Talking with people at a holiday gathering here in Toronto last night, and when it came up, most of us nodded that we likely won’t ever visit the United States again. It’s a weird feeling, and weird to acknowledge in a group.

I’m turning 42 tomorrow, so I thought I’d share the most mind blowing (to me) sentence I ever heard: I’d rather my kid watch people have sex than be violent.

I’m turning 42 tomorrow, so I thought I’d share the most mind blowing (to me) sentence I ever heard: I’d rather my kid watch people have sex than be violent.

Pedantic debate of the day: are religious beliefs opinions?

One time Casey Neistat replied to my comment on Twitter.

Marina Sirtis once told me I had a nice beard

One of my favorite memories of 2025 was getting to visit @npr.org, and watching a Tiny Desk get filmed. LOVE these!

Dear American academics, UBC is part of Canada’s poaching plan for strategic research areas (including enviro, climate, water, Arctic): research.ubc.ca/federal-rese... Applications due JAN 15, so hustle.

Ask Trump to quote the Bible. Any of it. John 3:16? Psalm 23:1? Genesis 1:1?! I bet you $1 he’ll end up talking about Joe Biden within 60 seconds.

And nice coverage from @abc7news.bsky.social story from Saturday. I was not fully prepared for an interview, but very glad we're getting coverage and support. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPoI...

We aren't boycotting the arts; we are refusing to entertain fascists and white nationalists. Cry harder about it while you listen to Kid Rock and try so hard to pretend it isn't basic, boring, uninspired tripe.

AAS' Congressional Visits Day is a fantastic opportunity to get started advocating for science. For me, it cemented an interest that would lead me to a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship and further service in federal science policy. I highly recommend applying! 🔭 aas.org/applications...

Boomers in my life trying to tell me, despite many unable to buy homes in their 40s, my generation actually going to really win b/c of biggest ever generational transfer of wealth, and I think there are SEVERAL PROBLEMS with this theory

“What if we named our product after the greatest evil, which repeatedly threatened the entire world, who deceived the kings that supported him, and who was killed by the destruction of his own object of power?”

Saw Bluesky described as where elder millennials go to retire from the internet, and immediately felt the peace that passes all understanding wash over me. None of have to struggle any longer. We completed our time.

History, as they say, might not repeat exactly, but it certainly does rhyme

There’s still space available to sign up for our FREE dinner at the 247th AAS! Deadline to apply has been extended until Dec 29, we hope to see you there ☺️

Make a Bond movie academic Prof. No

Make a Bond movie academic Tomorrow Never Hires

Something about my inner demons is I constantly worry I don’t have any or anymore good ideas. But then I’m reminded that ideas are trivially cheap. Good ideas are plentiful. What *matters* is human effort in turning ideas into reality, and in experiencing other people’s creations.

Spending the day saying yes to my kids.

Earlier this year, Rubin began taking pictures of the sky with the largest camera ever built and has already revolutionized many areas of astronomy. We are all quite excited about it :) ...but Phlox is not impressed. She liked the gingerbread JWST better.

This year's gingerbread is the Vera Rubin Observatory! @vrubinobs.bsky.social

Every dollar you donate helps #AsteroidInstitute, a program of B612, develop the tools and technologies to understand, map, and navigate our solar system, and protect our planet from #asteroid impacts. b612foundation.org/donate/

It’s wild how much US Higher Ed has withered already in my lifetime, and depressing knowing how much worse it’s going to get before this is over…

The majority of student contact hours 10yrs ago were already with non tenure track faculty. I think we’ll see a time in the next few years when students never encounter a tenured professor (indeed, I think that’s already happening)

When I teaching the Holocaust I note the Holocaust museum’s definition of a concentration camp is a prison whose inmates are denied due process. These are by definition concentration camps.

BREAKING: WATCH the full 60 Minutes CECOT segment here. This was sent to me anonymously. It appears to be the segment CBS' Bari Weiss killed. www.muellershewrote.com/p/watch-the-...

If this doesn't motivate you to vote in the Midterms, nothing will.

Go see the actual Klingon Christmas Carol if you’re in Seattle! My sister in law is in it, and it’s fantastic!

anyone else 🔭 having problems with CDS Xmatch? Last week or so every job says it’s way down in a queue and never moves…

Clear evidence that at universities conservatives don't face higher obstacles than liberals to establish student groups + invite outside speakers. "These results fail to offer support for the view that conservative students encounter more difficulty in efforts to access campus resources."

ughhh, and now we get to hear the democrats whine about being *shocked*, when this was exactly what everyone predicted would happen

Well this seems to be exactly what we're seeing... Pages and pages of aggressively, politically redacted information. Who wants to bet Trump's name isn't in the new docs? Which *should* be a statistical anomaly if we compare to all the previous info released...

This is plainly what’s happening to NASA, and why NSF is being gutted. Yes, your favorite galaxy might get a glossy image from JWST next year, but the field of astronomy is actively being torn to shreds and we’re not even being honest about it with ourselves!

I’ve been revamping our outreach/sci-comm class to center around daily improv exercises to learn better communication skills… maybe should work something up for this!

For your listening pleasure youtu.be/OQniKsj3p40?...

NASA has a new administrator coming in, and I am deeply unimpressed with my Senator for supporting this nomination. spacenews.com/senate-confi...

If WCK teams are on the ground, paella pans are often not far behind!🥘 Chef Russell from Paellaworks is busy manning large paella pans in front of Sonlight Church in Lynden, WA. We're making sure families sheltering here after the flooding have access to warm, comforting meals. #ChefsForWashington

The Boomers built the malls. They filled them with Beanie Babies and Cheesecake Factories. They blamed us when we refused to buy their garbage and elected Trump to justify billions of sq ft of useless retail. Let it all fade away

We saw this show last week, 10000% recommend! www.king5.com/video/entert...

My career was launched due to an NSF postdoc fellowship, and this “Good news, we’re gutting the agency!” bulletin I just got does not fill me with hope for American science and innovation content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USN...

We owe it to our children to learn from the last +25 years of terror and take action.

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

The anti-Semitic mass shooting in Australia will cause a national conversation and policy change. We know this because the 1996 Port Arthur massacre led to significant restrictions on guns. The shooting at Brown will do nothing. We know this because it occurred on the anniversary of Sandy Hook.

As American as apple pie.

Happy 100th birthday to Dick Van Dyke. A fun fact: for a long while, my Amazon Echo wouldn’t say his name because it thought it was curse words.

“Papers Please!” was literally the most transparent Nazi trope we would discuss in middle school