Stephen Ciatti, Ph.D.
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c-otr.bsky.social
Stephen Ciatti, Ph.D.
@c-otr.bsky.social
Research scientist, engineer, professor Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
“If someone arrives at a position via irrational means, you cannot get them to abandon that position via rational means. This is why con-artists are so powerful.”
Donald Trump - the English translation from Latin for “Butthurtius Maximus”…
May 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Just next-level unintentional comedy gold from the purchasing fool; “We expected that it would have the integrity of the president of the United States…” -my dude, it sure does! In every possible way, this POS watch reflects the POS in the Oval Office. Poor quality, tacky AF, and grossly overpriced.
May 15, 2025 at 1:56 AM
A 1-star review for Google Maps and the “Gulf of Toddler Tantrums” it is. What a farce.
February 12, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Almost inevitable. His metrics and eye test were poor for a large chunk of his Kraken tenure, especially this season. He seems like a great guy; I hope he succeeds wherever he goes! But the Kraken won’t pay $10.9M for goaltending to have 35 & 31 in net next year. Net belongs to 35 now.
January 29, 2025 at 10:21 PM
It’s a really HUGE top!! The spin is actually reasonably fast for an object this size. The precession angle is only 23 degrees or so.

Planets spin due to how they were formed. The process is really cool! And, no friction to slow down the spin.
January 14, 2025 at 11:26 PM
If earth rotated faster, we would have less wobble. The days would be shorter and the seasons less diverse. If earth rotated more slowly, the tilt angle would get larger, and seasons would vary even more noticeably. Don’t know if this explanation helps - it seemed to help my students. 😁
January 14, 2025 at 11:06 PM
If you think of it more like a spinning top, rather than as a ball, it starts to make more sense. If you pull the cord hard, the spinning top stays almost vertically upright. But as the rotational speed slows, it starts to precess, or wobble, a bit. That slight wobble is what gives us our seasons.
January 14, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Corruption knows no party boundaries. But the GOP incentivizes corruption at levels that are incredible! Billionaires have little incentive to hedge their bets anymore. What can Dems give them now that is better than what they have? Not much.
December 8, 2024 at 8:07 PM
The ultra wealthy certainly try to “reduce” the damage Dems can do - hence Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, et al. But it’s hedging. The GOP nakedly pursues oligarchy. No point in hedging anymore. The GOP controls enough now. No need to control Dems behind the scenes. Just support oligarchy.
December 8, 2024 at 8:07 PM
Of course - but that coincides with the GOP, not the Dems. These jokers don’t want Medicare for All, they don’t want unions, they don’t want higher taxes for more social services. What makes you think they support Dem social policies enough to exchange the financial benefits of GOP?
December 8, 2024 at 7:01 PM
A fairer system and Brian Thompson is still alive, just wealthy instead of fucking obscenely wealthy. He could’ve chosen a different path with lower profit margins. He didn’t choose that. He willfully chose obscene wealth. He got a different outcome. He is the victim of his own insatiable greed.
December 8, 2024 at 6:41 PM
She’s not right. Brian Thompson murdered thousands of people. No one cared. Not you, & not Joyce Carol Oates. He was held accountable for his murders in the only way left available to his victims. Avoid future CEO murders? Don’t incentivize massive profits over human suffering.
December 8, 2024 at 6:41 PM
Corporations will “hedge their bets” by supporting Dem candidates in clearly blue areas. But the execs that run those corporations are as “red” as red gets. They’re wealthy white guys that don’t give a shit about anyone else. It’s not some grand conspiracy. It’s pretty naked greed.
December 8, 2024 at 6:11 PM
I think you’re giving the wealthy more intellectual credit than they deserve. I’ve met several of these jackinapes. They aren’t that clever or that smart, collectively. Most are like Trump - nepo babies that didn’t earn a thing. Many of them are fascist leaning because it means “more for them”.
December 8, 2024 at 6:11 PM
Definitely. The obscenely wealthy control the GOP. They rely on the belligerently ignorant to give them carte blanch in the name of “freedumb”.
The Dems are too scattershot to be “controlled” which is likely why they have popular policies but lose elections.
Citizens United was deadly…
December 8, 2024 at 5:54 PM
Well, Brian Thompson was a murderer that didn’t need any guns to kill thousands of people. Just greed and power.
Gun law reform is needed. We won’t get it soon, but it’s needed.
Perversely, corp execs might tread a bit more lightly as a result. Their own power structure keeps the guns flowing.
December 8, 2024 at 5:24 PM
Yes. That’s exactly what will happen. This killing did not “solve” the fundamental problem. But it did get the attention of the parasites in a way that caused a slight change in behavior. They reacted. But genuine change needs to happen at the ballot box. We horrifically fucked that up a month ago.
December 8, 2024 at 5:15 PM
In the age of Trump, let me ask you. What’s your solution? Anything better than the platitude you posed? Trust the system? The current system is what PUT us here. Work to make the system better? Of course. Not easy, and going to get even harder now. A gun shouldn’t be the solution. But here we are.
December 8, 2024 at 4:40 PM