Brutkey

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

I hate writing reference letters. They're simultaneously extremely important and incredibly not fun to write.

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

Oh yeah, if you think the AST SpaceMobile Bluebirds are bad now, wait until you see what they're launching next month: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251121182027/en/AST-SpaceMobile-Announces-BlueBird-6-Launch-Date-the-Largest-Commercial-Communications-Array-Ever-Deployed-in-Low-Earth-Orbit

2,400 square feet! It's going to be brighter than the ISS. Fuck. And they want 60 of them? FUUUUCK.

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

Just because I had to dig this up for an article, here's a Wayback Machine link to where Starlink said lots of grand things about their commitments to making their satellites dark back in 2020 (no longer on the Starlink website, of course): https://web.archive.org/web/20210304024442/https://www.spacex.com/updates/starlink-update-04-28-2020/index.html

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

And here are the current measurements of Starlink brightnesses by Mallama and Cole 2025: https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/544/1/L15/8251664?login=false

Everybody is too bright. OneWeb manages to halfway make it below the recommended limit, but everybody else pretty much sucks.

A plot showing orbital altitude vs. apparent magnitude (brightness) for a bunch of different megaconstellations. The AST SpaceMobile Blue Bird satellites are the worst, but Starlink direct-to-cell are nearly as bad due to their large sizes and low altitudes. OneWeb is the only megaconstellation that is halfway below the recommended brightness limit.
Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

Just because I had to dig this up for an article, here's a Wayback Machine link to where Starlink said lots of grand things about their commitments to making their satellites dark back in 2020 (no longer on the Starlink website, of course): https://web.archive.org/web/20210304024442/https://www.spacex.com/updates/starlink-update-04-28-2020/index.html

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

I got locked out of my work email because I forgot to reset my password before it expired, and apparently there's no way to reset it now without someone in university IT doing it for me.

Trying to enjoy the freedom of being locked out of my email rather than being stressed about it...

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

Academics, looks like there's an open letter against solar geoengineering that you can sign on to here: https://www.solargeoeng.org/

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

Everybody go read "Termination Shock" by Neal Stephenson, because apparently that whole scenario is actually about to start happening: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/21/stardust-geoengineering-janos-pasztor-regulations-00646414

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
food

Hooray for baking soda! (I also have a fire extinguisher, but I figured I'd try that only if the much-easier-to-clean-up baking soda didn't work)

And while all this was happening, my partner was trying to find one of our dogs who ran off (she came back a little later in the evening). And that was only a small portion of the drama for the day!

A partially melted plug-in frying appliance, sitting on a concrete porch with baking soda all over it and all over the ground. There's a stripey grey barn cat looking on curiously in the background. It's nighttime.
Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

You know who doesn't get stressed about things catching on fire or writing documents or tractor problems or compost piles? Goats. Because goats are doing it right.

A couple of large floofy dogs, a llama, and a bunch of goats of various colours all climbing around on a compost pile. They're in a pen surrounded by a tall wooden fence. It's sunny and the sky is mostly cloudy with a few blue patches.
Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
food

I immediately unplugged it, but the indicator light wouldn't turn off. I realized that was because it was lit by FIRE.

I (somewhat) calmly asked my kid to open the door, got hot pads, and carefully carried the whole fryer out onto the porch, as more and more plasticky smoke poured out.

I ran back inside and grabbed a box of baking soda, and dumped a large clump of it onto the fryer as flames licked through the melting plastic.

There were multiple very upset cats watching at this point.

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
food

Hooray for baking soda! (I also have a fire extinguisher, but I figured I'd try that only if the much-easier-to-clean-up baking soda didn't work)

And while all this was happening, my partner was trying to find one of our dogs who ran off (she came back a little later in the evening). And that was only a small portion of the drama for the day!

A partially melted plug-in frying appliance, sitting on a concrete porch with baking soda all over it and all over the ground. There's a stripey grey barn cat looking on curiously in the background. It's nighttime.
Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
food

I wanted to try making a fried tofu recipe, but I've never deep fried anything before. A friend gave me an old plug-in fryer that has been sitting on top of my fridge for a couple of years, so I thought I'd try it.

It beautifully fried 3 batches of tofu. But while batch 4 was frying, I heard a soft "pop" and realized I could see orange flickering through the plastic outer casing of the fryer.

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
food

I immediately unplugged it, but the indicator light wouldn't turn off. I realized that was because it was lit by FIRE.

I (somewhat) calmly asked my kid to open the door, got hot pads, and carefully carried the whole fryer out onto the porch, as more and more plasticky smoke poured out.

I ran back inside and grabbed a box of baking soda, and dumped a large clump of it onto the fryer as flames licked through the melting plastic.

There were multiple very upset cats watching at this point.