A story I found about Haiti: In 1999, a group of Haitians were tired of political disorder and dreamed of a better life in the United States. So they built a small, 23-foot boat by hand using pine trees, scrap wood, and used nails. They called the boat "Believe in God."

I am just surprised that they didn't make Fraktur the default font.

Just a reminder: when the 2nd amendment was written, they didn't even have these types of guns (percussion), only flintlocks.

I remember when Twitter used to be like this ....

"He grew up surrounded by his gran's [DVD] collection" ... My Gran had a tunable tube TV.

So foreigners won't have to pay the $100 if they enter the national parks on T's birthday this summer?

Humankind has launch more satellites in the past four years (2021 - 2025) than in the previous seven decades. 75% of the currently active satellites belong to a single operator (SpaceX).

The main problem is that space telescopes in Low Earth Orbit share the similar orbits as the telecommunication satellites. Here we show a simplified representation of the increased orbital crowding between 1958 (Sputnik) and the projected satellite population at the end of the next decade.

The big juice off. I recently bought a cold press juicer and we have had a centrifuge style for 15 years now. My wife said only one can stay. 900 g of carrots into each. The Breville centrifuge one gave 480 ml while the cold press one gave only 320 ml. I am a bit surprised.

I am getting old. I just want the simple things I used and liked when I was 25. Breathed life into an old MS Zune30. Upgraded it with a 120Gb SSD and a 3600 mAh battery (factory at 1200 mAh). Has all my old favorites and goes on for a long time. No need to stream. BTW, these Zunes are awesome ...

ICE DETAINED MARILYN. Fuck these people. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Going to the grocery store Thanksgiving morning is fun. Horde of dads with shopping lists wandering around.

If ya need a gift link www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...

Search for "Krauss" and get a vomit bag. Everything from how to deal with accusations, to how he was denied presentations, to T's attitude towards climate change and NASA science.

My daughter has been googling me also, but is yet to find my teacher ratings. I have one negative rating on ratemyprofessor and I am actually quite proud of it. It says "Great class to take if you are interested in astronomy". Don't take an astro class if you are not interested in astro.

Final count: 2935 #Cycle5 JWST proposals. 🔭 🪐 www.stsci.edu/contents/new...

Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House. Al-Sharaa is the former leader of U.S.-designated terror group al-Qaeda who was once wanted by the U.S. as a terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head. He has even served time in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison.

They are burning down the library of Alexandria. Knowledge lost, forever.

I think he just likes to break flip phones in half.

A poll from the journal Nature found that 75% of researchers in the U.S. are considering leaving the country. That includes a man who’s been dubbed the "Mozart of Math." (This PBS story on the scientific brain drain is heartbreaking & ominous for medicine, imo.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLvO...

I just realized that my birth year is closer to the end of WW2 than it is to today and I don't know how to process this fact.

Gotta appreciate the astro term. And he didn't even say lightyear ... he said parsec! www.huffpost.com/entry/donald...

Fantastic analysis by Robert Reich.

NEW: NBC News confirms that the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, on the east side of the White House, has been destroyed as part of the demolition of the East Wing. (📸 Getty Images)

Well, NOW I know that Reagan had a speech on free trade.

Is the new ballroom going to share a wall with the residence building or is there going to be a new corridor built? Please tell me he is not adding on to the existing residence.

It looks like the colonnade is also gone.

Today, Hungarians protest again. And a traveler captured an image of the crowd, snaking up Andrassy Boulevard to Heroes Square, from their RyanAir flight. Who needs drones?

A great article ... do read if you have 5 minutes.

Fewer grad students means less science, but many STEM PhD programs in the US are cutting back on admissions this year due to federal funding uncertainties. Words by me for @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41... @emsque.bsky.social @ucsdcooperlab.bsky.social @julieposselt.bsky.social 🧪

NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.

"A bulldozer removing debris from the inside of the White House, during the renovation of the building. The bulldozer had to be taken apart and moved into the WH in pieces, as President Truman would not allow a hole large enough to fit the bulldozer to be cut into the walls of the WH."

75 years ago, under President Truman, the entire internal structure of the WH was gutted and rebuilt, as it was falling apart. Even they didn't touch the facade and it was vital that they preserved that as much as possible. I recommend reading about it: the bidding process and the conservation.

I am hearing final proposal number counts of 2940, which include removal of duplicate submissions. 🔭

Updated plot — now with <<Peeples>> Time 😅

So, we are tracking well above Cycle 4. Figure by @mpudoka.bsky.social and Yongda Zhu. 🔭

Fun fact for today: in the first few years of HST, proposers had to submit their proposals via postal mail (and send a template electronically). No late last minute submissions then! Postage stamp and large envelopes. 🔭

We are at least at 2308 submissions right now. 🔭

The JWST Cycle 5 "Procrastination Monitor", i.e. Molly's proposal counter submission form, is up an running. Please fill it out if you have data to add to it. And do share! #JWSTCycle5 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Our paper on the JWST/MIRI observations of the epsilon Eridani system, led by Dr. Schuyler Wolff, were published today! This is the last of the Archetypical Disks in our MIRI Survey, after Fomalhaut and Vega. Just like for those disks, our MIRI images reveal an extended inner asteroid disk!

Completely cancelled our Disney+ subscription. Will buy the boxed Bluey DVD set. That's all the kiddo watches anyways. Not only did they not give full support to Jimmy, they also are raising their prices. Know your audience.

House prices in Silicon Valley and Austin are going to drop quite a lot, is my guess.

Holy cow. This is gonna cause so much trouble.

So much for international faculty or tech workers. This is how you lose all the money invested in international PhD students. Just let them all go back home. Well done.

Converted our Disney+,HULU, Max bundle to only Disney+. My kids would murder me if I cancelled Disney also, but give it few more years and that will be gone too.

This isn't the way.

Update on the Texas A&M professor / cell phone video situation: the professor has been fired by the A&M president president.tamu.edu/messages/an-...