Tom Rooney
@tomrooney.bsky.social
Conservation professional with interests in forestry, fire management,and wildlife ecology. Author, The Vanishing Present (Univ. Chicago Press, 2008) Views are mine and not of my employer.
Some autumn smoky gold is good for the soul.
October 23, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Some autumn smoky gold is good for the soul.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.
October 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
Of the many problems with this phenomenally stupid argument is that "good information" has been available to anyone who wants to access it for a solid 25 years now, and we are getting collectively dumber at finding, understanding, critiquing, and communicating info and arguments.
AI can't fix that/
AI can't fix that/
Wow. Just wow.
"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."
"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."
When Knowledge is Free, What are Professors For?
Higher Education Must Stop Competing with AI on Information and Start Teaching What Machines Can’t Do
www.forbes.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Of the many problems with this phenomenally stupid argument is that "good information" has been available to anyone who wants to access it for a solid 25 years now, and we are getting collectively dumber at finding, understanding, critiquing, and communicating info and arguments.
AI can't fix that/
AI can't fix that/
Reposted by Tom Rooney
One great aspect of iconic inflatable costumes (aside from how they instantly undermine propaganda about war zones) is that it's useless to arrest the person wearing one. Cuffing a frog would make law enforcement look pathetic. And carting one off just guarantees that more will show up the next day.
October 11, 2025 at 7:39 PM
One great aspect of iconic inflatable costumes (aside from how they instantly undermine propaganda about war zones) is that it's useless to arrest the person wearing one. Cuffing a frog would make law enforcement look pathetic. And carting one off just guarantees that more will show up the next day.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
October 9, 2025 at 4:42 AM
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
Reposted by Tom Rooney
Vertical rows are the agrivoltaic winner!
“The vertical panels produce slightly less electricity—but with higher value, as generation peaks coincide with morning and late afternoon demand…The crops don't seem to mind the presence of solar panels and they like the wind protection they provide.”
“The vertical panels produce slightly less electricity—but with higher value, as generation peaks coincide with morning and late afternoon demand…The crops don't seem to mind the presence of solar panels and they like the wind protection they provide.”
Double harvest: Vertical solar panels and crops thrive side by side
Imagine a field where solar panels and crops coexist—with no trade-off. It sounds like science fiction, but that's precisely what researchers from Aarhus University have now documented in a full-scale...
techxplore.com
September 22, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Vertical rows are the agrivoltaic winner!
“The vertical panels produce slightly less electricity—but with higher value, as generation peaks coincide with morning and late afternoon demand…The crops don't seem to mind the presence of solar panels and they like the wind protection they provide.”
“The vertical panels produce slightly less electricity—but with higher value, as generation peaks coincide with morning and late afternoon demand…The crops don't seem to mind the presence of solar panels and they like the wind protection they provide.”
Reposted by Tom Rooney
We're witnessing the most aggressive, fanatical crackdown on free speech in my lifetime. The speed and breadth of government censorship and private sector and nonprofit capitulation has been astonishing. As has the lack of urgency/silence from people who've long claimed to care about this stuff.
September 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM
We're witnessing the most aggressive, fanatical crackdown on free speech in my lifetime. The speed and breadth of government censorship and private sector and nonprofit capitulation has been astonishing. As has the lack of urgency/silence from people who've long claimed to care about this stuff.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
I am SO EXCITED about this!
Many folks want to take personal action on climate change, but many resources treat people like monoliths.
Enter SHIFT -- a collaboration between Dr. Kim Nicholas and Project Drawdown -- that tailors advice for YOU, using your climate superpowers.
jointheshift.earth
Many folks want to take personal action on climate change, but many resources treat people like monoliths.
Enter SHIFT -- a collaboration between Dr. Kim Nicholas and Project Drawdown -- that tailors advice for YOU, using your climate superpowers.
jointheshift.earth
SHIFT
jointheshift.earth
September 9, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I am SO EXCITED about this!
Many folks want to take personal action on climate change, but many resources treat people like monoliths.
Enter SHIFT -- a collaboration between Dr. Kim Nicholas and Project Drawdown -- that tailors advice for YOU, using your climate superpowers.
jointheshift.earth
Many folks want to take personal action on climate change, but many resources treat people like monoliths.
Enter SHIFT -- a collaboration between Dr. Kim Nicholas and Project Drawdown -- that tailors advice for YOU, using your climate superpowers.
jointheshift.earth
I got my Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine today. It is the first time I've gotten a vaccine partially out of spite.
September 9, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I got my Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine today. It is the first time I've gotten a vaccine partially out of spite.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
Wildland fire veterans are seething at a claim made by federal officials that two crews raided by immigration agents at the scene of a wildfire in Washington state were “NOT firefighters.” ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/09/08/r...
Wildfire veterans furious at DHS claim that raided crews were not firefighters • Ohio Capital Journal
Wildland fire veterans are seething at a claim made by federal officials that two crews raided by immigration agents at the scene of a wildfire in Washington state were “NOT firefighters.”
ohiocapitaljournal.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Wildland fire veterans are seething at a claim made by federal officials that two crews raided by immigration agents at the scene of a wildfire in Washington state were “NOT firefighters.” ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/09/08/r...
On one hand, we're investing $8+ billion a year in longevity research. On the other hand... www.wired.com/story/your-b...
Extreme Heat Makes Your Body Age Faster
A study reveals that extreme heat accelerates biological aging even more than smoking or drinking.
www.wired.com
September 5, 2025 at 11:29 AM
On one hand, we're investing $8+ billion a year in longevity research. On the other hand... www.wired.com/story/your-b...
Coming soon to a hospital near you...surgeons being snatched mid-surgery. www.firerescue1.com/police/feder...
Federal agents detain crews, arrest firefighters battling Wash. wildfire
Reasons for the arrests remain unclear after federal agents detained members of a private contractor crew during an ID check during the Bear Gulch Fire
www.firerescue1.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Coming soon to a hospital near you...surgeons being snatched mid-surgery. www.firerescue1.com/police/feder...
Reminder that bog restoration is not just good for nature and good for climate. They make good fences when your neighbor to the east wants to invade your country. Time for a green Maginot Line. www.politico.eu/article/russ...
From Kyiv to the Suwałki Gap, bogs return as Europe’s defensive shield
Restoring the EU’s drained bogs would stop both Russian tanks and planet-warming pollution.
www.politico.eu
August 27, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reminder that bog restoration is not just good for nature and good for climate. They make good fences when your neighbor to the east wants to invade your country. Time for a green Maginot Line. www.politico.eu/article/russ...
Reposted by Tom Rooney
A good time to re-up this article from @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social
🎁 www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
🎁 www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
August 16, 2025 at 4:23 PM
A good time to re-up this article from @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social
🎁 www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
🎁 www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
Reposted by Tom Rooney
Yes. Once you start seeing this (Institution X probably wanted do this conservative thing anyway but now can blame it on Trump), it's everywhere. It's not capitulation, it's agreement. "We can stop doing this thing we started doing from 2014-2020 because of woke/progressive/anti-racist pressure."
circling back to @perrybaconjr.bsky.social on how institutions are *using* Trump threats to do much of what their leadership (including boards & investors) want to do
newrepublic.com/article/1987...
newrepublic.com/article/1987...
Why So Many Key Institutions Have Folded Rather Than Challenge Trump
Yes, they’re under pressure. But maybe a lot of these leaders kinda like what Trump’s doing. Just remember: Trump was defeated once before.
newrepublic.com
August 15, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Yes. Once you start seeing this (Institution X probably wanted do this conservative thing anyway but now can blame it on Trump), it's everywhere. It's not capitulation, it's agreement. "We can stop doing this thing we started doing from 2014-2020 because of woke/progressive/anti-racist pressure."
Reposted by Tom Rooney
🎵I threw the sandwich
But I did not throw the bag of chips🎵
But I did not throw the bag of chips🎵
August 13, 2025 at 9:29 PM
🎵I threw the sandwich
But I did not throw the bag of chips🎵
But I did not throw the bag of chips🎵
Reposted by Tom Rooney
Not sure how many scientists here have tried Claude Code or similar command line coding assistants. I had a complicated family property tax problem that was best solved by a brute force Monte Carlo simulation approach, so I spent a few days coding up and analyzing a model with Claude Code.
August 12, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Not sure how many scientists here have tried Claude Code or similar command line coding assistants. I had a complicated family property tax problem that was best solved by a brute force Monte Carlo simulation approach, so I spent a few days coding up and analyzing a model with Claude Code.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
Well this is alarming.
Why insurers worry the world could soon become uninsurable
Günther Thallinger, a board member at Allianz, one of the world's biggest insurers, says the climate crisis could make adaptation economically unviable.
www.cnbc.com
August 8, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Well this is alarming.
I drive an EV at my workplace and love driving it. I think this clip explains why.
Imagine we all drove EVs and then someone came along and proposed an ICE vehicle…
Video credit: Nic Cruz Patane (link in Alt text)
Video credit: Nic Cruz Patane (link in Alt text)
August 5, 2025 at 1:09 PM
I drive an EV at my workplace and love driving it. I think this clip explains why.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
IEA's mid-year electricity review is out. Some highlights below:
First time in 100 years, renewables are set to overtake coal in global electricity production as soon as this year (or latest next year).
Wind + Solar contribution to global grid mix will reach 20% by 2026, up from 4% in 2016.
🧵
First time in 100 years, renewables are set to overtake coal in global electricity production as soon as this year (or latest next year).
Wind + Solar contribution to global grid mix will reach 20% by 2026, up from 4% in 2016.
🧵
July 30, 2025 at 1:14 PM
IEA's mid-year electricity review is out. Some highlights below:
First time in 100 years, renewables are set to overtake coal in global electricity production as soon as this year (or latest next year).
Wind + Solar contribution to global grid mix will reach 20% by 2026, up from 4% in 2016.
🧵
First time in 100 years, renewables are set to overtake coal in global electricity production as soon as this year (or latest next year).
Wind + Solar contribution to global grid mix will reach 20% by 2026, up from 4% in 2016.
🧵
Reposted by Tom Rooney
I interviewed neuroscientist Nicholas Wright about his upcoming book WarHead on brains & conflict. He said something that struck me. We didn’t stop Nazis by changing their minds. We oppressed them. We occupied Germany. We tied their hands. It was a generation before Germany agreed Nazis were wrong.
July 23, 2025 at 10:45 AM
I interviewed neuroscientist Nicholas Wright about his upcoming book WarHead on brains & conflict. He said something that struck me. We didn’t stop Nazis by changing their minds. We oppressed them. We occupied Germany. We tied their hands. It was a generation before Germany agreed Nazis were wrong.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
It’s the inversion of Gibson’s famous quote “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.”
The past is still here, just unevenly remembered.
The past is still here, just unevenly remembered.
July 22, 2025 at 5:37 PM
It’s the inversion of Gibson’s famous quote “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.”
The past is still here, just unevenly remembered.
The past is still here, just unevenly remembered.
I'm mostly speechless, but I can't even imagine losing your supply line when you are face to face with a wildfire with no food, fuel, or medical supplies. A Polaski is versatile, but not that versatile.
The crew leader on an Oregon blaze said her team went hungry for several days, ran short of medical supplies and had to scrounge for chainsaw fuel after support staff quit the agency during two rounds of "fork in the road" buyouts.
As US wildfires rage, firefighters clean toilets after Trump staff cuts, critics say
The U.S. Forest Service faced criticism from current and former employees who say federal workforce reductions under the Trump administration have left fire teams understaffed, as the country grapples with decade-high U.S. wildfire numbers this year.
www.reuters.com
July 21, 2025 at 6:25 PM
I'm mostly speechless, but I can't even imagine losing your supply line when you are face to face with a wildfire with no food, fuel, or medical supplies. A Polaski is versatile, but not that versatile.
Reposted by Tom Rooney
"Nearly 25 million naturalized citizens live in the U.S., and we are accustomed to extra scrutiny...But I had never doubted that my U.S. citizenship was permanent, and that I was guaranteed the same rights of speech, assembly, and due process as natural-born Americans. Now I’m not so sure."
A political scientist born in Brazil and adopted into the U.S. as a baby wrote, "Naturalized Citizens Are Scared."
Naturalized Citizens Are Scared
To become Americans, we promised to defend the laws of the United States. What if defending them now puts our status at risk?
www.theatlantic.com
July 20, 2025 at 7:23 PM
"Nearly 25 million naturalized citizens live in the U.S., and we are accustomed to extra scrutiny...But I had never doubted that my U.S. citizenship was permanent, and that I was guaranteed the same rights of speech, assembly, and due process as natural-born Americans. Now I’m not so sure."
Reposted by Tom Rooney
It’s always “Ladies, if you are alienated by overwork, drop out of the public sphere and become a tradwife” and never “Ladies, if you are alienated by overwork, form a union.”
July 11, 2025 at 3:45 PM
It’s always “Ladies, if you are alienated by overwork, drop out of the public sphere and become a tradwife” and never “Ladies, if you are alienated by overwork, form a union.”