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Dr Joanne Williams

@jowilliams.bsky.social

4K followers 880 following 7.6K posts

Sea-level and tidal scientist. Liverpool, UK. Opinions own!

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · Aug 30

Hooray, an @xkcd.com about tides! Although only little ones, round here we can get a tidal range of 10 *metres* .

xkcd.com/3135/

[Single frame, with Megan and Cueball standing at a coastline with grass, with water and waves visible. They are looking at the ocean and are standing together.]

Cueball: Hey, where's that big island we were looking at this morning?
Megan: Oh, it's underwater. The ocean's depth here goes up and down by like ten feet every day.
Cueball: What?
Megan: It's because the planet has a big moon orbiting near the surface. It causes weird gravity effects.
Cueball: What???

[Caption below the frame:]
People here are used to them, but tides are one of the weirdest and most sci-fi elements of life on Earth.

Transcript thanks to explainxkcd

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 3h

Nice. He was great on cbbc*, really pleased he's getting prime time.
*the format was take a group of kids for a local walk and show them all the cool stuff on the way, geography, history, critters, one of those demos of great parenting/teaching.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 6h

Oh, weren't you invited? Third Wednesday in the month at the community centre, 8pm after the yoga.

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 6h

Yeah, seeen this in a couple of productions now. Women can sometimes hide the mic in the fringe but it's harsh on a bloke with a receding hairline.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 11h

Exactly. They got the not-FPTP referendum they wanted, but by then it was too late.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 11h

Strange to think how different things might have been if the LD king-makers had chosen coalition with Labour rather than Tory in 2010. It would have been a tight house, but they might have won a PR referendum if the left hadn't seen it as betrayal. Every parliament since would have looked different.

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 17h

Nice. You can hear the chair scrape as he turns.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Well done. Enjoy the feeling of relief that the Lurk Job is done.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

If it were it's a disgusted letter to the editor and resubmit elsewhere.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Deep breath. And on Monday, ask a friendly colleague to review it and work out the way forward, whether to cut losses, rewrite or appeal. Good luck!

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

bsky.app/profile/adap... if you want Florence....

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · Jan 28

In my earlier post on Clarice Orsini’s *extremely illegal* hat, I stressed how vital it was for Medici men like her husband Lorenzo to perform humility. Florence had killed/expelled its nobles, it was a merchant republic and demanded merchant dress & merchant comportment. https://buff.ly/3EeZ2N8 7/?

Ada Palmer (@adapalmer.bsky.social)

Lorenzo de Medici, her husband, was merchant scum. All Florentines had to be merchant scum, it was mandatory. After many civil wars & watching neighbors fall to conquerors, the Florentine Republic…

bsky.app

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Sorry John! Bad week & grumpy morning. Time to log off and cheer up.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

I got an absolute pile-on over there just for a passing comment on covid vax (mUrDeReR). It was scary, tbh. The only way to stop it was to lock the account making it useless. Even if were still an effective place to communicate science, I am at no obligation to put myself at risk for that.

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Exactly. I did click through, wondering if it would include anything about the abuse and way that some groups have been driven from X longer (see eg reporting by Sunder Katwala). It's just frustrating to keep reading "were we wrong to leave an abusive environment?"

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Do your trees have fairy house numbers? These little metal plates are often found on the finest old trees most favoured by fairies.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, I read it. But the question in your post implies you doubt yourself.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

🙄 still rehashing this? 2 years since moving here now, and it wasn't due to political anything or reach. It's that I felt at personal risk posting on a site where there was no effective means to block abuse. That's only got worse by all accounts. It stayed safe for white men a bit longer.

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

In "feck the world is BIG" news it's ~1000km from the tip of Chile to Antarctic peninsula.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Him or your hand tho

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Back of envelope speed = sqrt(gh)=(sqrt(10m/s^2 *4000m) = 200m/s 450mph) that should be reaching the first few gauges on Chile / Antarctic peninsula ~ 1 hour after event. Nothing obvious yet www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org/map.php

SEA LEVEL STATION MONITORING FACILITY

www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 1d

What a beauty. Apparently it's been a good year for them.

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 2d

How much is really due to under-resourcing of councils and other public services?

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 2d

OK OK OK I've booked it. Both flu & covid, and the local pharmacy had plenty of slots available.

(Thanks for the shove Christina it's been on the lurking to-do list.)

Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 2d

Lessons covered comparative manifestos, and polled agreement on policy rather than parties. And discussed propaganda and ability to follow through in practice. The kids get it.
Frankly I'd rather they voted than many of their parents.

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 2d

I'm really encouraged about the 16yr olds. Teen says now when they talk about democracy in PSHE lessons in school, it now seems really relevant, because they'd be eligible to vote. So they pay more attention.

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Dr Joanne Williams @jowilliams.bsky.social · 2d

😅