Benjamin Weiner

Sun Ra said to his biographer John Szwed, “Did you see ‘Star Wars’? It was very accurate.” @[email protected]

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

I propose to found a Museum of Fiascos. Informational and instructional exhibits would describe and demonstrate notable fiascos, failures, blunders, botches, collapses, and cock-ups through time. My university’s IT department can sponsor a wing. X could be Exhibit A.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

If you’re worried about complex computing systems developing artificial intelligence and wiping out humanity, you might stop navel gazing about that and worry about complex computing systems wiping out humanity by critical failures due to an expired SSL certificate.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

Some say they world will end by fire, some say the world will end in ice, and I say the world will end when we are hit by a giant asteroid that no one saw because a network connection was down due to an expired SSL certificate.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@ChrisMihos The Game of Life isn’t what it used to be. Today’s children are expected to have working knowledge of indirect costs, ERE, overhead, & in-kind contribs, plus Excel spreadsheets and responsibility-centered management. With IDC+benefits, a scientist costs $200K and sees half that.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@Rohan_Naidu Everybody has limited time and has to choose what to work on, so it would say something to choose to work on this.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@bmac_astro Coatimundi are fairly diurnal. It’s the ringtailed cats you have to watch out for.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@PlotAstro I am in hate with a certain aspect of this plot.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@dalcantonJD @elan_arr @aussiastronomer This is funny, because I visualize most things - not literal faces of characters, but certainly scenes, or physics problems - but I feel like drawing things / visual expression comes more easily to you than to me.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

If your response to a “being a junior faculty/staff is hard, all the responsibilities” thread is to say that it’s not so hard at your institute, maybe it’s not hard there. Or maybe it’s that the junior faculty and staff are afraid to speak honestly to you.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@mjuric For ex, there’s always a temptation to trigger a ToO toward the end of the semester if you haven’t used it yet. That’s an example of how any resource allocation (TAC, market, auction) has artificialities that people are tempted to game.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@mjuric The order in which ToOs are allowed to interrupt scheduled observing is contentious at every observatory. With a queue, it is eased b/c the ToO isn’t taking away a specific person’s time, but you’re still reliant on the good faith of the ToO to only trigger on the best targets.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@david_kipping That guy that always emails you about how you should have cited his paper would be the most prolific commenter.

I am not sure how this would avoid the fate of all other internet comment sections.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

New plan to get astronomy-famous: enroute to next conference, get loaded on double scotches in the airport bar and tweet ignorant remarks about cosmic inflation, “This is why Americans think the matter-energy balance is terrible,” “Hubble tension is caused by coastal elites,” etc

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@davidwhogg @ylecun @REasther I’m not strongly pro or anti civilian nuclear energy, but think Germany went off nuclear for reasons that have nothing to do with proliferation, but assuaging local environmental fears at the expense of exacerbating global environmental costs.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@davidwhogg @ylecun @REasther Civilian nuclear energy is always a proliferation risk, why the IAEA and monitoring exist. Japan, Spain, S Korea, Taiwan invested in nuclear power (more so after the 70s oil shock) to hedge against fossil fuel. The US or CA point fingers while sitting on a burning pool of carbon.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@davidwhogg @ylecun @REasther I agree France is the biggest and for Gaullist reasons (why do France or the UK even have nuclear weapons? To preserve the idea of their pre 1939 status as great power). Germany has been drawing nuclear down, only OK if they can spend enough to replace it with not-fossil fuels.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

@davidwhogg @ylecun @REasther This is sort of an odd critique since it’s a bit of “large countries are large” and not reflected in the chart of EU countries’ energy source (eg Spain, Germany, etc). Countries are also motivated to develop nuclear energy when they lack local fossil fuel resources.

[Benjamin Weiner @cloud149]

Social media is no joke, it can kill. Think carefully about what you say lest you murder some poor teen’s parents.