Benjamin Weiner

I propose to found a Museum of Fiascos. Informational and instructional exhibits would describe and demonstrate notable fiascos, failures, blunders, botches, collapses, and cock-ups through time. My university’s IT department can sponsor a wing. X could be Exhibit A.

If you’re worried about complex computing systems developing artificial intelligence and wiping out humanity, you might stop navel gazing about that and worry about complex computing systems wiping out humanity by critical failures due to an expired SSL certificate.

@ChrisMihos The Game of Life isn’t what it used to be. Today’s children are expected to have working knowledge of indirect costs, ERE, overhead, & in-kind contribs, plus Excel spreadsheets and responsibility-centered management. With IDC+benefits, a scientist costs $200K and sees half that.

Hah, I'm a full professor at an R1 university and I dont make anywhere *CLOSE* to 200K a year.....

@Rohan_Naidu Everybody has limited time and has to choose what to work on, so it would say something to choose to work on this.

Astronomy ethics question in the era of zero proprietary time data. What do we think of an entire data release paper (e.g., redshifts from a spec-z survey) on someone else's program?

@bmac_astro Coatimundi are fairly diurnal. It’s the ringtailed cats you have to watch out for.

Planning. Plotting. Waiting for night.

@PlotAstro I am in hate with a certain aspect of this plot.

Shockingly, the physics Nobel not going to astronomers this year, but we can always admire this plot:

@dalcantonJD @elan_arr @aussiastronomer This is funny, because I visualize most things - not literal faces of characters, but certainly scenes, or physics problems - but I feel like drawing things / visual expression comes more easily to you than to me.

@elan_arr @aussiastronomer It’s mostly vibes. I know how stuff feels.

If your response to a “being a junior faculty/staff is hard, all the responsibilities” thread is to say that it’s not so hard at your institute, maybe it’s not hard there. Or maybe it’s that the junior faculty and staff are afraid to speak honestly to you.

@mjuric For ex, there’s always a temptation to trigger a ToO toward the end of the semester if you haven’t used it yet. That’s an example of how any resource allocation (TAC, market, auction) has artificialities that people are tempted to game.

@mjuric The order in which ToOs are allowed to interrupt scheduled observing is contentious at every observatory. With a queue, it is eased b/c the ToO isn’t taking away a specific person’s time, but you’re still reliant on the good faith of the ToO to only trigger on the best targets.

We need an automated follow-up observation marketplace. A system where an observation request is submitted and automatically matched to an available resource based on the properties of a request and the "price" (in some form of credits) the requestor is willing to pay and the facility is willing to take. Example: an asteroid that's about to impact is discovered, but we don't know where exactly it will impact. I would like to be able to request an observation be made to a certain depth with a certain astrometry. I don't care who does it or how, just care to get the data. I'm willing to bid a certain number of credits to get this observation. I want a service that will match me to the telescope, and then an automated way to execute the observations. Does anything like this exist? @LCO_Global @rachel3834 @d_a_howell? I see there's SNex, but I think it doesn't go as far as the marketplace I'm looking for here (?). Inspired by @rachel3834 and Korado Korlević's talks at LSST@Europe5.

@david_kipping That guy that always emails you about how you should have cited his paper would be the most prolific commenter. I am not sure how this would avoid the fate of all other internet comment sections.

What if arXiv allowed comments/questions/discussion board on each paper from endorsed authors?

New plan to get astronomy-famous: enroute to next conference, get loaded on double scotches in the airport bar and tweet ignorant remarks about cosmic inflation, “This is why Americans think the matter-energy balance is terrible,” “Hubble tension is caused by coastal elites,” etc

@davidwhogg @ylecun @REasther I’m not strongly pro or anti civilian nuclear energy, but think Germany went off nuclear for reasons that have nothing to do with proliferation, but assuaging local environmental fears at the expense of exacerbating global environmental costs.

@cloud149 @ylecun @REasther Germany is making a mistake, because this is a country that could establish open inspections and invite others to join. Although it might violate NATO agreements?

Want less grey? Get more blue and more green.

@davidwhogg @ylecun @REasther Civilian nuclear energy is always a proliferation risk, why the IAEA and monitoring exist. Japan, Spain, S Korea, Taiwan invested in nuclear power (more so after the 70s oil shock) to hedge against fossil fuel. The US or CA point fingers while sitting on a burning pool of carbon.

@davidwhogg @ylecun @REasther I agree France is the biggest and for Gaullist reasons (why do France or the UK even have nuclear weapons? To preserve the idea of their pre 1939 status as great power). Germany has been drawing nuclear down, only OK if they can spend enough to replace it with not-fossil fuels.

@davidwhogg @ylecun @REasther This is sort of an odd critique since it’s a bit of “large countries are large” and not reflected in the chart of EU countries’ energy source (eg Spain, Germany, etc). Countries are also motivated to develop nuclear energy when they lack local fossil fuel resources.

@ylecun @REasther I read it as saying that they are maintaining capability. It’s certainly noticeable that most large nuclear power producing countries either have nuclear weapons or have a program to develop them. I don’t think this is coincidence.

Social media is no joke, it can kill. Think carefully about what you say lest you murder some poor teen’s parents.