Robert McNees
@mcnees.bsky.social
Physicist and Professor at a university in Chicago. Black holes, quantum gravity, cosmology. Rocky Top. Tar Heel. Reposts are spooky action at a distance. My views, not my employer's. https://jacobi.luc.edu
Pinned
Robert McNees
@mcnees.bsky.social
· Nov 9
Probably the best thing I ever posted on that other site, wish I could permanently transplant it to my timeline here.
Or he was shown the door after the Tahoe debacle.
December 4, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Or he was shown the door after the Tahoe debacle.
If you choose a good password on the LL Bean website they rate it as Wicked Strong.
December 4, 2025 at 2:48 AM
If you choose a good password on the LL Bean website they rate it as Wicked Strong.
Our long national nightmare of not enough papers by me on the arXiv is finally over. 🧪 ⚛️
(Anti)-de Sitter with leaky boundaries and corners
We construct charges for four-dimensional spacetimes with a non-vanishing cosmological constant, including charges that are not conserved because of a leaky boundary and charges associated with corner...
arxiv.org
December 4, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Our long national nightmare of not enough papers by me on the arXiv is finally over. 🧪 ⚛️
Traffic laws and norms of driving basically no longer exist outside of automated enforcement and parking tickets. I am not exaggerating or making a joke. Post pandemic, there are no longer constraints on how people use the road.
December 3, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Traffic laws and norms of driving basically no longer exist outside of automated enforcement and parking tickets. I am not exaggerating or making a joke. Post pandemic, there are no longer constraints on how people use the road.
I was just spitballing numbers when I made the point below, but after tonight not even a +15 district looks safe.
If I was a GOP strategist, I’d be pretty worried about diluting my safe +15 districts into a bunch of +5 gerrymandered districts after tonight.
December 3, 2025 at 6:16 AM
I was just spitballing numbers when I made the point below, but after tonight not even a +15 district looks safe.
I will say this for Kentucky: I don’t think I’ve seen them argue a single call tonight. Makes them easy to like even when I’m pulling against them.
December 3, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I will say this for Kentucky: I don’t think I’ve seen them argue a single call tonight. Makes them easy to like even when I’m pulling against them.
So if I'm understanding this correctly, the GOP went to the mattresses in one of the reddest states in the country and after pulling out all the stops they managed to limit the Dem swing to just 15 or 16 points?
December 3, 2025 at 3:04 AM
So if I'm understanding this correctly, the GOP went to the mattresses in one of the reddest states in the country and after pulling out all the stops they managed to limit the Dem swing to just 15 or 16 points?
Just found a bottle of fennel seed in our spice cabinet with "Best By Mar 02 13" stamped on the bottom.
December 3, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Just found a bottle of fennel seed in our spice cabinet with "Best By Mar 02 13" stamped on the bottom.
[Aimee Mann running low on gummy bears]
<plink plink plink plink>
One
is the loneliest number of
gummy bears
Two
can be as bad as one
it’s the second worst number of
gummy bears
<plink plink plink plink>
One
is the loneliest number of
gummy bears
Two
can be as bad as one
it’s the second worst number of
gummy bears
December 2, 2025 at 10:10 PM
[Aimee Mann running low on gummy bears]
<plink plink plink plink>
One
is the loneliest number of
gummy bears
Two
can be as bad as one
it’s the second worst number of
gummy bears
<plink plink plink plink>
One
is the loneliest number of
gummy bears
Two
can be as bad as one
it’s the second worst number of
gummy bears
*new paper submitted*
December 2, 2025 at 8:45 PM
*new paper submitted*
By the way, the Environmental Protection Agency was established #OTD in 1970 with strong (by today’s standards) bipartisan support.
This year it was hit with multiple rounds of layoffs – especially scientific staff – the current administration's attempt to functionally dismantle it.
This year it was hit with multiple rounds of layoffs – especially scientific staff – the current administration's attempt to functionally dismantle it.
I’m no expert, but I’ve seen this paper described as an important justification for claims about the safety of Roundup. And now it has been retracted by the journal it appeared in. 🧪
RETRACTED: Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of the Herbicide Roundup and Its Active Ingredient, Glyphosate, for Humans
This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy)This article has b…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:08 PM
By the way, the Environmental Protection Agency was established #OTD in 1970 with strong (by today’s standards) bipartisan support.
This year it was hit with multiple rounds of layoffs – especially scientific staff – the current administration's attempt to functionally dismantle it.
This year it was hit with multiple rounds of layoffs – especially scientific staff – the current administration's attempt to functionally dismantle it.
The highlighted passage is a very NYT way of saying “lying in the newspaper to own the libs.”
For my part, I would say that questioning the framing of some Times stories—for example, the highlighting of Trump’s putative emotions or the foregrounding of what he says (even when, as is often the case, what he says is false)—is not an indication that I want my “views validated.”
December 2, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The highlighted passage is a very NYT way of saying “lying in the newspaper to own the libs.”
This has been one of the main references used in regulatory findings about Roundup for 25 years.
The EPA (which recently went through multiple rounds of cuts to scientific staff) has to release its updated decision on the safety of glyphosate sometime next year.
The EPA (which recently went through multiple rounds of cuts to scientific staff) has to release its updated decision on the safety of glyphosate sometime next year.
I’m no expert, but I’ve seen this paper described as an important justification for claims about the safety of Roundup. And now it has been retracted by the journal it appeared in. 🧪
RETRACTED: Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of the Herbicide Roundup and Its Active Ingredient, Glyphosate, for Humans
This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy)This article has b…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:49 AM
This has been one of the main references used in regulatory findings about Roundup for 25 years.
The EPA (which recently went through multiple rounds of cuts to scientific staff) has to release its updated decision on the safety of glyphosate sometime next year.
The EPA (which recently went through multiple rounds of cuts to scientific staff) has to release its updated decision on the safety of glyphosate sometime next year.
I’m no expert, but I’ve seen this paper described as an important justification for claims about the safety of Roundup. And now it has been retracted by the journal it appeared in. 🧪
RETRACTED: Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of the Herbicide Roundup and Its Active Ingredient, Glyphosate, for Humans
This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy)This article has b…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:38 AM
I’m no expert, but I’ve seen this paper described as an important justification for claims about the safety of Roundup. And now it has been retracted by the journal it appeared in. 🧪
This is a video about the folks who designed the macOS Tahoe UI.
The Most Unsatisfying Video in the World ever made
YouTube video by Luksan Wunder
youtu.be
December 2, 2025 at 4:59 AM
This is a video about the folks who designed the macOS Tahoe UI.
AFAICT this has only been announced on Facebook, but The 400 Theater here in Rogers Park is going to reopen. It was just leased by a guy who has been revitalizing historic theaters in Michigan.
My daughter's first trip to the movies was at The 400. It is a neighborhood treasure. This is great.
My daughter's first trip to the movies was at The 400. It is a neighborhood treasure. This is great.
December 1, 2025 at 11:08 PM
AFAICT this has only been announced on Facebook, but The 400 Theater here in Rogers Park is going to reopen. It was just leased by a guy who has been revitalizing historic theaters in Michigan.
My daughter's first trip to the movies was at The 400. It is a neighborhood treasure. This is great.
My daughter's first trip to the movies was at The 400. It is a neighborhood treasure. This is great.
There needs to be a fourth option that 59 people can click.
December 1, 2025 at 9:23 PM
There needs to be a fourth option that 59 people can click.
[Wonder Years narrator voice]
… and that snow golem watched over our house for the rest of the winter. Or maybe she was just watching us, it’s hard to say. But she was always there, watching. The neighbors never did find their cat.
… and that snow golem watched over our house for the rest of the winter. Or maybe she was just watching us, it’s hard to say. But she was always there, watching. The neighbors never did find their cat.
December 1, 2025 at 8:57 PM
[Wonder Years narrator voice]
… and that snow golem watched over our house for the rest of the winter. Or maybe she was just watching us, it’s hard to say. But she was always there, watching. The neighbors never did find their cat.
… and that snow golem watched over our house for the rest of the winter. Or maybe she was just watching us, it’s hard to say. But she was always there, watching. The neighbors never did find their cat.
Reposted by Robert McNees
I submitted a rec yesterday where I had to select Yes/No from a dropdown labeled "Do you decline to provide a referral for this candidate?"
December 1, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I submitted a rec yesterday where I had to select Yes/No from a dropdown labeled "Do you decline to provide a referral for this candidate?"
If you are on a graduate admissions committee (or any admissions committee) and your web interface for applicants and/or recommenders has text boxes with a character limit, please, for the love of God, make sure the software offers a visible character counter.
December 1, 2025 at 6:58 PM
If you are on a graduate admissions committee (or any admissions committee) and your web interface for applicants and/or recommenders has text boxes with a character limit, please, for the love of God, make sure the software offers a visible character counter.
Reposting this and temporarily lifting my ban on Tom Lehrer references. You may make one (1) Tom Lehrer reference, in memoriam.
The mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky was born #OTD in 1792. He developed a non-Euclidean geometry that shows up in areas ranging from relativity to the designs of M.C. Escher. (1/n) 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭
Portrait: Lev Kryukov (wikimedia)
Portrait: Lev Kryukov (wikimedia)
December 1, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposting this and temporarily lifting my ban on Tom Lehrer references. You may make one (1) Tom Lehrer reference, in memoriam.
Reposted by Robert McNees
The mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky was born #OTD in 1792. He developed a non-Euclidean geometry that shows up in areas ranging from relativity to the designs of M.C. Escher. (1/n) 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭
Portrait: Lev Kryukov (wikimedia)
Portrait: Lev Kryukov (wikimedia)
December 1, 2024 at 10:31 PM
The mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky was born #OTD in 1792. He developed a non-Euclidean geometry that shows up in areas ranging from relativity to the designs of M.C. Escher. (1/n) 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭
Portrait: Lev Kryukov (wikimedia)
Portrait: Lev Kryukov (wikimedia)
I named my fists D'Eath and Payne because you're about to experience an axisymmetric collision at the speed of light.
December 1, 2025 at 3:30 PM
I named my fists D'Eath and Payne because you're about to experience an axisymmetric collision at the speed of light.