Does anyone know if there are any good materials to use for insulating a house with plaster walls? Whenever I look this up, I see articles saying the insulation will just get wet, causing it to sag down to the bottom of the wall cavity. The conventional wisdom seems to say it's not worth it, and to just make your home more air-tight and turn up the furnace. I have a hard time swallowing this, though. Any suggestions?
Given it’s international women’s day, I’d like to encourage you all, but especially Dutch men to read these ‘anti-acknowledgments’ in a PhD thesis. This is not from somewhere else, it’s from Delft. And it’s not from the 1950s, but from the present. Unfortunately what academic life and culture in The Netherlands is still like. The author is just one of the few who actually spoke up about it, but there are many stories like it.
(Alt at https://pastebin.com/cqLvxX1f)
The current administration has proposed to cap indirect costs (which covers laboratory maintenance, equipment provision and salaries for support and administrative staff) at the National Institute for Health at 15%, from the current levels of 50%-70%, which will likely make many ongoing research projects impossible to continue in their current form.
My own mathematics department receives very little direct funding from the #nih, but already the mere *possibility* of such a drastic cap has impacted us; we have been unable to make a job offer to an outstanding candidate because the budget uncertainty created by this proposal has forced my university to close off almost all discretionary sources of funding for faculty hiring at all departments, regardless of their level of NIH support.
My university, as well as many others, are circulating a letter of support for NIH funding of biomedical research, for which the US is currently an international leader. The letter is available for anyone to sign at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Agzz5mQgfEMpLlBhoE4ZyHdiTvdc9O84zF4vNEHyKTI/viewform?edit_requested=true
As researchers representing universities across the country, the last few weeks have been filled with uncertainty. As you are aware, the Trump administration’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposal to cap facilities and administration (F&A) costs at 15% will have serious and life-threatening impacts nationwide. The United States is the world leader of biomedical research – and this is because of the partnership that the federal government and our universities and research centers have forged over the last century. This partnership has positioned our country at the forefront of scientific breakthroughs and biomedical advancements and catalyzed countless new business opportunities in the field of biomedical entrepreneurship, a vital part of the country's economic engine. To this end, we kindly request you add your signature to this new letter advocating for NIH funding that fully covers the costs of research at our institutions. We also ask that you please share this with any of your colleagues and national research networks and encourage them to sign as well.
A straight white guy friend was complaining about not being able to find any gaming groups for WoW that weren't full of MAGA assholes. He said he keeps joining guilds with older (60+) casual gamers like himself because he can't keep up with the kids, and he'll start to make friends, but then they will reveal themselves to be Trump-lovers. He asked, "What am I doing wrong?"
I said, "First of all, your screen name is Russian. Leftys are gonna be wary of that, and the Alt-right loves it.
Second, you should put some social signals in your bio, like pronouns."
"Okay, but how do I tell people I'm cool, but I'm not gay or trans?"
I explained to him what "cis" and "ally" mean. He had never heard of this before, which showed me what kind of online spaces he was landing in.
Next, I said, "Look for the furries."
"But, I'm not a furry?"
"Yes, but the presence of furries are like lichen. They are a sign of a healthy ecosystem."
This was about 3 months ago. Now, he tells me he joined a guild labeled as LGBTQ-friendly and has made several new cool friends. He says, "I thought they would be talking about sex all the time but it's just a regular group." He mentioned that there are many women and PoC in the group too, and "Everyone's so nice on dungeon runs, telling people they did a good job and being supportive, sharing loot."
I didn't tell him that this is what the whole world would be like without patriarchal toxic masculinity, because I think he figured it out himself.
Solarpunk is a worldview.
Solarpunk is a vision for the future that gives us a universe to build inside - ours - and a framework to realize it - current technology.
Solarpunk is real-day science fiction world building.
Solarpunk is hope inspiring anger.
Solarpunk is something we each have to realize for ourselves.
Solarpunk is looking at our human environments as ecosystems.
Solarpunk is holding on tight to weather the storms on the horizon.
#solarpunk for all
I have been incredibly impressed with Alt National Park Service since Trump's first term. People like this are preserving vital records, refusing to comply, continuing to speak out.
Everyone should
1 - be informed (but limit the firehose)
2 - do not comply
3 - support each other and everyone resisting (build systems of care outside capitalism)
Petite #introduction 🙊
J'aime ce qui vit dans les airs, et dont la présence apporte paix et beauté dans le monde
Amie des oiseaux, surtout les plus petits, que j'aime observer, soigner, écouter, voir éclore et grandir
Passionnée de plantes rares : roses anciennes, pélargoniums insolites, érables du Japon, agrumes, fruitiers originaux...
Humaine domestique de deux créatures canines adeptes de jardinage hardcore (à la mode Attila)
Engagée depuis plus de 20 ans dans le milieu associatif de l'élevage amateur d'oiseaux d'ornement pour la conservation des espèces
Ici pour des échanges constructifs et respectueux 👋
marlies 
Terence Tao
Cat
Tank
Sue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱
Senator Paula Simons🇨🇦
Chris Trottier
Alice Maurisot