Andy Rivkin's avatar

Andy Rivkin

@asrivkin.bsky.social

732 followers 220 following 1153 posts

Planetary Astronomer on #TeamAsteroid; Gedankenband member/guitarist; “Surprisingly nonchalant” according to Wired. He/him הנני

Work Output: scholar.google.com/citations?user=aGVsk3IAAAAJ

Play output: andyrivkin.bandcamp.com

Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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The Dolly Parton-Linda Rondstadt-Emmylou Harris cover of After the Gold Rush far, far surpasses Neil Young’s original (save for one of their two lyric changes). Seek it out if you don’t know if.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Yeah, the response to our obvious questions of whether he could do all that stuff was "well, if I could do it, it wouldn't be proper to show you". We all let it drop after that, perhaps inexplicably.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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I took Jewish History in my (public) high school, and the teacher (also a rabbi) said that the thing with Jesus wasn't that the miracles didn't happen but that he was kind of a show-off doing stuff that anyone with Kabbalistic training could do but that you're not supposed to do in public.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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The Especially Janky Cybertrucks is the Mirror Spock version of The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

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Boston Tom Levenson's avatar Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social
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How many Trump Cabinet members/senior staff have called on the US to reject him? Hint: it's a much larger number than D officials vs. Biden and you'd think that putting that counter alongside this one would be the minimum of balance required of an ethical news venue.

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Reposted by Andy Rivkin

Marisa Kabas's avatar Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social
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i made this shareable version of my one sentence project 2025 summary so it can be easily shared across platforms. feel free to repost.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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So, I already deleted my subscription to the @nytimes.com, and I'm not sure what to do next given their increasing ridiculousness. Blocking them seems like a bit much? But I don't really need to get real-time updates of them working toward the führer splayed across my skyline, either.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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“C'est Si Bon” is perhaps the sexiest song in the history of recorded sound, and I only say “perhaps” because I’m unfamiliar with most of Eartha Kitt’s other work and want to hedge.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Tangentially related, but I firmly believe that every American should be able to go into any Starbucks or McDonalds outside the USA and use their restroom without needing to make a purchase.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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That’s what they default to as a first guess, yes!

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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And as someone who grew up in Rockland, I can also say that the pronunciation of “Nyack” is a bit of a shibboleth.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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I encountered it all via the movies rather than the books and had always interpreted the setting as a dystopia, what changed over the years was my recognition that the author didn't realize it was dystopia but rather thought it was the proper way of things just going through tough times.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Your honor, with all due respect, I like Angela, Pamela, Sandra and Rita.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Well, I did find a bit of joy in various places today, including (but not limited to) seeing my first Cybertruck in the wild. JA had never heard of them and had a first reactono of "what is that impossibly ugly vehicle"? They really do generate their own schadenfreude field, it's incredible.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Very first thing I did when I visited Hong Kong a few years back was visit the Stacker Pentecost Memorial. Very moving.

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Asher Elbein's avatar Asher Elbein @asherelbein.bsky.social
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This whole thread is good, and this, to my mind, is the key point: actions like this are an attempt to pretend that the game is over, when the ball is very much still in play. Trump's faction is gambling because they're standing on a knife edge. It doesn't have to work.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Someday I’ll listen To Tonybee Connector With LeVar, the reader, to me.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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I'm a spectroscopist vs. a photometrist, but there are definitely asteroids in non-principal axis rotation, which isn't precession but maybe is close-ish to what you're asking for. I'm not aware of precession per se, possibly because it'd get damped out quickly? I'm also not a dynamicist, though :)

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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For those interested in the baseball simulation I've been playing, see this thread and the blog post at the end of it!

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Solid choice. They're all good asteroids, Brent. ;)

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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It's certainly likely that there's been an asteroid impact in a place that has elephants at a time when elephants were around--the Hoba meteorite fell in Namibia about 80,000 years ago at the most, for instance. That's probably the relevant kind of situation, though.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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When the first ones were discovered in the early 1800s, they were seen to be starlike in telescopes even at the highest magnifications they had at the time, unlike comets or planets. Starlike = "asteroid" in Greek.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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And since I study asteroids for a living*, if you do have any questions about them on this Asteroid Day, feel free to send 'em on. 🧪🔭 *but I'm not the only person on here who does that these days

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Happy Asteroid Day, everyone! Here's your musical accompaniment for the holiday, assuming you don't mind listening to poorly-sung DIY goofiness.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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May his memory be a blessing.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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If I was trying to impress someone I'd say the Live at the BBC version of Fat Old Sun, but honestly that's probably 2nd or 3rd behind Wish You Were Here and maybe Shine On You Crazy Diamond pts 1-5.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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I don't know if I could have noticed this before or not, but I'm really struck at how much this looks to me like a low-angle shot of a praying mantis. And those of you who know me know that that I'd find that a very positive image. :)

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Gate Night + hero sandwich --> you know where I grew up. Gate Night alone might do it.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Is the worm getting equal time in this alternate debate?

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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and your point is what exactly?

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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I have to say i'm 100% in favor of the Mets Grimace thing--it feels like it's part of the natural progression where the Phanatic was a knockoff San Diego Chicken, then Gritty was an off-brand Phanatic, and now Grimace is a Copyright Violation Gritty.

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Asteroid Day is this Sunday, and while the Gedankenband is between big projects right now, we did get together to record a little holiday music.

So, celebrate with our new release "Asteroid Day", with free (at least for now) download on Bandcamp!

andyrivkin.bandcamp.com/track/astero...

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Yes, the god-like powers were liberally used or turned off as needed to explore the parts they thought were most interesting. ;)

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Per usual practice, I forgot to include the 🧪 and 🔭 emojis...

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Asteroid Day is this Sunday, and while the Gedankenband is between big projects right now, we did get together to record a little holiday music.

So, celebrate with our new release "Asteroid Day", with free (at least for now) download on Bandcamp!

andyrivkin.bandcamp.com/track/astero...

1 replies 1 reposts 3 likes

Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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I have this sitting on the bookshelf in my office, it originally belonged to my dad. I read it repeatedly as a kid and took it with me at some point when I was in grad school I think. Great, great stuff.

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Reposted by Andy Rivkin

Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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<reads post> <inhales deeply> <shakes head repeatedly while muttering something in a voice too soft to understand,but clearly distressed> <exhales deeply> <puts down tablet, begins pacing>

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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Coincidentally, I was just looking for a picture of A-Rod for a couple of slides about Centaurs that I’m putting together… ⊗

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Andy Rivkin's avatar Andy Rivkin @asrivkin.bsky.social
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I want to like one/both of your posts, but given their bittersweetness, a "like" seems wrong. I empathize with what you're going through, and I'm sorry you're feeling foolish. If you need someong to remind you to be kind to yourself, let this serve that purpose.

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