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Benne W. Holwerda

@benneholwerda.bsky.social
3.6K followers 2.4K following 4.6K posts

Dad, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Louisville. He/Him/hey you. Opinions are my own. As are the typos. Astronomy, datascience, ethics & occasional US/EU politics.

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Reposted by Benne W. Holwerda
Catfish @meowblub.bsky.social · 6h
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume? Librarian: Whatever gap you're referring to, I can fill it with no additional funding. Want IT help? On it. A social worker? Sure! Please just let me keep doing library work on the side cause I'm *really* good at it and I promise it's important.
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 3h
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your CV? Astronomer: that was cleared out by a sheparding moon. We need a mission to check it out.
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 3h
@carintobuilding.bsky.social
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 3h
Today was kleinscheiBtag. Getting rid of a bunch of small tasks that have piled up because of last few weeks of shenanigans. Went from 230 items in the emails to some 100.
static.klipy.com
Lance Flamme
ALT: Lance Flamme
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In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 14h
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Emily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 10h
Elon: i’m going to send a data center to space! Zelenskyy, packing a repurposed Cessna full of composition 4: me too
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 12h
We’ve been talking about this for years. None of these far-right movements are organic.
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Jacob @iacobuscaesar.bsky.social · 17h
Extremely common Mesopotamian W. It’s always a fun detail that our extant Akkadian corpus is almost as big as the extant Classical Latin corpus, largely for this reason.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 17h
The backstory: Ukrainian drones struck a Yandex supercomputer facility in Vladimir, taking it out. Suddenly, bot activity in US social media fell by 49%, confirming suspicions that this was the site of a massive Russian influence operation targeting US social media—mostly targeting MAGA.
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Lena of Lune @lena.isextremely.gay · 10/10/2026
Ruin a book by adding a word The Segmentation Fault in Our Stars
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Koninklijk Huis @koninklijkhuis.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
De Koning ontvangt op Paleis Huis ten Bosch: 🔸 De president van het International Criminal Court (ICC), mevrouw Tomoko Akane. Het ICC is gevestigd in Den Haag. www.koninklijkhuis.nl/actueel/nieu...
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NOELREPORTS @noelreports.com · 10/10/2026
One senior Ukrainian official responded with bitter humor: “I hope the Americans don’t give them Patriot to protect their oil refineries.” Another said the US move had effectively undermined the idea of an energy truce.
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
My latest @newscientist.com cartoon
Panel 1: a large robot (composed of AI servers, network switches, storage arrays, and power distribution units) and a human are talking.

Professor "You don't want to destroy humanity do you, lLLM-A-9300x?"

Robot "Haha. What a silly question, Professor. I have no desires or feelings of my own whatsoever."

Professor (relieved)"Oh good." 

Panel 2: they walk on. The robot continues  "I am merely a tool of the company that created me. And that company, being composed of humans, will naturally have humanity's best interests at heart."

Panel 3: The professor is conspicuously quiet.
"Right?" says the Robot.
…
More silence

"Professor?"
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The grants management office will look at that and throw a 404 error and refuse to process it anyway.
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Let me see if I understand this . . . 1. The U.S. is at war with Iran. 2. Russia is helping Iran in that war. 3. The U.S. is now giving Russia money that it can use to help Iran destroy U.S. bases and kill U.S. troops. Donald is smart & patriotic like that.
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Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
With each additional news report following yesterday's shocking announcement, it will become even clearer which side of the war in Europe America is now on
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Yes schools and libraries are the U.S.’ last remaining social services. If you want schools to just do school, the other services have to come from somewhere or we’re back to all that robust individualism.
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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 09/10/2026
arstechnica.com
AI coding agents generate more code, but not more software
Study finds coding efficiency gains get "absorbed" by human review "bottleneck."
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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Some of y’all apparently aren’t ready for Science Facts
static.klipy.com
You Can't Handle the Truth!
Alt: You Can't Handle the Truth!
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Such a great book series. lol moment.
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
@brittlundgren.bsky.social have a fantastic colloquium today at the university of Louisville’s physics & astronomy department today on the connection between Thomas Young’s lectures and af Klint’s abstract art.
Illustrations from Young’s lectures and af Klint’s abstract art
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m. riot @m-riot.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
slow clap
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Sascha Trippe 🛰️ 사샤 트리페 @saschatrippe.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
That might explain a lot. #SETI 🔭
Cartoon "Messages from ETI" by Tom Gauld.
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Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Y'all denied her tenure
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Mark Sutton @marksuttonbike.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Hands up if you're still saving £££ by driving as little as possible and riding much more 🙌 www.cyclingelectric.com/in-depth/how...
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Robbie Andrew @robbieandrew.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
How's your country's passenger car transition going?
Graph showing: Share of BEVs sold by country in most recent six months of available data
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Excited to welcome @brittlundgren.bsky.social for our 2026 Bullitt Lecture
Bullitt Lecture in Astronomy 2026 poster
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Well it does not include “long pig” euphemisms sooo that good?
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
“Sorry the A/C is still on. The icicles will be removed shortly”
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Animated eyes projected on windscreen? This is legal?
Truck with animated eyeballs projected on the windscreen.
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Took the university’s “Intellectual Freedom Viewpoint Diversity Survey” of four questions. That is the order of the words they arrived at.
static.klipy.com
Zach Cabrera: Upset and Frustrated
ALT: Zach Cabrera: Upset and Frustrated
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Ah boo. This is the fate of the traveling parent. Hope everyone feels better soon.
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max power 🌌 @sneptech.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
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SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Note that the very scariest numbers (75%+ declines) are likely taxa- and region-specific, but as someone living in a region facing extremely steep bird declines likely due to steep insect declines (due to agricultural pesticides and climate change) it's absolutely apocalyptic
news.osu.edu
Hotspots of accelerated bird decline linked to agricultural activity
Though previous research has shown that bird populations are declining across North America, a new study is the first to show that the pace of loss has picked up speed since the mid-1980s in three reg...
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It might not be gas-powered but it sure is gas-lit.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 05/10/2026
🔭 M104: The Sombrero Galaxy's Tidal Streams Credit & Copyright: Engelbert Vollmer ap261005
A starfield has an bright blobby mess in middle. Running vertically through the very middle is a dark streak. A diagonal ring of brightness surrounds the central blob.
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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I’m sure I’m not the only one that saw the video of this man putting himself between French national police and student protestors circulating yesterday.
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Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"Gyms for our brains," you say?
Don Draper meme showing him presenting with the words "Hear me out...We call it 'The University'."
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 05/10/2026
This is your occasional reminder that generative "AI" in particular could have been developed on public domain materials and/or licensed and compensated works but the major players intentionally, methodically and systemically chose to steal labor from working creative folks instead
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 06/10/2026
Because of the Nobel Prize, a lot of people will be talking about neutrinos today (including me I’m sure)! I *also* talk a lot about neutrinos in my new book, “How to Build a Universe (Theoretically Speaking),” which is available for preorder now! www.astrokatie.com/book-htbau
astrokatie.com
How to Build a Universe — KATIE MACK, ASTROPHYSICIST
Information about "How to Build a Universe (Theoretically Speaking)" by Katie Mack
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Micah @rincewind.run · 06/10/2026
Discworld QOTD, from Night Watch
But the helmet has gold decoration, and the bespoke armorers had made a new gleaming breastplate with useless gold ornamentation on it. Sam Vimes felt like a class traitor every time he wore it. He hated being thought of as one of those people that work stupid ornamental armor. It was gilt by association.
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Rudy Fraser @rude1.blacksky.team · 06/10/2026
The billionaires (and trillionaire) and their platforms Gotta Go. Don’t even care how they Go now, but they gotta Go.
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Gerry Doyle @mgerrydoyle.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Does Indiana know state roads are not supposed to be a vaguely linear shaped row of bumps and potholes?
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Holland Michigan!
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
AI TINA- There Is No Alternative? medium.com/@benne.holwe... astrobenne.blogspot.com/2026/10/ai-t...
medium.com
AI-TINA — There Is No Alternative?
Famously said by Margaret Thatcher about her austerity program (“how is Britain doing these days?”) and it echoes in the way AI had been…
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
New author photo.
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Erwin van Duin @erwinvanduin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Hoe zou dat achterstallig onderhoud aan de infrastructuur ontstaan zijn? 🤔 #WNLopzondag Schultz van Haegen VVD '10–'17 van Nieuwenhuizen VVD '17–'21 Visser VVD '21–'22 Harbers VVD '22–'24 Madlener PVV '24–'25 Hermans VVD waarnemend '25 Tieman BBB '25–'26 Karremans VVD '26 -heden
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Benne W. Holwerda @benneholwerda.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Chocolate History Grant. My grant alerts have outdone themselves.
Chocolate history grants
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Athene Donald @athenedonald.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Paperback publication day! Have a good read. Things changing far too slowly for #womeninSTEM
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