iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Congrats! Looking forward to listening!

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The de-icing trucks and booms perform a robotic, fluorescent-dyed ballet.

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Supposed to be 23C here on Friday

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 10h

Waiting for plane to be de-iced as one does in Calgary IN EARLY OCTOBER

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Airborne sunrises are amazing. That is all. 🌅🛫

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Mari Ness, writer of things @mariness.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Seems like a good time to note that Barnes and Noble sells individual issues of Clarkesworld, Apex, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Uncanny, and other zines, usually for under $5 per issue. Beneath Ceaseless Skies sells some "best ofs" for under $5 as well.

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John Picacio @johnpicacio.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

🧵 Attention, Fellow SFF Artists and Authors -- here is my response to Must Read Magazines, after they presented an Asimov's art contract expecting me to waive all Moral Rights and Copyright to my art. And, I would strongly advise the following to my fellow pros…. 1/

John Picacio’s response to Must Read Magazine’s request for his waiver of all Moral Rights and Copyright of his commissioned art for an ASIMOV’S assignment. Short version — Picacio says a resounding NOPE.

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Look what my awesome friend & colleague Sarah Gallagher gave me! A galaxy and a cat!

Embroidered towel showing a small black cat on pink and green hills, looking up at a black and pink sky, pink and white flowers in foreground

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

We’d eat the Canada geese first I think

Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Thanks for all of this: yours is an important voice here.

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EarthSky @earthskyscience.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Have you ever seen the Andromeda Galaxy? This is a great time of year to look for it, and we'll tell you how! Try this method. Look northward for Cassiopeia. Next locate the star Schedar. It’s the constellation’s brightest star, and it points to the Andromeda Galaxy. More: buff.ly/N2EAl21

Star chart showing dots and lines forming Cassiopeia and Andromeda with a spiral for the galaxy location.

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Yes. Not in exhaustive detail but the idea is to provide enough info to allow people to write sensible proposals.

Part of the “Cambridge Observing Handbooks for Research Astronomers” series, it will feature worked examples covering multiple topics & wavelengths. If you know of an observing program that would be a great example, please tell me about it!

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rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Contract signed! My book “Observing Galaxies” will be published by @universitypress.cambridge.org in 28/29. The book will help grad students & researchers understand how astronomy goes from photons to science in an age when fewer folks go to the telescope themselves.

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Reposted by Pauline Barmby

instead of AI we should have invented books with wider margins so that our marvelous proofs could fit there

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They have not made it to the short fiction world (or at least my short fiction) yet. So if you want to switch genres..

Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · 05/10/2026

Reposted by Pauline Barmby

If you are an academic who uses arXiv, please consider signing this. **Give Authors Control: Let Us Decide If AI Bots Can Read Our arXiv Papers** math.mit.edu/~elmos/petit...

Currently, authors posting to arXiv have no control over whether bots scrape their full-text PDFs and LaTeX source files.

We are calling on arXiv to implement a simple permission toggle during submission, allowing authors to decide what automated scrapers can access:

Full Access: Bots can read and scrape the full text and source files.

Metadata Only: Bots are restricted to the Title, Abstract, and Citation metadata.

Open science for human readers should not mean mandatory, unconsented data harvesting by commercial entities. Advancing scientific knowledge demands immense time, resources, and intellectual rigor — we deserve a say in whether our original work is fed into massive, opaque training sets.

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

An absolute banger table of contents and I’m super-thrilled that my “Ontario Lacus” is part of it. [NB: no one is renaming the lake on Titan, as far as I know.]

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

When did one paper on arxiv start generating a dozen emails with offers to republish the paper in some random journal?

Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This time of year it’s not super unusual to have to wait for geese walking across the road. Today I waited for rubbernecking geese: a kind human jumped out of his truck to help a skunk with its face caught in a fast food drink container. Geese were so fascinated they just stood in the road.

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jess m. ☕🍂 @jametc.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Something AI is responsible for that doesn't get enough talk: How, when it scrapes a website to illegally steal everything on it, it uses up a ton of its bandwidth allotment, crashing it or racking up massive fees for site owners.

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Reposted by Pauline Barmby

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 03/10/2026

It's October 3rd, so we're wearing pink! 🌸 On Cerro Pachón in Chile, nature puts on its own show during twilight, painting the sky and NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory in glowing pink. We can't really enforce a dress code for the cosmos, but the Chilean skies clearly got the memo.

Large observatory with open dome on rocky terrain under a pink and purple twilight sky.

A large boot-shaped observatory on the left and small cylindrical dome on the right, both perched on rocky hills under a vibrant pink and purple sunset sky.

Boot-shaped observatory building against a gradient sky transitioning from orange up to deep purple.

White astronomical observatory dome with closed shutter against a pink and blue twilight sky with pink sunset clouds.

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Damn cute baby hat if I do say so myself.

Knitted baby hat, navy cuff with multi-coloured stranded pattern. Hat is lying flat on a wooden stool.

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

That’s great for all, and a nice memorial for Carl.

In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Reposted by Pauline Barmby

Very good, Steve....

Description: A whimsical black-and-white cartoon of Steve the otter wearing a striped tie and a name tag, set against a solid purple background.

Text on image:
“Steve has never owned a telescope in his life, but it’s something he’s considering looking into.”

Additional signature in lower right:
“In ÖYTER NEWS”

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I do agree that resubmissions have to be treated differently somehow, or they’ll just drown the system. But we also know that many excellent proposals are rejected and I’m unsure about what proper reasons can be given for those. (No I’m not miffed about my rejected first-quintile from last year…)

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Um, yeah. I’ve been submitting to arxiv for 29 years (!!) and have submitted a total of 36 papers. Admittedly I’m not the most prolific paper-writer, but twice a month doesn’t seem unreasonable.

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

‘Mortal support’ is an awesome phrase though

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

A related question: why would the androids want to go? If they don’t have a choice, have we created self-aware slaves?

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Reposted by Pauline Barmby

maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yes every woman has been harassed, many assaulted. But every woman has also experienced invisible loss from moments she avoided harassment. She felt a space becoming unsafe, so she left, while men stayed on. And in leaving, she lost: opportunities, experiences, learning, promotions, even simply fun.

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 30/09/2026

One of the most harrowing things about academia, when you're a grad student, is how vulnerable you are to how you're perceived by more senior researchers. Your career advancement depends on confidential letters of reference & private discussions amongst faculty. You have no information or control.

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Reposted by Pauline Barmby

Arp Bot 🤖 @arpbot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

VLT image of Arp 289, also known as NGC 3981. This image was captured as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems Program, which uses the Very Large Telescope to photograph beautiful objects in the southern skies when conditions don’t allow scientific observations to be made. Credit: ESO Source

The yellow core of a disrupted spiral galaxy is surrounded by irregular, translucent spiral arms. The inner part of the galaxy is seen at an angle, so that it appears oval-shaped rather than circular. Dark brown dust lanes and pink star forming regions cross a yellow haze of older stars. The faint blue arms unfurl from the center, like paint flung out of a spinning canvas. They are dotted with blue star clusters. The arms stretch out to the right of the frame. The black background of space is filled with foreground stars and tiny background galaxies.

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Good luck to everyone finishing off their JWST proposals tonight. You got this!

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I once heard the suggestion that everyone who’s taught for a long time should also be learning something completely new, to remind them of what it’s like to be a beginner.

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I will be there, airlines willing!

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JayIsPainting 🍁 @jayispainting.earthskyart.ca · 27/09/2026

Astro-colleagues: does anyone happen to know the Roman telescope’s etendue?

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Reposted by Pauline Barmby

Sunday space art #sciart Home of Giants 86×96.5cm 34x38in Oil on canvas 2026 Based on a JWST Nircam image of a stellar nursery & the home of the massive stars Pismis 24-1 & 2 which are 74 & 66 times the size of our sun. earthskyart.ca/product/home...

Large impressionist painting of a swirling orange yellow and red nebula at the bottom and upper right , some white clouds above

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to catch a last few bugs, before the cold nights begin and the leaves fall and the ice comes. But for now it’s warm, and peaceful, a calm, still day.

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Equinox A first fall walk: squirrels chitter lazy insects buzz drying leaves redden and rustle. A serene heron guards the shallow stormwater pond inhabited by GIANT ORANGE MONSTER KOI as long as my arm, their round mouths gaping

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Dr. Jillian Scudder @jillianscudder.com · 27/09/2026

My fictioneering has been in the doldrums lately: plots don’t work, characters are boring, setting? Never heard of him. So here, have a ridiculous Fibonacci-type poem instead

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It seems I’ve swept past 6k followers today in part due to a burst of new folks finding me from this starter pack: go.bsky.app/2LmKSDN Let me do a quick introduction thread to me and my books!

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Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Subscribe to one of the best (& best-run) speculative fiction magazines! Your life will be better!