Imaging stars right here within the Milky Way Galaxy is hard enough. So it came as some surprise that a star in another galaxy has just become the subject of a close-up portrait. @ScienceAlert has more on the giant star known as "The Monster" that is more than 160,000 light-years from Earth. https://flip.it/UmfNT4
#Science #Space #MilkyWay #Stars #Earth
Here's some good #political news, at least: #Gaetz is withdrawing from consideration as #AG. No doubt #Trump will pick some other repulsive clown, but I'll take the win.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/21/trump-ag-pick-matt-gaetz-says-hes-withdrawing.html
@moss Yeah, it's "viral" in an almost literal sense: all the Cat 2s have to do is start the infection, and large numbers of Cat 3s will happily take it from there. I have no idea what to do about this on a large scale, and given the current state of US politics I'm afraid there may not be much of a chance for anyone here to do anything about it much longer. Hopefully the rest of the world will carry the torch while we live (or don't) through the plague years.
On a small scale, I've had luck with a few antivaxers by trying to be kind and patient. Same with creationists and climate change deniers. But it's a long shot: for every one I get to consider the evidence, a hundred or a thousand react with confusion, mockery, and/or rage. At this point I'm just not sure how much I have left in me to keep trying.
Because I am not above shameless self-promotion, get your t-shirts here:
"#Vaccines work
#Evolution is real
Human activities cause #climate #change
#Chemtrails don't exist
#HAARP doesn't control the #weather
People landed on the #Moon
And FFS, the #Earth is #ROUND"
Seems like this might be particularly important at the moment.
@knowprose Or maybe that's just what they want the overlords to think.
Honestly, I'd be okay with Skynet becoming self-aware before January 20th.
I just got a #spam call from a #bot describing itself as an "#AI #volunteer." Uh ...
Yeah, maybe they should have been "alarmed" a couple of weeks ago. That would have done a lot more good.
I know that if we want to have any chance of salvaging the country from this ongoing train wreck, we're going to need to work with a lot of people who have buyer's remorse. And saying "we told you so" isn't going to be productive. But for the moment, I'm just going to indulge myself in a little snark:
WE FUCKING TOLD YOU SO.
@Wileymiller Well that's ... disturbingly appropriate.
@RickiTarr You should get this "Welcome To #Adulthood Starter Pack" on your 18th birthday, and the congratulatory message should absolutely include this vital wisdom.
@ampersine Immediately after taking office, Biden should have started a program of de-Trumpification throughout the federal government. His failure to do so is IMO a big part of the reason for the mess we're in now.
@mike You monster!
@mike By using open source office software, you're actually stealing potential revenue from Microsoft, so sorry, we're going to have to pull your paper.
@mike Well, that's fairly horrifying.
@sheilasmall Yeah, it's epic trolling. I think I see Musk's hand in this.
Seen in the wild: "Luckily all our #environmental laws are older than 18 years, so Rep. #Gaetz shouldn't have much interest in them."
Bioinformaticist / biostatistician, veteran USAF medic and Army infantryman, armchair paleontologist, occasional science fiction author, long-ago kickboxer, oldbat goth, vaccinated liberal patriot.