ah yes, a sudden, splitting headache is exactly what this day needed.

finally got my water bill for last month and am glad to report that running the mister on super hot days for my favorite outside kitty only increased my bill by $5-6. Seems like a fair price to help him out

Kat Volk@katvolk.bsky.social · last mo.

Did I just make a special trip to the hardware store for a new mister for my favorite former feral because his mister stopped working? Yes. Yes I did. He’s in the cool zone again now with a new mister (I so ordered new nozzles for the broken mister so can swap out next time)

thread discussing this important paper that just posted to the arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2608.02757

Rings in the Sky: Orbital Data Centres and Potential Impacts to Astronomy and the Sky

Megaconstellations of orbital data centres (ODCs) have the potential to fundamentally change the sky without a concerted mitigation effort. Potential changes include producing large coherent structure...

arxiv.org

Prof. Sam Lawler@sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 9h ago

New paper thread! "Rings in the Sky: Orbital Data Centres and Potential Impacts to Astronomy and the Sky" by A. Boley, me, and @hannorein. Submitted, and posted to the arxiv preprint server. What would the sky look like if companies actually launch the tens of thousands up to one million "AI […]

Last day of breakfast for dinner (all the leftover bread is now used up)

🚨URGENT ADVOCACY ACTION - We can pause OMB's harmful rewrite of grant rules that insert political appointees into the funding process, but only if enough of us speak up THIS WEEK. 🚨 This is our best shot before senators leave for August recess. Send your letter: www.planetary.org/advocacy-act...

Advocacy Action Center

The Planetary Society is organizing a new space constituency that is educated, empowered, and loud.

planetary.org

Little dude kept walking away when I tried to pet him until I figured out that *only* belly rubs were ok today. Such a weird little former feral

Gus & Echo@katskitties.bsky.social · 2d ago

Ash enjoyed a nice belly rub and now some treats 😸

Reposting for the Monday crowd! (Also note that free lunch is provided at the workshop!). Open to anyone who wants to improve their peer review skills, including grad students!

Kat Volk@katvolk.bsky.social · last wk.

If you are coming to the DPS meeting this fall, consider attending the AAS Peer Review Training Workshop! aas.org/posts/news/2...

Yum! Breakfast for dinner! (Had leftover brioche hamburger buns, so turned some into French toast bake!)

So many Solar System items on this @vrubinobs.bsky.social potential future discoveries bingo card xkcd style. I love it so much.

Juan Mentat@juanmentat.bsky.social · 6d ago

XKCD: Vera Rubin Observatory #xkcd #comic Link: https://xkcd.com/3278/

If you are coming to the DPS meeting this fall, consider attending the AAS Peer Review Training Workshop! aas.org/posts/news/2...

Switching gears from the Rubin Community Workshop to the PSI retreat where we got a very nice message of support from @captmarkkelly.bsky.social

I am *not* in the lucky 7%…. Also the gate video boards in this part of the airport are not working and are displaying the wrong flight numbers/destinations and the poor gate agents are trying to make up for it with extra announcements on a nearly unintelligible PA system. Gotta love flying….

Kat Volk@katvolk.bsky.social · last wk.

made the mistake of checking to see how often my flight home tonight is on time. Let's hope today is one of the lucky 7% of days not experiencing the typical 1-2 hour delay....(even if it's on time I will be a bit of a zombie tomorrow at the PSI retreat. If I don't get home until 2-3am, oof)

I started tracking my grocery costs a few years ago (to see if I spent more on food for me or the cats; it’s me but only by a little, lolsob) and I honestly don’t know how we expect people feed their families with the increased cost of groceries. I cut way back on more $ stuff but am spending more

Mar Hicks@histoftech.bsky.social · last wk.

Fun chart apnews.com/article/groc...

It was a whirlwind two days at #RCW2026. It was good to see some of you! Sorry if I missed you! Catching a flight home now for the PSI retreat which seems to overlap with the RCW every darned year!

If you are coming to the DPS meeting this fall, consider attending the AAS Peer Review Training Workshop! aas.org/posts/news/2...

made the mistake of checking to see how often my flight home tonight is on time. Let's hope today is one of the lucky 7% of days not experiencing the typical 1-2 hour delay....(even if it's on time I will be a bit of a zombie tomorrow at the PSI retreat. If I don't get home until 2-3am, oof)

Nice of T-Mobile to have a network outage right when I was trying to find a place to stop to grab dinner in an unfamiliar town… (I managed based on pre-loaded maps content to find a mall that had food. But very annoying to suddenly have no network)

To be clear- this is catastrophic for radio astronomy, not just in the UK. If you shut down a facility like this not only do we use access to the facility, dozens (hundreds?) of jobs are gone and with it expertise that never comes back. Please write to your MP if you’re in the UK! 🔭🧪🎢

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · last wk.

Short-sighted, stupid cuts to the UKRI budget include shutting down Jodrell Bank, the icon of British astronomy. (Many other cuts too, including 20% to our brand new @vrubinobs.bsky.social). Interesting politically to shut down a major facility in...um..Manchester 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Kicking off a very busy week at the Rubin community workshop. It is in Menlo Park this year where (unlike Tucson) it is lovely to be outside while the sun is not trying to bake you to death

bloomberg has a fun article today arguing that the Cybertruck is the biggest flop in automotive history. it includes this glorious graph.

Nice of them to send out the NSF funding rejections on a Friday night… (also nice of them to not fund either of my excellent/very good proposals, but I honestly didn’t expect funding given what this administration has done to the NSF….)

lol. Someone messed up on this email campaign

Did I *need* new doormats? No. But were these IKEA doormats way too good to resist? Yes.

Roxie is so smart! She’s still figuring out how to “talk” to me (only socialized cats meow after kittenhood). She defaults to hissing since that’s what she does most to other cats. But she has learned that when I ask her “what do we say?” while prepping her wet food plate, she is supposed to meow ❤️

And here's the second story, about an important--but underreported--ruling by a federal judge knocking out the notorious clause the Trump administration has used to terminate grants that, after the fact, don't "effectuate agency priorities." www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. judge rejects Trump’s justification for terminating thousands of grants

States hail decision, but White House may try other ways to end funding

science.org

Don’t forget to swap out your filters (furnace, air, and possibly car cabin) if you’ve been in an area with lots of wildfire smoke once it leaves

Uugggghhh. Fuck the person in my neighborhood setting off fireworks at 10pm on a Sunday night.

I don’t know how Albertsons stays in business. It’s the closest store to my house but I almost never go in because of their high prices. I forgot to buy powdered sugar this morning and didn’t want to drive far. Figured it couldn’t be *that* bad. Nope. Double the cost compared to frys.