Notices by David Ho (davidho@mastodon.world)

Small victory

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/climate/after-outcry-monitors-the-trump-administration-tried-to-scrap-return-to-sea.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GFE.AZo3.3C9Gr42lWrnc&smid=nytcore-ios-share

This is how AI will kill us all

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/trump-grok-venezuela

I don’t think everyone realizes how bad things are for US science:

For the fiscal year that just ended, the Trump regime withheld $1.4 billion from the National Science Foundation’s research budget, which is about 1/5 of its primary research budget.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/us/politics/national-science-foundation-research-funds.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1E.adOl.I5OvE-oZxF24&smid=nytcore-ios-share

I appreciate The New York Times for bringing Kelvin Waves into the vernacular. It's a concept that even those in Earth and environmental sciences (besides physical oceanographers) struggle to grasp, but everyone should be exposed to real scientific explanations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/climate/el-nino-storm-flooding-kelvin-waves.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FlE.3czz.vTzTJ4i2x4io&smid=url-share

A Democratic-led coalition of cities and states, including Hawaiʻi, is suing the Trump regime for repealing rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/01/us-states-cities-trump-epa-climate-emissions?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu_env

Turns out we don’t have to invoke weapons of mass destruction when talking about ocean heat uptake.

The ocean absorbed a record-breaking 23 zettajoules of heat last year, equivalent to 40 times the energy used by humanity.

It’s not going to end well.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/30/worlds-seas-warmed-23-zettajoules-2025

Here’s another way climate change will kill us: the expansion of mosquitoes and the deadly diseases they carry.

In Paris, the invasive Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), an aggressive, day-biting nuisance, is now everywhere. So excited to get Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika in Paris.

https://to.pbs.org/4ihm3ks

I just went downstairs, walked three minutes to a boulangerie, and got a warm baguette. Tell me again why 15-minute cities are bad.

The way AI will kill people is by making climate change worse.

https://www.theverge.com/tech/1000140/jensen-huang-nvidia-ai-energy-climate-change-supervillain

Every time I return to Paris, I notice they've done more to reclaim streets from drivers and cars, including removing on-street parking, protecting cyclists from drivers, and prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists in shared spaces. Other cities can learn a lot from Paris.

TIL that a male crossing guard is called a lollipop man.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/horrified-children-look-lollipop-man-34633048

The Trump regime is redefining the Endangered Species Act to consider only the intentional killing of endangered animals to be illegal, removing accountability for incidental harm caused by economic activities. Psychopaths.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/climate/endangered-species-act-change.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BlE.ORbG.pN_yHVBPyy6E&smid=url-share

The Trump regime removed limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. If the move survives legal challenges, that could hinder future administrations from regulating these emissions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/climate/epa-power-plant-climate-rules.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BlE.ZbJH.GvZBWD1tnqgi&smid=nytcore-ios-share

They might as well change the definition of death.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/sep/14/trump-administration-cdc-measles-deaths-pennsylvania?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It’s a good time to retire as a US scientist.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02892-9?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nature&linkId=63678636

I’ve never read or seen Harry Potter.

https://variety.com/2026/tv/features/lilly-wachowski-jk-rowling-harry-potter-trans-the-matrix-1236858104/

If we, as a society, are serious about encouraging more bike transportation, we'd build more secure bike parking instead of putting the onus on people whose bikes are stolen.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/sep/07/bike-theft-university-stolen-lock-insurance

Tragic, but weirdly, the headline writers don’t refer to this as a car crash, unlike how they call it a bike crash when a driver hits a cyclist.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/06/us/miami-plane-crash-what-we-know.html?unlocked_article_code=1._VA.B7xI.cdwt3BPr1ebF&smid=nytcore-ios-share

The carrot approach to speed cameras: Speed-detecting traffic signals that reward drivers for obeying the speed limit. If a driver is speeding towards the light, it will turn red. If the driver is approaching at a safe speed, it will turn green. These signals reduce speeding and injury crashes.

https://www.khon2.com/news/national/cities-see-benefits-from-speed-detecting-traffic-signals/

A whistleblower report alleges that the US Postal Service is implementing a new digital system for mail ballots despite a court order blocking it, and the rushed implementation could lead to a “catastrophic failure” in the mail ballot system, potentially disenfranchising millions of voters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/us/politics/whistle-blower-voting-by-mail.html?unlocked_article_code=1.91A.kwS3.DUcieRYbgOZw&smid=nytcore-ios-share