Y'all, I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty good at high school level geometry.

Getting rid of the headphone jack on phones is a primary cause of why assholes listen on loudspeaker in public places and the designers and bosses who signed off in this should never know the cool side of a pillow again.

“Why shouldn’t I use grammar checkers in my writing, they’ll help, won’t they?”

You've got to choke up on the hammer a bit. No. More. No. Even more.

I am just saying, but not in all languages it is “chair-boat” conformation, in some it is “chair-bathtub”…

This same discussion comes up every few years (I think it's a good discussion to revisit periodically) but this time it also has a cat picture!

Me, someone who has seen National Treasure: Book of Secrets way way too many times: "Did you know there are actually *two* Resolute Desks?"

The problem in higher ed has *always* been that "high schools aren't doing a good enough job teaching students". The solution from higher ed has *always* been "high schools better fix that".

Lmao fuck yooouuuu

I’m sorry I just found out that in 1379, as in, 650 years ago, a baby girl was born in Yorkshire and named Diot Coke history is a fucking joke lmao

Let's talk about academic freedom. Texas A&M:

Too bad they nerfed the hard level of Pips a few weeks ago.

At some point, Outlook changed so that it takes an extra half a second or so to open a new email window when you hit reply, so all my emails to students now start with "i [name]," or "ear [name]," instead of "Hi [name]," or "Dear [name],". Damn muscle memory.

This hits too close to home.

Frankenstein is a metaphor for the dangers of reanimating corpses with electricity

I find it funny that every email I've seen posted on here today is tagged with high importance.

breakout rooms

How can organisors even ask to send/upload conference presentations two days in advance! Don't they know how disruptive it is for me to take a train two days earlier just to finish my presentation?

...found at around +50 ppm.

I heard someone at my school say how much the school is paying for a few of the A.I. tools that are available and I knew it was a lot but I was not expecting how a lot it was.

Yup, A.I. That is such a good and correct structure for calcium bromide.

So when I took the test the answers were stuck in my brain. It was like a whole different kind of cheating!

“Can i turn in this homework late? I was busy studying for the test and couldnt get to it” Fun fact! The homework is there to make you study on a schedule. It’s not just points/busywork!!

The thing most people really care about in James Bond movies is the continuity. Definitely.

Oh what a good deal! Staples let me know I can save $176 of the $181 cost by simply [checks notes] buying 2% of the number of markers. I'll have to consider that.

It’s Armistice Day, and a good day to remember that WWI ended as it began and went on: in ghastly, barely comprehensible obscenity

These two pickles in my house are fucking suspicious if you ask me.

I do find it kind of reassuring when I think I don't teach something extremely well so I look in a bunch of textbooks and they all approach it in a similar way to how I teach it. Teaching this stuff can be hard.

All my kids are now older than Kevin McCallister was in Home Alone. I believe that legally means we can leave them at home when we travel.

One thing that tells me I don't use my phone like other people do is I have never had even a hint of the need to search the tabs in my mobile browser.

Do we have a bunch of other tools that will give you the correct answer more-or-less all the time? Yes! But mine *sounds* fancier than "use Wikipedia and a calculator."

How many contact hours you get in GenChem? We have 2.5 of lecture and this semester we finally created 1 hour recitations run by TAs. 3 hour labs. And here I am wondering if the reason other places seem to be able to cover more: 1) Lab is complementary rather than repetitive 2) More contact hours

Use the force. Duh

I view the story of the discovery of the structure of DNA as a weird one to celebrate. It was an inevitable event as science progressed. The notable thing I take from the story is that, instead of working together, many parties kept knowledge hidden and (some say) actively sabotaged each other.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present... Bluesky

Went to Costco this morning and when we came back our kids had put up and decorated the Christmas tree all on their own. I'm not mad.

vibes

A change for me that predates chatgpt is doing more mental math. For years I've been pausing before I reach for a calculator and pushing myself to do the work in my own brain. Not all math all the time, just more than I used to.

It's said that "Scientists are unique in that they are always ready to change their beliefs when presented with facts" but then some scientists (biologists) still say "Breaking bonds releases energy."

lol

evergreen

Hey #ChemSky -- what is your department doing about the increasing costs associated with ChemDraw? Anything? Are there better alternatives at scale?

They're the things that you see when you wake up and scream. The cold things that follow you down the boreen. They live in the small ring of trees on the hill up at the top of the field. They play on the wind. They sing on the rain. They dance on your eyes. They dance in your brain.

There's an old SNL skit with (I think) Robert Downey Jr. and (maybe) Paul Simon where they are young Simon and Garfunkel and they get bassoons instead of guitars and it always pops into my head but I can't find it anywhere. I remember it being funny in an absurd way

Perry the post-its!!!

(pulled over by cop) Cop: Sir, do you know why I pulled you over? *I nod down to my lap where a Subway BMT sandwich sits* Cop (visibility shaken): I...I don't want any trouble

Colleague, stopping by my office to chat: "It's so nice that you have a big bowl of Halloween candy in here for your students." Me: "Yes.... For my students."