Pretty disappointed with Codex for CLI use lately. The 5-hour window now gets burned in about 1 hour of real work. A month or two ago, I almost never hit it.
I’ve been using Gemini CLI more, and Gemini 3 Flash has been impressively good with fairly complex problems.
I wrote a tutorial on running your own AI chat on Jetstream2.
Jetstream2 is a research cloud, and ACCESS is the program that helps U.S. researchers use it. I show how to start a GPU VM, run `llama.cpp`, and chat through a web UI.
www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
Confluence is still a miserable place to keep useful content, so here’s a better escape route: export pages and attachments straight to Markdown with `confluence-cli` via the API.
www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
I built sphinxnotebookgist, a Sphinx extension for keeping Jupyter notebooks clean in git while rendering executed outputs in docs. It verifies source cells before using a remote executed notebook. www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
Simplify the maintenance of a Docker Image for #Jupyterhub using repo2docker and #Github actions:
www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
Notice that inside Github action I am using Kind to actually deploy Zero to JupyterHub in #Kubernetes and test the image inside it.
As an alternative to deploy `nbgrader` on Zero-to-JupyterHub using `ngshare`, on Jetstream 2 we can also rely on the shared filesystem service provided by Openstack Manila:
www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
New tutorial: deploy nbgrader on Jetstream with ngshare (#Kubernetes). Covers ngshare install, #JupyterHub integration, student workflow, and autograding with expected outputs.
www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
New tutorial for Academics: Use GitHub Copilot Pro models (GPT, Claude, Gemini) directly in your terminal with OpenCode Assistant. Free with .edu email thanks to Github Education.
www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
#AI #GitHub #Coding
New tutorial: Set up shared NFS-backed home dirs and shared data for JupyterHub on Kubernetes to avoid per-user volume attach delays and speed up logins. www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0... #Jetstream2
We are pleased to announce the 13 - 16 April 13, 2026 Software Citation Workshop in San Diego, California — an interactive, cross‑disciplinary event focused on advancing best practices, implementation strategies, and community engagement for software citation in astronomy research (and beyond).
1/6
Interested in #cloudcomputing for research?
#Jetstream2 is the cloud for scientists, join their introductory workshop online on Jan 22.
support.access-ci.org/events/8796?...
Tutorials for deploying LLMs or setting up a scalable Kubernetes and JupyterHub: www.zonca.dev#category=jet...
Built #AI chatbot using Gemini via a free Google AI Studio token as a frontend for a Google Form:
www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
Then added natural voice using Gemini Live, impressive!
www.zonca.dev/posts/2026-0...
Demo running on Render (needs 30 secs to spin up):
chatbot-voice.onrender.com
healpy 1.19.0 released
healpy is a Python library for Cosmic Microwave Background data.
Many improvements, boosted by agentic workflow.
⚠️ Breaking Change: blm_gauss() now uses l(l+1)
zonca.dev/posts/2025-1...
#python #astronomy
Need a day off to recharge! (my GPT-codex limit) #AI
New tutorial on running the #Nextflow workflow management software on the SDSC Expanse supercomputer.
zonca.dev/posts/2025-1...
I'm impressed with how easy to use and elegant Nextflow is, also their training material is great: training.nextflow.io
Vibe-coded a tool to create #Trello cards automatically when I post a #Github issue or PR in specific repositories, really useful!
New preprint 🔭 “Hunting B‑modes from anisotropic cosmic birefringence”. We measure the amplitude parameter as 0.42 × 10⁻⁴ (1 σ) and set a 95 % CL upper limit of 1 × 10⁻⁴. Dive in 👉 arxiv.org/abs/2504.13154 #CMB #cosmology
New paper on Arxiv with the Panexperiment Galactic Science group about models of Galactic emission in the microwaves for Cosmic Microwave Background experiments:
buff.ly/lAF52GC
The models are available publicly through the PySM3 (Python Sky Model) software package:
buff.ly/1EUPFbT
OpenInfra NAm begins tomorrow! I'm excited to show how
@projectpythia.bsky.social serves reproducible Jupyter notebooks on NSF/Indiana University's Jetstream2, thanks to the pioneering work of @zonca.bsky.social of UCSD-SDSC! @axis-of-meh.wtf oidiu2024.sched.com/event/e41851...
Simple bash script that uses the @github.com-cli to post Notebooks as Gists, then appends #nbviewer links to a Markdown file:
gist.github.com/zonca/f0515d...
Supping with Science and Science Fiction – Sat 1PM Insights into the kinds of table talk shared between scientist and author spouses (with my beloved Greg van Eekhout!) Discovering Ourselves: Two Years of Exploring the Universe with JWST – Sat 2PM A tour of what astronomers have learned so far from JWST and what these discoveries tell us about our place in the universe Nerd Nite Presents: Finding The Science in Our Sci-Fi – Sat 7PM A great showcase of local San Diego scientists who love geeky content and thinking about how it overlaps with their fields of study What’s With All These #@%! Planets, Anyway? – Sun 2PM Discuss some of the wildest planets in the known universe, as well as the science of some favorite fictional worlds
San Diego Comic Fest (www.sdcomicfest.org) is this weekend, and I'm one of the Science Guests. Here is where to find me. Hope to see you there!
@property def includes_smoothing(self): Copilot suggests: return self.pre_applied_beam is not None
I'm always quite impressed by Github Copilot...
the completion of this is exactly what I was thinking and it is not that straightforward, you need to understand the relationship between a beam and smoothing
Anyone ages 12 – 26 living in the United States can get a San Diego Public Library Books Unbanned card. With the card, the library’s online collection of banned or restricted eBooks and eAudiobooks are available for FREE, no matter where you live in the U.S. libraryfoundationsd.org/news/stories...
Space Typography xkcd.com/2863
The cover of System Collapse, art by Jaime Jones.
System Collapse, the next Murderbot book, comes out tomorrow November 14 and my book tour information is here: marthawells.dreamwidth.org/637680.html
Redshift xkcd.com/2853
Sign up for the “Python and Astropy for Astronomical Data Analysis” Workshop at AAS243 on Sun, Jan 7 from 9am-5 pm! 🔭🧪
Covers Python tools for astronomical data analysis and visualization. Familiarity with Python and numpy helpful but not required.
Register at: aas.org/meetings/aas...
Over at JOSS (joss.theoj.org) we're looking to recruit more editors in all areas! Check out the blog post for more info, and I'd be very happy to chat: blog.joss.theoj.org/2023/10/call...
seminario?
Interview on @npr.org by @jorgitomoreno.bsky.social about early galaxies detected by JWST. 🔭