Barry McKernan

Barry McKernan

@bmckastro.bsky.social

Astronomer, Dad, Husband, Gamer, Occasional runner, hiker, traveller, History, Crosswords, Irish in America

673 Followers 358 Following 870 Posts Joined Jun 2023
1 week ago

I. MEAN. IT. I mean Jesus!

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1 week ago

STOP. BEING. SO. BANG. ON. THE. MONEY!

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1 week ago

Sometimes the wrong apes are on the wrong side of the glass!

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1 week ago

It's not hard. Be honest & direct & try to make people's lives better!

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1 week ago

Epic!

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1 week ago

Something that our education system has *never* included is our collective tendency to forget internalized hard-won info (like Nazis bad; vaccines good). Would be interested in seeing ideas to fix this. We change thinking only through repeated deep confrontation of mind models with reality.

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1 week ago

Handy Science cheat sheet!

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1 week ago

Fair, but I'd be warier if it's a red shirt!

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1 week ago

Goddamn horseshoe theory strikes again!

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1 week ago

Yep!

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1 week ago

It's the simple things! Toast with (salted) Kerrygold FTW!

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1 week ago
Preview
The Man Who Stole Infinity | Quanta Magazine In an 1874 paper, Georg Cantor proved that there are different sizes of infinity and changed math forever. A trove of newly unearthed letters shows that it was also an act of plagiarism.

Read this! It is brilliant & riveting.
Well done @quantamagazine.bsky.social
www.quantamagazine.org/the-man-who-...

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1 week ago

This is so important! Scientists need to informally chat with each other about the things they're obsessed about! That's a good day.
And chasing things down. You need to talk to people who know more about X or Y or who can help you refine your view of Z. Then test your models with observables!

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2 weeks ago
Preview
THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS A Thought Exercise in Financial History, from the Future

Very interesting speculative piece on what AI/AGI means for the economy. Worth a read:
www.citriniresearch.com/p/2028gic

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2 weeks ago

Oh for sure ($1.5T). Sensible use of a windfall. Every country should follow Norway's example! UK and NL didn't, IRL is learning (using Apple corp tax revenues).

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2 weeks ago

On engineering scales of
1 (LEGO blocks) to the human best of
LIGO GW detectors, this is super cool, like 0.01LIGOs.πŸ˜€

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2 weeks ago

The second best thing about Uranus is that it gives us a free neat view of what planets look like from above.
The best thing is jokes about the name.

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2 weeks ago

True. If most Americans were allowed to see this is as a possibility, they would grab it with both hands.

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2 weeks ago

Hidden in here is a contender for quote of the year!
"We were supposed to β€œcritically embrace generative A.I. technology.” When I asked what that meant, nobody had an answer."

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2 weeks ago

There's a fine line between Satire & Breaking the News. Jesus!

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2 weeks ago

Stay awesome Glasgow! Go Weegies!

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2 weeks ago

Tells you everything. Always listen to what regular folks say about encounters with the high & mighty.

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2 weeks ago

Very cool! Maybe de-oxygenation treatments will help reverse diabetes & some cancers?

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2 weeks ago

This is amazing! Possible universal vaccine for colds/flu/Covid? Biotech has undergone a remarkable phase transition in the last 10 years.

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2 weeks ago

Excellent!

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2 weeks ago

Today's winner!

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2 weeks ago

Behold, the cur-sed stone that pushed us into this timeline.

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2 weeks ago
Preview
Opinion | Britain’s Jewel-Encrusted Shell of Privilege Has Been Thoroughly Breached

If you like your op-eds with a draught of acid, this is scathing.
Recommend:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/o...

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3 weeks ago

I wish that more of the US had rank choice voting. STV is brilliant! ("The Irish Menace"). The US could also clearly benefit from multi-party systems. The GOP =a fascist + a classic center-right party. The Dems = a centerist party + a left wing party. There's 4 actual parties, but the system says 2.

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3 weeks ago

Sure, fight in the primary for *your guy* & pull the party in the direction you want. But in the general election, it'll be Fash or Dem & that's no choice.

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