4-panel comic. (1) [Two people in a room with bed and nightstand. One person points at something on ceiling.] PERSON 1 with short hair on top of head: What’s that device? PERSON 2 with ponytail: Part of the supernova early warning system. There hasn’t been a Milky Way supernova in over a century. Astronomers don’t want to miss the next one. (2) [Person 2 sits on bed.] PERSON 2: 20 years ago, we set up a supernova alert system using neutrino detectors. It should give us a few hours’ advance notice. (3) PERSON 2: If it ever goes off, every astronomer on Earth will scramble to point their equipment at the sky. PERSON 1: Oh, Ok. So is that a detector? Or some kind of telescope? (4) PERSON 2 [leaving]: Fireworks launcher. I *refuse* to sleep through a supernova. PERSON 1: I think I’ll spend the night at my place instead.

SNEWS

xkcd.com/3208/

You might’ve heard the news: SpaceX just passed 10,000 Starlink satellites launched. And that number is already old news, as there’s now a new Starlink batch launched every other day. Here’s what that looks like in a short animation of Comet A6 Lemmon courtesy of Michael Jaeger:

Oh dang. This is an excellent analogy.

Comic. PERSON 1 to person with white hat: I finished all the gen-ed back in 2010, and I’m up to the 400-level courses in most departments. But now one of my advisors is saying I “can’t have more than 20 majors” and “need to graduate next year.” It’s outrageous! [caption] My university is making it really hard to finish a 100% all achievements speedrun.

100% All Achievements

xkcd.com/3148/

Autumn is called the "hooting season" because owls hoot more during the fall to claim territory. YouTube video by Natural Habitat Shorts

Sorry for your loss of sleep. Thankful for the reminder of this short. 😆
m.youtube.com/shorts/iZk3w...

I wish to have a parrot friend on Zoom

Chest high view of a shallow, short, carpeted ramp leading up to the entrance to theater 16 for a showing of the PIXAR film Elio. Two illuminated columns border the entryway and the right column features an approximately legal paper sized poster of the film.

Caught *the* last theater showing of Elio. ✨

Bumping for interest in a Switch physical release!

@iam8bit.com
@superraregames.bsky.social

Comic. [Person with ponytail using handheld device in front of a large sign with crooked, off-center header, with crooked QR code (with illegible URL) and crooked list beneath] Header: DOANATE TO FIX THIS SIGN! List: $10 Fix kerning [kerning around “rni” of kerning is difficult to read]; $20 Align Columns [out of alignment] $20 Fix text size [much smaller text size]; $50 Fix typo; $50 Fix centering; $100 fix rotation. PERSON: Grrr… [caption] My new company’s business model is based on extorting graphic designers.

Fix This Sign

xkcd.com/3113/

“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever. —HIS HOLINESS THE XIV DALAI LAMA”

Comic. [Graph. Y-axis: Weather Model Accuracy. X-axis: Number of weather balloon launches per day (scale: 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 1 million, 1 billion, 1 trillion). Graph shows fewer balloons at first and a point on curve for “current rat,” and then increasing balloons toward the upper right where there’s art of the sun and an arrow pointing to cluster with note “Layer of weather balloons, not accounted for in models, blocks sunlight from reaching Earth,” then curve reduces sharply]

Weather Balloons

xkcd.com/3107/

a man in a red shirt is holding a piece of paper in front of a blackboard and says `` so tiny '' . Alt: a man in a red shirt is holding a piece of paper in front of a blackboard and says `` so tiny '' .

I always find the use of "quantum leap" as an enormous step forward to be very confusing. Quanta can be really small! Like the spin-flip of the hydrogen atom is ~ 10e-24 Joules. So I'm like "it's really easy then" just not continuous. Fine by me!

Happy 4th of July, Batman.

Google search for “all you can eat buffet near me” Al Overview To find an all-you-can-eat buffet near you, you can use online search engines like Google or Yelp, specifying "all you can eat buffet near me". These searches will typically provide a list of nearby restaurants offering buffet-style dining, including their addresses, contact information, and customer reviews. You can also refine your

The singularity is awesome

With @scalzi.com and others curating their spaces to encourage the use of alt text and other accessibility features, here’s a reminder about @veron4ica.com’s “capybara method” and other tools.

Hello kitty cookie jar with head seam

December 8th, 2024
I mean, I get that it’s a functionality decision, but it looks like Hello Kitty had a lobotomy

The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer I have been activated, therefore I have a purpose, the bot thought. I have a purpose, therefore I serve. Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 132, September 2017 Cover of issue features a large sphere over hooded figures. Hands glow blue as the orb begins to break apart with blue lightning along a purple horizontal split with other sections cracking. Art is mostly yellow and orange-brown.

Hey backwards-moving time travelers: Trying to wrap up your 2017 reading? Check out "The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer. ~9000 words.
clarkesworldmagazine.com/palmer_09_17/
If you like this one, there are more in the series for your 2021 and 2023 stops too.

The DVD case cover of a children's show from the early 2000's. The show is called "Boohbah" and the collection of episodes is called "magic". On a background transitioning from white at the bottom to dark blue on top, five characters appear to be leaping through the air with their arms and three fingered hands outstretched. They are sparkly orbs with stubby arms, stubby legs, and a large head with large eyes half peeking from their bodies. Their bodies are each one color; orange, purple, red, blue, yellow from left-right, top-bottom.

I cannot unsee these Boohbahs leaping through the air and flipping the bird.

(This is a children's show for those unfamiliar)

Thank you "Apple Intelligence". I now have a tofu emoji and a margarita emoji on my phone.
#apple

Screen grab from The Simpsons of a hand holding a newspaper clipping that shows old man Simpson with the headline ‘Old Man Yells At Cloud’.

Big vibes today. Welcome to being an astronomer!

I wonder if this will work.

Dear Government,
Later today, the people of Clarkesworld are going to use magic (or science) as a demonstration of power. Your sun is ours. We suggest you take action against "AI" companies and their theft of copyrighted works. You have been warned.

Eclipse Clouds xkcd.com/2915

Act Now | Save the Chandra X-ray Observatory Ask that Congress #SaveChandra! | The Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of NASA's last Great Observatories, has revolutionized our understanding of the Universe, mapped black holes across cosmic time, ...

“Save Chandra” website now up with explanation of the budgetary threat to this Great Observatory, some necessary corrections regarding current mission capabilities and operating costs, and - most important - ways that you can help. 🧪 🔭 🛰️ Spread widely!

cosmosmagazine.com/science/phys...

Round two of the Amazon magazine subscriptions nightmare is shaping up to be far worse than round one. I'll have more to say when I've finished reviewing my math (and maybe looking at Feb. data), but it's not good.
Always a good time to subscribe:
clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/

Goodhart’s Law xkcd.com/2899

ART SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN! 🦀

Guidelines: crabtalesmagazine.com/submissions/

SEND US YOUR CRABS

I recently made a comic complaining that NASA refuses to listen to my good ideas for improving the Solar System (xkcd.com/2750).

To my delight, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate has sent me an actual expert panel evaluation of my “flatten the planets” proposal! Sadly, they decided not to fund it.

Sphere Tastiness xkcd.com/2893