Mastodawn

Joel VanderWerf

@joelvanderwerf@sfba.social

161 Followers

153 Following

4.8K Posts

Mathematician. Applying semigroup theory to distributed computing, convergent replication.

Might move here from

@joelvanderwerf

Joel VanderWerf 1d ago

NYT:

#Tesla shares plunged 7% in early trading on Monday as investors registered dismay at Elon #Musk’s plans to form a third political party and his intensifying feud with #Trump.

Joel VanderWerf 2d ago

The perfect sticker for an old macbook that doesn’t quite work right

Joel VanderWerf 2d ago

Hisstogramma 6d ago

A friend’s son took this photo. Basically a bunch of teenagers taped duct tape onto their pant legs sticky side out and ran around in some open grassland. They did this — just because. I keep meaning to show this to my company HSE department to show we aren’t over-reacting to ticks after all. This is from Marin County about a few weeks ago. #ticks #teenagers #tick-willies

Joel VanderWerf 2d ago

RandomBaywatch 2d ago

Roller Skating

Baywatch Nights 1x02 - Bad Blades

#RandomBaywatch #lvdlpx #Baywatch #BaywatchNights #BadBlades #Sport #Skating #RollerSkating

Joel VanderWerf 2d ago

Brent Sleeper Jun 1

Sanctum sanctorum.

#RollerSkating #Architecture #Church #Color #Light #ChurchOf8Wheels #Fillmore #WesternAddition #SanFrancisco

Joel VanderWerf 2d ago

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

KXAN Meteorologist Jim Spencer:

"I'll keep my thoughts on that press conference to myself, but my phone is blowing up with friends asking me if federal cuts and hiring freezes contributed to this disaster to begin with. Currently at our local National Weather Service office, due to early retirement packages to reduce its budget/personnel and a hiring freeze there are: *Warning and Coordination Meteorologist position open (yes they coordinate Warnings) *2 open meteorologists positions (yes they are on call 24(7) *Hydrologist position open (yes, they project floods) *Electronic Tech position open *Manager position open So, | don’t know — you tell me. Look up Josh Hinkle and David Barer's investigation on our website. They've done fantastic, rapid work and are only just beginning."

#disaster #TXwx

Joel VanderWerf 3d ago

Dare Obasanjo 4d ago

The next few years in America are going to be full of predictable and self inflicted disasters such as these.

We’ve traded lives and well being for tax cuts and mass deportations.

Joel VanderWerf 4d ago

The hatch where burgers go in and out.

Joel VanderWerf 4d ago

When the Jawas settle down and open a filling station.

Joel VanderWerf 5d ago

Molly White 6d ago

NYC, 1919: Perched on a towering pile of donated books, a librarian calls from a megaphone to request more book donations for American troops stationed in France. The American Library Association’s campaign sent up to 55,000 books each month to military camp libraries.

via Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.40926/

#archivespelunking #books #bookstodon

×

AI6YR Ben 2d ago

KXAN Meteorologist Jim Spencer:

"I'll keep my thoughts on that press conference to myself, but my phone is blowing up with friends asking me if federal cuts and hiring freezes contributed to this disaster to begin with. Currently at our local National Weather Service office, due to early retirement packages to reduce its budget/personnel and a hiring freeze there are: *Warning and Coordination Meteorologist position open (yes they coordinate Warnings) *2 open meteorologists positions (yes they are on call 24(7) *Hydrologist position open (yes, they project floods) *Electronic Tech position open *Manager position open So, | don’t know — you tell me. Look up Josh Hinkle and David Barer's investigation on our website. They've done fantastic, rapid work and are only just beginning."

#disaster #TXwx

Anne Ominous 2d ago

@ai6yr please, folks... stop giving people a pass by keeping your thoughts to yourselves.

we are in dire straits and people need to have some courage...

Alton Barrett 2d ago

Hello
@rustoleumlove @ai6yr

Aye

#BeAsCourageous #AsYouCan

@rustoleumlove @ai6yr

I'm guessing this is some of the "Josh Hinkle and David Barer's" investigation

"Federal forecast concerns surface in Texas’ deadly flooding debate"

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/federal-forecast-concerns-surface-in-texas-deadly-flooding-debate/

@ai6yr The Eyewall team made a compelling case of why this particular tragedy seems unrelated to current cuts/understaffing, but warned that future events *will* be worse due to cuts. Also, the area in question had opportunities to install flash flood sirens in the past, but deemed them too expensive at the time (not due to cuts, just miserly greed). It’s hard to draw conclusions at this time, but hopefully any investigation will reveal answers and lead to better safety measures. It’s so sad. 😞

@ai6yr
Here are The Eyewall posts that helped me understand more about the forecasting part of this tragedy, in case others are interested:

Yesterday’s Eyewall:
https://theeyewall.com/making-sense-of-the-weather-that-led-to-a-horrible-texas-flooding-tragedy-plus-tropical-storm-chantal/

Today’s Eyewall:
https://theeyewall.com/chantal-makes-landfall-near-myrtle-beach-and-now-moving-inland-as-a-rainmaker/

Making sense of the weather that led to a horrible Texas flooding tragedy, plus Tropical Storm Chantal

In brief: Invest 92L became Tropical Depression 3 yesterday and is now Tropical Storm Chantal. It’s en route to the Carolinas. We take a detailed look at what occurred in Texas Thursday night…

The Eyewall

Jeri Dansky 2d ago

@tiamat271 @ai6yr The Eyewall is so good! I subscribe to their newsletter and I’ve been quoting them a lot the last couple days.

And they have a Mastodon account: @theeyewallwx

@jeridansky @ai6yr @theeyewallwx oh thank you for the reminder! I also follow them here, but completely forgot to tag them lol

Jeri Dansky 1d ago

@tiamat271 @ai6yr @theeyewallwx And The Eyewall just moved to Substack, so I just unsubscribed. For ethical reasons I don't subscribe to anything on Substack, and I'm really disappointed to see this move.

Anomalous Human 2d ago

@tiamat271 @ai6yr Do you have links for the past occasions when the warning systems had been rejected? That'll save me time searching.

@JustToOdd @ai6yr I’m sorry, I don’t. In today’s post, it links to a press conference where (I think?) warning systems are discussed, but it’s on Xitter so I didn’t click on it. Also, replies to today’s and yesterday’s posts suggests the county has declined to build flood sirens after prior deadly floods (while neighboring counties did build them and used them successfully over the weekend), but I don’t have citations.

Anomalous Human 2d ago

@tiamat271 @ai6yr Cool. The closest I've found is this which is missing key information.

https://nerdculture.de/@JustToOdd/114807229151478665

Anomalous Human (@JustToOdd@nerdculture.de)

>>In 2018, Kerr County, along with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, applied for a $1 million grant for a flood warning system. “That application was not selected, okay. That’s the bad news,” a commissioner said, according to Kerr County commissioner meeting minutes at the time. Two years later, in 2020, according to Kerr County meeting minutes, that same commissioner said: “We’ve been trying to get a new flood warning system here.”<< https://www.kxan.com/investigations/kerrville-didnt-have-weather-sirens-used-by-other-cities/ #Kerrville #Texas #Flooding #KerrCounty #PublicSafety #EmergencyManagement

NerdCulture

CodeByJeff - Now with AI!2d ago

@tiamat271 @ai6yr is mirrors my suspicions exactly, though I'm waiting to let investigations happen before shouting my ideas

I'm also curious if there will end up being regulations about minimum safety measures needed for a large camp of children that got pushed under the rug with a wink and a nudge...

Actually to toss in another explanation for the Texas disaster.

One reason for Texas' cheaper housing is they weren't paying any attention to where the flood plains are.

Apparently after Harvey they finally completed their first state wide flooding plain analysis in 2023, and found 20% of the state lives in a flood plain.

"Almost 6 million Texans, or about 20% of the population, live in an area susceptible to flooding, according to first-of-its-kind data gathered as part of a statewide effort to harden Texas against floods and rising sea levels."

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/28/texas-floodplain-water-development-board-flood-plan/

One in five Texans lives in a floodplain, state’s first-ever analysis shows

As it prepares a statewide flood prevention plan, the state found that almost 6 million Texans live in an area susceptible to floodwaters.

The Texas Tribune

Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD 2d ago

@alienghic @ai6yr There are at least two blog posts on Substack where people say that the NWS was able to do their predictions of this event despite the staff reductions, but the NOAA research on how to make the predictions better will be zeroed out in the President's Budget Request for FY26.
https://theeyewall.substack.com/p/making-sense-of-the-weather-that
https://substack.com/inbox/post/167593068

Making sense of the weather that led to a horrible Texas flooding tragedy, plus Tropical Storm Chantal

In brief: Invest 92L became Tropical Depression 3 yesterday and is now Tropical Storm Chantal.

The Eyewall

@EricFielding @ai6yr

Yale climate connections also seems to think the NWS issued the alerts with time for warning and of sufficient severity.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/07/devastating-flash-floods-slam-texas-hill-country-tropical-storm-chantal-heads-for-carolinas/

Though they do mention.

"It remains unclear whether or how the overnight warnings made it to the people most at risk – a classic 'last-mile problem.'"

Over here in California when faced with wildfire eventually the police or sheriffs get sent out to tell people to evacuate, did they do that? (Though considering how fast this event happened was that even possible?)

Also were there power outages before the flooding? Does Texas require cell towers to have battery back up? Since this apparently happened in hilly terrain, how bad is phone coverage in the region, did people even get the alerts?

Devastating flash floods slam Texas Hill Country; Tropical Storm Chantal heads for Carolinas

At least 27 deaths were confirmed in central Texas, with dozens of people still missing.

Yale Climate Connections

Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD 2d ago

@alienghic @ai6yr The flood zone risks are a huge problem. In the hilly area around Kerrville, Texas, there is not much land that is not too steep to build on and is not in the flood plains. This is the same problem they have in the mountains of North Carolina, West Virginia, and Kentucky that have had catastrophic floods.

McNadoMD 2d ago

@ai6yr the plot thickens.

Callista Graves 2d ago

@ai6yr I have a certain degree of sympathy for the lost and drowned children, but come on, THEY VOTED FOR THIS!

And now they're getting it, good and hard!

Whoops. It's almost like elections have consequences.

Oregon Wine Woman 2d ago

@ai6yr
Thank you. Keep it coming.