Katie Mack
Cosmologist, pilot, author, connoisseur of cosmic catastrophes. @TEDFellow, CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar. She/her. Dr.
The Trump/Vance campaign airplane busted restricted DC airspace â probably the most protected airspace in the country â when the pilot failed to follow the mandated departure procedure from DCA. https://www.twz.com/air/j-d-vances-campaign-jet-inadvertently-buzzed-the-washington-monument (heard via @jup... bsky.app
My favorite genre of pet interaction is “Fluffy is just happy to be included” where said pet has no idea what is going on but wants to participate anyway
This column makes some great points: âOur beliefs arenât just a barometer of what we think is true. Theyâre also bound up with what we value; our attitude to how thinking itself should work. What do you trust? What kinds of error will you risk? When will you count something as true?â
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I don’t believe that everything happens FOR a reason but I do believe that everything happens BECAUSE OF a reason and that reason is baryogenesis, the process by which the imbalance of matter and antimatter was established in the early universe and for which we currently have no accepted explanation
Good thread on why you should get the updated covid vaccines if you are able — they’re really very helpful! Getting vaccinated does good things for you and for everyone!
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Sometimes people ask me how we KNOW all this stuff about stars and the expansion of the universe and what distant galaxies are made of, etc. It's because every ray of starlight comes with a barcode inside it. https://www.sciencefocus.com/comment/light-galaxies-universe 🔭🧪
Ugh, those “tag two accounts” scam-contest spam accounts have arrived on Bluesky 😖
Look I’m just saying that recipes involving beets should really come with content warnings for violent imagery 😬😣
The local running organization had a Runway Run at the Waterloo Airport so I had to sign up (along with the local chapter of the 99s). Weird being on the runway without being in a plane but I did my best 🛩️🏃♀️
tfw you’ve damaged your saucepan but in a pretty way
The only thing I want AI for in this app is a service that will automatically hide posts containing certain kinds of images (e.g., dead fish, Trump’s face)
I love exploring the cloud canyons 😍
🛩️ #aviation #avgeek #IFR
Spent some quality alone-time in the sky yesterday 🛩️ #aviation #avgeek
Incredible week for fact checkers gaslighting everyone by pretending not to understand how humans use words
Nice summary of some interesting debates around dark energy happening these days:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/waning-dark-energy-may-evade-swampland-of-impossible-universes-20240819/ [article is not technical per se but may be easier to follow if you know something about physics] 🧪🔭⚛️
listening to Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” on repeat, surely this says only positive things about my current emotional well-being
It rhymes with “gondola” it is not a difficult name
Oh no I have started watching this and now I am obsessed. The sound is amazing — hoofsteps and zebras snorting and the sound of jackals lapping up water. Even the (subscriber-only) comment stream is wholesome
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Itâs really is super covidy out there, in case you havenât heard!
I just returned from a trip and seeing that virtually no one else was masking in the airport or on the plane (though many were coughing!!) felt like spending the day out in a heavy downpour and being the only one carrying an umbrella
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Currently experiencing this immeasurable good fortune 🙏🏼
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Me, exclusively while trying to fall asleep at 1am
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Lots of people talking about the purpose of post-menopausal women but @chmack.bsky.social always taught me it was to wear purple www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/warning/
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/warning/
Using AI to write science explainers is bad for SO MANY REASONS relating to accuracy and content theft but also because effective science communication is not about just arranging information on a page, but allowing the science to create a connection between people, the basis of which is trust
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@ben_hr Yeah, as long as you can get a good seal
@ben_hr I mean obviously everyone should get vaccinated if they’re able to! That’s an absolute no-brainer and it’s absurd to even consider not getting update vaccines when they come out. I just don’t want folks to think that’s going to majorly reduce their risk of getting infected.
@ben_hr I agree that they reduce severe outcomes to self but getting a booster yourself only very slightly reduces your chance of injuring others by giving them covid. If we could get way more people to vaccinate then total rates would go down, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. ☹️
@ben_hr I’m really not an expert on this though! I think that if you can get a mask with headbands instead of ear loops you’re likely to get a better seal but I’m sure you can find better info somewhere!
Itâs super covidy out there folks! If you donât want to get sick (or get others sick), now is a great time to take precautions (masks, ventilation, outdoor stuff, avoiding crowds, the usual). And for the sake of others, please stay home (or at least mask up) if you feel unwell and/or test positive!
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This is more of a “water IN Mars” than a “water ON Mars” discovery but very cool nonetheless (assuming that the findings hold up to further scrutiny)!
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