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.
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.
Reposted by Joe Mason
The ecological history of Lake Huron according to phytoplankton
#GreatLakes 🧪
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@milkinabag.bsky.social
#GreatLakes 🧪
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@milkinabag.bsky.social
The ecological history of Lake Huron according to phytoplankton
Lake Huron’s primary producers have changed dramatically since Euro-American settlement. Most older data come from assessments of diatom assemblages a…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:46 PM
The ecological history of Lake Huron according to phytoplankton
#GreatLakes 🧪
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@milkinabag.bsky.social
#GreatLakes 🧪
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@milkinabag.bsky.social
Reposted by Joe Mason
I just returned from Dakar where I co-chaired the NASEM US-Africa Frontiers in Science, Engineering, & Medicine symposium tinyurl.com/ybdjn22m. It was an extraordinary gathering of leading scholars from across Africa & US discussing timely research.
Truly one of the highlights of my career!
Truly one of the highlights of my career!
February 7, 2026 at 9:02 PM
I just returned from Dakar where I co-chaired the NASEM US-Africa Frontiers in Science, Engineering, & Medicine symposium tinyurl.com/ybdjn22m. It was an extraordinary gathering of leading scholars from across Africa & US discussing timely research.
Truly one of the highlights of my career!
Truly one of the highlights of my career!
Reposted by Joe Mason
Wisconsin Tribes Worried About ICE Tactics in Minnesota
Wisconsin Tribes Worried About ICE Tactics in Minnesota
Ho-Chunk president says federal agents have stopped, detained Native Americans.
urbanmilwaukee.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Wisconsin Tribes Worried About ICE Tactics in Minnesota
Reposted by Joe Mason
"The trip actually took place in South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where collecting fossils on reservation land without explicit tribal permission is considered looting."
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February 7, 2026 at 5:02 AM
"The trip actually took place in South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where collecting fossils on reservation land without explicit tribal permission is considered looting."
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Reposted by Joe Mason
A further update on bsky.app/profile/bobk... — it turns out if you correct the statistical errors in Michael Schellenberger’s favorite new sea level paper, it (unsurprisingly) shows clear evidence of sea level acceleration
Their refusal to share data and code notwithstanding, we roughly reproduce Voortman & de Vos.
They underpower their analysis and misread a statistical procedure.
Correcting that, we find that sea level rise DID accelerate.
essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10....
They underpower their analysis and misread a statistical procedure.
Correcting that, we find that sea level rise DID accelerate.
essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10....
A global perspective on local sea level change: A comment
We replicate Voortman and de Vos (2025). Although we unfortunately lack access to their data and code, we qualitatively reproduce their results. We argue that their null result-no significant accelera...
essopenarchive.org
February 7, 2026 at 3:24 PM
A further update on bsky.app/profile/bobk... — it turns out if you correct the statistical errors in Michael Schellenberger’s favorite new sea level paper, it (unsurprisingly) shows clear evidence of sea level acceleration
Reposted by Joe Mason
“Why doesn’t the public trust science? Why doesn’t the public like us?” is common sci/comm navel gazing and then there’s this going on the whole while. I’m absolutely disgusted by how many people I met, how many people who acted like gatekeepers telling me what I should do, all tied to this predator
February 5, 2026 at 3:33 PM
“Why doesn’t the public trust science? Why doesn’t the public like us?” is common sci/comm navel gazing and then there’s this going on the whole while. I’m absolutely disgusted by how many people I met, how many people who acted like gatekeepers telling me what I should do, all tied to this predator
Reposted by Joe Mason
Epstein and Maxwell were also apparently on the board of SEED Media Group, with influence over SEED magazine and ScienceBlogs dot com, which is where I blogged in the very early days of my career.
Jeffrey Epstein and the Power of Networks
The billionaire child rapist bought his way into an elite crowd of intellectuals that defined the last three decades of science, tech, and culture.
www.wired.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:33 PM
Epstein and Maxwell were also apparently on the board of SEED Media Group, with influence over SEED magazine and ScienceBlogs dot com, which is where I blogged in the very early days of my career.
Reposted by Joe Mason
It’s infuriating and dispiriting how cozy scientists and science communicators were with Epstein. Not just creeps like Krauss and Horner, but former SciAm editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina corresponding with Epstein in 2014-2015. “He’s done so much for science, I think that deserves some fun!”
BU COM dean corresponded extensively with Jeffrey Epstein in 2014 and 2015, files show
Mariette DiChristina, dean of Boston University’s College of Communication, corresponded extensively with Jeffrey Epstein in 2014 and 2015. The two set up a one-on-one meeting, had “phone dates” and D...
dailyfreepress.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:33 PM
It’s infuriating and dispiriting how cozy scientists and science communicators were with Epstein. Not just creeps like Krauss and Horner, but former SciAm editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina corresponding with Epstein in 2014-2015. “He’s done so much for science, I think that deserves some fun!”
Reposted by Joe Mason
Each new discovery underscores how little we actually know.
February 7, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Each new discovery underscores how little we actually know.
Reposted by Joe Mason
reminder of cryptogyny, the hiding of women's contributions to science, technology, engineering, and medicine:
"although three men received the Nobel Prize for penicillin, women participated significantly in the team effort that brought the drug to medical usefulness."
www.jstor.org/stable/jj.55...
"although three men received the Nobel Prize for penicillin, women participated significantly in the team effort that brought the drug to medical usefulness."
www.jstor.org/stable/jj.55...
November 15, 2025 at 9:08 AM
reminder of cryptogyny, the hiding of women's contributions to science, technology, engineering, and medicine:
"although three men received the Nobel Prize for penicillin, women participated significantly in the team effort that brought the drug to medical usefulness."
www.jstor.org/stable/jj.55...
"although three men received the Nobel Prize for penicillin, women participated significantly in the team effort that brought the drug to medical usefulness."
www.jstor.org/stable/jj.55...
Sandhills rivers: North Loup, Cedar, Dismal, Middle Loup (all from Google Earth).
February 7, 2026 at 4:47 AM
Sandhills rivers: North Loup, Cedar, Dismal, Middle Loup (all from Google Earth).
Reposted by Joe Mason
It really pays to remind ourselves frequently that this whole immigration "crisis" is made up out of whole cloth. There was no emergency,danger or problem, only a demagogue stirring up racist grievances for political advantage.
February 7, 2026 at 3:38 AM
It really pays to remind ourselves frequently that this whole immigration "crisis" is made up out of whole cloth. There was no emergency,danger or problem, only a demagogue stirring up racist grievances for political advantage.
That photo from the air shows the edge of the Sandhills, 5-6 miles north of town. You can see the Cedar River beyond that, a Sandhills river in its upper reaches, with high base flow and clear water like all the beautiful Sandhills rivers.
February 7, 2026 at 4:13 AM
That photo from the air shows the edge of the Sandhills, 5-6 miles north of town. You can see the Cedar River beyond that, a Sandhills river in its upper reaches, with high base flow and clear water like all the beautiful Sandhills rivers.
Reposted by Joe Mason
“Ultimately, the controversy surrounding Eilish’s remark reveals less about celebrity or even property than the limits of America’s moral imagination, including at influential media outlets. Democracy may die in darkness, but America was built in daylight”
Billie Eilish, stolen land, and the climate cost of America’s dispossession
Returning Indigenous land won't destroy civilization, it could save it.
grist.org
February 7, 2026 at 1:35 AM
“Ultimately, the controversy surrounding Eilish’s remark reveals less about celebrity or even property than the limits of America’s moral imagination, including at influential media outlets. Democracy may die in darkness, but America was built in daylight”
Nostalgic Fieldwork Friday: Yellow River at Shapatou, Ningxia, and in the westernmost fringe of the Loess Plateau south of there toward Lanzhou. 2006.
February 7, 2026 at 1:10 AM
Nostalgic Fieldwork Friday: Yellow River at Shapatou, Ningxia, and in the westernmost fringe of the Loess Plateau south of there toward Lanzhou. 2006.