It’s time for a FtB podcast tomorrow!
We asked what would be good to discuss, and the response was a visceral cri de coeur, so that’s the topic. There is a lot of pain in the world, and we feel it deep down in our bones, so we’ll just cry for a while.
This is a photo of the gravitational lensing caused by a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy.
The cosmic behemoth is close to the theoretical upper limit of what is possible in the universe and is 10,000 times heavier than the black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy.
It exists in one of the most massive galaxies ever observed – the Cosmic Horseshoe – which is so big it distorts spacetime and warps the passing light of a background galaxy into a giant horseshoe-shaped Einstein ring.
Such is the enormousness of the ultramassive black hole’s size, it equates to 36 billion solar masses, according to a new paper published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Meanwhile, here on the Planet of the Dumbasses, in a country renowned for its dumbassery, a dumbass religious fanatic has convened a conference featuring three dumbass astronaut-apologists to argue that the entire universe is only 6000 years old, and that only the Planet of Dumbasses is populated by dumbasses who are able to look up into the sky and appreciate astronomy. You can read a long and thorough review of this dumbass conference, but the comment that jumped out a me was this one:
Ham went on to discuss the cosmos, naming various constellations and nebulae and demonstrating his familiarity with astronomy. He explained his belief that God had created the universe to showcase His power to human beings; as Psalm 19 says,
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.The universe, Ham claimed, has no other purpose than to impress us here on Earth with God’s capacity for creation.
So, apparently, a god assembled this gigantic black hole, 36 billion solar masses in size, unobservable until now, in 2025, just to show off. You’d think he could have done a better job of this one planet full of his dumbass worshippers with all the energy and power he used to construct an impossibly distant sphere of death, that we can’t visit and most of us can’t even see. However, the narcissism of this Christian god is far greater than 36 billion stars, I guess, which is why we’re supposed to worship his bloated ego.
To treat science as merely one belief system among many is to misrepresent what science is and why it matters. Claims that science is merely a tool to promote a certain political perspective (whether accusing climate researchers of fabrication or reducing medical research to “Big Pharma” profiteering) are rhetorically powerful because they reframe empirical findings as mere opinion. But while no human endeavor is untouched by ideology, the strength of science lies precisely in its effort to weed ideology out. NASA’s science missions must be protected, not despite the fact that their findings may challenge deeply held beliefs or even particular political goals, but precisely because they do. In an era when the authority of evidence is often undermined or dismissed, defending the integrity of empirical discovery is essential – not only for the future of space science, but for the very idea that reality can be investigated and understood without fear of the consequences of challenging dogma, whether religious or political.
The reviewer is too nice to say it, but I’m not nice. Fuck Charlie Duke. Fuck Jeffrey N. Williams. Fuck Barry “Butch” Wilmore. They are people who have betrayed truth for a religious lie.
I didn’t know or even know of Transtifa — I’m not a Twin Cities person — but I have to admire the work mentioned in this testimonial:
Been meaning to make this post for a while and putting it off bc idk how to do it right, but here goes: earlier this summer I learned of the passing in April of the legendary Twin Cities tagger Transtifa, who tormented local nextdoor nerds and facebook fascists more than perhaps any single person over the past 5+ years.
Seeing a transtifa tag around town always made me and my homies smile – and you were bound to see them everywhere, because that bitch got AROUND. How did she do so much? I learned how one day after catching a glimpse of her roller skating down a dark street at lightning speed in a crop top and short shorts, bag of spray cans and paint pens slung over her shoulder.
I was hashtag blessed enough to meet her before Transtifa took off, thanks to (and this fits her perfectly) grindr. We didn’t totally hit if off at the time (mostly bc i figured she was totally out of my league, lol) but we did have a nice stroll around town sharing art tips. Later we worked together on some art in advance of an action and damn, her freehand lettering sucked but she blew me away by climbing out to paint the outside of a railroad bridge with zero hesitation. Tbh just the amount of haters she had was admirable.
She was one of the boldest and bravest people I knew, one of the few people I’ve ever remained in awe of after meeting them, and lived far more in her too-few years than most people do in a lifetime. I didn’t know her well but I miss her a lot–just knowing she was around tearing up the streets gave me something vaguely like hope.
I’d say be the transtifa you want to see in the world, but there won’t be another quite like her and I wish I’d told more how much I appreciated her when I could. Rest in power and paint, girl.
She sounds like a good person. I don’t know that I want to know what happened to her — too often the fate of trans women is shocking and depressing.
This is a pathetic, pitiful performance. Dershowitz is basically begging for a token pierogi to demonstrate that he isn’t despised and ostracized.
Former Jeffrey Epstein lawyer Alan Dershowitz was yelled out of a farmer’s market in Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday after he again tried to convince a food vendor into selling him pierogies.
One week after he threatened to sue a “bigoted vendor” for refusing to serve him, Dershowitz returned to the scene on Wednesday in a second failed attempt at securing Polish dumplings.
“I’m here in an effort to try to restore community and to ask you to sell me pierogi in the interest of keeping the island together so we don’t have to have two pierogi stands: one for anti-Zionists and one for people who will sell to anybody,” Dershowitz told the vendor. “So I’d ask you to please just sell me any one of your products to show that you’re prepared to sell to anybody and not allow your anti-Zionism to decide which people you’ll sell to.”
That’s a standard bigot approach: you’re not allowed to protest against the Israeli genocide in any way, or that makes you an anti-Zionist (which is OK) or an anti-Semite (gross disgusting bigotry). As it turns out, Dershowitz isn’t just anti-Palestinian and pro-genocide — it’s fine to turn their rhetoric right back at them) but is also pro-sexual assault and anti-LGBTQ.
After Dershowitz then tried to hand the pierogi vendor a signed copy of his book, which was politely refused, the vendor said, “I am very surprised that you’re here because of the things that you’ve been saying about us and the business online… I really do not appreciate what you’ve been sharing in the last week.”
Dershowitz interrupted, “It’s true,” to which the vendor replied, “Is it true? You have proof that I am an anti-Semite?”
The conversation devolved further after Dershowitz used the wrong pronoun in reference to the vendor.
“My pronouns are they/them, and you’ve continued to misgender me,” protested the vendor.
More irony: the vendor, Krem, that Dershowitz claims is anti-Semitic, is Jewish themselves.
* I, Krem, am Jewish. Members of my immediate family live in Israel. I love Shabbat and baking challah. My friends call me “Rabbi Krem”, and I have personal relationships with both Rabbis on-island.
* We are proud co-owners of a Martha’s Vineyard business that deeply values its relationships with its partners, vendors, collaborators, and most importantly, its clientele.
* We are a minority-owned (LGBTQ+) operation. Krem is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
* Prior to this incident, Good Pierogi had never refused service to anybody.
* We stand against those who harm or seek to harm others as well as those that would defend them.
* Finally, we don’t back down to bullies – no matter their size.
No one likes you, Alan Dershowitz. You’re a sad desperate creep.
Speaking of incompetent clowns running major federal institutions, Linda McMahon was speaking at the National Conservative Student Conference. She was being interviewed by Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin, a notorious anti-union conservative zombie, when students hacked the sound system and played insults, like that she was a corrupt billionaire, and pumped out calliope music over their conversation.
Very appropriate. The name of the tune is, ironically, “Entry of the Gladiators.” I think it ought to be played for the entire collection of bozos Trump has jumped up to high office.
McMahon isn’t at all qualified to head the department of education, which is why she got the job — she’s supposed to wreck it from within.
P.S. Sorry, WordPress doesn’t handle Twitter links very well anymore. Try clicking on this: https://x.com/atrupar/status/1953149542456574062.
Don’t you know? RFK jr is not anti-vax. He supports safe vaccines.
News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I am neither. I am pro-safety,Kennedy said in his opening statement before the Senate Committee on Finance, prompting a protester to shout, “He lies!” Kennedy added that all of his children are vaccinated—a decision he has previously said he regrets—and said vaccinesplay a critical role in health care.
He lies! Those two words need to be written on his tombstone, preferably sooner than later.
We know he lies because he just slashed half a billion dollars from the budget of the department specifically tasked with developing and testing new vaccines.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday it would terminate 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines, questioning the safety of a technology credited with helping end the Covid pandemic and saving millions of lives.
The unit, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, helps companies develop medical supplies to address public health threats, and had provided billions of dollars for development of vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic.
HHS said the wind-down includes cancellation of a contract awarded to Moderna for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans and the right to purchase the shots, as previously reported in May.
He basically wants to kill mRNA vaccine development, the technology that saved millions of lives in the recent pandemic. His excuse? In addition to his usual claim that the vaccines contain fetal tissue and DNA fragments — all false, and even if it were true, what does he think is present in the roadkill he eats? — he claims that mRNA vaccines are ineffective against viruses that affect the upper respiratory tract.
Kennedy said the HHS is terminating these programs because data show these vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu”, but did not offer scientific evidence.
“We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,” Kennedy said.
COVID was an upper respiratory infection, and the mRNA vaccines seem to have helped protect millions of people against that, but RatFucker Jr is going to just ignore that. He lies, and is wrong.
KENNEDY: “As the pandemic showed us, mRNA vaccines don’t perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract.”
THE FACTS: His claim is contradicted by scientific evidence. Countless studies show that vaccinated individuals fare far better against COVID-19 infections than those who are unvaccinated, while others have estimated that COVID-19 vaccines prevented millions of deaths during the global pandemic. The mRNA vaccines do not prevent respiratory diseases entirely, experts say. Rather, they can prevent more serious illness that leads to complications and death. For example, an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 may prevent an infection in the upper respiratory tract that feels like a bad cold from spreading to the lower respiratory tract, where it could affect one’s ability to breathe.
While he’s cutting the budget for specious reasons, he’s also telling the scientists he doesn’t want to pay to pursue a new/old line of research.
He has also ordered a sweeping new study on the long-debunked link between vaccines and autism.
There is no link between vaccines and autism. There is a link between mRNA vaccines and preventing death.
He lies.
Sad news: we’ve lost an important scientist and atheist, Abby Hafer, professor and American Humanist board member. Also, the Discovery Institute hated her, which is a tremendous accolade.
The enmity arose when she published an article titled No Data Required: Why Intelligent Design Is Not Science, in which she pointed out that the ID movement was barren of data and hypothesis testing, and was essentially a club for debate-bros who would masticate observations until they were a gooey pulp that they could sculpt to fit their conclusion.
Intelligent Design (ID) proposes that biological species were created by an intelligent Designer, and not by evolution. ID’s proponents insist that it is as valid a theory of how biological organisms and species came into existence as evolution by natural selection. They insist, therefore, that ID be taught as science in public schools. These claims were defeated in the Kitzmiller case. However, ID’s proponents are still influential and cannot be considered a spent force. The question addressed here is whether ID’s claim of scientific legitimacy is reinforced by quantified results. That is, do they have any data, or do they just argue? The ID articles that I analyzed claimed to present real science, but they rarely referred to data and never tested a hypothesis. Argumentation, however, was frequent. By contrast, peer-reviewed articles by evolutionary biologists rarely argued but referred frequently to data. The results were statistically significant. These findings negate claims by ID proponents that their articles report rigorous scientific research. Teachers will find this article helpful in defending evolution, distinguishing science from non-science, and discussing the weaknesses of ID.
She was sharp. She will be missed.
In the same place that I saw a monarch caterpillar, I found an adult fluttering around. Not the same animal. I don’t think I’ve discovered a kind of hyper-metamorphosis.
How nice. The mother of these spiderlings lies back and lets her babies eat her.
Not so nice: the spiderlings then gang up and cannibalize all the other adult spiders in the colony. Hooligans! These kids, always getting into trouble.
Which reminds me…I have to go into the lab this morning and sort out a couple of egg sacs I expect to see hatching out. The species I work with don’t practice matriphagy, but I do like to set up the young’uns with a lot of flies early on.
This generation…they claim to have reinvented the bus, the train, the bodega, and now, the 45 rpm record?
On Monday (Aug. 4), a small but mighty new physical music format arrived: Tiny Vinyl. Measuring at just four inches in size, Tiny Vinyl is a playable record that can hold four minutes of audio per side.
The disc, according to a press release, aims to “[bridge] the gap between modern and traditional to offer a new collectible for artists to share with fans that easily fits in your pocket.”
OK, there are differences. This thing is played at 33rpm, not 45rpm, and is smaller than the old format, which was a 7 inch disk, but I don’t see any advantage. It doesn’t matter that it fits in your pocket — in order to listen to it you also need a turntable and a set of speakers. They also cost $15 each. It’s a gimmicky promotional toy, not a serious means of distributing music. People are used to loading up thousands of MP3s on their phones and being able to play them through ear buds, you’d have to be a serious hipster to think that unlimbering a turntable and a pair of portable speakers so you can listen to singles at the coffeeshop is “cool”.
