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Mary Knapp

@mknapp.bsky.social

592 followers 253 following 233 posts

Radio astronomer, cycling and gardening enthusiast, fiber artist

Posts Replies Media

Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

My favorite: lol oops people actually know things based on decades of experience. Who knew??

“Over prior years, we didn’t pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers that have been with us through many products cycles.” - quote from Ford executive

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Everything* is bad so here’s my garden. * (except the NYC Dem primary!)

A garden. Black metal fence bounds the left side. At center front, a grouping of marigolds with frondy foliage and flowers in a mix of scarlet and red/yellow stripes. Behind, a large stand of black eyed Susan just beginning to flower. At right, the last white blooms of a penstemon with dark purple stems. In the background, a set of steps to a porch with several planters on the railings filled with petunias in white, pink/white stripe, deep maroon.

Vivid red star-shaped petunias. A rouge nasturtium is next to them, not yet blooming. They are bordered on the right by a silver mesh anti-bunny fence.

A small phlox plant viewed from above with purple 5-petal flowers that shade from light to dark from outside to center.

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Here they are as babies, almost a year ago!

A garden bed. A line of irises with as-yet unopened flower buds is at the front. Behind the irises there is a newly planted rectangle with small salpiglossis seedlings. Further back is an arc of newly planted and watered columbine seedlings, each with a white plastic plant label. Behind those, a few black plastic pots with plants still to be planted in the ground.

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

I can’t deal with *waves* everything right now. Here are some columbine flowers from my garden. I started them from seed last year and this year they’re flowering! My garden is pretty much the one bright spot in my world at the moment - please enjoy. 💐

A columbine flower with anise hyssop in the background. The columbine plant has a base of frilly lime green multi lobes leaves on slender stems. Atop one stem there is a flower with scarlet outer petals, an inner ring of pale pink petals, and a yellow center which contains the stamens. Only one flower is open, but there are about 10 red/pink flower buds on other stems. The plant sits on a bed of dark mulch.

A columbine flower with a black fence and other plants in the background. The columbine plant has a base of frilly green multi lobes leaves. Atop one stem there is a flower with true purple, perhaps slightly tending towards blue-purple, outer petals, an inner ring of white petals with some purple at their base, and a yellow center which contains the stamens. Only one flower is open, but there are three purple flower buds on other stems. The buds have spikes or tendrils at their backs that make them look a little like dragon heads. The plant sits on a bed of dark mulch.

Two columbine flowers with other plants and some trash/recycling bins in the background. The columbine plants have a base of frilly green multi lobes leaves with slender flower stems rising above. Atop two stems on two neighboring plants there are two flowers with deep fuchsia outer petals, an inner ring of pale yellow petals with red bases, and a yellow center which contains the stamens. Only one flower on each plant is open, and both plants have several additional deep red flower buds. The plant sits on a bed of dark mulch with a white plant tag that says “Early Bird Yellow”

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

The world and my brain are bad right now, so here’s my cat Oliver. It’s his 6th birthday today. He’s a very good cat.

An orange tabby cat lounging on a small wooden loom as if it is a hammock. His tabby striping is subtle and he’s a brownish orange color rather than vivid orange. He has a white muzzle and orange eyes.

A sleepy orange tabby cat with his head tilted to the side, eyes mostly closed, and front paws tucked up under his white muzzle. The fur on his tucked paws is a burnt orange color with a healthy sheen.

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Below is some really irresponsible language from the Globe that wink wink implies that the #TeslaTakedown protesters might not be as peaceful as they “claim” because there has also been vandalism of Teslas and chargers. In an article which describes possible violence against these protesters…

Screenshot of text from a Boston Globe article. Text reads “While Tesla Takedown is described as a “peaceful protest movement” that opposes “violence, vandalism and destruction of property,” several unconnected incidents have resulted in vandalism.”

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Hey so next time someone tries to tell me that standards for white cis/het men exactly are the same as for everyone else I’ll just pull this up…

NYTimes mobile news alert that reads: headline “Hegseth’s Rocky Start” body “Pete Hegseth’s disclosure of battle plans on a chat app came during an unsteady first two months as defense secretary.”

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Finally here is a cat. Hope y’all can find some peace this weekend.

A ginger tabby cat with white whiskers resting his head on his human’s arm while laying on a couch. One front paw is tucked between his chest and the couch cushion

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

My family has a calico Lily!

A calico cat facing away from the camera. She has white ears with orange splotches, a patch of orange and black on the back of her head, white neck and shoulders, and a complicated set of orange and black patches on her back.

Lily, a calico cat with a black patch above her right eye and an orange patch above her left eye and a white face, perches on the arm of a dusty rose recliner

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Sooo…..

Screenshot of the bottom bar of an iPhone, showing a phone icon with 461 notifications, a Safari browser, and email icon with 155,691 unread messages, and an Apple Music icon with one notification.

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

I periodically do cooking binges - tonight I made two sausage/mushroom/broccoli quiches, venison pumpkin stew, and a venison roast with my own potatoes. Yesterday I made focaccia. Hopefully I won’t have to cook again between now and when I leave for Christmas.

Two quiches sitting on a stovetop, the nearest in a glass pie dish and the far one in an aluminum pie dish. The tops are golden brown with bits of broccoli sticking out and the crust edges are hand-crimped.

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

I realize I’m mostly preaching to the choir here but this headline is so insane it *requires* comment. This is a step down a very *very* dark road. Religious wars are bad y’all.

Screenshot of NYTimes news alert. The alert describes how Pete Hegseth, nominee for Secretary of Defense, thinks the Crusades were good and we should do them again

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Mary Knapp @mknapp.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

I’ve been inactive for a while here, so let me introduce myself to new folks: Hi, I’m Mary. I study magnetic fields of planets near and far with low frequency radio. These days I spend most of my time working on instruments and mission concepts to do this from space.

A woman with glasses and pulled back hair wearing a black shirt holding a wooden antenna frame with cables on her shoulder. The sky is partly cloudy and a very large white radome can be seen in the background.

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