James Holland Jones
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juemos.bsky.social
James Holland Jones
@juemos.bsky.social
Anthropologist in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability studying human adaptation, infectious disease dynamics, and climate fiction.

https://heeh.stanford.edu
A DDoS attack on Waymo. Some writer (Jeff VanderMeer maybe?) pointed out how vulnerable to pranking Waymos are when they got backed up in front of a Lakers game and a traffic cop tried unsuccessfully to direct cars out to break up the snarl. Prescient.
November 25, 2025 at 3:57 PM
They're all over Palo Alto now. Their fleet is based somewhere down by Costco, so we always see 10-or-so on Alma on the way there and back. TBH, they seem fine here -- better than most of the Tesla drivers!
November 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Nightmare.
Waymo privatized another public street:

Chanel approaching 4th, San Francisco

Possibly queued for a Billie Eilish show at Chase Center ~half mile away.

The light rail train on 4th seen passing in front of this roboherd has more passenger capacity than all of them combined.

OP: .tiktok.renaspam18
November 25, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
My post today is a reminder that we need to spend a ton of money on adaptation for our new climate, based on a report issued in March on U.S. infrastructure needs. yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/11/u-s-...
U.S. dams, levees, stormwater, and wastewater systems get D to D+ grades, need almost $1 trillion in upgrades » Yale Climate Connections
Climate change is increasingly stressing dams, levees, wastewater, and stormwater systems through heavier precipitation events.
yaleclimateconnections.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
Latest comic: Climate Silence
November 22, 2025 at 6:50 PM
I'm afraid the work of DeSantis has been a ratchet, so we won't need to worry about the way back up. That said, I suspect it will remain a money pit for a while.
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Ideological engineering is expensive! It costs a lot to change an ideology and produce worse educational outcomes.

Apparently, it costs about $70M to drop 60 spots in the college rankings.

wapo.st/49mrPgl
DeSantis’s makeover of ‘left-wing’ Florida college has been costly
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s makeover of the public honors college has been thorough — and costly, a new report shows.
wapo.st
November 20, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!

We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Important essay by @stanfordaaup.bsky.social colleague Jessica Riskin. The three lessons that universities must learn:

1. Solidarity
2. Integrity, not Neutrality
3. Student Speech

stanforddaily.com/2025/11/16/a...
AAUP | Academic Freedom on the Line
In a new column from Stanford's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, history professor Jessica Riskin offers three lessons for universities facing pressure from the federal go...
stanforddaily.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
Again, this is an existential crisis for the entire financial & academic model of 🇺🇸 public universities, but the public doesn’t understand this, in part because our leaders have been on this issue. It’s maddening:

bsky.app/profile/mcop...
November 17, 2025 at 4:17 PM
AMOC collapse >50%. This is really not something we want. But will we actually do anything about it?
Is the Atlantic Ocean circulation close to tipping?
Hear the latest science as I presented it last month at the ATLAS25 event in Helsinki.
Let me know if anything is unclear, or if you see good reasons why your government shouldn't immediately act on this. 🌊
youtu.be/ULJXqOZuY-8
Is the Atlantic Ocean circulation close to tipping?
YouTube video by Earth System Analysis - Potsdam Institute
youtu.be
November 17, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Another good 🧵 on the crazy talk coming from NIH leadership re COVID response.
NIH directors have pointed to below estimates as evidence that Sweden was 'best in the world at protecting human life' for COVID (www.city-journal.org/article/nih-...). But plot doesn't show what they apparently think it shows - and there is a big red flag that immediately jumps out... 🧵
November 16, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
A lot of progress is being made at COP. Too bad the US isn’t part of it.
November 16, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Important 🧵. Truly astounding how much misinformation is coming from the masthead of NIH.
A new approach to pandemic preparedness:

1️⃣ Stop preparing for pandemics
2️⃣ Rewrite history of the last major pandemic
3️⃣ Go to the gym

Simple - 🤷‍♂️.

www.city-journal.org/article/nih-...
NIH Directors: The World Needs a New Pandemic Playbook
The old one failed to cope with Covid and may even have caused it.
www.city-journal.org
November 15, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
Jenna Norton, a vocal critic of Trump administration actions at the NIH, was abruptly placed on administrative leave this week.
www.statnews.com/2025/11/14/n...
NIH abruptly places outspoken critic of Trump administration on leave
Jenna Norton, a vocal critic of Trump administration actions at the NIH, was abruptly placed on administrative leave this week.
www.statnews.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
NEW: 2020 footage said to be in 2025. A neighbor who keeps reappearing in the same clip, said to be on different days & months. A broadcast from elsewhere suggested as Portland.

How Fox News misled its viewership -- which may have included the president.

www.propublica.org/article/port...
“Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops
After reviewing coverage from the network and hours of social media videos that preceded Trump’s decision, ProPublica found that Fox’s portrayal of “Portland rioters” routinely instigating violence wa...
www.propublica.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
The coldest air on the planet - relative to normal - is over FL now! The cold pool is being forced south by overwhelming Arctic warmth.
While FL won’t bear the brunt for much longer, the Arctic will become even more off-kilter over the coming weeks. That means weather shenanigans will abound!
November 12, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by James Holland Jones
Trump: “It’s not a big deal….”
November 11, 2025 at 5:13 AM
This is an amazing (and infuriating) story, complete with Github repos of their analysis!
November 8, 2025 at 7:08 PM
New College is paying more for worse educational outcomes. Hard to not see this as a potentially existential threat in the current higher-education environment.

www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
Florida DOGE Finds Disproportionate Spending at New College
The college has faced mounting criticism over its spending and other changes in the wake of a conservative overhaul. Florida Board of Governors didn’t publicly share those concerns.
www.insidehighered.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Unfortunately, the first premise is simply false. Emissions were at a record high last year. The "current pathway" is really wishful thinking and contingent on a lot of things happening that are seeming less likely given our current context.
November 7, 2025 at 3:36 PM
When did the norm become the Speaker of the House only addresses the press surrounded by a posse of awkward-looking white people in ill-fitting suits? Do you think R congress people have to draw straws to stand behind him as he professes to not know anything or dismiss clear red flags?
we're on day 2 of Mike Johnson urging everyone to ignore the drubbing his party took on Tuesday
November 6, 2025 at 5:43 PM
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Nobody likes Andrew Cuomo.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Nobody likes a sore loser – but Cuomo declines to bow out gracefully
Despondency reigned at the Ziegfeld Ballroom – and then the beaten candidate found it hard to praise the victor
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:47 AM
does it crush your bollocks, mate?
November 4, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Maybe if they could do 15 push-ups, they would be so easily injured.
November 4, 2025 at 4:47 PM