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giantmolecular.cloud
dr℮w
@giantmolecular.cloud
170 followers 340 following 110 posts
astrophysicist who really, REALLY likes galaxies

previous university of Michigan; current Astrobites, University of Massachusetts

they/them 🏳️‍⚧️
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giantmolecular.cloud
i've gotten my fair share of scam publishing emails but 'Concepts of Dairy' is a new one
A spam email reading: Dear Professor, Warm greetings! We are excited to invite you to submit your latest work for our August Issue (Volume 6, Issue 2). We truly value your contributions to the field, and your article would be a wonderful addition to this edition.
September 29, 2025 at 7:09 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
some lil dudes
An arm with a felt watch, black strap with purple accents that reads 3:33, a small knit snail that is pink and purple, and a knit frog dressed as a jester attached to a bag.
September 28, 2025 at 9:52 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
It does seem like they have barred 2nd year graduate students from applying. This is devastating, I've been preparing my applications materials for MONTHS and now they all have to get binned...
This means individuals in the following statuses at the time of application are eligible: Undergraduate in the final (senior) year of a bachelor’s degree program Bachelor’s degree-holder with NO enrollment in a graduate degree program (non-degree graduate coursework allowed) Individual enrolled in a joint bachelor’s-master’s degree program with at least three undergraduate years completed First-year graduate student in their first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed in the degree program (according to institution’s academic calendar) Individuals enrolled in joint bachelor’s-master’s degree programs are considered graduate students. For GRFP, joint bachelor’s-master’s degrees are defined as degrees concurrently pursued and awarded. Not be a current NSF employee.
September 26, 2025 at 3:47 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
one of my favorite plots ever is the 9/11 memorial bird density map

(source: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... ; note that this is not even close to my field of study, i just find the plot very illustrative and interesting)
Left panel: the spotlights at the 9/11 memorial site in NYC, with individual migratory birds highlighted by grey circles. Right panel: Top showing minimal bird density (blue contours) while the lights are off. Bottom showing a substantial increase when turned on (red contours)
September 11, 2025 at 6:34 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
thanks google
A google AI response to the search "Ham Limit" which reads: "Ham limit" can refer to different things, but most commonly it means the recommended quantity of ham to purchase per person for a meal, or the temperature limit for reheating cooked ham. For food safety, hams require heating to 140°F (60°C) if purchased from the plant, or 165°F (74°C) if they've been repackaged. For serving, plan for 1/3 to 1/2 pound of bone-in ham, or 1/4 to 1/3 pound of boneless ham per person
September 9, 2025 at 3:25 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
heathcliff posting
a comic panel from the Heathcliff comic series. it depicts an orange cat, wearing a pink helmet labeled "HAM", driving a leg of ham with wheels. next to him is a sign that reads "Ham Limit 25". two people stand in the background, saying "He's going way over the Ham Limit"
September 9, 2025 at 3:24 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
welcome traveler
September 8, 2025 at 9:26 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
haircut mode 👍
a picture of me, drew, showing off my new haircut. beige background, and i am holding up my phone and looking into the camera. my hair is shoulder length, layered, curly and brown. im wearing a black shirt and have headphones on
September 8, 2025 at 7:32 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
#FRIDAY #BABY
a low resolution garfield frame. jon arbuckle is sitting up in bed, covered in a blue blanket against a pink wall. he has a determined look on his face and is saying "ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT!"
September 5, 2025 at 7:32 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
important work being done on the first day of the semester 👍
a wooden office door with 4 comic strips taped to it. the top one is from xqcd, and features two people sitting under a tree saying "of the four dimensions i could have spent my life being pushed inexorably through, i guess time isn't the worst. the middle left comic is from the farside, and features a group of scientists next to a telescope with the caption "all day long a tough group of astrophysicists would monopolize the telescope and intimidate other researchers". the middle right is a calvin and hobbes strip, featuring the two standing under the night sky. calvin says "if people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, i bet they'd live life a lot differently ". hobbes replies "how so?" and calvin says "well, when you look into infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day". the bottom comic is a man sitting an an empty room, reading a book titled "stars", with nothing else but several other books and a telescope.
September 2, 2025 at 11:22 AM
giantmolecular.cloud
homophobes
president snow from the hunger games (an older man, with white hair and a white beard) saying "They're holding hands. I want them dead".
September 1, 2025 at 11:19 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
i've been trying to find a copy of rybicki & lightman for years. i check every used book shop, garage sale, and flea market i go to for this specific book.

lo and behold, the day before i start my graduate "rad. processes in astrophysics" class, i find it on the ground at my local used book shop.
a copy of "Radiative Processes in Astrophysics" by George Rybicki and Alan Lightman. the cover is white with a blue box on it.
September 1, 2025 at 8:33 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
ren faire season 👍
a picture of me, drew, wearing my spiffy new green cloak
August 31, 2025 at 10:16 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
#happy #friday
a picture of Sisyphus pushing a boulder. the boulder is labeled as "juypter" in reference to jupyter notebooks. Sisyphus is labeled as "me, every single day"
August 22, 2025 at 10:08 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
i cannot seem to escape these posts????
a bluesky user posting an AI generated picture of Gavin Newson, cartman from south park, and a dnr ranger (?) in front of an upside down american flag with the caption "the resistance" a bluesky user posting an AI generated image of Gavin Newson holding a cat while wearing a tank top with an american flag jn the background captioned "Kitty trolling. 😸😸😸😸"
August 21, 2025 at 2:14 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
good! night!
text inside a persons brain saying "deep seated feelings of loneliness and the desire for love", then a speech bubble coming out of the mouth saying "from astropy.io import fits"
August 21, 2025 at 1:33 AM
giantmolecular.cloud
my favorite oc
a picture of a supernova with an arrow pointing towards silicon captioned "a yet a trace of the true self". the next row has the same silicon image pointing towards a computer. the bottom row shows the computer pointing towards several images from cosmological simulations with the caption "exists in the false self".
July 24, 2025 at 7:11 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
i think my last citrus space post was on twitter. once again i find myself on my favorite wikipedia page
an image from wikipedia showing the 3d projection of the principal components of citrus hybrids. the caption reads "Three-dimensional projection of a principal component analysis of citrus hybrids, with citron (yellow), pomelo (blue), mandarin (red), and micrantha (green) defining the axes. Hybrids are expected to plot between their parents. ML: 'Mexican' lime; A: 'Alemow'; V: 'Volkamer' lemon; M: 'Meyer' lemon; L: Regular and 'Sweet' lemons; B: Bergamot orange; H: Haploid clementine; C: Clementines; S: Sour oranges; O: Sweet oranges; G: Grapefruits. Figure from Curk, et al. (2014).[52]"
July 24, 2025 at 3:50 AM
giantmolecular.cloud
hah i have the same one on my recently decommissioned laptop! from 2023 (?) i think
a macbook with an array of astronomy-related stickers, one of which is a "simbad" sticker, referring to the astronomical database.
July 2, 2025 at 7:36 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
cat
an orange main coon cat standing on a carpet floor and looking at the camera. there's a table in the background. an orange main coon cat sniffing the camera. the photo was taken in 0.5 so he looks glumpy. an orange maine coon cat sitting on the floor. he's looking away from the camera and appears to be deep in thought. an orange maine coon . he is very close to the camera and looks startled. he is looking at the camera and is very cute.
April 26, 2025 at 8:35 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
this is fun
February 20, 2025 at 3:07 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
related: my new crock pot
an image of a vintage crock pot slow cooker inside a thrift store
February 15, 2025 at 6:11 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
February 14, 2025 at 3:25 PM
giantmolecular.cloud
happy v day
February 14, 2025 at 3:17 PM