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Chromospheric Hot Spot

@baryonicbeing.bsky.social
240 followers 523 following 1.7K posts

Space whale, big engines, friendly. Touring the galaxy. mastodon.social/@BaryonicBeing

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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 5h
Ok, I bought it for about $100 more in 2021. Still crazy.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 6h
The model of graphics card I bought over 5 years ago is selling on eBay, used, for $240. Pretty sure that's close to what I paid for it brand new back in mid-2021.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 17h
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures in Babysitting.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 23h
Some of those who work forces...
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Likely due to the winters, if you're talking about road work. There's a joke about the northern parts of the US (mostly the Midwest) that there are two seasons: Winter and road repair. Would expect ~the same in Canada.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Coupled with family planning technologies and the expectation from medical technologies that children will almost always survive, people can more easily choose and control the size of their family, and more often decide to have fewer or no children.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
My own take on the primary (but not exclusive) driver: There are more things to do these days, more options for what to do with your life. Especially for women, but men as well. "Having kids" is competing with a wider range of lifetime possibilities and activities than in the past.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
At least from my own (US) usage: Toilet is the actual fixture that you pee or poop in. Bathroom is the name for the room in a home containing a toilet, sink, and usually but not always a shower or bath. Restroom is a term used for rooms containing toilets and sink in stores/public places.
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Mallory Moore @sexabolition.blog · 08/10/2026
opentranscripts.org/transcript/p... Will cap this thread off with a link to Allison Parrish's talk on the ways that birth of the "Hacker" mythos directly fucked with Margaret Hamilton's efforts to model weather systems at MIT.
opentranscripts.org
Programming is Forgetting: Toward a New Hacker Ethic - Allison Parrish | Open Transcripts
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that many of us here today like to see our work as a continuation of say the Tech Model Railroad Club or the Homebrew Computer Club, and certainly the terminology a...
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The fortune cookies are horny tonight.
Two fortunes from fortune cookies, laying on a table. The one above says "An unexpected encounter with your close friend will bring joy." The one below says "Book lovers never go to bed alone."
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J Pardo @jdpardo.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I posted this last week without comment, but I'm going to comment now. The people who established the system of museums in the West had a very specific reason for doing so: they thought that having an appreciation for the wonders of the world was absolutely necessary for being a good citizen.
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KM Apothecary @apothcarysees.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
When I saw Ghost, the Pacific Giant octopus at the Aquarium of the Pacific she was entering senescence and slowing down. I captured her color with airbrush, so now she has a portrait.
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Just did some number crunching using latest (Oct 1) ECMWF seasonal data, and I must say that I've never seen such high predictive confidence in a very wet California winter. This is a truly extraordinary forecast amid a record-strength El Niño event. [Thread: please read to end.]
Model-relative sea surface temperature anomalies for November 2026–January 2027. The supplied grid is displayed without added smoothing or coastal filling. Beige marks land and gray marks missing ocean values. The main colour scale spans -2 to +10°F, with white at zero. Hot pink marks anomalies above +10°F. This map does not establish an operational ENSO category.
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Elixir of Progress @elucidating.extradimensional.space · 06/10/2026
This is your yearly reminder that this exists and you can have it on your desktop in your browser right now. effectgames.com/demos/canvas...
effectgames.com
Canvas Cycle: True 8-bit Color Cycling with HTML5
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loren schmidt @lorenschmidt.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
it's here! spooky movie recs 2026. this year's list is special. i worked /entirely/ too hard on curation and couldn't be more excited to share this with y'all. brief notes on watching experimental work (3 posts) then recs. commence MOVIE RECS 2026 - SPOOKY EXPERIMENTAL + ARTHOUSE. let's go!
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Looks like something that a Level 2 UEF shipyard would build in Supreme Commander.
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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A lot of excitement on here about the article in Science summarising the discoveries of @alistairsponsel.bsky.social and Brian Sutton, just published in the Journal of the History of Biology. Some people have asked, so here is what I think they show, and what are the implications:
link.springer.com
Photograph 49 is the Key to Understanding the History of Rosalind Franklin’s DNA Photograph 51 - Journal of the History of Biology
This essay, co-authored by a historian of science and an X-ray crystallographer, sheds new light on Rosalind Franklin’s Photograph 51. We refute the infamous claim that, unlike James Watson, Franklin ...
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Swinda Falkena @swinda.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Great piece on the AMOC, with attention for the subpolar gyre. While AMOC collapse would take multiple decades, potential changes in the subpolar gyre could occur over 10-15 years and start as early as 2040. The impact won't be as severe as for AMOC, but this near-future risk warrants attention.
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toilet bones @toiletbones.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Found the email I sent when I got accidentally added to the faculty listserv of an orthopedic surgery clinic and nobody would remove me so I sent this email to all faculty/staff/med students and they removed me almost immediately
Hello Bone Colleagues, 
I have invented a new type of ankle and I'm very excited to show it to you. Early raccoon trials suggest a 60% increase in scurrying speed and dramatic increases in fine motor banditry. I know we are not supposed to create super raccoons, but I think you'll change your mind and professional ethics when you see how cute they are. I believe we are on the cusp of a new era in advanced human scurrying because if medical science has taught me anything, it's that improvements in raccoons correspond 1:1 to improvements in humans. 

--
[My name]
Chief Bone Inventor
Chair, Department of Foot and Leg Innovation
Lord Mayor, Musculoskeletal Medicine 
Hartford HealthCare,
The Bone & Joint Institute at Hartford Hospital.
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Latest ECMWF ensemble update is out, and outlook re: El Niño & associated regional hydroclimate impacts is even more extraordinary vs Sep. I'll discuss briefly in today's livestream, & more comprehensively next week. But odds of consequentially wet CA winter continue to rise...
Map from ECMWF ensemble update in Oct showing the likelihood of  Jan-Mar precipitation being above the median. The odds are nearly 100% across all of California and much of the American Southwest, which is truly extraordinary.
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Der Fisher @blackholefun.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Unpopular opinion: LLMs are generally deradicalizing people whose beliefs are based on pure propaganda. I've been watching this happen slowly with some people I care about. ChatGPT is one of the reasons they finally accept that the NRA, OAN, and NewsMax are lying to them.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
My god, I just realized he had a full cubicle, and was next to a window. Aside from annoying bosses, his other major distraction was noise from coworkers, which could've been solved by buying Milton some headphones, getting a pair of his own, or asking HR to move him to another desk.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Instead of running 1 mile this morning I ran 1.5, and started the last 0.5 with a sprint. Need to remember to change exercise up like that from time to time, keep the body guessing. Feels better.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 04/10/2026
🔭 Supernumerary Rainbows over New Jersey Credit & Copyright: John Entwistle ap261004
The top of a house is shown beneath a dark and cloudy sky. Many rainbow stripes are seen above the house.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Was actually thinking of a different drunk father one, but that one belongs on the list too!
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This and Sausages! And the one where Dave played the hitman hired to kill himself. And the one where the farmer had di-fficulty grasping his salt. And the one where the father got incredibly drunk in front of his son to make him a man. And the one where the cops had to catch the fugitives while eati
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Sure, Peter's job was annoying in Office Space, but he really only did 15 minutes of actual work per week. I would love to have a job with so much free time. So many books and papers to read, pencil and paper hobbies, etc. I would not get bored, would barely work, and would get paid. Wonderful.
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Colin @colin-fraser.net · 02/10/2026
Let me just explain the arithmetic thing real quick; I'm seeing a lot of people not understanding what it's supposed to show (or was supposed to show in 2023). First, let's agree that an LLM is a Stochastic Parrot, a description which I find poetic, useful, informative, and basically correct.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Oh look, someone's grandfather is in this book.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Tomorrow will feature a dietary experiment in which I shall derive all my calories for the day from vanilla ice cream drizzled with melted peanut butter. Shooting for 2,000 calories, but I may splurge and hit 3,000.
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Kieran 🦘🇨🇦 @hellbendermuseum.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Proud to present my lifesize T. rex head, affectionately named Hannibal. I created this myself from start to finish- digital sculpture, resin 3D printing, painting, etc. Huge thanks to my friend @rj-palmer.com for instrumental crits and redlines during the sculpting process.
Life-size t rex head model from front 3/4 view. I am also in frameLife size t rex head model, from frontLife size t-rex model, from front and staring directly down the barrel of the camera
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 01/10/2026
Map of the Lighthouses of the World. Each lighthouse sweeps out its actual arc and the reach of the beams is true to scale. Very cool. [kottke.org]
kottke.org
Map of the Lighthouses of the World
From mapped.earth, a map of every lighthouse on the planet, along with other charted lights like lighted buoys and such. The screenshots above are static but the lights on the real map move: each lighthouse sweeps out it
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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
One feature of that grappling was that within the 'no war, no peace, only conflict' model, the agrarian ('second system' in my parlance) militaries often ran 'hot and cold' - when political and strategic conditions aligned, they responded at much greater scale than opponents could match.
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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 01/10/2026
today in depressing takes, like "the war with iran probably isn't going to end"
liberalcurrents.com
The Return of the Cutting-Off Way
Structural changes are driving us towards a more chaotic world, defined by "neither peace nor war, but conflict."
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beetle moses @beetlemoses.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Three panel comic. Panel 1: a guy is being interviewed in an office. The interviewer, pointing to his computer display, asks, “can you explain this gap in your resume?” The interviewee replies, “uh…” Panel 2: out of thin air a portal emerges between the two men. Rocketing out of the portal is a time traveling dodo bird wearing futuristic gear. The dodo exclaims, “I’m back! I saved us from extinction!” A coffee cup is knocked over. Panel 3: at the edge of the desk, the dodo takes a knee, staring futilely out the window to a metropolitan city. It says, “No… NO!!” The two men observe, nonplussed.
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beetle moses @beetlemoses.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This comic is in my book, out next week! publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/book/beetle-...
publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com
Beetle Moses - Andrews McMeel Publishing
Sharp, surreal, and endlessly quotable, this debut collection from one of the most mind-bending new voices in webcomics pairs bold neon art with absurdist wit. “Banger after banger, not a dud in sight...
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Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Quite a remarkable map, table, and diagram from a 1971 report on launch-on-warning, showing the implications of Soviet submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) on detection, reaction, deliberation, and response time. All numbers are in SECONDS, which is what I find the most wild about it.
Map of the USA labeled "Soviet SLBM [Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile] Time of Flight to SAC [Strategic Air Command] Targets." Shows both "nominal" and "depressed" trajectories. Absolute best (north central USA) is between 580 and 850 seconds (9.6 – 14 min). Absolute worst (everywhere else) is between 320 and 650 seconds (5.3 – 10.8 min). The variations are based on where they assume the subs are launching from. Table: "Early Warning System Performance." Shows four different systems (BMEWS, OTHF, SLBM Net, and a not-yet-operational in 1971 Boost-Phase Detection Satellite) that indicates the time of detection after launch (varies between 55 and 150 seconds; BMEWS cannot detect launches as it is only over-the-horizon radar), the time that the US command and control system would be alerted after launch (ranges from 85 seconds for the newest system to 900 seconds for BMEWs), the probably of detection of a single launch (BMEWS is 99%, SLBM Net is 50%, none of the others have probabilities), probably of detection for a mass launch (all around 100%), and their false alarm rate (BMEWS has 1 per 7 years, OTHF is 1 per 6 months, the others are unknown). Diagram: "National Command-Warning to Response Cycle." Shows the consequences of a launch detection all the way through the US nuclear infrastructure, with "delay times" in seconds. Will be discussed in the next post in this thread.
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Green Hombre @greenhombre.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I realize I'm a little ahead of this story, but ask anyone in marketing and they will agree. Muse and all the coming competing AI agents are robots designed to control your mind. It's why so many data centers are rushing to be built. To get you signed up to a brand of robot that will sell you crap.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Thread re: authoritarian advantages in social media as currently constructed.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
First we made music to not listen to. More recently, with streaming and short form, we learned to make video that was not to be watched. With LLMs, we now make text not to be read, and are supercharging the unwatched and unlistened video and music. Progress!
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Always interesting to hear people recalling how quickly the culture began to shift immediately after WWII ended, a perception which has been lost in the present day.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In some ways the recent past was better. In most ways, it was not. Nothing I didn't know about, but reading someone's recounting of average spousal relations in her neighborhood in the 30s really... hammers it home.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Reading Hard Times by Studs Terkel, might post excerpts from time to time.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Put more crudely (by visakanv some time ago), people want to be f*ckable more than they want to f*ck. We are currently ruled by ppl who care nothing for their own f*ckability, only want to do the f*cking. Well that put some gross images in my head, but it gets the point across.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Recalling the observation that the great majority of people want to be desired more than they themselves desire others, and that the US is currently being run by people who only desire.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The AI Gene Wilder voice on this terrible Wonka reality show sounds depressed at all times. None of Wilder's range in the original movie is present. As if the show creators sampled the flattest 60 seconds of his dialogue and put it on repeat.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The best things in life and research come from persistent digging. Just followed a trail of papers that give me a wonderful sequence showing the big picture view of star system evolution from birth to ~final state. Thank you Pavel Kroupa. Hopefully I can do great things with this.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Watching ET and the biogeography is confusing me. First they're in the PNW, then outside LA, then back to the PNW, then there are corn stalks in the kids' backyard, then somewhere in SoCal, then back to PNW. Make up your mind.
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Chromospheric Hot Spot @baryonicbeing.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Well I've seen 5 of these in their entirety, maybe another 5 I watched about 50% of before stopping, and a handful I've seen perhaps a few episodes of. All the rest are just names.
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