M. S. AtKisson
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igrrrl.bsky.social
M. S. AtKisson
@igrrrl.bsky.social
750 followers 940 following 630 posts
Grant writing and research leadership. Highly specialized wetware hacker. Mom of a trans son and a Marine. Mostly live on a 40ft Hallberg-Rassy. She/her/Dr.
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igrrrl.bsky.social
Him: Come up and see the moonrise.
Me: *grumble* /hyperfocusgrantediting/
Also me: Oh yeah 🌕
View across the creek to a shore lined with empty docks, houses behind, trees behind the houses, and a big yellow moon just over the trees
November 5, 2025 at 11:33 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Never was into him, although he was absolutely gorgeous. This was my 80s icon.
A black and white picture of a very young Sinead O'Connor, a young woman with a shaved head glancing away and down from the microphone that she is about to pour her amazing voice into.
November 4, 2025 at 2:15 AM
igrrrl.bsky.social
In completely different news, I am reviewing your proposal in foul weather gear using my bunk as a standing desk.
Selfie of a blonde wind blown woman in Gill overalls with two laptops behind her. Behind them are pillows and stuffed animals on a bunk from left to right: BiL the goat from the naval Academy, a sperm whale from the Nantucket whaling Museum, a shark sewn by my older kid, a seal that looks like it’s about to do crimes, a little red guy with a white heart, and a stuffed stingray
November 3, 2025 at 7:46 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Mylar balloons. Don’t. Fished this one out of Long Island Sound
A purple star shaped Mylar balloon on the sole of our boat’s cockpit
September 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Filing under Things That Are Not Your Imagination, a graph of the massive drop in funding opportunities. H/T to a NORDP colleague.
Bar graph showing the number of HHS funding opportunities each month starting in May 2023 with 143 solicitations. The numbers range from a low of 53 in September 2024 to a high of 211 in December 2024. In February and March of 2025, 3 solicitations were issued each month, none in April, one in May, and 43 in June. In July there were 37, and in August there were 12.
September 3, 2025 at 7:20 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Here’s an example. On the surface, Jessica Venable of Thorn Run Partners and I should be competitors. We have chosen otherwise and have begun cooperating, not just collaborating. Our clients get a stronger team to support them, she and I continually learn from each other, and it’s fun. 8/
two smiling women standing in front of a building with a round plaque that says Sir Isaac Newton 1642-1727 Lived here. And a rectangular plaque that says, "Tablet fixed 1908. Premises rebuilt and tablet refixed in 1915." The building clearly doesn't look like it existed during Newton's time. Anyway, the two women are clearly having a good time and being nerds about Isaac Newton.
July 29, 2025 at 9:19 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
QotD, Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars.
Antarctica.' "That's true," Arkady said. "But in fact Antarctic stations are very political. Most of them were built so that the countries that built them would have a say in the revision of the Antarctic treaty. And now the stations are governed by laws set by that treaty, which was made by a very political process! So you see, you cannot just stick your head in the sand crying 'I am a scientist, I am a scientist!'" He put a hand to his forehead, in the universal gesture mocking the prima donna. "No. When you say that, you are only saying, 'I do not wish to think about complex systems!' Which is not really worthy of true scientists, is it?" Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars
July 14, 2025 at 10:09 AM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Me as the mother in Anything Goes. My “daughter” as also happed in Footloose, was a brunette.
Photograph of me in full stage makeup with aging lines. A woman with a red scarf and blonde hair in a crown braid. Much cheek rouge.
June 29, 2025 at 8:30 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Good morning. Today I was reminded that Descartes' "Cogito ergo sum" can be found at the end of a longer sentence: "I doubt, therefore I am — or what is the same — I think, therefore I am"
Photo of a 3-dimensional metal sculpture at the University of Oulu, Finland.
June 24, 2025 at 11:27 AM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Boston strong.
Blue and yellow ribbon with the words Boston Strong
May 12, 2025 at 3:40 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
If you see this, post the most recent photo of yourself from your camera roll. No cheating!
A woman and a man selfie with boats and water in the background. Taken on top of the lighthouse at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Maryland.
May 6, 2025 at 11:14 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Our NORDP national meeting is virtual this year, and they have an icebreaker page. Here's mine:
selfie picture of a blond woman in sunglasses in front of a very red fall tree, labeled M. S. (Peg) AtKisson, President, AtKisson Training Group Self introductionHello, and looking forward to the virtual NORDP! Icebreaker question: What sport would you compete in if you were in the Olympics? Answer: Competitive Specific Aims writing Why? Answer: Why not?
April 16, 2025 at 9:46 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Squint your ears.
• Interfree • Samuel Proulx E (@fastfinge) Today in #ChatGPT attempting to be helpful with a thing I'm building: "Consider bumping the font size in your CSS so NVDA/ VoiceOver don't make you squint your ears." I, uh, I'm not sure #Al is ready to do #accessibility yet. I mean, I should bump the font size for #a11y reason...
April 16, 2025 at 10:44 AM
igrrrl.bsky.social
I usually have 4-6 books going at the same time and try to read a bit from each each morning. They often interact. Apparently I independently discovered Virginia Woolfe’s approach.
A stack of books, from Top to bottom: Leadership Without Easy Answers by Heifetz, The Widow Cliquot by Mazzeo, Travels with Herodotus by Kapuśiński, Cgaracteristics of Men, Mabners, Opinions, Times, Etc. by Shaftesbury (1737 edition), and a textbook on Indigenous Research Methodologies by Chilisa.
January 28, 2025 at 1:07 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
QotD from Ryszard Kapuściński’s book Travels With Herodotus
Every human being has his own particular web of associations for identifying and interpreting reality, which, most often instinctively and unthinkingly, he superimposes upon every set of cir-cumstances. Frequently, however, those external circumstances do not conform with, or fit, the structure of our webs, and then we can misread the unfamiliar reality, and interpret its elements incor-rectly. On such occasions, we move about in an unreal world, a landscape of dead ends and misleading signs.
January 14, 2025 at 11:54 AM
igrrrl.bsky.social
40 years ago today the first planet outside our solar system was discoverd, 15 Peagsi B, named after Bellerophon, slayer of monsters who rode a pegasus.
A warrior riding side saddle on a winged horse, holding a spear pointing down. His cloak swirls over his head like a large halo.
December 10, 2024 at 8:11 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
QotD from Heifetz, Leadership WithoutEasy Answers. Highlights from previous owner.
We may rid ourselves of our current authorities in the hope that "if only we had the right leader our problems would be solved. Habitually seeking solutions from people in authority is maladap-tive. Indeed, it is perhaps the essence of maladaptive behavior: the use of a response appropriate to one situation in another where it does not apply. Authority relationships are critical to doing work in many routine situations and, applied properly, can be used invalu-ably in more challenging times; yet misapplied, they serve to avoid work. The flight to authority is particularly dangerous for at least two reasons: first, because the work avoidance often occurs in response to our biggest problems and, second, because it disables some of our most important personal and collective resources for accomplishing adaptive work.
November 19, 2024 at 1:26 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
My grandfather served in the Navy in both theaters, two silver stars, and killed in action. He shows up in Stienbeck's Once There Was a War and Douglas Fairbanks Jr's One Hell of a War. Today I got confirmation that at least the Navy thought he was also OSS.
November 11, 2024 at 7:03 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Moonachillies: Jane Usten really said 'I respect the "I can fix him" movement but that's just not me. He'll fix himself if he knows what's good for him' and that's why her works are still calling the shots today. nitwrighter: Meanwhile Emily Brönte just said "We can make each other worse." the only cabbage: Mary Shelley said, "I can make him"
November 4, 2024 at 1:02 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
For Reasons I looked up whether shrimp was considered Halal, and Google's shitty AI informed me that shrimp have a vertebra. Just one.
AI Overview Whether shrimp is halal depends on the school of Islamic thought and cultural practices: Hanafi school While shrimp are biologically crustaceans, some Hanafi scholars consider them halal because they have a vertebra and are considered fish. However, this is a minority view within Islamic jurisprudence.
October 25, 2024 at 1:04 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Please reconsider mylar helium balloons. Please. We grabbed this one out of the water offshore from New Jersey.
Mylar balloon on the soul of the cockpit. It was rescued off the coast of New Jersey on our way into Atlantic City.
October 3, 2024 at 6:34 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
What's your "no one but me remembers" game?

Moria from the PLATO system.
Screenshot of a dark screen with orange/amber text and primitive line graphics of an online dungeon crawl game that could be played in groups.
September 15, 2024 at 8:26 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
Starting a new book and I’m already laughing. In the back cover: “No philosopher has been more misunderstood—nor has made it so easy for readers to misunderstand him…”
July 25, 2024 at 11:56 AM
igrrrl.bsky.social
I'm having a Darwin on October 1, 1861 kind of week.
Text from a letter from Charles Darwin to Charles Lyle: "I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything."
July 10, 2024 at 2:20 PM
igrrrl.bsky.social
QodD
“The idea that demonstrated competence and willingness to collaborate will be sufficient to ensure the type of rich information exchange and knowledge synthesis necessary to fully capitalize on collective expertise belies a naiveté toward the time requirements and specific boundary spanning expertise1 needed to make such translation and synthesis happen.” (Hendren, C.O., Ku, S.Th. (2019). The Interdisciplinary Executive Scientist: Connecting Scientific Ideas, Resources and People. In: Hall, K., Vogel, A., Croyle, R. (eds) Strategies for Team Science Success. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20992-6_27)
July 5, 2024 at 6:03 PM