Nola Taylor Tillman

Senators try to halt shuttle move, saying “little evidence” of public demand A former NASA astronaut-turned-U.S. Senator has joined with other lawmakers to insist that his twice ride to space remain on display in the Smithsonian.

How come no one ever points out that tickets to Air & Space are free while tickets to Space Center Houston are $25+?
This smells a lot like a for-profit deal IMO.

Senators try to halt shuttle move, saying “little evidence” of public demand arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...

Today's auto-transcription win:
You said, "We don't know how hot Jupiters form exactly."
Transcript says, "We don't know how hodegepodges form exactly."

Can I start calling hot Jupiters 'hodgepodge'?
@davidkipping.bsky.social

MADELEINE DEAN: The president is unhinged. He's unwell

JOHNSON: A lot of folks on your side are too

D: Oh my god, please. That performance in front of the generals?

J: I didn't see it

D: It's so dangerous! Our allies are looking elsewhere. Our enemies are laughing. You have a POTUS who's unwell.

Just left messages with my two dem Senators from Georgia to stay strong and let them know that, as their constituent, I am 150% behind them. It is the job of the party in power - the Republicans - to get the bill passed. If they cannot negotiate, they should not be in power, full stop
Call your reps

Thanks for putting our men and women in danger to make your ego feel inflated

White text on blue background: Decidedly it was published, that unemployment had, under the benign reign of President Berzelius Windrip, almost disappeared. Almost all workless men were assembled in enormous labor camps, under M.M. officers. Their wives and children accompanied them and took care of the cooking, cleaning, and repair of clothes. "It Can't Happen Here" Sinclair Lewis

I hear the economy is doing splendidly. Bigliest economy ever!

Lucy image of asteroid Donaldjohanson, with features labeled with their formal names approved by the IAU

A screenshot of the IAU's announcement of 11 new names for Donaldjohanson's surface+shape features. The text reads: 11 Names Approved for (52246) Donaldjohanson: Afar Lobus, Olduvai Lobus, Hadar Regio, Minatogawa Regio, Luzia Dorsum, Boxgrove Saxum, Kennewick Saxum, Cashel Saxum, Mungo, Narmada, and Windover Collum 08/27/2025 The IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the names Afar Lobus, Olduvai Lobus, Hadar Regio, Minatogawa Regio, Luzia Dorsum, Boxgrove Saxum, Mungo, Narmada, Kennewick Saxum, Cashel Saxum, and Windover Collum for eleven features on the asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson. For more information, please see the Donaldjohanson nomenclature map in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

The IAU announced official names for Donaldjohanson's surface & shape features 2 weeks ago, but nobody has mentioned the news. They're all named after archeological sites and hominin fossils, which is fun and awesome haha

(Afar Lobus = small lobe, Olduvai Lobus = big lobe, Windover Collum = neck)

Image collected by WATSON on the Perseverance rover of "Cheyava Falls," a rock on Mars containing potential biosignatures

I've been asked a few times over the last few days what I think the chances are that the "leopard spots and poppy seeds" on Mars will turn out to be actual evidence of life. People are naturally skeptical given the history of possible signs of life on other planets. Strap in: long thread ahead...

Glad it was helpful!

Unnamed Pentagon Officials Ridicule Hegseth’s Plan to Stop War Department Leaks Three current Pentagon insiders told The Intercept that new Department of War rules are an egregious assault on press freedom.

“Perhaps there are so many embarrassing documents... Maybe that’s why the administration is taking a wholesale approach to concealing records that may show wrongdoing, corruption and incompetence,” @seth-stern.bsky.social of @freedom.press told @theintercept.com
theintercept.com/2025/09/21/d...

White text on grey background: "News isn’t just any business, it’s a constitutionally protected public service. And the moment calls for the Fourth Estate to do whatever it can to preserve transparency." Journalists: Post public records without paywalls Seth Stern

A call to journalists
From @seth-stern.bsky.social via @freedom.press

I am ready to move to Finland now, or at least to Helsinki.

Thanks for a great time at #EPSCDPS2025!!!

Just the facts, ma'am How I strive to avoid bias in my social media posts

Someone accused my of bias in my social media posts. This seems applicable.

rarely have I more acutely felt the dynamic by which Dems are held responsible for the rhetoric of every random left-leaning person on the internet and Republicans are not even asked to answer for their own personal words

I just want to give a round of applause to the moderators in the computational mineralogist session. When the speaker concludes, they ask, "any questions from early career folks?" before opening to everyone else.

#epscdps2025

‘They are hunting us:’ Child care workers in D.C. go underground amid ICE crackdown In Washington, D.C., where close to 40 percent of child care workers are immigrants, fear has taken hold amid a crime crackdown that has raised ICE presence. Many are missing work, deepening a staffin...

This is what she lives with every day now: “The fear of leaving your family and letting them know, ‘If I don’t return, it’s not because I am abandoning you.’”

Powerful story by @chabeli.bsky.social for @19thnews.org.

This feels related bsky.app/profile/ndre...

This is such a funny element to the Kirk eulogizing: they can’t describe him the way they’re describing him *and* show clips of anything he actually said or did

Oza reiterates the astronomer's plea: we need more observing time.
Then he makes it personal.
"Maybe [I'm] just like my mother, she's never satisifed."

#epscdps2025

I made the mistake of checking facebook (which I usually avoid - I have 99+ notifications) during the break.
Not surprisingly, people are complaining about the party of violence and how 'they' need to be eliminated.

Go back to your war on Chicago.

Imagine as a parent, your kid comes to you and says, I don't feel right in my body. And you want to discuss it with their doctor. Instead the government tells you to fuck off. - my translation, as a #transParent of the more polite statement

Apurva Oza just referred to "those old 90s telescope."

Thanks, now I feel old.

#EPSCDPS2025

Sarah Joiret to discuss how the primordial atmosphere of Mars was <very> massive

#epscdps2025

Roche: I'm completing my phD this year, so if anybody has any money....

<laughter>

#epscdps2025

Roche: The moon-forming impact was not enough to alter volatiles on Earth. If giant impacts played a significant role in depleting the planet's volatile budget, then it may have suffered at least one additional giant impact.

#epscdps2025

Roche: The presence of an ocean can help or hinder atmospheric loss. The ocean can act like a giant spring to accelerate loss.

But there wasn't previous a way to quantify how much ocean was lost. So we simulated it.

#epscdps2025

Roche: On the other hand, the cumulative effects of giant impacts can cause significant loss

#epscdps2025

Roche: Individual impacts on Earth-mass planets rarely cause significant loss.

#epscdps2025

Better?