dfphil
@dfphil.bsky.social
Scientist, jazz-lover and New Englander.
The weird things I find looking through my photos! This is a cartoon of the hard x-ray nanoprobe at Argonne National Laboratory
December 9, 2025 at 4:51 PM
The weird things I find looking through my photos! This is a cartoon of the hard x-ray nanoprobe at Argonne National Laboratory
The second time I heard an “AI” voice on the latest Radiolab was one more AI sentence than I could take. I know the savvy people gave up on Radiolab more than a decade ago but I may finally join them. I really don’t need an entire episode of synthetic text extruded at me
December 6, 2025 at 11:14 PM
The second time I heard an “AI” voice on the latest Radiolab was one more AI sentence than I could take. I know the savvy people gave up on Radiolab more than a decade ago but I may finally join them. I really don’t need an entire episode of synthetic text extruded at me
Continuing to read articles open in my browser I found a review of Steely Dan.
I wanted to hear the Wayne Shorter solo in Aja. It goes on so long that I faded out and didn’t realize Shorter was playing until he was done. Backed it up: cool Shorter solo
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
I wanted to hear the Wayne Shorter solo in Aja. It goes on so long that I faded out and didn’t realize Shorter was playing until he was done. Backed it up: cool Shorter solo
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
The Dude Ranch Above the Sea | Philip Clark
As a teenager, growing up in New Jersey during the 1960s, the pianist Donald Fagen routinely took a bus into Manhattan to hear his jazz heroes in the
www.nybooks.com
December 6, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Continuing to read articles open in my browser I found a review of Steely Dan.
I wanted to hear the Wayne Shorter solo in Aja. It goes on so long that I faded out and didn’t realize Shorter was playing until he was done. Backed it up: cool Shorter solo
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
I wanted to hear the Wayne Shorter solo in Aja. It goes on so long that I faded out and didn’t realize Shorter was playing until he was done. Backed it up: cool Shorter solo
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
I just read a 40 year-old review of Amadeus, a movie I haven't seen since it came out. As a teen I remember enjoying it especially making Mozart seem more human than god-like. I don't think our reviewer approves.
www.nybooks.com/articles/198...
www.nybooks.com/articles/198...
B-flat Movie | Robert Craft
Some months ago on the White House lawn, Ronald Reagan accepted Austria's gift (whether or not looking it in the mouth) of a Lippizaner called "Amadeus."
www.nybooks.com
December 6, 2025 at 2:40 PM
I just read a 40 year-old review of Amadeus, a movie I haven't seen since it came out. As a teen I remember enjoying it especially making Mozart seem more human than god-like. I don't think our reviewer approves.
www.nybooks.com/articles/198...
www.nybooks.com/articles/198...
During Vietnam War “there were huge political divisions in the [Wisconsin Physics] Department, ranging from the wild eyes in HEP to real John Birchers in low temperature physics (more or less scaling with physics energy range!)”
-Telescope in the Ice: Inventing a new Astronomy at the South Pole
-Telescope in the Ice: Inventing a new Astronomy at the South Pole
November 29, 2025 at 7:27 PM
During Vietnam War “there were huge political divisions in the [Wisconsin Physics] Department, ranging from the wild eyes in HEP to real John Birchers in low temperature physics (more or less scaling with physics energy range!)”
-Telescope in the Ice: Inventing a new Astronomy at the South Pole
-Telescope in the Ice: Inventing a new Astronomy at the South Pole
Reposted by dfphil
If I believed in the simulation hypothesis (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulat... for my opinion that somehow made it to Wikipedia) I’d say this is obviously how magic works arxiv.org/abs/2511.15304
Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak Mechanism in Large Language Models
We present evidence that adversarial poetry functions as a universal single-turn jailbreak technique for Large Language Models (LLMs). Across 25 frontier proprietary and open-weight models, curated po...
arxiv.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:58 PM
If I believed in the simulation hypothesis (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulat... for my opinion that somehow made it to Wikipedia) I’d say this is obviously how magic works arxiv.org/abs/2511.15304
I’m reading James Gleick’s “How the Web was Lost” in Dec 4th’s NYRB and he writes “…CERN, the great complex of buildings and underground particle accelerators…” which feels like a funny way to describe CERN.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
How the Web Was Lost | James Gleick
The Internet was not meant to suck.
www.nybooks.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:33 PM
I’m reading James Gleick’s “How the Web was Lost” in Dec 4th’s NYRB and he writes “…CERN, the great complex of buildings and underground particle accelerators…” which feels like a funny way to describe CERN.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Reposted by dfphil
“I can see why all these people without heads wouldn’t be good for a community." www.science.org/content/arti...
Headless bodies hint at why Europe’s first farmers vanished
Wave of mass brutality accompanied the collapse of the first pan-European culture
www.science.org
November 27, 2025 at 3:09 PM
“I can see why all these people without heads wouldn’t be good for a community." www.science.org/content/arti...
Tonight’s drink is “Sunset at Gowanus” - a Death & Co variant on the Daiquiri. It has rum, apple brandy yellow chartreuse, lime juice, and maple syrup.
They called for Santa Teresa 1796 Rum. I used Flor de Cana which is tasty but I don’t know how it compares
They called for Santa Teresa 1796 Rum. I used Flor de Cana which is tasty but I don’t know how it compares
November 22, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Tonight’s drink is “Sunset at Gowanus” - a Death & Co variant on the Daiquiri. It has rum, apple brandy yellow chartreuse, lime juice, and maple syrup.
They called for Santa Teresa 1796 Rum. I used Flor de Cana which is tasty but I don’t know how it compares
They called for Santa Teresa 1796 Rum. I used Flor de Cana which is tasty but I don’t know how it compares
I didn’t take a picture but tonight’s drink was the Arnaud Martini thanks to Anders Erickson. It’s equal parts gin, blanco vermouth, and crème de cassis. Tasty, though next time I might cut back on the cassis.
youtu.be/FI4wUOzJvUE?...
youtu.be/FI4wUOzJvUE?...
How to Make the Arnaud Martini
YouTube video by Anders Erickson
youtu.be
November 16, 2025 at 12:30 AM
I didn’t take a picture but tonight’s drink was the Arnaud Martini thanks to Anders Erickson. It’s equal parts gin, blanco vermouth, and crème de cassis. Tasty, though next time I might cut back on the cassis.
youtu.be/FI4wUOzJvUE?...
youtu.be/FI4wUOzJvUE?...
Post your favorite Star Trek character. Wrong answers only.
November 15, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Post your favorite Star Trek character. Wrong answers only.
I'm reading 8 month old @dwallacewells.bsky.social piece in the NYer on "abundance" It's an aside, but that Russian Oligarchs were buying up property in Brooklyn ca 2005 "was very clearly true" needs support. Russian oligarchs are the great boogie men of real estate; what does this really mean?
November 9, 2025 at 3:44 PM
I'm reading 8 month old @dwallacewells.bsky.social piece in the NYer on "abundance" It's an aside, but that Russian Oligarchs were buying up property in Brooklyn ca 2005 "was very clearly true" needs support. Russian oligarchs are the great boogie men of real estate; what does this really mean?
Tonight’s drink is the Bijou. Equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and green chartreuse and a dash of orange bitters. It’s tasty but overbalanced on the chartreuse side
November 4, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Tonight’s drink is the Bijou. Equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and green chartreuse and a dash of orange bitters. It’s tasty but overbalanced on the chartreuse side
The Harvey Milk terminal at SFO has a micro-museum whose exhibit yesterday was on Women of Afrofuturism. Note the Alice Coltrane discs in the image along with Octavia Butler and Nettrice Gaskins.
November 2, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The Harvey Milk terminal at SFO has a micro-museum whose exhibit yesterday was on Women of Afrofuturism. Note the Alice Coltrane discs in the image along with Octavia Butler and Nettrice Gaskins.
I’m back from a trip to CA. It’s weird going from 80 degree weather to 35 degree weather.
November 2, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I’m back from a trip to CA. It’s weird going from 80 degree weather to 35 degree weather.
Alice Coltrane! This is nominally a review of the exhibit at the Hammer Museum in LA that closed 6 months ago but it is really an opportunity to wax poetic about her music. I’m going to listen to Ptah the El Daoud
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Spiritual Jazz of Alice Coltrane | Adam Shatz
Alice Coltrane reinvented her adoptive Hinduism by interweaving it with the music of the Black church.
www.nybooks.com
November 2, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Alice Coltrane! This is nominally a review of the exhibit at the Hammer Museum in LA that closed 6 months ago but it is really an opportunity to wax poetic about her music. I’m going to listen to Ptah the El Daoud
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Reposted by dfphil
@dfphil.bsky.social and I once went to a restaurant that prided itself on its wine pairings. We asked the server for his recommendation based on what we ordered and he said, “Well, halibut just *screams* Chardonnay.”
do you ever have things that someone has said to you that live forever in your head (non-serious edition)? some older boomer hippie guy said “hahmmus gives you fahts” to me 26 years ago at a free fridge and i think of it every fucking single time i buy hummus to this day.
October 27, 2025 at 1:29 PM
@dfphil.bsky.social and I once went to a restaurant that prided itself on its wine pairings. We asked the server for his recommendation based on what we ordered and he said, “Well, halibut just *screams* Chardonnay.”
Tonight’s cocktail with @carlamiriam.bsky.social is the Alaska thanks to the Mixel app: 1.5 oz gin, 0.5 oz yellow chartreuse and orange bitters. It’s nice but it has a simple taste. We might try it with old tom gin or perhaps with some Maraschino Liqueur. Good enough to experiment!
October 23, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Tonight’s cocktail with @carlamiriam.bsky.social is the Alaska thanks to the Mixel app: 1.5 oz gin, 0.5 oz yellow chartreuse and orange bitters. It’s nice but it has a simple taste. We might try it with old tom gin or perhaps with some Maraschino Liqueur. Good enough to experiment!
Tonight’s drink is the Greta Garbo: rum, maraschino, lime, simple syrup and a rinse of absinthe. Next time I make this: less simple syrup more maraschino but it’s yummy
October 22, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Tonight’s drink is the Greta Garbo: rum, maraschino, lime, simple syrup and a rinse of absinthe. Next time I make this: less simple syrup more maraschino but it’s yummy
Reposted by dfphil
Unusual drink. Wouldn’t want it too often, but I liked it. The drink also has an absinthe rinse (I used Pernod because I was out of absinthe)
Via Robb Report we made the Growing Old with 2 oz Cynar, 1 oz rye, 1 pinch of salt, and 5 lemon peels in the mixing glass plus one expressed on the glass. Very different and tasty.
youtu.be/fd0Tkmqthq4?...
youtu.be/fd0Tkmqthq4?...
How to Make a Growing Old, the Rule-Breaking Cocktail That Negroni Fans Will Love
YouTube video by Robb Report
youtu.be
October 19, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Unusual drink. Wouldn’t want it too often, but I liked it. The drink also has an absinthe rinse (I used Pernod because I was out of absinthe)
Via Robb Report we made the Growing Old with 2 oz Cynar, 1 oz rye, 1 pinch of salt, and 5 lemon peels in the mixing glass plus one expressed on the glass. Very different and tasty.
youtu.be/fd0Tkmqthq4?...
youtu.be/fd0Tkmqthq4?...
How to Make a Growing Old, the Rule-Breaking Cocktail That Negroni Fans Will Love
YouTube video by Robb Report
youtu.be
October 19, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Via Robb Report we made the Growing Old with 2 oz Cynar, 1 oz rye, 1 pinch of salt, and 5 lemon peels in the mixing glass plus one expressed on the glass. Very different and tasty.
youtu.be/fd0Tkmqthq4?...
youtu.be/fd0Tkmqthq4?...
I was listening to @natedimeo.bsky.social on the Memory Palace episode 133 “Antidisestablishmentarianism” when I couldn’t sleep this morning. Nate’s voice is so soothing. The crux of this story was not helping me sleep. I waited until I was awake to finish. Go listen to Nate. His stories are amazing
October 19, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I was listening to @natedimeo.bsky.social on the Memory Palace episode 133 “Antidisestablishmentarianism” when I couldn’t sleep this morning. Nate’s voice is so soothing. The crux of this story was not helping me sleep. I waited until I was awake to finish. Go listen to Nate. His stories are amazing
I was on Great Barrington (MA) yesterday. Here’s a little color. The Berkshires are definitely in peak color now. Peep some leaves!
October 19, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I was on Great Barrington (MA) yesterday. Here’s a little color. The Berkshires are definitely in peak color now. Peep some leaves!
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand
Diamond dropped on floor
www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage...
Diamond dropped on floor
www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage...
October 12, 2025 at 1:22 PM
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand
Diamond dropped on floor
www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage...
Diamond dropped on floor
www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage...