano

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 19/09/2024

If you're not watching a rainbow over a lava-fall, what are you doing with your day? (View from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's S2 webcam at Nāpau Crater) ⚒️ 🌋https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/s2cam-view-napau-crater-east-rift-zone-kilauea-view-southwest

A static webcam image shows a hazy rainbow arcing over a forested depression. In the distance, glowing orange lava cascades down a vertical rock wall onto a pile of black, cooled lava. Steam and volcanic gas streams from right to left across the horizon.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 17/09/2024

I'm declaring it No Context Field Photo Day. Tell me what happened here, wrong answers only! ⚒️🧪

The lower half of a pine tree rises above a graded, gravelly depression. The tree's upper half is missing, and has been replaced by a large boulder the size of a Smart Car. The ground around the tree is bare and shows the impressions of treads and shovel marks.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 17/09/2024

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #254,202! Not quite as elder as some of y'all...but up there.

A bluesky badge that reads "Celebrating 10M users" with #254,202 underneath and a stamp that says "Elder Certified Bluesky"

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

Geology is the art of decoding a landscape AND snickering at terrible visual jokes. (Mud Creek, Mount Shasta, after a couple of years of debris flow sedimentation and attempts at grading. It's a small creek, but it has a big floodplain thanks to offing a bunch of trees via burial.)

A flat sandy plain stretches out toward a barely-visible stream channel, with rows of browned and dying pine trees in the background. In the foreground, a yellow caution sign reads "soft shoulder".

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 20/08/2024

So many new followers! Welcome to the show - I guess I should start posting more volca-knowledge (har har). I'm Jessica Ball, a volcanologist who works at the USGS California Volcano Observatory (obligatory opinion disclaimers here). I talk volcanic hazards, #scicomm, and cats. (Void for #cattax)

A caucasian woman with short curly brown hair, wearing jeans, a rain jacket and brown boots, poses with an aqua lightsaber in front of a rack of lightsabers glowing in rainbow colors.

A small black adorable cat with one clipped ear and yellow-green eyes poses winningly in an Easter basket. Nearby are a pair of fabulous red flats and (shudder) half-hidden gray crocs which are only used for gardening, I swear.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 10/06/2024

The inverted information hierarchy is important! Scientists think a certain way because we've been trained to - the interested non-scientist absorbs information differently.

Two triangles, one inverted. The inverted triangle is labeled "scientist" and has "Background, supporting details, results/conclusions" going from the base to tip, while the second triangle is labeled "public" and has "bottom line, So what?, and Supporting Details" from tip to base.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 22/04/2024

"Hello there. It looks like you're stuck in a co-author-instigated revisions black hole. Would you like to a) Send another email everyone will ignore, b) Hide under a blanket, or c) Erase all evidence of this paper's existence and deny responsibility?"

The classic Microsoft cartoon paperclip "Clippy", floating above a yellow writing pad in the gray ether of obsolescence.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 29/03/2024

Oooooh yeah, this is gonna go over well.

Question: Am I entitled to yell "I'm walkin' here!" at cars who stop too far into the crosswalk?
AI Chatbot: No, you are not entitled to yell at cars who stop too far into the crosswalk. It is important to maintain respectful behavior and follow the rules of the road. Yelling at cars can escalate the situation and potentially lead to conflicts or accidents. It is recommended to report any traffic violations to the appropriate authorities. For more information on sidewalk crossing permits and regulations, you can visit the Sidewalk Crossing Permit page on the City of New York website.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 14/02/2024

If they don't simmer down afterward, I vote you invoke Wheaton's Law.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 06/02/2024

Sabrina, aka Fluffball, aka Fluffer the Grouch. I got her as a thesis support kitty back in grad school and now she rules my very small apartment. Not to be confused with Dolci, the little wacko I adopted under the mistaken assumption that Sabrina wanted a companion...

A small black void (cat) sits in the bowl of a 1950s-style bathroom sink, flanked by a soap dispenser and drinking glass. Her expression indicates that she's very pleased with herself and will not under any circumstances be moving so someone can turn on the faucet.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 06/02/2024

All the cool people have the same cat, apparently :) (My) standard cat for reference:

A fluffy brown, black and tan tabby-striped longhaired cat snoozes on the lap of a person wearing jeans. Her adorable paws are held one on top of the other as if to say "yes, I am very sophisticated even when I sleep"

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 06/02/2024

Welcome to the good mayhem, new users! I post about #volcanoes, #scicomm, government work, and cats. Here's a cat who thinks this is a normal position to sleep in. Play nice and don't forget your Alt text! ⚒️🧪🐈

A brown, grey, and tan cat is curled into a ball on the cushion of a chair. All four legs are concentrated in one quadrant and it is unclear whether the cat possesses features other than a single ear. There may in fact be more legs than is commonly possible.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 11/12/2023

Am I attending AGU since I live in the Bay Area? No. Am I attending multiple AGU-adjacent meetings, dinners, and get-togethers? Yes. Am I leaving several hours in advance of these so as to avoid the near-perpetual commuting hell of getting into San Francisco? Also yes.

In a classic Sound Of Music movie scene, young Julie Andrews cavorts through a meadow set against a backdrop of gorgeous craggy mountains. In a reality check, the meme text "WTF is wrong with me" hovers over her head.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 03/10/2023

Just another day in government work: In order for my postdoc to collect usability data which will make our volcano products more useful & efficient, I have to justify it under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Which so far is requiring me to do approximately *checks open docs* 30 PAGES OF PAPERWORK

Gene Wilder dressed as Willy Wonka, leaning on his elbow and giving a totally false grin. "Oh the irony" is written over his head in meme font

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 28/09/2023

Yet another year where I *might* be furloughed next week for no good reason. Props as always to @effinbirds.com for encapsulating my feelings on the matter.

A black and white woodcut of a plover. The words underneath say "All I ask for is one bullshit-free day" with @effinbirds watermarked

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 26/09/2023

Today's exciting find in a USGS book giveaway pile: An original 1908 reprint of "The Volcanoes of Guatemala" by Tempest Anderson, inscribed by the author to Walter Empson. Anderson was an amateur volcanologist and a pioneer of volcano photography... 1/2

A small light blue folio printed with the emblem and address of the Royal Geographic Society under the title and author's name. An inscription is written in cursive with a fountain pen at the top of the cover, reading "Walter Empson Bse with the author's compts." A bright yellow modern fountain pen rests nearby for scale.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 14/09/2023

Someday I will have a workspace where I don't have to listen to constant construction noise...but today is not that day.

Screencap of Woody and Buzz from Toy Story. Buzz is gesturing to the horizon with a caption that reads "Construction. Construction Everywhere"

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 06/09/2023

Feeling volcanic today, so here's some #Fieldwork prettiness for you! These basalt columns are found at Devils Postpile near Mammoth Lakes, California. After ponded lava filled the San Joaquin River valley 80,000 years ago, it cooled toward the flow's center, shrank, and cracked into polygons. ⚒️🧪🌋

Dark grey, polygonal columns dominate the image as a vertical cliff face. At the top of the cliff, chunks of the columns form a rubbly outcrop; at the bottom, pine trees rise dozens of feet into the air. The columns are dusted with bright green lichens.

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Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · 05/07/2023

Hello World! Came for the science, staying for the cat memes.

A woman's torso in front of a bank of computer screens. She is wearing a red knit cap, chunky computer glasses, red lipstick, and is saluting the viewer with a coffee mug.

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