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Ben Sharkey

@bsharkey

astronomer, archivist at U. Maryland (Small Bodies Node). aspiring killjoy.

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22.08.2023
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Latest posts by Ben Sharkey @bsharkey

Everyone, @namyab.bsky.social just had her first grad school paper accepted and I am so proud!!!!! Everyone tune in to a JGR: Planets issue near you to see my Umbriel paper AND her upcoming paper about cratering on Psyche!

10.02.2026 23:39 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I can point to the exact moment when my faith in academia died, and it was when my MS advisor had a friend/collaborator get busted for sexually harassing women during Antarctic fieldwork. He defended it to us (his students, majority-women) by saying that in Antarctica, "men turn into animals."

07.02.2026 14:55 πŸ‘ 44 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
Water Main Break/Gas Leak: MD 410/Ethan Allen Ave closed between Carroll Ave and New Hampshire Ave. The State Highway Administration (SHA) and/or WSSC will be closing MD 410 / Ethan Allen Avenue between Carroll Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue due to a water main break and gas leak.

LOL almost drove through it this morning, shoutout to the county employee flagging everyone down to tell us to turn around. water main break AND a gas leak?? hachi machi

takomaparkmd.gov/AlertCenter....

03.02.2026 00:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Another NFC defensive player: β€œFlorence & The Machine. But I don’t know if everybody would rock with that.”

Another NFC defensive player: β€œFlorence & The Machine. But I don’t know if everybody would rock with that.”

who is this diva

02.02.2026 20:22 πŸ‘ 1420 πŸ” 174 πŸ’¬ 21 πŸ“Œ 43

Epstein’s economic power among academics was made possible by a capitalist system that makes higher education dependent on the charity economy rather than a public good supported by taxing the rich

01.02.2026 14:33 πŸ‘ 11515 πŸ” 2968 πŸ’¬ 42 πŸ“Œ 176

A new study from Anthropic finds that gains in coding efficiency when relying on AI assistance did did not meet statistical significance; AI use noticeably degraded programmers’ understanding of what they were doing. Incredible.

30.01.2026 23:47 πŸ‘ 1320 πŸ” 622 πŸ’¬ 35 πŸ“Œ 64

Kids taken yesterday
Journalists already arrested today
ICE patrolling around Falwell Hall and Dinkytown this week

Nothing has changed.

30.01.2026 13:26 πŸ‘ 923 πŸ” 384 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 2

Something I've been trying to impart on people is that the ICE occupation in Minnesota is both an ethnic cleansing and an ideological terror campaign. It's clear that the second part has utterly failed; the community is not terrified. But ICE is now desperately trying to salvage the first part.

27.01.2026 18:35 πŸ‘ 4581 πŸ” 1315 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 23
Preview
UA student detained by ICE, speaks out on treatment A University of Arizona international student named Yassine Halhoul was detained in an ICE detention facility for a month during the fall 2025 semester, despite his student visa being valid. Halhoul s...

wildcat.arizona.edu/163681/news/...

28.01.2026 01:06 πŸ‘ 75 πŸ” 42 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call β€œsymbolic compliance.”

That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.

26.01.2026 23:35 πŸ‘ 20842 πŸ” 8643 πŸ’¬ 266 πŸ“Œ 714
Screenshot from a NYT piece that ran in mid January. Background is part of a photo of a rural store showing out of focus shelves.

Text reads "One State, Two Very Different Views of Minneapolis" and "Pull up a stool at Ye Old Pickle Pactory and listen to a story about America's urban-rural divide.

Screenshot from a NYT piece that ran in mid January. Background is part of a photo of a rural store showing out of focus shelves. Text reads "One State, Two Very Different Views of Minneapolis" and "Pull up a stool at Ye Old Pickle Pactory and listen to a story about America's urban-rural divide.

Legacy media are sending war correspondants to Minneapolis now, but I can't forget that the first impulse of the paper of record was to send four reporters and a photographer out to find some elderly ICE supporters day drinking.

26.01.2026 15:06 πŸ‘ 241 πŸ” 50 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 2

Just like clear skies in early September make me think of 9/11, deep cold will make me think of ICE murdering us

24.01.2026 22:28 πŸ‘ 103 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Anyone who is part of the federal government who is not doing everything in their power to stop this administration, regardless of the assumed cost to normalcy or career, is a coward and a collaborator.

24.01.2026 17:07 πŸ‘ 4522 πŸ” 1378 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 20

Two days ago, 7 democrats voted to fund that execution

24.01.2026 16:18 πŸ‘ 6104 πŸ” 1931 πŸ’¬ 77 πŸ“Œ 85
Post image Post image

They were eventually allowed one phone call as a thanks for saving the agent’s life.

They used it to call their lawyer, who called their state representative, who ultimately got them released on the condition they tell people they were β€œtreated kindly.”

23.01.2026 23:49 πŸ‘ 5297 πŸ” 1587 πŸ’¬ 83 πŸ“Œ 171

What finally broke me is seeing that Curry Corner, which closed indefinitely this week because of concerns for employee safety, handed out free samosas at the protest today.

They are unable to open the restaurant but they went out and fed the community

24.01.2026 03:43 πŸ‘ 604 πŸ” 84 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

Thousands of protesters shut down parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul on Friday as hundreds of businesses closed their doors. David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

Thousands of protesters shut down parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul on Friday as hundreds of businesses closed their doors. David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

genuinely stunning image

24.01.2026 01:37 πŸ‘ 31556 πŸ” 7290 πŸ’¬ 362 πŸ“Œ 346

Anyway, ICE wants the discussion to be about churches not kidnapping 5-year-olds or facewashing defenseless protestors with chemical weapons so

22.01.2026 15:25 πŸ‘ 203 πŸ” 67 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1
16.01.2026 21:48 πŸ‘ 9664 πŸ” 1935 πŸ’¬ 144 πŸ“Œ 31

ive seen more articles this week about how the phrase β€œabolish ice” could hurt dems in the midterms than ive seen articles about how paramilitary death squads terrorizing cities will hurt republicans in the midterms

14.01.2026 13:09 πŸ‘ 9471 πŸ” 2649 πŸ’¬ 120 πŸ“Œ 137

I was so far gone in Fargo
South Dakota got annoyed

10.01.2026 08:28 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

i have watched the shooter's video. it's going to make you way the fuck madder.

09.01.2026 18:38 πŸ‘ 4500 πŸ” 576 πŸ’¬ 109 πŸ“Œ 38

The democratic collapse of my country is making it hard to focus on the collapse of my profession

09.01.2026 18:57 πŸ‘ 202 πŸ” 40 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 5

nah you’re just performing thought crimes

08.01.2026 04:47 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The Cost of Staying Human Remarks from a vigil for Renee Nicole Good

Tonight, I was one of more than 200 people who gathered on Chicago’s North Side to mourn Renee Nicole Good. Several people asked me to publish my remarks from the vigil, so I’m sharing them here.

08.01.2026 01:47 πŸ‘ 2275 πŸ” 729 πŸ’¬ 29 πŸ“Œ 74

thinking about that time last year i sat behind some ice freaks on a flight, and watched them read an email from their boss about a recent dui in their unit and how important it is that they stop drinking and driving

08.01.2026 02:23 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Abolish ICE
Abolish ICE YouTube video by Takesβ„’ by Jamelle Bouie

a few thoughts youtu.be/lERS4kJIQR8

08.01.2026 01:42 πŸ‘ 4863 πŸ” 1292 πŸ’¬ 75 πŸ“Œ 121

A 23 year old larping as a journalist made a misleading and inaccurate YouTube video that the administration full of chronically online shitposters used to justify the β€œlargest immigration operation ever” and now someone is dead

07.01.2026 18:58 πŸ‘ 7673 πŸ” 2159 πŸ’¬ 79 πŸ“Œ 65

If officials can’t bring themselves to arrest someone who is captured on camera from multiple angles killing someone in cold blood, they should just step aside so someone with a backbone can lead

07.01.2026 19:01 πŸ‘ 4857 πŸ” 994 πŸ’¬ 38 πŸ“Œ 12