(Surprisingly?) nervous about running my first online @ImperialPhysics undergraduate tutorial in 8 minutes…

The 2020 Physics Nobel goes to Roger Penrose “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of… relativity”, and Reinhard Genzel & Andrea Ghez “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.”

Tech friends: I’m getting very slow Time Machine backups (can be several days) from my MacBookPro (10.15.7) to Synology NAS (SMB, 1000M wired) w/Netgear Orbi router. Seems due to many small files. Problem occurs w/Mac either WiFi or wired (‘tho somewhat better wired). Any ideas?

McConnell, Graham, & the Republicans are all rank hypocrites, and I’m deathly afraid of a conservative court too, but I’m a little disappointed that the rest of us are now on board with their 2016 ‘no confirmation near an election’ nonsense, now that it suits us.

Received my absentee ballot for Nov 3… I am not the most strategically useful voter — I still vote in San Francisco. But can any of my SF friends recommend a good source of information and endorsements?

Life on Venus?

Earth-shaking news if this really is a signature of life…

I said when it drops
Oh you gonna feel it
Oh that you were doin’ it wrong, wrong, wrong
Now when it drops
Oh you gonna feel it
That you were doin’ it wrong and how

R.I.P. Toots Hibbert

After 20+ years, the last @ESA @Planck paper has been accepted, and we’ll be commemorating the event… with a Zoom meeting tomorrow of the only remaining official committee, the Planck Editorial Board.