Chris Schaller
@hicommander.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1K following 970 posts
Software Developer, Planetary Image Research Lab, UArizona LPL - MRO/HiRISE & TGO/CaSSIS GDS - he/him/his.
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Reposted by Chris Schaller
taniel.bsky.social
JUST IN: The Republican Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska’s second biggest city, lost re-election last night to a Democrat.

Mayor David Pruhs is a conservative who fought protections for LGBTQ+ residents; he made comments this year drew condemnation this year from Alaska Natives. He lost to Mindy O'Neall.
Reposted by Chris Schaller
cheerfulgoth.bsky.social
she doesn't even know what a merge conflict is
Reposted by Chris Schaller
drskyskull.bsky.social
Yep. This. Machine learning “AI” has been around for a long time and the plagiarism machines are just one specific form. My computer uses “AI” for noise cancellation and it’s not recording all my conversations.
mostlybree.kitrocha.com
Like I'm sorry, but the AI weirdos have DELIBERATELY created this confusion 100% so they can capitalize on the assumptions people who don't understand the difference will make.

This was the endgame of all the AI bros! no one knowing the difference!

Sorry they created this mess BUT THEY DID!
Reposted by Chris Schaller
mostlybree.kitrocha.com
Like I'm sorry, but the AI weirdos have DELIBERATELY created this confusion 100% so they can capitalize on the assumptions people who don't understand the difference will make.

This was the endgame of all the AI bros! no one knowing the difference!

Sorry they created this mess BUT THEY DID!
hicommander.bsky.social
When we are unsure of the photometry, we try to bracket it with different slew rates on separate scans, which is what we did for comets ISON and Siding Spring.
hicommander.bsky.social
When we're not looking at Mars, we ask the spacecraft team to slew the s/c at a rate we choose based on our estimates of the photometry, and we match that slew rate.
hicommander.bsky.social
HiRISE has a programmable line time that we set to match the scan rate of the spacecraft. Looking at Mars, that essentially means the ground track speed.
hicommander.bsky.social
(Basically to slew TGO at the same rate of motion as the comet.)
hicommander.bsky.social
I wasn't involved in the design or acquisition of these images, but no, I don't think we got any color information. I understood the plan was to hold the PAN filter on the comet during the scan and then stack those framelets.
hicommander.bsky.social
We sure did! Congrats to the team who made this happen!
Reposted by Chris Schaller
bryantfrancis.me
This is an insane thing to write about game development. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/a...

Most experts acknowledge that a takeover by artificial intelligence is coming for the video game industry within the next five years, and executives have already started preparing to restructure their companies in anticipation.
After all, it was one of the first sectors to deploy A.I. programming in the 1980s, with the four ghosts who chase Pac-Man each responding differently to the player's real-time movements.
Reposted by Chris Schaller
modality.bsky.social
AI is two projects. The first is willfully degrading definitions to create a void of meaning (any algorithm is AI). The second is projecting propaganda into that void (AI can replace labor, is sentient).

This creates a space where you can claim "the Pac-Man ghosts are sentient" to sell products.
bryantfrancis.me
This is an insane thing to write about game development. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/a...

Most experts acknowledge that a takeover by artificial intelligence is coming for the video game industry within the next five years, and executives have already started preparing to restructure their companies in anticipation.
After all, it was one of the first sectors to deploy A.I. programming in the 1980s, with the four ghosts who chase Pac-Man each responding differently to the player's real-time movements.
hicommander.bsky.social
I regret that the "like" button does not have an extra-large mode for extremely emphatic agreement.
Reposted by Chris Schaller
michael-w-busch.bsky.social
For those unaware:

Mars orbiters have cameras designed to image a bright thing (Mars) that moves across the field of view very quickly.

Many of them use along-track scanners that only sample a narrow stripe of the image at once.

This limits their sensitivity and introduces particular artifacts.
Reposted by Chris Schaller
hicommander.bsky.social
Humans did this. People have been busting their asses, going from discovery to imaging with systems not designed for this in three months of solid work. It's been amazing work but stressful.
hicommander.bsky.social
Humans did this. People have been busting their asses, going from discovery to imaging with systems not designed for this in three months of solid work. It's been amazing work but stressful.
hicommander.bsky.social
CaSSIS got it! Push-frame for the win!
esa.int
☄️ 🔭 #3I/ATLAS comet update!

On 3 October, our ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) turned its eyes towards interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed close to Mars.

Read more: esa.int/Science_Expl...
Reposted by Chris Schaller
cajunblue.bsky.social
🚨 Rep. Jim McGovern attempted to swear in Adelita Grijalva, Rep Elect AZ-07, but they would NOT recognize him in the House. He has a candid reason as to why he thinks this happened. 1/2
Reposted by Chris Schaller
amyhoy.bsky.social
thanks to rep mcgovern. i do not have a voice in congress right now because republicans are engaged in a top to bottom betrayal of america.
cajunblue.bsky.social
🚨 Rep. Jim McGovern attempted to swear in Adelita Grijalva, Rep Elect AZ-07, but they would NOT recognize him in the House. He has a candid reason as to why he thinks this happened. 1/2
Reposted by Chris Schaller
timsteller.bsky.social
My colleague @preranawrites.bsky.social broke the news Sept. 28 that new-student enrollment dropped by 19 percent from last year to this year at the University of Arizona. (Apologies, I deleted these posts by accident earlier. )
tucson.com/news/local/s...
tucson.com
Reposted by Chris Schaller
democrats.org
It’s time to swear in Rep-elect Adelita Grijalva.
Graphic featuring Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, with the following text: 

"My constituents want me to get to work, but House Republicans are more concerned about protecting the Epstein files."

Rep-elect Adelita Grijalva
hicommander.bsky.social
My friend, I would like to encourage you to go get some ice cream. Also I'll take a mint chocolate chip, three scoops please.
Reposted by Chris Schaller
todlauer.bsky.social
The effort put into understanding 3I/Atlas has been spectacular, imaginative, professional and well-organized. Planetary scientists don't need Avi Loeb put in charge of an international directorate to tell them how to do their jobs.
Reposted by Chris Schaller
clairewillett.bsky.social
OH HELL NO
amandasmith.bsky.social
The all-knowing bsky mods gave Erin Biba a 24 hour suspension for a months-old skeet about Christian Zionism, and I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this happened when she’s been vocally criticizing Jay