No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The “MaxCut” problem is a fundamental question about graphs with real-world applications, like efficient circuit design. Recently, work on MaxCut helped mathematicians solve a major problem in number theory. www.quantamagazine.org/networks-hol...

"MPR News has learned that the police chief in the small southern Minnesota city of St. Peter intervened Thursday afternoon to prevent federal immigration agents from arresting a local resident" who had been observing federal agents. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Great article by Chad Topaz. Clearly explains a misunderstanding of statistics in nontechnical terms.

Funny Numbers xkcd.com/3184/

Flashback post and yep, still our favorite.

Fantastic essay by Roxane Gay: Civility Is a Fantasy. “Calling for civility is about exerting power. It is a way of reminding the powerless that they exist at the will of those in power and should act accordingly. It is a demand for control.” [nytimes.com]

And now it’s been hijacked by Oracle where every single American is separated from the rest of the world, with our own special algorithm. Wonder what they’ll do with it now! I bet it’s all for the greater good.

I know a lot of people won’t click through to read about “med beds” so here’s the crucial quote to explain how fucking crazy this is. Trump just posted an AI video of himself promising every American access to this.

@nhannahjones.bsky.social: Through gossamer tributes, Kirk’s cruel condemnation of transgender people & racist throwback views about Black Americans were no longer anathema but instead treated as just another political view to be respectfully debated. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/m...

"What are we to make of a man who called for the execution of the American president, and then was executed himself? What are we to make of an NFL that, on one hand, encourages us to “End Racism,” and, on the other, urges us to commemorate an unreconstructed white supremacist?'

New video about a piece by the modern artist Sol LeWitt, and the group theory behind it. youtu.be/_BrFKp-U8GI

The only thing I can say about this paragraph is read it. Sit with it. Read it again. @michaelharriot.bsky.social

Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.

Really liked this @monicalewinsky.bsky.social interview with John Oliver, gets at some of the actual human tone that a real conversation about these topics would hit. And I’m always here for telling Jay Leno to go fuck himself. youtu.be/yR-KTECQGxQ

New blog post: "On Grief" in higher ed. catherinedenial.org/blog/uncateg...

This is a fabulous piece of writing about the mythology of generative AI. www.techpolicy.press/challenging-...

What a fantastic accomplishment -- and what a fantastic story! www.quantamagazine.org/at-17-hannah...

When you strip away humanity

In today's Tea for Teaching podcast, @geekypedagogy.bsky.social joins us to discuss her new book, Snafu Edu, which explores ways of addressing classroom issues and offers recommendations for proactive approaches to these issues. teaforteaching.podbean.com/e/snafu-edu/ @cyberthread.bsky.social

As Clay Shirky put it in a recent essay for the Chronicle of Higher Ed: “While the output of any given course is student assignments - papers, exams, research projects, and so on - the product of that course is student experience.” www.chronicle.com/article/is-a...

Clay Shirky on the impact of generative AI on learning: "As with calculators, there will be many tasks where automation is more important than user comprehension, but for student work, a tool that improves the output but degrades the experience is a bad tradeoff." www.chronicle.com/article/is-a...

buttondown.com/yarntheory/a... Horrified by what is happening all over, especially at NSF. I know at least one friend who got out in time. Knowing people affected in this way just makes it all the more heartbreaking.

My friend @mathyadriana.bsky.social lost her job last week, and I want you to know the story: buttondown.com/yarntheory/a...

Do you want a big overview of NSF, explaining things like the fact that 24% of all federally funded academic fundamental research comes from NSF? And that 94% of its budget goes out the door in grants/awards? Here you go. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/Factsh...

Y’all they cancelled the NSF MPS Ascend Program after encouraging underrepresented folks to only apply to it and not both the Ascend and the MSPRF. This is astronomically fucked up for many grad students and postdocs of color in math. #MathSky

I benefited immensely from participating in Syracuse University’s CHANCE grant which was funded by HHMI Inclusive Excellence. 😢

Interesting post by @youtoobio.bsky.social Should homework count in a student's grade? Is using Multiple Grading Schemes more equitable? open.substack.com/pub/jaymedye...

I'm learning a lot by being a student again. For example, THINKING TAKES TIME open.substack.com/pub/jaymedye...

OLSUME UPCOMING SEMINAR Approaches to Graduate Math Courses Jenny Wilson, Univ. of Michigan David Speyer, Univ. of Michigan February 4, 2025 Noon ET How the University of Michigan incorporates Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) into graduate-level courses. olsume.org/.../ibl-appr...

From NAM During Black History Month, February 2025, public tv stations will be airing Journeys of Black Mathematicians: Part 1: Forging Resilience and Part 2: Creating Pathways. Air dates and times: zalafilms.com/jbm/airdates... Project's web page for more details: zalafilms.com/jbm/

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New episode alert! A great #TeaForTeaching conversation w/my Syracuse CTLE colleagues about the transformative power of pedagogical partnerships in #HigherEd. @johnkane.bsky.social @cyberthread.bsky.social #FacDev #StudentsAsPartners

Laurel Willingham-McLain and Jacques Safari Mwayaona join us in today's Tea for Teaching podcast to discuss the Students as Partners Program provided by the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Syracuse University. @cyberthread.bsky.social teaforteaching.podbean.com/e/students-a...

Hey, so it turns out that paper on black plastic was a bit blown out of proportion by a simple math error. nationalpost.com/news/canada/...