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Mike Westphal

@mfwestphal

Biologist, writer, father of three, anti-fascist. he/him https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Westphal/publications

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Latest posts by Mike Westphal @mfwestphal

‘Coronal hole’ explains 2026

13.03.2026 20:17 👍 7 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0

I spent a day once with the head of a major nonprofit whose job was getting with donors. I asked him what was different about the ultra wealthy, and his immediate response was “They rarely hear people saying no to them.” Which makes me wonder about all these billionaires saying “yes” to Trump.

13.03.2026 12:45 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Seems to me that disenfranchising a half dozen racist, misogynistic rich fucks would be a lot more societally healthy than disenfranchising billions of non-billionaires

13.03.2026 12:14 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Thinking about that video of the DOGE kid basically admitting putting all references to DEI or LGBTQIA+ in the "computer says your funding is revoked" bin, before conceding they didn't manage to reduce the deficit.

Cocky. Arrogant. Utterly ignorant.

I just want to throw things at the wall.

13.03.2026 11:41 👍 28 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

i feel like if i was tasked with not starting a war and bringing back US manufacturing jobs, i could have done a better job than this

12.03.2026 22:36 👍 25691 🔁 2771 💬 751 📌 151
Terry Pratchett in a blue jacket and Akubra hat holding a young owl for release.

Terry Pratchett in a blue jacket and Akubra hat holding a young owl for release.

Eleven years since you crossed the black sands. I wish I could say that the world is better than you left it (although it will always be better for having had you in it) but at least there is a new Young Sam to help carry on the Pratchett name and ethos. Love you always ❤️

12.03.2026 18:05 👍 10257 🔁 1483 💬 232 📌 121

That smugness, that impatient with the questions. The proud ignorance. This kid is a poster child for white supremacy.

12.03.2026 17:08 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It’s a good question and a good answer

12.03.2026 00:59 👍 177 🔁 31 💬 1 📌 0

What enraged them wasn’t that woke was out of control, it was that there was any woke, at all

12.03.2026 14:19 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Can’t tell you how down I am for the badger bank note.

11.03.2026 18:17 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

So many topics, from programming languages to typography to urbanism, simply end at a chained off sign saying "Capitalism ended progress here" dated back to some year after Reagan

11.03.2026 17:05 👍 17 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 1
Post image

One thing I admire about Red-winged Blackbirds--they really belt it out. This guy is putting everything into his song. Spotted along Central Park's Harlem Meer. 🎶🎶🎶 #Blackbirds #CentralPark #birding

11.03.2026 13:47 👍 89 🔁 25 💬 0 📌 0

So when are they gonna mandate that all Americans wear aluminum foil hats? I’m not even joking.

11.03.2026 13:40 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

What I didn’t say: there are no people who want to use LMM to write books for them to put their names on; there are no people who will read such books

What I did say: There is no problem this solves—not supply, not demand, not cost—unless you consider the existence of a human author a problem.

11.03.2026 12:35 👍 206 🔁 14 💬 5 📌 0

My son is just finishing up his training and has gotten a couple of job offers from ballet companies, which he is mulling over. I think it would be news to him that his profession is dying. It’s certainly news to me. And, he has steel cables for muscles. Chalamet should take care who he disses.

11.03.2026 00:31 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

If you would have said that it was 89 or 98 I'm guessing it would still be fairly accurate.

10.03.2026 12:00 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0

This post needs to be viral because it nails it *exactly*.
✴️

10.03.2026 09:47 👍 13 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0

It’s just the sheer stupidity of these people that gets to me

10.03.2026 12:56 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I’m not sure how many people truly appreciate Powers’s contribution to SF. He started in the early 50s and went right up into the 90s, creating over 600 SF covers, evolving the whole way as an artist. The absolute king of the trippy SF cover. Nothing like him before or since. www.richardmpowers.com

10.03.2026 02:33 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Lindsey Graham rubbing his hands over the prospect of gaining hegemony over world oil is hilarious. That was a thing literally 50 years ago. It’s like Dr. Evil announcing he’s going to extort the world for… one million dollars! What’s not hilarious is all the suffering he and Trump are causing.

09.03.2026 16:13 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
a still from the horror movie, From Beyond, in which a mad, mutated scientist chokes Barbara Crampton

a still from the horror movie, From Beyond, in which a mad, mutated scientist chokes Barbara Crampton

Good morning. What daylight savings time feels like.

09.03.2026 14:08 👍 61 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
Large tortoiseshell butterfly confirmed no longer extinct in UK Early spring sightings show colourful insect is a resident species for first time in decades, says conservation charity

A little good news.

09.03.2026 13:06 👍 111 🔁 45 💬 3 📌 0

They clearly understood the assignment

09.03.2026 13:46 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Watch Jamelle Bouie's short videos. Best commentator around.

09.03.2026 02:52 👍 77 🔁 10 💬 2 📌 0

Fuck the Republicans.

09.03.2026 01:16 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

republicans have literally made everything worse and harder and more terrible over the course of my entire life and somehow* they keep coming back to power bc of our feckless corporate press and a weak willed opposition 😒

*sob

09.03.2026 00:53 👍 2410 🔁 433 💬 3 📌 0

Wow, that’s giving big @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social energy

08.03.2026 16:27 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Floral installation with dead tree from Philadelphia Flower Show

Floral installation with dead tree from Philadelphia Flower Show

How did you know?

Here’s another one of the trippy floral installations:

08.03.2026 16:18 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1

Great piece! I wonder if I’m not the only one who immediately pictured you giving your talk at the horticultural society flanked by a half dozen guys in army fatigues slouching on lawn chairs.

08.03.2026 16:03 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
The Corporate Miscreants Driving the Affordability Crisis These 20 firms all have something in common: Their CEOs get paid millions, their workers are being pushed onto public assistance, and voters are fed up with them.

Brian Niccol of Starbucks took home the award for the most nonsensical disparity between CEO and employee income: He earns $95,801,676, while the median salary for a Starbucks employee was a mere $14,674. trib.al/EOv81eF

08.03.2026 13:47 👍 210 🔁 101 💬 21 📌 15