James Roberts
@j-r0b.bsky.social
Reposted by James Roberts
It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation:
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
November 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation:
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
Reposted by James Roberts
New from me for @science.org: A major planetary science conference will require submitted abstracts to comply with Trump's anti-DEI executive orders.
This conference, LPSC, is a big deal. It's been running since 1970 and is one of the biggest planetary science conferences out there. 🧪🔭
This conference, LPSC, is a big deal. It's been running since 1970 and is one of the biggest planetary science conferences out there. 🧪🔭
‘This is censorship.’ Conference requires abstracts to comply with Trump anti-DEI order
NASA-funded planetary science institute previously scrubbed hundreds of records from its archive
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 7:12 PM
New from me for @science.org: A major planetary science conference will require submitted abstracts to comply with Trump's anti-DEI executive orders.
This conference, LPSC, is a big deal. It's been running since 1970 and is one of the biggest planetary science conferences out there. 🧪🔭
This conference, LPSC, is a big deal. It's been running since 1970 and is one of the biggest planetary science conferences out there. 🧪🔭
So, I shan't be submitting an abstract to LPSC this year. But here's my haiku summary:
Ban on DEI
And abstract submission fees?
WTF?
Ban on DEI
And abstract submission fees?
WTF?
November 18, 2025 at 5:06 PM
So, I shan't be submitting an abstract to LPSC this year. But here's my haiku summary:
Ban on DEI
And abstract submission fees?
WTF?
Ban on DEI
And abstract submission fees?
WTF?
Nope. I’ll pass.
Abstracts submitted to LPSC 2026 are required to comply with White House (non-legally binding) executive orders forbidding mention of topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
At least USRA/LPI isn't hiding it.
But is this what our community wants? Or deserves? I don't think so.
At least USRA/LPI isn't hiding it.
But is this what our community wants? Or deserves? I don't think so.
November 18, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Nope. I’ll pass.
Reposted by James Roberts
Official count from yesterday’s No Kings rally in Columbia, MD is 6,500. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped pull the numbers together. Howard county definitely showed up!
@indivisiblehocomd.bsky.social
#NoKings #Resist
@indivisiblehocomd.bsky.social
#NoKings #Resist
October 19, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Official count from yesterday’s No Kings rally in Columbia, MD is 6,500. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped pull the numbers together. Howard county definitely showed up!
@indivisiblehocomd.bsky.social
#NoKings #Resist
@indivisiblehocomd.bsky.social
#NoKings #Resist
The view from Columbia MD
October 18, 2025 at 6:18 PM
The view from Columbia MD
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
dyld: library not loaded
dyld: library not loaded
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
Visit Planner timed out.
Visit Planner timed out.
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
The valve stuck open.
The valve stuck open.
October 12, 2025 at 6:27 PM
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
dyld: library not loaded
dyld: library not loaded
Reposted by James Roberts
In honor of National Poetry Day, the greatest parody rewrite of all time:
October 2, 2025 at 3:17 PM
In honor of National Poetry Day, the greatest parody rewrite of all time:
Well. That's just downright appalling. Federal grants are offically no longer a viable funding mechanism for research. ti's been on an unsustainable trajectory for years now, but it looks like it's really over now.
This is a shocking executive order that undermines the very idea of open inquiry. It turns federal grants into dispensations, subject to arbitrary and capricious withdrawal should the recipient say or believe the wrong things.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal
www.whitehouse.gov
August 8, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Well. That's just downright appalling. Federal grants are offically no longer a viable funding mechanism for research. ti's been on an unsustainable trajectory for years now, but it looks like it's really over now.
Reposted by James Roberts
NASA appears to be pressuring mission leaders to think of the White House's FY26 budget proposal as an operating plan (i.e., work to close out missions even though Congress hasn't decided on the budget yet): arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
White House works to ground NASA science missions before Congress can act
“We would be turning off some fabulous missions that are doing extremely well.”…
arstechnica.com
July 1, 2025 at 9:32 PM
NASA appears to be pressuring mission leaders to think of the White House's FY26 budget proposal as an operating plan (i.e., work to close out missions even though Congress hasn't decided on the budget yet): arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
Reposted by James Roberts
It's not just #NIH. It's not just #NSF. It's not just #NASA.
The whole scientific community has to make clear that all science across fed agencies is being destroyed in the US.
We can't just ask for our particular piece of the pie. The whole pie is being thrown out - saving your bit won't work.
The whole scientific community has to make clear that all science across fed agencies is being destroyed in the US.
We can't just ask for our particular piece of the pie. The whole pie is being thrown out - saving your bit won't work.
June 25, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Something positive to share! First light from the Vera Rubin observatory!
June 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Something positive to share! First light from the Vera Rubin observatory!
Yep. USRA's capitulation really worked out for them.
Today in examples of how obeying in advance gets you nothing.
LPI took down all our DEIA related abstracts to avoid pissing off NASA.
And NASA just killed LPSC.
LPI took down all our DEIA related abstracts to avoid pissing off NASA.
And NASA just killed LPSC.
June 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Yep. USRA's capitulation really worked out for them.
Reposted by James Roberts
Witness the *proposed* devastation of NASA science. If this concerns you, consider exploring the tools provided to make your opinions known: www.planetary.org/save-nasa-sc...
May 30, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Witness the *proposed* devastation of NASA science. If this concerns you, consider exploring the tools provided to make your opinions known: www.planetary.org/save-nasa-sc...
Reposted by James Roberts
This is not just a NASA thing, and not just an NSF thing, this is an all-of-science thing (also involving our siblings in the humanities). The president's budget shutters everything that _actually_ makes America great.
Please call your Congressfolk and ask them to reject these travesties.
Please call your Congressfolk and ask them to reject these travesties.
Trump's Budget is out. For NOAA, it's exactly what the previous passback document showed.
Trump administration eliminations NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research in its ongoing fight against science and reality.
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...
Trump administration eliminations NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research in its ongoing fight against science and reality.
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...
May 31, 2025 at 12:31 AM
This is not just a NASA thing, and not just an NSF thing, this is an all-of-science thing (also involving our siblings in the humanities). The president's budget shutters everything that _actually_ makes America great.
Please call your Congressfolk and ask them to reject these travesties.
Please call your Congressfolk and ask them to reject these travesties.
The PBR that was released today is DIRE for science. The cuts to NASA's Planetary Science Division are just a small piece of it. They are proposing to cancel missions that *have already been launched*. All of NASA, NSF, NIH, and more face essentially an extinction-level event if these cuts happen.
The NASA planetary science fleet chart if the president’s budget is enacted.
May 31, 2025 at 1:51 AM
The PBR that was released today is DIRE for science. The cuts to NASA's Planetary Science Division are just a small piece of it. They are proposing to cancel missions that *have already been launched*. All of NASA, NSF, NIH, and more face essentially an extinction-level event if these cuts happen.
Well, this is alarming. Bet it doesn't stop with the one vaccine.
BREAKING: FDA says covid boosters now only for those over 65 or with preconditions. www.statnews.com/2025/05/20/f...
FDA will limit Covid vaccines to people over 65 or at high risk of serious illness, leaders say
The FDA announced it will limit access to Covid-19 vaccines going forward to people 65 and older and others at high risk of serious illness
www.statnews.com
May 20, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Well, this is alarming. Bet it doesn't stop with the one vaccine.
Getting some traction on this in the press.
Terrific article by Alex Witze (@alexwitze.bsky.social) on the shameful actions by LPI/USRA to remove community-generated DEI content:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Orwellian’: planetary scientists outraged over deletion of research records
Researchers say that a NASA-funded institute is over-interpreting Trump’s anti-DEI order.
www.nature.com
May 9, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Getting some traction on this in the press.
What a crock of sh*t. USRA should be ashamed of themselves. (But they clearly aren't). Done with them.
USRA has circulated this statement regarding their unilateral* decision to remove from their website planetary science community abstracts, studied, and reports they hosted that included DEI content.
Too little, too late in my view.
*i.e., not at the direction of NASA
Too little, too late in my view.
*i.e., not at the direction of NASA
May 8, 2025 at 9:05 PM
What a crock of sh*t. USRA should be ashamed of themselves. (But they clearly aren't). Done with them.
Oooof.
May 2, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Oooof.
Dafuq? This isn't going good at all.
Ah yes, the government asking Jews to register as Jewish, in the name of protecting the Jews. No way that could go wrong www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/n...
U.S. Texts Barnard Employees and Asks if They Are Jewish
A questionnaire from a federal commission also inquired about whether professors and other college staff members had been harassed.
www.nytimes.com
April 24, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Dafuq? This isn't going good at all.
Reposted by James Roberts
ROSES 2025 is now 67 days late. And counting.
April 22, 2025 at 11:08 PM
ROSES 2025 is now 67 days late. And counting.
Bruh.
This table was downloaded on Feb 21 when ROSES 2025 was published and public for a few hours before being taken down for revision of 'EO compliance'. Late items marked in red. Due dates less than 60 days off marked in yellow. This will be updated as more due dates are missed.
April 23, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Bruh.
Oooooof.
This really is an extinction level event for NASA's science programs.
arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA
“This would decimate American leadership in space.”…
arstechnica.com
April 11, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Oooooof.
Sigh. Of course...
NASA drops plan to land first woman and first person of color on the Moon
apple.news/AUCgt_vKZRV6...
apple.news/AUCgt_vKZRV6...
Nasa drops plan to land first woman and first person of color on the moon — Guardian US
Promise was central plank to space agency’s Artemis program, which is scheduled to return humans to the lunar surface in 2027
apple.news
March 22, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Sigh. Of course...