We don’t deserve nice things

terrible. 20 years ago, the internet was full of hobbyist blogs and forums. over time, these have been replaced by paywalled substacks and private discord channels, each a walled garden. google's decision to prioritize AI just makes it less likely people will create free, public info

Folks, do not challenge May. Do not make eye contact. Do nothing that will call attention to yourself. May will duck you up. Just tiptoe past and hope for the best. Trust me on this.

Everything NDT tries to write about biology ends up being wrong, which doesn’t bode well for his new book. Him tweeting about evolution or whatever was like an Angry Biologist Klaxon. Save yourself the trouble and read The Edge of Space Time instead!

Kumail as Dungeon Crawler Carl would be genuinely great casting and funny as hell

I am irrationally upset about these Secret Lair cards because I'm having a really really crappy month and was doing the "This will be the good thing". I know it is irrational. That isn't stopping me from being really upset, however.

Periodic reminder that ballet permanently changes the human bone structure. Puberty blocking drugs do not.

Due to travel to see a sick friend, I joined the #SecretLair queue at 9:09am PST. I then waited an hour... to get told at 10:06am that the deck I had put in my cart at 9:09am was out of stock. It is now over $600 on the secondary market... I just wanted some goblins.

"A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a people who mean to be free." The Declaration of Independence (1776) Seems relevant now.

Tired: this meeting could have been an email. Wired: this app could have been a website

Feels like the future of social is you and one friend in a Signal chat.

really hard to beat this as a symbol of institutional decay. the SEALs — a unit that has become infamously loose in discipline — escorting a corrupt politician without any discipline (Patel) on a party inside a hallowed watery graveyard for the fallen

I cannot stress it enough, but if you pledge even to the smallest tier of artists' Patreon/Ko-Fi/whatever subscription service they are using, you are already doing a lot. If you are regularly sharing art with others, reposting or sending links their way, you are already showing support and care.

The Gay Cup

Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming was born #OTD in 1857. She led the Harvard Computers, a team of women whose work revolutionized modern #astrophysics.🔭 +ID'd the Horsehead Nebula, 1888 +Cataloged 10,351 stars +Discovered 310 variable stars +1st discovery of a white dwarf star #WomenInSTEM

AI could never hone the edge of a scythe so fine that it could cut the invisible threads which tie a soul to the empty husk which was once their living form.

Why whiteboard shaped if not whiteboard? (See alt text if you too do not know what this is.)

Cosign

This seems sub-optimal.

This is how it looks when the setting sun illuminates Horsetail Fall waterfall in February on El Capitan Yosemite National Park, California USA. #WaterfallWednesday

New science for all your horror writers to build off: bacteria in airborne moisture are thriving. www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Thing I learned: iPad light passes thru bees

Wait for it .... 11 seconds and BOOM! Some breathtaking footage from Fuego 🇬🇹 and @boisestate.bsky.social scientists in this great science update on infrasound sensors. eos.org/science-upda...

FYI trans Americans with a Canadian ancestor can apply for expedited processing on their applications for Canadian citizenship!

I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt a melting in me.

for a few years I kept Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul on the shelf untouched because it was the only Adams I hadn't read and I wanted to have one to look forward to. Then I thought "I might get hit by a truck though" so I finally read it.

I just spent $4,22 for 20 oz of soda. Water was just as bad. Is cola also getting shipped thru the strait of Hormuz? #airportproblems

I think I stated this backwards messaging a friend and triggered flight delays…. As inbox -> zero, flights -> destination

when you have exhausted the writhing and anxious mind into silence; when all plans and agendas and lists of tasks undone have evaporated; when everything but the living moment has revealed itself however briefly as the phantasm that it is, then all that is left is for you to

Grandparents who fought in WW2 and who will deliver an ass-kicking for any kind of Nazi talk.

Quick reminder as you shove your hot takes about the role of academics in shaping university policy into the world today: about 75% of higher ed faculty in the US are contingent workers on fixed-term contracts.

Now, that’s just showing off… check out this fine capture of Comet C/2025 R3 PanSTARRS passing near the Witchhead Nebula from May 6th, courtesy of Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jäger, taken from Farm Tivoli in Namibia.

This is a very good thread about AI.

Told my kid I was having the kind of week where I just need to scream into the void for a while. He made me a void. You can use it too, if you'd like.

waiting for the lord’s venmo

This isn't quite the sure and sudden death we experienced at Hakai Magazine, but it's not pretty. Unless we can make up this shortfall we could be facing deep cuts to our already small team. Aka, if you have a job opening for a science news editor, let me know

My accidental emotional support dog just said F Today. I guess I’m going outside for a bit. Context: got some really bad news about a friend.

Today's pomadora timer is the washing machine. Today's exercise is laundry going down and up 2 flights of stairs. Sometimes this is what winning looks like.

Thanks printer, that cheered me up

I wrote about why I space science in this free post on @cosmoquest.org 's patreon.

We've been having a lot of storms lately, and Stella is terrified of thunder. Sadly, while she made sure both of us were very awake at 3am, only one of us is already asleep at 7pm.

I could say that I framed this torus painting with glass, or I could say that I ... glazed the donut

This May the Forth, we'd like to remind you to always check your units.

My lesser deamons are in turmoil tonight. One is screaming EAT THE RICH (I'm pretty sure it means, Tax the rich), but the other is just swooning over all the pretty outfits.

Imma rewatch tonight

Today this is a Science in Star Wars stan account.

My blog-posts about archaeology & the Star Wars universe in (rough) chronological order: 1) 'The Archaeology of The Acolyte' howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/26/t... #starwars

Lastly, my magnum opus - analyzing the ways academia fails its members, from students to faculty, through the broken legacy of the Jedi Order: medium.com/@adeene.dent...

May the forth be with you