Brian Monson
@phyicistbrianm.bsky.social
Physicist and educator. Occasional photographer and woodworker.
Going to head out of town tonight and get away from light pollution
We have upgraded our geomagnetic forecast today (12 November 2025) to the highest intensity level amid an ongoing solar storm.
Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
November 12, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Going to head out of town tonight and get away from light pollution
Things left in my room after the exam today: A sweater, one foam headphone ear cup, & a bracelet. But mostly a lot of eraser crumbs #ITeachPhysics 🎢
November 6, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Things left in my room after the exam today: A sweater, one foam headphone ear cup, & a bracelet. But mostly a lot of eraser crumbs #ITeachPhysics 🎢
Cool fact. Pasco wireless force probes and carts only work with the hooks they came with. A longer threaded hook interferes w/the flex of the strain gauge and prevents them from being calibrated. The one on the right is correct #ITeachPhysics
November 5, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Cool fact. Pasco wireless force probes and carts only work with the hooks they came with. A longer threaded hook interferes w/the flex of the strain gauge and prevents them from being calibrated. The one on the right is correct #ITeachPhysics
Reposted by Brian Monson
New awareness campaign
November 3, 2025 at 3:23 PM
New awareness campaign
i tried to update my AAPT profile by sneaking my Bluesky profile into the field for X but it rejected it. Bummer
October 6, 2025 at 5:48 PM
i tried to update my AAPT profile by sneaking my Bluesky profile into the field for X but it rejected it. Bummer
Great, Turnitin thinks using \imath and \jmath is "an attempt to hinder similarity detection." Every kid who did unit vectors correctly got a flag. Everyone who made them with regular i and j didn't. Opening the inbox and seeing all the flags was disconcerting 🎢 #ITeachPhysics
September 18, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Great, Turnitin thinks using \imath and \jmath is "an attempt to hinder similarity detection." Every kid who did unit vectors correctly got a flag. Everyone who made them with regular i and j didn't. Opening the inbox and seeing all the flags was disconcerting 🎢 #ITeachPhysics
This is exactly why I asked to join the class after they stole all my papers to train their plagiarism machine.
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
August 28, 2025 at 12:55 PM
This is exactly why I asked to join the class after they stole all my papers to train their plagiarism machine.
If you've ever written for The Physics Teacher, you may be in this database Anthropic used for training. An article I wrote way back in the 90s is. #ITeachPhysics 🎢
"If your books were uploaded to LibGen/fed into the LLMs, add your name to the potential class action lawsuit by tomorrow." Details:
LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)
LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
August 15, 2025 at 1:28 PM
If you've ever written for The Physics Teacher, you may be in this database Anthropic used for training. An article I wrote way back in the 90s is. #ITeachPhysics 🎢
This very much reminds me of the high school junior who walked into my office one day and proposed a science fair project to add gravity to special relativity. Utterly clueless.
Billionaires are convinced AI is on the verge of making new scientific discoveries because they don't understand how AI chatbots work.
Billionaires Convince Themselves AI Is Close to Making New Scientific Discoveries
gizmodo.com
July 16, 2025 at 2:20 PM
This very much reminds me of the high school junior who walked into my office one day and proposed a science fair project to add gravity to special relativity. Utterly clueless.
Reposted by Brian Monson
🔭 APOD is 30 Years Old Today
Image Credit: Pixelization of Van Gogh's The Starry Night by Dario Giannobile
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25061...
Image Credit: Pixelization of Van Gogh's The Starry Night by Dario Giannobile
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25061...
June 16, 2025 at 8:00 AM
🔭 APOD is 30 Years Old Today
Image Credit: Pixelization of Van Gogh's The Starry Night by Dario Giannobile
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25061...
Image Credit: Pixelization of Van Gogh's The Starry Night by Dario Giannobile
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25061...
Anyone know of a study trying to correlate LLM use by students with non-academic disciplinary problems? #ITeachPhysics 🎢
June 16, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Anyone know of a study trying to correlate LLM use by students with non-academic disciplinary problems? #ITeachPhysics 🎢
Another great simile for LLM use by students. Goes with "using a forklift int he weight room."
Homework is exercise.
Using #AI (#LLM) for your #HW is like using an electric scooter on a treadmill. The scooter (AI) is useful for getting places, but the point of HW is to get better at #physics like #exercising on a treadmill that doesn't go anywhere. #science #learning #education
Using #AI (#LLM) for your #HW is like using an electric scooter on a treadmill. The scooter (AI) is useful for getting places, but the point of HW is to get better at #physics like #exercising on a treadmill that doesn't go anywhere. #science #learning #education
June 16, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Another great simile for LLM use by students. Goes with "using a forklift int he weight room."
I had a very unpleasant meeting today. After several hours of reflection and several beers to calm down I had an epiphany.
Only imposters don’t have imposter syndrome.
Only imposters don’t have imposter syndrome.
June 13, 2025 at 2:01 AM
I had a very unpleasant meeting today. After several hours of reflection and several beers to calm down I had an epiphany.
Only imposters don’t have imposter syndrome.
Only imposters don’t have imposter syndrome.
I am quote posting this because I love the phrase "steaming cauldron of linear algebra" and want to remember it to use against AI doofuses.
The latest horror show from the steaming cauldron of linear algebra we're calling "AI" these days. To be fair, a similar process has always been possible via various kook forums, but the customized speedrun version enabled by GPT bots is a real shitshow.
I just saw a good example of what I was talking about with chatgpt being a crackpot generating machine.
A guy had started Wheeler's Spacetime Physics, and had a problem on page 2.
Wheeler expressed a square root as a power of 1/2.
√a = a^1/2. This is basic algebra, not physics.
A guy had started Wheeler's Spacetime Physics, and had a problem on page 2.
Wheeler expressed a square root as a power of 1/2.
√a = a^1/2. This is basic algebra, not physics.
May 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
I am quote posting this because I love the phrase "steaming cauldron of linear algebra" and want to remember it to use against AI doofuses.
PhET is the best site out there for grade school through undergrad sims - physics, math and chemistry. I hope you're using it and can maybe kick in a few dollars to replace the funds lost by this absolutely stupid decision.
giveto.colorado.edu/campaigns/50...
#iTeachPhysics 🎢
giveto.colorado.edu/campaigns/50...
#iTeachPhysics 🎢
May 8, 2025 at 4:05 PM
PhET is the best site out there for grade school through undergrad sims - physics, math and chemistry. I hope you're using it and can maybe kick in a few dollars to replace the funds lost by this absolutely stupid decision.
giveto.colorado.edu/campaigns/50...
#iTeachPhysics 🎢
giveto.colorado.edu/campaigns/50...
#iTeachPhysics 🎢
Ok Siri, I get it that Titania is a moon of Uranus and a Shakespeare character, but it's also just TiO2 and doesn't have to be capitalized every time.
April 15, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Ok Siri, I get it that Titania is a moon of Uranus and a Shakespeare character, but it's also just TiO2 and doesn't have to be capitalized every time.
This is why we make them show work on math & physics tests. I made up the problem - I do not need you to tell me the answer. I need you to demonstrate understanding & skills.
An astronomy professor colleague of mine once relayed trying to explain to his students why it was important that they actually write their class reports themselves. “The point is not to teach ME about neutron stars,” he said.
Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.
April 15, 2025 at 1:25 PM
This is why we make them show work on math & physics tests. I made up the problem - I do not need you to tell me the answer. I need you to demonstrate understanding & skills.
Thermal images of a ballistic pendulum before & after catching a ball. The after image shows a hot spot where the ball interacted with the catcher part of the pendulum
April 7, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Thermal images of a ballistic pendulum before & after catching a ball. The after image shows a hot spot where the ball interacted with the catcher part of the pendulum
This was the wrong day for TIAA to send me a marketing email about two powerful forces that will help me grow my nest egg.
April 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
This was the wrong day for TIAA to send me a marketing email about two powerful forces that will help me grow my nest egg.
It never fails. I decide to not wear a sweater today because it's supposed to 60° and the boiler shuts off over the weekend. It's 58° in my office right now
February 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
It never fails. I decide to not wear a sweater today because it's supposed to 60° and the boiler shuts off over the weekend. It's 58° in my office right now
My cat is about to hyperventilate trying to smell the dogs on the tv dog show.
February 12, 2025 at 2:14 AM
My cat is about to hyperventilate trying to smell the dogs on the tv dog show.
This is like the early days of internet filters at schools when kids couldn't search for info on breast cancer. Poorly thought-out over-reactions are never a good idea.
Federal employee with a data role told me that a document was removed from employee access because it had the word "inclusion" in it.
As in, "inclusion of data in our estimates."
As in, "inclusion of data in our estimates."
February 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
This is like the early days of internet filters at schools when kids couldn't search for info on breast cancer. Poorly thought-out over-reactions are never a good idea.
Reposted by Brian Monson
Today is Retraction Day, when we observe the anniversary of the retraction (Feb. 2, 2010) of the fraudulent paper that purported to show a link between vaccines and autism. 🧪#medsky
![This is the front page of a fraudulent research article that purported to show a link between vaccines and autism. The word "RETRACTED" is written across it in large red letters.
Wikipedia: On 28th February 1998, a fraudulent research paper by physician Andrew Wakefield and twelve coauthors, titled "Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children", was published in the British medical journal The Lancet.[1] The paper falsely claimed causative links between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and colitis and between colitis and autism. The fraud involved data selection, data manipulation, and two undisclosed conflicts of interest.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sox6xar4qdc3ujhi5h4whtlh/bafkreiazjyxk6foryp6lzxcqbls62uaokwhjrjmnzg5uqpdimg77xrt26a@jpeg)
February 2, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Today is Retraction Day, when we observe the anniversary of the retraction (Feb. 2, 2010) of the fraudulent paper that purported to show a link between vaccines and autism. 🧪#medsky
If you require people to book meetings with you via an online calendar but don't block out all your existing meetings you've pissed me off and might not make a sale.
January 21, 2025 at 4:22 PM
If you require people to book meetings with you via an online calendar but don't block out all your existing meetings you've pissed me off and might not make a sale.
We had three snow days and I came back to school to find this in the office fridge. Apparently you have to open the door regularly to prevent freezing.
January 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
We had three snow days and I came back to school to find this in the office fridge. Apparently you have to open the door regularly to prevent freezing.