Patchen Barss

Good pie or bad, pie consistently delivers more than it promises, unlike cake, which promises more than it delivers.

Image from the Maurice Sendak book, "In The Night Kitchen" featuring Mickey flying his plane across the night sky over a building-sized bottle of milk while three chefs look on in surreal disbelief.

I grew up in rural Nova Scotia. The Milky Way was available every clear night. There were many things I didn't fully appreciate as a kid about Lunenburg County, but the night sky wasn't one of them — I always knew it was magic, and that that magic was actually science.

Nope! That would diminish its annoyingness.

Photograph of a completed 600-piece jigsaw puzzle in uniform silver - no picture. The central region is a spiral of odd shaped pieces, while the outer rectangle has a more conventional jigsaw grid.

Well, we completed the most annoying jigsaw puzzle we’ve ever done. I and my son both felt weirdly proud after.

I’ve been getting these too, and I’ve realized they’re messing with my ability to pitch freelance work - I start to worry my pitches sound like an LLM, and I get paralyzed trying to reestablish my natural voice.

I’d like to hear more about this semicolon.

I’m not NOT knocking on heaven’s door…

I use Voice Memos (iPhone app) and Trint (cloud based automatic transcription service). No complaints.

A small pumpkin painted blue with white spots overlayed with the Blue Jays logo.

So much happening tonight, the pumpkins have to do double duty.

I have opinions on this! The rarity of blue pigment is super-interesting, but everything blue to the human eye is "true blue." Blue eyes, blue skies, and blueberry pies are all blue for different reasons (and yes, pies are more purple than blue) but inasmuch as they're blue, they're true blue.

Patchen Barss: The Impossible Equation of Genius - TIFA Patchen Barss is a Toronto-based science journalist, author, and speaker. His biography, The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius, was named one of the top science and technology books...

Toronto friends: I'm speaking this Sunday at 1:30 at the Toronto International Festival of Authors. Come out for a conversation about creativity, cosmology, and impossible objects. Moderated by Deborah Dundas. Hope to see you there!

Also “no more stars.”

This looks fascinating and delightful.

The Swingle Singers: All the Swingle Ladies.

Fastenating.

Me and the kids got Covid and flu vaccines today. ‘Tis the season to keep yourself and your community healthy!

I feel the same way about BOOZEMOBILE.

Hellooo new Bluesky users!

If you like science, science stories, context, and journalism with accountability, you may want to follow the people in this starter pack. Enjoy!

go.bsky.app/2gr4VJ5

Sorry, man. It’s maddening. Hope it’s mild and you have a full recovery.

I did a tab test several years ago that confirmed I’m the opposite of a supertaster. Bitter barely registers for me. I feel like the large and stark differences in taste experiences are underappreciated, especially in areas like restaurant and wine reviews.

Can’t we do both?

I use “twin.”

Pencil and paper drawing of me with the words “Happy B-day Papa” and the number 56.

The nice thing about getting older is my kids get older too. My 12-year-old made this card for me.

Jobs, gigs, laughs. Been a while, but there have been good things.

Too many times to count. I wish I had an editor to go over this response before I post it.

Woman standing next to large artwork on an easel. The painting is of a wormhole with gravitational lensing that shows stars and galaxies are warped around a central point.

Can you help?… I’m trying to find my people

I know there’s more space fans here… just not sure how to reach you

Feels weird to ask, but would you give me a signal boost by hitting share?

If you’re new… Hi I’m Cat, I make pretty picture of space 🥹 let’s connect if you like weird space art

Join us for WRITING #MATH on Oct 25! A hybrid event at
@fieldsinstitute.bsky.social with:
Paula Rowinska
Anthony Bonato
@dreugeniacheng.bsky.social
@profnoahgian.bsky.social
@1autumnleaf.bsky.social
Siobhan Roberts
@onlinekyne.bsky.social
@patchenbarss.bsky.social

shorturl.at/8NnDK

Thanks for giving me this vocabulary — armed with the right term, I've now found a wealth of analysis and tips on static characters. Mightily useful.

Question about fiction from a non-fiction writer: I'm trying to think of protagonists who do not have a character arc, who end their story the same as they began. My one candidate: Ferris Bueller, who catalyzes change in others, but does not himself evolve or grow. Any others you can think of?

If you missed this story on quasicrystals - the platypuses of materials - in Quanta a few weeks ago, @wired.com has republished it. (My feeling is they should have edited so it was nearly, but not quite the same.)