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25 February 2009
A letter to Gov. Bobby Jindal:
To say that I was shocked, appalled and dismayed on hearing the “volcano monitoring” comment in your speech following President Obama’s address to Congress would be a massive understatement. You, and anyone who thought that including that comment in the Republican rebuttal was a good idea, are guilty of the dangerous and pervasive attitude of willful ignorance about science that has sadly pervaded the government of this country in the …
29 September 2008
$#%&@*!!!!
If I’ve been a little sparse on posting lately, it’s not for lack of material – I just went on a nice tour yesterday of the geology of Western NY, including the stratigraphic sequence from the top to the bottom of Niagara Falls, glacial deposits and striations, and the coolest stromatolites I’ve ever seen. (It was even worth putting up with the whiny students, who I was TAing for. “Why …
24 April 2008
Stop whining!
So, driving to work this morning, I happened to hear one of the ubiquitous “Americans are facing financial hardships because of rising gas prices” reports. And this time, instead of growling at the radio and switching to the classic rock station, I laughed. Because no matter how many times I hear this, I’m still astonished at how self-centered and ignorant of the rest of the world that Americans can be …
Jessica Ball is a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, researching volcanic hydrothermal systems and stability, and doing science communication for the California Volcano Observatory. She previously worked at the Geological Society of America's Washington DC Policy Office, learning about the intersection of Earth science and legislative affairs. Her Mendenhall postdoc and PhD focused on how water affects the stability of volcanoes, and involved both field investigations and numerical modeling applications. Her blogging covers a range of topics, from her experiences in academic geosciences to science outreach and communication to her field and lab work in volcanology.