Margaret Harris

The final frame of the advert was text that read “Disabled people are just people.”

I saw an advert once that showed a man saying vile things about minorities to a horrified audience in a restaurant. The camera panned out to reveal that the man was in a wheelchair, and a voiceover intoned “This man is disabled. But more importantly, he’s an asshole.” I think of that advert a lot.

This was, of course, legal because the strippers (unlike many of Epstein's victims) were adults, but if he'd any women in his group at the time (which was unlikely for various reasons not limited to personal misogyny), it would have made for a horrible and discriminatory atmosphere.

Just as being disabled didn't prevent Hawking from doing excellent physics, it also didn't prevent him from being, at times, a misogynistic asshole. Most of the stories I've heard are vague + not mine to tell, but he certainly took his research group to Stringfellow's strip club in the mid-2000s...

This shit can get in the sea and stay there until all the seas gang dry and rocks melt with the sun.

Tonight, I was looking at water.noaa.gov to see where the US is flooding. My 11-year old pointed to the ongoing major flooding in North Dakota, and I said "Oh, that's Devils Lake. It's always flooding there." They asked "Why?" and a rabbit hole yawned before me.

I suspect that if the record is accurate, it means she actually grew a third set of teeth. Although my guess is that dentures were uncommon in 18th-century rural Wiltshire due to affordability, they wouldn’t have been enough of a novelty to immortalise on someone’s grave.

Graveside plaque that reads: In Memory of SARAH JARVIS Who departed this life the 11th Day of December 1753 In the Hundred and Seventh Year of her Age Some Time before her Death She had Fresh Teeth

I feel like this lady and this other woman from Wiltshire, England might have been kindred spirits.

Tbf, “the big math changes to small math” is not far off my own level of understanding within certain areas of mathematics. But then again, I’m not writing papers about it claiming to be an expert.

That’s fair, I didn’t have you down as a cultural exceptionist. Your comment merely got me thinking about other geographically distant regions that also had warmish relations despite cultural differences, e.g. French-Ottomans during the few centuries that separated crusades from colonies.

Are Hungarians Balkaners? If so, then the statement is true, but it boils down to “folks in two geographic regions without a shared border or directly conflicting interests had mostly peaceful relations,” which seems like it should be the default, not anything exceptional.

“The sky over Tehran is black. Like the night sky…” a friend

“i cannot breath, I am breathing through a wet towel”. My mum

10.000.000 people are being choked to death. Tehran is surrounded by mountains. There is very little wind.

How Elon Musk’s Sci-Fi Hyperloop Failed Before his misadventures in government efficiency, Musk promised to revolutionize commuting with a subway that would speed passengers between DC and Baltimore in a matter of minutes. The project was a...

A year long investigation into the Hyperloop found …

“The truth was far simpler, far dumber, and far more prescient: Musk and his lieutenants truly had no idea what they were doing.”

washingtonian.com/2026/02/12/h...

I’m so sorry that this is happening to your Mum and her city. I hope she finds a way to be safe.

I don’t know. Aaaaaaaaaa! 🧨

Operation Hannibal - Wikipedia

I feel this, but I can recommend Wikipedia rabbit holes related to late-Second World War battles. Nearly all feature spectacular Nazi cock-ups and large numbers of dead Nazis, which is sometimes weirdly reassuring. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...

Yes, the article mentions that it’s not a new idea or even, for the most part, a new technology. The question was whether it could be made quick and efficient enough to work on more than an artistic or niche scale, and apparently it can!

They found another workaround. Both relatives are safe for now. But thank you!

Right, who all is starting to get excited for #APSMarch #APSApril #APSGPS in Denver the week after next? Do I know anyone else who’s going to be there? Any talks I should definitely try to squeeze in? I’m open to suggestions!

I will ask. It’s a very kind offer.

African or European swallow?

(I don't know, but hopefully it's cuneiform rather than Linear B or, worse, Linear A.)

I hope they're okay, and I'm glad you've heard from her. A friend likewise has family there and last time I checked, she had heard nothing since an hour after the bombing started. Extremely worrying times for all in this situation.

The good news: We've found a data-storage medium that can outlast clay tablets!
The bad news: Future humans will need a microscope and a good working knowledge of optical physics to read whatever we write there.

I suppose it's not *that* much more difficult than deciphering cuneiform... 🧪⚛️

.country | Harmony Harmony's .country domains allow a seamless transition between Web2 and Web3. You can use your .country domain for both traditional websites and decentralized applications, making it easier to access ...

Right, so even when a country’s sample was representative of its <75 population, different demographics mean that the data will make e.g. a country with an older population appear to have attitudes more typical of older generations. I can see how that could mess with conclusions. Thanks!

I once spent Thanksgiving Day smelling like Julia Roberts.

Thanks for the link. The researchers claim that the surveyed populations in both Hungary and Japan are representative of adults <75 there. Are you able to elaborate on why you think the methodology is flawed?

It surprises me that Hungary and Japan are near the bottom of this list. My impression is that they are both somewhat socially conservative countries, unlike egalitarian, feminist-friendlier Sweden or the Netherlands, which are where I'd expect them to be. Does anyone have any insights on this?

It is very useful what they’re doing. I had not previously known that a scratch could transmit rabies; I thought you had to be bitten. I hope I never need to use this new knowledge, but it’s better to have it than not!

A LOT going on in the Commons select committee hearing on STFC budget pressures

Michele Dougherty said that, despite having previously been on STFC's council, she didn't know until starting as exec chair in Jan 2025 that there was a £100-150m shortfall

She said it was "not what I signed up to" 😶

Ancient reversal of Earth's magnetic field took an extraordinarily long time – Physics World Field-flipping event 40 million years ago in the Eocene epoch lasted 70,000 years

In the midst of the current turmoil, I found it weirdly soothing to contemplate the cataclysmic events described in this article, which took place on geophysical timescales some 40 million years ago. Perhaps you will, too. physicsworld.com/a/ancient-re...