iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 2h

The MLB Gameday online live game tracker has represented Tropicana Field as a uncanny space, simultaneously flatly underlit and dazzling, with a pink de-branded SODA billboard behind right field. I think they're playing baseball in The Backrooms.

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I don't like the thing the MLB does where player statistics reset in the postseason. Like, Brice Turang is a .286 hitter in the regular season who also doesn't have a hit yet in 7 postseason at-bats against the Padres. Surely the .286 number is what a viewer (me) wants to see at a glance

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

In 1941, the administrator of St Pierre et Miquelon declared his loyalty to Vichy France rather than to De Gaulle and Free France. The Free French navy, defying the regional powers, snuck a small naval force over to seize it. LOOK AT HOW TIME MAGAZINE DESCRIBED THE WARSHIPS (link in alt)

"One night four steatopygous corvettes waddled along off the coast of Newfoundland, ostensibly bound for Britain." from https://time.com/archive/6786578/the-americas-incident-at-st-pierre/

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I had to give a lecture via Zoom from my hotel, but I forgot to bring the iPad/Apple Pencil setup I usually use. Please enjoy the surprisingly stable iPhone document camera I improvised from things I had in my luggage.

A travel thermos with an iPhone tied to the top of it so it could take video of a legal pad

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

favorite journal article title of the day 🧪⚛️ doi.org/10.1021/jp03...

"The Only Stable State of O2- Is the X 2Πg Ground State and It (Still!) Has an Adiabatic Electron Detachment Energy of 0.45 eV" by Ervin et al, J. Phys. Chem. A (2003) 107 (41): 8521–8529.

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Wikipedia says that Nancy Grace Roman, post-Ph.D. but pre-Yerkes in 1949, spent two months at CWRU's Warner and Swasey Observatory (then at its East Cleveland site, now in ruins, whose telescope is now at Kitt Peak and still operable.) Can't find any other info, anyone know what she did there? 🔭

two abandoned telescope domes on an abandoned brick building

large equatorial-mounted telescope with a snazzy blue paint job

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Why did my 3M Command strips ship in a box with a no-frills matte exterior and a glossy full-color interior? The color side's printing details suggest it could be assembled that way out, BUT there's no barcode on that side.

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I neglected to take a photo of it but last night I had to prepare buttercream frosting in four different colors so I could pipe this onto a sheet cake

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

(unpacking into my new office) I remember picking this up for $0.50 at an MIT Library book sale. check out the inscription 🧪

pocket-sized Spanish-English dictionary with a green cover, stamped "SERCEL INCORPORATED", Houston Texas, S E G Mexico City 1973

inscribed with "Harold Edgerton" with his MIT office address, 1975

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

(getting unpacked into my new office) Once at SNOLab I picked up a piece of rock underground for a souvenir. (Or two?) And I think Harry Nelson brought me a rock from SURF once. Did I label them? Stupidly, no. @steve.mastodon.cooleysekula.net.ap.brid.gy could that be Sudbury norite lower left?

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

AQI map looks like a diseased brown dragon poised to swallow Cleveland

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

The NHTSA standard for driver height and sightlines should be set at "Oshkosh NGDV or better".

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I took a day off work yesterday and spent 10 hours in the garden, getting 72 bare root trees planted and staked. The eventual goal: a three-season pollinator resource in the form of a South-of-England-inspired laid hedgerow! Using 100% Ohio native plants! Wish me luck!

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I'm reading a trashy Icelandic crime novel. It features many flashbacks to characters' childhoods, including this spectacular scene where Tinna solves a math problem correctly:

"Tinna narrowed her eyes and considered the question on the board. The teacher sighed and was about to turn back to it when Tinna said: 'The lowest common denominator of one thousand and fifty is forty-three.'

The teacher glanced at the board, then back at Tinna.

'I'm right,' Tinna said. 'Just check it.'

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

You know what's a real reading adventure in America in the year 2026? Imelda Marcos' Wikipedia bio.

screenshot of Wikipedia sidebar menu. Heading: "Major court cases"

Heading: "Personal wealth"
Subheads:
Court rulings and estimated amount
Sequestration
Net worth in 2012
World record for largest theft from a government

Last heading: "Edifice complex"

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

In this sci-fi-guided era, surely we want guidance from L Frank Baum's TikTok, the mechanical man "fit-ted with Smith & Tinker's Improved Combination Steel Brains", one of the first thinking machines in American literature. L. Frank Baum, what does Tik-Tok have to say about AI liability?

illustration (by John R Neill) from "Ozma of Oz" (1907), of Dorothy sitting under a tree discoursing with a round-bodied, mustachioed copper automaton. Text (styled to represent halting robotic speech) reads: "I was mistaken," remarked Tiktok. "My thoughts are usually correct, but it is Smith & Tinker's fault if they sometimes go wrong or do not work properly."

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"No, but they can't get around without legs to find out things." "Cap'n Bill got 'round lively 'nough once, when he had two meat legs," she said. - Sky Island: Being the further exciting adventures of Trot and Cap'n Bill after their visit to the sea fairies

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Cap'n Bill and Trot came often to this tree to sit and watch the ocean below them. The sailor man had one "meat leg" and one "hickory leg," and he often said the wooden one was the best of the two. - The Sea Fairies

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"You do not seem to be the best loaf, but I suppose that of course you are solid." "Solid what?" asked Chubbins. "Solid sugar," replied the Captain. "We're not sugar at all," explained Twinkle. "We're just meat." - The Twinkle Tales

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

“Your wooden leg ain’t so bad, Cap’n,” she remarked, looking at it critically. “Anyhow, it don’t take root on a Magic Island, like our meat legs do.” - The Magic of Oz

Dorothy seated across from Cap'n Bill, whose wooden leg is sticking out

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"How about a plump owl?" asked the beast. "Not a tin one, you know, but a real meat owl." -The Tin Woodman of Oz "... it was here that the Witch enchanted my axe and I lost different parts of my meat body until I became all tin." -The Tin Woodman of Oz

the Tin Owl riding on the back of a bear

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"Permit us to introduce ourselves," replied Shaggy, stepping forward. "This is Tik-Tok, the Clockwork Man—who works better than some meat people. -Tik-Tok of Oz

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

He ... made me out of glass because the meat cats drink too much milk. - The Patchwork Girl of Oz "Nothing except six ants and a monkey. I thought the monkey would taste like meat people, but the flavor was different. - The Patchwork Girl of Oz

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"You're afraid," said the Patchwork Girl, "because so many things can hurt your meat bodies." - The Lost Princess of Oz (maaaany examples in this one)

The Patchwork Girl, dancing awkwardly: text says I HATE DIGNITY

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Perhaps they will never forget the Shaggy Man's awful sneeze, and I am sure they were all glad to see the meat people go away. -The Emerald City of Oz "Must we lunch on tin?" asked Aunt Em. "Oh, no;" replied Dorothy. "Nick Chopper knows how to feed meat people, -The Emerald City of Oz

the shaggy man sneezing and scattering a bunch of paper dolls

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Following close behind the chariot Dorothy saw her old friend the Scarecrow, riding calmly astride a wooden Saw-Horse, which pranced and trotted as naturally as any meat horse could have done. -Ozma of Oz

dorothy shaking hands, or legs, with the Saw-Horse

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"Of course," said the Prince. "We are all vegetable, in this country. Are you not vegetable, also?" "No," answered the Wizard. "People on top of the earth are all meat." -Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

cover of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, showing Dorothy holding a cat and the Wizard holding eight dancing piglets

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

“He is my dog, Toto,” answered Dorothy. “Is he made of tin, or stuffed?” asked the Lion. “Neither. He’s a—a—a meat dog,” said the girl. -The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

L. Frank Baum really really loved using the word "meat" adjectivally and I have to bring this to your attention. Here is a meat thread of some of L Frank Baum's meat mentions: 🧵

L Frank Baum, old timey suave mustache man

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

also notable: literally the only use of the word "pilcrow" in a full-text search of the arxiv

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Final point is: there's no point thinking about blue-sky 0vbb detector ideas unless you're prepared to talk about beyond-ton-scale. Gas TPCs scale up surprisingly easily, and---with some assumptions about what your design constraints are---the gases proposed here can outperform xenon. 16/

snippet of a table from the paper: "SuperK or Skallen LRC 50,000m^3" showing outlines of two large-volume underground tanks; first row of table says 1000T of 82Se in gas phase would require one of these tanks to be pressurized to only 5 atm

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

is actually easier with this sort of dilution; electron tracks in xenon look like spaghetti and in electron tracks in things like BEBMO look nearly straight. Coauthor Ivana Moya produced Figure 2 to illustrate this effect and we propose a (new, AFAICT) tangling measure to quantify it. 15/

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

"But Ben", you're complaining, "bisethylbenzene molybdenum (BEBMO) is a huge molecule, all this hydrocarbon junk stuck to your interesting 100Mo; you're building weirdly diluted detectors." Fun thing we learned here is that electron tracking (the key detail that makes gas TPCs useful) ... 14/

Molecular structure of bis(ethylbenzene) molybdenum, a Mo atom sandwiched between two benzene rings each with one ethyl group

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

We also have experimental evidence for drift/gain in CONGENERS of some gases. Hydrogen selenide is chemically a lot like water, so our proof-of-concept test detector checkout was done with water vapor (Fig 1b) by coauthor and glovebox-wrangler Aneesha Avasthi. 11/

Three histograms (labeled 1760V, 1840V, 1920V) showing a peak (55Fe) whose height is gradually moving rightwards

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

"But Ben," you're complaining, "isn't methaneselenol toxic, flammable, and one of the smelliest chemicals ever invented?". Yes, yes, and yes. That's why this is a theory paper without data on these gases: we're not touching them until our glovebox (Fig 1a) is commissioned. 8/

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Using the quantum chemistry simulation code ORCA, we asked which ones might be non-attaching or electropositive. We found 16 actually existing chemicals and made up two plausible new ones. We believe you can build 0vbb-search TPCs filled with these instead of xenon. 7/

two made-up organoselenium compounds: benzene 1,4-diselenol and 1,4-diselenane

Table 1 from the paper: electron-drift 0vbb TPC gas candidates

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

I worked on this experiment for more than a decade and never noticed that the bird’s beak is a greek letter nu 🧪⚛️

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Other universities have hyperbolically-titled excellence initiatives but KIT has the

German university door placard for the "House of Competence (HOC)", Fritz-Erler-Strasse 23

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

I pulled all the (invasive, annoying) Japanese Barberry out of my garden. Look at the wood! It's Big Bird yellow! And it smells like dead fish! I'm going to try drying these root balls and see if there's a small piece of useful #woodturning or inlay material.

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Doing some background reading, I stumbled across one of the exactly 15 nuclear physics papers that tried, and failed, to make "negaton" happen ⚛️🧪☢️

Paper title/abstract: "Negatons and conversion electrons from the decay of 96Nb". Authors from Uppsala. Date 1968.

Graph of papers by date from Inspirehep. One blip in 1957, 15 clustered in five years in the late 60s, three more (later two with a different string-theory meaning I think) between then and 2023.

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

TIL that AT&T's big postwar buildout of long distance telephone cables involved burying thousands of miles of a kind of fancy low-loss coaxial cable I've only encountered in research labs: air-insulated hard-line. "L carrier" was still running (alongside microwave relays) in the 1970s.

Cross-sections of two bundles of coaxial cables. A mix of air insulation gaps and plastic spacers are visible in the cables. Big bundle on the left with 20 cables in two rings, small bundle on the right with 12 cables in one ring. Source https://archives.long-lines.com/mfoster/System.htm

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

In one story in The House at Pooh Corner, Owl is homeless after a storm: he's a public charge, a refugee, an asylum seeker. I love this passage: where Pooh grasps his moral duty towards Piglet after Piglet gives Owl his own house. Anyway! I spent today imagining what awaits Stephen Miller in hell

“Well,” he said at last, “it’s a very nice house, and if your own house is blown down, you must go somewhere else, mustn’t you, Piglet? What would you do, if your house was blown down?”

Before Piglet could think, Pooh answered for him.

“He’d come and live with me,” said Pooh, “wouldn’t you, Piglet?”

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

There's an update on their webpage relevant to the plate archive (attn @brittlundgren.bsky.social)

"This potential sale will not affect the existence of the 501(c)(3) organization of the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI). PARI will continue to offer STEM education, outreach, and research opportunities to learners of all ages. PARI’s museum collections, artifacts, archives, learning resources, and exhibits will continue to be available to the public. Though our physical footprint may change, we will still be providing the engaging and exciting experiences you’ve grown to expect from us."

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

"Throwing a snowball at a redcoat --- that's what justifies being shot. The reason Crispus Attucks is dead is because he threw a snowball at the 29th Regiment of Foot and they acted in self defense."

Paul Revere's etching of the Boston Massacre

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

looking at a map of Willoughby, Ohio and briefly surprised by the apparent facts: a) that Willoughby is home to a cyclorama b) that Willoughby is home to a cyclorama, not of Willoughby, but of nearby Mentor c) that a cyclorama of Mentor of all places would even exist * it's not a cyclorama

map screenshot showing West Spaulding St and a Google pinned-place icon labeled "360 degree painting of Mentor"

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Ben Monreal @benmonreal.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Perhaps she'd like to read Redcliffe Salaman's supposedly classic "The History and Social Influence of the Potato" (1949). From the preface:

"Whether it was mere luck, or whether the potato and I were destined for a life partnership, I do not know, but from that moment my course was set, and I became ever more involved in problems associated directly or indirectly with a plant with which I then had no particular affinity, gustatory or romantic."

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