... and here was that #NPR #AllThingsConsidered story, interviewing the author and inadvertent eavesdropper on US national security secrets.

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/24/nx-s1-5338784/how-a-journalist-became-an-inadvertent-eavesdropper-on-national-security-secrets

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans - The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/?gift=vgcKXZKCrHTQr6wr7_bnjR_NoPtjLBLTVrdpY1uN2w4&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

This was quite a story to listen to this evening on NPR.

"To Win Trust and Admiration, Fix Your Microphone | Scientific American"

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/to-win-trust-and-admiration-fix-your-microphone/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Without knowing the science behind this, but knowing instinctively how people react to bad cameras, bad audio, and no whiteboard ... this was why I invested in a high-end home teaching studio during COVID-19. Students paid more attention when the effort seems professional on my end: DSLR camera, Blue Yeti microphone, iPad whiteboard.

A first look at the #underground visit to the Sanford Underground Research Facility. We arrived early in the morning to gear up and then catch a 07:30 cage (elevator) to the 4850ft level. We then rode a tram on a rail line from the Yates Shaft and the “Davis Campus” of the lab over to the “Ross Campus”, where the DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment) will be constructed.

#SURF #research #physics #travel #cooperation #science #learning #mine

(More to come in future posts!)

Let’s take a look at the next installment from my visit to #SURF last week. After arriving at the Ross Campus, we walked from the end of the tram line to the first of the VERY large DUNE caverns. DUNE is the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and will consist of huge neutrino detectors comprised from 17,000 tons of liquid argon. 800,000 tons of rock has been excavated to make the caverns.

THEY. ARE. HUGE.

Each is over 100m long.

#DUNE #neutrino #underground #physics #science

@lxo @hydropsyche @coreyspowell

In the modern age, it’s good to be a little skeptical. But I admire that you did it, sought input, and even though it’s impossible to ever give 100% assurance, all of us gave it a think and now we can step back and look at these images and just go…

WOW.

@lxo @coreyspowell

The Earth would cover the Sun completely during an eclipse viewed from the Moon. This is why a lunar eclipse lasts longer than a solar one, where the Moon covers the Sun as viewed from the Earth.

However, this picture can still be real. The sun's disk appears smaller than the disk of the Earth. Refraction of sunlight in the atmosphere would ring the entire Earth in light. This diamond ring effect is due to the Sun being to one side.

Pic is certainly plausible.

A public service announcement: if you are a business or group, and you post instagram-based photos on your public website, you are not really sharing pictures with the public. An IG account is required even merely to view.

If a service requires sign up just to see a picture or share a thought you wanted to be public, it's not public.

Don't feed the walled gardens. The walls are there to protect interests other than your own.

#fediverse

Trained others to solve problems no one has ever solved before, and helped discover the origin of mass while doing it.

#science #public #good #humanity #discovery #education

QT Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social
2025 January 28

Post the amazing science things you have done with federal funding.

https://bsky.app/profile/alexwild.bsky

Resources for Researchers and Scholars under Threat in the United States

Committee on Human Rights > Resources

National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Thx to @petergleick for raise my awareness about this resource.

https://www.nationalacademies.org/chr/resources-for-researchers-and-scholars-under-threat-in-the-united-states

This is Seth. He is my therapy duck. As with my human friends, I will be leaning on him a lot in the coming months and years.

Today’s word is #Equivocation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation

“… equivocation ("calling two different things by the same name") is an informal fallacy resulting from the use of a particular word or expression in multiple senses within an argument.”

#LogicalFallacies

The #washingtonpost was kind enough to provide a copy of the memo ordering the freeze. I attach screen captures here.

This memo is a masterclass in #LogicalFallacies, especially #equivocation: using vague, undefined terms with ambiguous meaning, leaving it to the mind of the reader to choose the definition that best suits their personal interpretation. It is a classic trick to fool the audience while providing no grounding for your position.

Reposting for public:

Well, this took quite a turn. In a quest to end things they never defined, they kick the spending pause button hard on all things. I cannot even imagine the damage this is going to do … well, actually, I can imagine it. I would be curious to hear from #science colleagues what impacts they are feeling.

“White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion” https://wapo.st/4gfgcHQ

The #WashingtonPost opinion columnist Eugene Robinson expresses well the (intended) confusion caused by the #LogicalFallacy called #Equivocation: “Now we know, apparently, that Trump and the MAGA base don’t mean the Tuskegee Airmen when they excoriate DEI. But exactly what do they mean?”

This shows a #CriticalQuestion to ask before believing someone. “What do they mean?”

From: What the Air Force’s Tuskegee Airmen mishap reveals about Trump’s DEI war https://wapo.st/4hazEH7

It is nucking futs outside today. High winds, snow, and together they make ... #snow #squall!

I was today-years-old when I first voluntarily watched a hockey game on TV. To be fair, it was a previously recorded game from several days ago so I didn't have to suffer commercials. I still had to suffer commentators.

@freyablekman I did look through the paper you shared and the reference to the 5 TeV result. That paper did not make clear the intended purpose of the run, nor the conditions under which it ran.

I was mainly interested in a conversation, but I can just go back and keep reading.

@jodi They are delicious!

@freyablekman Hi Freya! I really like that you share these papers when they appear. Keep it up!

Question for you. I think I was unaware that there had been a short 5 TeV run in 2017. Can you remind me of the purpose of that run (e.g. LHC commissioning, precision physics, etc.)? The NNLO prediction agrees very well with the other points, but not this one. Granted, a ~2sigma fluctuation in 5 independent measurements has a HIGH probability. It's just interesting.