The cat is a dignified and elegant home companion ( @pennyvixen.bsky.social )

Speaking from experience in a current role I'm occupying: for every two you know there are more like ten.

Reminder that there is just one week left to post your comments about the OMB's disastrous proposed rule changes to federal grants: www.regulations.gov/document/OMB... (there's a handy guide about it from the @planetarysociety.bsky.social that can help you planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/pdfs/...)

Reminder that there is just one week left to post your comments about the OMB's disastrous proposed rule changes to federal grants: www.regulations.gov/document/OMB... (there's a handy guide about it from the @planetarysociety.bsky.social that can help you planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/pdfs/...)

I was foolishly hoping there wouldn’t be too many booms tonight. But alas. I guess I’m in for two nights of bad sleep with bird tv blaring to keep kitties distracted

Just finished my rewatch of battlestar galactic. I really didn’t like the ending when it aired and haven’t watched the last season again since. It fared better on re-watch. First two seasons are still the best. they certainly didn’t game of thrones level botch anything at the end.

I am not currently winning the battle to get my chair back

I am in between working on different things and getting distracted, so I thought I'd start a thread here on why I'm so excited the Legacy Survey of Space and Time has finally started 🧵☄️🔭 www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/s...

Trying to debug a problem in some code I haven’t touched in a while and I keep thinking “aha, found it! Here’s where past me was a dumbass!”. But then current me keeps being wrong because past me just did some actually clever coding. But I still need to find the problem….

Not my best egg-cooking work for dinner tonight, but delicious nonetheless

Sunday means pancakes!

Did I just make a special trip to the hardware store for a new mister for my favorite former feral because his mister stopped working? Yes. Yes I did. He’s in the cool zone again now with a new mister (I so ordered new nozzles for the broken mister so can swap out next time)

I participated in a AAS Congressional Visits Day a long time back and it was a great experience! Highly encourage you to apply if you're interested in learning more about advocating for science in DC!

I often think my favorite formally feral cat isn’t the brightest (for example, he hasn’t leaned from dozens of hisses and swats that his sister isn’t interested in being buddies), but he has at least figured out that the mister I bought is good for staying cool on heat advisory days!

DDA speaker Dallin Spencer will also be looking for a postdoc next year. He finds that a secular resonance (g+s-g8-s8, with a circulation period of 66 million years!) causes the depopulation of the “warm" Trans-Neptunian Objects with free inclinations of 4°-6°.

Same energy bsky.app/profile/brew...

Sigh. Got up to make a cup of tea and I lost my chair

Sam Hadden used Supercollider to sonify the exoplanet systems he discussed. supercollider.github.io

I’m sad not to be at the DDA meeting in person but so glad I can watch along from home! Gus is glad too even if he’s a bit tired from all the desk work today

So a few things here… 1) this is NOT an unexpected cut. If you have watched the grant/funding landscape for the last 10 years, this is perfectly in line with the cynical trajectory of austerity we’ve been on

Well, looks like I’m gonna miss some of the DDA meeting this morning, but with it to be able to ensure this little feral girl won’t be having any kittens in the future!

Happy Sunday

I had to go pick up meds for echo at her vet which is next to a Sprouts. Went in to grab produce but instead bought a discount pie. Which does contain fruit, so I guess 🤷‍♀️. It’s actually kinda mid. But pie is still pie.

Nice rainbow as the sun sets!

Enjoying sitting in the sunroom and listening to the monsoon. I do love thunderstorms

Hello! We have a very-off-cycle postdoc fellowship at UC Santa Cruz. Open to any area of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Applications are due July 15th. It is funded by the Moore Foundation. Looking for someone to start Oct 1, 2026 (!, approx), see details below. aas.org/jobregister/...

It’s now official: Avi Loeb is the RFK Jr. of astrophysics. 🧪

Ugh. I took the trash out and refilled outside cat water dishes and now want to collapse from just that heat exposure. I hate summer

I feel like "The way you can attack these systems is so much dumber than you think it is" sums up waaaaaaay too much about our world right now....

My dad really likes toast and has high standards for it. He ordered a replacement for his almost 30 year old very fancy toaster because it was no longer producing perfect toast. He's been sending email updates since ordering it, and it arrived today on his birthday, which seems appropriate 😂.

This is my recurring reminder that every academic should have their own domain name and hosting for a website that will continue to exist no matter where your professional peregrinations take you. Don’t let your online identity vanish with a job switch or ToS change.

I have been super into lazy meals lately and this is my current favorite. Black bean tacos with pickled onions and coleslaw mix for crunchiness. So tasty. Made the mistake of making them with leftover chicken last week and the black beans are so much better

The only upside to it being summer is nice produce. Almost makes up for feeling drained after running a single errand today even though i was only outside of the A/C for the walk from car to store and back….

Time for snuggles with my best girl ❤️

This is a bullshit temperature for 4:30 in the morning. Ugh.

After an entire morning spent on zoom , I decided I deserved a fancy sandwich-based lunch. (What makes it fancy is it isn’t a pb&j and I have actual sides)

Gus is always ready for another day at the office

Another handful of sand in the gears: Researchers cannot serve on a panel *at all* if anyone from their institution has submitted to that panel. Recusing themselves for the proposal itself is no longer sufficient. This is needless, but will certainly slow things up even further.

When I stopped at the store this morning I decided to buy another huge bag of frozen blueberries because I thought I was running low. I was not. So I guess I had to make some half-assed blueberry cobbler. It’s baking now. There are still 6 lbs of frozen blueberries in the chest freezer

Gus is working very hard today (working hard at drooling on me while he naps 😂)

Ok. Alarm set for 3:30 am to try to trap a little feral girl kitten who very much needs to be spayed and likes to come by *very* early. Gus says it’s past lights out time given that wake up time…

She stole my seat and has no regrets 😂

Echo is just the best

The store had an entire pork tenderloin for $2.50 this morning. Couldn’t pass that up even if it’s not my *very* favorite. Makes for a very nice lunch

Always nice when my barn jeans let me know they’re done by ripping somewhere other than the seat (I mostly don’t ride in my jeans, but I do sometimes hop on and that means the seat of the jeans often wear a bit…)

The Planetary Society created a fact sheet and action alert about the recent OMB proposal that would, among other things, insert politics into the proposal review process across science. More discussion here: www.planetary.org/articles/whe...

youtu.be/qmbQtQ61CGY 🔭 AAS Journal Author Series: Sophie Deam and Michele Bannister on 2026PSJ.....7...88D Sophie Deam (Curtin University, University of Canterbury) and Michele Bannister (University of Canterbury) chat about their article on interstellar comet 2I/Borisov,

Now is the part where for the next several hours I have to babysit him to make sure he doesn’t jump and fall off anything while he’s still high and wobbly…this sitting nicely after a snack won’t last long

I hate dental work for my poor sweet boy. He tried half heartedly to hide but then walked resignedly into the carrier when I picked him up and put him in front of it. He’s such a good boy and the next few days are always so so hard for him (and for me) dealing with Echo’s non recognition aggression

This is a helpful guide! If you haven’t made a comment yet, please do! Even—especially—if you’re not a scientist!