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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

My particular irritation is that the media reaches for an ancient and lazy trope. Brilliant scientist with incredible insight suffers the disdain of his stultified mediocre colleagues. The story writes itself and makes great copy - especially now when "common sense" beats scientific insight.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

I think it's a complete lack of feedback. We all need our colleagues to help us set norms and yank us back when we start to drift away. He believes in his intellect over all others, which is deadly with a strong lack of self awareness. The result is that he's essentially decoupled from his peers.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

Not sure that the PP even applies here. No one promoted AL into a position of authority over how planetary scientists conduct their research. He simply has a loud voice and knowledge of how to get attention to it.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

You may know that in the spirit of the times his name has come up for both NASA and the NSF.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

Avi is doing real damage. It's one thing to have an ego. It's another thing when its expression is done through denigration and diminishment of one's fellow scientists. It is 180 degrees around from how skilled and gifted leaders bring people together successfully for common cause.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

It's a nice touch, don't you think?

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

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.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

This is an incredibly brilliant idea. We need to set up a UN body in charge of all work and resources for the study of interstellar objects. After all, planetary science is too important to trust to the planetary scientists. But who would direct it?

arxiv.org/pdf/2510.01405

Avi Loeb nominates himself to lead the world's study of interstellar objects.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

The nastiest part of Avi's take is the ever present presumption that the planetary scientists engaged in the problems of interstellar objects have zero idea of how to do their own work.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 1d

I first met Avi when we were both postdocs in the 80s. I really don't know what has happened to him, but he's moved from an annoying eccentric to doing real damage. Positioning himself as the reincarnation of Galileo - where does one even start with that?

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 4d

Nothing to see here:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...

Treasury Plans to Mint $1 Commemorative Trump Coin

www.nytimes.com

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 4d

There's that...

Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 4d

Spectacular image of a rich cluster of galaxies lensing the galaxies and other goodies beyond it. This is from the HST Vast Exploration for Nascent, Unexplored Sources (VENUS) program.

Melina Thévenot🏳️‍⚧️ @melina-iras07572.bsky.social · 5d

#Galaxy cluster ACO S 1121 (SPTJ2325-41) with #JWST NIRCam.

Filters: F277W, F356W, F444W

program: www.stsci.edu/jwst-program...

Galaxy cluster with lots of blue galaxies, lensing mostly brown background galaxies into arcs around the cluster.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 9d

Not precisely true. It was the pleasure of working out the spinning plate that got Feynman out of his funk, coming out of Manhattan and the death of his wife. From there he got the drive to take on QED.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 9d

Gawd yes! Ideas are cheap. Knowing how far to go into any one of them to figure out if they're worth something is the trick.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 10d

A remarkable polemic by Raskin - read it in full at the link included. It's a direct plea to Roberts.

Mike Sacks @mikesacks.bsky.social · 10d

This rules - @raskin.house.gov straight up called out Roberts to his face.

democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center...

Ranking Member Jamie Raskin
Prepared Remarks for the Judicial Conference
September 16, 2025
Thank you, Chief Justice Roberts, for the invitation.
Forgive my directness here but the times are serious, as you know, our time is short. I have just five minutes and don't want to trespass on Senator Cruz's time.
Sometimes these days I feel as if all the foundational principles are being trampled and lost.
Often, I hear my colleagues in the House, and these are fellow Democrats, get up to protest some Executive usurpation of legislative power and they begin their lament with the plaintive cry, "We are a coequal branch of government..."
And I always feel they have lost the argument right there just by repeating that fifth-grade dogma.
First of all, co-equal is not even a word. It's an embarrassing redundancy like "very unique" or
"irregardless.
"

But there's a reason all legislative power is vested in the Congress and there's a reason it's in Article I.
The Founders had a revolution against monarchy and its constant assaults on liberty. In America, the Framers determined, only the representatives of the people would have power to declare wars, pass budgets, impose taxes and tariffs, and so on. Article lis pages and pages of all the powers vested in Congress. Then you get to Article Il, which is tiny.
The key paragraph says a president shall be removed from office upon impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors. If we are co-equal, why do we have the power to impeach, try, convict, remove and permanently disqualify the president and he doesn't have the power to impeach, try, convict, remove and disqualify us?
The core job of the president is plain: "To Take care that the laws are faithfully executed."
That's it. Not abused, not thwarted, not impounded, not redirected, but faithfully executed.
A lot of the cases entering the federal courts are variations on this theme.

Here's the remarkable thing: Americans have brought over 300 cases in federal district courts against the Administration so far for usurping legislative powers, defying federal laws, or violating the rights of the people. This summer, researchers found that plaintiffs were winning an astonishing 77% of the cases in the district courts. Moreover, they found that President Trump was losing about equally before Republican-appointed judges (72%) and Democratic-appointed judges (80%).
The numbers in the federal circuit courts of appeal are similar, with plaintiffs against the Administration winning overwhelmingly and again without a sharp partisan valence to the appeals courts' voting. A good example is the birthright citizenship case where four district court judges, two appointed by Republican presidents and two appointed by Democratic presidents, all struck down the President's purported negation of birthright citizenship. Then, on appeal, three circuit courts again all ruled against the Administration.
But everything is flipped when the cases come to the Supreme Court.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 11d

Wait! What? Should I read the meeting announcement more deeply?

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 12d

I agree 100%. I love writing intros & try hard to set up the thematic ideas that will follow. Also when I'm FA I never use the word "Introduction" as a heading, trying instead to state the most important theme.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 12d

So... reading some papers by an author and his former advisor that were huge on reference consolidation. They cite their own summary works, rather than the primary sources of observations/results (including mine). Don't really understand what the journals' policies are on this.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 13d

So wonderfully childish...

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 13d

The White House has placed a photo of an auto-pen signature instead of a portrait of former President Biden on the “Presidential Walk of Fame”

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 14d

If you're aging about fonts, let it go. But if it's a major result, hold them to it. Me once: My rev 1: Hey I can't decode the figs that purport to show your result - do this. Rev 2: OK now I can see but your main result looks wrong! Au: Oh yeah huge booboo! Rev 3: OK to go, but what's your deal?

Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 15d

I remember the cognitive disconnect I felt right at the very start of covid when Trump disdained testing because it produced inconvenient and troubling information.

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 15d

Have to tell you how much I appreciate this post.

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Reposted by Tod Lauer

Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 15d

Finding good information is hard.

A study done on 2.5M pregnant women who took Tylenol during pregnancy showed no adverse fetal effects.

However, pregnant women with untreated fevers had increased fetal risk of:

Neural tube,
Heart,
And abdominal wall,

Defects.

Plus cleft palate and more!

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Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 15d

Start with "Ann Elk"