Notices by Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)

Trying to psych myself up to call a journalist back for an interview about the (latest) SpaceX rocket explosion environmental disaster...

@Kultanaamio I almost did! And then I realized that if I have one short story among a list of novels I KNOW which option ALL my students will pick.... (I did order that short story book from the library for myself, though!)

Fuzzy Nation (Scalzi)
Ender’s Game (Card)
Binti (Okarafor)
Translation State (Leckie)
A Half-Built Garden (Emrys)
Aurora (Robinson)
The Algebraist (Banks)
Blindsight (Watts)

Of course this list is skewed by what *I* enjoy reading. But I'm always looking to expand. Any good ones I've forgotten?

Contact (Sagan)
The 3 Body Problem (Liu)
Old Man’s War (Scalzi)
Rendezvous with Rama (Clarke)
The Andromeda Strain (Crichton)
Project Hail Mary (Weir)
The Sparrow (Russel)
Leviathan Wakes (Corey)
Starship Troopers (Heinlein)
Dune (Herbert)
The Left Hand of Darkness (Le Guin)
To Be Taught if Fortunate (Chambers)
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Chambers)
Semiosis (Burke)
Childhood’s End (Clarke)
Ammonite (Griffith)
All Systems Red (Wells)

The final project for my astrobiology class (aimed at non-science students) is to read a scifi book with well-developed aliens and rate the aliens/exoplanets/space travel/human-alien interactions based on what students learned in class. I'm always looking for new books to add to the list (and more good scifi books to read!)

My list for this year:

I have no idea if this kind of thing makes any difference or not, but there aren't many ways to tell various US gov't agencies that they're doing a terrible job protecting the environment from billionaire space launches.

So, here are instructions for how to tell the FAA that increasing the number of giant rocket launches from Boca Chica is a bad idea: https://www.kesslerrebellion.com/take-action-faa-2024-12-10

More info on that website. Comments due TOMORROW.

It was really nice to have a day to not watch the weather and fire conditions in LA quite as closely, but looks like the winds are set to pick up again in the next couple days. Damn.

It's been amazing to see how much people are helping each other during this disaster, but will everyone be able to keep it up with even more wind and fire this week?

(Also, I tried to donate $ to Watch Duty, because their maps and info have been fantastic, but they don't take $ from non-US credit cards...)

Evacuation zone lifted for my family, and they might even have electricity at their homes! My mom is convinced this is because she finally gave up on keeping food in the fridge/freezer (by occasionally going in and running a generator), and brought all the fridge/freezer food to where they're staying.

(But I told them not to relax too much quite yet because there are still winds and embers and the Eaton Fire is only 3% contained)

I've been so busy carefully watching the weather thousands of km away where my family is trying to not get burned by fires, that I didn't even realize we're supposed to get a bunch of snow tonight. Yay, I guess?

The evac zones for the Eaton Fire got a little smaller! That's a good sign! (My family's still in the evac zone, though)

My family is still under evacuation, staying with a relative one city over. They are feeling pretty bad about everything - really hard waiting under evacuation to see where the fire goes next. (And yes, they're super lucky they have a relative to stay with). Their houses aren't under immediate fire threat, but the Eaton Fire is still listed at 0% contained, and winds could start up anytime and make it SO much worse.

I'm pretty happy with how this basket came out!

Will be a good harvest basket, though I think I'll reinforce the handle with some cloth before summer (won't be anything to harvest for months...SIGH).

Spent all morning cooking and videochatting with my family. I just harvested a bunch of willows, and now I'm going to spend the afternoon making baskets (interspersed with more cooking).

I'm going to ignore the giant pile of email and overdue tasks...they'll wait. What a week it was (and I'm only tangentially involved in the disasters currently happening). Mental health day!

Unreal sundogs!!

I can't figure out from news if Mt. Wilson Observatory burned or not. I see lots of articles about the fire coming up to the communication towers and observatory a couple hours ago, and maybe all that was protected? Not at all clear :(

My texts are still going through to my evacuated family, so that's good. Communication infrastructure still seems to be ok.

My sister forwarded some weather forecasts with localized wind in the coming days, and there are still embers. Very much not over.

Checked on fires, had a research meeting, checked on fires, had lunch with the early career profs, checked on fires, tested video for an amateur astronomy talk next week, checked fires, comforted a crying student... and now Mt. Wilson Observatory is burning? Fuck.

And I'm supposed to teach an astronomy class in 30 min?!!

The disconnect between where I am in my mind and in my body is bizarre. I dreamed about my old house and neighbourhood in Altadena that's now burned to the ground, woke up, checked the status of evacuations and fires thousands of km away, then crunched through the snow under auroras to take care of my goats.

The evacuation zones for the Eaton Fire didn't get bigger overnight, but my family's still under evac orders. Sending good vibes to all the firefighters and other helpers today.

From latest GIS maps, it looks like the house I rented in Altadena with 9 Caltech friends after we graduated has probably burned.

I just called to talk to my family about the next steps. If the fire jumps to the San Rafaels, I want them to get out of Glendale before traffic, which means getting out of LA entirely because that's where next level of family is (and they'd have to go way east to the 15, because the 14 is on fire). They have 7 family members, 1 dog, 5 cats, a lizard, and a turtle, and a smattering of important documents and irreplaceable family memorabilia. I can't believe this is happening.

My family's homes are still in the evacuation zone, though not immediately threatened by fire, so they're staying one city over for the night.

I just found a satellite photo in an article that shows a house I rented with several friends in Altadena for a couple of years, and the whole neighbourhood (including that house) is completely burned to the ground. I'm so sad, and so sorry for everyone there.

Another mind-bending dissociation: listening in to this faculty meeting talking about academic misconduct and exam formats and grade deadlines, while watching real-time updates on the fires creeping closer to my parents' house, watching to see when I need to start encouraging them to flee further. Real hard to care about exams.