John Mashey
@johnmashey.bsky.social
Semi-retired computer scientist, ancient UNIXer, "Big Data"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mashey
Last 20 yrs: chasing anti-science disinfo, esp. on climate or tobacco, helping defend scientists.
Supporter of UCSF, CSLDF, NCSE, CSI, member AAAS, AGU.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mashey
Last 20 yrs: chasing anti-science disinfo, esp. on climate or tobacco, helping defend scientists.
Supporter of UCSF, CSLDF, NCSE, CSI, member AAAS, AGU.
Pinned
John Mashey
@johnmashey.bsky.social
· Oct 11
Merchants of Doubt (2014) with Naomi Oreskes, Jamy Ian Swiss, Frederick Singer Movie
YouTube video by hos Ben
www.youtube.com
1/ Given CDC evisceration, attacks on climate science, NASA... here's a short tale of worrisome prescience from 2014.
I attended an early showing in San Francisco of the fine film "Merchants of Doubt". It has book's foci of climate denial/tobacco, but adds more.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRWE...
I attended an early showing in San Francisco of the fine film "Merchants of Doubt". It has book's foci of climate denial/tobacco, but adds more.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRWE...
Reposted by John Mashey
They also dramatically increased safety and regulations of ships on the Great Lakes, but yes a large part is NOAA. There are 50 weather buoys on the Great Lakes now, 30 on Lake Superior alone.
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 3:11 AM
They also dramatically increased safety and regulations of ships on the Great Lakes, but yes a large part is NOAA. There are 50 weather buoys on the Great Lakes now, 30 on Lake Superior alone.
Reposted by John Mashey
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
November 10, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
Reposted by John Mashey
Why are planetary scientists, astrobiologists and and SETI scientists so negative (pissed off, even) about Avi Loeb’s repeated claims that 3I/Atlas may be an invading alien spaceship?
🧵
🧪🔭🛸
(1/7)
🧵
🧪🔭🛸
(1/7)
November 10, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Why are planetary scientists, astrobiologists and and SETI scientists so negative (pissed off, even) about Avi Loeb’s repeated claims that 3I/Atlas may be an invading alien spaceship?
🧵
🧪🔭🛸
(1/7)
🧵
🧪🔭🛸
(1/7)
Reposted by John Mashey
Unfortunately a lot of serious* news media behaving as though this is exactly the case
ridiculous. Bill Gates getting cold feet is not a shift in the scientific concensus.
November 10, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Unfortunately a lot of serious* news media behaving as though this is exactly the case
Reposted by John Mashey
Curious about the basis for saying there is no longer scientific consensus. Can you remember who was interviewed or who the reporter was?
November 10, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Curious about the basis for saying there is no longer scientific consensus. Can you remember who was interviewed or who the reporter was?
Reposted by John Mashey
A.E. Douglass (founder of the science of dendrochronology) got fired by Percival Lowell for questioning the existence of 'canals' on Mars. Douglass was out of science for many years before getting a position at the University of Arizona. He would be expected to teach physics & physical geography:
November 10, 2025 at 8:21 PM
A.E. Douglass (founder of the science of dendrochronology) got fired by Percival Lowell for questioning the existence of 'canals' on Mars. Douglass was out of science for many years before getting a position at the University of Arizona. He would be expected to teach physics & physical geography:
Reposted by John Mashey
This is a fantastic series of posts about subsistence farming and why your ancestors will rise from the grave and smack you if you return to it after they got out.
@bretdevereaux.bsky.social did a fantastic series on that reality recently.
acoup.blog/2025/07/11/c...
acoup.blog/2025/07/11/c...
Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part I: Households
This is the first post in a series discussing the basic contours of life – birth, marriage, labor, subsistence, death – of pre-modern peasants and their families. Prior to the industria…
acoup.blog
November 10, 2025 at 12:17 AM
This is a fantastic series of posts about subsistence farming and why your ancestors will rise from the grave and smack you if you return to it after they got out.
Reposted by John Mashey
Trees grow naturally in the forest and chainsaws are also not a hoax"...Dr. Marshall Shepherd
One of my "go to" responses to the woefully simplistic retort that climate changes naturally only.
One of my "go to" responses to the woefully simplistic retort that climate changes naturally only.
November 9, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Trees grow naturally in the forest and chainsaws are also not a hoax"...Dr. Marshall Shepherd
One of my "go to" responses to the woefully simplistic retort that climate changes naturally only.
One of my "go to" responses to the woefully simplistic retort that climate changes naturally only.
Reposted by John Mashey
Yet another record breaking storm supersized by a warming world 😢
Climate change doesn’t create these storms: it makes them worse. They intensify faster, reach higher strengths and dump more rain.
That’s why climate action isn’t just about saving the planet: it’s quite literally about saving US.
Climate change doesn’t create these storms: it makes them worse. They intensify faster, reach higher strengths and dump more rain.
That’s why climate action isn’t just about saving the planet: it’s quite literally about saving US.
Fung-wong: Super typhoon hits Philippines as nearly a million evacuate
Typhoon Fung-wong, with sustained winds of 185 km/h (115mph), made landfall on Sunday evening local time.
www.bbc.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Yet another record breaking storm supersized by a warming world 😢
Climate change doesn’t create these storms: it makes them worse. They intensify faster, reach higher strengths and dump more rain.
That’s why climate action isn’t just about saving the planet: it’s quite literally about saving US.
Climate change doesn’t create these storms: it makes them worse. They intensify faster, reach higher strengths and dump more rain.
That’s why climate action isn’t just about saving the planet: it’s quite literally about saving US.
Reposted by John Mashey
Pre-1900, half the population was still working in fields, & even at peak “good middle class manufacturing jobs” in the 1950s, that was only 25% of employment. On this & so many other issues, our contemporary politics are detached from the reality of actual 🇺🇸 history.
November 9, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Pre-1900, half the population was still working in fields, & even at peak “good middle class manufacturing jobs” in the 1950s, that was only 25% of employment. On this & so many other issues, our contemporary politics are detached from the reality of actual 🇺🇸 history.
Reposted by John Mashey
These men claimed the ability to bend COVID to their will.
Now that we’ve had some time to assess their competency leading the NIH and ACIP, we should all now recognize these were delusions of grandeur.
It was a bad idea to elevate people based on imagined feats of glory.
Now that we’ve had some time to assess their competency leading the NIH and ACIP, we should all now recognize these were delusions of grandeur.
It was a bad idea to elevate people based on imagined feats of glory.
November 9, 2025 at 3:36 AM
These men claimed the ability to bend COVID to their will.
Now that we’ve had some time to assess their competency leading the NIH and ACIP, we should all now recognize these were delusions of grandeur.
It was a bad idea to elevate people based on imagined feats of glory.
Now that we’ve had some time to assess their competency leading the NIH and ACIP, we should all now recognize these were delusions of grandeur.
It was a bad idea to elevate people based on imagined feats of glory.
Reposted by John Mashey
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by John Mashey
What an amazing essay from the former chair of Africana Studies at Bowdoin. I'll share a few sections in the reply but seriously, read the whole thing. It's all insightful and beautifully written.
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:11 PM
What an amazing essay from the former chair of Africana Studies at Bowdoin. I'll share a few sections in the reply but seriously, read the whole thing. It's all insightful and beautifully written.
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Reposted by John Mashey
William Wolfe—a friend of Kevin Roberts & co-editor of the explicit “Statement on Christian Nationalism” manifesto—wants his fellow right wingers to know that “If you’re attacking @JDVance” (whose deputy press secretary is Tucker Carlson’s son), then “you’re not on the team.” Replies are brutal. 1/
November 8, 2025 at 7:35 PM
William Wolfe—a friend of Kevin Roberts & co-editor of the explicit “Statement on Christian Nationalism” manifesto—wants his fellow right wingers to know that “If you’re attacking @JDVance” (whose deputy press secretary is Tucker Carlson’s son), then “you’re not on the team.” Replies are brutal. 1/
Reposted by John Mashey
Exactly! Which makes the real climate shift way scarier. Like shown by the data from svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5452/
November 7, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Exactly! Which makes the real climate shift way scarier. Like shown by the data from svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5452/
Reposted by John Mashey
"we investigate how often five basic #climate facts are conveyed in @nytimes.com news articles covering climate change from 1980 to 2018. With only one exception, the frequencies with which these facts appear in news articles today are vanishingly small"
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
November 8, 2025 at 5:07 AM
"we investigate how often five basic #climate facts are conveyed in @nytimes.com news articles covering climate change from 1980 to 2018. With only one exception, the frequencies with which these facts appear in news articles today are vanishingly small"
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Reposted by John Mashey
“Clearly Rosy had to go or be put in her place. The former was obviously preferable because, given her belligerent moods, it would be very difficult to maintain a dominant position that would allow him to think unhindered about DNA.”
Watson on Crick, in his own words.
Watson on Crick, in his own words.
time.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:58 PM
“Clearly Rosy had to go or be put in her place. The former was obviously preferable because, given her belligerent moods, it would be very difficult to maintain a dominant position that would allow him to think unhindered about DNA.”
Watson on Crick, in his own words.
Watson on Crick, in his own words.
Reposted by John Mashey
Who would have guessed that sending masked unidentified people out with weapons and a mandate to abuse people would lead to copy-cat wrongdoing?
I'm shocked.
ttps://www.wired.com/story/fbi-warns-of-criminals-posing-as-ice-urges-agents-to-id-themselves/
I'm shocked.
ttps://www.wired.com/story/fbi-warns-of-criminals-posing-as-ice-urges-agents-to-id-themselves/
FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves
In a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, the FBI said criminal impersonators are exploiting ICE’s image and urged nationwide coordination to distinguish real operations from fakes.
www.wired.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Who would have guessed that sending masked unidentified people out with weapons and a mandate to abuse people would lead to copy-cat wrongdoing?
I'm shocked.
ttps://www.wired.com/story/fbi-warns-of-criminals-posing-as-ice-urges-agents-to-id-themselves/
I'm shocked.
ttps://www.wired.com/story/fbi-warns-of-criminals-posing-as-ice-urges-agents-to-id-themselves/
Reposted by John Mashey
Sigh. NIH normally sends several hundred scientists to the SFN annual meeting to learn, exchange info, come up with new ideas, and advance science. (The exchange of ideas is the very core of the scientific enterprise.)
This year, no one from NIH will attend due to the gov't implosion.
This year, no one from NIH will attend due to the gov't implosion.
Enjoy a broad range of lectures and network with experts in the field at #SfN25! 🧠
Gain valuable insights and tools to enhance your research and career.
Browse through to lectures and build your itinerary in the 2025 Neuroscience Meeting Planner
🔗 vist.ly/4de72
#neurosky #neuroskyence
Gain valuable insights and tools to enhance your research and career.
Browse through to lectures and build your itinerary in the 2025 Neuroscience Meeting Planner
🔗 vist.ly/4de72
#neurosky #neuroskyence
November 7, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Sigh. NIH normally sends several hundred scientists to the SFN annual meeting to learn, exchange info, come up with new ideas, and advance science. (The exchange of ideas is the very core of the scientific enterprise.)
This year, no one from NIH will attend due to the gov't implosion.
This year, no one from NIH will attend due to the gov't implosion.
Reposted by John Mashey
Joe Rogan has one of the world's most popular podcasts. Unfortunately, like nearly all of the most popular online shows, his tends to spread climate misinformation. For @climateconnections.bsky.social I scrutinize his recent episode with octogenarian climate contrarians Lindzen & Happer 🧵 (1/11)
Five ways Joe Rogan misleads listeners about climate change » Yale Climate Connections
Rogan exposes millions to climate denial. Let’s break down his tactics.
yaleclimateconnections.org
November 7, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Joe Rogan has one of the world's most popular podcasts. Unfortunately, like nearly all of the most popular online shows, his tends to spread climate misinformation. For @climateconnections.bsky.social I scrutinize his recent episode with octogenarian climate contrarians Lindzen & Happer 🧵 (1/11)
Reposted by John Mashey
My new piece looks at a meme that's been going viral for the last 6 years, and whether healthcare administrators are really causing healthcare costs to skyrocket in the United States.
gidmk.substack.com/p/are-admini...
gidmk.substack.com/p/are-admini...
Are Administrators To Blame For Skyrocketing Healthcare Costs?
The story of a viral meme
gidmk.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:18 AM
My new piece looks at a meme that's been going viral for the last 6 years, and whether healthcare administrators are really causing healthcare costs to skyrocket in the United States.
gidmk.substack.com/p/are-admini...
gidmk.substack.com/p/are-admini...
Reposted by John Mashey
For a few years, climate science denial seemed to have been replaced by “delay-ism” (“it’s real but not urgent”). Now, just as renewables start defeating fossils by being more cost-efficient, delay-ism morphs into defeatism: “it’s real, it’s urgent, but can’t be paid for”.
All three are propaganda.
All three are propaganda.
October 31, 2025 at 7:21 AM
For a few years, climate science denial seemed to have been replaced by “delay-ism” (“it’s real but not urgent”). Now, just as renewables start defeating fossils by being more cost-efficient, delay-ism morphs into defeatism: “it’s real, it’s urgent, but can’t be paid for”.
All three are propaganda.
All three are propaganda.
Reposted by John Mashey
This is what every single person with any experience in China has been warning about from the start.
Very good WaPo story by Katrina Northrop and Rudy Lu. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1... And good, clear headline!
Very good WaPo story by Katrina Northrop and Rudy Lu. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1... And good, clear headline!
November 7, 2025 at 4:20 AM
This is what every single person with any experience in China has been warning about from the start.
Very good WaPo story by Katrina Northrop and Rudy Lu. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1... And good, clear headline!
Very good WaPo story by Katrina Northrop and Rudy Lu. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1... And good, clear headline!
Reposted by John Mashey
I forgot. If the 1% manual recount turns up discrepancies, they keep expanding the recount until they attain 95% confidence levels
www.sos.ca.gov/elections/po...
www.sos.ca.gov/elections/po...
Risk-Limiting Audits :: California Secretary of State
Information about risk limiting audits for elections
www.sos.ca.gov
November 7, 2025 at 1:56 AM
I forgot. If the 1% manual recount turns up discrepancies, they keep expanding the recount until they attain 95% confidence levels
www.sos.ca.gov/elections/po...
www.sos.ca.gov/elections/po...
Reposted by John Mashey
Dana Nuccitelli (@dananuccitelli.bsky.social) debunks nineteen climate myths propagated by "two octogenarian fringe climate contrarians" on Joe Rogan's podcast.
Debunking Joe Rogan, Dick Lindzen, and Will Happer
Joe Rogan has one of the most popular podcasts on the Spotify and Apple Podcasts platforms, and a combined 50 million followers on YouTube, Spotify, and Instagram. And like nearly all of the most popu...
skepticalscience.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Dana Nuccitelli (@dananuccitelli.bsky.social) debunks nineteen climate myths propagated by "two octogenarian fringe climate contrarians" on Joe Rogan's podcast.