Joe Thompson
@kensey.bsky.social
That guy in that place who does that thing.
Seems like I recall a famous novel in which the former UK is now known as Airstrip One...
December 7, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Seems like I recall a famous novel in which the former UK is now known as Airstrip One...
That last pic, though. "Yes, since you asked, everything here is mine. However, when I am done I may, in my majestic benevolence, leave a few morsels for the birds."
December 7, 2025 at 9:59 PM
That last pic, though. "Yes, since you asked, everything here is mine. However, when I am done I may, in my majestic benevolence, leave a few morsels for the birds."
So many people forget that "you get what you measure" is not just an observation, but can be a call to action!
December 7, 2025 at 9:57 PM
So many people forget that "you get what you measure" is not just an observation, but can be a call to action!
It often is. I should dip into one of my bottles from a local distillery.
December 7, 2025 at 4:48 AM
It often is. I should dip into one of my bottles from a local distillery.
When I heard he'd died in 2003 it felt like a punch in the gut.
December 7, 2025 at 3:11 AM
When I heard he'd died in 2003 it felt like a punch in the gut.
Also Mr. Rogers was a kindly uncle on TV but he was a pit bull where doing right by kids was concerned. His testimony before the Senate in favor of PBS funding in 1969 is a six-minute masterclass in arguing persuasively without being rude or aggressive but also without giving an inch.
December 7, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Also Mr. Rogers was a kindly uncle on TV but he was a pit bull where doing right by kids was concerned. His testimony before the Senate in favor of PBS funding in 1969 is a six-minute masterclass in arguing persuasively without being rude or aggressive but also without giving an inch.
When I think back and realize that we had Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Joy of Painting, *and* Sesame Street all on PBS together from 1983 to 1994... well quite frankly I mourn for what we have lost. The Oregon Trail Generation didn't know how good we had it.
December 7, 2025 at 3:04 AM
When I think back and realize that we had Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Joy of Painting, *and* Sesame Street all on PBS together from 1983 to 1994... well quite frankly I mourn for what we have lost. The Oregon Trail Generation didn't know how good we had it.
(The report suggested the reason for seasonality is not known with certainty though.)
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
(The report suggested the reason for seasonality is not known with certainty though.)
And the winter spraying on fields with no food crops is even worse in that respect -- which may tie into something I saw in a local news station video, that some of the monitoring wells display seasonality in the levels of nitrates, with levels highest in the spring.
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
And the winter spraying on fields with no food crops is even worse in that respect -- which may tie into something I saw in a local news station video, that some of the monitoring wells display seasonality in the levels of nitrates, with levels highest in the spring.
i.e. the crops are already taking up everything they can, any additional levels of nitrates in the sprayed wastewater are just additional excess.
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
i.e. the crops are already taking up everything they can, any additional levels of nitrates in the sprayed wastewater are just additional excess.
(Or somebody is doing something even worse that isn't yet known, like disposing of nitrate-laden wastewater in an injection well that's discharging into the aquifer instead of below it.)
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
(Or somebody is doing something even worse that isn't yet known, like disposing of nitrate-laden wastewater in an injection well that's discharging into the aquifer instead of below it.)
Because of the uptake of nitrates by crops, presumably? It's a thought, but the fact that *any* nitrates are making it down to the aquifer suggests there is already excess from e.g. the direct application of fertilizer.
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Because of the uptake of nitrates by crops, presumably? It's a thought, but the fact that *any* nitrates are making it down to the aquifer suggests there is already excess from e.g. the direct application of fertilizer.
(Random info-morsel -- while checking the Wikipedia article for Costco I ran across the phrase "forced monkey labor" which I think is the first time I've heard of such a thing.)
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
(Random info-morsel -- while checking the Wikipedia article for Costco I ran across the phrase "forced monkey labor" which I think is the first time I've heard of such a thing.)
So we've now ended up in a timeline where Costco, the third-largest retailer in the world, is suing a Republican administration for its business-harming actions.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
So we've now ended up in a timeline where Costco, the third-largest retailer in the world, is suing a Republican administration for its business-harming actions.
But when the culture-warriors became ascendant and made their agenda the dominant one, the business and rule-of-law Republicans were shunted aside and their concerns given lip service or none at all as policies actively harmful to business interests were implemented.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
But when the culture-warriors became ascendant and made their agenda the dominant one, the business and rule-of-law Republicans were shunted aside and their concerns given lip service or none at all as policies actively harmful to business interests were implemented.
They were happy to travel in the same direction as the culture warriors as long as what was done at least didn't damage their own pro-business agenda. Mostly it didn't, or at least what damage it did was offset by tax breaks and the like.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
They were happy to travel in the same direction as the culture warriors as long as what was done at least didn't damage their own pro-business agenda. Mostly it didn't, or at least what damage it did was offset by tax breaks and the like.
To my recollection a large part of the pre-2016 never-Trump Republicans were old-school Eisenhower and Reagan types: "the business of America is business" and such.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
To my recollection a large part of the pre-2016 never-Trump Republicans were old-school Eisenhower and Reagan types: "the business of America is business" and such.
My own vote goes to good old stone engravings. There are petroglyphs and stone inscriptions tens of thousands of years old at sites all over the world that are still legible today.
December 7, 2025 at 2:08 AM
My own vote goes to good old stone engravings. There are petroglyphs and stone inscriptions tens of thousands of years old at sites all over the world that are still legible today.
The point is that *wherever* it ends up, if it's not appropriately treated beforehand it's going to exacerbate water quality issues at the point of return.
December 7, 2025 at 1:36 AM
The point is that *wherever* it ends up, if it's not appropriately treated beforehand it's going to exacerbate water quality issues at the point of return.
Look at the keywords in your own text: "extracting... concentrating... returning". If I extract ten gallons of contaminated water from the ground, evaporate 5 gallons of pure water from it, and pour the remaining 5 gallons back into the ground, I've raised the concentration of the contaminant.
December 7, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Look at the keywords in your own text: "extracting... concentrating... returning". If I extract ten gallons of contaminated water from the ground, evaporate 5 gallons of pure water from it, and pour the remaining 5 gallons back into the ground, I've raised the concentration of the contaminant.
Even in a relatively humid area like Northern Virginia, evaporative datacenter cooling has raised concerns about wastewater: www.lincolninst.edu/publications...
"Evaporative cooling also leaves behind high concentrations of salts and other contaminants, she adds, creating water quality issues."
"Evaporative cooling also leaves behind high concentrations of salts and other contaminants, she adds, creating water quality issues."
Data Drain: The Land and Water Impacts of the AI Boom - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Communities across the US are wooing data centers with tax breaks and other incentives. But data centers are resource-ravenous, creating demands for land, water, and power that many host communities are not prepared to meet.
www.lincolninst.edu
December 7, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Even in a relatively humid area like Northern Virginia, evaporative datacenter cooling has raised concerns about wastewater: www.lincolninst.edu/publications...
"Evaporative cooling also leaves behind high concentrations of salts and other contaminants, she adds, creating water quality issues."
"Evaporative cooling also leaves behind high concentrations of salts and other contaminants, she adds, creating water quality issues."