Dr. Timothy Pickering
@tepickering.net
astronomer, telescope wrangler, grizzled pythonista, bluesky boomer
i will actually be in town as one of the co-hosts for this one. plus it’s wine wednesday and they have ethiopian tacos 😋
Space Drafts #111 is 7:30p this Wed. @ Zerai's Intl Bar (2725 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ)! We have UA grad students Anna Taylor, on how exoplanets lose their atmospheres, and Maria Mutz, on why neutron stars are so cool! If you can't make it in person we are also streaming at bit.ly/SpaceDrafts111.
November 13, 2025 at 2:40 AM
i will actually be in town as one of the co-hosts for this one. plus it’s wine wednesday and they have ethiopian tacos 😋
Reposted by Dr. Timothy Pickering
"Since being salvaged from the Fitzgerald in 1995, the bell has been rung every year on Nov. 10, though never to this much attention or with this many survivors attending."
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/11/a...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/11/a...
A ceremony remembers the Edmund Fitzgerald 50 years later, gales of November included
Friends and family members gathered at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to ring the bell and remember those who died 50 years ago.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:05 PM
"Since being salvaged from the Fitzgerald in 1995, the bell has been rung every year on Nov. 10, though never to this much attention or with this many survivors attending."
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/11/a...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/11/a...
Reposted by Dr. Timothy Pickering
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
eastern sierra vibes 🍂
November 7, 2025 at 6:12 PM
eastern sierra vibes 🍂
Reposted by Dr. Timothy Pickering
Can't stop thinking about the McSweeney's Sad Dad Bands, (first published January 14, 2022.)
Back on Twitter, I started a thread of my own riffs on Sad Dad Bands on January 17, 2022. Here is that thread, recreated.
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wha...
Back on Twitter, I started a thread of my own riffs on Sad Dad Bands on January 17, 2022. Here is that thread, recreated.
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wha...
What Your Favorite Sad Dad Band Says About You
The War on Drugs
You make your own paella and take super long naps on Saturday. Like over two hours, consistently. You prefer the smallest possible...
www.mcsweeneys.net
July 9, 2024 at 5:38 PM
Can't stop thinking about the McSweeney's Sad Dad Bands, (first published January 14, 2022.)
Back on Twitter, I started a thread of my own riffs on Sad Dad Bands on January 17, 2022. Here is that thread, recreated.
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wha...
Back on Twitter, I started a thread of my own riffs on Sad Dad Bands on January 17, 2022. Here is that thread, recreated.
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wha...
alki beach is a top tier place we’ve stayed in our van. will def be back whenever we pass thru seattle…
November 2, 2025 at 10:15 PM
alki beach is a top tier place we’ve stayed in our van. will def be back whenever we pass thru seattle…
Yf thou see thys, quote wyth a vampyre that ys not Dracula
October 31, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Yf thou see thys, quote wyth a vampyre that ys not Dracula
drowning sorrows of being back in the us by driving in seattle traffic and then drinking some bodhizafa ipa to unwind…
October 31, 2025 at 3:02 AM
drowning sorrows of being back in the us by driving in seattle traffic and then drinking some bodhizafa ipa to unwind…
TIL: if you’re really close to a skunk spraying, it does not smell like normal skunk aroma. it is so very much worse…
October 19, 2025 at 3:55 AM
TIL: if you’re really close to a skunk spraying, it does not smell like normal skunk aroma. it is so very much worse…
Reposted by Dr. Timothy Pickering
Do we really want 250,000 mirrored satellites in Low Earth Orbit? Hasn't the Starlink megaconstellation already done enough damage?
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social
A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?
Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.
theconversation.com
October 10, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Do we really want 250,000 mirrored satellites in Low Earth Orbit? Hasn't the Starlink megaconstellation already done enough damage?
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social
say you’re in 🇨🇦 without saying you’re in 🇨🇦
October 6, 2025 at 2:55 AM
say you’re in 🇨🇦 without saying you’re in 🇨🇦
Reposted by Dr. Timothy Pickering
We're getting a wave of articles that are like, "gee willikers it sure seems like the people who complained about 'cancel culture' for years really like canceling people."
Yes! This was extremely obvious at the time and a lot of us pointed it out!
Yes! This was extremely obvious at the time and a lot of us pointed it out!
Some say canceling is an act of redress. Others blame it on a mob.
“People have used the word ‘cancel’ so loosely,” Ernest Owens author of “The Case for Cancel Culture,” said, “that everyone’s calling everything a cancellation.”
“People have used the word ‘cancel’ so loosely,” Ernest Owens author of “The Case for Cancel Culture,” said, “that everyone’s calling everything a cancellation.”
How cancel culture came for everyone
Few issues in recent years have united the American right as much as their professed hatred of cancel culture. That’s changing.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 2, 2025 at 5:30 AM
We're getting a wave of articles that are like, "gee willikers it sure seems like the people who complained about 'cancel culture' for years really like canceling people."
Yes! This was extremely obvious at the time and a lot of us pointed it out!
Yes! This was extremely obvious at the time and a lot of us pointed it out!
got some proper aurorae in skagway tonite…
September 30, 2025 at 5:50 AM
got some proper aurorae in skagway tonite…
tbf, i am still surprised by the lower prices in WI coming from pretty much anywhere else in the US...
A Midwesterner turned New Yorker is still surprised by the lower prices, larger stores, and emptier airports in her former hometown.
I moved from Wisconsin to New York City over a decade ago. Here are the biggest culture shocks that surprise me when I return to the Midwest.
A Midwesterner turned New Yorker is still surprised by the lower prices, larger stores, and emptier airports in her former hometown.
www.businessinsider.com
September 26, 2025 at 6:58 PM
tbf, i am still surprised by the lower prices in WI coming from pretty much anywhere else in the US...
nothing like the van catching fire in the most remote part of the trip to really get the adventure juices flowing... (we're fine. no serious damage. workaround repair involving replacing a belt should be straightforward to do in here in whitehorse)
September 24, 2025 at 6:11 AM
nothing like the van catching fire in the most remote part of the trip to really get the adventure juices flowing... (we're fine. no serious damage. workaround repair involving replacing a belt should be straightforward to do in here in whitehorse)
Reposted by Dr. Timothy Pickering
finally cleared up enough to see some aurora from our campsite in the yukon… 🇨🇦
September 23, 2025 at 6:39 AM
finally cleared up enough to see some aurora from our campsite in the yukon… 🇨🇦
Reposted by Dr. Timothy Pickering
Well, it is the first day of Autumn. 😂
September 22, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Well, it is the first day of Autumn. 😂
oktoberfest in valdez is a jol.
September 21, 2025 at 7:08 AM
oktoberfest in valdez is a jol.
the perfect amount of musical decisions while driving was the daft punk cd that was permanently stuck in the broken single disk cd player.
A single disk CD player, and a visor-folder of 12 CDs, afforded the perfect amount of musical decisions while driving.
i don't want to hear your most boomer complaint. what's your most millennial complaint?
September 20, 2025 at 5:55 AM
the perfect amount of musical decisions while driving was the daft punk cd that was permanently stuck in the broken single disk cd player.
the van is on a boat… ⛴️
September 18, 2025 at 8:22 PM
the van is on a boat… ⛴️
denali was showing out today, even from over 130 miles away…
September 18, 2025 at 1:45 AM
denali was showing out today, even from over 130 miles away…
last full day in our creek-side home in anchorage and it’s a stunner. next stop, whittier. then on to valdez…
September 17, 2025 at 10:58 PM
last full day in our creek-side home in anchorage and it’s a stunner. next stop, whittier. then on to valdez…
Reposted by Dr. Timothy Pickering
This should have been a national holiday
3x3 / 4x4 / 3x3x5x5x3x3
3x3 / 4x4 / 3x3x5x5x3x3
September 16, 2025 at 10:41 PM
This should have been a national holiday
3x3 / 4x4 / 3x3x5x5x3x3
3x3 / 4x4 / 3x3x5x5x3x3
back from our monsoon hiatus next week on a new day (wednesday instead of tuesday) and in a brand new location: zerai's international bar. zerai's is part of the new Z street complex along with zemam's ethiopian cuisine and zedamo coffee & tea.
Space Drafts returns with show 109 Wed. Sept. @ 7:30pm @ Zerai’s International Bar (note the change in day and location!). On tap we have grad student Sophie Lebowitz talking about monster black holes and postdocs Jackie Champagne & Danny Krolikowski giving us an update on astronomy in the news!
September 14, 2025 at 2:52 AM
back from our monsoon hiatus next week on a new day (wednesday instead of tuesday) and in a brand new location: zerai's international bar. zerai's is part of the new Z street complex along with zemam's ethiopian cuisine and zedamo coffee & tea.