Robert McNees
@mcnees.bsky.social
Physicist and Professor at a university in Chicago.
Black holes, quantum gravity, cosmology.
Rocky Top, Tar Heel.
Reposts are spooky action at a distance.
My views, not my employer's.
https://jacobi.luc.edu, https://mcnees.github.io
Black holes, quantum gravity, cosmology.
Rocky Top, Tar Heel.
Reposts are spooky action at a distance.
My views, not my employer's.
https://jacobi.luc.edu, https://mcnees.github.io
Pinned
Robert McNees
@mcnees.bsky.social
· Nov 9
Probably the best thing I ever posted on that other site, wish I could permanently transplant it to my timeline here.
Reposted by Robert McNees
*fully restores your HP as you scroll past*
January 27, 2026 at 4:20 AM
*fully restores your HP as you scroll past*
Reposted by Robert McNees
how your email finds me
January 26, 2026 at 8:05 PM
how your email finds me
Here is a thread about tiny discrepancies, the marvelous predictive power of Quantum Electrodynamics, and the sort of immigrant success story that the current administration is doing everything in their power to eliminate. 🧪 ⚛️
Physicist Polykarp Kusch was born #OTD in 1911. His measurements of the magnetic moment of the electron revealed that its value disagrees with naive predictions by a tiny amount — about 0.1%.
Quantum Electrodynamics offers a marvelous explanation of this minuscule discrepancy. 🧪 ⚛️
Image: AIP
Quantum Electrodynamics offers a marvelous explanation of this minuscule discrepancy. 🧪 ⚛️
Image: AIP
January 26, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Here is a thread about tiny discrepancies, the marvelous predictive power of Quantum Electrodynamics, and the sort of immigrant success story that the current administration is doing everything in their power to eliminate. 🧪 ⚛️
Every single one of these explainers is a work of art. The one about mechanical watches, especially, but they are all so good.
ciechanow.ski/archives/
ciechanow.ski/archives/
January 26, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Every single one of these explainers is a work of art. The one about mechanical watches, especially, but they are all so good.
ciechanow.ski/archives/
ciechanow.ski/archives/
“person, woman, man, camera, TV”
![Ben Terris
@bterris
X.com
"[My father] had one problem," Trump said. "
He started getting, what do they call it?" He pointed to his forehead and looked to his press secretary for the word that escaped him.
"Alzheimer's," Leavitt said.
"Like an Alzheimer's thing," Trump said. "Well, I don't have it."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:drfb2pdjlnsqkfgsoellcahm/bafkreiddfjrkrizv6r5szmevc7gl3bgwmcoub2i7ondb7cpnnqslhsjtvi@jpeg)
January 26, 2026 at 3:54 PM
“person, woman, man, camera, TV”
Missed this yesterday, but the Republican governor of Vermont called for an end to the murder of American citizens by federal agents.
January 26, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Missed this yesterday, but the Republican governor of Vermont called for an end to the murder of American citizens by federal agents.
“We’re going so unpredictable, so heterodox.”
NEWS: Bari Weiss will hold an all-hands meeting to discuss the future of CBS News tomorrow, per note that just went out to employees.
January 26, 2026 at 3:19 PM
“We’re going so unpredictable, so heterodox.”
Good for him. More prominent Republicans should vocally leave their party, today.
Chris Madel ends GOP bid for governor, says he can’t support federal ‘retribution’ against Minnesota
His exit comes as some other Republicans have started to distance themselves from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the state.
www.startribune.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Good for him. More prominent Republicans should vocally leave their party, today.
Today is a great day to call your Representatives and Senators, and demand that they act now to defund and abolish ICE.
January 26, 2026 at 1:20 PM
Today is a great day to call your Representatives and Senators, and demand that they act now to defund and abolish ICE.
I wonder how many ICE agents understand what their bosses are doing, trying to trap them in situations they *hope* will become dangerous for the agents.
January 26, 2026 at 6:08 AM
I wonder how many ICE agents understand what their bosses are doing, trying to trap them in situations they *hope* will become dangerous for the agents.
Guess my plan to not learn anything at all about TikTok wasn’t so dumb after all.
January 26, 2026 at 3:41 AM
Guess my plan to not learn anything at all about TikTok wasn’t so dumb after all.
Reposted by Robert McNees
Swedish mathematician Niels Fabian Helge von Koch was born #OTD in 1870.
He did important work in number theory, including a result relating the Riemann hypothesis to the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. But he's best known for the "Koch Curve" – an early example of a fractal. 🧪 🧮
He did important work in number theory, including a result relating the Riemann hypothesis to the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. But he's best known for the "Koch Curve" – an early example of a fractal. 🧪 🧮
January 25, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Swedish mathematician Niels Fabian Helge von Koch was born #OTD in 1870.
He did important work in number theory, including a result relating the Riemann hypothesis to the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. But he's best known for the "Koch Curve" – an early example of a fractal. 🧪 🧮
He did important work in number theory, including a result relating the Riemann hypothesis to the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. But he's best known for the "Koch Curve" – an early example of a fractal. 🧪 🧮
Swedish mathematician Niels Fabian Helge von Koch was born #OTD in 1870.
He did important work in number theory, including a result relating the Riemann hypothesis to the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. But he's best known for the "Koch Curve" – an early example of a fractal. 🧪 🧮
He did important work in number theory, including a result relating the Riemann hypothesis to the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. But he's best known for the "Koch Curve" – an early example of a fractal. 🧪 🧮
January 25, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Swedish mathematician Niels Fabian Helge von Koch was born #OTD in 1870.
He did important work in number theory, including a result relating the Riemann hypothesis to the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. But he's best known for the "Koch Curve" – an early example of a fractal. 🧪 🧮
He did important work in number theory, including a result relating the Riemann hypothesis to the asymptotic distribution of prime numbers. But he's best known for the "Koch Curve" – an early example of a fractal. 🧪 🧮
They should give next year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the people of the Twin Cities.
January 25, 2026 at 5:20 PM
They should give next year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the people of the Twin Cities.
Reposted by Robert McNees
BTW when I say abolish ICE, I mean abolish it entirely and replace it with exactly nothing. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. That's it.
January 25, 2026 at 2:32 AM
BTW when I say abolish ICE, I mean abolish it entirely and replace it with exactly nothing. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. That's it.
Better late than never
Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no.
January 25, 2026 at 5:25 AM
Better late than never
Reposted by Robert McNees
This administration would defend Tim McVeigh if they thought he was a Trump voter
Bovino shamelessly lies: "This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement"
January 24, 2026 at 9:10 PM
This administration would defend Tim McVeigh if they thought he was a Trump voter
Reposted by Robert McNees
the nba postponed a game because the united states government is killing its citizens
January 24, 2026 at 7:51 PM
the nba postponed a game because the united states government is killing its citizens
Reposted by Robert McNees
Reminder: All it would take to end the murder of American citizens by an untrained government goon squad is 16 Republicans in Congress voting with Dems to defund ICE (or 23 to impeach and remove Trump — 3 in House & 20 in Senate). That’s it. 23 Americans can vote for the public and end all of this.
January 24, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Reminder: All it would take to end the murder of American citizens by an untrained government goon squad is 16 Republicans in Congress voting with Dems to defund ICE (or 23 to impeach and remove Trump — 3 in House & 20 in Senate). That’s it. 23 Americans can vote for the public and end all of this.
Reposted by Robert McNees
Alex Pretti, the man shot by ICE in Minneapolis, appears to have previously worked with the federal government at the VA.
There is a photo of him on the VA website, where he’s cited as part of a medical research team.
www.vacsp.research.va.gov/CSP_2004/CSP...
There is a photo of him on the VA website, where he’s cited as part of a medical research team.
www.vacsp.research.va.gov/CSP_2004/CSP...
January 24, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Alex Pretti, the man shot by ICE in Minneapolis, appears to have previously worked with the federal government at the VA.
There is a photo of him on the VA website, where he’s cited as part of a medical research team.
www.vacsp.research.va.gov/CSP_2004/CSP...
There is a photo of him on the VA website, where he’s cited as part of a medical research team.
www.vacsp.research.va.gov/CSP_2004/CSP...
They can’t help but slip in a few vermin analogies.
When you die you get to be a person, when you take issue with murder you are a mindless "swarm"
January 24, 2026 at 6:22 PM
They can’t help but slip in a few vermin analogies.
Reposted by Robert McNees
They’ll leave. We’ll stay. We live in Minnesota. The only variables are how many of they kill first and if anyone with authority will try to stop them.
January 24, 2026 at 5:37 PM
They’ll leave. We’ll stay. We live in Minnesota. The only variables are how many of they kill first and if anyone with authority will try to stop them.
Reposted by Robert McNees
I just watched ICE break through their own crime scene tape an attack witnesses & protestors with tear gas and flash bang grenades. This is how they get rid of witnesses to their murder. No one was attacking them. They just got the order to attack & disperse witnesses.
January 24, 2026 at 4:41 PM
I just watched ICE break through their own crime scene tape an attack witnesses & protestors with tear gas and flash bang grenades. This is how they get rid of witnesses to their murder. No one was attacking them. They just got the order to attack & disperse witnesses.
It has gotten so bad that the @nytimes.com has stopped using the passive voice to describe the violence.
January 24, 2026 at 5:15 PM
It has gotten so bad that the @nytimes.com has stopped using the passive voice to describe the violence.