Dr. SkySkull
@drskyskull.bsky.social
15K followers 4.9K following 22K posts
Professor of optics, blogger of physics, history, & pulp fiction. Generally tries to keep things light-hearted, in spite of *waves hands at everything* (he/him) blog: https://skullsinthestars.com/
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drskyskull.bsky.social
It seems like my last introductory pinned post disappeared, so: I’m a full professor of physics, specifically theoretical optics, who also like horror fiction, guitar, RPGs, videogames, and cats. Written a couple pf popular science books. Spends more time than is healthy worrying about politics.
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
rockshrimp.bsky.social
one thing I learned during 2020 is that "less than lethal" munitions are explicitly designed to be shot into the ground so they lose velocity and bounce up into people and the reason I didn't know that before is literally NO ONE has ever deployed them that way.
jackjenkins.me
Reporter's notebook: I actually began working on this story shortly after footage of the incident showed up last month.

But by the time I finally got ahold of folks, the story grew: 2 *other* faith leaders I spoke with *also* reported being shot w/pepper balls while protesting this ICE facility.
jackjenkins.me
Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
yasharali.bsky.social
BREAKING

In a new video, Dolly Parton, the Queen of America, says she’s going to be ok.
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
TONIGHT (and especially for followers outside of NYC who want to get involved):

Join @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social on a special phonebank at 6pm!

Sign up: volunteer.zohranfornyc.com/phonebank-fo...
A graphic with a photo of Brennan Lee Mulligan that says "Phone Bank with Zohran, Wednesday, October 8th at 6pm."
drskyskull.bsky.social
Book 8 for #SpookyBookSeason: The Sea of Ash, by Scott Thomas! A delightfully strange tale about a man retracing the steps of a century old supernatural investigation and finding himself drawn into really weird supernatural peril. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
The Sea of Ash
Check out The Sea of Ash on Bookshop.org US!
bookshop.org
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
evilgalprods.bsky.social
"communist clergy" ok there big word guy, next let's find out what they *mean*
bill-of-lefts.bsky.social
I think there are still shared norms we can appeal to when we talk to the marginal MAGA voter. But there really are no shared norms left with the core of the movement.
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
molcher.bsky.social
"I use it, it's just a tool like Photoshop," is the refrain from people I know that has me biting virtually clean through my tongue.

No. It's emptying you.
meemalee.bsky.social
Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI
"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat.
People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via AI video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people." - author and filmmaker Justine Bateman from a piece by Emine Saner for the Guardian
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
bethanyblack.bsky.social
If anyone’s struggled to keep up with my threads on why the genAI bubble
Is a bubble, here’s a simplified pictorial explanation, the plug is OpenAI and the sockets are Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, Nvidia, and AMD
A power strip with the plug end plugged in to one of the sockets
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
bencollins.bsky.social
The most important political thread of our time.
veryimportant.lawyer
working on a new unified theory of american reality i'm calling "everyone is twelve now"
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
mmasnick.bsky.social
👀
kyledcheney.bsky.social
JUST IN: A federal judge has granted the New York Times’ demand for a list of Elon Musk’s security clearances. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
keithwdickinson.bsky.social
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
drskyskull.bsky.social
Debating whether I have time later to photoshop a "The Fascist in the Cupboard" movie poster
drskyskull.bsky.social
Remember folks Stephen Miller won't see your jokes and manipulated images mocking his height but if we try really hard maybe we can get them in front of him
drskyskull.bsky.social
Photo is almost certainly altered but hey I'm perfectly fine mocking him anyway
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
abtnatural.bsky.social
Here's the original photo, taken on October 20, 2020 by Andrew Harnik. Miller looks taller, but that was about 20,000 fascist-utterances / thousandth-inches ago, so the math checks out.
conchovalleyhomepage.com/wp-content/u...
www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/house-j...
Reposted by Dr. SkySkull
burghpunk.bsky.social
He’s just explaining that she needs to correctly guess his name in exchange for teaching her how to spin straw into gold
drskyskull.bsky.social
The Incredible Shrinking Klan
Miller photo again
drskyskull.bsky.social
(Also I’m 5’6” so I’m used to short jokes.)
drskyskull.bsky.social
(This photo was shared on Threads by Isaiah Martin. Is it manipulated? I have no idea. It’s like JD couch fucking though - it’s more about showing utter disrespect than actually making some sort of argument.)
drskyskull.bsky.social
“How about going out with me? I’m small enough to fit in those tight corners.”
Miller talking to woman, again
drskyskull.bsky.social
“Oompa loompa doo biddy doo. How about a dinner for two?”
Miller talking to a woman
drskyskull.bsky.social
“They didn’t even try to lift Dorothy’s house off of her. It’s like they didn’t care.”
Lollipop Guild member Miller talking to a woman