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aelise.bsky.social
@aelise.bsky.social
Independent app developer and data scientist. Makes apps for artists like Groutr (groutr.app) and Palette Keeper (palettekeeper.com). Currently working on something for the circular economy. Backyard chickens, gardening, mosaics, watercolor, mom stuff.
Reposted
every day I wake up and read a headline that sounds like something a concussed writer for The Simpsons would come up with while trying to make an intentionally stupid joke about George Orwell
October 3, 2025 at 1:03 AM
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The US government is aiming to get rid of a quarter million people involved in science research and education by 2026.

I have no words.
July 1, 2025 at 3:21 PM
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i remain convinced a f500 company is going to nuke itself by accidently leaking every corporate secret it has. salaries, negotiations r&d, strategy, pii etc etc because of some janky model in like idk a sharepoint plugin
Worth a watch:

Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
June 28, 2025 at 5:15 AM
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EVERYTHING ELSE IS A GALAXY *sobs*
This is a new image from #JWST.

The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way.

Everything else is a galaxy.

Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.
April 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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Can confirm that my NSF grant "How False Beliefs Form & How to Correct Them" was cancelled today because it is "not in alignment with current NSF priorities" Shocking that understanding how people are misled by false information is now a forbidden topic. Our work will continue but at a smaller scale
NSF has posted an “update on priorities.”

They’re canceling all “DEI and misinformation/disinformation” grants.

And the guidance on how to fulfill the longstanding, legally mandated Broadening Participation requirement is utterly incoherent.

www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
Updates on NSF Priorities
www.nsf.gov
April 18, 2025 at 10:40 PM
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April 18, 2025 at 12:08 PM
“This should unnerve every American who eats. Our food system is only as safe as our ability to respond to the next plant disease or other emergent threat, and a strong N.P.G.S. is central to our preparedness.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/o...
Opinion | Why Did Elon Musk Go After Bunkers Full of Seeds? (Gift Article)
Gene banks are like a survivalist cache: our nation’s safeguard against all future challenges to growing the food we need.
www.nytimes.com
March 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
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🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/u...

Important perspective from
@ucsdcooperlab.bsky.social

"I think they’re trying to break the academic enterprise. And cutting academic science has impacts on the educational mission of the entire university.”

Another reason to #standupforscience
As Trump Goes After Universities, Students Are Now on the Chopping Block (Gift Article)
Uncertainty about how much money colleges and universities stand to lose has led some schools to reduce the number of doctoral students, in some cases reneging on offers.
www.nytimes.com
March 6, 2025 at 4:30 PM
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First, they said postponed; now the meeting is canceled. That means no flu shots next year.

“'It’s a six-month production cycle,' Dr. Offit said. 'So one can only assume that we’re not picking flu strains this year.'"

Fundamentally, that's a form of mass murder.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/u...
F.D.A. Cancels Meeting of Vaccine Experts Scheduled to Advise on Flu Shots
The cancellation plays into fears among scientists who worry that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will use his position as health secretary to sow doubts about vaccines.
www.nytimes.com
February 27, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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America, just in case you thought Friday went well here’s how the London Times saw it …..
March 2, 2025 at 10:05 AM
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I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F.

18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it.

We made this website to tell our story:
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
18f.org
March 1, 2025 at 10:38 PM
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18F, the federal government’s technology shop, was just demolished by Musk’s team. It was a cost-recoverable org, charging agencies for their expertise, using a consulting model. Its cost to government was negligible, its benefits huge. My team there once saved DoD $500 million.

A thread about 18F:
18F is *precisely* what Musk and team claim should exist within government. But when his team found it, they destroyed it, because it is evidence that government works well (can’t have that!), and because like Zelensky, 18F didn’t bend the knee.
March 1, 2025 at 3:32 PM
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After a lifetime on the frontiers of the fight against HIV, researchers can finally see the end of the epidemic in sight. But thanks to the Trump administration’s executive orders, it’s unclear when—or possibly even ever—this breakthrough medicine will see the light of day.
This New Drug Could Help End the HIV Epidemic—but US Funding Cuts Are Killing Its Rollout
Lenacapavir, a twice yearly injection that prevents HIV transmission, was named the breakthrough medicine of 2024. But without US foreign aid dollars, its delivery to millions worldwide is under threa...
www.wired.com
February 21, 2025 at 8:02 PM
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What Trump has done for US farmers so far:
-frozen their foreign aid program (and left their food to rot)
-encouraged EU to ban their products
-frozen legally-owed reimbursements for their energy efficiency upgrades etc.
-threatened to deport half their workforce
-suppressed research on bird flu
Trump on the EU possibly banning food imports from the US: "I don't mind. Let them do it. Let them do it."
February 16, 2025 at 10:06 PM
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Among everything else, what a shitty fate, to have national systems of support dismantled by two men who have never once changed a diaper.
February 16, 2025 at 12:09 AM
The 🌱 garden 🌱 layout app I've been working on is ready for beta testers! If you've been using a garden planner but have been frustrated by the limited database of plant varieties, this one's for you. I have a handful of invites for this first round. DMs open #gardening #gardensky
Long week. My 🌱 garden 🌱 is my usual go-to when life is crazy and I’m looking for zen. It’s planning season and I’m working through seed packets. It turns out that my seed collection has grown and there is a LOT of info on seed packets… A bit overwhelming sooo I made a thing…
February 12, 2025 at 5:01 PM
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Guess what - our Science Moms climate ad made this top ten best (upcoming) Super Bowl ads list! The only nonprofit ad on the list!

Warning: do not watch without a tissue

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/a...
ByTheTime
YouTube video by Science Moms
youtu.be
February 8, 2025 at 12:48 AM
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USAID used to buy $2B worth of food from US farmers. Now, their food is just rotting away as poor people starve. And next year, many of these same farmers will be farming for government subsidies instead of food. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Gutting USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. farms, businesses
U.S. businesses that sold goods and services to USAID are in limbo, including American farms dealing in rice, wheat and soybeans.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 8, 2025 at 8:53 PM
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A good reminder that part of the reason scientists study “frivolous” things is because they can see potential in those things that the casual observer cannot or will not bother to see
This is the most relevant article to NIH and research cuts I’ve seen.

Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !”

globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic - National | Globalnews.ca
In 1984, Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist from the University of Toronto, discovered a hormone that helped pave the way for popular diabetes drugs such as Ozempic.
globalnews.ca
February 9, 2025 at 10:21 PM
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Just saw a farmer say, "you don't have to admit you were wrong, you have to admit you were lied to, " and idk that seems like a good framing to call people in
February 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM
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New — The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was told this week by DOJ that they'd lose their funding if the org didn't remove any mentions of LGBTQIA+ issues from their public materials, I've learned. Staff were told they need to deadname trans kids in their reports to comply.
February 7, 2025 at 3:30 AM
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Pam Bondi is disbanding the Foreign Influence Task Force - the FBI team that is charged with combatting foreign meddling in US elections.

Worth asking how this makes us more safe in any way, shape, or form.
February 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
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New: We spoke to government IT employees/contractors about DOGE. Their warnings were dire. The people who maintain the systems that keep the country working are terrified. "This is the largest data breach and the largest IT security breach in our country’s history—at least that’s publicly known."
The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified
Four IT professionals lay out just how destructive Elon Musk’s incursion into the U.S. government could be.
www.theatlantic.com
February 7, 2025 at 2:14 PM
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SCOOP: The US Treasury claimed a DOGE's Marco Elez didn’t have ‘write access,’ when he actually did. Sources tell WIRED that his ability to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded, days after officials said it didn't exist.
The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did
Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE's Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn't exist.
wrd.cm
February 6, 2025 at 11:58 PM