I have just received a spam e-mail from a purported journal editor, addressed to “Dear Dr. Higgs”. That’s a new one! #spam #higgs #higgsboson #physics #journal #academicchatter #research

#Loughborough! Need anything fixed? The Transition Loughborough Repair Café is happening now! https://transitionloughborough.wordpress.com/news/ 🕧 Last items accepted until 12:30. #Leistershire #EastMidlands @leicestergazette

🧐 #ama on #emojis for #worldemojiday ❗ #linguistics

My mum-in-law has written a new children’s book – “Pear Tree #pirates” – inspired by tales she told her kids when they were little. If you have children aged 5–8 in your life, please consider this book by an #indieauthor. Not available on Bookshop yet, so here is an Amazon link (sorry) […]

I just released version 0.6.0 of the comaps-map-distributor for serving CoMaps map files via your own servers. The main new feature: It now allows you to select whole countries for download, instead of having to manually select all map files for a country […]

Just got a close-up of dragonfly’s wings just as it was about to take off! We suspect it was a newly emerged creature and was drying its wings. It had been on the #buddleia for ages. How cool is this!!! #nature #dragonfly #dragonflies #bloomscrolling

Been a while since I left home before 06:30 on a Sunday to go do something fun. If I recall correctly, the last time was years ago when we restarted the #lhc after a long shutdown, on Easter Sunday, and I managed to get the hashtag #resurrectlhc onto the #cern website for the event. Today, I am […]

If #pride is a protest, and protests are getting increasingly criminalised in the UK, and the smallest criminal conviction can rule out immigrants from attaining indefinite leave to remain in the UK, why would any immigrants be at Pride? https://youtu.be/S3InGcUC8ys #BristolPride #bristol […]

My mum informed me of this #marathi movie (with English subtitles) about a #transgender man in rural #india. She heard about it from another mother in a group for parents of #queer children in India (Rainbow Parents). https://youtube.com/watch?v=TfhiCFJO4C4

I remember as a science-journalism student in London following the live stream from #cern when the #lhc had its first collisions in March 2010. I remember the glee during my first visit to the lab in June that year. I remember my first day working at CERN that September and my several visits […]

Has anyone had the following error when pulling from a git remote (that happens to be an Overleaf project in this case): % git pull -v failed to get: -25293 failed to store: -25293 … [continues as normal] #git #overleaf

So, a known narcissist retires. Cry me a fucking river. #cricket

If you're using https://myapi.gedanken.uber.space (or host it yourself): Thanks to @RaoOfPhysics to reporting an issue with data not updating any more. It was due to how the REST countries API had changed its format. I've fixed that and it should all be working again <3

Episode One: out now!

[Cricket chat, opinions] I don’t care how good a cricketer Ben Stokes is, he shouldn’t be a role model for any young player. #cricket

What a treat to attend the premiere of @cosmicshambles.com’s “For The Record: An Incomplete History of #Music”! You can watch the first episode in around 20 hours on the Shambles YouTube channel: youtube.com/playlist?lis... Familiar faces include @astrokatie.com and @helenczerski.bsky.social!

Meanwhile, Joe Root coming in at 13/2 in the second innings of a test match, with #england chasing a massive total, will never not be funny. #cricket #ENGvNZ #newzealand

Happy #pride from #edinburgh! This is the kind of public religious message I am ok with. #scotland #queer #edinburghpride

A few days ago, I signed up for @thunderbird Pro and promptly bought three domains to use with it: - https://achintya.fyi - https://basslass.fyi - https://theatrical.fyi (All domains redirect to https://a-ch.in/ty-a of course.) Because life needs whimsy. #Thunderbird #email

Since I use a #VPN to browse the net in this hellhole, I cannot use `curl -s wttr.in` to give me the #weather at my actual location. So, I am leveraging @gedankenstuecke’s #personalapi to write a custom .bash_function: ```bash wttr () { while : do clear; curl -s wttr.in/$(curl -s […]

Coming to terms with the fact that I have only two more weeks left in #bristol, a city that has been home for five years (across half a dozen addresses). Here’s hoping whatever comes next brings me some stability.

[Transgender slur, Happy Pride…] What a beautiful thing to see on my way to work. And I am asked why I am struggling with… everything. #bristol #pride #lgbtq #queer #transgenderuk #transrights

Vaguely remember seeing this painting on the fediverse somewhere a while back of the earth being set on fire by a cute-looking flame. I think it was a digital painting made to look like canvas art iirc, but I could be wrong. Anyone remember it or can point me to it? Thanks :BlobCat:

#nadiawhittome MP calls on the #starmer government to withdraw the #ehrc's Code of Practice, and instead legislate to amend the Equality Act 2010 to restore the #trans inclusiveness that was intended when it waa passed. 👍👏🍺 #transgender #lgbtq #ukpol

That #transgender feeling of younger me both having a crush on Jadzia Dax and wanting to be Jadzia Dax. #startrek :Trek: ⚧️ 🖖

Not sure if it was a good idea for my mental health to start listening to “Her Name Is Alice” by @alicemydaughter.bsky.social this morning, but I am so thrilled to hear a mother speak with such joy about her daughter. Thank you for writing about her, Caroline. #TransgenderUK #TransRights #Pride

Been a while since I have watched live international #cricket, but I am watching #england Women taken on #india Women in #bristol in a T20 match today.

My mum informed me of this #marathi movie (with English subtitles) about a #transgender man in rural #india. She heard about it from another mother in a group for parents of #queer children in India (Rainbow Parents). https://youtube.com/watch?v=TfhiCFJO4C4

Finally, an #emoji to represent my permanent state of mind! Thank you #unicode Consortium for 1FAEB: https://www.unicode.org/emoji/charts-18.0/emoji-released.html#1faeb #unicode18

The whole “gender not sex” argument being weaponised by transphobes is yet another reason monolingual English-speakers should not be allowed to influence global queer discourse.

Today is – if I am not mistaken – the first time I am wearing the dress that I was wearing when I got abused by a transphobe¹ shortly after the UK supreme court’s decision in April ’25 to sanction the othering #transgender people. I tell myself I am wearing it as an act of defiance in the face […]

❝ One thing makes me sing Though the sea is cruel Jenn[i] waits for me In old Hartlepool ❞ What a joy it was to sing this song with my Jenni, as part of #heartwoodchorus, at the #bristol #folk Festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ysrzbiYTU&list=PLSKDo6E4Tvi-5WfGkl90pexFrPZOHJ3V3&index=2

Latest update: https://now.achintyarao.in/ Warning: It’s not great. #NowPage

❝ One thing makes me sing Though the sea is cruel Jenn[i] waits for me In old Hartlepool ❞ What a joy it was to sing this song with my Jenni, as part of #heartwoodchorus, at the #bristol #folk Festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ysrzbiYTU&list=PLSKDo6E4Tvi-5WfGkl90pexFrPZOHJ3V3&index=2

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant evening with @robinince last night, courtesy of @kate_in_a_book’s generosity. Poetry, activism, science, skepticism, neurodivergence, music, travel, books, society, culture, politics, podcasts… Is there any topic the man cannot talk about for hours on end with no […]

I thought 'someone should make a @panoramax instance for Argentina' - and then I remembered that I am someone. And I even know some more "someones" that could help. And here we are, also thanks to the help of @dbellomo and @mdione and Lucas. And @cquest and @mnalis for sharing their advice! 🫶 […]

RE: https://scholar.social/@RaoOfPhysics/116551199423210255 Yesterday, in mixed #cricket, I got dismissed by a girl for a duck. Obviously, if this has been women’s cricket, I would have activated my “biological advantages” to dispatch her for six sixes in an over instead of her bowling a maiden […]

WTF #malta https://openai.com/index/malta-chatgpt-plus-partnership/ #ai #genai

Current interest: Expanding “vibe” to “vibration” in my head whenever I see it written down.

I hadn't used RStudio in a while – partially for not really using R and partially for disliking Posit – but had to use it a bit today. When trying to commit changes, I noticed that RStudio seems to have touched the `.Rbuildignore` and `.gitignore` without ever asking me. The things it added? ` […]

I think one of the worst aspects of banning #transgender women from sports is how insulting it is to cisgender women by portraying them as weak and incapable. Yesterday at #cricket, I opened the batting for our 5th XI (a mixed-gender team) and the woman opening the bowling for the opposition […]

Great idea: A web page that simply shows you the info your browser sends about you and your system whenever you open a web page. https://sinceyouarrived.world/taken #privacy #surveillance

The whole “gender not sex” argument being weaponised by transphobes is yet another reason monolingual English-speakers should not be allowed to influence global queer discourse.

Hey, just because the England and Wales Cricket Board has banned #transgender women from recreational women’s cricket doesn’t mean I cannot umpire for the ladies’ games at my club. Here I am umpiring last Sunday. #cricket #umpiring #bristol #bedminstercricketclub

THE SWIFTS ARE BACK AND SQUEALING OUTSIDE OUR WINDOWS!!! #birds #swifts #ukbirds #bristol

There is a baker’s dozen ducklings at a park near home, and Jenni suggested I go and see them while I was running errands. Brought my camera. Loads of people taking phones and videos on their phones. There is a group of pre-primary kids on a trip with their minders. Guess who was the only one […]

I don’t particularly care about the IPL, but there is a special joy in watching Goenka lose his shit when LSG fails to win. #cricket #ipl2026

The lovely @kate_in_a_book has got me a ticket to see the brilliant @robinince in #bristol next month. <3

There are many things to dislike about Dubai, but people living in bumfuck nowhere saying on the internet that Dubai has zero culture or anything interesting has no idea what they’re talking about. You can hate a place for its politics and exploitation, but does all of that inherently make a […]

Diagnosed for a second time with #adhd, but since this time I have been diagnosed by the NHS in the UK, I can finally get my medication in this country!!