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alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend
@alantownsend.bsky.social
290 followers 120 following 14 posts
Scientist, author, intermittent skeptic, dodger of bears. THIS ORDINARY STARDUST from @GrandCentralPub. Rep: @annasproul https://www.alantownsend.info/
www.alantownsend.info
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Reposted by Alan Townsend
davidho.bsky.social
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Feb 26
I sometimes think about how the common ancestor of whales and humans crawled out of the ocean ~400 million years ago; but then ~50 million years ago, the whale ancestor said “screw this, we’re going back”.
An artist's impression of a Pakicetus, an early ancestor of the whale. It looks like a dog, with a long snout.
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alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · May 21
Come on now, who else is giving us the mash up of top shelf climate insight with love is blind. #legend
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Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · May 20
👇👇👇
annasplat.bsky.social
Anna Sproul-Latimer @annasplat.bsky.social · May 20
It’s really best to think of ChatGPT as your *most* fun high-IQ friend who has an intermittent mental problem at the intersection of factitiousness and psychopathy.
alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Apr 28
So enjoyed being part of the @latimes.com book festival. Brings me hope in a darker time to see so many people gather around the power of books and reading. Special thanks to @kategammon.bsky.social Susan Weiss Leibman and Lawrence Ingrassia for a great panel discussion. #latimesfob
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Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Jan 31
Good lord stop what you’re doing and read this right now.
annasplat.bsky.social
Anna Sproul-Latimer @annasplat.bsky.social · Jan 31
I was in New York when the crash happened this week, and I started writing this on the way back home, crossing over the 14th St. bridge in a cab.

neonliterary.substack.com/p/on-the-man...
On "The Man in the Water" and the value of writers
A parable in a plane crash.
neonliterary.substack.com
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alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Dec 19
Hey thanks so much. And for others, here’s one of the best essays on grief and hope and life I’ve read - written by Jacquelyn!
www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/250...
Grief Almanac For An Apocalypse
To live long enough in this world means to learn to nestle the twins of grief and hope in your arms. I tuck the bottle of fertility medication next to the black dress I bought for my mother’s funeral....
www.thesunmagazine.org
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alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Dec 19
Oh hell, no need but thank you! Just enjoyed reading thru your recs.
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Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Dec 18
Awesome, love it!
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Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Nov 17
The irony of posting this from my phone aside, this from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social is a dead on important read.
rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · Nov 17
You'll be shocked to hear I wrote a thing, and doubly shocked that it is not nice about Silicon Valley. www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
Turns out the zombie apocalypse isn’t as fun as they said it would be – Rebecca Solnit on our dangerously disconnected world
A population numbed, dazed, present-but-not-present – had it happened overnight it would be a sci-fi horror movie. And if you looked up from your phone for long enough, you might notice it’s started a...
www.theguardian.com
alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Nov 17
My bulldog has a keenly developed sense of irony.
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Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Nov 13
Excellent piece on higher ed - and our misplaced societal focus - by UM president Seth Bodnar. Proud to work here.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Our conversation about campuses is elitist and misleading. We can fix that.
The conversation has nothing to do with preparing our country to compete in the coming century, much less helping most of our young people get ready for it.
www.washingtonpost.com
alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Nov 9
This was not an average delivery tonight. Absolute floods of joy, pain, love and history in this one box.
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Reposted by Alan Townsend
edyong209.bsky.social
Ed Yong @edyong209.bsky.social · Nov 7
A reminder for Americans that the 5Calls app makes it trivially easy to call your representatives. I’ve been using it daily. 5calls.org
5 Calls
Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.
5calls.org
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Reposted by Alan Townsend
kemc.bsky.social
Kathleen McLaughlin @kemc.bsky.social · Oct 31
The laziest tendency, I think, of current US politics discourse is telling people who are harmed by political extremism to “just leave.” I took a road trip with Zooey Zephyr, who isn’t giving up on Montana but fighting back. Story out today in the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/world/2023/o...
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alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Oct 31
That’s it, I’m hanging up writing. This from Rae Hodge can’t be topped.
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Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Oct 30
Authors (current and hopeful), this newsletter from Anna Sproul-Latimer at Neon Literary is a terrific resource, and often highly entertaining to boot. Check it out.
neonliterary.com/glow
How to Glow in the Dark — Neon Literary
neonliterary.com
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alantownsend.bsky.social
Alan Townsend @alantownsend.bsky.social · Oct 19
Pre-orders of THIS ORDINARY STARDUST now available. This project has been a labor of many emotions, and the most important one of my life. Excited to share it with the world. #authors
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alan-...
This Ordinary Stardust
A compassionate, vulnerable, and transformative exploration of the nurturing and spiritual power of scientific wonder, as illuminated through the tragic dual...
www.hachettebookgroup.com
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