Steuard Jensen

Physics professor, Tolkien scholar, JoCoNaut, and all-around science nerd. (He/him.) More active at @[email protected] and @[email protected]

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

I've been a lot less active here lately: not too happy with the direction things are going. I'm more active on:

Bluesky: https://t.co/KRHKwUTULr
Mastodon: https://t.co/HCsAdN9XM8

[Personal friends: I may have a Bluesky invite available. Let me know if you're interested.]

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

My mother's obituary ran in the Lincoln, Nebraska paper this morning. She mostly wrote it herself, a couple weeks ago, and it captures an awful lot of who she was: it's worth reading. My heart is filled with tears and love.
https://t.co/b4k6ffxzk9

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

If any of my friends here need Bluesky invite codes to help them move on, let me know. (Email is best: I haven't been checking in over here that often, and Musk's latest awfulness is making it awfully tempting to make that "almost never".)

[Kristin Olbertson @KOlbertson]

THIS WHOLE THREAD. When ppl say “we have to meet market demands” I hear “our students don’t deserve anything beyond what they can imagine at age 17”

[Naomi Kritzer naomikritzer.bsky.social @NaomiKritzer]

Omg this is awesome. I think my favorite Seattleite is the "well, were they BOTHERING you? ...wait you were in a CAR?" lady. Iconic!

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

@LionKimbro @twnick One more specific comment on this: the social/etc. programs that I've seen presented as "just scratch military spending to pay for this" are *not* vast things like Social Security. It's more like "for the cost of a single bomber, we could fund the entire NEH for three years".

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

@LionKimbro @twnick It sucks that you got the wrong impression! I'm not sure that I ever heard "most spending is military" myself, but rather "military spending dwarfs spending on ___". Often, the framing was "Is that next bomber worth more than ___?" (that could be done with the same money).

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

@LionKimbro @twnick Also, there *is* an argument (only somewhat sketchy) that (e.g.) Social Security and unemployment deserve to be assessed separately: both are largely funded by specific payments that fund those systems. Roughly, my mom gets Social Security payments because she paid in first.

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

@LionKimbro Good luck, and I'm glad you're doing okay!

[Justin Parmenter @JustinParmenter]

The 'failing schools' justification for vouchers falls apart when you consider the fact that the private schools to which legislators want to divert tax $$$ have no requirement to administer the state tests that are supposed evidence of public schools failing. #nced #ncga #ncpol

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

@macaronique @NastyWriterApp @NiceWriterApp I saw it, thought the same thing about dirt, and then realized that Musk probably just thought this looked cool or something.

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

@UrsulaV I have a friend who studies bird populations by placing nets in a wildlife area and counting the birds he finds. And yes, he has explained why it is so important to check the nets (and take them down) promptly after setting them.

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

If you ever wanted to read more about Middle-earth but haven't known where to start, input your preferences and get a personalized list:

https://t.co/dtM1QBjhwY

(Finally finished updating this hobby project just before I need to prep for my fall classes: yay!)

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

Family game night was supposed to end by 10pm but accidentally went to 11:30, so meteor watching wasn't going to happen. But after being woken up at 4am, I popped outside for 15 minutes. Despite lots of trees and annoying porch lights, I saw 5 meteors and 4 satellites. 🤩💖🌠

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

Thunderstorms coalesced overhead about an hour earlier than expected, so Ms12 and I made it back home from our bike ride today *just* in time. (Well, almost in time. The rain started seriously picking up during the long wait to cross the busy street three blocks away.) Still fun!

[Steuard Jensen @steuard]

I've struggled so much with whether to mask in the classroom. The medical evidence seems strong that >10% of infections lead to some level of Long Covid and that risk is cumulative with repeat infections. But every term I worry more that my students will see my mask as a barrier.

[vvalkyri @vvalkyri]

@MillerMadeline Here's a gift link - no paywall. https://t.co/5gkljxGA6y

[Condensed Matter Theory Center @condensed_the]

With a great deal of sadness, we now believe that the game is over. LK99 is NOT a superconductor, not even at room temperatures (or at very low temperatures). It is a very highly resistive poor quality material. Period. No point in fighting with the truth. Data have spoken.

[Hank Green @hankgreen]

Massively under-reported science story because there's so much going on right now but...it turns out that we might have figured out what's causing this very scary spike.

Quick thread, on how WE'VE BEEN ACCIDENTALLY GEOENGINEERING FOR DECADES...but then we stopped: