Joe Mason
@moreorloess.bsky.social
UW Madison Geography, opinions are mine. Geomorphology, soils, dunes, loess, in the Midwest, Great Plains, northern China. He/him. Living on Ho-Chunk lands.
Reposted by Joe Mason
Not trying to “read the news” for people, but just trying to get more eyes on the *actual* problem we face— this, like dozens of stories before, and after this moment, are fruits of a tree with roots in the fact that Most Americans Are Ignorant of Immigration Policy.
ICE sacked some tiny Idaho town and deported ~4 percent of the population at a stroke, it's liable to collapse the local economy www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...
A Raid in a Small Town Brings Trump’s Deportations to Deep-Red Idaho
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Not trying to “read the news” for people, but just trying to get more eyes on the *actual* problem we face— this, like dozens of stories before, and after this moment, are fruits of a tree with roots in the fact that Most Americans Are Ignorant of Immigration Policy.
Reposted by Joe Mason
For more than a decade, the USDA Climate Hubs have helped farmers, ranchers, foresters, and communities adapt to climate change.
While their funding may be uncertain, the Climate Hubs' impact is very certain.
Their loss is America's loss.
www.kcur.org/environment-...
While their funding may be uncertain, the Climate Hubs' impact is very certain.
Their loss is America's loss.
www.kcur.org/environment-...
As farmers face a changing climate, a USDA program designed to help is at risk
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture created a network of “climate hubs” to understand how climate change affects agriculture and forestry and help farmers adapt to more extreme and unpredictab...
www.kcur.org
February 9, 2026 at 2:41 PM
For more than a decade, the USDA Climate Hubs have helped farmers, ranchers, foresters, and communities adapt to climate change.
While their funding may be uncertain, the Climate Hubs' impact is very certain.
Their loss is America's loss.
www.kcur.org/environment-...
While their funding may be uncertain, the Climate Hubs' impact is very certain.
Their loss is America's loss.
www.kcur.org/environment-...
Reposted by Joe Mason
Keep him!
“Information continuing to emerge from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claims that the M23 armed group has detained Erik Prince, the American national known as the founder and former head of the private military company Blackwater.“
“Information continuing to emerge from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claims that the M23 armed group has detained Erik Prince, the American national known as the founder and former head of the private military company Blackwater.“
Reports Emerge Claiming M23 Detained Blackwater Founder Erik Prince in Eastern DRC
kigalidailynews.rw
February 9, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Keep him!
“Information continuing to emerge from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claims that the M23 armed group has detained Erik Prince, the American national known as the founder and former head of the private military company Blackwater.“
“Information continuing to emerge from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claims that the M23 armed group has detained Erik Prince, the American national known as the founder and former head of the private military company Blackwater.“
If I post about my university, it's often to criticize something administrators have or have not done or maybe to mock "traditions" like raising money with plastic flamingos, but there are a lot of faculty and students here doing great things, worth praising and worth defending.
Not at all surprised to learn that Bad Bunny has a historical adviser. His halftime show was a reminder that our history and culture are deeply intertwined with the rest of the western hemisphere. We should think of his performance as part of #America250. #SuperBowl
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one.
Bad Bunny collaborated with UW–Madison history professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo on Puerto Rican narratives that accompany the new album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
news.wisc.edu
February 9, 2026 at 1:54 PM
If I post about my university, it's often to criticize something administrators have or have not done or maybe to mock "traditions" like raising money with plastic flamingos, but there are a lot of faculty and students here doing great things, worth praising and worth defending.
Wrong on two counts, taking out the caffeine and adding all that sugary crap.
Cafes across the U.S. are embracing the low- and no-caffeine lifestyle, with options that are a far cry from dusty tea bags and rewarmed decaf. nyti.ms/3XKlqoj
February 9, 2026 at 1:48 PM
Wrong on two counts, taking out the caffeine and adding all that sugary crap.
Reposted by Joe Mason
Rétro Station Service ⛽️ ESSO ⛽️ avec une voiture 2cv années 80
February 8, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Rétro Station Service ⛽️ ESSO ⛽️ avec une voiture 2cv années 80
Reposted by Joe Mason
While you were watching low-scoring football and weird commercials, I was completely absorbed by SNOTEL data. Did you know there's a SNOTEL station at less than 2600 ft elevation in the Cascades in Oregon? Which in some years has much more snow right now than 10,000 ft + stations in Colorado?
The Box Springs (L) and Fish Lake (R) SNOTEL stations in southern Utah have 9% and 3% of the 1991-2020 median snow water equivalent for this date. They've barely accumulated snow this winter; most of it has melted after short periods of accumulation. Several other stations in the region at 0-3%.
February 9, 2026 at 1:29 AM
While you were watching low-scoring football and weird commercials, I was completely absorbed by SNOTEL data. Did you know there's a SNOTEL station at less than 2600 ft elevation in the Cascades in Oregon? Which in some years has much more snow right now than 10,000 ft + stations in Colorado?
Reposted by Joe Mason
This years Super Bowl ads are all sponsored by the buy nothing movement
February 9, 2026 at 12:14 AM
This years Super Bowl ads are all sponsored by the buy nothing movement
The Box Springs (L) and Fish Lake (R) SNOTEL stations in southern Utah have 9% and 3% of the 1991-2020 median snow water equivalent for this date. They've barely accumulated snow this winter; most of it has melted after short periods of accumulation. Several other stations in the region at 0-3%.
February 9, 2026 at 1:03 AM
The Box Springs (L) and Fish Lake (R) SNOTEL stations in southern Utah have 9% and 3% of the 1991-2020 median snow water equivalent for this date. They've barely accumulated snow this winter; most of it has melted after short periods of accumulation. Several other stations in the region at 0-3%.
Looking at the forecast, we're going to have highly treacherous morning and evening ice on sidewalks for at least a few days this week. Hope most of the ice is lower-case, as it has been so far this winter.
February 9, 2026 at 12:08 AM
Looking at the forecast, we're going to have highly treacherous morning and evening ice on sidewalks for at least a few days this week. Hope most of the ice is lower-case, as it has been so far this winter.
Reposted by Joe Mason
February 8, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Joe Mason
judge a quarterback by whether or not he defrauds millions of dollars from poor people
February 8, 2026 at 8:26 PM
judge a quarterback by whether or not he defrauds millions of dollars from poor people
Reposted by Joe Mason
Yes. This. Let people talk about their joy. Let people live. That's the fight, for people to be able to live. So let people do it, in the ways that they are managing to.
Thank you for writing this whole thread and opening your heart. This in part in particular is so good. Showing people where the pain is, important. Talking about your joy, especially now? Crucial. Joy is worth saving and fighting for. New book set for notify from my library. <3 <3 <3
February 8, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Yes. This. Let people talk about their joy. Let people live. That's the fight, for people to be able to live. So let people do it, in the ways that they are managing to.
Reposted by Joe Mason
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
La date du 16 juin avait été dans un premier temps pressentie pour son entrée au Panthéon, mais la cérémonie a dû être décalée de quelques jours en raison du G7 à Evian-les-Bains.
www.lemonde.fr
February 8, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
My dad's hometown, where he went to college down the street from his childhood home. His father was a high school shop teacher there, his grandfather helped build many of the older houses in town. The community response to ICE raids there does not surprise me at all. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
As immigration crackdown spreads beyond Minneapolis, the small town of Northfield resists
Much of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is concentrated in Minneapolis and surrounding cities. But federal agents are making arrests across Minnesota and community members are banding...
www.mprnews.org
February 8, 2026 at 2:50 PM
My dad's hometown, where he went to college down the street from his childhood home. His father was a high school shop teacher there, his grandfather helped build many of the older houses in town. The community response to ICE raids there does not surprise me at all. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Reposted by Joe Mason
some inside baseball from the other place: this is (allegedly) where the extreme-right Singularity influencer "eigenrobot" lives.
so there's one guy there who's for this barbarism. probably calls in tips whenever he sees anyone with a tan.
so there's one guy there who's for this barbarism. probably calls in tips whenever he sees anyone with a tan.
I went to college in Northfield. It makes me so sad and angry to know that my friends' communities are being terrorized by our own government.
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
As immigration crackdown spreads beyond Minneapolis, the small town of Northfield resists
Much of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is concentrated in Minneapolis and surrounding cities. But federal agents are making arrests across Minnesota and community members are banding...
www.mprnews.org
February 8, 2026 at 1:56 PM
some inside baseball from the other place: this is (allegedly) where the extreme-right Singularity influencer "eigenrobot" lives.
so there's one guy there who's for this barbarism. probably calls in tips whenever he sees anyone with a tan.
so there's one guy there who's for this barbarism. probably calls in tips whenever he sees anyone with a tan.
Reposted by Joe Mason
Death on the Ridge Road https://www.wikiart.org/en/grant-wood/death-on-the-ridge-road-1935
February 8, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Death on the Ridge Road https://www.wikiart.org/en/grant-wood/death-on-the-ridge-road-1935
Full disclosure: When I was a kid I had a book about building Big Mac (the bridge) that I liked very much.
Ice in the Straits of Mackinac, Jan 31, 2026 (Sentinel 2). See the channel opened for shipping, passing under the Mackinac Bridge in the closeup view? See next post.
February 8, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Full disclosure: When I was a kid I had a book about building Big Mac (the bridge) that I liked very much.
Ice in the Straits of Mackinac, Jan 31, 2026 (Sentinel 2). See the channel opened for shipping, passing under the Mackinac Bridge in the closeup view? See next post.
February 8, 2026 at 3:53 AM
Ice in the Straits of Mackinac, Jan 31, 2026 (Sentinel 2). See the channel opened for shipping, passing under the Mackinac Bridge in the closeup view? See next post.
Reposted by Joe Mason
Fantastic music-making. Thelonious Monk's quartet, recorded live in the studios of Radio France, February 1964.
“Don't play what the audience wants, play what you want and let the audience embrace what you do, even if it takes them fifteen or twenty years.”
—Thelonius Monk
“Don't play what the audience wants, play what you want and let the audience embrace what you do, even if it takes them fifteen or twenty years.”
—Thelonius Monk
« Ne joue pas ce que le public veut, joue ce que tu veux et laisse le public s’emparer de ce que tu fais, même si ça doit lui prendre quinze ou vingt ans. » Thelonious Monk
➡️ https://l.francemusique.fr/SDx
➡️ https://l.francemusique.fr/SDx
February 8, 2026 at 2:42 AM
Fantastic music-making. Thelonious Monk's quartet, recorded live in the studios of Radio France, February 1964.
“Don't play what the audience wants, play what you want and let the audience embrace what you do, even if it takes them fifteen or twenty years.”
—Thelonius Monk
“Don't play what the audience wants, play what you want and let the audience embrace what you do, even if it takes them fifteen or twenty years.”
—Thelonius Monk
The GLO database includes no records of patents to the Union Pacific RR in this area, although this is within the 20 mile limits where the UP received every other section. That's not unusual for railroad land grants. Only a few patents at all before 1889; most look like town lots. Seems late.
February 8, 2026 at 1:49 AM
The GLO database includes no records of patents to the Union Pacific RR in this area, although this is within the 20 mile limits where the UP received every other section. That's not unusual for railroad land grants. Only a few patents at all before 1889; most look like town lots. Seems late.
General Land Office plat map of the South Platte valley at Brule, Nebraska, surveyed in 1870. Wide South Platte channel belt, loess tableland to the north, lower terrace to the south. Union Pacific RR and "old road" (Mormon Trail) north of the river, "Old California Road" on the south side.
February 8, 2026 at 12:47 AM
General Land Office plat map of the South Platte valley at Brule, Nebraska, surveyed in 1870. Wide South Platte channel belt, loess tableland to the north, lower terrace to the south. Union Pacific RR and "old road" (Mormon Trail) north of the river, "Old California Road" on the south side.
Reposted by Joe Mason
February 7, 2026 at 9:12 PM
More rivers of Nebraska, from Google Earth: South Platte near Brule, confluence of the Platte and Elkhorn rivers west of Omaha, Elkhorn upstream from Neligh, confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri just upstream from a reservoir.
February 8, 2026 at 12:15 AM
More rivers of Nebraska, from Google Earth: South Platte near Brule, confluence of the Platte and Elkhorn rivers west of Omaha, Elkhorn upstream from Neligh, confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri just upstream from a reservoir.