Phil Plait

@philplait.bsky.social

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Bad Astronomer, SciCommer, Dork. Crash Course Astronomy guy. He/him. Newsletter: badastronomy.beehiiv.com

I'm self-employed so my opinions do represent my company's.

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Such a shanda

Yes, the Yiddish word for bedbug is וואַנץ / Vance Poor Bret Stephens has been replaced.

This problem bugged me ferociously as well until I looked at the possible outcomes. Then it's obvious, statically speaking, you should switch doors.

This is a delightful interactive exploration of the Monty Hall problem, a probability test that has thwarted a lot of mathematicians (including Paul Erdos). From a new perspective, it finally starts to make sense ... 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-... by @parshallison.bsky.social

Why Almost Everyone Gets the Monty Hall Probability Puzzle Wrongwww.scientificamerican.com How to finally wrap your mind around the uniquely counterintuitive Monty Hall dilemma

I'm getting fed up with people who are already giving up IN JULY

every day I feel like I'm losing my mind as people look at a statistically tied race where one guy is a felon with deeply unpopular positions who ALREADY LOST THIS EXACT RACE and are like "he is 100% for sure going to win"

Paid subbies to my astronomy newsletter get to see how astronomers found a passel of brown dwarfs in a nearby globular cluster, giving us clues on how these terribly ancient star cities were born! badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/first-time... 🧪 🔭

For the first time, astronomers find old and cold brown dwarfs in a globular clusterbadastronomy.beehiiv.com JWST images pick up three of the little buggers

I was going to make a "van Gogh screw yourself" joke but honestly I just can't bear putting another image of that mephitic necrotic head on anyone's timeline

There is your leader, MAGAs. You would die for him and he literally wouldn't give you a thought.

President Biden tried to call the widow; she wouldn't talk to him. Trump didn't bother. www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/p...

I think this is clearly correct

Trump-Vance isn't designed to win over more voters, but ensure the next coup attempt proceeds more smoothly

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Phil Plait

Trump is a reprehensible piece of shit, but the choice of J.D. Vance as his VP shows he's willing to balance out his ticket expand his base with another reprehensible piece of shit.

In other news… A new JWST pic for its anniversary shows a very cool colliding galaxy pair, where one of them looks like a penguin! And somehow I makes this about not being able to let go of bad ideas long after they're really super clearly wrong. badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/new-cool-j... 🔭 🧪

A new and very cool JWST image of colliding galaxies looks like a penguinbadastronomy.beehiiv.com It’s also a cautionary tale on letting go of bad ideas. Bonus: fun math!

Reposting myself for the weekday crowd

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Phil Plait

Tomorrow, a very special book comes out! It's my 3rd picture book, There Are No Ants in This Book, a silly, scientific picture book about ants. Give it to any kid who's excited about the world around them. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710556...

If you run a cupcake shop called Baked on the James I guess you'd be happy if a dispensary opened up next door

Please don’t “both sides” the “violent political rhetoric” conversation when one side regularly glorifies and intimidates with guns and the other side speaks out to end gun violence. These are not the same.

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Phil Plait

You’d think there might be some renewed coverage of Republican politicians openly calling for political killings in the wake of all this. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Trump-Endorsed Candidate for Governor: ‘Some Folks Need Killing’www.rollingstone.com North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson declared "some people need killing" during a Sunday sermon.

I am going to cleverly not post anything tonight, including this

I unironically love this flick

The Last Starfighter was released 40 years ago today! "Careful! CAREFUL! That's Death Blossom, a weapon of last resort!" Art by Ron Cobb:

Hiring Anson Mount to play Pike was one of the all-time best decisions TPTB at Trek ever made. That, plus greenlighting Lower Decks.

Kinda nice when the Top Banana likes that you wrote

Do you ever read a story and it just feels good on your brain? This piece by @philplait.bsky.social (like so many pieces by @philplait.bsky.social) is a delight. Jupiter's red spot used to be even larger & Cassini the person might have seen an entirely different spot than Cassini the spacecraft 🧪🔭

How Did Jupiter Get Its Great Red Spot?www.scientificamerican.com New research suggests the Great Red Spot we see on Jupiter today is an entirely different giant storm from the one astronomers observed more than three centuries ago

I do so enjoy justice in life

Rudy Giuliani is no longer entitled to bankruptcy protection, a judge has decided, making it possible for creditors to immediately pursue his assets within days.

Judge dismisses Giuliani’s bankruptcy case, allowing creditors to try to seize his assets | CNN Politicswww.cnn.com Rudy Giuliani is no longer entitled to bankruptcy protection, a judge decided Friday, making it possible for creditors to immediately pursue his assets within days.

Tenacity

FWIW I've seen some support for the article but I've also seen a lot of criticism as well (here and on Threads). I don't know which way the wind is blowing yet but it's very possible the conclusions are overstated.

I looked over the actual report and yeah, this is very concerning. There is no safe exposure level to lead. The authors note it's not known how much gets absorbed into the body via tampon use because that research has never been done. It's maddening how research on women's health is lacking.

Jupiter's iconic Great Red Spot is only 193 years old! And it won't last forever. Here's how we know. www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-... 🔭 🧪

Re: That SpaceX space junk falling on a farm in Canada, @swapnakrishna.com has more about this. You can watch the video in her post below, or read about it in her newsletter: www.adastraspace.com/p/spacex-dra...

SpaceX is having a trash issue: Specifically, multiple pieces of debris have landed across North American as a result of Crew Dragon re-entries. No one's been hurt, but it's a serious issue. Newsletter at 11 am et: adastraspace.com 🧪🛰️🔭 #scicomm #womeninstem youtu.be/Ndqzl6zUw4Q

SpaceX has a huge trash problemyoutu.be Debris from SpaceX Crew Dragon missions has been landing around North America, most recently in rural Canada and North Carolina. Why is this happening, and w...

SpaceX has a huge trash problemwww.adastraspace.com Debris from the Dragon trunk has been found across North America

"I’m reminded of the work-safety adage that, for every death, there are multiple near misses; if you fail to correct the problem after near misses, there will be deaths." SpaceX is far too cavalier about safety. Congress needs to have a little chat with them.

"As an astronomer, I already had good reasons to worry about SpaceX." Worries like: light pollution from mega-constellations, atmospheric pollution from launches and disintegrations, and now silo-sized space junk dropping on people's farms. www.scientificamerican.com/article/spac...

SpaceX Dropped Space Junk on My Neighbor’s Farm. Here’s What Happened Nextwww.scientificamerican.com A Saskatchewan farmer’s near miss with potentially lethal debris falling from orbit highlights the skyrocketing risks and murky politics of space junk

Wow, a very rare Falcon 9 malfunction. It's generally an extraordinarily reliable rocket. Can't say I'm too sad they'll lose Starlinks though.

Falcon 9 partial failure: Stage 2 did not restart, Starlink Group 9-3 sats deployed in lower than planned orbit. Unclear if they can raise orbit prior to reentry.

I love this account

stuck in time loop after jump to the left

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Phil Plait

i made this shareable version of my one sentence project 2025 summary so it can be easily shared across platforms. feel free to repost.

Huh. This is surprising, though welcome. Now, someone tell their cheerleading section^h^h^h news department.

New from the New York Times Editorial Board: Donald Trump is unfit to lead (gift link)

Opinion | Donald Trump Is Unfit to Leadwww.nytimes.com He failed the tests of leadership and betrayed America. Voters must stand up to him in November.

and there it is

This pretty much sums it up.