iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm hugely proud of my spouse Cameron, whose book "The Sacrament of Paying Attention" is now available for preorder! cameronbellm.substack.com/p/book-cover...

Book cover for "The Sacrament of Paying Attention" by Cameron Bellm. The cover has overlapping red and blue ammonites on a yellow circle.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Most of the ice creams had humorous, slightly salacious names--e.g., a Thin Mints-type mint chocolate chip was called "Come Here, Little Girl." You can get the gist from the t-shirt below (which sits in a drawer as there's no appropriate context in which I could wear it). 2/3

Blue t-shirt reading "Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts Hawaii // Shouldn't you be licking something."

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Congrats to my students! David Wang successfully defended his dissertation and Francisca Chabour Barra passed her research qualifying exam today!

Person in front of a screen reading "The Galactic Population of Low-Mass X-ray Binaries in the Era of Large Surveys"

Person in front of a screen reading "Results: example light curves"

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Could you imagine if the AAS publicly posted frank summaries of the strengths and weaknesses of everyone on the job market? (cf. www.nfl.com/draft/tracke...)

PLAYER ANALYSIS

Allar looks the part with prototypical size and an effortless arm that can make any NFL throw. However, inconsistent touch and ball placement are a major hindrance. In big moments and big games, he hasn’t proven he can rise to the occasion or sustain efficiency. The stats looked good in a conservative offense as a sophomore, but his play became more erratic once the playbook was opened up and more responsibility was put on his plate. He can be slow to process and get to his best option. He also struggles to adjust his pre-snap plan to fit the coverage. It’s worth noting Allar’s receivers struggled to win man-coverage matchups for him. Against zone, he makes anticipatory throws and beats coverage at an adequate clip. Mechanical fixes are possible, but confidence, poise and recognition must be the foundation of any rebound. Allar projects as an average backup with high-end traits.

BY LANCE ZIERLEIN

NFL Analyst

PLAYER ANALYSIS

Pavia is a short, tough, productive quarterback who plays bigger than his measurables. He elevates those around him and was the main character in Vanderbilt’s shift from doormat to winning program. He’s improvisational, creating explosives that aren’t on the call sheet without playing reckless hero ball. He scans through progressions, throwing with intermediate accuracy, but impatience versus zone can lead to costly mistakes. He can stand and deliver or escape and win with his arm or legs when pressured. However, he lacks ideal mechanics and needs altered launch points for cleaner sight lines and release points. His deep ball is below average. He isn’t explosive or fast, but he’s a force multiplier for the run game, especially near the goal line. Efficiency and success rates check out across most situational filters, but he requires a more tailored scheme. Quarterbacks his size rarely make NFL rosters, but his competitiveness should be a plus as long as he’s willing to accept a role as a backup.

BY LANCE ZIERLEIN

NFL Analyst

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Poking around Google Maps near Hormuz, I learned about Nahwa: a UAE territory inside a part of Oman called Madha which is itself entirely inside the UAE. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahwa

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

With your advanced degree you have the opportunity to train the AI in your specialized skills. Astronomy 🔭 may be economically worthless but xAI wants you to train it anyway: www.remotech.ai/jobs/space-s...

Screenshot describing an "AI tutor" position for space sciences.

Screenshot describing an "AI tutor" position for space sciences, Masters or PhD degree required.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Getting rich isn't necessary: given academic salaries, the excess provided by median private sector wages would be enough to employ one (or more) postdocs... www.aip.org/statistics/s...

box and whiskers plots of Physics PhD salaries in the private sector and academia, from aip.org/statistics

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Back from a quick but lovely visit to the UCSD astronomy department!

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

😭 I can't decide what's most upsetting about this

email saying the 4 hour training has been replaced by a 1 hour training

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Wrapping up a very nice visit to the Yale Astronomy Department. Lots of lovely discussions about Rubin, ZTF, compact binaries, and much more!

Author selfie in front of a sign advertising a science talk.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

ZTF 🔭 is now shadowing the @vrubinobs.bsky.social Science Validation survey footprint with a daily cadence in gri! www.wis-tns.org/astronotes/a... I made a "watchmap" for the Lasair broker that for all ZTF alerts falling in this region: lasair-ztf.lsst.ac.uk/watchmaps/568/

A map of the celestial sphere. A portion of the ecliptic plane is colored red.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

So the Grand Canyon is on fire...

An image of the Grand Canyon from an airplane. Smoke is visible along the North Rim and into the canyon itself.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Congrats to Dr. @tomwagg.bsky.social, who successfully defended his excellent PhD dissertation today!

Tom stands in front of a projection screen with eight graphics relating to portions of his dissertation research.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Wrapping up a great visit to @thenrao.bsky.social--I learned a ton, got to talk to folks about @vrubinobs.bsky.social, and ate lots of excellent New Mexican food!

Two people standing in the dish of one of the NRAO radio telescopes.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Just wrapping up a lovely week in Oxford talking with the Lasair team and other European brokers about @vrubinobs.bsky.social. Many great discussions and a memorable conference dinner!

Selfie of the author with the hall of Christ Church College, Oxford.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

It's shaping up to be a windy night in the PNW www.windy.com?46.271,-125....

Wind plot showing a large low pressure ssytem off the coast of Washington and Oregon

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Types of 🔭 software papers

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Kinds of 🔭 instrumentation papers

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Had a lovely weekend helping facilitate the LSST Scialog. Early-career 🔭 faculty, look for another call for participation next year!

Two scientists observe mice in lab coats and say "OK, let's slowly lower in the grant money."

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Instrument building is a long journey (I started on ZTF in 2011!), so it's nice to take some time to celebrate.

A group in formal attire standing in a posed picture.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

It was a great honor to join several other members of the ZTF team in celebrating Shri's receipt of the 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy for his contributions to time-domain astronomy. 🔭

Shri Kulkarni receiving the 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

I'm enjoying how this college football trash talk thread turned into a discussion of light pollution and astronomy 🔭

Posters discussing light pollution in texas in a college football trash talk thread

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

post a PERFECT album from the ‘90s that isn't pearl jam, nirvana, soundgarden or Alice In Chains (Sorry not sorry to my Gen X moots)

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 19/09/2024

Without downloading a new pic, where are you now mentally?

Comic strip with a T-rex standup who says: "What's the difference between a light bulb and folks in academia? A light bulb stops working when it burns out."

The T-rex is crying in the last panel.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 17/09/2024

I was three orders of magnitude earlier to thefacebook.com, and I've been gun-shy about joining new social media sites ever since.

Bluesky-generated card reading "Celebrating 10M #1485566"

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 14/08/2024

This is... not the worst bit, but it's still pretty telling, particularly when paired with Prof. La Belle's own oral history oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/175/

Excerpt from the interview in which Trimble describes a female professor fighting tenure denial as "very tiresome."

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 20/06/2024

I'm genuinely confused: who is this ad for Facebook trying to target?

An ad featuring a somewhat strangely dressed teenager over the text "Young people are using Facebook more than ever"

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 27/04/2024

(It's not very forgiving, this game... Try for yourself. dosgames.com/game/willy-t...)

A black screen saying "Pretty crummy, but at least you tried. Enter your name: "

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 27/04/2024

You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

Screenshot of the DOS game "Willy the Worm II: The Big Trip Home." A small red snake sits in the lower left next to a series of ladders and platforms. In the middle there is a pit with the words "Don't Fall" over it.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 08/04/2024

Last stage of remote-eclipse viewing: discerning the path of totality from traffic jams.

Map of the US with interstate traffic color-coded.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 11/02/2024

Captain of the scholastic bowl team, baby

Teenager wearing a blue polo shirt sitting at a table with a buzzer on it.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 22/12/2023

I was proud of this one although it didn't really get used.

Text saying "WaSP"; the W has a telescope prime focus superstructure on it with an orange wasp

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 08/11/2023

Ah, it still works! Just need broader criteria.

Screenshot of Distance Search page from academictree.org starting with Jesus Christ

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 31/10/2023

The number of US astronomy bachelor's degrees granted shows signs of peaking? 🔭 via www.aip.org/statistics/r...

Plot of the number of US Bachelor's degrees earned in Astronomy, 1977-2022. In 1977 the total is about 200, and in 2022 about 900.

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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 23/10/2023

I've also found SciEnvCV quite clunky even with ORCID... For a) though ADS has an "ORCID mode" that makes it reasonably efficient to claim papers in ORCID.

Screenshot of the NASA ADS web portal showing the ORCID dropdown.

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