Peter Adams

After years of work, I’m excited to share my new photo book, POTUS: Icons, Artifacts and History That Shaped the American Presidency, featuring artifacts from 14 presidential libraries—from FDR’s fedora to Obama’s Blackberry.

@andrewdfeldman @cerebras Very cool. Congrats!

.@cerebras data centers are live across North America. More are coming in Europe. Here's a quick peek inside one of several new facilities under construction in Toronto, Canada. Racks and racks and racks of CS-3s. The fastest AI in the world, delivered across the world.

@FutureJurvetson @FutureJurvetson please please make a photo book of your collection. I will gladly help you.

I just received the Apollo 16 rock scoop, brought back from the Moon, and saved by LM Pilot Charlie Duke for all these years. “We decided that this would be a great souvenir to bring back. This is the most important and rarest item that was brought back from the Moon.” — from this video he sent, with footage of the scoop in use, including the support it provided to bring back the largest moon rock collected throughout the entire Apollo program. He carried this scoop on the Lunar Rover and used it extensively to dig, trench and collect lunar rock samples across the lunar surface for three days. I started my space collection with a focus on Apollo 16, and this is an incredible addition. When I started collecting, it was a bit ambiguous as to the proper ownership of these critical Apollo mission artifacts, smuggled back from the Moon, contrary to protocol, and left in the possession of the Apollo astronauts. It took an act of Congress, during the Obama Administration, to establish that they belong to the astronauts, free and clear. I have since collected a piece of every lunar module that has been on the surface of the moon, all of which were meant to be left behind to be lost forever. But on every mission, the astronauts decided to bring back meaningful mementos from these heroic machines, transfer them through the hatch to the Command Module with the moon rocks, and bring them back to Earth, to keep them as significant memories of their mission for the rest of their lives. Duke is one of only four moon walkers still alive. I will be visiting him to talk about the flown Apollo 16 artifacts that I have collected (EVA1 Cuff Checklist, LM COAS, A7L Spacesuit Bioharness, moon rock manifest sheet, PPK, utility light cord, LM orbit monitor chart and other flown documents) to add his stories to the curation of their heroic past. What questions would you suggest that I ask him?

@FutureJurvetson @TheRealBuzz Incredible story.

On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin erected an American flagpole on the moon for the first time. But few are aware that it flew for only 14 hours. When I obtained the prototype build of the Apollo 11 flag and brought it to Buzz Aldrin, his eyes went wide. He signed it, pointed out the flaws that made its deployment a struggle, and described its fate. I videoed the whole interview, but here’s the summary: Just three months before Apollo 11, Robert Gilruth asked MSC's Technical Services Division to design a flagpole that could support the U.S. flag in an environment with no atmosphere. It had to be lightweight, compact, and easily assembled by astronauts wearing pressurized space suits. The flag was such an afterthought, there was no place for it in the Lunar Module. Amazingly, it was not contemplated as part of the mission. But Congress insisted there be a flag on the moon. So, they had to break it into segments, add a hinge and telescoping arm and roll it all up into a shipping cylinder and attach it to the ladder on the leg of the lander! It needed a protective sleeve to shield it from the 2000° temperature of the descent engine. Because the final decision to fly the flag was made so close to the launch date, a Lear jet was chartered to fly it with George Low (Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program) to KSC before the launch. The flag was added to the LM leg of Apollo 11 at 4:00 in the morning as the spacecraft sat atop its Saturn V rocket ready for launch. The final version had a beveled edge for lunar insertion, but as Buzz told me, they beveled it the wrong way, on the interior, so the lunar regolith funneled into the central shaft, making it difficult to insert the farther it went. Buzz recalls: "It took both of us to set it up and it was nearly a disaster.... As hard as we tried, the telescope wouldn't fully extend. Thus, the flag, which should have been flat, had its own unique permanent wave. Then to our dismay the staff of the pole wouldn't go far enough into the lunar surface to support itself in an upright position. After much struggling, we finally coaxed it to remain upright, but in a most precarious position. I dreaded the possibility of the American flag collapsing into the lunar dust in front of the television camera" (my prototype has the same flaws and both have a sagging upper hinge too) His concerns were not unfounded. In my video interview, Buzz told me that Neil Armstrong clearly saw the flag blow over on takeoff of the ascent stage as they left the moon. He ends my video interview with: “We can say with total certainty that of six flags on the moon, ours was the best-looking flag. Until we lifted off, and it blew over. Neil saw it [fall down], and he shared it with me. And we decided it wasn’t necessary to inform the public immediately.” My eyes bulged back at this point. Video: youtu.be/QMQLZYTAQLQ?t=… Recent detailed LRO images of the Apollo 11 landing site confirm that there is not flag casting a shadow as there are at the other Apollo landing sites. One might ask why the photos from the site show details like a surface camera, but not the flag lying flat on the lunar surface. A fellow space collector explained to me that once laid flat on the moon, with no atmosphere to protect it for decades of extreme UV exposure and 500° temperature swings, the fabric surely disintegrated. But with no wind, one might assume it would remain intact, undisturbed to this day… and clearly visible, when laid flat, by that LRO mission. But here arises the peculiar properties of the lunar dust. A recent study by geologist Marek Zbik of Queensland University of Technology explains the mysterious properties of the lunar dust from the nanoparticles within: “That dust, the Apollo crewmen found when they went out to play in it, did some strange things: it rose above the surface when disturbed and hung there far longer than could be explained by the moon's weak gravity; it crept deep into the weave and cracks of virtually anything it touched and clung there as if adhesively attached. Zbik made his discovery thanks to an instrument known as a synchrotron-based nano tomograph -- a hunk of hardware that didn't remotely exist when the Apollo crews splashed down... The infinitesimal glass bubbles scattered through the lunar material were filled with a highly porous network of alien-looking glassy particles that span the bubbles' interior. and that would explain a lot. Nano particles can become electro-statically charged, which would impart the same property to the soil, perfectly accounting for its tendency to float." The lunar surface swirls in electrostatic eddies, rending the decomposed flag fabric to something unrecognizable. I learned all this after acquiring the beta build, and it makes it seem all the more precious.

Forty-five years ago today. open.substack.com/pub/picturingp…

@FutureJurvetson @DJSnM Very cool

yes. fun fact: the only known incursion by the Nazis onto North American soil was for the weather. x.com/FutureJurvetso… The terminology of weather “fronts” traces to the martial vernacular of WW I. The Germans were at a distinct meteorological disadvantage, with storms coming from areas controlled by the Allied powers. Siemens developed automatic weather stations with NiCad batteries and radios that could be dropped off by plane in remote locations. With 200 submarines trying to maintain a blockade of England, the Germans desperately needed weather predictions for the North Atlantic. In 1943, they sent U-537 to an uninhabited part of North America, and set up a weather station on a local peak, with a long range 30-ft. diameter antenna to beam weather data back to Germany. To evade detection, they hand-painted “Canada Meteor Service” on the side and scattered American cigarette packs about. It remained there until discovered in 1981.

The story of how they predicted the weather D-Day and how it ended up making a huge difference to the success is a fascinating story. Weather prediction is a big deal.

@DJSnM One of the reasons the forecast was so import was that if the Allies missed the June 5-6 window the tides wouldn’t line up again for another few weeks and the Germans would have figured out the decoys and landing sites.

@BarackObama Hard things are hard. Thank you President @BarackObama .

The day the Affordable Care Act passed was one of my proudest moments as president, because it meant that millions of Americans would have access to health care, some for the first time. The ACA also prevented insurance companies from denying people with pre-existing conditions coverage, allowed young people under the age of 26 to remain on their parents’ plan, expanded Medicaid, and so much more. But the ACA was always meant to be a first step. We still have to do more to expand access and make health care more affordable for everyone.

@macbohannon @KTmBoyle @HadrianInc Very cool. I’d love to photograph this.

gm today we're launching a factory @HadrianInc

@jdevalk I hear you but I wonder if you’d make the same decision if there was truly a zero-admin page cache service you could plug into… something like varnish in the cloud.

I built Yoast SEO. I ran my blog on WordPress for years. Then yesterday I moved it to static HTML. Everything that matters, SEO, search, schema, is still there. What I dropped was the overhead. Do you actually need a CMS? For quite some sites: no. joost.blog/do-you-need-a-…

@andrewdfeldman @cerebras That sounds amazing. I’d love to photograph it.

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HUGE thank you to everyone who is pre-ordering my POTUS photo book right now at Amazon, B&N, and Bookshop..org! Links to order are here: potusphotobook.com

@alexheard Honestly they are all good! I loved the Eisenhower which is less than 2h from the Truman. FDR is a must see as is the Bush 41 (end of the Cold War!). The Nixon and Reagan are also amazing if you are visiting SoCal. I have a photo book coming out If you don’t get to them all. 😉

Hi, I have a question, and thanks for your help. Of the existing presidential libraries, which one would you say is the most elaborate and impressive when you're there in person?

@jt_mooney @GlockfordFiles Totally. I wish more people understood this. The NARA run libraries generate a ton of civic and research value. I just photographed/wrote a whole book about it.

@GlockfordFiles I love when someone goes off an ignorant rant. All presidential libraries are privately funded by a non-profit foundation established for that purpose. Money is also collected to cover operating expenses. Once the library is complete, it is turned over to the National Archives.

Illinois doesn’t have a penny for the Chicago Bears but they spent hundreds of millions on Obama’s presidential library. Barry Obama isn’t even from Chicago. His library is possibly the ugliest building in the United States of America.🤡

@lastpowerranger Agreed. You are going to love my book.

I have only been to 2 Presidential Libraries (Nixon and Reagan) I really enjoyed both. The Reagan Library though is truly outstanding! Touring Airforce One was almost indescribable. reaganfoundation.org/library-museum…

@Tigertown1981 @JonathanTurley Agreed. The Reagan Library is pretty great. The other libraries all are too.

@JonathanTurley I recommend paying the few dollars more to become a foundation member which gives you free access to other presidential libraries for one year. We really enjoyed our visit.

This week, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking at the Reagan Presidential Library on my book, Rage and the Republic. It is truly extraordinary in the breadth of its collection and its presentation of historical artifacts. Give yourself a few hours because you will want to explore every corner of this amazing place.jonathanturley.org/2026/03/14/a-v…

@photomatt @JosephJacks_ @WordPress This is extremely cool @photomatt

You probably have an idea of what @WordPress is, it's time to start re-imagining that. The future is really expansive, local-first, and of course, open source. ma.tt/2026/03/wordpr…

Out Nov 17. Pre-order: potusphotobook.com

After years of work, I’m excited to share my new photo book, POTUS: Icons, Artifacts and History That Shaped the American Presidency, featuring artifacts from 14 presidential libraries—from FDR’s fedora to Obama’s Blackberry.

@zimm3rmann @traestephens @WIRED Subscribe to @IEEESpectrum

@traestephens @WIRED Technology journalism from people who don’t hate technology would be refreshing.

1/ During college and early in my career, I would absorb @Wired cover-to-cover on my commute. It is such a bummer that in just a decade, a once-great newsroom has deteriorated into publishing speciously-sourced gossip columns that feel like Gawker 2.0. Why is the tech community still interacting with these people?

@weeklyshowpod @amanpour @wendyrsherman @amanpour your comment about Carter’s visit to Iran right before the revolution is so important. Here’s some of the physical history of that chapter: open.substack.com/pub/picturingp…

Why did the Trump administration’s drive-by negotiations with Iran fall apart? @wendyrsherman & @amanpour compare the work on the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal with this year’s failed talks. #theweeklyshow #jonstewart #politics