Also, you do realise one of your sticky notes has nothing on it?
🤨
Oh, thank you so much for adding your comments as sticky notes in a PDF file, where I can't entirely see where exactly you'd like me to insert your mutterings.
You couldn't just use Track Changes in the Word file, like a
normal human being?
🤔
Just encountered a situation where a researcher's masculine name had been changed to the feminine version, and I had to double-check whether it was a typo or a life-affirming transition 😀
(Pretty sure it's a typo.)
Vienna's University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) demonstration project shows how a green roof can be combined with solar panels while preserving the feel of a garden.
Solar panels are suspended 2m above the garden on a pergola. The semi-translucent panels allow light to reach the garden beneath, while still providing shade to the people sitting below.
But these biosolar roofs face many technical challenges.
#solarpunk
I have a degree in Physics with Astrophysics, and my personal hypothesis is that Dark Matter = lost socks.
Although it could be that each lost sock has had an unfortunate encounter with an anti-sock, and that Dark Energy was released during their annihilation.
My best guess is that it was aimed at me (although she wasn’t looking at me) and is her confusing way of telling me it doesn’t contain anything I can’t eat.
(I have a cow’s milk intolerance, but she’s been struggling to understand that for 10+ years now, so it’s not like I would take her word for it anyway.)
nostr:npub19ecj9zpqxlpvd2e375mh6xdm6q6rv327ps74xycyasx0ghdpp2vspgfxlk Everyone seems to assume that because it made sense in their head, it will make sense in everyone else’s (without the necessary context).
One of the facets of my autism is that I go back through what was said during previous conversations, trying to work out what was going on.
This morning I am struggling to find any meaning in my MIL’s assertion that last night’s main course was “vegetarian. Apart from the chicken.”
(No vegetarians were present.)
#ActuallyAutistic
nostr:npub1z0fvp88xx2dus6wmqcd7c6tztameg8zhe8fxstdfnmmuwvlzc05skhn7sr Sandford Hydro is one I've heard about.
nostr:npub1l52frf99x9pphq8pr8mpyfhcd6gwqfrkehdc7s8c7pp8lug6lfpqkyuzhx I’ll give it a listen, thanks!
I've been doing this job for years now, and I get the whole gamut of reponses from scientists.
Some of them are really lovely, happy to chat about their work, and appreciative of the effort I put into helping disseminate it.
Some treat me like a necessary evil.
Some treat me like I'm their most idiotic grad student.
Some treat me like I'm a bimbo with a GCSE in General Science and a fondness for paperclips.
And some think they can write better than me.
Me (professional science writer with a physics background, employed engaged by a reputable scientific organisation:
"Dear Professor, I have to write an article about your esoteric work at the cutting edge of particle physics - could we have a quick chat about what you did, so that I can put it into context?"
Prof: "I helped write this press release about the work. Read it, and then if you still have questions we can meet."
Me (after reading the press release):
WTF?
nostr:npub1hzzdsl0entp586gsu5n8rqpcwdyrna40fu4tkwngfmgk4dm2qt4qwljjke I have checked through the Library's written history, and it's not entirely clear.
However, I can tell you one thing.
We'd need a new rug.
nostr:npub1hzzdsl0entp586gsu5n8rqpcwdyrna40fu4tkwngfmgk4dm2qt4qwljjke Yes, but so far no one's been dumb enough to try and steal books from the Library, so we haven't seen what form its defences take.
Rumour is that they're epic.
nostr:npub10aw5s9s5zgw3sve45fcwy8l75etkxr623fe9n9chh5jfwx77mqtqn65egs It could work. As long as the bats don't eat them.
You do have to be careful with anti-dragons, though, because of course, if they come into contact with a dragon the pair will annihilate, releasing a blast of magical energy that could flatten three counties.
I was thinking more along the lines of a giant (and very cosy) fire blanket.
Or a fire-sucking anti-dragon, which breathes in the flames, and then later on poops out a lump of coal.
Ryan and I have been discussing potential fire suppression systems for our magical library.
Ryan favours employing fireflies, who swoop down and carry the fire back to their nest in the rafters. They could then light the dimmer corners of the Library. (In the event the Library hasn't caught fire for a while, the Librarian can leave a candle burning for them.)
Or a flame-retardant sheep that runs in an sits on a burning book to quench the flames.
"Dust reveals that the home’s sanctity is a fiction: it threatens its status as a haven from the outside world. The battle against it looks trivial, but subconsciously the stakes are existential."
#longread
Bank of England report says companies making excess profits are "confined to certain sectors of economy such as energy and retail."
It also found profits were "less negatively affected for those with fewer competitors."
Well, duh.