Rogier Polak
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rpolak.bsky.social
Rogier Polak
@rpolak.bsky.social
150 followers 180 following 71 posts
Father, Husband, Entrepreneurial Aerospace Engineer, trying to catch up with Hugo Awards.
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Reposted by Rogier Polak
jbf1755.bsky.social
I don't much like the title, but the is article very much worth reading.

On organization and cooperation going on in and between blue states, to make federal intervention of many kinds unnecessary.

medium.com/@carmitage/i...
It’s Time for Americans to Start Talking About “Soft Secession”
Blue states are finally learning what red states have known all along: you don’t need federal permission to govern.
medium.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Rogier Polak
propublica.org
“I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration,” the North Carolina Republican Party's communications director wrote in an email response to us. “I would strongly suggest dropping this story.”

We didn't. #ICYMI, read the story that he wanted dropped:
“Biblical Justice, Equal Justice, for All”: How North Carolina’s Chief Justice Transformed His State and America
Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well be...
www.propublica.org
January 2, 2026 at 4:00 AM
rpolak.bsky.social
Could there actually be a movie so unremarkable that I would not realise I have already watched it until halfway through... Why yes, "The Accountant".
December 28, 2025 at 11:16 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
If it is deemed constitutional for a president to run for a third term, will Obama run again?
December 27, 2025 at 10:46 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
I really liked the LOTR reference in Stranger Things s05e07, but I do not know how to discuss it without spoilers...
December 26, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Rogier Polak
physgal.bsky.social
This is what Upper Joffre Lake in BC, Canada 🇨🇦 looks like first thing in the morning. So still. #ArtAdventCalendar
A photo of upper Joffre Lake just after sunrise with reflections of the mountains surrounding it and in the distance
December 13, 2025 at 9:20 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
Mama's home philosophy
Makes everyone a freak but me
achillesthe2nd.bsky.social Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · Dec 5
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 6:17 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
Rogier's guide to watching planets from the backyard with the naked eye:
- wow that's a bright star I bet it's Venus - Jupiter
- why is that plane not moving? - Venus
- what a nice bright star,wait is it red? - Mars
- what a nice bright star - Saturn
December 4, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Reposted by Rogier Polak
elakdawalla.bsky.social
I have realized why I've been struggling to keep up with, and keep writing about, what's happening with solar system exploration. It's not because things are bad; in the past, when things were bad, I wanted to shout about active missions to the world, as a light in the darkness, rare good news. 1/n
October 23, 2025 at 5:24 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
Tv series with the perfect intro: #Peacemaker ... I will die on this hill.
October 3, 2025 at 7:55 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
So, I just finished the Interdependancy trilogy by @scalzi.com and I can wholly recommend it. But I would like to mention that because of the red/blue/green covers I thought that KSR's Red/Blue/Green Mars would be required reading befor the Scalzi series. It is not.
July 5, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Rogier Polak
varmaz.is
My kid saw a chyron about what’s going on in Iran and after we had a chat, I said I know what will help understanding here. So we are watching Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown Iran episode.
June 23, 2025 at 7:56 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
We are two weeks away from April Fools day and I seriously don't know what to believe anymore.

Arkansas Haircuts has got to be a joke, right? Right?
March 19, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Rogier Polak
michaelsheetz.bsky.social
The Sun, emerging from totality behind the Earth, seen from Blue Ghost's perch on the Moon:

@firefly-aerospace.bsky.social
March 14, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Rogier Polak
donnainfiorino.bsky.social
Still unclear why women do not feel safe or welcome in men-dominated spaces like STEM? Just read below.👇🏼
adrianaguatame.bsky.social Adriana Guatame-García @adrianaguatame.bsky.social · Mar 6
A friend included this anti-acknowledgement section on her PhD thesis. She also added the proposition: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.”
Absurd we still need to go through this
🧪👩‍🔬
There have been people less than helpful in my journey here. I wanted to acknowledge those too, bc I know I am not unique in this experience. No thank you to the physics study assoc that made me sing songs about how women couldn't study physics without sleeping with the professor, the day I stepped into university life. No thank you to the 5th year physics student that decided to assign me a stripper name within the first minute of meeting me in the physics coffee corner in my first year. No thank you to the technician that was responsible for onboarding me on the use of the cluster in my third year who raised his eyebrows and asked me if that meant I was some sort of computer girl. No thank you to the senior researcher that sent me utterly inappropriate texts after a conference, then proceeded to apologise months later by telling me they had not been meant for me anyway so no hard feelings remain hopefully And no thank you to him for attending every conference I've been to since. No thank you to the people who told me that it was surprising that I was doing a PhD since I was a girl. No thank you to the man who mistook me for a coffee lady at a conference, and after having to correct him two times that I did not work there, responded with you should consider it. No thank you to the researcher that asked me what I was wearing underneath my outfit during a conference. No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists don't know how to design an experiment. No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent. And finally, no thank you to the exec board of the TU Delft, whose knee-jerk reaction to being held up a mirror about the social safety at the university, was to sue the party holding up the mirror instead of looking at the problems they highlighted. ... You have made me feel like I do not belong in science & I cannot forgive you for that.
March 7, 2025 at 8:35 AM
rpolak.bsky.social
Greenland, Gaza, Panama, Canada... No mention of The Netherlands at all. I thought we were No.2.

What happened?
February 5, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Rogier Polak
cedericduboisch.bsky.social
Een verhaal zo absurd dat je het niet kan geloven. De BoterhuisPolder bij de Kagerplassen is de afgelopen jaren veranderd in een biodivers en schitterende polder. Nu gaat de gemeente deze boeren eraf knikkeren voor een gangbare melkveehouder met een mestoverschot. Want die betaalt net iets meer.
February 1, 2025 at 2:34 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
Just rewatched Voyager - Year of Hell. Still the best Star Trek episode ever.
January 31, 2025 at 8:36 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
@USA man/woman/x do you have some work to do on four years time.
January 26, 2025 at 12:19 AM
rpolak.bsky.social
I just love the Defiant Class (watching Lower Decks s05e09)
January 23, 2025 at 10:58 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
Just a thought; could Scarlett Johansson be the new James Bond please.
January 10, 2025 at 10:05 PM
rpolak.bsky.social
Just rewatched The Acolyte. Who do I need to talk to to get a second season? Am prepared to go full Karen.
January 7, 2025 at 9:41 PM