Author | Lightnews

Matt Austern

@austern.bsky.social

340 followers 330 following 270 posts

Computer programmer, ex-physicist, husband and father, reader. I live in Palo Alto and work at Google, where my focus is large scale data. Interested in various things, including science, food and wine, science fiction, politics, and cute cat pictures.

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks! Maybe easier, depending on our plans.

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 2d

It's a lot of fun! It's also a quick read; it's novella length.

The only problem is that after you read it you'll want to eat biang biang noodles, and I think the closest restaurant to me that makes them is in Millbrae.

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 2d

My October reading list:
Charles Dickens, Bleak House
E. W. Horning, The Black Mask
Annalee Newitz, Automatic Noodle
Dashiell Hammett, The Dain Curse
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Commedia della Morte
Robert Jackson Bennett, A Drop of Corruption
Aristophanes, The Acharnians (tr. Douglass Parker)

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 3d

Problem 3: it takes constant fuel to keep something big in low Earth orbit because of atmospheric drag.

Problem 4: bandwidth. You can't string optical fiber from orbit.

Problem 5: latency.

Yes, you're right: it's a dumb idea.

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 16d

Their mistake was thinking that fretting was enough. They failed to write a constitution that prevented the rise of parties, and they failed to write a constitution that would function well in the presence of parties. Later democracies learned from their mistakes and did better.

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 16d

I printed exactly the JPG that I attached here. (The photo is from Wikipedia.)

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 16d

The sign I carried at today's #NoKings protest.

A black background. On the left the words "DISOBEY ILLEGAL ORDERS" in pale blue and on the right a black-and-white photograph of Nuremberg defendants in the dock, surrounded by Allied troops.

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 16d

What I think I've learned:
- The assessor is in charge of running a specialized technical bureau, not setting policy.
- Two of the candidates, Neysa Fligor and Yan Zhao, are qualified for a job in this field.

I voted for Fligor, who has more experience in this role, but Zhao looks good too.

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 18d

I think of it as my "I don't believe in unilateral disarmament" vote.

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 20d

That's not exactly an example of updating something for 21st century sensibilities. It was released as _And Then There Were None_ in the first US edition, in 1940. (The 1939 UK edition did have the unfortunate title.)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_The...

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 21d

I couldn't find a restaurant with that name in Mountain View, I'm afraid. Do you happen to have an address or URL?

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 21d

Just finished reading @annaleen.bsky.social's _Automatic Noodle_, which I liked a lot.

Now the only problem is that I need to eat hot oil biang biang noodles. Any advice on a good place near Palo Alto or Mountain View?

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 24d

What's wrong with them? I've never had trouble finding bike parking at a TJ's.

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 26d

The candidates are Yan Zhao, Neysa Fligor, Bryan Do, and Rishi Kumar, in case anyone has comments about any of them.

#PaloAlto #SantaClaraCounty

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · 26d

California has a special election on November 4. I already know how I'll vote on Proposition 50 (temporary redistricting changes) and Measure A (county sales tax increase), but I know nothing about the third thing on the ballot: Santa Clara County Assessor.

Any advice on where to learn more?

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · Oct 3

Someone who *really* loved the speed of light would presumably have used the exact value, 299792.458.

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · Oct 3

My September reading list (2/2):
…
• Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy
• Janelle Shane, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You
• E. W. Horning, The Amateur Cracksman
• Isaac Fellman, Notes from a Regicide

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · Oct 3

My September reading list (1/2):
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote (tr. Edith Grossman)
• Jack Schaefer, Shane
• Charlie Jane Anders, Lessons in Magic and Disaster
• Agatha Christie, Evil Under the Sun
…

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Reposted by Matt Austern

Michan Connor @michanconnor.bsky.social · Oct 2

This is amazing. I knew that Goodall thought the cartoon was funny but I didn’t know she brought Larson to Tanzania to get his ass kicked by a chimpanzee.

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · Oct 2

Gary Larson actually visited Jane Goodall in Tanzania and got attacked by a famously belligerent chimp named Frodo:

www.cracked.com/article_4363...

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · Sep 27

And I'm looking forward to all three Shakespeares, but I'm still sorry to see no Antony and Cleopatra. Jessika Williams was a terrific Mark Antony in this year's excellent Julius Caesar, and it would've been fun to see her playing Antony again in a very different play.

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · Sep 27

Yellow Face is by David Henry Hwang, and it sounds like it's slightly meta and slightly autobiographical. It's unrelated to the R. F. Kuang book with a similar name.

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · Sep 27

…
You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! 
August Wilson’s King Hedley II 
Smote This, A Comedy About God...and Other Serious $H*T
The Taming of the Shrew 
Henry IV, Part One
Emma

Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · Sep 27

OSF announced the 2026 season a few months ago, but I didn't notice the announcement until today:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream 
Come From Away 
A Raisin in the Sun
Yellow Face 
…

Reposted by Matt Austern

Elizabeth Bear @matociquala.bsky.social · Sep 26

Happy Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov Saves the World Day, everybody.

42 years ago today, Lt. Col. Petrov prevented an accidental nuclear war.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisl...

Stanislav Petrov - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Matt Austern @austern.bsky.social · Sep 24

I think it might actually be Usenet.