Tod Lauer
@todlauer.bsky.social
Extragalactic observer (black holes, galaxies, galaxy clusters, stellar pops) that also dabbles in planetary astronomy. Really, basically a pixel pusher.
It's been decades since I've lived in South NJ, with Philly just across the river, but the memories are still there. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/d...
Michelin Honored the Cheesesteak. Not All Philadelphians Cheered.
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:02 PM
It's been decades since I've lived in South NJ, with Philly just across the river, but the memories are still there. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/d...
Reposted by Tod Lauer
Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way
Credit: Lin Zixuan ([email protected]), Tsinghua University
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112... #APOD 🧪🔭
Credit: Lin Zixuan ([email protected]), Tsinghua University
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112... #APOD 🧪🔭
November 26, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way
Credit: Lin Zixuan ([email protected]), Tsinghua University
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112... #APOD 🧪🔭
Credit: Lin Zixuan ([email protected]), Tsinghua University
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112... #APOD 🧪🔭
Great! The number 2 position at the CDC is to be filled with an anti-vaxxer. wapo.st/4pvW7C8
Louisiana health official who halted state vaccine campaign tapped as CDC’s No. 2
Ralph Abraham, a Louisiana health official who stopped promoting mass vaccination vaccines, has been appointed as the CDC's principal deputy director
wapo.st
November 25, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Great! The number 2 position at the CDC is to be filled with an anti-vaxxer. wapo.st/4pvW7C8
Being a space cadet, I have a hobby of fine scale modeling of spacecraft. Tonight I finished the 1st stage of a Saturn V model I've been working on for years. Did the 3rd stage first, then the 2nd. Now there's just some stuff that goes on top of the third stage to do.
November 25, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Being a space cadet, I have a hobby of fine scale modeling of spacecraft. Tonight I finished the 1st stage of a Saturn V model I've been working on for years. Did the 3rd stage first, then the 2nd. Now there's just some stuff that goes on top of the third stage to do.
Games you can play with your rocket. I've seen this many times, but it still evokes a good WTF! www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0UY...
NASA - Saturn V Apollo Shake Test
YouTube video by CinePost
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Games you can play with your rocket. I've seen this many times, but it still evokes a good WTF! www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0UY...
100% !
as an MIT-trained science writer: being willing to ask dumb questions is a superpower
The actual secret to why I know stuff is that I ask a question any time I don’t understand literally anything. I don’t care how simple it is. Anybody who makes fun of you for asking a simple question likely doesn’t know the answer either
November 20, 2025 at 3:27 AM
100% !
Reposted by Tod Lauer
I really hate it when scientists keep saying that “we need to rebuild trust in science,” because it implies that scientists are to blame for the mistrust rather than the millions of dollars of dark money that have funded political attacks on science in order to advance a far right agenda.
November 19, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I really hate it when scientists keep saying that “we need to rebuild trust in science,” because it implies that scientists are to blame for the mistrust rather than the millions of dollars of dark money that have funded political attacks on science in order to advance a far right agenda.
Reposted by Tod Lauer
I’m not going to pretend it’s easy to say something in the moment when you witness the president do this and you’re aboard Air Force One with all the uniformed officers and secret service and fancy wood accents, but this is really an instance where you should. people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:42 AM
I’m not going to pretend it’s easy to say something in the moment when you witness the president do this and you’re aboard Air Force One with all the uniformed officers and secret service and fancy wood accents, but this is really an instance where you should. people.com/donald-trump...
Where do you even start...
ICE abducted Leticia Jacobo and tried to deport her, she is Native American.
Polk County Sheriff’s Office, which held her for ICE, admitted that it was a ‘clerical error’.
Her family fought through layers of bureaucracy to stop her from being disappeared.
www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/202...
Polk County Sheriff’s Office, which held her for ICE, admitted that it was a ‘clerical error’.
Her family fought through layers of bureaucracy to stop her from being disappeared.
www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/202...
Native American woman nearly deported after Polk County Jail issues ICE detainer by mistake
A Native American woman from Arizona was nearly deported by federal immigration officials after a clerical error at the Polk County Jail. The woman's family had to scramble to prove she was Indigenous...
www.iowapublicradio.org
November 14, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Where do you even start...
The most insightful discussion I seen on the Loeb and his insertion into the 3I/Atlas apparition:
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
The fallacies behind the cult of Loeb
How media hype and misunderstanding fuel pseudoscientific fascination Introduction The word “cult” is used here in the sense given by...
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:37 AM
The most insightful discussion I seen on the Loeb and his insertion into the 3I/Atlas apparition:
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
Reposted by Tod Lauer
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
No idea if any of this is true, but as a friend of mine once said, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
Holy crap! This is the Burger King in my neighborhood!
link via @violetblue.bsky.social
www.cracked.com/article_2801...
link via @violetblue.bsky.social
www.cracked.com/article_2801...
The Story Of The Rogue Burger King In Pittsburgh
Every city has its own fast food urban legend, here's Pittsburgh's.
www.cracked.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:52 PM
No idea if any of this is true, but as a friend of mine once said, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
Too good!
"We know they are coming, a slavering horde of deans. Creeping, shambling, oozing like slime mold up the hill towards the faculty’s last stronghold, the run-down, isolated building the deans forgot, until they had 'administrated' everything else."
Dean of the Dead
The wind howls outside the arts building, drowning out the sound of the approaching deans. We don’t know exactly where they are. The Porcupine and ...
buff.ly
November 1, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Too good!
I just love this surrealistic illustration of the cosmic optical background that Guy Bilout did a few years ago for a NYT article. Light comes from the dark Universe.
October 27, 2025 at 5:09 AM
I just love this surrealistic illustration of the cosmic optical background that Guy Bilout did a few years ago for a NYT article. Light comes from the dark Universe.
A little essay about DESI on the occasion of visiting the KPNO 4m, where the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is measuring an extremely precise history of the expansion of the Universe.
noirlab.edu/public/blog/...
noirlab.edu/public/blog/...
Blog: DESI and the History of the Universe How the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument makes astrophysicists cartographers of the cosmos
DESI and the History of the Universe
noirlab.edu
October 22, 2025 at 6:59 PM
A little essay about DESI on the occasion of visiting the KPNO 4m, where the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is measuring an extremely precise history of the expansion of the Universe.
noirlab.edu/public/blog/...
noirlab.edu/public/blog/...
On days like this I miss Santa Cruz.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/s...
Sea Otters Are Stealing Surfboards in California. Again.
www.nytimes.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:12 AM
On days like this I miss Santa Cruz.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/s...
Reposted by Tod Lauer
I didn't get a picture of the best sign I saw today, but I remember what it said:
Somewhere in America
A little Hispanic girl
Is hiding in an attic
And keeping a diary.
#NoKings
Somewhere in America
A little Hispanic girl
Is hiding in an attic
And keeping a diary.
#NoKings
October 19, 2025 at 12:11 AM
I didn't get a picture of the best sign I saw today, but I remember what it said:
Somewhere in America
A little Hispanic girl
Is hiding in an attic
And keeping a diary.
#NoKings
Somewhere in America
A little Hispanic girl
Is hiding in an attic
And keeping a diary.
#NoKings
Chicago!
Happening Now: Thousands out for a “No Kings” protest in Chicago
October 18, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Chicago!
Tucson on River road.
October 18, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Tucson on River road.
Thanked a friend for data analysis,
"By the way, I wanted to say I think you've done a wonderful job. I appreciate the way you've handled this thing."
Who knew to reply,
"Well, the way I look at it it's my job to do this thing the way you want it done and I’m only too happy to be able to oblige."
"By the way, I wanted to say I think you've done a wonderful job. I appreciate the way you've handled this thing."
Who knew to reply,
"Well, the way I look at it it's my job to do this thing the way you want it done and I’m only too happy to be able to oblige."
October 17, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Thanked a friend for data analysis,
"By the way, I wanted to say I think you've done a wonderful job. I appreciate the way you've handled this thing."
Who knew to reply,
"Well, the way I look at it it's my job to do this thing the way you want it done and I’m only too happy to be able to oblige."
"By the way, I wanted to say I think you've done a wonderful job. I appreciate the way you've handled this thing."
Who knew to reply,
"Well, the way I look at it it's my job to do this thing the way you want it done and I’m only too happy to be able to oblige."
100% true.
![Vertical comic structured like flow chart. (1) Einstein had an insight that overturned physics, thus proving his value. (2) I hope *I* have value. I’ll try to have an insight that overturns physics, to check. (3) [Time Passes] (4) Oh no! My insight didn’t overturn physics! But I don’t think I’m worthless… [arrows to two different options] (5a) Healthy Path: Maybe this was not a well-thought-out test of my value. (5b) Path of Ruin: The establishment must be *suppressing* my insight!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreihhxykbw72fblbjeupqscutarbdowk73mhsdkqrtzjwrpzqzamjem@jpeg)
October 16, 2025 at 8:14 PM
100% true.
From the last review of our JWST prop
Strengths
The path to science is clearly laid out, and the analysis techniques used are state-of-the-art
Weaknesses:
A more detailed justification would strengthen the need for JWST observations, as well as a more specific description of the path to science
Strengths
The path to science is clearly laid out, and the analysis techniques used are state-of-the-art
Weaknesses:
A more detailed justification would strengthen the need for JWST observations, as well as a more specific description of the path to science
October 16, 2025 at 8:10 PM
From the last review of our JWST prop
Strengths
The path to science is clearly laid out, and the analysis techniques used are state-of-the-art
Weaknesses:
A more detailed justification would strengthen the need for JWST observations, as well as a more specific description of the path to science
Strengths
The path to science is clearly laid out, and the analysis techniques used are state-of-the-art
Weaknesses:
A more detailed justification would strengthen the need for JWST observations, as well as a more specific description of the path to science
Reposted by Tod Lauer
Procrastination takes may forms. Tonight as a service to the astronomical community I offer help with your JWST proposal titles.
#JWST 🧪🔭✨
#JWST 🧪🔭✨
October 15, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Procrastination takes may forms. Tonight as a service to the astronomical community I offer help with your JWST proposal titles.
#JWST 🧪🔭✨
#JWST 🧪🔭✨