Friday, May 12, 2023
Good morning. I write to you from Detroit, Michigan, not far from the Star Theater (RIP). Speaking of stars, here's one that swallowed a gas giant like a milk dud:
Item 1: a link
Kasha Patel at the Washington Post writes about a study from Nature about how some researchers back in 2020 caught a very naughty sun eating a planet. Some deep thinkers believe is this is probably what's going to happen right here on (or, perhaps more accurately, to) the planet Earth - but others consider it an open question. In any case, these scientists' observations should help detect other such Galactus Events elsewhere in the galaxy.
I recommend that you click through to read the whole story but I must caution you that the study's lead author is quoted as saying that our beloved Sun will, in 5 billion years or so, "become puffy". Not a phrase I was expecting, nor a phrase I enjoyed, but we must follow science where it takes us. Another scientist exclaimed "Wow!", which I think is an appropriate and much less disturbing thing to say about this whole thing.
Item 2: a list
Three Musketeers, Snickers, Twix, and Butterfingers, ranked
- Three Musketeers
- Snickers
- Twix
- Butterfingers
Item 3: a media recommendation
Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira - Run Away (Moldova) Live 2010 (the 10 hour sax solo is perfect background music for focused work)
Item 4: word of the week
Dissimulate
The odious billionaire dissimulates his hard-right views behind a laughably inconstant obsession with "free speech".
Item 5: a photograph
A black hole eating a neutron star. Not to be confused with a star eating a planet.
See ya!
See you next week. I'll let you know when I have some Bluesky invites.
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