skullsinthestars Profile picture
Unverified since 2010. Professor of optics, blogger of physics, history, & pulp fiction. Invisibility, now available! (he/him) @drskyskull@mastodon.social
Jeffrey Rubinoff Profile picture 1 subscribed
Sep 26, 2018 28 tweets 15 min read
Okay, let’s do some fun #optics trivia! Lessee... to start, my favorite: 2 meters squared of concentrated sunlight is enough to melt stone. #Optics trivia: even in vacuum, light can travel slower than the speed of light! Beams with a “twist” in them can be slower, because the light is following the “twist,” not the straight line path. sciencenews.org/article/speed-…
Sep 5, 2018 6 tweets 2 min read
This is a trick question Ted Cruz isn’t a human being Let’s go to the video evidence...
Sep 5, 2018 11 tweets 2 min read
Going to try a little French bistro for dinner. OMG THIS PLACE IS CUTE!
Sep 4, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
Giving my talk in about an hour. Since I’ll probably be busy right before, here’s my traditional pre-talk selfie. Stopped at a used bookstore after lunch and found some great sci-fi horror picks. Will share images later.
Sep 4, 2018 8 tweets 3 min read
Through a weird chain of links I again came across the story of how Charles Schulz added Franklin to "Peanuts" and again I am in awe of what a lovely man he was. snopes.com/fact-check/cha… And now I need to share some of my favorite Peanuts strips again. I quote the final line of this one often. Sally had become friends with the school building, and when she fell ill, she asked Charlie Brown to check in, and...
Sep 4, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
I’m darkly amused at the people cutting up their Nike socks, who somehow don’t realize that Nike certainly did lots of analysis of the impact of the Kaepernick choice and concluded that they would do better financially without racists. They don’t need you. But then again, that’s where their rage comes from. The realization that their old hateful ideas are being left behind, and consequently they are, too.
Sep 3, 2018 5 tweets 2 min read
What... what is this style supposed to be? When you're trying to prep for Oktoberfest but your only costume reference is a blurry photo taken from 1 km away.
Aug 19, 2018 5 tweets 1 min read
[during sex]

Me: i want you to hurt me

Her: You aren’t really doing physics you’re just studying the consequences of Maxwell’s equations using math

Me: wait

Her: You’re basically an engineer [during sex]

Me: i want you to hurt me

Her: Indiana Jones never accomplished anything he just ran around and endangered his friends

Me: wait

Her: If Indy had stayed out of it, the Ark would’ve melted Hitler’s face
Aug 14, 2018 42 tweets 10 min read
I ONLY HIRED YOU BECAUSE YOU SAID NICE THINGS ABOUT ME SPACE FORCE
Aug 9, 2018 5 tweets 4 min read
I just found @realDonaldTrump’s first #SpaceForce recruitment video and I’m a bit underwhelmed. Candidates to lead the #SpaceForce are being carefully vetted.
Aug 9, 2018 8 tweets 2 min read
At the @OpticalSociety today to listen to, and give a talk on, light beams carrying orbital angular momentum! It begins...
Aug 8, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
One thing that enrages me about this, other than the obvious bigotry, is the incredible unprofessionalism. I should be able to swear my head off at TSA without them blinking, if I’m not an obvious threat. If you can’t handle a person in a stressful situation without taking their reaction personally, you should not be in any sort of security based job.
Aug 8, 2018 5 tweets 6 min read
Some random old cat pics for #InternationalCatDay2018. Some more #InternationalCatDay2018 pics, from my Greece trip.
Jul 24, 2018 6 tweets 2 min read
Reminder 1: almost everyone has said something shitty at some point.
Reminder 2: the right-wing hates comedians because comedians mock authority And I won’t apologize for people’s shifty comments, but we have to get past the idea that isolated comments from years earlier are somehow the worst sin. Especially when it is a campaign pushed by literal nazi rapists.
Jul 21, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
Random photo from my archives. Roman aqueduct, Rome 2017. More random photos. Westerkerk, Amsterdam, summer 2017.
Jul 20, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
I see the right wing is drawing equivalence between James Gunn being fired for tweets that are years old and Roseanne being fired for tweets she made *that day*. And that tweet isn’t a defense of Gunn per se as it is a defense of the forward motion of time and causality.
Jul 20, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
Let’s celebrate their misery with gifs... Trump staffers this week.
Jul 20, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
My unfollow and block fingers are getting quite the workout these days. And largely, my unfollow finger has been used to unfollow non-mutual who end up jumping the shark. My block has been used occasionally for people who have gone so far left that they are actually supporting Trump.
Jul 17, 2018 7 tweets 2 min read
I MEANT THAT I WOULD NOT LIKE YOU TO MOW THE LAWN DOES IT STILL COUNT AS TREASON IF YOU TAKE IT BACK WITHIN 48 HOURS
Jul 16, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
I honestly think Republicans won't even care if Trump outright declares himself a servant of Putin and that the US is now a province of Russia. Why? Because Fox News and the GOP have spent decades declaring liberals the worst evil in history... Liberals have been called, repeatedly, the "greatest threat to America." That sort of extreme rhetoric makes literally any atrocity acceptable to conservatives, as long as it counters this threat. Even surrendering all our freedoms.
Jul 14, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
2018 Is the year of unforced political symbolism. Hey as long as you’re here check out this photo of my cat with her spine bent 180 degrees.