Planck launch, 10 years ago this week.
Category: Uncategorised
Commuting across London five days a week to nursery (day care) with my two girls, one in a buggy (stroller), another walking, is the most stressful thing I’ve ever done.
I just got my student tutorial evaluations, and scored very well, averaging somewhere between “agree” and “strongly agree” in all categories: good feedback, answers to questions, and preparation. Unfortunately, only 5 (of 40) students bothered to respond.
Congratulations to Nick Kaiser & Joe Silk for the 2019 Gruber Cosmology Prize, “for their transformational work on cosmological structure formation & dark matter”. I’m honoured to have worked with (and, long ago, been hired by) both of them!
Experiencing black-hole induced ASMR. #EHTBlackHole
Loved Fleabag, of course, though I preferred the family dynamic to the (neither particularly hot nor believable) priest shenanigans, and overall not as much as Catastrophe. (Is that just because I’m an expat American in London with kids rather than a Catholic-seducing Millenial?)
Our dishwasher has stopped working — any London appliance repair recommendations?
Varifocals?
It makes sense that the two leaders, a remain-supporting leaver and a leave-supporting remainer, closer to each other than to their own parties, would eventually work together.
Corbyn set to whip MPs to back public vote as frontbench threatens revolt.
So Corbyn finally does the right thing. But…
He [shadow minister Gardiner] said Labour could not be portrayed as a party that wanted remain at any price.
I don’t understand — what’s the “price”?
The last Brexit vote that had as little legal force as today’s “indicative votes” was the referendum.
“The answer, of course, is not to abandon p-values entirely, but to bear in mind their, and our, limitations.“ — The Guardian (editorial)
It’s rare for a newspaper to have a view on the details of scientific methodology! (But I don’t entirely agree with that view…)
Theresa May’s Message to Britain at a Perilous Moment: It’s Parliament’s Fault
As a distraction from the terrible news, isn’t it funny that the NY Times style guide requires referring to Members of Parliament as “M.P.s”, as opposed to “MPs”, universal in the UK (sorry, “U.K.”)?
At least someone is taking back control.
Just to be clear: the Labour position is that there are achievable versions of Brexit that are better than staying in the EU?
To the Tories, the problem with the EU is that it represents a “statist juggernaut”; in the rest of Europe, the problem with the EU is that it represents a “capitalist juggernaut”… “Brexit marks the end of Britain’s role as a global superpower”– Fareed Zakaria (CNN).
“If this vote is not passed tonight, if this deal is not passed,” Mrs. May said, “then Brexit could be lost.”
Hope springs eternal.
7 Labour Lawmakers Resign in U.K., in Rebuke of Jeremy Corby
I’m pretty sure I’m proud of my MP*, @ChukaUmunna, for this bold move.
*he’s MP where I live in Lambeth—except I can’t vote in the UK.
Did not expect to see this canvas bag emblazoned with the cover of Pere Ubu’s 1978 album “The Modern Dance” hanging off the back of a pram in a playground on Clapham Common, London. @ubuprojex
@help
micro.blog iOS client is crashing when trying to post on my iPhone, but not iPad. Probably relevant: I just upgraded to a new phone and restored settings from backup of old phone.
Joshua Tree National Park’s Signature Trees Are Among Shutdown Victims
Unsupervised visitors destroyed trees to carve new off-road paths… Others spray-painted graffiti…
Perfect (distressing) symbol of, well, pretty much everything wrong with the country today.
Jeremy Corbyn Says Brexit May Have To Be Delayed To Get A Better Deal With The EU
I would love to have Labour back in power, and am no fan of the Tories, or Theresa May in particular, but the problem is not with her prowess as a negotiator.
RIP Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=terg_LPT3X0&feature=share
Ricky Jay, Magician Who Mastered Sleight of Hand, Dies at 72
Of course, “Mastered sleight of hand” doesn’t do justice to his immense dedication, knowledge, and talent.
Thank you, SF Department of Elections, for making my vote count (eventually).
Trump deciding not to pardon either turkey this year would be excellent fake news.
Looking for a macOS menubar app for easily exporting pictures from the Photos app — I remember seeing something like this recently, but can’t find it. Pointers welcome!
Delivered my first undergraduate lecture in a couple of years. I think I presented the material (extragalactic astrophysics) ok, but consider it a triumph that I didn’t collapse in a chalk-dust induced coughing fit. (Nb. I really like writing on blackboards!)
Better than we feared. Not quite as well as we expected. Worse than we hoped.