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  I should really stop reviewing stressful documents about the future of astronomy right before I go to bed...

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  Starting the morning stewing about how incredibly fucking terrible Reflect Orbital is. I chatted with a relative over the weekend who has connections in the area where they did that stupid floodlight test https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/news/space-mirrors-search-rescue-test/, and apparently several people saw the light, thought it was a cry for help, drove up to provide help, and were told to stay away from the beam because it could burn them (?!) They put up a spotlight so hot it...

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  Goat morning.

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  Well, I guess I'm ready for another round of interviews where I get to say, yet again, Planet-9-isn't-real-but-there's-lots-of-other-cool-stuff-out-there-to-find-if-techbros-would-stop-launching-so-damn-many-bright-satellites https://mastodon.social/@badastro/117571163569692462

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  RE: https://infosec.exchange/@catsalad/117565835460469779 Orbital dynamics for cats

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  There's a competition to name a satellite that will remove debris from orbit. Good for making orbit safer, BUT it just chucks it into the atmosphere, making metal-vapour pollution or hitting the ground. Fediverse, you are so creatively sarcastic, I think many of you could have some very good submissions here! (I'm not saying this is a bad idea, it's just that with better regulation and better engineering of satellites, we wouldn't have this problem in the first place) https:/...

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  Crazy busy morning... good discussions with a student about postdocs, satellite streaks and nuclear explosions in orbit (eeek let's please not do that), course planning, an invite to a satellite workshop in France in 2 weeks (that'll be remote and only in the afternoon France time...), and a report of a possible (maybe-probably-not) meteorite fall in Sask. Oh, and cat snuggles while milking this morning.

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  Sound on for sandhill cranes!

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  For my birthday tomorrow, I'd love fewer satellites in orbit! Uh oops shit no not like that https://aerospace.org/reentries/28485

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  There are thousands of snow geese flying over Regina, across the twilight sky, heading south, leaving winter behind.

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  I got incredibly bad medical news about a friend yesterday and I'm still reeling from it. When I went out to do barn chores this morning, it was foggy but I could still see the stars directly overhead this morning if I looked up and focused. That's kind of what my brain feels like, waiting for more bad news on so many scales...

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  Sitting in on a meeting of radio astronomers and learning that the FCC is gradually auctioning off the radio frequency bands we need for weather forecasts. Fantastic.

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  A friend gave me her jack-o-lanterns.

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  Despite their best efforts, goats are not very helpful on farm projects (unless the project involves clearing brush)

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  oh shit some of you changed times last night, didn't you? I am so not looking forward to this coming couple weeks, where half of Canada will show up at the wrong time for every single meeting...

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  My 10yo wanted to make a really scary jack-o-lantern so she carved in Trump and a Cybertruck. Yes, this is the same kid who is dressing up for Halloween as an owl pellet. **so proud!**

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  Noooooooo Damn I need to figure out how to watch some TNG tonight (or finish the very last section of my stupid awful grant application that I hate)

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  I started trying to de-google myself by moving some personal email usage to proton. Apparently that was a bad decision. My university email is through Microsoft, and I have another email through Microsoft for committee work I do with the American Astronomical Society. So right now I regularly check 5 different emails through 3 different providers. Forwarding won't help, all are evil. And I guess I should find YET ANOTHER PROVIDER for my personal emails, because all are evil. This sucks.

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  RE: https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/117515229068094233 New dwarf planet!

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  After my dress rehearsal for the fancy-pants talk I'm giving tonight, I had a very nice chat with lovely people who make my university run and are self-proclaimed AI-haters. Will lean into that energy a bit more for my talk on orbital AI data centres...

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  In other news, Reflect Orbital is still completely dangerous and useless, and everyone knows it (except the FCC, apparently): https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/astronomy-and-society/a-satellite-company-tested-sunlight-as-a-service-without-astronomers-knowledge/

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  I LOVE starting a very stressful day by spilling cheese curds everywhere and then getting an email saying that I have an overdue bill for publication fees for a paper that was published 18 months ago, that was supposed to have a fee waiver, so I never received a first bill. Did they take a page from US medical insurance companies or something? What the fuck. I fucking hate everything about academic publishing.

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  I just finished rewriting the biggest part of my grant proposal (after staying up way too late last night trying to finish it). But I still have like 7 other smaller parts to rewrite... I am so far behind where I should be on this...

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  I truly cannot believe how much time writing this grant takes. There's such specific ways you have to write each of the multiple sections. I screwed up badly, very much underestimated how long it would take me... It's due to the university ASAP, due to NSERC on Monday. I have teaching/meetings tomorrow and a fancy-pants lecture I'm giving tomorrow night, and Wednesday hosting a (really cool) visiting speaker allll day/evening. I haven't screwed myself over this b...

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  Ok, this looks really cool "A breathtaking bike journey to the darkest places on earth": https://thedarkestskyfilm.com/our-mission/

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  Good moonrise, good dogs. Our planet is really a neat one. Worth fighting for.

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  This week is bad, but next week everyone in Canada (really, everyone) will show up at the wrong time to all their meetings whether or not they are in a place that does daylight savings time... I guess I should give myself some slack on this, since even Weather Canada can't get it right, apparently???

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  If I had some funding for every time I wrote "While satellites provide humanity with many benefits..." then I wouldn't have to write that phrase again in my stupid grant application... In any case, I guess I will just have to go rage-scream in the hayfield under the full moon as I write that phrase yet again.

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  It's very cold out (was -9C when I went out for morning chores) and everything is terrible. Like, really terrible. And I really need to buckle down and finish re-writing my stupid neverending NSERC grant proposal even though it all seems futile. This giant awful grant is really the main way I pay students, so I need to do it, and I need to do a decent job of it, and I need to finish it today because this week is going to be completely bonkers.

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  One last post that's not depressing before I force myself to go into writing mode until I finish this thing: My 10yo just finished her halloween costume: she's an owl pellet. She came up with the idea herself! Proud parenting moment. (We got a thrift store long fuzzy brown jacket that she glued plastic bones all over)