Michael Busch

This is a reminder that the K-Pg mass extinction was precipitated by the impact of a carbonaceous chondrite asteroid; not a comet.

And perturbations to the Oort Cloud do not create showers of comets.

Today in things I thought had been adequately explained back in the 1990s...

#CloseTheCamps and #AbolishICE

https://apnews.com/article/suicide-ice-detention-centers-b2d1cb0e4b579e0d89caabd00aa04e34

Yet again, USA:

Require that Congress do its job, end all of this, #ImpeachHegseth, and #ImpeachTrump.

Give them no choice otherwise.

QT Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com
‬2026 March 6

The killing of Iranian children during an illegal war is an impeachable offense (not to mention a grave crime) and Congress should really act like it.

15 Republicans in the Senate could end this nightmare before it somehow gets even worse.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mggquwmxos2q

Well done, #California.

QT CalMatters @calmatters.org‬
2026 March 6

Longtime Republican Rep. Darrell Issa will not seek reelection, he announced Friday. His decision comes four months after his San Diego-area congressional district was redrawn to favor Democrats.
https://bsky.app/profile/calmatters.org/post/3mggsnjx3hb2p

#UnpackTheCourts

QT Kevin Morris @kevintmorris.bsky.social‬
2026 March 6

Tomorrow marks the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. It also marks the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court first upholding the Voting Rights Act.

We have gotten so, so far away from a Court that cares about democracy.

New from me at @brennancenter.org
: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/bygone-era-supreme-court-support-voting-rights

https://bsky.app/profile/kevintmorris.bsky.social/post/3mgfm4t3jtk2d

Didymos and Dimorphos cannot hit the Earth.

And they have both have been pushed very slightly further away from Earth's orbit.

No creating an impact hazard while demonstrating how to address the impact hazard.

QT Dr Robin George Andrews @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social‬
2026 March 7

Remember in 2022 when NASA booped an asteroid with a kamikaze spacecraft to prove they could swat away Earthbound space rocks and save the world?
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/nasa-dart-asteroid-orbit-sun-didymos-dimorphos

https://bsky.app/profile/squigglyvolcano.bsky.social/post/3mggjsaxku22z

I read that it is once again time for Octavia Butler's warning, United States: "To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a liar is to ask to be lied to." And also again time to tell Congress to do its job and remove Trump & those with him.

RE: @mackayim2022@mastodon.social

I had pertussis as a kid, despite having been vaccinated. It was a miserable couple of weeks even with prompt treatment.

But because my elementary school required vaccination, I was part of a cluster of four rather than an outbreak of 400.

Get the kids their shots.

I find that I was followed on here & Bluesky by someone who self-identifies as an "effective altruist".

They are now blocked.

For anyone who is unaware why that phrase should be considered with deep suspicion, along with related phrases like "existential risk", I recommend the work of @timnitGebru@dair-community.social :

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/13636/11606

@sarahtaber@mastodon.online There is a known problem where a lot of the data centers that have lately been built for cryptocurrency or "AI" scams never make money - only Nvidia and the power companies do. Tagging @davidgerard@circumstances.run for specifics.

After an update; Zoom reactivated all of the "AI Companion" slop that I had previously turned off and replaced a third of the login screen with an ad for it. I have turned it all off again. Nobody asked for this, Zoom management. And the next AI winter really cannot come soon enough.

Re. last repost of @spacepod@mastodon.online : Asteroids would taste variously like metal / rust, nothing much, and tar with notes of arsenic & mercury. Please do not eat the science.