John Timmer
@jtimmer.bsky.social
Ars Technica's science editor. Various other things that are far less interesting.
Check my author profile on Ars for my email. jtimmer.95 on Signal.
Check my author profile on Ars for my email. jtimmer.95 on Signal.
Reposted by John Timmer
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
There should be a term for the feeling of uncertainty you get as you stand naked next to an unfamiliar shower and wonder whether the hot water is still making its way through the pipes, or if you've badly misinterpreted the controls.
November 14, 2025 at 6:01 PM
There should be a term for the feeling of uncertainty you get as you stand naked next to an unfamiliar shower and wonder whether the hot water is still making its way through the pipes, or if you've badly misinterpreted the controls.
Reposted by John Timmer
People fail to grasp that the Republican response to climate change worked so well it has been adopted for pretty much everything else now.
When I call MAGA/GOP post-truth, this is what I mean. It’s hard for people who value truth to fully grasp.
“But don’t they care about underlying facts? Don’t they worry it’ll come out?”
No, they really don’t. They reject that factual reality matters. Words are just things you say to get something.
“But don’t they care about underlying facts? Don’t they worry it’ll come out?”
No, they really don’t. They reject that factual reality matters. Words are just things you say to get something.
November 12, 2025 at 6:03 PM
People fail to grasp that the Republican response to climate change worked so well it has been adopted for pretty much everything else now.
Taking time out from a vacation day to handle one of my essential work functions.
November 11, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Taking time out from a vacation day to handle one of my essential work functions.
This story is infuriating.
A Dutch province has asked the US ambassador in the Netherlands to return two panels about African American soldiers to the visitors center of the Netherlands American Cemetery, located in Margraten (Limburg). The two panels were recently removed by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
November 10, 2025 at 5:16 PM
This story is infuriating.
"I feel smarter for having read that" only applies to Douthat's work in the sense that people feel relieved that they wouldn't write anything quite so asinine.
It's important that everyone understand that Ross Douthat has never done anything *except* write slimy op-eds trying to smuggle far-right ideas into the mainstream. From college on. He's never had a real job. He has no skills, no expertise, nothing that would justify his position at the NYT.
November 6, 2025 at 8:35 PM
"I feel smarter for having read that" only applies to Douthat's work in the sense that people feel relieved that they wouldn't write anything quite so asinine.
Reposted by John Timmer
It’s one thing to have different environmental/health priorities for your foundation, it’s quite another to have been bankrolling one of the primary sources of bullshit on the topic.
Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg
By @rtakver.bsky.social @desmog.com
www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
By @rtakver.bsky.social @desmog.com
www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg
Tax records reveal that the billionaire’s foundation has donated for years to Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Center.
www.desmog.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:27 PM
It’s one thing to have different environmental/health priorities for your foundation, it’s quite another to have been bankrolling one of the primary sources of bullshit on the topic.
I love the "interesting times" header. I suppose it's interesting in the train wreck sense?
Douthat is proof that affirmative action for white conservative guys is real. No way anybody that clueless gets a prestige job otherwise.
Douthat is proof that affirmative action for white conservative guys is real. No way anybody that clueless gets a prestige job otherwise.
the question nobody with a soul is asking, answered by people nobody wants to hear from
November 6, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I love the "interesting times" header. I suppose it's interesting in the train wreck sense?
Douthat is proof that affirmative action for white conservative guys is real. No way anybody that clueless gets a prestige job otherwise.
Douthat is proof that affirmative action for white conservative guys is real. No way anybody that clueless gets a prestige job otherwise.
I'm beginning to think of political punditry as a close relative of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories help give people a sense of control and narrative in a world that's often driven by random events. Punditry performs a similar function.
November 5, 2025 at 6:10 PM
I'm beginning to think of political punditry as a close relative of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories help give people a sense of control and narrative in a world that's often driven by random events. Punditry performs a similar function.
If they get rid of the filibuster like Trump wants, making those two states will get far, far easier.
Trump: "They're gonna make DC a state and they're gonna make Puerto Rico a state. So now they pick up two states, four senators. They're gonna pick up electoral votes. It's gonna be a very, very bad situation. Now, if we do what I'm saying, they'll most likely never obtain power."
November 5, 2025 at 4:27 PM
If they get rid of the filibuster like Trump wants, making those two states will get far, far easier.
Proving once again that Staten Island is NYC's Florida: much further south than the rest of it, and oddly conservative given its behavior.
Apparently all you needed to do to predict the NYC election results was read that one N.K. Jemisin novel.
November 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Proving once again that Staten Island is NYC's Florida: much further south than the rest of it, and oddly conservative given its behavior.
This is written like it came from someone completely unaware that the Democrats ran as the moderate party in the last election, and the Republicans (arguably successfully) portrayed them as radical leftists regardless.
My argument is super simple, it’s that according to Elliott Morris’s data:
1. Moderates do better on average
2. National party images are increasingly important
Morris is a smart guy and Democrats should follow his advice and moderate their national image.
1. Moderates do better on average
2. National party images are increasingly important
Morris is a smart guy and Democrats should follow his advice and moderate their national image.
November 4, 2025 at 7:11 PM
This is written like it came from someone completely unaware that the Democrats ran as the moderate party in the last election, and the Republicans (arguably successfully) portrayed them as radical leftists regardless.
Ever wonder why tech companies seem to have an infatuation with cutting deals with nuclear reactor designers that have never built an actual reactor?
It is so much worse than I'd imagine, and I cover US energy issues.
It is so much worse than I'd imagine, and I cover US energy issues.
The Risky Movement to Make America Nuclear Again
A Silicon Valley startup called Oklo is leading the charge to bring nuclear power back to the US with small reactors. Its backers have wealth and political connections that could undermine nuclear saf...
www.bloomberg.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Ever wonder why tech companies seem to have an infatuation with cutting deals with nuclear reactor designers that have never built an actual reactor?
It is so much worse than I'd imagine, and I cover US energy issues.
It is so much worse than I'd imagine, and I cover US energy issues.
A little editing story, riffing off this. A number of years back, I got pitched an op-ed on a non-climate topic. Didn't know the author so, as one naturally does, I did a search on their name. Top hit that came up is their time spent at a leading climate-disinformation-producing think tank.
All of our choices define who we are, like it or not.
November 1, 2025 at 4:19 PM
A little editing story, riffing off this. A number of years back, I got pitched an op-ed on a non-climate topic. Didn't know the author so, as one naturally does, I did a search on their name. Top hit that came up is their time spent at a leading climate-disinformation-producing think tank.
Reposted by John Timmer
Manufacturing factory construction investment DOUBLED from 2021-2024. The IRA made clean energy cheaper to make, cheaper to use, and cheaper to build in America. Much of it now rolled back, energy will be more expensive for everyone for the next 10 years. It’s a crisis.
November 1, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Manufacturing factory construction investment DOUBLED from 2021-2024. The IRA made clean energy cheaper to make, cheaper to use, and cheaper to build in America. Much of it now rolled back, energy will be more expensive for everyone for the next 10 years. It’s a crisis.
This is exactly right. If anything, the problem was the name of the bill, which focused on a temporary worry and obscured all the long term positives present in the law.
This right here, this exact sentence, is THE problem in American political journalism.
The IRA *was* cheap energy and good jobs! That was the whole bill! Democrats did precisely what political pundits are telling them to do and the pundits just ignore it.
The IRA *was* cheap energy and good jobs! That was the whole bill! Democrats did precisely what political pundits are telling them to do and the pundits just ignore it.
November 1, 2025 at 1:11 PM
This is exactly right. If anything, the problem was the name of the bill, which focused on a temporary worry and obscured all the long term positives present in the law.
I will never not be amazed at the confidence these shlubs have in voicing opinions that they've never even considered fact checking.
oh, are MAGAs of European descent getting all high and mighty about human sacrifice again?
did you know the ancient Gallic people of France once built racks for the bones of their defeated enemies that look a helluva lot like what the Mexica used to do
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
did you know the ancient Gallic people of France once built racks for the bones of their defeated enemies that look a helluva lot like what the Mexica used to do
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
October 31, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I will never not be amazed at the confidence these shlubs have in voicing opinions that they've never even considered fact checking.
I had "aunts" and "uncles" I wasn't even related to at all, and three of my four grandparents were born in Europe.
Sorry I refuse to entertain the complete non-existent world where white people don’t know that countless cultures, including some of their own but certainly diasporic racialized ones, call their mom’s cousin’s friend’s sister they grew up with “cousin” and call close women elders “aunt/auntie”
October 28, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I had "aunts" and "uncles" I wasn't even related to at all, and three of my four grandparents were born in Europe.
Reposted by John Timmer
To quote my friend @drkatemarvel.bsky.social, climate change won't make humanity extinct but we can do better than "not extinct". Raise your standards people!
October 28, 2025 at 8:46 PM
To quote my friend @drkatemarvel.bsky.social, climate change won't make humanity extinct but we can do better than "not extinct". Raise your standards people!
I managed to typo "suffering" so badly that autocorrect suggested "subfreezing" as a possible fix.
October 28, 2025 at 6:03 PM
I managed to typo "suffering" so badly that autocorrect suggested "subfreezing" as a possible fix.
Westinghouse is saying it's made a deal with the US government to build $80B in new nuclear reactors. The Dept. of Energy, however, has nothing on its website about it. And, while $80B sounds like a lot, it's only about 5 full sized reactors total.
October 28, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Westinghouse is saying it's made a deal with the US government to build $80B in new nuclear reactors. The Dept. of Energy, however, has nothing on its website about it. And, while $80B sounds like a lot, it's only about 5 full sized reactors total.
There are jokes to be made here about guys being assholes, so have at it:
"Our results suggest that the bilaterian anus shares a deep evolutionary relationship with the xenacoelomorph male gonopore."
"Our results suggest that the bilaterian anus shares a deep evolutionary relationship with the xenacoelomorph male gonopore."
October 24, 2025 at 8:44 PM
There are jokes to be made here about guys being assholes, so have at it:
"Our results suggest that the bilaterian anus shares a deep evolutionary relationship with the xenacoelomorph male gonopore."
"Our results suggest that the bilaterian anus shares a deep evolutionary relationship with the xenacoelomorph male gonopore."
2025 year to date increase in solar production:
55 TW-hr
2025 year to date decrease in natural gas use:
52 TW-hr
So far at least, it looks like solar is largely displacing flexible generating sources. Unfortunately, rising demand is being met by coal.
(numbers are US only)
55 TW-hr
2025 year to date decrease in natural gas use:
52 TW-hr
So far at least, it looks like solar is largely displacing flexible generating sources. Unfortunately, rising demand is being met by coal.
(numbers are US only)
October 24, 2025 at 4:59 PM
2025 year to date increase in solar production:
55 TW-hr
2025 year to date decrease in natural gas use:
52 TW-hr
So far at least, it looks like solar is largely displacing flexible generating sources. Unfortunately, rising demand is being met by coal.
(numbers are US only)
55 TW-hr
2025 year to date decrease in natural gas use:
52 TW-hr
So far at least, it looks like solar is largely displacing flexible generating sources. Unfortunately, rising demand is being met by coal.
(numbers are US only)
Can't decide whether I'm more annoyed at the fact that our democracy is being severely eroded, or that the people doing the eroding are such complete and utter tools.
October 24, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Can't decide whether I'm more annoyed at the fact that our democracy is being severely eroded, or that the people doing the eroding are such complete and utter tools.