Mike Boylan-Kolchin
@mbkplus.bsky.social
Dad, husband, astrophysicist, dog herder. Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor in Astronomy at UT Austin. This is a personal account and the views expressed in my posts here are mine. https://mrbk.github.io
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Mike Boylan-Kolchin
@mbkplus.bsky.social
· Sep 13
Mike Boylan-Kolchin
mrbk.github.io
New (academic) year, new me — well, new title, anyway. I promise to uphold the standards you’ve come to expect from the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor in Astronomy.
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
I don’t even think today was about Mamdani so much as it was about Trump’s information bubble consistently presenting Mamdani as the devil. When Trump met him and saw he’s just a nice guy who smiles and loves NY, he actually liked him. Granted, most Democrats would still manage to screw that up…
Zohran is a generational talent, but I really worry the democrats are gonna take away all the wrong lessons from this, because none of the rest of them can do this.
November 22, 2025 at 1:09 AM
I don’t even think today was about Mamdani so much as it was about Trump’s information bubble consistently presenting Mamdani as the devil. When Trump met him and saw he’s just a nice guy who smiles and loves NY, he actually liked him. Granted, most Democrats would still manage to screw that up…
Today in "why use one word that everyone understands when three words that most people don't is available?"
People were arguing in my mentions today about whether the Earth is "round" when it's technically an irregular oblate spheroid and look "round" doesn't mean "absolutely perfect sphere" it means round. A soccer ball is round, a cantaloupe is round, a fluffy borb in winter is round, just go with it.
November 22, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Today in "why use one word that everyone understands when three words that most people don't is available?"
"ties": she's an editor (hired *after* her current biggest scandal), not someone who writes a guest column twice a year
Vanity Fair Is Reviewing Its Ties to Olivia Nuzzi
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:14 AM
"ties": she's an editor (hired *after* her current biggest scandal), not someone who writes a guest column twice a year
January 6, 2026 would probably have been a little on the nose
BREAKING: Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's resigning from Congress — effective January 5, 2026.
November 22, 2025 at 1:14 AM
January 6, 2026 would probably have been a little on the nose
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
Everyone has columns by their favorite writers they can describe from memory. By contrast, “Name 1 pre-RFK piece written by Nuzzi” is a challenge pretty much anyone would fail.
November 21, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Everyone has columns by their favorite writers they can describe from memory. By contrast, “Name 1 pre-RFK piece written by Nuzzi” is a challenge pretty much anyone would fail.
I don’t even think today was about Mamdani so much as it was about Trump’s information bubble consistently presenting Mamdani as the devil. When Trump met him and saw he’s just a nice guy who smiles and loves NY, he actually liked him. Granted, most Democrats would still manage to screw that up…
Zohran is a generational talent, but I really worry the democrats are gonna take away all the wrong lessons from this, because none of the rest of them can do this.
November 22, 2025 at 1:09 AM
I don’t even think today was about Mamdani so much as it was about Trump’s information bubble consistently presenting Mamdani as the devil. When Trump met him and saw he’s just a nice guy who smiles and loves NY, he actually liked him. Granted, most Democrats would still manage to screw that up…
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
There are about 400 photons and 300 neutrinos in every cubic cm of the Universe left over from the Big Bang 🧪
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 12:41 PM
There are about 400 photons and 300 neutrinos in every cubic cm of the Universe left over from the Big Bang 🧪
Actually, it was way worse than this. It wasn't to get a text back: you had to wait by the phone so that you wouldn't miss the call. Because your parents wouldn't buy one of those new-fangled "answering machines". You haven't lived until you've heard "If it's important, they'll call back."
November 21, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Actually, it was way worse than this. It wasn't to get a text back: you had to wait by the phone so that you wouldn't miss the call. Because your parents wouldn't buy one of those new-fangled "answering machines". You haven't lived until you've heard "If it's important, they'll call back."
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
Ahh, more of a promise, then
TRUMP: HE WAS NOT THREATENING DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS
November 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Ahh, more of a promise, then
This is the same style of lede as 'Trump upends norms' when he's doing something flagrantly illegal — speaks to an unwillingness to present news at face value but rather to tone down the coverage out of undue deference to the subject.
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 8:23 PM
This is the same style of lede as 'Trump upends norms' when he's doing something flagrantly illegal — speaks to an unwillingness to present news at face value but rather to tone down the coverage out of undue deference to the subject.
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
Those photons that are near us came from a part of the Universe that is now ~40 billion light years away. Some of the neutrinos probably did too, though a bunch came from parts that are "only" ~4 billion light years away now. The Universe is weird and wild.
November 21, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Those photons that are near us came from a part of the Universe that is now ~40 billion light years away. Some of the neutrinos probably did too, though a bunch came from parts that are "only" ~4 billion light years away now. The Universe is weird and wild.
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
strongest case for autonomous vehicles and/or public transit is probably this because drivers go crazy when you argue for more enforcement on "no phones while driving"
We’ve 100% lost the war on using phones while driving and it’s the worst.
November 21, 2025 at 3:52 PM
strongest case for autonomous vehicles and/or public transit is probably this because drivers go crazy when you argue for more enforcement on "no phones while driving"
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
We’ve 100% lost the war on using phones while driving and it’s the worst.
November 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
We’ve 100% lost the war on using phones while driving and it’s the worst.
Ahh, more of a promise, then
TRUMP: HE WAS NOT THREATENING DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS
November 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Ahh, more of a promise, then
My dream would be to have this setup but then to have a bunch of nonexperts dictating what the experts can and can't discuss with the students who are there to learn from and engage with them, has anyone come up with a system like that?
Thinking a lot lately about the simple fact that college allows people to spend about 15 weeks immersed in a disciplinary conversation with an expert in that field. And what a special thing that is.
November 21, 2025 at 3:15 PM
My dream would be to have this setup but then to have a bunch of nonexperts dictating what the experts can and can't discuss with the students who are there to learn from and engage with them, has anyone come up with a system like that?
There are a lot of people on this website (and more on others) who want to make their problems yours, and however you can avoid making that happen, do it.
If you're on this website get used to unhinged depressed people in your menchies trying to demoralize you
The deranged response to this makes me despair. There are so many educated, politically engaged people who are averse to thinking systematically. If you support LGBTQ rights, it is better, all else being equal, for the state to also support them.
November 21, 2025 at 3:06 PM
There are a lot of people on this website (and more on others) who want to make their problems yours, and however you can avoid making that happen, do it.
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
bananas emit neutrinos
www.popsci.com/story/scienc...
www.popsci.com/story/scienc...
November 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
bananas emit neutrinos
www.popsci.com/story/scienc...
www.popsci.com/story/scienc...
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
If you gave me just the $9 million buyout, he got from Penn State with minimum negotiation you could not find me, I would be on the back of a yak in Kyrgyzstan drinking tea with a guide named Bulvan as he taught my kids about falconry
November 21, 2025 at 2:23 PM
If you gave me just the $9 million buyout, he got from Penn State with minimum negotiation you could not find me, I would be on the back of a yak in Kyrgyzstan drinking tea with a guide named Bulvan as he taught my kids about falconry
We’ve 100% lost the war on using phones while driving and it’s the worst.
November 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
We’ve 100% lost the war on using phones while driving and it’s the worst.
First of all, we absolutely shouldn’t stereotype based on names. That being said, if you come across guys named Gavin and Tanner talking low,
Gavin and Tanner, planned and trained for nearly a year, legal documents say, in an elaborate attempt to invade a Haitian island, kill its Black men, enslave its Black women and Black children and fulfill their "rape fantasies."
www.fox4news.com/news/haitian...
www.fox4news.com/news/haitian...
NTX men planned to murder men, enslave women on foreign island: Indictment
Two North Texas men have been indicted for an alleged scheme to sail to a foreign island, murder all the men, and enslave the women and children.
www.fox4news.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
First of all, we absolutely shouldn’t stereotype based on names. That being said, if you come across guys named Gavin and Tanner talking low,
There are about 400 photons and 300 neutrinos in every cubic cm of the Universe left over from the Big Bang 🧪
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 12:41 PM
There are about 400 photons and 300 neutrinos in every cubic cm of the Universe left over from the Big Bang 🧪
Reposted by Mike Boylan-Kolchin
Me when someone schedules a meeting at 4pm on a Friday:
November 20, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Me when someone schedules a meeting at 4pm on a Friday:
Cheddar Bob is an inspiration to ... some
The officer was "heading for duty" Wednesday night when his "weapon discharged and he accidentally shot himself in the testicles" in the station's parking lot, records show.
Off-duty Chicago cop accidentally shoots himself in groin outside police station in Gresham
chicago.suntimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Cheddar Bob is an inspiration to ... some
As @shakespeare.lol said, "the lady doth protest too much, methinks"
Halligan's team is now docketing hourly motions explaining that she absolutely, positively DID NOT F— UP the Comey indictment
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 21, 2025 at 2:51 AM
As @shakespeare.lol said, "the lady doth protest too much, methinks"