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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪
@tuffcookie.bsky.social
1.6K followers 720 following 220 posts
Volcanologist, scicomm-er, Magma PI, Field Fiddler. She/her. Tweets, likes, retweets do not speak for or represent past/present employers.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪
kittiepeters.com
Kittie @kittiepeters.com · 2d
delete chatgpt and stop using generative AI 🖤🤍
Sam Altman’s AI empire will devour as much power as New York City and San Diego combined. Experts say it’s ‘scary’ | Fortune
Andrew Chien told Fortune he’s been a computer scientist for 40 years but we’re close to “some seminal moments for how we think about AI and its impact on society.”
fortune.com
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Reposted by Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪
allegrak.bsky.social
Allegra Kirkland @allegrak.bsky.social · Sep 4
"Incoherent empty men want to sell me the chance to stop reading and writing and thinking, to stop caring for my kids or talking to my parents, to stop choosing what I do or knowing why I do it. Blissful ignorance and total isolation."

anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...
I Am An AI Hater
I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.
anthonymoser.github.io
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Jul 14
Red Sonja?
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Jul 7
Sad news about a colleague of mine at the USGS and a legend in the volcanology field: www.usgs.gov/observatorie...
In Memoriam: Wes Hildreth, 1938-2025
The USGS California Volcano Observatory is saddened to announce the death of Edward Wesley (Wes) Hildreth III, in a vehicle accident on June 19, 2025, in rural western Nevada near Long Valley Caldera.
www.usgs.gov
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Jul 7
Trewly.
levostregc.bsky.social
Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · Jul 6
"Ich askid ChatGPT," Well Ich askid the stones, and the forest, and the starres, and the mountaynes, and what thei seyde was learninge, and dreames, and growinge thinges, and makinge art, and a worlde wher we talke to each othir and care about each othir.
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Reposted by Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪
volcanojw.bsky.social
Dr. Jennifer Wade @volcanojw.bsky.social · Jun 25
Absolutely speechless as this press conference basically ignores that NSF is already working, living, loving this building. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdct...
Live: The New Golden Age of HUD | Secretary Turner Unveils HUD’s New Building
YouTube video by HUDchannel
www.youtube.com
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Jun 25
Not seeing nearly enough coverage of this.
davidho.bsky.social
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Jun 25
I know there’s a lot of news right now but this is really crazy. They’re booting the National Science Foundation out of its newish building with no plans for where 1800 people are going to go.
National Science Foundation Staff Booted From Headquarters - Eos
Staff at the National Science Foundation (NSF) were notified on 25 June that the agency’s office space, located in Alexandria, Va., will be taken over by Department of Housing and Urban Development (H...
eos.org
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Reposted by Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪
petridishes.bsky.social
Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · Jun 22
it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time
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Reposted by Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪
anniemcg.bsky.social
Annie @anniemcg.bsky.social · Jun 15
This is how it’s done!
👊🏿👊🏾👊🏽👊🏼👊🏻
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Jun 15
A very important doggo from one of today's #NoKings protests. (The other side of his signs says "No tariffs on treats")

@weratedogs.com
A pale yellow lab on a red leash looks happily at the woman petting him. He is adorned with red white and blue pompoms and wearing a sign on each side. The visible sign reads "Pro Democracy, Pro Choice, Pro Science, Pro Women, Pro Dogs". Around him, protesterscmill about with similar signs.
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Jun 14
If anyone wants to hear me and my observatory's monitoring chief talk California volcanoes, this week's NSPR Blue Dot podcast is out! 🧪⚒️🌋

Blue Dot: The Golden State's volcanic legacy: The USGS California Volcano Observatory | NSPR share.google/mko4KMElJXsU...
Blue Dot: The golden state's volcanic legacy: The USGS California Volcano Observatory
Host Dave Schlom discusses one of his favorite topics, California's volcanoes, with two United States Geological Survey staff members from the USGS California Volcano Observatory based at Moffett Fiel...
share.google
4 16 69
tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Jun 4
Pls elaborate on Shia LaBeouf, I implore you
a close up of a sad cat with the words pleeeaasse written below it
ALT: a close up of a sad cat with the words pleeeaasse written below it
media.tenor.com
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Jun 4
Imagine this thread, with added volcanoes, and you've got a decent idea of what my job feels like nowadays. I'm either depressed or angry, unable to plan, constantly on edge. Utterly maddening when all I want to do is help people.
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · May 31
Well, that's the presidential proposed USGS budget for FY26. It’s not just NSF and NASA that would be taking earth science research hits if it's enacted.
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · May 26
Okay, probably closer to 300. But yowie!
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · May 26
Not even in frame. That's gotta be over 400 meters
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · May 26
Holy mackerel! Check out today's Kilauea eruption www.youtube.com/live/BqmpkUd...
[V3cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (south Halemaʻumaʻu crater)
YouTube video by USGS
www.youtube.com
3 3 26
tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · May 21
There's a great paper by Dave Hill (former USGS seismologist) about the Mammoth crisis at link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...) He spent much of his career running the Long Valley Observatory (now CalVO) and working to repair trust in the USGS in Mammoth.
Volcanic Unrest and Hazard Communication in Long Valley Volcanic Region, California
The onset of volcanic unrest in Long Valley Caldera, California, in 1980 and the subsequent fluctuations in unrest levels through May 2016 illustrate: (1) the evolving relations between scientists mon...
link.springer.com
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · May 21
Making hazard maps is HARD, too. So many questions to answer before drawing lines! Do you show where hazards have been or where they might go in the future? Will the volcano behave the same way it did in the past or throw you a curveball? Do you show the worst case or the most likely scenario?
a white cat is sitting with a question mark above it
ALT: a white cat is sitting with a question mark above it
media.tenor.com
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · May 21
I should point out that the USGS is not the agency that makes decisions about exclusion zones. Recommendations, yes, which do err on the conservative side, but it is the emergency managers' call where to draw the lines.
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · May 12
You can also get different plume colors depending on how the light is scattered by sulfate aerosols! www.usgs.gov/observatorie...
Volcano Watch — Colorful plumes – can we see volcanic gases?
When volcanic gases are released into the atmosphere, resulting plumes sometimes appear to have a faint color. Is this color indicative of a certain gas present? Answering this question requires descr...
www.usgs.gov
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Reposted by Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · May 6
🚨 Cool new project alert 🚨

WE- you, me, everyone- need to work together to get important science messages out to people.

4 artists & 3 scientists collab'd on these posters. We hope YOU will put them out in your community. Each poster comes w/info about each topic.

Get 'em Squidfacts.bigcartel.com
4 12x18 inch posters on a brick and concrete wall. The top left is pink and says funding science saves lives, written in microbes, next to a microscope. The one on the right says Biology is bigger than binaries, with a fish, a lily, and a bee. The bottom left says Protecting wildlife starts wtih you, with a bunch of adiorable woodland creatues in yellow, white and black, including an owl, fungi, a... um. weasel? salamanders, butterflies, slugs, and a rotting log. The bottom right says Will our oceans thrive or nosedive the choice is yours, with the ocean represented in a circle, half of which is dead and half of which is alive, including kelp and a mackerel
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Apr 16
We could say Childless Third Sex, or, and hear me out,
a cartoon of a dragon with the words your worst nightmare below it
Alt: A cartoon of mushu the dragon spreading a set of wings and saying "your worst nightmare"
media.tenor.com
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tuffcookie.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪 @tuffcookie.bsky.social · Apr 7
I've been knitting those too! The mini version. They're so satisfying.
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Ball 🍪
xkcd.com
Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · Apr 1
Orogeny xkcd.com/3070
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