🍁 Prof. Roasty Toasty Neilsen 🍗
@joeyneilsen.bsky.social
Black hole astrophysicist at Villanova. Formerly: MIT, Boston University, Harvard, Kenyon College | X-rays | husband | dad of 2 | cooking. He/him. Skeets are my own.
Pinned
Wow hi new followers! I’m a physics professor and I study black holes. I’m here to talk about teaching, science, marriage, parenting, cooking, dogs, politics, my crumbling old house. I heart dad jokes. Trans rights are human rights, Black Lives Matter, and I abhor violence.
Reposted by 🍁 Prof. Roasty Toasty Neilsen 🍗
tech bro: i have made Artificial General Intelligence
programmer: you fucked up a perfectly good calculator is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety
programmer: you fucked up a perfectly good calculator is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 5:12 PM
tech bro: i have made Artificial General Intelligence
programmer: you fucked up a perfectly good calculator is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety
programmer: you fucked up a perfectly good calculator is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety
What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss, Charlie Brown
We Thought You Was a Toad, Charlie Brown
Is it safe, Charlie Brown?
November 24, 2025 at 4:16 AM
What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss, Charlie Brown
I have eaten some really excellent turkey. I have cooked a couple turkeys that I wish I had cooked better.
It's like eating a piece of stale bread and saying "Ugh bread is awful." no it isnt. that isn't true.
It's like eating a piece of stale bread and saying "Ugh bread is awful." no it isnt. that isn't true.
my dad makes excellent turkey and taught me how to make excellent turkey, and my mother in law also makes excellent turkey, so I really do agree that this is a Skill Issue
I’ve blown a few turkey-hating minds with the Chinese-style Woks of Life turkey recipe with five spice and a honey glaze
I’ve blown a few turkey-hating minds with the Chinese-style Woks of Life turkey recipe with five spice and a honey glaze
I’ve won many bets by people who said that they hate turkey by serving them a brined spatchcocked turkey that’s cooked right.
November 24, 2025 at 3:09 AM
I have eaten some really excellent turkey. I have cooked a couple turkeys that I wish I had cooked better.
It's like eating a piece of stale bread and saying "Ugh bread is awful." no it isnt. that isn't true.
It's like eating a piece of stale bread and saying "Ugh bread is awful." no it isnt. that isn't true.
How do you like them apples, Charlie Brown?
We all float down here, Charlie Brown
Second prize is a set of steak knives, Charlie Brown
November 24, 2025 at 1:47 AM
How do you like them apples, Charlie Brown?
He’s doing it again (smoking salmon)
November 23, 2025 at 8:38 PM
He’s doing it again (smoking salmon)
Reposted by 🍁 Prof. Roasty Toasty Neilsen 🍗
Home Alone makes changes to the Die Hard formula that render it hard for me to enjoy. The McClain character should feel overawed. And in theory having Kevin be a child versus adults achieves that. But the thing is: Kevin is a god. It's not just Tom & Jerry. This is some random punks versus Anansi.
November 23, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Home Alone makes changes to the Die Hard formula that render it hard for me to enjoy. The McClain character should feel overawed. And in theory having Kevin be a child versus adults achieves that. But the thing is: Kevin is a god. It's not just Tom & Jerry. This is some random punks versus Anansi.
This isn't funny. Bald eagles only do this when they're extremely distressed.
A motorist in western North Carolina escaped injury when the carcass of a cat crashed into the passenger side of her front windshield along a highway near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. https://cnn.it/3JQU8cB
November 23, 2025 at 1:10 AM
This isn't funny. Bald eagles only do this when they're extremely distressed.
My wife teaches college writing and her explanation to her students is that the purpose of a writing assignment is to create *new* knowledge. LLMs, which generate text based entirely on existing sentences, are incapable of doing this in a meaningful way.
People learn through practice and challenge; not by receiving answers.
But a deeper problem is that an essential aspect of teaching is helping someone organize their thinking in new ways. LLMs — systems which cannot think or appreciate thinking — are incapable of doing this in a meaningful way.
But a deeper problem is that an essential aspect of teaching is helping someone organize their thinking in new ways. LLMs — systems which cannot think or appreciate thinking — are incapable of doing this in a meaningful way.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
My wife teaches college writing and her explanation to her students is that the purpose of a writing assignment is to create *new* knowledge. LLMs, which generate text based entirely on existing sentences, are incapable of doing this in a meaningful way.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 should have been called Ten Nights at Freddy’s. Missed opportunity tbqh
November 21, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 should have been called Ten Nights at Freddy’s. Missed opportunity tbqh
Reposted by 🍁 Prof. Roasty Toasty Neilsen 🍗
Neither undergrad nor graduate physics degrees are job-training programs, and that’s part of what makes them so valuable on the job market.
so yeah, your students should learn basic physics, not just what's immediately required for their specialty
November 20, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Neither undergrad nor graduate physics degrees are job-training programs, and that’s part of what makes them so valuable on the job market.
they say if you take 17 benadryl you start seeing his posts
welcome to bluesky. you can follow me, or my posts can follow you
November 21, 2025 at 2:02 AM
they say if you take 17 benadryl you start seeing his posts
Not even Joyce Carol Oates could burn this man as badly as he has burned himself here.
November 21, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Not even Joyce Carol Oates could burn this man as badly as he has burned himself here.
Change one letter and ruin a candy
Slickers
Slickers
change one letter and ruin a candy
Wounds
Wounds
change one letter and ruin a candy
Nards
Nards
November 20, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Change one letter and ruin a candy
Slickers
Slickers
Reposted by 🍁 Prof. Roasty Toasty Neilsen 🍗
If you get them talking about cheese too, you’ll end up in a wurst-käse scenario.
You ever talk to a German dude about sausages?
German dudes are extremely serious about sausages.
German dudes are extremely serious about sausages.
November 20, 2025 at 10:40 PM
If you get them talking about cheese too, you’ll end up in a wurst-käse scenario.
we can have a little bubble, as a treat
What if the A.I. bubble “is an inevitable part of developing and adopting a revolutionary tool that will fundamentally improve productivity and growth?” Mohamed El-Erian writes.
Opinion | A.I. Is a Bubble. Maybe That’s OK.
Investors’ excitement rightly reflects the potential transformation of the entire economy.
nyti.ms
November 20, 2025 at 6:41 PM
we can have a little bubble, as a treat
Not enough wizards to defend your castle from an onslaught of evil sorcerers? Problematic mage gap.
Angry person yelling at chill person who is responding by being calm, which makes the angry person even more mad? Problematic rage gap.
Prisoners keep escaping because you put the bars too far apart? Problematic cage gap.
November 19, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Not enough wizards to defend your castle from an onslaught of evil sorcerers? Problematic mage gap.
I wondered aloud about this in college and everybody stared at me like I was being weird.
First kiss dates back 21 million years, say scientists. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
First kiss dates back 21 million years, say scientists
A new study looks at how the mouth-on-mouth smooch came into being, and concludes that Neanderthals also kissed.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 4:28 AM
I wondered aloud about this in college and everybody stared at me like I was being weird.
Reposted by 🍁 Prof. Roasty Toasty Neilsen 🍗
Black hole secrets, won't you come
From the black hole Cygnus X-1 🎶
Black hole secrets, won't you come
won't you come 🎶
I'm gonna keep making this joke until somebody writes about my science news.
#PhysicsSky #SpaceSky 🧪🔭🌌 source.washu.edu/2025/11/a-ne...
From the black hole Cygnus X-1 🎶
Black hole secrets, won't you come
won't you come 🎶
I'm gonna keep making this joke until somebody writes about my science news.
#PhysicsSky #SpaceSky 🧪🔭🌌 source.washu.edu/2025/11/a-ne...
A new angle of study for unveiling black hole secrets
Physicists from Washington University in St. Louis share results from an international collaboration for measuring the hard X-ray polarization from the black hole Cygnus X-1.
source.washu.edu
November 18, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Black hole secrets, won't you come
From the black hole Cygnus X-1 🎶
Black hole secrets, won't you come
won't you come 🎶
I'm gonna keep making this joke until somebody writes about my science news.
#PhysicsSky #SpaceSky 🧪🔭🌌 source.washu.edu/2025/11/a-ne...
From the black hole Cygnus X-1 🎶
Black hole secrets, won't you come
won't you come 🎶
I'm gonna keep making this joke until somebody writes about my science news.
#PhysicsSky #SpaceSky 🧪🔭🌌 source.washu.edu/2025/11/a-ne...
Reposted by 🍁 Prof. Roasty Toasty Neilsen 🍗
"Microsoft warns that Windows 11's agentic AI could install malware on your PC: 'Only enable this feature if you understand the security implications.'"
bro what--
what are we doing here, exactly, how can you--anyone be okay with this?
bro what--
what are we doing here, exactly, how can you--anyone be okay with this?
November 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM
"Microsoft warns that Windows 11's agentic AI could install malware on your PC: 'Only enable this feature if you understand the security implications.'"
bro what--
what are we doing here, exactly, how can you--anyone be okay with this?
bro what--
what are we doing here, exactly, how can you--anyone be okay with this?
What if chatGPT was down EVERY day? Just saying…
November 18, 2025 at 3:51 PM
What if chatGPT was down EVERY day? Just saying…
Draft "discard" button getting a serious workout tonight.
November 18, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Draft "discard" button getting a serious workout tonight.
Unfortunately for them I am available exclusively outside Target stores.
Beginning Monday, a Frozen Peppermint Hot Chocolate drink will be available exclusively at Starbucks cafés inside Target stores.
The chains are hoping the drink can drum up excitement from customers this holiday season.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/yrshv45s
The chains are hoping the drink can drum up excitement from customers this holiday season.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/yrshv45s
November 18, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Unfortunately for them I am available exclusively outside Target stores.
"will be sold"
TO WHOM
TO WHOM
November 17, 2025 at 5:58 PM
"will be sold"
TO WHOM
TO WHOM
"No, I don't think there will be any more crusades after this."
"Why yes, I am pretty die hard, if you know what I mean."
“It’s you versus this volcano, Joe.”
November 17, 2025 at 1:22 AM
"No, I don't think there will be any more crusades after this."
Reposted by 🍁 Prof. Roasty Toasty Neilsen 🍗
Bsky hasn’t heard the story about the time that I was giving a virtual colloquium to the Aspen Center for Physics in September 2020 and Lawrence Krauss, Geoff Marcy, Christian Ott all attended as a group
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
November 16, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Bsky hasn’t heard the story about the time that I was giving a virtual colloquium to the Aspen Center for Physics in September 2020 and Lawrence Krauss, Geoff Marcy, Christian Ott all attended as a group
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭