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The state of reading today is...complicated. I've made an entire podcast about literature, and yet I think it has been 2.5 years since I read a paper-and-ink book cover-to-cover. But in that time, I've read at least 27 books, either by audiobook or on a computer screen.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Computer problem number 285: despite USB being standard for everything, there are still 10 possible combinations of A-to-A, C-to-C, and A-to-C cables, and somehow, you need all of them.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

A certain billionaire says there's a bottleneck in processing federal retirements because we do it on paper in a mineshaft. The real story is that it's not truly limiting the number of retirements, but it's still a mess. 1/ From The Washington Post in 2014: www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/...

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

My strategy for both sanity and (hopefully) security with cell phones: I don’t use my phone for anything I have to log in to.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Serious question: I know this particular point isn't really a priority for either side but...is it seriously "U-S-A-I-D" and not "U-S-Aid"? Why not?

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

There should be a Meta-Mandela Effect: the belief that "Mandela" used to be spelled with two L's.

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

If non-identical twins are fraternal twins, shouldn't that make non-identical girls sororal twins?

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Just in time for #AAS245, we have posted my newest paper, presenting a broad-based classification of #exoplanet solar systems: arxiv.org/abs/2501.08191. See attached chart, and if you're at the AAS, come see my talk at 3:00 in Session 337.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

The 12 Days of Christmas: Dec 25: Christmas! Dec 26: Close enough Dec 27-30: Kinda still Christmas? Dec 31: What are you talking about? This is New Year's Eve! (But I guess you can keep the decorations up until the 2nd) Jan 1-5: Church says it's still Christmas, nobody listens

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

Theory: #SantaClaus uses quantum something-or-other to deliver all the presents at the same time. Yes, that probably violates the no-cloning theorem, but hey, it's #Christmas magic.

submitted 67 days ago • 0 comments

Presenting my new instrumental ultimate Christmas playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... 2 years ago, I created an epic playlist with 7 hours of Christmas music, with no repeats, in chronological(-ish) order. This year, I decided to do it again, but with an all instrumental version.

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments

Unpopular opinion (apparently): I finally watched Dune: Part Two, and it was a terrible, disjointed mess. In what universe did it deserve all the glowing reviews it got? #Dune #scifi

submitted 91 days ago • 0 comments

It feels like a commentary on the state of the world that Britain held an election on Independence Day, and America is holding an election on Guy Fawkes Day. #ElectionDay #Vote

submitted 115 days ago • 0 comments

Last year, I led a paper where we theorized that GJ 229B, the first confirmed brown dwarf, was actually a binary. Now, that has been confirmed in a new Nature paper. Congrats to the team: arxiv.org/abs/2410.11953 #astronomy

submitted 121 days ago • 1 comment

Coding pitfall number 412: LaTeX is a powerful tool, but sometimes, knowing the right tool for the job means just ditching LaTeX and drawing a table of equations in matplotlib.

submitted 142 days ago • 0 comments

"[L]ife [is] like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.” I've found the same applies to bread pudding. You never know if it's going to be basically French toast or basically bread jello.

submitted 142 days ago • 0 comments

Ruining (or maybe fixing) old-timey B-movies: Martian: Mars needs women. Earthling: OMG we have to stop them! Smart Earthling: I'm sure there are some women who want to go to Mars. I'll help you set up an interplanetary dating service in exchange for a warp drive. #scifi

submitted 146 days ago • 0 comments

Language trivia: the most apostrophes in a single word in English may well be 4, in the contraction y'all'dn't've ("you all would not have"). Do you know any longer ones that make grammatical sense?

submitted 155 days ago • 0 comments

Attention Trekkies: this is amazing, and you need to watch it. They reconstructed the Tamarian language (from "Darmok") so well that for the first time, I actually believe it could exist. #StarTrek www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1xI...

submitted 166 days ago • 0 comments

New video: I attempt to build a constructed language based on a sci-fi classic. #heinlein #conlangs #linguistics www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMdh...

submitted 169 days ago • 0 comments

I've had several conversations with Edwin Kite over the years about this idea for terraforming #Mars with nanoparticles, and I'm pleased to see it's finally getting the attention it deserves. (Also an important first step for my plan to terraform #Venus.) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

submitted 177 days ago • 0 comments

I'm low-key surprised that no one has actually tried this yet. xkcd.com/2852/

submitted 189 days ago • 0 comments

A Reader's History of Science Fiction S3E5: Modern Sci-Fi Television. TV recommendation: The Orville #scifi readershistoryofscifi.libsyn.com/s3e5-modern-...

submitted 201 days ago • 0 comments

Here is the public release of my interview with Larry Niven on A Reader's History of Science Fiction. Go check it out. #LarryNiven #scifi readershistoryofscifi.libsyn.com/s3e4-larry-n...

submitted 215 days ago • 0 comments

For my next podcast episode, I interviewed the great Larry Niven! Check out this preview and sign up for early access to the full episode. www.patreon.com/posts/reader...

submitted 220 days ago • 0 comments

Here is the public release of my interview with @ckunzelman about science fiction video games. #scifi readershistoryofscifi.libsyn.com/s3e3-cameron...

submitted 229 days ago • 0 comments

Is there a systematic rule for multiple pronunciations of the word "have"? I feel like it's pronounced /'hæf/ in "I have to" and /hæv/ in "I have two", and it sounds wrong to say them the other way. #linguistics #English

submitted 230 days ago • 2 comments

My new podcast episode interviewing @ckunzelman about sci-fi video games is up on Patreon. Public preview available now plus full early access for Patrons. www.patreon.com/posts/s3e3-c...

submitted 235 days ago • 0 comments

A Reader's History of Science Fiction S3E2, in which I interview the legendary science fiction author Robert Silverberg. #sciencefiction #scifi #RobertSilverberg readershistoryofscifi.libsyn.com/s3e2-robert-...

submitted 243 days ago • 0 comments

Is it just me, or does it seem like half the Supreme Court decisions these days are about stays on stays on injunctions and never getting to the actual issues? #SCOTUS

submitted 246 days ago • 0 comments

The Greeks encoded their stories in the stars--Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, etc. We still remember their stories, but we've encoded them in our language--Achilles' heel, Cassandra truth, Sword of Damocles, Midas touch, Pandora's box, Herculean, Sisyphean, and on and on.

submitted 248 days ago • 0 comments

Idea: instead of running the #PresidentialDebate on a timer, use a chess clock. Enforces equal time, encourages turn-taking and using time efficiently, and discourages grandstanding.

submitted 253 days ago • 0 comments

A Reader's History of Science Fiction S3E1: Jim Harris Discusses the Classics of Science Fiction #SciFi readershistoryofscifi.libsyn.com/s3e1-jim-har...

submitted 257 days ago • 0 comments

Well, I finally took the plunge and started a Patreon. If you like my content, check it out. Also, Reader's History of Sci-Fi Season 3 starts tomorrow, and new YouTube video on Tuesday, so stay tuned. patreon.com/ScienceMeets...

submitted 257 days ago • 0 comments

Sometimes, coding feels like somehow turning a USB connector over 5 times before it fits in the port. And sometimes, coding feels like something you can't (and shouldn't) do to hardware, like hitting it with a hammer until I can make it fit.

submitted 261 days ago • 0 comments

When you're trying to make a YouTube video, but you keep getting distracted by ideas for other YouTube videos.

submitted 266 days ago • 0 comments

I believe I've squeezed all of the phonemes in American English into a haiku: Through the azure sky Hum yet lofting on the void Shapes gouged by choked woods No, it doesn't make much sense, but it is grammatical(-ish). #linguistics

submitted 268 days ago • 2 comments

"A" and "an" are considered different words. But "the" is considered the same word even though it's pronounced in two ways ("thuh" vs. "thee") in the same circumstances. Is there any other word whose pronunciation changes before a vowel?

submitted 268 days ago • 0 comments

I'm studying color theory in an effort to make better figures, and I've come to the conclusion that yellow is just an absurdly bright color that doesn't fit into a properly-balanced color wheel.

submitted 282 days ago • 0 comments

I just recorded my first video script since doing a deep dive into English phonology, and I'm suddenly hyper-aware of things like unreleased stops, devoicing, unstressed vowel reduction and labialized R's. English, why are you like this?

submitted 284 days ago • 0 comments

Coding pitfall number 308: “That is literally mathematically impossible! Oh, wait, that’s the wrong file.”

submitted 285 days ago • 0 comments

Fun, if morally questionable time travel scheme: 1. Join the Manhattan Project. 2. Every time they bring you a hard problem, say, "Oh, that's easy," and give them super-secret information that you can get off Wikipedia today. 3. Then say... 1/2

submitted 290 days ago • 1 comment

It's coming...

submitted 294 days ago • 0 comments