Sara Pritchard

Over next 48 hrs do I

Adult?
Do wage work?
Yard work?
Play?*
Lay on the couch and drool?

I could easily spend entire time on one of those. 🙄

*I hear that's a thing.

Electricity bill 50% above worst bill ev-er past two months in a row.
And we heat primarily w wood.
And we have solar panels and solar hot water.
👀

i am not generally a "go through the hoops to write a comment I don't think will really be read" kind of guy, but for a plan THIS bad, by a guy I hate THIS much... I'll make the exception

This proposal, along with Reflect Orbital's proposal to beam sunlight down from space at night, pose a significant threat to the work that myself, my friends, my colleagues, and many of my followers on this platform do every day.

Don’t let mega-constellation-building billionaires steal your night sky Satellites are wonders of modern technology that have improved all of our lives. But having more than a million of them in orbit could destroy our view of the heavens and seriously damage our planet

Satellites are wonders of modern technology that have improved all of our lives. But having more than a million of them in orbit could destroy our view of the heavens and seriously damage our planet

So here’s a question for those who’ve had a PhD for >20 years:

What would your 3 (or 4 if applicable) fields be today?

I myself will need to give it some thought

For funsies, my comp exams were in
(two departments bc I changed programs after passing the first)

Astro PhD
1. Galaxies & stars
2. Quantum field theory

Physics PhD
1. Astrophysics (Carroll&Ostlie)
2. General Relativity (Wald)
3. Quantum field theory in curved spacetimes (mukhanov&winitzki)

For [extra for Sara] funsies, mine were:

1. History of Technology
2. Sociology of Knowledge
3. Modern France

You better believe that my water history reading list included, even centered, CONFLUENCE by @sarabpritchard.bsky.social

this makes Sara Pritchard's new history of light pollution (out this July) all the more welcome and timely:

uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...

For funsies, my comp exams were in

1. History of Technology
2. History of Modern Science, especially environmental sciences
3. Environmental History
4. Modern France

THE STRUGGLE IS THE POINT. Not struggling for struggle sake, but for learning's sake. Comps are not just about reading, but locating and deciding what to read and why.

#LightPoverty

Farm BlueSky giving away Wordle today lol

They were amazing. Speed research/presentations on:
- artists engaged w indoor and outdoor prison lighting
- letter to a prison superintendent/state official on carceral lightscapes: probs & solutions
- designing a research study to investigate natural and artificial lighting effects on incarcerated

Privileged to teach a senior seminar on #Lightscapes this term.
This week we are discussing forced illumination and #CarceralLightscapes -- next part of my research program.

Designed 3 small-group projects for second half of class and am TOTALLY PSYCHED to see what the students do with them!

on this day in 1933 "the US Senate confirms Frances Perkins as Secretary of Labor and she is sworn in the same day, making her the first female member of the United States Cabinet."

We are losing the stars, night by night, light by light For most of human history, the night sky has been a shared inheritance, a source of wonder. Now, more than a billion children see barely any stars in the night sky above their homes. So what does that mean for humanity?

We are losing the stars, night by night, light by light: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-04/light-pollution-causing-stars-to-vanish-in-urban-night-skies/106299584

My cat is shedding a lot right now... 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan’s

I am heading to Stanford University to give a book talk on Thursday, March 5. Below are more details about the venue and time.
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Philippines Conference Room (C330)
Encina Hall, 3rd Floor
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305
aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/events/islan...

Higher ed programs should teach more about history/philosophy/sociology of science

The EPA issued reduction-in-force notices to 22 employees working on environmental justice efforts to address pollution in overburdened and underserved communities.

Cheap, piece of shit white mug but "everything will be okay" printed in black a zillion times with "OMG everything is fucked" printed once in red in the middle

Apparently, evergreen

While we sit around to find out how bad exactly it all is, a bit of cheer: the best baguette of Paris competition was won by a Sri Lankan who appears to have started as a dish washer in restaurants and eventually trained as a Boulanger.

www.paris.fr/pages/la-mei...

Going outside.
To wander around mud and compacted snow, and listen to birds singing early spring songs, and get some momentary vitamin D, and hug a sheep, and keep going.

I hate to say it but

“Well, Iran’s regime is corrupt and—“

DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF.

Could end this, and this, and that, and this, and also that, and do not forget THAT, and ...

One of the problems with, um, timely books.

Ch 3 quotes astronomer James Lowenthal describing the possibility of 500k to 1 mil sats. 🛰
Now, ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Finishing proofs while sat world blowing up (a few literally) and FCC comments due.

I know you know, @joshuasokol.bsky.social 🤦‍♀️