Do I know any non-ophthalmology full professors at Pitt who are on Bsky here?

Portrait: Michael Telias (In My Office) #VisionScientist #Scientist bryanwjones.com/2025/09/port...

This is what chaos makers do... They stir $#!^ up and make other people with better things to do in their lives and the lives of others have to take time and effort out to correct the things the chaos makers do and say. Chaos makers are the real vampires. They suck your life, and are really uncool.

Google… What a slimy thing to do.

P.S. If you catch us on the metro, we'd love to see your photos! Tag us at @propublica.org 📸

👋 Whether it’s via truck or @wmata.com train, we mean it when we say: *We want to meet people where they are.* Current and former federal workers.: Reach out at 917-512-0201 on Signal or propublica.org/tips 👇

My wife’s gym gave her the runaround when trying to quit and she just told them that she’d report them for credit card fraud if they did not agree to stop charging her. Also, your credit card companies are pretty good about stopping charges when you request it.

Yeah, just GTFO already. Jesus won't mind... though with the way a bunch of you are behaving, you might have an unpleasant surprise. Why? Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore. They're already overcrowded from your dirty little culture war. (apologies to John Prine).

The Trump UN address is the most dystopian thing I think I've ever seen. It's like some scene out of a 80's Robocop film. It would be comically stupid if it were not our painful reality. And the body language of all of the other diplomats in the room is reading as between angry and uncomfortable.

I miss democracy, egalitarianism, science, and TRUTH

I miss the boring politics of the Obama years where everything just worked, our allies liked us, and food was more affordable. There was none of this nonsense where government was crawling into every aspect of people's lives, and we did not have to fear Dear Leader.

Pure delight.

I got my flu and COVID vaccines yesterday and the CVS person said they were having a run on them. The guy next to me said: “yeah, because you never know if that guy in the White House is going to try and take them away from Americans or not.” The woman behind him said: “I’m so scared of that guy”.

All my emails to Director Bhattacharya now available... jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

Here is a plot in terms of PROJECTS rather than dollars. I am using projects rather than awards so that projects that received supplements do not get double-counted. While the FY25 curve is improving, it seems that the number of funded projects will drop by 3000-4000 compared with FY24.

Since we’re in the process of being inundated with BS about the cause of autism, let’s take a look at some of the empirical studies in the literature on the link between acetaminophen and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Grab some popcorn and put on your 🧪 hats folks. A 🧵 1/8

I was asked to apply for a prestigious position at Oxford, leveraging our expertise in connectomics. I declined. For lots of reasons. And this was *before* Starmer started defunding programs and working to keep foreign students out of the UK. Nationalism makes countries weaker.

According to PRRI, as of 2024 only 40% of the country identifies as some variant of Protestantism (both liberal and conservative). So this definition of America excludes a majority of the people currently living here. prri.org/spotlight/20...

My Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Mormon, agnostic and atheist brothers and sisters: This version of America does not include you. We warned you about this, and now it is here. You can still save yourself, and our country though. It's harder now, but we still have to fight for it.

At the Nuremberg trials, Karl Dönitz was convicted of war crimes for the sinking of civilian vessels. This is not a complicated question, it's been illegal for centuries.

Webvision Has A New Home! www.webvision.pitt.edu/2025/09/22/w...

The frustrating thing is we know improving social services reduces homelessness, poverty, crime, illness/death, etc. while reducing costs for everyone. But when we say government exists for the communal good, enough people respond “absolutely not”.

When I was a kid, I had friends who's family had a home with one of these. It was amazing. It was perfect. We played Dungeons and Dragons there. We laughed and hung out there. His sister and I made out there. We listened to Dark Side of the Moon there... in the dark. We cried together there.

A few years ago, I watched as two Finnish police officers stopped to help a woman on the street. One of the officers explained to me that Finland had decided to end homelessness. On top of that, they provide social services to the people they give homes too. Guess what? It's a good investment.

A number of countries and even cities within the United States of America have tried this experiment. Believe it or not, Salt Lake City, Utah did this a few years ago, and yes, it cost less money to house the chronically homeless than it did to provide EMS, police, and hospital services. Way less.

"The Bund is open to you, provided you are sincere, of good character, of White Gentile Stock, and an American Citizen imbued with patriotic zeal. Therefore: Join!" ~ Bundesfuhrer, Fritz Kuhn

A visual reminder that aircraft move through a gaseous medium that must be compressed and displaced in order for them to fly.

Thinking of you, @aresluna.org

There is nothing quite so delightful as a fuzzy soul who is absolutely delighted to see you when you come home. Though Alice would not stop rubbing her face on me, and kneading my chest all damned night. She missed me though, and for that I am grateful.

Megafauna…

Excellent explainer on why private industry and venture capital can’t replace government funded basic science research.

That's a wrap! My first RD conference as a PI *and* with two graduate students in attendance. Featuring @dianebovenkamp.bsky.social and generous funding from @brightfocus.bsky.social The BrightFocus Foundation was invaluable in launching my career, and I could not be more grateful!

And it's never too late to do so!

Brown wax paper with a small strip of gaffers tape keeping it closed. Along with a pastrami on rye.

Reminder: Always do the right thing.

A visual reminder that aircraft move through a gaseous medium that must be compressed and displaced in order for them to fly.

Appeasement never works. The only way to deal with a bully is to punch back. Tech has tried appeasement. Academia has tried appeasement. Media has tried appeasement. Appeasement with authoritarians only invites more abuse. Punch back. Hard.

L'Enfant Terrible.

"A theologian of another generation once said, dehumanization precedes genocide. And the last thing a great country like the United States wants to do is to continue to demonize the other person," the Rev. Gary Mason said in a story that aired late last month. https://to.pbs.org/4mGMpfa

Did you see that they can also waive the fee for anyone they want? Absolute corruption

Every single day of this administration, I have thought of my late professor Joe Nye and his work on soft power. Every single day of this administration, Trump finds a new way to hemorrhage soft power from a country that once had more to spare than any in the world.

I have to keep this deliberately vague, but this is a total disaster for academic research. And imposing it so suddenly is just cruel. I’ve got friends scrambling to get back to the US before midnight tonight. Do you know how hard that is to do on 36 hours of notice?

In the text it lays out how exemptions are at the Secretary's discretion. It's yet another way to pay a bribe and get an exemption, while being beholden to the mad king.

A Turkish Airbus military transport plane at JFK.

No foreign born professors, or postdocs, or graduate students. Science can already not afford to do their work. Another $100k/yr is going to be devastating and universities will not be able to cover it. I am so tired of this &#!^.

This is not what democracies do.

On the way to the airport in Prague went by the memorial at the site of the assassination of Nazi Reinhardt Heydrich, June 4, 1942, by Czech partisans. @bwjones.bsky.social and I happened on the church where the partisans and many others were killed by the Nazis out for revenge.

6 Months... bryanwjones.com/2025/09/6-mo...

I cannot overstate how remarkable it is that under GOP rule, US federal health regulations have been captured by fringe crackpots who espouse views that the vast majority of the US public—and nearly 100% of health professionals—reject. Gift link:

#FluorescenceFriday: a weekly reminder that behind the data, there are moments of pure wonder. This is why we do what we do. And the #retina is so uniquely beautiful!