Meredith Rawls

When I borrowed a trike one visit and a bakfiets another, the extremely banked everything gutter gap department was A LOT for figuring out how to ride in a straight line and not immediately fall over

On past visits we've crowdsourced borrowed cargo bikes, but this trip was short enough and the weather forecast was dicey enough (and the little one is now big enough for a ride safer vest) that I didn't put in the effort this time. It should NOT be hard to visit a city and get around on a bike

Visiting Sacramento and the weather is about to turn, uh, full Seattle, but my goodness is it begging for bicycle infrastructure, yet… there are no bike shares, no Wombi or similar rentals, no ebike lending libraries, just a bunch of weird slopey curbless sidewalks with an EV in every driveway 😩

Love to start the weekend off strong with the home internet service just up and canceling itself like it's the TSA

More than 20 kids in the middle of a rapid ride Seattle city bus, sitting and standing. I've blocked out all the kids' faces with 😄, save my own kiddo, so the sheer joy they are radiating is not as tangible as in the original, but believe me, it's there. Many kids are giving the peace sign and there are a few adults (chaperones plus random bus riders) also present.

Moment of joy for your Friday: a city bus full of 2nd graders, from earlier this week, on a field trip

Apply now for the John N. Bahcall Public Policy Fellowship to learn first-hand about policymaking while contributing your knowledge and analytical skills to the federal policymaking process.

Applications due by 15 April: aas.org/form/john-n-... 🔭

@policy.aas.org

child on ipad with headphones: maybe we should stop worrying about the screens kids are on adult driving looking at phone AND START WORRYING ABOUT THE SCREENS ADULTS ARE ON One thing leads to another.

Screen Time.

Let's give it up to the transit agency employees who had to make it all happen...within the space of a few dozen hours at MOST.

Just a reminder that I'm hiring! Looking for an engineer/research for some fun projects (some building! some designing!)

Come build spectrographs at UW.

Here is the ticket link for the concert at Town Hall: www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticket...?

Here is the FREE ticket link (for headcount) for the dress rehearsal near the Zoo: www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticket...

It's the first time we're trying the dress rehearsal thing, and folks of all ages are welcome.

Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra

Seattle folks, make way for classical music this month! I play viola with the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra and you have 2 great ways to hear this concert's music:

1. The concert 2/28, $10
2. The dress rehearsal 2/27, FREE

I apologize that our poster is genAI, I promise our music is Not That 🎻

21 pages of thoughtful astronomical existential crisis prompted by LLMs (pun wholeheartedly intended) and nary a mention of satellite constellations (cough, space based AI data centers) dooming the whole endeavor outright? Impressive

If this story is not the kind of thing you were already hearing about, please reevaluate your news sources and how you get information about what is currently happening in the US.

There are also some great donation suggestions at the end of the thread.

@mayorofseattle.bsky.social @cmdanstrauss.bsky.social there's a big 💩 on the play structure at Ballard Commons. Any chance we can get a cleaning crew out ASAP? It is taped off but inhibiting play. You can imagine every family is having the same conversation right now...

a computer generated image with the words everything is fine Alt: Computer generated image of a wildly tumbling satellite in space near a planet with the words "Everything Is Fine"

My favorite response to this from an unnamed colleague so far:

Isn't the Dyson Sphere supposed to go around the Sun?

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

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They can be tricky to find but they're the absolute best, especially if you don't want to go full storm shield www.tucanourbano.com/en/products/...

Three electric family cargo bikes in a preschool parking lot, each with a slightly different rear kid carrying setup, with one lone car in the background, at dusk

One thing that was great today - three bikes at preschool pickup! 🥰

This is my favorite way to get to Carkeek when I have the time - D bus to its northern terminus (randomly behind a QFC when really it should go to Northgate??? sorry I digress) and then crossing right here and walking down along Piper's Creek

Federal Communications Commission 45 L Street NE Washington, DC 20554 News Media Information 202-418-0500 Internet: www.fcc.gov DA 26-113 Released: February 4, 2026 SPACE BUREAU ACCEPTS FOR FILING SPACEX'S APPLICATION FOR ORBITAL DATA CENTERS ICFS File No. SAT-LOA-20260108-00016 Comments/Petitions Due: March 6, 2026 Response to Comments/Oppositions to Petition Due: March 16, 2026 Replies to Responses/Oppositions Due: March 23, 2026 By this Public Notice, the Space Bureau (Bureau) accepts for filing and seeks comment on an application by Space Exploration Holdings, LLC (SpaceX) for a new non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) system of up to one million satellites. This satellite system will represent the "first step towards becoming a Kardashev Il-level civilization - one that can harness the Sun's full power," according to SpaceX. On January 30, 2026, SpaceX filed an application seeking authority to launch and operate a new NGSO satellite system of up to one million satellites to operate as the "Space Orbital Data Center system" (System). The System will operate at altitudes ranging from 500 km to 2,000 km and in 30 degree and sun-synchronous orbit inclinations within orbital shells spanning up to 50 km each. The proposed satellites will use high-bandwidth optical inter-satellite links and conduct telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) operations.* The Bureau seeks comment on the application and the associated requests for waiver.

Really can't make this stuff up

I did not have a fast-tracked FCC application for an actual megaconstellation (1 million satellites) justified as "taking the first step towards becoming a Kardashev Il-level civilization" on my 2026 bingo card

What are we doing friends

Is there any way to advocate for dark sky friendly (full-cutoff and warm amber color) lighting? Too many such projects have high glare high intensity blue-hued lights that don't actually make it easier to see.

Where is the travel agency that will help me choose family trip destinations based on the existence of this kind of itinerary?!

(I've cobbled together a far-too-compressed version of this on Vancouver Island for this summer, and yes it did require planning in January)

I believe (but am not certain) that there are several moons visible in the image, including the dark spot blocking the rings. Stars are smeared into RGB colors because the images were taken at slightly different times, and Uranus had moved a different amount in the sky than the background stars had.

This is what taxpayer-funded open science plus decades of hard-won investment and expertise looks like

Have I got a deal for you friend tinyurl.com/skyler26

Also every map I can find online of which areas of the country use which bakery is out of date because I know for a fact that Portland OR uses ABC and that isn't shown on any of them, so somebody who wants a pleasantly distracting deep dive please get on this thanks

Two sets of the 7 aforementioned varieties of Girl Scout cookies corresponding to one of two bakeries, Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers, laid out on a cutting board so you can inspect the differences visually side by side. The lemon ones weren't included because they're wildly different and the gluten free ones weren't included because they're also very different (LBB does Toffee-Tastic and ABC does some kind of chocolate chip).

I have an opinion on an important matter

ABC Trefoils > LBB
Samoas (LBB) > Caramel deLites (ABC)
PB Sandwiches (ABC) > Do-Si-Dos (LBB)
LBB Adventurefuls > ABC
LBB Thin Mints > ABC

PB Patties (ABC) and Tagalongs (LBB) differ notably but neither is superior; same for Exploremores (the new one)

Tell me five classes you took in college:

Politology (in Moscow Russia)
Interdisciplinary Laboratory (lizard anal thermometers)
Performing the Sacred (more trances and less pipe organ than anticipated)
Hatha Yoga II (Iyengar)
Science and Religion (missed some class due to an observing run in Chile)

oh okay

add it to the bingo card

At tonight's PTO meeting I learned that when storm drains on the playground backed up, somebody made signs about a new tadpole ecosystem

I also learned about the district's new guidance for keeping kids safe from immigration enforcement agents and some initial community responses

Lord, have mercy