I just rewatched Children of Men, and honestly it never felt more relevant. The horrifying treatment of immigrants looked all too familiar, and the rest of the dystopia felt far too real. Hell, even the demographic collapse premise, which seemed insane in 2006, might come true as well!

the Democrats retaking the House and Senate, on its own, will not destroy the Republican project. The only way to do that is a broad, years-long cross-ideological commitment to break American conservatism's power base TL;DR congressional Dems must be forced into war with the used car salesmen.

Since this conspiracy theory keeps circulating and has now made it to the White House. www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

The amount of misinformation we’re getting about an incident that just occurred in front of 1,500 news reporters is truly the metaphor of our generation.

Now that I am off on parental leave, it’s time to finally read @wellerstein.bsky.social latest book! My wife had rave reviews of it, so I’m excited to dig in and maybe read out loud to the baby. It’s never too early to teach the complexity of nuclear weapons!

... weapons physicists, engineers, chemists, material scientists, mathematicians, etc for the future. Without the best and brightest - and these students are the best and brightest, I am glad to be able to say - there is no NNSA. Shortsighted and self harming to kill that funding.

As for the stupid: Zeroing out the NNSA Academic Programs funding is impossibly stupid. It's got idiot DOGE staffer all over it. That ~$100M account is probably the most effective money NNSA spends for the arsenal, period. Couch cushion change level of money to ensure a steady supply of...

It's late Friday evening & world events have kept us from doing the obvious #nukesky dissection and cross examination of the DOE+NNSA FY27 budget. There's some good, some bad and some very stupid to work thru. The #1 weapon related line item people have brought up is pits. Let's start there.

A paper I am coauthor on, which is the result of a fun idea from almost 4 years ago by @nuke-luke.bsky.social, just was published! It dives into the idea that current SETI searches are missing the best part of the EM spectrum for messages, x-rays! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Diablo Canyon just got its license extensions from the NRC! Unit 1 is licensed to run until 2044, Unit 2 2045. The plant generated 9% of the state’s total electricity and 17% of its zero-carbon power www.sfchronicle.com/california/a... (The catch is that CA law currently allows it to run to 2030)

This article has a really interesting chart that I have long wondered about. The number of designers at a lab (in this case LLNL) vs the number with actual nuke experience, and this is from 2 decades back! A modern chart of the whole NNSA would be really interesting.

Insert John Pedicini "if only you knew how bad things really are" meme here srsbzns: When people hear "modernization" they think about new nuclear bombs. They think about new military capabilities and expanding the arsenal. Understandable, but mostly not true. My nightmare in one graph (+🧵):

I’m sure there are a bunch of German and Belgian politicians wondering if they screwed up by closing nuclear plants for gas. Even then, I bet this just ends up with more Russian gas being burnt instead of a smart and ethical action. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Re-upping this since people are talking about Plowshare to make a new canal. Read this book if you can! If not, the TLDR is that it’s expensive, dangerous, and didn’t work out even in an era where nukes could get used every day. Also the whole thing is a proliferation nightmare.

"There is a world of difference between detectable and dangerous, And our detectors get better every year."

I’m glad I went out to watch the Super Bowl this year, the reaction of my fellow New Mexicans to the half time show alone was worth it. People were cheering more than during the game!

What even is the point of TSA precheck, clear, mm-wave scanners and the like if I still have to take my boots off in the end? Billions of dollars spent and all of it still can’t tell if it’s eyelets on my boots or a bomb. God I hate security theater.

Echoed. The Second Amendment, as currently interpreted, is a political and civic right for all Americans. Please do not take this as a statement of encouragement or me being some gun nut. This is a plain English descriptive fact of US law. If you choose to exercise it, do so soberly and responsibly.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that DHS in Minneapolis was ordered to shoot someone today in response to yesterday's peaceful protest, and complied eagerly. These people must hang for their crimes against us.

I finally finished it! The book can be a bit of a slog, but not too bad. The story of how the AEC (mis)handled the public concerns with Plowshare are super relevant to everyone in the nuclear field and beyond. I think folks in fusion should *really* look closely at those lessons in particular.

An interesting bit of personal growth for me has been how I went from thinking the “abolish ICE” folks were just being edgy a couple of years ago and now think that’s the compromise position. I had no clue what ICE actually was and just kind of assumed it was a thing that always existed.

I’m finally reading this book and it’s very interesting how tone deaf the advocates of Plowshare were. It honestly reminds me a lot of the AI boosting hype now days where every “nail” needs the AI hammer, wether people want it or not.

Today in “the grift just keeps getting worse”, we have TAE, a fusion startup, merging with Trump media. This one kind of hurts since I did some work with them in grad school. www.reuters.com/business/tru...

An absolutely horrifying event. My sincerest condolences to Professor Loureiro’s family and I hope the perpetrator is caught immediately. abcnews.go.com/US/mit-profe...

It's pretty wild committing to and from the birth place of nuclear weapons while listening to @iwriteok.bsky.social talk about it on his podcast. I am big fan of BTB, but wasn't sure if I should give the nuclear war episodes a listen.

I just had a car dealership knock $750 off for getting a PhD. It was all worth the five and a half years guys! It was all for this! 😂

It’s fun to be back at the @UofR LLE and doing laser wakefield based radiography again. Fingers crossed we get some good images out!

Today is my first day as a staff scientist. After literal decades of school, I finally have a “real” job.

I just saw an add on broadcast TV to join ICE… Christ man, I never thought I would see adds for the modern day Gestapo on live TV but I suppose I should have expected it. Also $50K signing bonus plus more than scientist pay!? I see where all of our deficit spending is going now days.

I picked up some light reading for the weekend. I'm excited to learn just how nuts those 50's/60's weapons scientists were!

Welp, the tariffs got me. I ordered some optics from France(literally the only supplier in the world for these parts) and they are now hundreds of dollars more expensive and massively delayed in customs. Are we winning yet Donnie?

I finally got to see the NIF today and just… wow. What a massive scientific cathedral! I also really like how they kept the target holders from the first burning plasma and ignited shots! Those are great pieces of history.

I have finally been in a truly autonomous car (Waymo)! It’s a very neat and seamless experience, although notably more expensive and less responsive than Uber/Lyft. The cars a nice though, and drive quite well.

I was lucky enough to be able to see the SLAC facility (LCLS-II and I) yesterday. These are honest to god x-ray lasers! I would argue that this is probably the most useful scientific facility this country has made yet.

I just had the most Bay Area experience ever. I went to a coffee shop where the coffee was made and served by a robot! The bot proceeded to spill everywhere and the coffee cost more than just going to Starbucks, so I think barista jobs remain safe.

It’s always fun to get to see accelerators, especially such historic machines! This is using the steel from one of Lawerence’s original cyclotrons to make the Crocker cyclotron at Davis. It’s used for space radiation, isotope production, and eye cancer treatment.

I signed my Scientist 2 conversion paperwork today at LANL! It’s been a whirlwind post-doc, but I’m excited to stay on and work on modernizing our nations radiographic capabilities. I’ll do some fusion and pure accelerator physics on the side as well.

This is a really, really big deal. A top Republican NRC appointee has resigned in protest over what the admin, and DOGE in particular, are trying to do to them. This is a bad sign for both nuclear safety and the industry. kaufman.substack.com/p/a-top-us-n...

80 years on from Trinity, the true start of the Atomic Age. Here’s hoping none of us ever get to see the terrifying beauty of one of these monsters in the open. Credit @wellerstein.bsky.social awesome article for the quote!

Interesting thought for yall. If companies like @KairosPower provide a large enough enriched Li-7 supply, designs for mobile, lithium cooled reactors like the LCRE could become practical. Could be fun to reconsider at least! www.osti.gov/servlets/pur...

I waited to write a 4th of July post until I got proper riled up on sun and cheap beer. "July 4th is wrong this year, it feels like there's nothing to celebrate." Not true. This is the easiest Independence Day we might have ever had. Do you believe in freedom from tyrants? Then this Bud's for you.

If you go to any 4th of July parties today, I urge you to play this song and make any confederate flag waving weirdos cry. m.youtube.com/watch?v=DhSz...

And my latest paper has finally been published! This was based on an INFUSE grant from the DOE to investigate powerful THz sources with TAE Technologies. pubs.aip.org/aip/pop/arti...

One year(ish) into being at LANL and I’m batting 250/330 (depending on how you want to count) on LDRDs. It would be nice to hit off even more, but it feels good to get one the first time around as is! Now to actually accomplish what I claimed we could…

🗽Unlike most states, New York can directly order the construction of a nuclear plant. As @fredstaffordcs.bsky.social points out, Hochul doesn’t have to beg private developers to do it. This is abundance. 🔌💡 www.wsj.com/business/ene...

In today’s tiny bit of good news, I just had a paper accepted for publication! It always feels so damn good when you get that email.

Some more...anodyne...☢️ commentary, perhaps ill timed, but I was reminded today. The public comment period for the NNSA draft Environmental Impact Statement for the new Savannah River plutonium pit facility is open for another month. I encourage followers to write in support of the project. 🧵

After ~52 hours of travel I have *finally* made it home. The CDG airport really does its best to ruin my trips and this time was an exceptionally unpleasant example. Paris should probably level that place and try again.

Weddings in India really are as hectic, big, and amazing as everyone says they are. I’m feeling very blessed to be able to attend one.

I’ve learned a couple of things so far in India. First, the food rocks as you would expect. Second, the people are all incredibly friendly. Third, the taxi drivers all have the divine protection of Vishnu, since nothing else would keep them alive driving like that.