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Dr. Taylor Loy

@tayloraloy.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.2K following 3.4K posts

Virginia Tech Postdoc (STS), nuclear energy/nonpro. Former SRO instructor nuke worker. he/him. tritiummatters.org Diss: hdl.handle.net/10919/120638 Day One: fas.org/publication/fusion-energy-l…

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Reposted by Dr. Taylor Loy
Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The 4S Toronto 2026 final program is now available in multiple formats. (a) PDF final program is online here: tinyurl.com/sdes6emw
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The Open Notebook @theopennotebook.bsky.social · 14h
Here’s what you need to know about our Early-Career Fellowship: ☑️ Length: 12 months (part time) ☑️ Start Date: February 9, 2027 ☑️ Location: Remote ☑️ Stipend: $6,600 ☑️ Deadline: October 31, 2026 Apply now: www.theopennotebook.com/early-career...
theopennotebook.com
Early-Career Fellowship Program - The Open Notebook
Every year, The Open Notebook offers a paid, part-time fellowship program for early-career science journalists. This ten-month program offers fellows the opportunity to explore their career interests…
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 14h
To think that there is nothing to be learned and innovated on from the safety practices of other industries is lunacy. AI tools are power. They are not magical or exempt from safety practices that work for other complex systems. Governing AI requires disenchantment; break the spell.
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 02/10/2026
Hey heads up, if you're presenting at @4sweb.bsky.social Toronto, in case you haven't heard yet: you probably want to go check the XCDSYSTEM live page to make sure your day/time hasn't changed. I was warned earlier this is a thing that has happened to some people, and come to find out People Is Me.…
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ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Circus Performers, by Walt Kuhn, 1978, 📸 via @marisakabas.bsky.social
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
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Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
😂😂😂
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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I actually can’t get past the first sentence of this opinion piece: “Most college professors I know believe that students learn to think — critically, creatively, reflectively, tenaciously — only by writing.” This simply isn’t true, at least not in my experience, and it sets up quite the straw man.
nytimes.com
Opinion | I’m a College Professor. Writing Isn’t as Important as We Think.
If I do not treat writing as essential for achieving thought, it is not clear why I should force my students to.
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Ian G. Williams @igraywill.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Who else in the Blueskyverse is also going to @4sweb.bsky.social's 4S conference this October? #4Sconference #STS
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I narrowly avoided being a first-gen college student when my mom finished her B.A. when I was a kid. I also remember nervously slipping into my Appalachian dialect roots while speaking to Philosophy Dept Head and he corrected: “I ‘have’ seen… you’d wouldn’t want to go around saying ‘I seen it.’”
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
TFW someone wants to be the voice of Pragmatism but can’t accept that ideas/words/names have real world impacts. Maybe think about it in terms of responsibility? Commonly, adults are held responsible for the actions of children. If we frame AI as superior intellect, creators might be unaccountable.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
So… the U.S. didn’t have to annex Greenland to achieve Pres. Trump’s goals?
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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I’ve now lived so much longer than I would ever have expected to that I feel I’m living in the future. This is when I imagined Neuromancer happening. And now the creators of today’s AI warn us that it threatens humanity.
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Matt Bors @mattbors.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Jane Darby Menton’s sober take on what we know, what we don’t know, and what Congress should make their businesses to find out about the US-Saudi deal. Concise and thorough. #NukeSky
carnegieendowment.org
Is the U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Deal Moving From the Gold Standard to a Gilded Standard?
Congress should ask tough questions about the agreement’s more unique features and whether they advance U.S. interests or compromise them.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A key political worry here (beyond day-to-day affordability for most folks) is that the only face-saving measure available to GOP faced with skyrocketing $$$ is to blame Ukraine for attacking Russian oil. It could ugly if it moves beyond rhetoric and grandstanding. Hopefully, there won’t be time.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
At least two obnoxious “both sides” accounts are harping on Ossoff/Warnock back in 2021… which was also a Trump proposal: “pitch to approve $2,000 stimulus payments to Americans, a popular issue backed by Democrats and President Donald Trump but opposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell”
nbcnews.com
In Georgia, Democrats close with populist pitch vowing $2,000 stimulus checks
In a historically conservative state won by President-elect Joe Biden, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are leaning in to the prospect of a Democratic Senate.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I love the framing of this assignment. Implicit in the design (as most thoughtfully designed college courses) is that there is no pre-determined student outcome. The only failure case would be a student who resists considering the complexity of meanings and motivations.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Yeah, complete non-sequitur “We had other buildings… United States Steel building was creaking, really creaking…” Seems like he just started talking about another building where he was the VIP being protected and maybe not even something that occurred on 9/11. Unclear ramblings.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I was really hoping for an incriminating documentary on someone who wasn’t already imprisoned for their crimes.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It’s like half the world is enrolled in a undergrad Philosophy of Mind course, and we’ve gotta listen to the same people chime in over and over during the lectures to pretend like they’ve done the reading.
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Cheryl Rofer @cherylrofer.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Unsurprisingly, nothing was accomplished by the Steve and Jared show. About trilateral talks: "Everyone was speaking in Russian to each other. We were discussing these issues in a very extra-friendly manner, all in Russian." And you, Jared, were you speaking or listening in Russian?
kyivindependent.com
'The war will continue' — US peace push fails to achieve deal after Witkoff, Kushner's first visit to Kyiv
The latest peace talks in Kyiv and Moscow did not appear to yield a diplomatic breakthrough. "We expect the war will continue," Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine is counting on U.S. energy and air de...
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the Bayesian priors wastin’ time.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Do high-level defense officials actually believe that polygraph tests detect lying?
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Good books are good on their own terms, but for those who might need the motivation to start @mattdinniman.bsky.social’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series it is everything that we hoped/pretended that Ready Player One was. And I’m only on Book 3. I’m consistently amazed at the ambition and delivery.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Thermodynamics is a brutal mistress. I don’t know about humidity but the turbine floor at Browns Ferry can reach >115F during the summer. 3 steam turbine-generators producing nearly 4 GWe. Turbine rounds require maybe 15-20 min on the turbine floor. It was hellish.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I got to meet Chantek ~23 years ago when she was at the Atlanta zoo. I worked as a videographer briefly for the anthropologist Lyn Miles who taught Chantek sign language as a baby/toddler. That was this whole other thing I was doing. I didn’t know she had been moved.
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🇵🇸Martin “Doomsday” Pfeiffer🖖🏳️‍🌈 @nuclearanthro.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
yo #nukesky any info? ORPS has been down for a few days and DOE O 232.2a Chg1(minchg) is in the "inactive" directives set at the DoE directives page: www.energy.gov/management/d...
energy.gov
Directives, Guidance, and Delegations
DOE Directives, Guidance, and Delegations
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Some context for those who missed it. It’s only been a few months since folks were floating naming BNA after Trump. Trump couldn’t get the juice in deep red Tennessee. But Dolly is the real Tennessee, and yall need to recognize that. Trump will disappear. Dolly is forever.
wkrn.com
Nashville’s airport could soon have Dolly Parton’s name on it
For now, it’s still Nashville International Airport, but soon, one of Tennessee’s most famous names could be welcoming travelers to Music City: Dolly Parton.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I rename Tennessee the Iridescent Domain of Dolly. It is hearby decreed.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If AI is advancing exponentially, then the longer I wait to incorporate it into my workflow the better and easier it will be when I do. Why learn the best prompts for 2026 AI when 2027 AI (1st qtr) will just respond “OK, Boomer. You don’t have to do all that. Let’s just have a norm convo”?
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I’m 207 (of 1257!) pages into Richard Rhodes’ Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb and I’m certainly fascinated by the minutia of Fuchs, Rosenberg, etc espionage activities, but I also know these materials didn’t actually help the Soviets crack their H bomb designs, so it’s a little awkward.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I don’t know the monetary cost but TLD/OSL chemical dosimetry would just need to be swapped every 6 months and measured. Just another addition to a lanyard. (That you don’t want to put through xray or nanowave machines).
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James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Not that anything matters anymore, but Oman hosts U.S. forces including USAF air wings alongside allowing us access to naval support facilities at Duqm. Great coalition building Mr. President! Very reassuring to our security partners!
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
@pmalonejourno.bsky.social does a great job highlighting challenges faced by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The DNFSB is often unsung part of the Executive branch. Their pushback on fire safety at SRS tritium facilities is an ongoing saga.
seattletimes.com
Trump administration denies nuclear safety watchdog crucial access
The Energy Department for the first time is denying the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board access to some information on operations of nuclear weapons work.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
This is the logical consequence of Trump’s cultish command to deem climate change a hoax. Big tech talked a big game about nuclear power, but what’s the point if fossil plants are ready faster and carbon has no externalized costs? We can switch to nuclear and renewables later. Apparently.
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Naomi Saphra @nsaphra.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Vast and Trunkless Leg of Stone, Standing in the Desert from classic poem Ozymandias.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
It’s not all wins. For the last 2 years following a successful PhD defense, a lot went well: an exciting consultancy with CSR, several tritium pubs, and a postdoc at Virginia Tech generously funded by the newly renamed Andrew Carnegie Foundation. And, the Tritium Matters Working Group kickoff.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
The U.S. threat is now that Iran has to hurry up and finalize a deal with Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz, charging fees, or the U.S. will attack. No, I’m not kidding. The U.S. president demands that Iran achieve exactly the thing he’s repeatedly said the U.S. was fighting to prevent.
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François Diaz-Maurin @francoisdm.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Congress now has 90 continuous session days to review a 123 agreement once submitted. Lawmakers must demand to see the unreleased side letters and technical "black box" details, and they must place strict nonproliferation conditions on the deal. 6/7
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
NPT Art. IV.2 “All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in. the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.” The “mere suggestion” is part of the NPT already.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
IAEA Inspector: Do you know why I pulled you over? Anna: … IAEA Inspector: Get out of the car and open the trunk.
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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Philip K. Dick couldn’t have invented a fictional company as good at eroding social trust and goodwill as Meta. It’s almost as if it’s their sole purpose.
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
This thread is mostly on point but here are some key caveats: It’s significant Canadian nukes are part of discourse. CANDU Rxs are operationally better suited for Pu production vs LWR. Canada already has tritium for boosted weapons. It might take a decade or more. It would be obvious/detectable
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Called it!
thehill-com.cdn.ampproject.org
Hegseth turns to University of North Carolina, Virginia Tech after cutting Ivy League ties
The Defense Department has selected the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech to host a revamped fellowship program for senior military officers — the first universities app…
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
This is my final answer. (For now)
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
For reference, I'm going to roughly calculate tritium in an Apollo launch. T in 201,721 lbs of hydrogen fuel: based on a natural abundance of 10⁻¹⁸ 2.736 × 10⁻⁷ μg or 2634 pCi Based on a rough estimate of T abundance in 1969 (~40x): 1.094 × 10⁻⁵ μg or 105,326 pCi
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Does anyone have information on how much tritium is in the BOHR battery?
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Kingston Reif @kingstonareif.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
QUESTION: Would you be comfortable with Saudi Arabia enriching and reprocessing uranium? SECRETARY RUBIO: I’ll let the agreement speak for itself. www.state.gov/releases/off...
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Dr. Taylor Loy @tayloraloy.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
See you, suckas! Gonna do some webcrawlin’!
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