Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
@saavikford.bsky.social
CUNY Astro prof, AMNH research assoc, runner, astronomer, crafter, camper, gardener, mom, all opinions completely my own (she/her)
Pinned
Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
@saavikford.bsky.social
· Oct 17
Welcome new followers!
I’ve been described as a border collie with opposable thumbs who can do math (& swears a lot). I post about many things, including astrophysics, other sciences, politics, stuff I’ve made, teaching, complaints, occasional medieval history, Irish stuff, NYC, travel, bears…
I’ve been described as a border collie with opposable thumbs who can do math (& swears a lot). I post about many things, including astrophysics, other sciences, politics, stuff I’ve made, teaching, complaints, occasional medieval history, Irish stuff, NYC, travel, bears…
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
The “ties” included financial donations. “His interests aligned with the genetic basis of human behavior, wrote science historian Naomi Oreskes in 2020, a eugenics-influenced view that is seeing a revival today among some Silicon Valley voices.”
🧪
www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeff...
🧪
www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeff...
Jeffrey Epstein E-mails Reveal Depth of Ties to High-Profile Scientists
A trove of e-mails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released by a congressional committee on Wednesday
www.scientificamerican.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:55 AM
The “ties” included financial donations. “His interests aligned with the genetic basis of human behavior, wrote science historian Naomi Oreskes in 2020, a eugenics-influenced view that is seeing a revival today among some Silicon Valley voices.”
🧪
www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeff...
🧪
www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeff...
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Anyone that wants to ‘buy me a coffee’ for the 18 months of work plus international travel (including flying to the US from Oz at my own expense) I had to undertake to get the complaint then Buzzfeed articles up after ASU protected Lawrence Krauss, here’s my PayPal:
November 16, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Anyone that wants to ‘buy me a coffee’ for the 18 months of work plus international travel (including flying to the US from Oz at my own expense) I had to undertake to get the complaint then Buzzfeed articles up after ASU protected Lawrence Krauss, here’s my PayPal:
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Students, apply for a CERN summer studentship. Greatest experience ever!
Deadline 26 January 2026. careers.cern/programmes/s...
(It's not just for physicists. Check it out.)
Deadline 26 January 2026. careers.cern/programmes/s...
(It's not just for physicists. Check it out.)
Summer Studentship
Programme overview Join the CERN Summer Student Programme and dive into cutting-edge research. You’ll work on advanced scientific and technical projects, contributing directly to CERN’s…
careers.cern
November 15, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Students, apply for a CERN summer studentship. Greatest experience ever!
Deadline 26 January 2026. careers.cern/programmes/s...
(It's not just for physicists. Check it out.)
Deadline 26 January 2026. careers.cern/programmes/s...
(It's not just for physicists. Check it out.)
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
very funny to read these emails and then remember summers wondering whether the leaky pipeline in stem was because women are inherently bad at math
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 1:56 AM
very funny to read these emails and then remember summers wondering whether the leaky pipeline in stem was because women are inherently bad at math
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Beyond all this, Monica Lewinski has turned the shitstorm that comes with being a public relations punching bag for the world's most powerful man into a platform from which she has supported and uplifted countless other women.
Monica Lewinski is a hero, and everyone needs to get off her lawn.
Monica Lewinski is a hero, and everyone needs to get off her lawn.
Monica Lewinski went through Hell because of Bill Clinton and she was 21 when she started working for him.
Please leave that poor woman be in all the funning. She was destroyed by the public and he kept on keeping on as the president.
Please leave that poor woman be in all the funning. She was destroyed by the public and he kept on keeping on as the president.
November 16, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Beyond all this, Monica Lewinski has turned the shitstorm that comes with being a public relations punching bag for the world's most powerful man into a platform from which she has supported and uplifted countless other women.
Monica Lewinski is a hero, and everyone needs to get off her lawn.
Monica Lewinski is a hero, and everyone needs to get off her lawn.
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Think about John Newton's redemption arc.
The popular story is, he was a slaver who had a damascene moment and became an abolitionist overnight.
Actually, he *kept working in the slave trade*, retired, and then 34 years later wrote Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ne...
The popular story is, he was a slaver who had a damascene moment and became an abolitionist overnight.
Actually, he *kept working in the slave trade*, retired, and then 34 years later wrote Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ne...
John Newton - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 16, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Think about John Newton's redemption arc.
The popular story is, he was a slaver who had a damascene moment and became an abolitionist overnight.
Actually, he *kept working in the slave trade*, retired, and then 34 years later wrote Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ne...
The popular story is, he was a slaver who had a damascene moment and became an abolitionist overnight.
Actually, he *kept working in the slave trade*, retired, and then 34 years later wrote Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ne...
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
wow, turns out Larry Summers is in fact the repulsive misogynistic pig that it was blindingly obvious he was in 2005
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 12:43 AM
wow, turns out Larry Summers is in fact the repulsive misogynistic pig that it was blindingly obvious he was in 2005
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
I love how records-obsessed #astronomy is! One of my students selected a double star to measure which has no published observations in the last 150 years, and her images showed nothing there. Investigating a bit, I found scans of the original discovery article AND...
November 15, 2025 at 4:04 PM
I love how records-obsessed #astronomy is! One of my students selected a double star to measure which has no published observations in the last 150 years, and her images showed nothing there. Investigating a bit, I found scans of the original discovery article AND...
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Albert Einstein used my signature move #OTD in 1915, when he pretended to be sick so he could skip a lecture by his colleague David Hilbert and stay home to work on his own theory. 🧪 ⚛️ 🎢
Source: "David Hilbert and the Axiomatization of Physics," L. Corry
Source: "David Hilbert and the Axiomatization of Physics," L. Corry
November 15, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Albert Einstein used my signature move #OTD in 1915, when he pretended to be sick so he could skip a lecture by his colleague David Hilbert and stay home to work on his own theory. 🧪 ⚛️ 🎢
Source: "David Hilbert and the Axiomatization of Physics," L. Corry
Source: "David Hilbert and the Axiomatization of Physics," L. Corry
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Good morning.
This is your reminder to get to the gym so that you can beat up racists if you have to.
This is your reminder to get to the gym so that you can beat up racists if you have to.
November 15, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Good morning.
This is your reminder to get to the gym so that you can beat up racists if you have to.
This is your reminder to get to the gym so that you can beat up racists if you have to.
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
EHRC: the law now requires Black people to use their own facilities. It’s not segregation; it’s only segregation if you do that to white people.
Oh, sorry, when we said Black we meant trans, and when we said white we meant cis.
Did we mention we’re the equality and human rights regulator?
Oh, sorry, when we said Black we meant trans, and when we said white we meant cis.
Did we mention we’re the equality and human rights regulator?
November 15, 2025 at 2:13 PM
EHRC: the law now requires Black people to use their own facilities. It’s not segregation; it’s only segregation if you do that to white people.
Oh, sorry, when we said Black we meant trans, and when we said white we meant cis.
Did we mention we’re the equality and human rights regulator?
Oh, sorry, when we said Black we meant trans, and when we said white we meant cis.
Did we mention we’re the equality and human rights regulator?
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
November 15, 2025 at 6:15 AM
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
Caveat: I DO want to ‘do my own research’ when it comes to active galactic nuclei (AGN), I.e. supermassive black holes that live in the centers of galaxies & which are actively consuming large masses of gas.
But for the rest of it, yeah, pls y’all experts tell me the answer?
But for the rest of it, yeah, pls y’all experts tell me the answer?
I do not want to “Do my own research.” I want to pay trained accredited experts to do the research, trained accredited experts to report on findings, and trained accredited experts to make policy based on them.
I am busy af with my own job, I don’t need to do eight zillion more.
I am busy af with my own job, I don’t need to do eight zillion more.
November 15, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Caveat: I DO want to ‘do my own research’ when it comes to active galactic nuclei (AGN), I.e. supermassive black holes that live in the centers of galaxies & which are actively consuming large masses of gas.
But for the rest of it, yeah, pls y’all experts tell me the answer?
But for the rest of it, yeah, pls y’all experts tell me the answer?
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
I do not want to “Do my own research.” I want to pay trained accredited experts to do the research, trained accredited experts to report on findings, and trained accredited experts to make policy based on them.
I am busy af with my own job, I don’t need to do eight zillion more.
I am busy af with my own job, I don’t need to do eight zillion more.
November 15, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I do not want to “Do my own research.” I want to pay trained accredited experts to do the research, trained accredited experts to report on findings, and trained accredited experts to make policy based on them.
I am busy af with my own job, I don’t need to do eight zillion more.
I am busy af with my own job, I don’t need to do eight zillion more.
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
god: [invents feet]
god’s wife: what the fuck. where did all these bones come from. don’t say you put them on the credit card
god’s wife: what the fuck. where did all these bones come from. don’t say you put them on the credit card
the reason we are like this is that god kept getting upsold on bones
November 15, 2025 at 1:59 PM
god: [invents feet]
god’s wife: what the fuck. where did all these bones come from. don’t say you put them on the credit card
god’s wife: what the fuck. where did all these bones come from. don’t say you put them on the credit card
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Yikes. Banning people for activities such as co-authorship and advising a graduate student is completely unreasonable in a modern research environment. And a retroactive 5 year ban is wildly unfair.
November 15, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Yikes. Banning people for activities such as co-authorship and advising a graduate student is completely unreasonable in a modern research environment. And a retroactive 5 year ban is wildly unfair.
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Folks #LearningSpanish,
A great way to learn vocabulary via cognates is Margarita Madrigal's 1951 book, "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach", illustrated by Andy Warhol.
But I wouldn't be recommending it if it didn't ALSO have a really well-made audiobook (with PDF).
A great way to learn vocabulary via cognates is Margarita Madrigal's 1951 book, "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach", illustrated by Andy Warhol.
But I wouldn't be recommending it if it didn't ALSO have a really well-made audiobook (with PDF).
November 15, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Folks #LearningSpanish,
A great way to learn vocabulary via cognates is Margarita Madrigal's 1951 book, "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach", illustrated by Andy Warhol.
But I wouldn't be recommending it if it didn't ALSO have a really well-made audiobook (with PDF).
A great way to learn vocabulary via cognates is Margarita Madrigal's 1951 book, "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach", illustrated by Andy Warhol.
But I wouldn't be recommending it if it didn't ALSO have a really well-made audiobook (with PDF).
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
Nuzzi's fawning coverage of the sociopathic conspiracy crank she was having an affair with aided his rise to political power, which he is using to perpetrate the worst intentional public health catastrophe of our unnecessarily shortened lifetimes, and THAT is the STORY.
November 15, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Nuzzi's fawning coverage of the sociopathic conspiracy crank she was having an affair with aided his rise to political power, which he is using to perpetrate the worst intentional public health catastrophe of our unnecessarily shortened lifetimes, and THAT is the STORY.
It matters past K-12 too. Graduate level classes are usually quite small. PhD education is, practically speaking, master-apprentice, ie 1:1.
But we still put students in 500person lecture halls for freshmen classes bc otherwise we would need to hire more faculty.
And we can’t afford that.
But we still put students in 500person lecture halls for freshmen classes bc otherwise we would need to hire more faculty.
And we can’t afford that.
Exactly this.
One of the old-timers at the school I used to teach at (a k-8 building) used to say that he could predict low test scores and behavior problems simply by looking at the student-teacher ratios in kindergarten.
Class sizes matter when it comes to k-12 classrooms.
One of the old-timers at the school I used to teach at (a k-8 building) used to say that he could predict low test scores and behavior problems simply by looking at the student-teacher ratios in kindergarten.
Class sizes matter when it comes to k-12 classrooms.
Every decade, we hear "the kids can't read or write!"
Interventions that don't work are proposed. Those that do work are ignored: reducing class sizes, making kids & families feel safe at school and welcome, becoming a community resource.
When their expensive reform fails, they yell at us again.
Interventions that don't work are proposed. Those that do work are ignored: reducing class sizes, making kids & families feel safe at school and welcome, becoming a community resource.
When their expensive reform fails, they yell at us again.
November 15, 2025 at 2:16 PM
It matters past K-12 too. Graduate level classes are usually quite small. PhD education is, practically speaking, master-apprentice, ie 1:1.
But we still put students in 500person lecture halls for freshmen classes bc otherwise we would need to hire more faculty.
And we can’t afford that.
But we still put students in 500person lecture halls for freshmen classes bc otherwise we would need to hire more faculty.
And we can’t afford that.
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
MY GOD, STOP FETISHIZING PAPERS PUBLISHED IN NATURE ARRRRGGGHHH
November 14, 2025 at 4:40 PM
MY GOD, STOP FETISHIZING PAPERS PUBLISHED IN NATURE ARRRRGGGHHH
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
HOLY SHIT. They found the genes for fibromyalgia - and it's *not* autoimmune, it's the central nervous system. It's very cool to see some progress made on the thing that's ruined my life since late teenage years!
Medical Republic: 'Fibromyalgia finally gets a genetic fingerprint'
'Additionally, certain risk loci overlapped with long covid (BPTF) and ME/CFS (OLFM4, RABGAP1L/GPR52), two poorly characterised disorders, albeit with different lead variants.'
www.medicalrepublic.com.au/fibromyalgia...
'Additionally, certain risk loci overlapped with long covid (BPTF) and ME/CFS (OLFM4, RABGAP1L/GPR52), two poorly characterised disorders, albeit with different lead variants.'
www.medicalrepublic.com.au/fibromyalgia...
Fibromyalgia finally gets a genetic fingerprint - Medical Republic
A massive global study links the chronic pain condition to 26 genes associated with brain signalling, marking a turning point in understanding its biological roots.
www.medicalrepublic.com.au
November 14, 2025 at 4:09 AM
HOLY SHIT. They found the genes for fibromyalgia - and it's *not* autoimmune, it's the central nervous system. It's very cool to see some progress made on the thing that's ruined my life since late teenage years!
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
It's hard to explain, but my father is a Rush Limbaugh (rot in piss!) mainlining Fox New brained asshole from way back. I feel like I can see the old triplines and snares that conservatives could've sprung in the past to help Megyn, but now they're all braindead neo nazi influencers
November 15, 2025 at 11:03 AM
It's hard to explain, but my father is a Rush Limbaugh (rot in piss!) mainlining Fox New brained asshole from way back. I feel like I can see the old triplines and snares that conservatives could've sprung in the past to help Megyn, but now they're all braindead neo nazi influencers
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
So we are going to bring forth a world where anyone who wants to be a lone wolf is welcome to walk into the woods without a single damn thing a global community made for him, and perish howling at the moon.
The rest of us will live in a society.
The rest of us will live in a society.
November 14, 2025 at 9:18 AM
So we are going to bring forth a world where anyone who wants to be a lone wolf is welcome to walk into the woods without a single damn thing a global community made for him, and perish howling at the moon.
The rest of us will live in a society.
The rest of us will live in a society.
Reposted by Saavik Pie Ford 🥧
A maximum wage, indexed at 5 times the minimum wage. So if CEOs want to earn more, they have to raise the minimum as well.
"my least woke opinion is---"
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
November 15, 2025 at 11:04 AM
A maximum wage, indexed at 5 times the minimum wage. So if CEOs want to earn more, they have to raise the minimum as well.