@mad-science-guy.bsky.social
I got Gray Milou.🤷♂️
November 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
I got Gray Milou.🤷♂️
Gray Milou? Might only make sense to French speaking people.
November 19, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Gray Milou? Might only make sense to French speaking people.
Q: would the message even be detectable at ~7-8 kpc? My back of the envelope says that even with laser like beam you’re talking a lot of attenuation. Assuming a laser I get beamwidths in the gigameter range.
November 17, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Q: would the message even be detectable at ~7-8 kpc? My back of the envelope says that even with laser like beam you’re talking a lot of attenuation. Assuming a laser I get beamwidths in the gigameter range.
In fact I would argue that Dems have, too often, given up on positions that are demonstrably popular *with their voters* in the name of compromise.
November 17, 2025 at 12:51 AM
In fact I would argue that Dems have, too often, given up on positions that are demonstrably popular *with their voters* in the name of compromise.
I mean, the problem is we are dealing with a fascist party whose stated goal is to kill you, me, and everyone we love. The Dem leadership *fetishizes* bipartisanship and I submit that the voters have been telling them they want something else for some time now.
November 17, 2025 at 12:50 AM
I mean, the problem is we are dealing with a fascist party whose stated goal is to kill you, me, and everyone we love. The Dem leadership *fetishizes* bipartisanship and I submit that the voters have been telling them they want something else for some time now.
I mean some folks may not buy this but at times taking a principled stand and saying “this is a hill to die on” works. I have never heard anyone say “i wanna vote for the guy who compromises a lot”
November 17, 2025 at 12:14 AM
I mean some folks may not buy this but at times taking a principled stand and saying “this is a hill to die on” works. I have never heard anyone say “i wanna vote for the guy who compromises a lot”
For us on the left end, what’s infuriating is the feeling that Dems (and Labour) are negotiating against themselves. “Hey maybe a more centrist approach” has not been the way the right operates and it’s one reason they have been able to do so much harm.
November 17, 2025 at 12:10 AM
For us on the left end, what’s infuriating is the feeling that Dems (and Labour) are negotiating against themselves. “Hey maybe a more centrist approach” has not been the way the right operates and it’s one reason they have been able to do so much harm.
I laughed a little at that. Does that make me a bad person?
(I keep imagining departmental meetings breaking out into fistfights over budgets and grad student slots.)
(I keep imagining departmental meetings breaking out into fistfights over budgets and grad student slots.)
November 16, 2025 at 6:03 PM
I laughed a little at that. Does that make me a bad person?
(I keep imagining departmental meetings breaking out into fistfights over budgets and grad student slots.)
(I keep imagining departmental meetings breaking out into fistfights over budgets and grad student slots.)
(Also Hunter college [CUNY] does this too, it's the department of Physics & Astronomy there)
November 16, 2025 at 5:57 PM
(Also Hunter college [CUNY] does this too, it's the department of Physics & Astronomy there)
I am curious how much of this is a little fuzzy because many colleges and universities -- the University of Rochester was one when I went - kind of fold the two into each other ( eg the major there was Physics & Astronomy). I suspect that's just budgetary stuff, but I am no academic.
November 16, 2025 at 5:56 PM
I am curious how much of this is a little fuzzy because many colleges and universities -- the University of Rochester was one when I went - kind of fold the two into each other ( eg the major there was Physics & Astronomy). I suspect that's just budgetary stuff, but I am no academic.
Dammit, I have a lot of respect for outlets like the New Yorker, which sometimes engages in what you are talking about -- but imagine if the piece Ronan Farrow did at the New Yorker sounded like this talking about the women Weinstein assaulted. The NYT is doing readers a big disservice.
November 16, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Dammit, I have a lot of respect for outlets like the New Yorker, which sometimes engages in what you are talking about -- but imagine if the piece Ronan Farrow did at the New Yorker sounded like this talking about the women Weinstein assaulted. The NYT is doing readers a big disservice.
I was a reporter for 20 years. None of my editors would have accepted this kind of thing from me, because it depends too much on being an "insider" to get the snark. And I personally hate that shit, because it goes against what we as a profession are supposed to freaking *do* -- make things CLEAR.
November 16, 2025 at 5:48 PM
I was a reporter for 20 years. None of my editors would have accepted this kind of thing from me, because it depends too much on being an "insider" to get the snark. And I personally hate that shit, because it goes against what we as a profession are supposed to freaking *do* -- make things CLEAR.
I understand the lensing effect; that makes sense to me. Is this time delay an effect of that?
November 14, 2025 at 12:45 AM
I understand the lensing effect; that makes sense to me. Is this time delay an effect of that?
Perhaps a dumb Q (I am a little tired) but is the time delay because the light takes a longer path? Because I would have thought that since space itself is getting bent near a gravitational field then your meter sticks, as it were, would all be the same (1 m) and so you'd not notice any aberration?
November 14, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Perhaps a dumb Q (I am a little tired) but is the time delay because the light takes a longer path? Because I would have thought that since space itself is getting bent near a gravitational field then your meter sticks, as it were, would all be the same (1 m) and so you'd not notice any aberration?
I mean some people do evil under duress. The kapos during the holocaust for example. But there is no excuse for choosing to be evil and doing harm for the joy of it.
November 13, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I mean some people do evil under duress. The kapos during the holocaust for example. But there is no excuse for choosing to be evil and doing harm for the joy of it.
It kind of doesn’t matter tho does it? They are not really humans anymore as far as I am concerned.
November 13, 2025 at 10:58 PM
It kind of doesn’t matter tho does it? They are not really humans anymore as far as I am concerned.
Robert Moses famously design transit out of many projects, and in Wisconsin a rail link from Madison -> Milwaukee -> Chicago was nixed basically because some folks did not want Black people to be able to get to football games at UW.
November 13, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Robert Moses famously design transit out of many projects, and in Wisconsin a rail link from Madison -> Milwaukee -> Chicago was nixed basically because some folks did not want Black people to be able to get to football games at UW.
Better not play much Tom Lehrer
November 13, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Better not play much Tom Lehrer
In a way it illustrates why grifting like this works. The trick is to stay away from people who actually know what they are about.
November 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM
In a way it illustrates why grifting like this works. The trick is to stay away from people who actually know what they are about.
But in journalism as in many other fields, there’s a certain amount of siloing that happens. I covered science for a long while, and it was rather rare that I would run into people who covered finance. I only knew a lot of them because I used to do just that.
November 13, 2025 at 6:22 PM
But in journalism as in many other fields, there’s a certain amount of siloing that happens. I covered science for a long while, and it was rather rare that I would run into people who covered finance. I only knew a lot of them because I used to do just that.
I mean, if you go back decades, even and look for a mention of Epstein in the finance pages, you just don’t see it. Among the publications that cover hedge funds his name would sure to be there if he actually was trading with those folks.
November 13, 2025 at 6:21 PM
I mean, if you go back decades, even and look for a mention of Epstein in the finance pages, you just don’t see it. Among the publications that cover hedge funds his name would sure to be there if he actually was trading with those folks.
(Reporters who cover politics would be interesting here because an occupational hazard is getting too close to the subjects involved. The people who do it best are relative outsiders, generally speaking; they don't get invited to the posh parties).
November 13, 2025 at 11:29 AM
(Reporters who cover politics would be interesting here because an occupational hazard is getting too close to the subjects involved. The people who do it best are relative outsiders, generally speaking; they don't get invited to the posh parties).
I'd be interested to see how many people at the WSJ or NYT finance desk (as opposed to style people from say, NY Mag or the like) are in the email pile. I suspect strongly that the former is less prevalent.
November 13, 2025 at 11:27 AM
I'd be interested to see how many people at the WSJ or NYT finance desk (as opposed to style people from say, NY Mag or the like) are in the email pile. I suspect strongly that the former is less prevalent.
Like, I read a couple of these pieces and what's fascinating is that the reporters involved didn't say "hang on, what the heck are you talking about?"
broker dealers (the people who would handle hedge fund trades) had zero contact with him.
broker dealers (the people who would handle hedge fund trades) had zero contact with him.
November 13, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Like, I read a couple of these pieces and what's fascinating is that the reporters involved didn't say "hang on, what the heck are you talking about?"
broker dealers (the people who would handle hedge fund trades) had zero contact with him.
broker dealers (the people who would handle hedge fund trades) had zero contact with him.