Italian/british european, christian, nuclear engineer, husband, father, amateur guitarist, science nerd, self-professed bullshit detector.
Joined May 2020
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A few years old, but still a great summary of where we're at - from @KHayhoe
Alex Anderson retweeted
You've probably seen that viral "vortex" video of our solar system corkscrewing through space, with the Sun dragging the planets behind it like a comet.
It's beautiful. It's also wrong.
So I built the real thing. Actual planet positions from NASA JPL data, real orbital speeds, real distances, and the real tilt.
A few things that surprised even me:
• Our planets orbit at about 60° to the direction we're traveling. Each planet takes turns leading and trailing the Sun.
• The Sun carries us around the Milky Way at about 220 km/s (490,000 mph). In the year it takes Earth to go around the Sun once, we travel about 46 times Earth's distance from the Sun. At true scale, those "spirals" are barely wiggles.
• One trip around the galaxy takes about 230 million years, and the Sun bobs up and down through the disk along the way.
Then we keep zooming out, until we run out of universe.
Credits:
Music: Rob Dougan, "Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino Variation)"
Galaxy illustration: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt
Webb's First Deep Field: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Observable universe illustration: Pablo Carlos Budassi (CC BY-SA)
I saw a very similar thing a few years ago.
This is Mt Manaslu (8,163m), Nepal, on 24 Oct 2022.
There's nothing this tall east of Manaslu. The peak was unequivocally lit from below.
The shadow boundary moved down at a uniform rate, so the sun is rising, not approaching.
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Alex Anderson retweeted
Your conclusion is wrong, the truth is much simpler: while fossil fuel emissions caused the increase of the /amount/ of CO2, it’s not those /same molecules/ of fossil origin that stay in the air. They get exchanged and replaced by the huge turnover of the natural carbon cycle.
Alex Anderson retweeted
Matthew Wielicki & Chris Martz didnt read their own source! ".. the University of Colorado Boulder has linked the disaster to climate change...permafrost, which has helped hold together high-altitude rock, ice, soil and glaciers is weakening and becoming increasingly unstable."
Alex Anderson retweeted
I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.
It's disappointing that @James_Hawke1 felt the need to block me for this.
I always strive to be polite and factual.
Hopefully one day he'll get a camera out and try this simple experiment for himself.
teapawt.net/i/status/2060743003099…
You could easily check for yourself that the moon behaves like a dark rock reflecting sunlight.
Just take a photo of rocks in bright sunlight, then one of the moon with the same camera settings.
This was my attempt:
teapawt.net/i/status/2059055032243…
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Alex Anderson retweeted
A story of three moonrises
Or, how to tell your latitude by the angle of moonrise 🧵
The angle of moonrise is exactly equal to your latitude. Specifically, the angle made by the path of a rising or setting Sun/Moon/star with the vertical is exactly equal to the observer’s latitude.
This is a globe prediction and is impossible on flat Earth.
• For positive latitudes (northern hemisphere), the angle is toward the south, so the object moves left-to-right as it rises.
• At the equator, the angle is zero, so the object rises vertically.
• For negative latitudes (southern hemisphere), the angle is toward the north, so the object moves right-to-left.
This is cleanly illustrated in these three videos from Washington DC (39° N), Singapore (1° N) and Sydney (34° S).
I’ve been intrigued by this observation ever since @jeranism mentioned it was key to convincing him of the globe.
#flatearth #globe #earth #moon #moonrise
Alex Anderson retweeted
The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.
Alex Anderson retweeted
Aww, poor flerfs
Venus breaks flat earth.
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Venus's apparent size in the sky varies dramatically—from about 10 arcseconds to 66 arcseconds—depending on the relative positions of Earth and Venus in their orbits.
The attached image show how Venus actually appears through a telescope, all presented at the same scale.
These photos demonstrate the changing apparent sizes and phases one would observe using the same magnification over a roughly four-month period.
A group of third graders could accurately reproduce the sizes, phases, and timing of Venus's changes shown in these images using a simple setup on a tabletop: a flashlight to represent the Sun and properly scaled balls for Earth and Venus.
In contrast, the flat-Earth 'model' has no coherent way to even begin explaining or reproducing these observed changes in size and phase.
I strongly suspect that most flat-earthers will simply ignore or deny the well-documented changes in Venus's apparent size and its phases altogether.
But I invite discussion...
Alex Anderson retweeted
In case you missed it, here is how to properly and respectfully interview one of the few surviving Apollo moon landing astronauts.
I've seen the recent video of Charlie Duke essentially being set up by a podcaster to sit through 4 hours of vicious attacks from a moon landing denier.
Apparently Charlie did not know what he was walking into.
So yes, to this podcaster... your video has generated views and interest... but not for good reason.
Alex Anderson retweeted
"The idea that leaving the EU was the answer to all our cares and concerns has clearly been proved wrong."
Keir Starmer says that "wild promises were made" about Brexit.
He adds: "the same argument is now being made about the ECHR"
Alex Anderson retweeted
Study Finds No Evidence Unicorns Exist.
Skeptics Say That “Proves Nothing.”
Skeptic: You can’t say unicorns don’t exist.
Scientist: Well… there’s zero evidence they do.
Skeptic: Exactly. No studies have ruled them out. Scientist: But we’ve never found bones, DNA, fossils, sightings - nothing.
Skeptic: That just proves the unicorn industry is hiding the data.
Scientist: There is no unicorn industry.
Skeptic: Wow. You really trust Big Horse that much? Scientist: Big… Horse?
Skeptic: Follow the money.
Scientist: I think we’re done here.
Skeptic: Typical. Silencing anyone who asks questions.
The satire exposes how denialism dresses up as critical thinking, using fake skepticism that is immune to evidence and dependent on conspiracy logic, not science.
Alex Anderson retweeted
I don’t know how to convince everyone. Wish I could, but I think there’s more going on in their heads than just not understanding.
I can only tell you that this is not real. I promise, the lines aren’t aluminum nanoparticles. The lines aren’t nefarious. Nobody is spraying.
There’s one company in Austin I’m aware of that does attempt geoengineering. I’m absolutely opposed to it & wish they’d get shut down. Fortunately, they are pretty small & there is no real risk at such a scale. Still, I’m opposed to the idea in principle.
Everything else about geoengineering has been mostly proposals & theories that didn’t make it to the real world. Yes, cloud seeding exists, but it’s small & I’m of the mind it doesn’t actually work. At least, the evidence it works is dubious, at best.
I’m not going to spray my family & friends with something. Neither are my colleagues. I’m also not going to allow them to spray me…I’m not always working & I live on the ground, too.
The lines are mostly water (ice crystals) & some exhaust, like your car leaves. Or you can compare it to breathing out on a cold day, except your breath comes out at 1,400°F and with like 30,000 lbs of thrust…and it’s a *really* cold day, at about -50°F up there. I can see when I’m leaving contrails if the sun is in the right position & there is a cloud deck below for the shadows. I can safely assume I’m leaving contrails if traffic above or below me is leaving them. Not once have I sprayed anything, and I’m pretty sure the Delta jet that passed under me headed to ATL isn’t, either.
Yes, you’ll see the lines in the sky sometimes, and sometimes not. They often appear a day or so before or after a storm here in Northern California…not because they are changing the weather, but because the weather is changing. The usually dry air is becoming more humid & the barometric pressure is dropping. It’s almost useful as a “poor man’s forecast” if you know what I mean (but the association is not close enough to be reliable).
There are charts that will tell you exactly when you’ll leave contrails & when you won’t. The news could forecast it if they wanted to, but why bother? For that matter, we could virtually eliminate the lines in the sky tomorrow if we wanted to, but it would require making entire blocks of airspace unusable on a day to day basis, we’d have to try to squeeze everyone around that & it’s a giant pain that probably limits air traffic, meaning cancelations & delays. It would also burn more fuel & leave more exhaust (jets get more efficient the higher you fly & we’d need to stay under the air up there). The military does this, though…not great to have stealth bombers leaving white lines behind, indicating their exact current position, track & heading.
Anyway, for those who may be on the fence, I’m telling you as honestly as I can there is nothing nefarious. I’ll take the time to answer honest questions about contrails below (no DMs), but please keep in mind that it’s just me running this account & I can’t spend all day on Twitter. My kids – the ones that I wouldn’t spray or allow anyone else to spray – need my attention, too.
Thanks!
Alex Anderson retweeted
when i first started learning about nuclear electricity 10 years ago, i was shocked by how hard it was to find anything accessible. everything i came across was either too technical, too academic, or written in a way that felt gatekept.
that’s why i wrote Rad Future. i wanted to create the book i wish i had back then. something approachable, clear, and inspiring for anyone who’s curious about nuclear and how it can help us solve the climate crisis.
if you’ve ever wanted an easy way in, this is it!
repost for a free excerpt of Rad Future.
Periodically, I see people suggesting that the planet Venus is hot because of pressure, not greenhouse gases - e.g. see quoted thread.
I've had a quick look at this. The attached 2 page document is a record of my deliberations.
Alex Anderson retweeted
Why do we accept that getting older means getting sick & frail? What are the lessons on ageing in a healthy, strong, independent way? Some thoughts 👇 youtu.be/KvjEV8DDgwk?si=xgP2…
