Mastodon Feed
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
oh kay, I do not thunk the Gawdz of the Æther will smile upon our weekly local voice net on 50.250MHz tonight… the Sun Gawd in particular is off their meds, and thus the troposphere is roiling
Mastodon FeedBoosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
AkaSci@fosstodon.org ("AkaSci 🛰️") wrote:
A new study, based on data from Hubble and ESA’s Gaia space telescope, has re-examined the long-held prediction of a collision and merger between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy in ~5 billion years.
By accounting for uncertainties in existing measurements and including the gravitational influence of other nearby galaxies (the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Triangulum Galaxy), researchers found the probability of a merger in the next 10 billion years is ~50%.
🥳
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/apocalypse-when-hubble-casts-doubt-on-certainty-of-galactic-collision/
1/n
Mastodon FeedBoosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
ia@mastodon.online ("iA") wrote:
iA Writer is a finalist for the Apple Design Awards 2025! https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/
Mastodon Feedcstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Mind your signals, friends. Both what you broadcast and receive.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:
@fabio I should also note that I *like* academia. Teaching and even (much of) the committee and grant work have great value. But those aren’t things a PhD trains you for, and for the most part, not what researchers are evaluated on or incentivized to excel at.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
QasimRashid ("Qasim Rashid, Esq.") wrote:
Yesterday Israeli tanks shot at Palestinians getting food from a food distribution site *the Israelis established* and killed at least 32 Palestinians.
Israel has repeatedly claimed "Hamas is stealing aid" but offered zero evidence. Now, Israel uses *TANKS* to shoot at starving Palestinians getting aid from where the Israelis told them to go to get aid.
If you still don't think this is intentional genocide, then you really are complicit & history should remember you as such.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
colo_lee@mstdn.social ("Lee from Colorado") wrote:
Mastodon FeedBoosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:
@fabio I think I was in the last generation where it was possible to have a career like this, and it gave me a huge advantage. There's no job I've held since then that has been as nurturing and protective of my time and energy.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:
@fabio Your point about the relative brutality of academia, especially for junior researchers, is very important.
I spent my early career (the most productive, high-energy years) at Bell Labs. The most important thing, aside from great colleagues and resources, that the Labs gave me was *freedom*. I spent my time actually doing research instead of writing grant proposals, teaching classes, serving on committees, and all the other distractions that eat the majority of a junior professor's time.
Mastodon Feedjscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:
Meanwhile, on the asshole front
(Hegseth, obviously, not Milk)
Mastodon FeedBoosted by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
ahl ("Adam Leventhal") wrote:
Last week, our colleague (and frequent Oxide and Friends guest) @steveklabnik.com made some new friends on the Internet with a blog entry on AI discourse. @bcantrill and I were joined by Steve to try to de-polarize the discussion a little.
Mastodon Feedmattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:
"The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
Mastodon Feedmattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:
Officially the "Ed Koch Queensborough Bridge" but more generally simply the "59th Street Bridge", the view from Sutton Place at 58th Street on the Manhattan side is probably as flattering and uncluttered a perspective as you'll find for this piece of NYC infrastructure.
Immortalized in song by Simon and Garfunkel, in literature by Fitzgerald, and in cinema by Woody Allen, something about this bridge exemplifies the glamor and bustle of 20th century New York in a way that still holds up.
Mastodon Feedmattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:
This was captured with the Phase One IQ3-100 back, Phase One XF DSLR camera, and the Schneider 80mm/2.8 "Blue Ring" lens. I had planned to use a technical camera and the Rodenstock 70mm, providing movements, but a cable was missing from the kit I had with me in the city that night. Fortunately, the 80mm SLR lens was just wide enough to not require movements, though the Schneider lens renders highlights (as prominent starbursts) a bit idiosyncratically for my taste.
Mastodon Feedmattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:
Queensborough (59th Street) Bridge, NYC, 2019.
Pixels to slow you down if you move too fast at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/48418025131
Mastodon FeedBoosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
sundogplanets ("Prof. Sam Lawler") wrote:
Updating talk slides so you all get to be horrified along with me at the current Starlink numbers.
There are now 7,652 Starlink satellites in orbit (>500 more than there were in February, when I last updated these particular slides).
2-3 Starlinks per day are burning up in the atmosphere. That's a lot of weird metal in the atmosphere (and undoubtedly lots of random bits getting to the ground too).
Starlink is a stupidly wasteful and dangerous way to use orbit.
Mastodon Feedcstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
I'm not familiar with Kate Nash or her work, but this new single "GERM" is a pretty strong statement.
(GERM is her(?) alternative to TERF in case you'd like a clue as to where the track will be going.)
Mastodon Feedpzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:
We can tell when Canada is on fire.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/06/03/thanks-canada/
Mastodon FeedBoosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
Beurkeek@peoplemaking.games ("Nina Kiel") wrote:
Wonderful news: The #StarTrek "Deep Space Nine" documentary "What We Left Behind" is now available for free on YouTube!
This is the first time European fans can watch it legally (outside of the few public screenings that happened back in 2018 when the movie was released).
Mastodon FeedBoosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
skeletor@mas.to ("Inspirational Skeletor💀") wrote:
Mastodon Feedjscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:
Dramatic portrait of a butthead cat who disappeared for five days and made all of the humans worry, and then just waltzed back through the door like nothing had happened
Mastodon Feedadam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:
It even nailed Bill Watterson's handwriting. I can't even begin to describe how much I hate that this is possible.
Mastodon Feedadam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:
Mastodon Feedpzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:
This is the kind of Christian who haunts my nightmares.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/06/03/id-rather-embrace-the-tooth-fairy/
Mastodon FeedBoosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
digitalsnow@social.lol ("Kerri :usad: :knife_lgbt:") wrote:
We’re Not Your Pride Publicity Stunt https://hyperallergic.com/1017623/were-not-your-pride-publicity-stunt/
Mastodon Feedadam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:
There’s something spectacular that happens when you dare to explore outside of your bubble; when you go out of your way to read and listen to people who aren’t so similar to yourself. The ideas you discover and the experiences you uncover all show you just how small your own world has been all along.
Mastodon Feedpzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:
Poor widdle Chwistian. Their governor mentioned gay people, and forgot to praise their stupid little cult.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
novenary@akko.wtf ("[GRLC] kasahouse tetory") wrote:
Mastodon FeedBoosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
takmatsuoka@vivaldi.net ("松岡さん@散歩記録(写真)垢") wrote:
2025.06.01 京都府立植物園
ばら園から『アラベスク』と『モナリザ』。
Mastodon FeedBoosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
Daojoan ("JA Westenberg") wrote:
AI will disrupt filmmaking. But not like Netflix disrupted Blockbuster. More like spam disrupted email. A flood, not a revolution. Volume without vision. Output without ordeal.