Patchen Barss
@patchenbarss.bsky.social
1.4K followers 800 following 1.1K posts
Journalist and author. Science, mathematics, emerging ideas. “The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius” available here: https://shorturl.at/ixUY9
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patchenbarss.bsky.social
Jobs, gigs, laughs. Been a while, but there have been good things.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Too many times to count. I wish I had an editor to go over this response before I post it.
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself
blipstress.bsky.social
An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.
Reposted by Patchen Barss
cathrinmachin.bsky.social
Can you help?… I’m trying to find my people

I know there’s more space fans here… just not sure how to reach you

Feels weird to ask, but would you give me a signal boost by hitting share?

If you’re new… Hi I’m Cat, I make pretty picture of space 🥹 let’s connect if you like weird space art
Woman standing next to large artwork on an easel. The painting is of a wormhole with gravitational lensing that shows stars and galaxies are warped around a central point.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Thanks for giving me this vocabulary — armed with the right term, I've now found a wealth of analysis and tips on static characters. Mightily useful.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Question about fiction from a non-fiction writer: I'm trying to think of protagonists who do not have a character arc, who end their story the same as they began. My one candidate: Ferris Bueller, who catalyzes change in others, but does not himself evolve or grow. Any others you can think of?
patchenbarss.bsky.social
If you missed this story on quasicrystals - the platypuses of materials - in Quanta a few weeks ago, @wired.com has republished it. (My feeling is they should have edited so it was nearly, but not quite the same.)
The Mystery of How Quasicrystals Form
New studies of the “platypus of materials” help explain how their atoms arrange themselves into orderly, but nonrepeating, patterns.
www.wired.com
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Agreed. Sometimes, though, I have single reader in mind - not necessarily typical but not necessarily me - whom i work to reach through my writing. This also can be useful.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
I spend a lot of time being hyper-aware of the path light takes from original source to my eyeballs. Whether it’s stories like yours, or starlight from another galaxy traveling billions of light years, bending into our atmosphere and bonking to a stop on my retina, those journeys are incredible.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Okay, I've decided to use this group as my introduction to Discord. Looking forward to it.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Love this story. I don’t like scary, spooky, or gory anything but I love Halloween because my whole neighbourhood goes nuts together. Hard to think of another event the community gets so deeply, collectively enthusiastic about.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
This is so much my kind of thing. I wish I could be there. Have fun!
perimeterinstitute.ca
Join @astrokatie.com and a host of other guests in London, UK on October 10th as they commemorate the universe.

“The End of the Universe” will be an evening of music and reflections on what the universe has meant to its recent inhabitants.

Get tickets: wegottickets.com/event/676292
The End of the Universe
After a magnificent* 13.8 billion years** astronomer Chris Lintott (Sky at Night) and Steve Pretty (Hackney Colliery Band) lead a funeral and wake for the universe, as it sadly heads into heat death. ...
wegottickets.com
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Got my copy last week - agreed that it’s essential reading.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
My typing fingers have started doing their own autocorrect, changing my sign-offs from "all the best," to "all the beset." Feels like a sign of the times.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
This is an appealing idea, but my understanding is that visas get complicated for international attendees when organizers change countries. An online attendance option, though, addresses many issues, including border crossing.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Cylinder. Also, I have no trouble spelling “institute” but still type it incorrectly every first try. Was frustrating when I worked at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Preordered. Looking forward to it.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Lots to enjoy reading in here. I appreciate the glimpses of the human beings driving this huge project.
ligo.org
The latest issue of @ligomagazine.bsky.social is out now and free to read

🎉 Celebrate 10 years of gravitational-wave astronomy with us 🎉

ligo.org/wp-content/u...

🔭🧪⚛️ #GW10Years
Front cover of issue 27 of the LIGO Magazine

10 years of graviational wave astronomy

GW150914 to GW231123: a signal that changed to world (p 6)

GW231123: the most massive black hole merger yet! (p 24)

GWTC-4.0 cataglgue paper (p 20)

GW observatories of the future (p 34)

Climate change conversations: Fossil-free supercomputing (p 40)
patchenbarss.bsky.social
There is great writing, and there are great stories, and you somehow have an abundance of both. This is an amazing piece.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
I read mainly ebooks. (I like to read in the dark, and I love being able to carry my whole library with me.) My 14-year-old is strictly physical books and my 12-year-old is pretty much all audio books. My spouse is a mix. Books we share — like yours — are physical.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
They’re not “naked” in the naked singularity sense right? Like, they still have event horizons?
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Thank you. In case you ever wonder if these types of messages reach anyone, I appreciate and make use of reminders like this.
patchenbarss.bsky.social
In my world, anyway, there’s more better access to good food and good ingredients, both in the city where I live and in the rural area where I grew up. (You can buy harissa, buffalo milk soft serve, fresh croissants, etc. in the village of 200 people where I grew up. Previously unimaginable.)