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Jennifer Ouellette

@jenlucpiquant.bsky.social

28K followers 830 following 7.4K posts

I cover science and culture at Ars Technica. Former science editor, Gizmodo. Ex-vangelical. Rodeo fan. Married to @seanmcarroll, servant to two cats: Ariel and Caliban. Baltimore, MD. She/her.

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 27d

This Atlantic analysis echoes the long convo I had recently with a European researcher who maintains that social media cannot be fixed because the problem lies in its very infrastructure and human nature cannot deal with it. I increasingly think he is correct. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 1m

Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas www.propublica.org/article/elon...

Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Accused of Nearly 800 Environmental Violations on Las Vegas Project

Nevada could’ve fined the company more than $3 million, but regulators are seeking a reduced penalty of $242,800, citing an “extraordinary number of violations.”

www.propublica.org

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 30m

Former GOP Election Official Buys Election Machine Vendor That Trump Attacked After His 2020 Loss. Dominion Voting Systems is now Liberty Vote. gizmodo.com/former-gop-e...

Former GOP Election Official Buys Election Machine Vendor That Trump Attacked After His 2020 Loss

Dominion Voting Systems is now Liberty Vote.

gizmodo.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Ouellette

Isabel Köster @iotasubscript.bsky.social · 37m

Today I learned that the French equivalent of German’s eierlegende Wollmilchsau (lit. egg-laying wool-milk-sow,” your special unicorn all-in-one solution) is the mouton à cinq pattes (the 5-legged sheep). I love languages.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1h

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Matthew Wasserbach, brokerage manager of Express Customs Clearance, said of the UPS backlog. “It’s totally unprecedented.”

@cnbc.com $UPS
www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...

UPS is 'disposing of' U.S.-bound packages over customs paperwork problems

Shifting Trump tariffs have created a nightmare for UPS, as thousands of packages from overseas pile up at its hubs while they await customs clearance.

www.nbcnews.com

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 33m

Scientists Spot Two Black Holes Caught in a Deadly Orbital Dance for the First Time gizmodo.com/scientists-s...

Scientists Spot Two Black Holes Caught in a Deadly Orbital Dance for the First Time

The images of the two cosmic beasts, locked in orbit around each other, prove that such binary systems exist.

gizmodo.com

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Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 2h

“We should replace Bad Bunny with Lee Greenwood” is an also a perfect summation of the “deal” they’ve offered universities.

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 1h

This Is What Happens When You Listen to Too Much Jazz [SATIRE] "Get excited when, in the noise of the mall, you hear the perfect high-hat rhythm. Only to find that it’s coming from a coffee machine." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/thi...

This Is What Happens When You Listen to Too Much Jazz

Foot tapping (beats 2 and 4!). Head shaking (all beats, heavier on beats 2 and 4). Hand drumming on every surface—steering wheel, tables, grocery c...

www.mcsweeneys.net

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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 2d

This has nothing to do with crime. This is an attempt to crush political dissent.

Never before, in our entire 250 year history, has the military or immigration agents been used like this. It's dystopian, illegal, and it should stop.

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 2d

Strong truth here from @himself.bsky.social. Civil society has to get its act together and coordinate for the greater good, even if that's not its usual mode. Universities most especially.

Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d

"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.

www.nytimes.com

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 1d

Congrats to my friend and Hopkins colleague Hahrie Han for being selected as one of this year's MacArthur Fellows!

www.macfound.org/programs/awa...

MacArthur Fellows - MacArthur Foundation

The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, we work to ...

www.macfound.org

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 21h

ME: Now Mom, just remember, there's a lot of disinformation and AI in your social feed and your friends' Facebook.
MOM: I know! My friend sent me this crazy post where someone used AI to make an image of a giant frog fighting Army troops!
ME: ... okay, no, that one's ... goddamit, Portland.

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 1d

How Easter Island’s giant statues “walked” to their final platforms. It's basic pendulum physics, per new study. Workers with ropes could make the moai "walk" in zig-zag motion along roads tailor-made for the purpose. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

How Easter Island’s giant statues “walked” to their final platforms

Workers with ropes could make the moai “walk” in zig-zag motion along roads tailor-made for the purpose.

arstechnica.com

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2h

PRITZKER: "I genuinely think there is something wrong with him. I wish that his family would intervene, because I do think he needs mental health help."

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2h

JB Pritzker has also been emphatically placing Trump's mental decline squarely on the agenda. On our pod, he adds a new element: People around Trump are using his decline to manipulate him, so they're less likely to intervene. More Dems should say this. 1/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 2h

How Pedal Points and Eighth Notes Build a Sense of Impending Doom in the Opening Riff of ‘Crazy Train’ laughingsquid.com/ozzy-osbourn...

How Pedal Points and Eighth Notes Build a Sense of Impending Doom in the Opening Riff of 'Crazy Train'

12Tone dove deep into the Ozzy Osbourne song "Crazy Train", noting how the structure of the opening creates a sense of impending doom.

laughingsquid.com

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 2h

Birds Went Silent during the Great North American Eclipse—Here’s What Researchers Discovered www.scientificamerican.com/article/bird...

The Eclipse Turned Day to Night—And the Birds Went Quiet

The “Great North American Eclipse” of April 2024 was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study how birds and other wildlife respond to total solar eclipses

www.scientificamerican.com

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 2h

This Bat Recorded Itself Catching and Eating a Songbird in Midair www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...

Bat vs. Robin—Scientists Capture Real-Life Audio of Midair Hunt

Scientists suspected that Europe’s largest bats snack on migrating songbirds when they can, but a stunning newly published observation proves it

www.scientificamerican.com

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 2h

A private Christian university in Malibu has closed an exhibition six months ahead of schedule, following requests from at least a dozen artists to withdraw from the show after the school removed or altered art it considered “political.” hyperallergic.com/1048434/pepp...

California School Shutters Exhibition After Altering "Political" Art

Pepperdine University abruptly closed the show as at least a dozen artists asked to withdraw in protest of what they called an act of censorship.

hyperallergic.com

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Nicole "They call me Spooky. Spooky Mulder" Gugliucci @noisyastronomer.com · 2h

Heck yeaaaah

chira 🎋 @artofchira.bsky.social · Jun 2

the full production is available to view on archive.org

archive.org/details/xebp...

Great Performances - Much Ado About Nothing : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

For the first time in over four decades, Great Performances presents a Public Theater production recorded live at Free Shakespeare in the Park. After a highly...

archive.org

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 2h

New Frankenstein Spider Found in Thailand Is Half Male and Half Female www.discovermagazine.com/new-frankens...

New Frankenstein Spider Found in Thailand Is Half Male and Half Female

A newly discovered species, Damarchus inazuma, displays a rare split-sex trait known as gynandromorphism and takes its name from a shape-shifting anime character.

www.discovermagazine.com

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 2h

Childhood vaccines safe for a little longer as CDC cancels advisory meeting arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

Childhood vaccines safe for a little longer as CDC cancels advisory meeting

The committee aims to take on the entire childhood vaccine schedule.

arstechnica.com

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 2h

Machado is a good choice. She'll be controversial because she's in the fight, not above it. That makes this prize continuous with the 2021-3 streak of honoring opposition figures and dissidents rather than do-gooder organizations or already-powerful officials.