iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"Dale" might be a "good man", but his complete lack of sourcing is exasperating: "it has been reported", "I know a doctor", etc.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

That's the most alarming (literally) example of range aliasing I've ever heard. The solution was simple and clever, though: changing the transmission frequency every 2 seconds -- shorter than the light travel time to the Moon and back.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"Despite the unparalleled depth and breadth of my skills and experience, I am cosmically honored—profoundly, humbly, synergistically—to apply for your Astronomy position, where I hope to forward-leverage interdisciplinary superintelligence while operationalizing hermeneutical excellence." Nailed it.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Well done, all the more so because the honors are very well deserved. Thank you and everyone involved in this effort!

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

For a man without a chin, he sure does jaw a lot.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Santa Fe shatter cone, unless I'm very much mistaken! Gorgeous specimen.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

They should have gone with Christian tradition and named it "Lucifer" ("light bringer").

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Ah, the ol' Black Hole Sin Paradox! One might as well argue about how many angels can dance on an event horizon.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Radial velocity measurements of schism would provide a sin(i) of extreme gravity.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

So you're saying I should just throw it in a cardboard box and stick it in the back of the lab storeroom?

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

That's the Chair of the department!

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

That would be quite a jaw-dropping development indeed!

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

You know the only reason he publishes anything close to a negative result is so he can claim more evidence for his favorite "positive" anomalies.

020

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

My Bacon number is 2 through a film with Steve Guttenberg. I've found a link to Erdős giving me a number of 5, but I haven't checked many of my coauthors. So I've got an Erdős-Bacon number of 7.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

That saying hits a little differently coming from you!

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Nice work! I'll feature this in my astronomy class this afternoon. It's a good hook for small bodies research and a good lesson about probability.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

This is truly awful, horrifying, sad news. I'll always remember his dry humor, and particularly his kindness and patience with me as a grad student working with the WFPC1 team. My condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.

010

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

They're either clueless about how startups work, or their business plan is to milk an ignorant angel investor or two of pre-seed funding with no hope of progressing further.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

The problem is, these aren't even real circus monkeys.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

I was thinking of designing an interceptor spacecraft using Kerbal Space Program, and writing a paper about that equally "plausible" mission.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

"Care and precision" in communication are only positive qualities when the author adheres to professional ethics.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Now that the truly hard work has been done, all we have left is to produce a working, sustained fusion reactor, and separate thousands of kilograms of mercury-198 from all the other mercury isotopes.

010

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

If members of a "Heaven's Gate 2" religious group commit suicide in order to rendezvous with Loeb's alien spacecraft, what degree of moral and ethical responsibility does Loeb bear for continuing to advertise his easily-rebutted claims regarding 3I/ATLAS, knowing their impact on some people?

000

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

What a coincidence! I was just going to post to arXiv my new article, "Is Avi Loeb Three Raccoons in a Trench Coat?"

020

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Looking at the author list, it's clear this is a problem with their institutional culture. Such a lack of professional ethics and decency.

000

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

If it looks like a duck, moves like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck and not an alien disguised as a duck.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

That seems entirely reasonable. I also hadn't paid attention to quite how far it still has to go to perihelion and potentially increase in activity.

010

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Decently big sucker, too. An absolute magnitude of ~11.7 implies a diameter somewhere between 10 - 30 km, depending on its albedo.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

No no no, you've got to rub your eyes with diced onions.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Introducing them to certain regulations is one thing; continuously reminding them, another. For me, it was ITAR. "I don't care if the object is small and built by college interns, ITAR still applies."

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

The authority for making such determinations rests with the head of the agency that granted the clearance, and that is derived in turn from the President. So we know how that goes.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Many meteorite collectors have eaten minute portions of meteorites, particularly those from the Moon and Mars! I tried tiny bits of both -- too small to taste, but enough to sense as grit between my teeth.

000

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Some flights prep for international travel in Fargo for the quick turnaround.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Congrats, Mark! Thank you for your inspired leadership in planetary science -- both the Institute and the field!

000

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Mix it up a bit with a Brad Dourif from Dune.

Brad Dourif as Piter de Vries from Dune.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

It's just a guy outside shaking sheet metal.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

I once gave a talk at an International Space Development Conference that could be summarized as ACADEMICS REALLY SHOULD WORRY MORE ABOUT ITAR.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Right? And here I am, worried about ITAR for student-built CubeSats.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Very nice! Another dogbone like 216 Kleopatra. Maybe due to YORP spinup / fission / reaccretion? You can see some evidence for slope failure in the neck region. You can also get moons with this history. Have any been noted?

000

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Along with the cancellations, I think we can expect orders for the management of the surviving missions to be moved from Goddard to red state NASA centers.

000

Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

More moving pieces. The USS Carl Vinson and CSG-1 transited the Singapore Strait yesterday, so it will be another 5 days or so until they get to the Arabian Sea.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Changing minds requires finding and emphasizing a common moral foundation. This isn't it. This is Dukakis driving a tank.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

And how many thoughtful parents worry about bringing children into a world of declining resources, ecological devastation, and rising totalitarianism?

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

This isn't grift. This is money laundering.

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Mark Hammergren @markhammergren.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

I see it also as a potential "consolation prize" to Senator Tuberville if SLS and possibly Orion are canceled. Trump's cabinet nominations are perhaps the most recent examples of how he values loyalty over any other quality.

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