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Eric Bellm

@ebellm.bsky.social
571 followers 298 following 284 posts

Astronomer at the University of Washington. Building time-domain surveys (ZTF & Rubin Observatory) & looking for compact objects in our Galaxy.

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Reposted by Eric Bellm
Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
OMB's focus on NIH and NSF, which has confused a lot of folks, pretty much boils down to stopping money going to universities.
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Justin Walsh @jstpwalsh.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Shane Ross at Virginia Tech created a simulation of what 500k orbital data centers, as proposed by SpaceX, would look like from your home latitude sdross0.github.io/orbital-data...
sdross0.github.io
What would orbital data centers look like from your sky?
500,000 satellites from SpaceX's FCC filing, two published brightness models and the real stars, for any latitude, date and time. Computed in your browser.
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Feeling chuffed to see the Million Dollar Courthouse!
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Sarah Tuttle @niais.cryptoanarchy.network · 29/09/2026
Our department is trying something new this year. We're using a short form "expression of interest" for grad admissions. You can take a look/learn more about it here: astro.washington.edu/graduate-adm...
astro.washington.edu
Graduate Admissions | Department of Astronomy | University of Washington
The Department of Astronomy is accepting applications to our graduate program for Fall 2027 admissions.
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Nice to see some progress on gender equity in the uh, two decades since my all-time favorite Onion headline: theonion.com/male-bonding...
theonion.com
Male Bonding Leads To Bail Bonding
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ghost malone ergo propter bones @proptermalone.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
what's the most insane hiring shibboleth you've ever heard, non-coffee edition
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 24/09/2026
Kids who are too young for social media are chatting in the comments section of NPR’s podcasts on Spotify. Kid says: “I think we just like looked for podcasts that didn’t have many comments." Nature finds a way. [kottke.org]
kottke.org
The 🔥🔥🔥 New Social App: NPR Podcasts Comments Section on Spotify
{Ira Glass voice} On this week’s episode of This American Life, the story of middle schoolers too young for social media chatting in the comments section of NPR’s podcasts on Spotify. From the transcript: And it was j
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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I’ve written EXTENSIVELY about how we have over-indexed on trying to get researchers to contort themselves into pretzels to protect research that is (by definition) supposed to be widely shared, while stuff that is actually sensitive is frequently not treated as such.
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gabriel @gironda.org · 22/09/2026
pick your mental illness: is the computer your god now? are you terminally bored with your career as a programmer? have you gotten really into philosophy? have you destroyed your family finances with twenty claude max accounts and a plan to slopcode your way to unicorndom?
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Unfortunately I can't escape the memory of her similarly-executed pictures of crying kids: slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
The fuss over the photographer who makes kids cry.
Like many people, I dislike having my picture taken, and the fact that I love to look at photography, to think about it, and sometimes to write about...
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Congrats to the PRIMA team. I'm still bitter about what happened to STROBE-X though
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Ian Hutchins @bihutchins.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Does giving reviewers a "golden ticket" to greenlight acceptance in #PeerReview yield more influential papers than accepting the runners-up? Not in computer science, apparently: arxiv.org/abs/2609.19552
arxiv.org
Funding the runners-up beats a golden ticket
A golden ticket allows one reviewer to advance a proposal that the rest of a panel would reject. We assess its score-based rationale by comparing minority-support ranking with other rules for allocati...
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Daniel Clery @danclery.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Giant telescope project rejects La Palma as backup site | Science | AAAS 🔭🧪 @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Giant telescope project rejects La Palma as backup site
U.S.-led Thirty Meter Telescope declines €1 billion Spanish offer to build the observatory on the Canary Islands
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Erin Fogg says Free Link @criminalerin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
We're all having such a bad time
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Jeff (Hot Type) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"People built the test, removed restraints, defined the objective, left a route open and decided not to stop what was happening. Calling the result 'rogue AI' does more than sensationalize it. It allows those human decisions to disappear quietly from the story" Gift link www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...
wsj.com
Opinion | The Hugging Face Hack Wasn’t What It Was Cracked Up to Be
Forget the ‘hive mind’ of AI agents ‘going rogue.’ They did what humans programmed them to do.
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It's probably best to avoid giving real numbers to any of these things without first applying some rigor and data, but I also think people can't remain principled to epistemic ambivalence, so "fraud is rare, errors are common" is a decent stopgap heuristic which is justified in most fields.
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Danny Fearns @dannyfearns.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I don't follow Formula One, but good on them for using subtitles for the hard of hearing… 
F1 track with numerous Zoom signs on the advertising billboards
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I was so mad to see the return of the zombie "day between semesters". It's in the CBA it looks like.
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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 · 09/09/2026
Never give it up. I did and I regret it every time I have to pull the dumb thing out of my pocket
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Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Dancing very very VERY close to saying “OpenAI stole our almost-complete proof of Navier-Stokes from internal access to our ChatGPT sessions because they were desperate to scoop Anthropic” which is absolutely 100% a believable thing OpenAI would do right now cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/st...
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JRho @jrho.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The most absolutely massive flex from the state fair exhibit. This quilt is made of 40 years of prize ribbons from various categories at the New Mexico State Fair won by Carol St. Clair Johnson. She also won a prize for this quilt.
Massive quilt made of prize ribbons in blue, red, yellow, and whiteCenter square of quilt made of yellow and red ribbons and yellow rosettesBlock of quilt made of blue, yellow, red, and white ribbons. Ribbons state the year. Some have the prize winning object written on in markerCarol St. Clair Johnson
born 1954; resides Albuquerque, NM

O Fair New Mexico-41 Fair Years
2023
satin ribbons

After unexpectedly winning her first blue ribbon for a sewn cape in 1981, Carol St. Clair Johnson developed an enduring love for the New Mexico State Fair. The quilt Fair New Mexico-41 Fair Years incorporates more than six hundred of the ribbons she won at the fair every subsequent year except 2020 (when the fair was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson earned ribbons for needlework, knitting, crochet, pies, cookies, cakes, canning, jewelry, flowers, vegetables, and potted plants. The title of the quilt is a reference to the state song, and the design places the state's Zia sun symbol at the center. The quilt earned Johnson yet another ribbon: Best in Category (miscellaneous quilt) at the 2023 New Mexico State Fair.

Courtesy of Carol St. Clair Johnson
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Horatio Pornviewer @stuntbirdarmy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The distracted driving discourse is already popping off but I’d just like to throw in: I’ve been an insurance adjuster for almost 13 years. When I started, we almost never saw high speed rear end impacts. Now they’re like the most common type of claim. It’s distractions, this is obvious.
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Ed @notdred.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I don’t think the giant infotainment screens in new cars are *good* but to be honest I think the actual problem is drivers just straight up looking at their phones while driving
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GT 🫪 @granitetide.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
we used to build household shrines to Going On The Computer and it's no coincidence that as we abandoned these we started straying further from god's light
90s computer desk with shelves for speakers, tower, printer, pull-out mouse and keyboard drawer etc
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Never in my life have I been happier to be wrong
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
[out of office]
a child laying in the grass while flying a kite
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
There was an article with exactly this title a couple years ago (I do not know if it has changed) maxread.substack.com/p/threads-is...
maxread.substack.com
Threads is the gas-leak social network
Plus: What's up with Miami? And is 'Oppenheimer' a super-hero movie?
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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
the thing is like public health child literacy civil rights social justice rural poverty once you personally have become rich and successful, those things only matter if you still have the capacity to care deeply about people outside your immediate circle and that is harder than becoming rich
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Dolly knew about people playing her records at 33 rpm back in '77! Cf. Slow Ass Jolene: soundcloud.com/hangarcat/sl... www.newyorker.com/culture/cult...
soundcloud.com
Slow Ass Jolene
“Jolene” has been covered numerous times, but despite how it sounds, this is not a cover by a pretty-sounding dude. It’s a 45 rpm record of Dolly singing that has been slowed to 33 rpm… Found this
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the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
he doesn’t look a thing like jesus but he talks like a juggalo
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Tessa Duvall @tessaduvall.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
As for me and my vote, Suzy H. and Walden F. both really capture how I feel by Election Day.
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Matt Brown @mattbrown.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
lol finally an NIL story that doesn't suck www.jsonline.com/story/sports...
jsonline.com
Marquette freshman volleyball player has hot-selling '6 Beers' jersey
Marquette volleyball player Allie Beers is learning that her last name is a money-making asset in the NIL space of NCAA sports.
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
It turns out there's a really nice paper! ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026arXi...
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The Swift reboost mission failing is a huge loss for astronomy. The powerful, flexible operations model the Swift team demonstrated has unfortunately not yet influenced the design and selection of other 🔭 missions. www.nasa.gov/news-release...
urldefense.com
NASA Updates Next Steps for Commercial Swift Boost Mission - NASA
Due to an ongoing commercial spacecraft attitude control issue, NASA and Katalyst Space announced Wednesday the LINK spacecraft will not capture or boost an
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
and then shipping it to China! web.archive.org/web/20150326...
web.archive.org
Exporting the Colorado River to Asia, Through Hay
As the West suffers long-term drought, experts look for ways to save water while still supporting local farmers.
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
static.klipy.com
Marshawn Lynch's Iconic Golf Cart Ride
Alt: Marshawn Lynch's Iconic Injury Cart Ride
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
"What I'm saying is that there is nothing unique about the frequency with which cyclists as a class break the law when compared with drivers or pedestrians. And even if cyclists broke the law more flagrantly, that would not negate the need to share the road."
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Way back in 2008 someone wrote "The Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist" that made exactly Katie's point with humor and statistics, and despite that, drivers are still making the same dumb arguments online. web.archive.org/web/20080901...
web.archive.org
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Philosophers often bring up the "principle of charity": a willingness to assume good faith in an interlocutor and treat them accordingly. It's good to do in many circumstances. But it is worth formulating a principle of not being a fucking mark. If not during the rise of fascism, then when? 12/
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Anyway, apparently all the physical locations are now closed and the mochi-making business was sold to a holding company. www.nosh.com/news/2017/mr... 3/3
nosh.com
Why ‘Mr. Bubbie’ Sold His Mochi Ice Cream Empire
Longtime Founder and CEO Keith Robbins sold Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream to Kenex Holdings, a Chicago-based investment company, after almost 32 years of business. Financial terms of the deal were not di...
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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 · 13/08/2026
Memory lane! In summer 2004 I was in Hawai'i for a research program at the UH. We lived in an extremely dumpy apartment by the freeway and Bubbies was a brick-and-mortar ice cream shop a few blocks away. They had mochi but also excellent "normal" ice cream. 1/3
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
"She had them microfiber jeans..." (from my spouse)
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Putting my prediction in now--Seattle Public Schools won't start instruction until the Tuesday after Labor Day.
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
No thank you!
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I'm speculating, but I believe at least some of those folks would sacrifice the rest of humanity if it meant they could upload their own personal brains to a computer.
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Plate Stealer @platestealer.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Fun fact, Cyan and Key (Black) are typically the colorants that stand up to uv radiation better than Yellow and Magenta, leading to what I call the "Gyro Look". So they really are doing the best they can
Gyro poster only in blue and black
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Eric Bellm @ebellm.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This is told with more good humor than I could manage. Prop 13 really destroys inter-generational solidarity in California...
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Patrick Cosmos @veryimportant.lawyer · 04/08/2026
"it looks like you're using an adblocker to visit our site." yep! ha ha! it rocks!
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