skullsinthestars Profile picture
Unverified since 2010. Professor of optics, blogger of physics, history, & pulp fiction. Invisibility, now available! (he/him) @drskyskull@mastodon.social
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Nov 18, 2022 23 tweets 4 min read
So here's my hypothesis on the whole Musk twitter deal. 1/ Dude LOVES Twitter. As a narcissist, he can't get enough of the adulation of the right-wing mouth-breathers. But Twitter keeps banning the people he loves, so he becomes convinced that Twitter is a liberal SJW organization. 2/
Nov 16, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
Hey let's make Twitter like the old days! Speculate with an example of a #FakeTrumpAnnouncement! "My Fellow Americans, I have recently received intelligence that has made me conclude that pee is not in fact stored in the balls." #FakeTrumpAnnouncement
Oct 8, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
1. Russia’s invading Ukraine, threatening nukes -better stay out
2. Russia’s invading Poland, threatening nukes -better stay out
3. Russia’s invading Europe, threatening nukes -better stay out
4. Russia’s invading us, threatening nukes -better surrender I take the threat very seriously, but Putin has opted to give us no choice. Giving into nuclear blackmail from a genocidal aggressor is not an option.
Aug 27, 2022 15 tweets 4 min read
Let me do a quick #OldSchoolDungeonsAndDragons, and a real classic: Rahasia (1984), by Tracy and Laura Hickman! Rahasia is one of two adventures that the Hickmans originally self-published, along with the other classic Pharaoh. It was originally published by their Daystar West Media in 1980, in a run of no more than 200 copies.
Jul 3, 2022 26 tweets 4 min read
Since I've already seen an incredible amount of this abuser logic coming from the pro-forced birth crowd, I wanted to take a moment to address it. I too started out as a person with a "moderate" view of abortion -- which it turns out is exactly what Roe allowed. 1/ But it quickly became clear that the pro-forced birth movement have no interest in making abortion less common. They have no interest in comprehensive sex education, easy access to contraceptives, or resources for family planning and support. 2/
Jul 2, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
Also watching some Weirder Stuff. Lemme just say again: STEEEEEVE
May 7, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
Soon gonna see DorkHair Weirdo and the Many Worlds of Kookiness What’s the movie called in your universe?
May 7, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
IT’S HAPPENING
#mst3k This is WILD
Jan 2, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
I’ve enjoyed Crichton’s work, but I’ve long recognized that almost all of his novels are about how science is bad and doesn’t work. Crichton’s most pro-science novel was probably The Andromeda Strain… where the story ends with the virus mutating all by itself to a harmless strain, with the scientists doing nothing, and the scientists almost nuking themselves.
Jan 1, 2022 16 tweets 5 min read
Time for an #OldSchoolDungeonsAndDragons that is truly classic! Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976), by Robert Kuntz and James Ward! This book was the fourth and final supplement to the original "0th edition" D&D rules. It starts with a pretty amusing foreword by the editor. One of the rare times I know of that an editor admits "loathing" the project they worked on!
Dec 30, 2021 13 tweets 4 min read
Let's do a quick #OldSchoolDungeonsAndDragons: Pillars of Pentegarn (1982), by Rose Estes! Image Obviously, this book, which was also labeled a "Pick-A-Path Adventure," uses the same format as classic "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, that exploded in popularity with the first book in 1979. Image
Oct 3, 2021 28 tweets 7 min read
Sherlock Holmes wasn't afraid to throw fists. From a 1904 issue of The Strand. Yep every photograph of a school from the early 1900s looks like a scene you encounter in a haunted house just before all the children unhinge their jaws and rush at you
Oct 1, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read
Tonight’s plan: a “drive and sing,” put together a cat exercise wheel, and then guitar. The great thing about “drive and sing” is that I get to practice yelling at idiot drivers in a loud and melodic voice.
Oct 1, 2021 57 tweets 14 min read
Oh no I found an Edwardian era article about animal masquerade balls ImageImageImageImage ... and right after that, an article about playing the piano with rifles. Image
Sep 22, 2021 44 tweets 11 min read
Let's do a historical #OpticsLessonOfTheDay on the birthday of my favorite scientist ever, Michael Faraday (1791-1867)! Though he is relatively unknown to the public, he is inarguably one of the greatest scientists who ever lived... and an amazing person, as well. By societal standards of the time, Faraday should have lived a mundane, uneventful life. He was born the son of a blacksmith in Surrey in the UK. He was raised with little formal education, and was apprenticed to a bookbinder at age 14.
Sep 21, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Doctor isn’t quite sure what to do for me. Trying a second generation antidepressant.
Sep 21, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
I’m too depressed for this shit, mom. Being clinically depressed makes me very self-centered and it’s hard to break that. My mom has no such excuse. She knows I’ve been struggling and still she chose to make it worse.
Sep 20, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Well, okay, that first tinder match up was a nice conversation, but ended in a spectacular disaster, I think. Unless I want to get involved in an affair, I guess.
Sep 19, 2021 13 tweets 4 min read
Hanging out with old friends today. Image Image
Sep 15, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
Office hours. Still in office hours.
Sep 15, 2021 33 tweets 7 min read
Okay, let's to an #OpticsLessonOfTheDay: why is the sky blue? The answer is an interesting mix of several different aspect of physics as well as the working of the human eye. First off: we note that the sun radiates light somewhat uniformly over the entire visible spectrum of light, which ranges from 380 to 750 nanometers. (Image via Wikipedia.) It peaks a bit in the middle of the spectrum, so we picture the sun as a bit more yellow than white.