Kellen Lawson
@kellenlawson.bsky.social
NPP Fellow NASA-Goddard. Studying exoplanets and circumstellar disks with high-contrast imaging. He/him.
kdlawson.github.io
kdlawson.github.io
I feel like everyone that says HFMD is mild for adults had it as a kid or something, because JFC. I'd rather have COVID twice in a row.
November 6, 2025 at 12:15 AM
I feel like everyone that says HFMD is mild for adults had it as a kid or something, because JFC. I'd rather have COVID twice in a row.
"Whats the big question you're trying to answer?"
"I guess it's really 'How do I trick exoplanet scientists into letting me study circumstellar disks?'"
"..."
"Oh sorry, you meant like a science question."
"I guess it's really 'How do I trick exoplanet scientists into letting me study circumstellar disks?'"
"..."
"Oh sorry, you meant like a science question."
November 4, 2025 at 4:24 PM
"Whats the big question you're trying to answer?"
"I guess it's really 'How do I trick exoplanet scientists into letting me study circumstellar disks?'"
"..."
"Oh sorry, you meant like a science question."
"I guess it's really 'How do I trick exoplanet scientists into letting me study circumstellar disks?'"
"..."
"Oh sorry, you meant like a science question."
Wife and kid (30 months) are flying to visit friends where my wife grew up. Last time (09/2024), kid met a friend's dog. Today, kid asked if they would get to see dog again (by name).
You can tell she's mine because she remembers the name of a dog she met for 10 minutes almost half her life ago.
You can tell she's mine because she remembers the name of a dog she met for 10 minutes almost half her life ago.
October 21, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Wife and kid (30 months) are flying to visit friends where my wife grew up. Last time (09/2024), kid met a friend's dog. Today, kid asked if they would get to see dog again (by name).
You can tell she's mine because she remembers the name of a dog she met for 10 minutes almost half her life ago.
You can tell she's mine because she remembers the name of a dog she met for 10 minutes almost half her life ago.
You think you're tired? Imagine how the APT and ETC servers at STScI feel right now.
October 15, 2025 at 4:06 PM
You think you're tired? Imagine how the APT and ETC servers at STScI feel right now.
Just had to click through to the second page of Overleaf docs to find a JWST proposal I wanted to work on 🫠
October 14, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Just had to click through to the second page of Overleaf docs to find a JWST proposal I wanted to work on 🫠
Me every time someone acknowledges my dog in their paper using Winnie.
a man is screaming with the words " unlimited power " behind him
Alt: A GIF of Emperor Palpatine using force lightning and shouting with the caption "UNLIMITED POWER!" superimposed at the bottom.
media.tenor.com
September 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Me every time someone acknowledges my dog in their paper using Winnie.
Yall ever spend ages overhauling some complicated code and then realize you've simply made it worse?
August 27, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Yall ever spend ages overhauling some complicated code and then realize you've simply made it worse?
Ugh. There're finally ST observations that I PI'd being executed but there isn't even a bot posting JWST's observation status in real time for me to repost now 😤
August 11, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Ugh. There're finally ST observations that I PI'd being executed but there isn't even a bot posting JWST's observation status in real time for me to repost now 😤
"The peasants expect us to pay them livable wages AT A LOSS?!?"
Asking for corporate tax breaks for paying your employees better is asking the government to subsidize your payroll.
Better idea: raise the minimum wage. Then they'll have a very compelling financial incentive to pay better.
Asking for corporate tax breaks for paying your employees better is asking the government to subsidize your payroll.
Better idea: raise the minimum wage. Then they'll have a very compelling financial incentive to pay better.
Want to use rich people like me to your advantage? Incent us to help those who need it the most. Lower corp taxes for comps that pay a min of $25 per hour. Lower corp taxes if employees get stock at the same pct as the CEO.
Bottom up incentives work. Dems never innovate. They bitch
Bottom up incentives work. Dems never innovate. They bitch
August 11, 2025 at 2:04 AM
"The peasants expect us to pay them livable wages AT A LOSS?!?"
Asking for corporate tax breaks for paying your employees better is asking the government to subsidize your payroll.
Better idea: raise the minimum wage. Then they'll have a very compelling financial incentive to pay better.
Asking for corporate tax breaks for paying your employees better is asking the government to subsidize your payroll.
Better idea: raise the minimum wage. Then they'll have a very compelling financial incentive to pay better.
If your color scale crosses zero and zero isn't perceptually obvious for the color mapping you've selected, I will never forgive you.
August 6, 2025 at 4:10 PM
If your color scale crosses zero and zero isn't perceptually obvious for the color mapping you've selected, I will never forgive you.
Fools: "Working from home with a dog is bad because dogs are a distraction"
Me:*works two hours more than I intended because my dog was sleeping on my lap*
Me:*works two hours more than I intended because my dog was sleeping on my lap*
August 5, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Fools: "Working from home with a dog is bad because dogs are a distraction"
Me:*works two hours more than I intended because my dog was sleeping on my lap*
Me:*works two hours more than I intended because my dog was sleeping on my lap*
Reposted by Kellen Lawson
New MINDS paper from Nicolas Kurtovic, focused on binary systems. Spectra, extended emission, variability, multi-observatory analysis -- there's something for everyone!
arxiv.org/pdf/2508.02576
arxiv.org/pdf/2508.02576
August 5, 2025 at 6:49 PM
New MINDS paper from Nicolas Kurtovic, focused on binary systems. Spectra, extended emission, variability, multi-observatory analysis -- there's something for everyone!
arxiv.org/pdf/2508.02576
arxiv.org/pdf/2508.02576
Me: "Please edit this photo of me with my child."
AI: "Sorry, our policy forbids altering photographs containing children."
Me: "Okay, please edit this photo of me with my very short adult friend."
AI: "Sure thing!"
AI: "Sorry, our policy forbids altering photographs containing children."
Me: "Okay, please edit this photo of me with my very short adult friend."
AI: "Sure thing!"
July 28, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Me: "Please edit this photo of me with my child."
AI: "Sorry, our policy forbids altering photographs containing children."
Me: "Okay, please edit this photo of me with my very short adult friend."
AI: "Sure thing!"
AI: "Sorry, our policy forbids altering photographs containing children."
Me: "Okay, please edit this photo of me with my very short adult friend."
AI: "Sure thing!"
You: "Hey Kellen, how are you doing?"
Me:
Me:
July 3, 2025 at 5:13 PM
You: "Hey Kellen, how are you doing?"
Me:
Me:
I wonder what fraction of correspondence now is effectively just ChatGPT roleplaying with itself.
June 28, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I wonder what fraction of correspondence now is effectively just ChatGPT roleplaying with itself.
Rubber bullets are not non-lethal —they're less lethal. The justifiable criteria for firing a rubber bullet at someone should be the same as firing a metal bullet.
Cops firing rubber bullets into a crowd of civilians is insane and indefensible.
Cops firing rubber bullets into a crowd of civilians is insane and indefensible.
June 9, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Rubber bullets are not non-lethal —they're less lethal. The justifiable criteria for firing a rubber bullet at someone should be the same as firing a metal bullet.
Cops firing rubber bullets into a crowd of civilians is insane and indefensible.
Cops firing rubber bullets into a crowd of civilians is insane and indefensible.
Whoever started calling it "negative planet injection" instead of "planet subtraction" probably also says stuff like "Ahh, nothing like reverse putting-on your shoes after a hard day!" or "I have to go to an ATM so I can make a negative deposit."
June 4, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Whoever started calling it "negative planet injection" instead of "planet subtraction" probably also says stuff like "Ahh, nothing like reverse putting-on your shoes after a hard day!" or "I have to go to an ATM so I can make a negative deposit."
"If the debris disk cannot be assumed to be optically thin, such that line of sight extinction to any planets is negligible, then our detection limits may instead be interpreted as: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
May 1, 2025 at 5:29 PM
"If the debris disk cannot be assumed to be optically thin, such that line of sight extinction to any planets is negligible, then our detection limits may instead be interpreted as: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
Including slew time in the hours used to compute JWST budget caps creates a funny situation where the order you add non-interruptible sequence targets to your apt can have a significant impact on your funding (calendar builders don't minimize slews until after budget notifications go out).
April 30, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Including slew time in the hours used to compute JWST budget caps creates a funny situation where the order you add non-interruptible sequence targets to your apt can have a significant impact on your funding (calendar builders don't minimize slews until after budget notifications go out).
By arguing about whether his hands had gang-related tattoos, we're implicitly allowing the standard to be "you can indefinitely incarcerate someone in inhumane conditions with literally zero oversight based on tattoos alone".
April 30, 2025 at 3:26 PM
By arguing about whether his hands had gang-related tattoos, we're implicitly allowing the standard to be "you can indefinitely incarcerate someone in inhumane conditions with literally zero oversight based on tattoos alone".
Read as written, if you had a JWST program where 21 co-Is were all contributing equally, you would submit a Cycle 4 budget request narrative in which nobody is listed in "Summary of Contributions of all Investigators".
April 25, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Read as written, if you had a JWST program where 21 co-Is were all contributing equally, you would submit a Cycle 4 budget request narrative in which nobody is listed in "Summary of Contributions of all Investigators".
Insisting that the plural of brown dwarf is brown dwarves in solidarity with Tolkien.
April 14, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Insisting that the plural of brown dwarf is brown dwarves in solidarity with Tolkien.
Apparently reading Peter Rabbit's Communist Manifesto to my offspring.
April 9, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Apparently reading Peter Rabbit's Communist Manifesto to my offspring.
To whom it may concern,
April 7, 2025 at 10:17 PM
To whom it may concern,
A moment of silence for everyone who accidentally had a major result land on arxiv today.
April 1, 2025 at 2:45 PM
A moment of silence for everyone who accidentally had a major result land on arxiv today.