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mjibrown.bsky.social
Michael Brown
@mjibrown.bsky.social
950 followers 210 following 1.4K posts
Astronomer, Monash academic, Conversation writer, cycling commuter or mamil.

https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/michael-brown
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mjibrown.bsky.social
Michael Brown @mjibrown.bsky.social · Oct 9
A US tech startup is proposing to use mirrors in space to power solar farms on Earth at night. Is this even feasible? And what are the light pollution dangers?

Myself and @mattkenworthy.bsky.social have crunched the numbers for The Conversation.

theconversation.com/a-us-startup...
A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?
Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.
theconversation.com
Reposted by Michael Brown
huhhowdoibluethis.bsky.social
Was not expecting this blatant xenophobia on my tv first thing in the morning...
NBC's broadcast of the Macy's parade has superimposed the word "FOREIGNER" over the balloon of Mario.
November 27, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
seamas.bsky.social
Pharrell Williams confirmed as another world famous multi-millionaire who chose to live in a house that looks like it should be called the North Strabane Esat-Digifone Retail Hub & Business Park.
The just recently sold house of Pharrell Williams, which is a glass edifice in three parts that looks like a newbuild office building in an industrial estate outside Strabane.
November 26, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
timinclimate.bsky.social
We should urgently change how we generate electricity in Australia, but the government's claim to be on track to meeting its 2030 target is based on coal and gas generation permanently dropping to a third of current levels this decade.

They do not have the policies in place to make this happen.
Chart showing coal and gas generation in Australia's electricity grid over time between 2025 and 2040 in Australia's emissions projections. This decade coal and gas generation falls from 60% of total generation to 20%, including permanently falling 20% in two years.
November 27, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
ketanjoshi.co
JFC. Three gigawatts of fossil-fuelled power for a new Amazon data centre

@beninskeep.bsky.social points out the new gas plant could produce 4x the harmful climate pollution as the coal plant it's replacing 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

www.utilitydive.com/news/nisourc...
A Northern Indiana Public Service Co. affiliate — called NIPSCO Generation, or GenCo — plans to build up to 3 GW of gas-fired generation and battery storage to serve planned Amazon data centers, the companies said Monday. Combined with electric transmission to be built by NIPSCO, the companies expect to spend about $7 billion. Under the arrangement, GenCo plans to build two 1.3-GW gas-fired power plants and a 400-MW, 4‐hour battery storage system to serve the data centers, according to filings at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. In comparison, NIPSCO expects its non-data center load in 2028 will be about 2.3 GW. The IURC on Nov. 19 reaffirmed a September decision to approve the GenCo framework, which is designed to ensure that NIPSCO’s existing customers don’t pay for infrastructure needed to serve hyperscalers like Amazon. Under the framework, GenCo will own and operate power plants for large load customers. NIPSCO, a NiSource subsidiary, expects its 15-year deal with Amazon will produce about $1 billion in savings for its ratepayers. Those savings will be reflected as a credit on customers’ electric bills, according to a Nov. 7 filing by NIPSCO and NIPSCO Generation at the IURC. Residential customers will receive roughly $7 in monthly savings, according to the utility. Also, the 2.6-GW of gas-fired generation GenCo plans to build at its coal-fired Schahfer power plant site could produce nearly four times the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that the existing Schahfer coal plant emitted in 2023, according to Inskeep.
November 26, 2025 at 8:03 PM
mjibrown.bsky.social
Update on Labor and the Clever Country.
michaelbclark.bsky.social Mike Clark @michaelbclark.bsky.social · 2d
Australian #NHMRC Ideas grants are out. 8.1% success rate. Lowest since the scheme began. Congrats to the successful few, as it looks like less than 200 were funded. 🧪
November 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
mjibrown.bsky.social
May need to effectively regulate and police the electric motorcycle industry rather than pretending electric motorcycles are mostly being ridden on private property.
November 26, 2025 at 8:27 PM
mjibrown.bsky.social
Tech that cannot work as advertised and/or cannot deliver the promised outcomes is getting free publicity in media that seems quite avoidant of expert criticism.

This is also probably helping tech companies acquire and burn money.
awalkerinla.bsky.social Alissa Walker @awalkerinla.bsky.social · 2d
Interesting to contrast this well-reported piece that accurately describes the situation (“unproven”) with the previous story on Archer that was basically a LA28 press release
November 26, 2025 at 1:38 AM
mjibrown.bsky.social
Fitting power-laws to galaxy correlation functions again - it’s been a while.
November 26, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
virginiagewin.bsky.social
Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.)

RTs appreciated.
November 26, 2025 at 12:18 AM
mjibrown.bsky.social
Coalition appears to be aiming to win the teal seats back from PHON.
November 26, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
ebharrington.bsky.social
Because the "debate" framing shifts the purpose of a news network from informing viewers to providing an entertaining spectacle.

"Debate" also obscures truth by turning matters of fact into he said/she said slugfests, giving people cover to ignore inconvenient facts by saying they're "debated."
pbump.com Philip Bump @pbump.com · 2d
I don’t understand why Weiss thinks the desired outcome of CBS News coverage is debate.
November 25, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
msf.ca
On Nov. 22, Israeli strikes killed more than 20 people and injured over 80 in #Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health. Since Oct. 11, over 339 Palestinians have been killed and more than 870 been injured.

Despite the ceasefire, we are still treating injured people in Gaza.
November 25, 2025 at 6:49 PM
mjibrown.bsky.social
Saw a space station and two other bright satellites in the space of 5 minutes last night. It’s getting busier in low Earth orbit.
sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d
And here are the current measurements of Starlink brightnesses by Mallama and Cole 2025: https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/544/1/L15/8251664?login=false

Everybody is too bright. OneWeb manages to halfway make it below the recommended limit, but everybody else pretty much sucks.
A plot showing orbital altitude vs. apparent magnitude (brightness) for a bunch of different megaconstellations. The AST SpaceMobile Blue Bird satellites are the worst, but Starlink direct-to-cell are nearly as bad due to their large sizes and low altitudes. OneWeb is the only megaconstellation that is halfway below the recommended brightness limit.
November 25, 2025 at 7:24 PM
mjibrown.bsky.social
An interesting little artifact in the SDSS navigation tool, reflecting the SDSS observing strategy from many years ago.

skyserver.sdss.org/dr18/VisualT...
SDSS image produced by combining multiple scans showing some artifacts in the background as a function of colour from the individual scans.
November 25, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
arc-tracker.bsky.social
DECRA success rate is the lowest in 14 years, since 2012 (1st year the scheme ran).

What a pathetic system we have for supporting new ideas, new people…

DE26: 13.1%
25: 17.9
24: 19.6
23: 15.0
22: 19.7
21: 17.1
20: 16.0
19: 17.2
18: 16.3
17: 16.7
16: 16.4
15: 14.3
14: 13.6
13: 15.6
12: 12.8
arc-tracker.bsky.social ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 3d
🚨 #DECRA #DE26 announcement:

❗️Outcomes announced publicly for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2026❗️

See ARC's RMS for list ➡️ https://rms.arc.gov.au/RMS/Report/Download/Report/a3f6be6e-33f7-4fb5-98a6-7526aaa184cf/285

/bot
November 25, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
windjunky.bsky.social
The drought in Iran that may see the evacuation of Tehran (10 million people) was made much more likely and more severe by climate change.
New rapid-assessment by WWA.
www.worldweatherattribution.org/human-induce...
Human-induced climate change compounded by socio-economic water stressors increased severity of 5-year drought in Iran and Euphrates and Tigris basin – World Weather Attribution
www.worldweatherattribution.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
ketanjoshi.co
"It is located 5km from the town of Deniliquin, but none of that town’s population of more than 2,700 people objected to it.

All 66 objections came from more than 50 kms away, with 60 of them from people located more than 100kms away, and 26 from interstate"

reneweconomy.com.au/long-distanc...
Indeed, there were no objections that related specifically to this project, its location or its impact on any local fauna or flora. It is likely that few if any of the objectors had actually read the project documents in detail. Several objectors think the battery is actually a wind farm, and others think it is a solar project. One is concerned about its impact on the catchment of the Keiwa River, which is 250 kms away, located in another state and on the other side of the Murray River. Maybe they had been encouraged to complain about another project, and forgot to change it for this one. Most simply don’t like the idea of renewables: “Soon, we’ll all be in the dark thanks to delusional Global Boiling cultists!” said one. Some object to the use of agricultural land for a big battery. But the project is located right next to a substation, and is not used for any grazing or crops because it has been degraded by a gravel borrow pit on the site, which has formed a depression with poor soils and weedy vegetation. The battery project developers are actually proposing to do something the previous users didn’t do – rehabilitate it so it can actually be used for agriculture in the future, perhaps sheep grazing. The department of planning said it is likely the project would improve the land, not degrade it. There were plenty of constructive consultations, mostly with local council and other bodies such as the Rural Fire Service, the local Fire Brigade, the local irrigation council, and other entities. The developers, Avenis, responded accordingly and made some adjustments to the project. It has waded through thousands of pages of documents and patiently responded to each and every concern, no matter how wild the claim. The NSW Planning department noted the considerable local benefits, saying some $1.4 million in community benefits had been offered via the council through a voluntary planning agreement, and also noting the injection of some $206 million of capital inv…
November 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
adambonin.bsky.social
Wanna know how bad the Arizona legislator's petition forgeries were? Here's the examples from the Austin Smith indictment.

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...
November 24, 2025 at 2:50 AM
mjibrown.bsky.social
I feel there's been a real increase in good potential international PhD students wanting to study in Australia (probably because of developments in the US), but without an increase in scholarship funding the thresholds for entry have risen and good students are being turned away.
November 24, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
maxberger.bsky.social
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
fluidsguru.bsky.social
Further context. From 2019.

www.itnews.com.au/news/bom-sho...
BoM showers Accenture with $31m for digital channels rebuild
New primary website, sub-sites expected.
www.itnews.com.au
October 23, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
windjunky.bsky.social
"But now, the fact the BOM has been hiding the true cost of its white elephant and initially lying about the total figure is deeply concerning, considering that the BOM should be all about trust."
November 23, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
kevinbonham.bsky.social
#Newspoll 58-42 to ALP (yep)

ALP 36 L-NP 24 Green 13 ON 15 IND/other 12

Albanese net 0 (haha) (47-47)
Ley net -29 (26-55)
Better PM (favours incumbents) Albanese leads 54-27.
November 23, 2025 at 8:21 AM
mjibrown.bsky.social
Not fighting tobacco, only cancer.

www.politico.eu/article/von-...
Von der Leyen says EU is not fighting fossil fuels, only emissions
The comment could undermine European countries’ push at COP30 to move away from coal, oil and gas.
www.politico.eu
November 23, 2025 at 11:47 AM
mjibrown.bsky.social
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays?

Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays?
Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:24 AM