@mcnees@mastodon.social
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mcnees

@mcnees@mastodon.social

Physicist and professor at a school on the north side of Chicago. Black holes, quantum gravity, cosmology. Rocky Top, Tar Heel. Science, dogs, lake photos. Faves are spooky action at a distance, boosts are Lorentz transformations to another inertial frame. Opinions are mine, not my employer’s. #Physics #BlackHoles #Gravity #SciComm #Dogs

Level 14 Prof of Physics, Neutral Good, S:11 I:16 W:15 D:11 C:12 Ch:11, HP: 68, THAC0: 11, Equipment: Vorpal Chalk, Periapt of Tenure, Tweed Jacket (Cursed)

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mcnees, to random
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Speaking of, the Hubble Space Telescope sent its first image back to Earth in 1990.

Folks knew right away that something was wrong with the optics, but the problem was eventually corrected.

Ground Image: E. Persson (Las Campanas Observatory, Chile)/Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington
Hubble Image: NASA, ESA, and STScI
https://mastodon.social/@mcnees/110378772317401238

mcnees,
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@Guinnessy I'd never heard this! My college astrophysics professor led the corrective optics project.

mcnees, to random
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I hope this email finds you filing a formal complaint about the "Microsoft AutoUpdate" rootkit that IT installed on everyone's machines.
https://mastodon.social/@mcnees/112470974382531718

mcnees, to random
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Microsoft AutoUpdate, a process that I have repeatedly killed, and also prevented from starting at login, has somehow launched itself to tell me I have to update Microsoft AutoUpdate.

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

@Smutny From 1996-2009 or so, I was all Linux all the time. Sysadmin at work, all my personal machines, everything. I even made my own gtk2 themes.

Then I switched over to Mac, which was great for me.

But this past year, for the first time in forever, as the Mac UI friction accrues and the thoughtless Microsoft demands from IT pile up, I've found myself pining for the good old Linux days.

mckra1g, to books
@mckra1g@mastodon.social avatar

Everyone is at the park! It’s a beautiful evening for reading.

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

@mckra1g Ah, what a cool pick! I have not read this one, but Paul takes great care with his books so you are in good hands. (And of course I am happy to answer questions, though my online-ness is a little spotty rn._

mcnees, to random
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

I’m beginning to think that giving a lifetime appointment to a rapid partisan with an ideological agenda, was a bad idea.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

mckra1g, to random
@mckra1g@mastodon.social avatar

It’s days like today when I really wish teleportation existed. All three of my kids are on the west coast. We’re face timing today, but it would be great to actually see them in person.

#random

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

@mckra1g Happy Mother’s Day :)

mcnees, to random
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Knuckle tats that say
P/O/L/Y/D/A/C/T/Y/L/Y

mcnees, to random
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Cemetery coyote lounging in the sun

image/jpeg

mcnees, to random
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

Pretty sure you aren’t supposed to advertise this.

mcnees, to random
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Presented without comment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/rfk-jr-brain-health-memory-loss.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qU0.HiQE.i7fZF-oqy297

mcnees, to random
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A thread about a great physicist and mentor, who I really looked up to.
https://mastodon.social/@mcnees/110305317960093816

mcnees, to random
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Getting my final exam ready for this Saturday.

mcnees,
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(Using XeLaTeX to inject some Star Wars ttf)

mcnees, to random
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Albert Einstein completed his dissertation “A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions” #OTD in 1905.

When he submitted it to the University of Zürich on July 20, his committee complained that it was a little short. It was only 21 pages long!

https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/bitstream/handle/20.500.11850/139872/eth-30378-01.pdf

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

Just to put this in context, Einstein completed his dissertation six weeks after submitting his photoelectric effect paper, and less than two weeks before he sent in his Brownian motion paper.

He then focused on special relativity in mid-May, and submitted that paper in late June.

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

Here is what Einstein's 1905 looked like:

March 17: Finish photoelectric effect paper

April 30: "Uh, I should probably finish my dissertation?"

May 11: Publish Brownian Motion paper

May: Finalize core ideas of special relativity

June 30: Publish 1st special relativity paper

September 27: Publish 2nd special relativity paper

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

@thomasfuchs How so? (I have no idea!)

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

In case anyone is wondering, the committee approved Einstein's dissertation.

mcnees,
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Anyway, today is the last day of April. Tick tock.

mcnees, (edited ) to random
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Pretty good flowers, imo. #bloomscrolling

mcnees, (edited )
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Cut back a tall stand of dead pampas grass and found this beauty. #bloomscrolling

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

(This is all my wife’s handiwork, restoring the previous owner’s once-lovely garden that had gone to seed.)

glennf, to random
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$2.6 trillion company, folks

Short movie showing a dialog in iOS that says Update Apple ID Settings. When the Continue button is tapped, a progress spinner appears, spins, and then disappears. Tapping Continue again does the same thing.

mcnees,
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

@glennf Weird. Wonder why it hit some but not others.

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