There are a lot of awful things in our present timeline, but my daughter spent a while today in her cardboard box spaceship traveling to Trappist-1, a real star system with real exoplanets that she's learned about, so it's not all bad.
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Dr. Rachel Reddick
@rr4idic@mastodon.online
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Astrophysicist on paper, sci-fi/fantasy writer at heart. Currently doing data science and writing stuff (as RZ Nicolet). she/her
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Apparently a bunch of people liked this post! For those who did:
If you know a kid (or adult!) who's into space, NASA has a website that inspired this: https://science.nasa.gov/eyes/
It's got a section in there for exploring the solar system in detail (follow along with pretty much any object or spacecraft, forward and backward in time) and another one with renderings of all the exoplanets we know about, their habitable zones, and so on. They're both interactive and quite fun.
This is a very thoughtful piece re: AI that I came across. I don't 100% agree with everything in it, but the analogy with art forgery is excellent.
https://matduggan.com/art-doesnt-scale/
There was a meme about "what are you top 10 in-person concerts" going around on BlueSky the other day. I felt a bit left out, since I could only think of one I'd been to... because somebody I know liked the group.
So! Why don't we do:
What group would you really like to see perform live?
I'll start: Steam Powered Giraffe.
If you haven't heard of them, they're these steampunk vaudeville mime robots that... well...
Oh, just watch one of their music videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN4aFwGy2ck
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@floatybirb@mastodon.social I am very firmly informed that she is not there yet, and should arrive tomorrow. (Space travel takes a while, apparently.) She did stop for lunch at a space station en route.
New #blog post up today! I have a very petty complaint about portrayals of wormholes in fiction, and now you can read about my silly complaints: https://rznicolet.com/2026/07/05/wormhole-hall-of-shame/
#scifi #wormholes
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And the mystery plant: I ordered a bare-root plant that was supposed to be another phlox and... well, whatever it is that's growing, I'm pretty sure it's not a phlox. (The label said phlox, and the supplier is usually reliable, but this time...)
Any ideas?
#gardening #mystery
Anybody have recs for a good iPad drawing app? Requirements:
- Can actually import files from scans without distorting them (old app currently failing this)
- Paint, not vector graphics
- Works well with stylus
- Layers would be nice
Paid is okay, but strongly prefer to avoid subs.
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@edwilk@mstdn.social One or two, but it's a much more comfortable fit if you're less than five feet tall.
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My husband: Do you have enough purple flowers?
Me: No.
It's a day ending with "y," so I should probably be reminding folks... I wrote a book!
The Cloak and Its Wizard includes:
* Star Trek references
* Twin Cities references
* Commentary on the issues with keeping your magic society secret
* How To Get Your Magic Cloak Into the Laundry Machine (*results may vary)
* Random monster encounters
* How To Keep Your Wizard Safe During Random Monster Encounters (*results may vary)
All the details: https://rznicolet.com/books/the-cloak-and-its-wizard/
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Not 100% convinced that this is enough purple flowers yet.
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Surely someone has done this one already, but I was entertained.
A question for #Minnesota folks: the weather outside and in the forecast is very tempting.
If I plant some of the less cold-tolerant seeds this weekend on the warm, sunny side of the house, what are my odds of summoning a surprise mid-May frost?
Am I going to be at Minicon? Very much yes! I'm going to be on (or moderating!) panels from Friday through Sunday.
Oh, and I'm going to be doing a reading for The Cloak and Its Wizard on Saturday, so look out for that! (I'm there under my real name, not the pen name.)
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@Kuchenschwarte@fnordon.de It might be next year for flowers, given that the other phlox in the garden are blossoming now; so, we'll see! But variegated phlox seems plausible.
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@tehfishman@ioc.exchange @starraven@mastodon.scot I'm 100% sure this is _not_ a hosta -- I've got a ton of those in the yard (shady, Minnesota, so), including a cute little variegated one. The leaves come pretty much right out of the ground (not from a central stalk), and the leaf shape is dramatically different.
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... while the magic cloak would have feedback for the costume department. (It would also have commentary about how plain all of the aliens' cloaks are, but it's kind of smug about that.)
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@Cornellbox@a2mi.social Oh, we've had that poster for a while. We've got the whole set framed and hanging in the living room.
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@cshlan@dawdling.net I have not, but I've read about it elsewhere. Such a cute, compact solar system with lots of planets. :)
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@astronomerritt@hachyderm.io Thank you for posting this, BTW -- I've got a bunch of similar filters on BlueSky, and this just let me know I could add them here, too. (Off to do so!)
But also, firm agreement. I hear enough about Those People and Bad Things from other places.
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Columbine junior: the volunteer that is, almost assuredly, the offspring of Columbine senior.
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The two (supposedly native) phlox plants. The first one was only a little nibbled by the rabbits... but I left the other in its cage anyway.