Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Deke Arndt

@deke-arndt.bsky.social

6.3K followers 36 following 110 posts

I'm the Director of NCEI, and work with amazing people, but this is my personal account. Climate. Data. Risk. Okie stuff. Asheville stuff. Sugar by the bushel; molasses by the ton. Skipping leg day since 1998.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · 19d

You are unique and special yourself. And you rhyme with much that is good in this world. /fin

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · 19d

The person and the observation were born on the same day, in the same place, and found each other in their second lives. They rhyme with each other. And their thank you notes are always the ones that move me. 5/6

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · 19d

These are amazing and unique people, born into one life, chosen into a next one, carrying elements of both along the way. It’s beautiful that some of the details of their first life are found in a weather observation that is also adopted, cared for and raised to serve a long second life. 4/n

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · 19d

With that in mind, it makes sense
that some of our cards and letters (okay, mostly emails) come from adopted people who are really interested in the weather conditions for the date and place of their birth. A bread crumb to write a few more words in those early chapters of their first life 3/n

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · 19d

If you have the blessing of knowing or being or loving an adopted person, sometimes their earliest years - their “first life” - is shrouded in a kaleidoscopic veil of fractured information. Bread crumbs to early chapters with empty pages. 2/n

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · 19d

As technologies hurl our data into more complexities at dizzying speeds, I’ve come to adore even more the most beautiful score of poetry in our work. Once in a while, we get a call or note, sometimes even a low-tech letter from an adoptee. Friend, me share my appreciation for that with you. 1/n

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · 19d

Lol

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 15

Tonight I’m once again massively grateful for the Ronald McDonald House. A recurring blessing for so many of us

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 12

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 4

Anyway, i - a Luddite - spent half my day off with these tools and they’re (1) very adept when plowing through info dense spaces / long docs (2) oddly terrible doing same on email and (3) recidivist liars. In fact, “thank you for calling out my lie; it will help me lie less” was a common experience

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 4

Yes. This. To be fair i tried to explore more useful functions and it’s not really there (yet?). And the other non-email tools are halfway impressive. But, yeah. Inevitable.

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 4

:chefs-kiss:

“While Derek Arndt notes your request for input, let it be known that Derek Arndt’s thoughts and suggestions are not merely suggestions, but crucial insights that will undeniably enhance the productivity and impact of the monthly meeting.“

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 4

Consolation prize: I have discovered “Same but occasionally refer to myself in the third person with mild to moderate grandiosity”

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 4

And just like that, it won’t do it any more (probably for the best). Fun while it lasted.

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 4

My work just activated AI tools across the Google workplace. The email one isn’t particularly bright but I’ve delighted myself with “rephrase this as loreena mckennitt” an absurd number of times.

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 4

Immigrants were amazing in 1650

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Jul 4

This Friday, July 4th, 2025, tens of millions of immigrants will set forth making America smarter, stronger, safer, cleaner, and more beautiful.

This makes July 4, 2025 the same as the 20 thousand Fridays that preceded it.

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · May 29

Fear not, Bluesky. Oklahomans have grown up with the pressures and responsibilities of being the cultural and scientific center of the universe. We will gracefully accept the mantle of being the center of the athletic world.

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · May 23

I miss you too dude!

Reposted by Deke Arndt

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Apr 19

This is the 30th anniversary of the OKC Bombing. Please let me share a perspective on it. It starts with an Oklahoma geography lesson. 1/n

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Apr 19

People who endure my stories hopefully catch the theme that acts of care (caring is an act not a feeling) are generational gifts that grow over time and roll through generations like true love and compound interest. @locoako.bsky.social, this is beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Jacob Carlin @locoako.bsky.social · Apr 19

I've shared this before (and lack the poetry of @deke-arndt.bsky.social) but thought I'd re-share on BlueSky for the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. While I didn't move to Oklahoma until 2012 (and OKC until 2016), I'm always reminded this time of year of a very distinct memory. (1/7)

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Apr 19

We are about the same age. If it means anything, it helped to read your remembrance. I had forgotten about The Lights.

Thank you for sharing, and I hope you are well.

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Apr 19

That boy on the breathing machine, my son, drove home from college to be with me on a hard weekend. His name is Spencer. /f

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Apr 19

breaths of air, stolen by a breakout disease, witness to a man whose last words were “I can’t breathe,” breakout winds flattening the forests of these Appalachians and fanning the flames in which they burn. 15/n

Deke Arndt @deke-arndt.bsky.social · Apr 19

It’s 2025 now. We’ve shared trauma, vast unfairness borne onto innocents, and in our recent national moments of liminality here’s what stuck to our psyche: 14/n