Ben Monreal
@benmonreal.bsky.social
Nuclear, particle, and astrophysics experimentalist at Case Western. Posting about physics, climate, urbanism, Cleveland. See also:
https://bmonreal.github.io/personal.html
https://www.project8.org/
https://bmonreal.github.io/personal.html
https://www.project8.org/
hauntingly beautiful #art by glassworker Simone Crestani in collaboration with aerogel-worker (?) Ioannis Michalou(di)s www.simonecrestani.com/2025/04/29/s...
SOS – Save Our Sky
Five artworks made of glass and nanoclouds
www.simonecrestani.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:37 PM
hauntingly beautiful #art by glassworker Simone Crestani in collaboration with aerogel-worker (?) Ioannis Michalou(di)s www.simonecrestani.com/2025/04/29/s...
ME, FRIDAY: I have no idea how to write another modern physics exam. I am out of ideas.
ME, TODAY: I have no idea how to cut this exam down to length, there are too many nifty little questions 🎢
ME, TODAY: I have no idea how to cut this exam down to length, there are too many nifty little questions 🎢
December 14, 2025 at 5:46 PM
ME, FRIDAY: I have no idea how to write another modern physics exam. I am out of ideas.
ME, TODAY: I have no idea how to cut this exam down to length, there are too many nifty little questions 🎢
ME, TODAY: I have no idea how to cut this exam down to length, there are too many nifty little questions 🎢
important holiday shopping news for your toolsy loved ones
a) under-$20
b) genuinely surprising
c) despite being cheap Amazon crap I feel like these adapters earn you full buy-nothing/circular-economy/anticapitalist cred
a) under-$20
b) genuinely surprising
c) despite being cheap Amazon crap I feel like these adapters earn you full buy-nothing/circular-economy/anticapitalist cred
Proprietary battery designs are annoying. I just discovered that you can get adapters to use the same battery across different power tools, even with different voltages (they have built-in DC-to-DC converters) and different brands. Game changer!
December 12, 2025 at 1:23 AM
important holiday shopping news for your toolsy loved ones
a) under-$20
b) genuinely surprising
c) despite being cheap Amazon crap I feel like these adapters earn you full buy-nothing/circular-economy/anticapitalist cred
a) under-$20
b) genuinely surprising
c) despite being cheap Amazon crap I feel like these adapters earn you full buy-nothing/circular-economy/anticapitalist cred
example (d) is the "data centers in space" idea in the news this week. What sort of idiot would pursue this for more than a few minutes? Answer: a lazy billionaire who read last week's headlines about nascent local pushback against data centers
I feel like the reason billionaire investors like (a) fusion rather than solar power (b) satellite internet rather than rural fiber, (c) flying cars over trains/buses (d) etc., is that they're too lazy to work in spaces where local regulatory bodies exist at all
Developer Stephen Ross will work with Archer Aviation to help build a network of launchpads for a fleet of flying vehicles in South Florida.
December 11, 2025 at 3:28 AM
example (d) is the "data centers in space" idea in the news this week. What sort of idiot would pursue this for more than a few minutes? Answer: a lazy billionaire who read last week's headlines about nascent local pushback against data centers
My first nuclear physics research experience was on STAR. DOE-funded summer (the program now called SULI) at LBNL in Nu Xu’s group, In 1998, before RHIC turned on. I got to visit BNL and see the TPC in the assembly hall before it was installed.
The last STAR collider data have been collected. The end of STAR collider ops, a 25yr long era! Next, keeping fingers crossed for the final of our fixed-target program in January!
Below, our last daily 10am operations meeting (note that all subdetectors have already been shutdown at that time)
Below, our last daily 10am operations meeting (note that all subdetectors have already been shutdown at that time)
December 9, 2025 at 2:37 AM
My first nuclear physics research experience was on STAR. DOE-funded summer (the program now called SULI) at LBNL in Nu Xu’s group, In 1998, before RHIC turned on. I got to visit BNL and see the TPC in the assembly hall before it was installed.
I WONDER IF ...
(with managed water releases)
(responding to forecasted cold snaps)
(with a lot of volunteers on safety watch)
(and a zamboni)
... a couple of miles of Ohio and Erie Canal bed could flood, freeze, and operate as a public skateway, like Ottawa's Rideau Canal? #cvnp #cleveland
(with managed water releases)
(responding to forecasted cold snaps)
(with a lot of volunteers on safety watch)
(and a zamboni)
... a couple of miles of Ohio and Erie Canal bed could flood, freeze, and operate as a public skateway, like Ottawa's Rideau Canal? #cvnp #cleveland
December 5, 2025 at 12:43 AM
I WONDER IF ...
(with managed water releases)
(responding to forecasted cold snaps)
(with a lot of volunteers on safety watch)
(and a zamboni)
... a couple of miles of Ohio and Erie Canal bed could flood, freeze, and operate as a public skateway, like Ottawa's Rideau Canal? #cvnp #cleveland
(with managed water releases)
(responding to forecasted cold snaps)
(with a lot of volunteers on safety watch)
(and a zamboni)
... a couple of miles of Ohio and Erie Canal bed could flood, freeze, and operate as a public skateway, like Ottawa's Rideau Canal? #cvnp #cleveland
Reposted by Ben Monreal
Columbus school board votes to slash jobs, close schools to save $50M
Ohio spent more than a billion dollars on private school vouchers in fiscal year 2025
#pairedtexts
Ohio spent more than a billion dollars on private school vouchers in fiscal year 2025
#pairedtexts
Columbus school board votes to slash jobs, close schools to save $50M
The Columbus City school board voted to cut hundreds of jobs, district programs and close four buildings to patch a $50 million hole in its budget
www.dispatch.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Columbus school board votes to slash jobs, close schools to save $50M
Ohio spent more than a billion dollars on private school vouchers in fiscal year 2025
#pairedtexts
Ohio spent more than a billion dollars on private school vouchers in fiscal year 2025
#pairedtexts
I feel like the reason billionaire investors like (a) fusion rather than solar power (b) satellite internet rather than rural fiber, (c) flying cars over trains/buses (d) etc., is that they're too lazy to work in spaces where local regulatory bodies exist at all
Developer Stephen Ross will work with Archer Aviation to help build a network of launchpads for a fleet of flying vehicles in South Florida.
Billionaire Stephen Ross Has a $200 Fix for Miami’s Commuting Hell: Flying Taxis
The developer will work with Archer Aviation to help build a network of launchpads for a fleet of flying vehicles in South Florida.
on.wsj.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I feel like the reason billionaire investors like (a) fusion rather than solar power (b) satellite internet rather than rural fiber, (c) flying cars over trains/buses (d) etc., is that they're too lazy to work in spaces where local regulatory bodies exist at all
good: 15 minute bus headways
worse: 30 minute bus headways
better: 30 minute bus headways but there's a coffee shop at your stop
COFFEE IS INFRASTRUCTURE
#transitsky #gcrta
worse: 30 minute bus headways
better: 30 minute bus headways but there's a coffee shop at your stop
COFFEE IS INFRASTRUCTURE
#transitsky #gcrta
December 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
good: 15 minute bus headways
worse: 30 minute bus headways
better: 30 minute bus headways but there's a coffee shop at your stop
COFFEE IS INFRASTRUCTURE
#transitsky #gcrta
worse: 30 minute bus headways
better: 30 minute bus headways but there's a coffee shop at your stop
COFFEE IS INFRASTRUCTURE
#transitsky #gcrta
Reposted by Ben Monreal
Congratulations to #cwru outstanding seniors Zachariah Jones, MG Davis and Samuel Diener and advisors Prof. Jesse Berezovsky and Prof. Pino Strangi! The students presented their research projects in today's Fall Senior Physics Project Symposium. Very impressive! 🔬🌟💡 #physics #undergraduateresearch
December 1, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Congratulations to #cwru outstanding seniors Zachariah Jones, MG Davis and Samuel Diener and advisors Prof. Jesse Berezovsky and Prof. Pino Strangi! The students presented their research projects in today's Fall Senior Physics Project Symposium. Very impressive! 🔬🌟💡 #physics #undergraduateresearch
I am 100% enjoying Sheila Hale's Titian biography BUT ALSO it is the most effective sleepytime reading I have ever picked up. Long soothing sentences about a huge cast of late-Renaissance notables and non-notables. Pure ducat-based melatonin. 🧵 1/7 www.harpercollins.com/products/tit...
Titian
The first definitive biography of the master painter in more than a century, Titian: His Life is being hailed as a "landmark achievement" for criti...
www.harpercollins.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:09 AM
I am 100% enjoying Sheila Hale's Titian biography BUT ALSO it is the most effective sleepytime reading I have ever picked up. Long soothing sentences about a huge cast of late-Renaissance notables and non-notables. Pure ducat-based melatonin. 🧵 1/7 www.harpercollins.com/products/tit...
I want to add: "one labor-intensive 5.4 kW array" is not how we save the planet; tacking my project's budget onto a utility-scale solar plant would have yielded 4x or 5x as much power? With the GOP curb-stomping those projects, this is (a) second-best (b) good enough, and (c) under my control.
I want to post a bit about my BACKYARD SOLAR PERGOLA in case someone else is in a situation like mine.
a) Weird roofline/clay tile makes rooftop hard
b) Couldn't make ground mount or pole mount work since they're too ugly for local zoning
Solution: #solar pergola! 🔌💡☀️ Details: 1/
a) Weird roofline/clay tile makes rooftop hard
b) Couldn't make ground mount or pole mount work since they're too ugly for local zoning
Solution: #solar pergola! 🔌💡☀️ Details: 1/
November 15, 2025 at 5:07 PM
I want to add: "one labor-intensive 5.4 kW array" is not how we save the planet; tacking my project's budget onto a utility-scale solar plant would have yielded 4x or 5x as much power? With the GOP curb-stomping those projects, this is (a) second-best (b) good enough, and (c) under my control.
I want to post a bit about my BACKYARD SOLAR PERGOLA in case someone else is in a situation like mine.
a) Weird roofline/clay tile makes rooftop hard
b) Couldn't make ground mount or pole mount work since they're too ugly for local zoning
Solution: #solar pergola! 🔌💡☀️ Details: 1/
a) Weird roofline/clay tile makes rooftop hard
b) Couldn't make ground mount or pole mount work since they're too ugly for local zoning
Solution: #solar pergola! 🔌💡☀️ Details: 1/
November 15, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I want to post a bit about my BACKYARD SOLAR PERGOLA in case someone else is in a situation like mine.
a) Weird roofline/clay tile makes rooftop hard
b) Couldn't make ground mount or pole mount work since they're too ugly for local zoning
Solution: #solar pergola! 🔌💡☀️ Details: 1/
a) Weird roofline/clay tile makes rooftop hard
b) Couldn't make ground mount or pole mount work since they're too ugly for local zoning
Solution: #solar pergola! 🔌💡☀️ Details: 1/
<overheard>
STUDENT: I need some help
COLLEAGUE: ok
STUDENT: I have a problem with a person named Chad
<me, thinking: omg please close the door before these sensitive ombudsman conversations>
STUDENT: Chad has a board and a rope
<me: 😱 wtaf>
STUDENT: I'll draw the free body diagram
<me: oh> 🎢
STUDENT: I need some help
COLLEAGUE: ok
STUDENT: I have a problem with a person named Chad
<me, thinking: omg please close the door before these sensitive ombudsman conversations>
STUDENT: Chad has a board and a rope
<me: 😱 wtaf>
STUDENT: I'll draw the free body diagram
<me: oh> 🎢
November 12, 2025 at 7:25 PM
<overheard>
STUDENT: I need some help
COLLEAGUE: ok
STUDENT: I have a problem with a person named Chad
<me, thinking: omg please close the door before these sensitive ombudsman conversations>
STUDENT: Chad has a board and a rope
<me: 😱 wtaf>
STUDENT: I'll draw the free body diagram
<me: oh> 🎢
STUDENT: I need some help
COLLEAGUE: ok
STUDENT: I have a problem with a person named Chad
<me, thinking: omg please close the door before these sensitive ombudsman conversations>
STUDENT: Chad has a board and a rope
<me: 😱 wtaf>
STUDENT: I'll draw the free body diagram
<me: oh> 🎢
dear sports bettors: you are the problem. you. "my favorite part of baseball is the first pitch of the second inning", my god, it's not even the winning/losing outcomes that humans care about. you ruined sports to get a random-number generator to bet on. go bet on dice in the Biltmore garage, jerk
Breaking news per Jeff Passan: “Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted by prosecutors in Brooklyn on a host of charges related to a scheme to rig bets on pitches thrown in MLB games. Ortiz was arrested in Boston earlier today. Clase is not currently in custody”
November 9, 2025 at 10:18 PM
dear sports bettors: you are the problem. you. "my favorite part of baseball is the first pitch of the second inning", my god, it's not even the winning/losing outcomes that humans care about. you ruined sports to get a random-number generator to bet on. go bet on dice in the Biltmore garage, jerk
Reposted by Ben Monreal
Case Western Reserve Department of Biology is hiring! We're recruiting for a tenure-track position focusing on eukaryotic microbiology, especially microbial/environment interactions. Please share widely: apply.interfolio.com/174456
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 29, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Case Western Reserve Department of Biology is hiring! We're recruiting for a tenure-track position focusing on eukaryotic microbiology, especially microbial/environment interactions. Please share widely: apply.interfolio.com/174456
Reposted by Ben Monreal
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Every fall when baseball season ends and football, inexplicably, begins, I think again about features I like and dislike about spectator sports, and every year I futilely dream we will someday REPLACE AMERICAN FOOTBALL WITH KABADDI
November 2, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Every fall when baseball season ends and football, inexplicably, begins, I think again about features I like and dislike about spectator sports, and every year I futilely dream we will someday REPLACE AMERICAN FOOTBALL WITH KABADDI
In honor of Halloween, I just read a horror novel and wanted to write up a quick micro-review thread here. Presenting: @mcmanlypants.bsky.social's Children of Solitude. Thread: 1/ www.skylightbooks.com/book/9798992...
www.skylightbooks.com
October 31, 2025 at 7:06 PM
In honor of Halloween, I just read a horror novel and wanted to write up a quick micro-review thread here. Presenting: @mcmanlypants.bsky.social's Children of Solitude. Thread: 1/ www.skylightbooks.com/book/9798992...
My 2¢: your in-person talk isn't about maximizing data-delivery, it's about being a person. What are the things a paper CAN'T do that a speaker CAN? Voice, affect, personal reactions. Share "Y was a fucking slog". Control my attention: "Z is tricky, stay with me lol". Say "Look! Cool, right?"
I find there's a huge mismatch between the standard advice that people give about scientific conference talks, and how people actually give talks.
So I picked out the most important pieces of advice that are most often ignored. 🧪
So I picked out the most important pieces of advice that are most often ignored. 🧪
The best scientific talk advice that gets ignored
Here are some prescriptions for a case of UCPS (Unengaging Conference Presentation Syndrome).
scienceforeveryone.science
October 29, 2025 at 2:09 AM
My 2¢: your in-person talk isn't about maximizing data-delivery, it's about being a person. What are the things a paper CAN'T do that a speaker CAN? Voice, affect, personal reactions. Share "Y was a fucking slog". Control my attention: "Z is tricky, stay with me lol". Say "Look! Cool, right?"
YOUR GUIDE TO MELLONS
Rags-to-riches (Thomas, d. 1908)
Hardworking (Andrew, d. 1937; Richard B, d. 1933)
Spent inheritance decently-ish (Paul, d. 1999; Richard K, d 1970)
Never met hardworking grandpas; should have been estate-taxed into dust; evil (Richard Mellon Scaife, d 2014; Timothy, b. 1942)
Rags-to-riches (Thomas, d. 1908)
Hardworking (Andrew, d. 1937; Richard B, d. 1933)
Spent inheritance decently-ish (Paul, d. 1999; Richard K, d 1970)
Never met hardworking grandpas; should have been estate-taxed into dust; evil (Richard Mellon Scaife, d 2014; Timothy, b. 1942)
The billionaire who gave the military money was Timothy Mellon and if you're an obsessive tracker of the eugenicist Tanton network that's invaded our government like I am you will have immediately recognized that name, that's Mellon as in Mellon Scaife www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sc...
Scaife Foundations - SourceWatch
www.sourcewatch.org
October 25, 2025 at 9:12 PM
YOUR GUIDE TO MELLONS
Rags-to-riches (Thomas, d. 1908)
Hardworking (Andrew, d. 1937; Richard B, d. 1933)
Spent inheritance decently-ish (Paul, d. 1999; Richard K, d 1970)
Never met hardworking grandpas; should have been estate-taxed into dust; evil (Richard Mellon Scaife, d 2014; Timothy, b. 1942)
Rags-to-riches (Thomas, d. 1908)
Hardworking (Andrew, d. 1937; Richard B, d. 1933)
Spent inheritance decently-ish (Paul, d. 1999; Richard K, d 1970)
Never met hardworking grandpas; should have been estate-taxed into dust; evil (Richard Mellon Scaife, d 2014; Timothy, b. 1942)
My student self said "I will never, ever use this knowledge" about so many physics topics which later came home to roost. Today I'm solving the Lane-Emden equation, which I vividly remember failing to do successfully (in Fortran) when Ed Bertschinger assigned it as 8.901 homework.
October 23, 2025 at 7:50 PM
My student self said "I will never, ever use this knowledge" about so many physics topics which later came home to roost. Today I'm solving the Lane-Emden equation, which I vividly remember failing to do successfully (in Fortran) when Ed Bertschinger assigned it as 8.901 homework.
INTERVIEWER: do you have any skull tattoos?
ME: for context, let's talk about Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb novels, in which <four hour plot recap> in the end recontextualizing the Ninth House skeleton cult as something purposeful.
INTERVIEWER <dazed>: sir just answer the question
ME: I have no tattoos
ME: for context, let's talk about Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb novels, in which <four hour plot recap> in the end recontextualizing the Ninth House skeleton cult as something purposeful.
INTERVIEWER <dazed>: sir just answer the question
ME: I have no tattoos
October 22, 2025 at 2:12 PM
INTERVIEWER: do you have any skull tattoos?
ME: for context, let's talk about Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb novels, in which <four hour plot recap> in the end recontextualizing the Ninth House skeleton cult as something purposeful.
INTERVIEWER <dazed>: sir just answer the question
ME: I have no tattoos
ME: for context, let's talk about Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb novels, in which <four hour plot recap> in the end recontextualizing the Ninth House skeleton cult as something purposeful.
INTERVIEWER <dazed>: sir just answer the question
ME: I have no tattoos
Personally, I enjoyed writing my course syllabi as raw HTML which I could SCP down the hall to a Linux box named after a Tolkien sword and running an infrequently-patched Apache server. In that context, my neckbeard contrarian educator opinion is: "Canvas is pretty good by comparison" 🎢
October 20, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Personally, I enjoyed writing my course syllabi as raw HTML which I could SCP down the hall to a Linux box named after a Tolkien sword and running an infrequently-patched Apache server. In that context, my neckbeard contrarian educator opinion is: "Canvas is pretty good by comparison" 🎢
My friendly department-next-door, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, is hiring a f/t staff engineer! Work in undergrad teaching labs AND help w/ cool research instruments. "Bachelor’s degree in engineering and 0--2y professional experience" says the ad. Job code 13852 at employment.case.edu
employment.case.edu
October 16, 2025 at 1:13 AM
My friendly department-next-door, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, is hiring a f/t staff engineer! Work in undergrad teaching labs AND help w/ cool research instruments. "Bachelor’s degree in engineering and 0--2y professional experience" says the ad. Job code 13852 at employment.case.edu