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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · 2d

I made a thing.

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · 8d

Surprised that Taylor needs to promote her latest with an A4 poster at the Imperial College elevators (lifts).

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · 8d

Last year was a sabbatical, so today I’ve got my first proper teaching in a full year and a half — a two-hour lecture to start my Information Theory course.

Feeling a bit nervous!

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · 10d

Not a Number

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · 14d

R.I.P. George Smoot, experimental cosmologist, Nobel prize winner and one of the discoverers of primordial fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, a colleague and mentor back when I was a postdoc in Berkeley, always curious and enthusiastic.

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · 19d

macOS Tahoe/Safari complaint: in sidebar showing Tab Groups, current group shows tab list as if the disclosure triangle clicked.

Bad enough. But worse: old group in the sidebar stays open even when I click to a new one!

This seems so wrong that there must be a setting — but I couldn’t find it.

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · 25d

This seems like a whole mess of bugs. (Trying to update to macOS 26 Tahoe. Perhaps this is telling me it’s a bad idea?…)

> `PASSWORD_ALERT_TITLE_WITH_USERNAME_OSX_REBRAND_SERVICE_ICLOUD`

> `PASSWORD_ALERT_MESSAGE_WITH_USERNAME_OSX_REBRAND`

> `FOL... https://andrewjaffe.net/microblog/2025/09/1062/

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · 29d

Yesterday, someone walked into the café I was sitting in wearing a Primitives t-shirt. Today, their wonderful “Crash” came on my random streaming mix, so it seems appropriate to share one of the great pop songs of all time.

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Sep 8

The amazing Lisa Lucas’ latest for the NY Times, on hunting the autumn leaves in Japan — 3 Days of ‘Momijigari’: Experiencing Japan’s Fiery Autumnal Foliage.

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Sep 7

You can pre-order The Random Universe, get a 7% discount, and support local bookstores, all at the same time.

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Sep 2

Quarter of schools in England lack a physics teacher, analysis finds – The Guardian

Quarter of schools in England lack a physics teacher, analysis finds — The Guardian

Institute of Physics says ‘critical’ shortage means 700,000 pupils are deprived of a subject specialist

apple.news

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Aug 21

Back — home — to London after 386 days away.

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Aug 19

A highlight of our road trip through Western Europe has been my daughters singing along to Lucinda Williams’ “Car Wheels on a gravel Road”, the Mekons’ version of “Wild and Blue”, and Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” as well as songs from “Hamilton” (along with, yes, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran).

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Aug 16

Spent the night with the family in the Frassenhütte at the top of an Austrian Alp…

… followed by our trek down the mountain in pouring rain, hail, thunder and lightning (and inappropriate clothing).

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Aug 16

Spent the night with the family in the Frassenhütte at the top of an Austrian Alp.

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Aug 6

Cornhole is “American pétanque”.

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Aug 3

Ulysses for longer things. Obsidian and apple notes for notes. MarsEdit for blogging from my Mac. Trying out @scripting.com’s Wordland. Plain text editors for LaTeX technical writing.

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 31

We left our home in London exactly a year ago for my sabbatical abroad. After stops in Japan & New York, tomorrow we depart from our last long-term stop — a temporary but already much-loved home — in Leiden, the Netherlands, with still a few weeks to go before our final return.

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 30

Congratulations to Imperial’s Professor Michele Dougherty, the UK’s new Astronomer Royal!

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 28

15% still seems like a lot.

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 22

youtube.com/shorts/z1QJ4...

The Random Universe by Andrew H. Jaffe

YouTube video by Yale Press

youtube.com

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 18

@ppfideas.bsky.social

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 18

. @ppfideas.bsky.social Thanks to the Past Present Future podcast episodes on the American Revolution, trial of Charles I & English Revolution, I finally understand the American Revolution against the tyranny of the King despite the British constitution’s weak monarch and strong Parliament.

Past Present Future podcast

Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.

www.ppfideas.com

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Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 18

. @ppfideas.bsky.social Thanks to the Past Present Future podcast episodes on the American Revolution, trial of Charles I & English Revolution, I finally understand the American Revolution against the tyranny of the King despite the British constitution’s weak monarch and strong Parliament.

Past Present Future podcast

Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.

www.ppfideas.com

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 17

The latest from Lisa Lucas at the Guardian! Freewheeling family fun in the Netherlands: a cycling and camping trip along the Maas river. With special guests!

Freewheeling family fun in the Netherlands: a cycling and camping trip along the Maas river

The Maasroute is the ideal entry-level, multiday bike trip for young children – flat with plenty of riverside cafes, family-friendly campsites and ice-cream stops en route

www.theguardian.com

Andrew Jaffe @defjaf.bsky.social · Jul 12

U.S. abandons hunt for signal of cosmic inflation | Science | AAAS

Now-canceled CMB-S4 project would have searched the afterglow of the Big Bang for signs of cosmic exponential growth spurt.