Katie Mack+

Looking at the paper, they do have a model for the cost of a death. I don't know

Looking at the paper, they do have a model for the cost of a death. I don't know how realistic it is. It doesn't include the impact on anyone other than the person who dies (and their lost future financial contribution).

I can only assume that they're using a model wherein most of the deaths are elde

I can only assume that they're using a model wherein most of the deaths are elderly people who die fairly quickly, and they're ignoring any long-term health effects that anyone might acquire.

Maybe not the main point here but it's ... interesting... that they're saying th

Maybe not the main point here but it's ... interesting... that they're saying that remote school creates learning loss / loss of future GDP, but 80,000 more deaths (many of them likely the kids' relatives and teachers, killed by virus spread by kids) would have no impact whatsoever on those kids

It’s so annoying that the vaccines come out so late in the season here. I get wh

It’s so annoying that the vaccines come out so late in the season here. I get why the flu shot should be in late October, but being able to get the Covid shot in September would be so much better!!

I would love to hear the Free Speech Warriors' mental gymnastics on this one but

I would love to hear the Free Speech Warriors' mental gymnastics on this one but we all know they're going to just be completely silent as usual

Every time, it makes me want to walk into the sea

Every time, it makes me want to walk into the sea

Please stay safe if you live near the angrycado

Please stay safe if you live near the angrycado

It is really cool that the detector doesn't care if the Sun is above the horizon

It is really cool that the detector doesn't care if the Sun is above the horizon or not, and the data arrives anyway, though! It's cool to see an image of the core of the Sun in neutrinos, and to know that the neutrinos went through somewhere from 1 to 12,700-ish kilometers of rock!

Okay this is something that I'm irrationally annoyed by, but: this is not a pic

Okay this is something that I'm irrationally annoyed by, but: this is not a picture of the Sun taken at night. It's an image constructed of a lot of data, some at night, some in the day, some at dusk or dawn or whatever. I've seen no reliable source claiming that down-going events were excluded.

Financially, I 100% get why the airline would choose to fleece their own elite s

Financially, I 100% get why the airline would choose to fleece their own elite status customers, but in every other way it’s infuriating

When the phone is at your ear you can cup your other hand around it and muffle y

When the phone is at your ear you can cup your other hand around it and muffle your voice quite effectively! People do this in movies when they are being sneaky, it definitely works.

There’s currently a Parasitology journal that won’t leave me alone; it’s despera

There’s currently a Parasitology journal that won’t leave me alone; it’s desperate for my article on dark energy

That’s part of what makes me hate them so much

That’s part of what makes me hate them so much

Not wealthy, but often vulnerable for exactly that reason. Most authors make ver

Not wealthy, but often vulnerable for exactly that reason. Most authors make very little on their books and so if someone is offering them a way to actually get some money and/or publicity, it can be really appealing. And since it costs approx. $0/author to approach people, I bet it can be lucrative

😂😭

😂😭

Right?? Somehow a robot pretending to be moved by my work feels infinitely worse

Right?? Somehow a robot pretending to be moved by my work feels infinitely worse than humans just ignoring it.

Man, that's such a bummer though

Man, that's such a bummer though

The messages are coming to my work inbox now too.

The messages are coming to my work inbox now too.

The one time I did reply, the robot wrote back politely saying it wouldn't conta

The one time I did reply, the robot wrote back politely saying it wouldn't contact me again, and then the human (who apparently didn't read his own outbox) replied, indignantly and at a totally different literacy level, and then proceeded to continue writing to me peddling his scam for weeks.

Do you have filters that get rid of those and not e-mails from actual humans?

Do you have filters that get rid of those and not e-mails from actual humans?

is there a support group somewhere where we share the cutting replies we would l

is there a support group somewhere where we share the cutting replies we would like to send but won't because it's all so pointless

Oh yes, I've received several for other Katie Macks, and I feel even worse for t

Oh yes, I've received several for other Katie Macks, and I feel even worse for them

I am waiting for the numbness but somehow each one feels like a chipping away at

I am waiting for the numbness but somehow each one feels like a chipping away at the project of humanity itself

Nothing makes me want to move permanently to the woods more than receiving endle

Nothing makes me want to move permanently to the woods more than receiving endless 10-paragraph e-mails made entirely of sentences like "You have built a framework that is both intimately grounded in your own research and universally applicable."

Fellow authors: how do you keep the constant flood of LLM-extruded scam e-mails

Fellow authors: how do you keep the constant flood of LLM-extruded scam e-mails (the ones where the robot consumed your book to regurgitate back its major themes, like a house cat presenting you with a coughed-up hairball) from absolutely destroying your soul?

I’m a theorist too but I would definitely go if I had an excuse!

I’m a theorist too but I would definitely go if I had an excuse!

I don't think there's an age limit. But sure, it's not exactly an easy journey.

I don't think there's an age limit. But sure, it's not exactly an easy journey.

It will definitely be an audiobook at some point. No idea who will narrate.

It will definitely be an audiobook at some point. No idea who will narrate.

I think it's likely but I won't know until my agent has sorted out the foreign r

I think it's likely but I won't know until my agent has sorted out the foreign rights.

A fun bit of trivia about today's physics Nobel Prize: Francis Halzen won it for

A fun bit of trivia about today's physics Nobel Prize: Francis Halzen won it for envisioning and leading the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, but apparently he's never actually been there! WFH FTW. (To be fair, it is rather... remote.)

Yesssss! Though to be clear it is primarily written for a reader who is *intere

Yesssss! Though to be clear it is primarily written for a reader who is *interested* in physics but not actually educated in it. (That said, I think it will be of interest to specialists too!)

Not if you make it really long and thin

Not if you make it really long and thin

This prize was awarded because the Ice Cube observatory has been fantastically s

This prize was awarded because the Ice Cube observatory has been fantastically successful at detecting neutrinos from the cosmos (especially really intriguing high-energy ones) and also because “instead of building a big tank of water, why don’t we just kit out a whole ice cap” is a really neat idea

What is the IceCube neutrino observatory? Neutrinos are elusive particles that

What is the IceCube neutrino observatory? Neutrinos are elusive particles that rarely interact, but can create flashes of light when they do. Most neutrino detectors are giant water tanks surrounded by light detectors. IceCube is kilometer-long strings of detectors embedded in the Antarctic ice.

The lack of any kind of reflection in these guys is always astonishing. “What wa

The lack of any kind of reflection in these guys is always astonishing. “What was he about to expose or find out?”, this guy says in 2020. It’s been six years. All we’ve found out is the Epstein stuff, which Trump tried his best to prevent and which is mostly about his own people.

I remember that — fantastic!

I remember that — fantastic!

Yes it was really nice to get to chat with him for a while — he’s a lovely man!

Yes it was really nice to get to chat with him for a while — he’s a lovely man!

I gotta be honest it's not looking good for it

I gotta be honest it's not looking good for it

Thank you for sharing your story and insights; I can't imagine it was easy to do

Thank you for sharing your story and insights; I can't imagine it was easy to do that.

The number of 😬 things in that film...

The number of 😬 things in that film...

Yep.

Yep.

Astronomy news for spooky season: a zombie planet orbiting a dead (but still hos

Astronomy news for spooky season: a zombie planet orbiting a dead (but still hostile) star. Evidence suggests the following: Star dies, expels outer layers, becomes white dwarf. Gas giant forms from the debris. White dwarf is now blasting planet with radiation, shearing off some of its atmosphere.

Ah thanks I didn’t realize he was on Bluesky!

Ah thanks I didn’t realize he was on Bluesky!

And you can tag him here directly: @deisseroth.bsky.social

And you can tag him here directly: @deisseroth.bsky.social

"disgraced by child sex abuse" is such weird phrasing

"disgraced by child sex abuse" is such weird phrasing

They asked for up to three and then chose the one they liked best.

They asked for up to three and then chose the one they liked best.

In the immortal words of Dara Ó Briain, "Science knows it doesn't know everythin

In the immortal words of Dara Ó Briain, "Science knows it doesn't know everything; otherwise, it'd stop."

With a Canadian canopy! (They've been making them with bubble canopies for Canad

With a Canadian canopy! (They've been making them with bubble canopies for Canada since the 1950s.)

It was really confusing!

It was really confusing!

No, the museum is in Windsor!

No, the museum is in Windsor!

Especially since he claims in the story he was only vaguely aware of the things

Especially since he claims in the story he was only vaguely aware of the things people were saying about Haitians in Springfield online. If he was spreading that slander himself, that seems real relevant

Christ.

Christ.

There are so many aviation museums

There are so many aviation museums

Only extremely early ones. By 1950 or so the Canadian ones were being built with

Only extremely early ones. By 1950 or so the Canadian ones were being built with bubble canopies. I’ve never seen a Canadian one with the other kind of canopy in operation.

I don't think it's revised; it's just the Canadian version

I don't think it's revised; it's just the Canadian version

Yes. About both my previously published book and the one that isn't out yet. I a

Yes. About both my previously published book and the one that isn't out yet. I assume everything is a scam now.

It’s a De Havilland Canada Chipmunk

It’s a De Havilland Canada Chipmunk

Maybe apocryphal but I was told my first word was “no”

Maybe apocryphal but I was told my first word was “no”

I don’t think it’s rude in this context, but when people do that in a condescend

I don’t think it’s rude in this context, but when people do that in a condescending way, it is.

Photo was taken by @peacewind.aero !

Photo was taken by @peacewind.aero !

Weekend vibes

Weekend vibes

Yay thank you!

Yay thank you!

I missed the memo and went to a different one, sorry

I missed the memo and went to a different one, sorry

Or maybe the rooms WOULD be huge because the cost is so much that 3x or 4x the p

Or maybe the rooms WOULD be huge because the cost is so much that 3x or 4x the price won’t matter to the ultra-rich people once they pass the threshold of being able to go up at all

Cool! I can only imagine that if space hotels actually do happen, the room size

Cool! I can only imagine that if space hotels actually do happen, the room sizes are going to be more like “budget hotel in London” than “luxury penthouse suite” but I still love the look of this!

What’s the book on the table? Also: I wonder if you’d ever just get used to the

What’s the book on the table? Also: I wonder if you’d ever just get used to the light and view shifting like that or if you’d be dizzy all the time

I don’t believe you have!!

I don’t believe you have!!

Yeah, fair.

Yeah, fair.

Even "assistant" or something like that would work. I think too many people take

Even "assistant" or something like that would work. I think too many people take "agent" to mean "has independent agency"

Yesssssss

Yesssssss

It might help to rename "agents" to "minions" or "subordinates", just to make it

It might help to rename "agents" to "minions" or "subordinates", just to make it even more explicit who is in charge.

The most climate-beneficial application of AI at this point would be some kind o

The most climate-beneficial application of AI at this point would be some kind of mass influence campaign to get people to vote for stricter regulations and fossil-fuel limitations and to break up all the reactionary tech oligarchies that run the AI models 🙃

Definitely. It's ridiculous to talk about climate change as a scientific/technol

Definitely. It's ridiculous to talk about climate change as a scientific/technological problem, in this day and age. It's a political one and a societal one, but the science of it was solved more than a century ago.

Also -- and, look, I know this is a more minor issue -- universities don't FREEZ

Also -- and, look, I know this is a more minor issue -- universities don't FREEZE PROFESSORS' RESEARCH FUNDING to try to retain them! That is the opposite of how that works, and surely in contravention of university regulations and probably laws??

I am devastated to report to you that the main romance is not the only student-p

I am devastated to report to you that the main romance is not the only student-professor happily-ever-after that happens in the book.

I'm not sure how well the hard data bears this out but my impression is that ove

I'm not sure how well the hard data bears this out but my impression is that over the last ~ 20 years, airlines have made airports and flights more excruciating on purpose, because that way they can sell access to lounges and premium classes and people who just need to get somewhere will fly anyway.

It was a dark time

It was a dark time

Those photos are at different angles though? Could it be a different picture the

Those photos are at different angles though? Could it be a different picture they altered? It's all so weird.

Yes, as do coats and t-shirts

Yes, as do coats and t-shirts

No, sorry, you misunderstood. My proclamation, which was of course meant to cove

No, sorry, you misunderstood. My proclamation, which was of course meant to cover all people and assert every human's opinion, rather than being merely a reflection of my own enthusiasm, cannot be contradicted. Your comment is rejected.