a close up of a person wearing a mask holding a stick in the air . ALT: a close up of a person wearing a mask holding a stick in the air .

Younger kid and I are finally watching a classic.

Bike with Nord’s Bakery donuts strapped on the back.

With two candidacy exams and three senior thesis presentations on Friday, I had to bring donuts. But I will do it the Dutch way.

Today I turn 89. I’ve seen this country at its best and its worst, and I know how much community matters. For my birthday, I’m asking you to stand with PFLAG and support the work that’s helped so many in the LGBTQ+ community, including me. give.pflag.org/page/95493/d...

A bright foreground star can’t outshine the grandeur of galaxy UGC 3855.

Young blue stars are scattered along its spiral arms, contrasted and complemented by dark dust lanes tracing the galaxy’s structure.

(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Walsh)

The "freedom to drive" actually means having zero choice. You are forced to buy, maintain, insure, fuel, and store a depreciating asset on repeat forever.

True mobility freedom is having safe, efficient, accessible alternatives, not surrendering your financial independence to car dependency.

It knows what it did.

A picture of a rather dilapidated copy of "The picture of Dorian Gray" There is visible water damage to the cover and the plastic cover is yellowing. Obviously, not evident from the picture but there is a truly foul musty smell emanating from it!

Last week, a gentleman returned this rather dilapidated copy of this famous book to us after 50 years. He had found it in his attic!
Presumably this means there is a pristine copy somewhere in our libraries....

Steve the otter. Joined gym in Jan. Disappointing results. So today he finally decided to head down there himself to find out what's going on!

#AcademicSky

Was going to say:

"Students, if you don't work out your brain [using AI], you won't improve."

But same goes for *academics* !!

If you use AI to write your publications, you absolutely will NOT develop stronger writing skills.

And aren't those the superpowers you'd always wanted?

Washington Post article on STEM cuts at federal agencies. NSF tops it at -42%!

“Between January 2025 and February 2026, STEM and health employees at science-focused agencies saw nearly 15,000 jobs cut. The rate outpaced cuts among other federal workers.”

OPM data - Figure from Wash Post article 19 April. (Where US science has been hit hardest.)

NSF at -42%!

Ah. Sunday.

I had a blast reading this.

H/t to @astrokatie.com for appearing in it.

How do such wonderfully weird things come to be?

Preserved Roman bread (panis quadratus), a circular loaf divided into 8 portions, bearing an inscription stamp.

Happy #BreadDay to all who celebrate! 🏺

#OnThisDay - 19 April - someone in #Pompeii felt so excited that they just had to record that:

"XIII K(alendas) Maias panem feci" (CIL IV 8972)

'On April 19, I made bread'

Wonder how it turned out? 🤔

Image: National Archaeological Museum, Naples (84596)

Commandment XI: “thou shall make backups”

We come back for stuff like this:

bsky.app/profile/acyn...

Yeah so…

a house that has been burned to the ground and the roof is covered in flames Alt: a house that has been burned to the ground and the roof is covered in flames

Okay that’s taken care of.

That was wildly optimistic.

Like that little rectangle isn’t judgey enough.

It’s the new “be kind, rewind”.

NASA FINESST announced, due July 14! Does not include astro or planetary science yet, but it says "NOTICE: Applicants to Astro ^ Planetary may not be able to create proposals on the day of release but please be patient while we get everything set up for you." 🔭 nspires.nasaprs.com/external/sol...

Saved to phone.

purple billboard These Machines Fight Traffic in white with two bikes.

These Machines Fight Traffic.

Walked by this beauty last night - pretty awesome to see these messages out in the world.

'DigiD kan terecht bij Nederlands alternatief', politiek is aan zet Er zijn genoeg hier genoeg techbedrijven die het bedrijf achter DigiD en MijnOverheid kunnen overnemen, vindt een expert.

'"Dat is echt slappe hap en typisch Nederlands. De overheid heeft afgelopen jaren van alles uitbesteed en lijkt te zijn vergeten hoe ze zelf proactief moeten handelen, en dat gaat ten koste van onze data", zegt Hubert.'
nos.nl/artikel/2610...

bsky.app/profile/benn...

Was this the finals or something?

A report from the House Science Democrats documents how, at OMB direction, NASA attempted to execute the president’s FY26 budget request rather than follow Congressional appropriations

Three senior theses and two candidacy exams done today.

Expect some papers from these outstanding students coming out soon.