What the fuck?

Ian Roberts, who grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics 800 meters for Guyana, has been arrested by ICE. Roberts is the *Des Moines (Ia.) Public Schools Superintendent.* www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/e...

Who needs a picture of cormorants on rocks in the sea enjoying the autumn sun? Everyone does, of course! Taken this afternoon on my way home just after the last talk.

Paramjit Singh is "in a county jail in Kentucky going blind from a rapidly advancing brain tumor, separated from his family and any advanced medical care." "[H]e fears he will die in detention." #Kentucky #Indiana #Illinois #USA #India #Healthcare #Incarceration #Deportation #EthnicCleansing

Another excellent contribution.

you'll never feel bad blocking someone who describes themselves as "fluent in sarcasm" or as a "provocateur"

“Tell us: have your views shifted to the right as you have aged?” No. They have shifted vigorously to the left. But no surprise, they don’t want to hear about it.

Today's quick update [Sep 25]: - RSF shelling on Elfashir neighborhoods continues, killing and injuring a number of civilians. - RSF drone strike reported in ElObeid, North Kordofan; clashes between SAF and RSF also reported in Alayyara area. #KeepEyesOnSudan

"experts say" www.cnn.com/2025/08/11/b...

In Italy strikes are regulated, and have to be announced beforehand. All scheduled transport strikes are on the official website of the ministry for transport, it's easily translatable. PS skeet based on in-person FAQ at current conference. scioperi.mit.gov.it/mit2/public/...

Starting the day on a good thought: yesterday I had dinner with a very good friend, who is also a former student. Planning to return the visit in the spring, possibly start a collaboration. Really looking forward to this.

Imagine if NPR had actually talked to safe streets advocates for this story and learned how the solutions to drivers killing people is not, in fact, victim blaming

"The city is collapsing gradually, and my soul is crumbling with it." "We have to choose between leaving and staying." "Both mean death." #Gaza #Palestine #Israel #Housing #Genocide #EthnicCleansing

Can I just quit email? I don't want it anymore. I want to go live in a partially submerged log & figure things out from there

Spoke to a Turkish cabbie last night, who talked about how the English left felt as if it had disappeared; how he felt unsafe and vulnerable while watching the far-right get more popular. He was in his sixties, living in a tiny flat, and called himself one of the lucky ones. Quietly heartbreaking.

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it). But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

OH MY GOD OUR NSF GRANT WAS CANCELED LITERALLY THE DAY AFTER WE WERE NOTIFIED THAT OUR NO COST EXTENSION WAS APPROVED *dies*

“In Gaza, children and their families don’t feel safe anywhere, neither in hospitals nor in shelters” At the UN General Assembly, Slovakia’s president noted his country recognized Palestine’s right to self-determination 30 years ago and already hosts a Palestinian embassy in Bratislava.

What this thread doesn't mention: the English language contains the numerals lakh and crore for a significant percentage of its native speakers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_...

are you taking the backlash seriously? please send back to the more senior people, as the person behind this account is unlikely to be in charge of any policy here, this: bsky.app/profile/oliv...

I literally spent 10 min translating Lula’s speech about Palestine to English. I just need every single one of my gringo friends to listen to this man in order to maybe restore their faith in politics. This right here is a politician. This is why we voted for him. And personally, I’ll do it again.

“Either we have copyright law or we don’t. Either plagiarism and the theft of intellectual property are anathema to higher education or they aren’t. We’re either modeling academic honesty and integrity to our students or we aren’t.” —@thetattooedprof.bsky.social www.chronicle.com/article/some... 1/n

This is not horrendous science communication. This is the guardian being faithful to its editorial line.

Absolutely wild that, in the year of our lord two-thousand and twenty-five, there's a new research article that calls women "females" but calls men "men"

Streeting confirmed that he will push trans women into "third spaces", saying that his plans for segregation are based on "respect" and "empathy".

Many years ago, I had a big quarrel with Lothar. We had two offers from Warwick and I really wanted to go; he really wanted to stay in Trieste. News from the UK force me to conclude that he was right and we took the correct decision, again and again and again.

Israel to close West Bank crossing to Jordan indefinitely starting Wednesday. The closure of Allenby effectively seals off the non-Jewish population of the West Bank from the outside world, as IDF attacks and settler pogroms accelerate. www.cbc.ca/news/world/i...

"I'm a survivor of domestic violence, of child molestation, and a survivor of the California prison system." "During her two-day trial, she was barred from testifying about the abuse she endured for years." "California's really behind a lot of the country on this." #California #USA #Incarceration

This is *stunningly* disingenuous, and the fact that Singal continues to enjoy a career writing at the highest levels about a topic that he either unwilling or incapable of discussing honestly is such an indictment of the Anglo-American prestige media.

Does anyone know a collection of factitos about algebraic geometry which are not in standard textbooks? if not, should there be such a collection and how much work would it be to curate it? 1/

If you're a bigot then it's neither here nor there if you use polite language to promote your hatred and prejudice. You're just a bigot.

Faculty: do you know what your institution's policy on surreptitious lecture recording is? Ask your administrators — even in two-party-consent states the case law is often quite mixed!

"100 detained women in each" cell. The "other women helped [Ward Sakeik] to survive the trauma of" ICE detention. "It was a beautiful sisterhood." "I will continue to fight [for] them." #VirginIslands #Texas #USA #SaudiArabia #Palestine #Incarceration #Deportation #EthnicCleansing

Israel is spitting at the world's face, shouting it loud that it will, illegally, attack the Global Sumud Flotilla. If Starmer, Macron, Carney and Albanese really wanted to end the genocide, they would send a naval vessel to protect the flotilla. lapresse.us/world/2025/0...

All the Jews have to die or convert to trigger the rapture. Then our dead bodies surround Jerusalem and they climb over us to reach Jesus, who will bring them to heaven. It’s why they’re all Zionists obsessed with Israel. Cause they need Jews to go there so we can die. bsky.app/profile/jeff...

Oye!

Some pretty staggering details. UCOP apparently signed these agreements *knowing* Trump would take office in a month and the names would have to be turned over to his administration. The “5 campuses” are UC Davis, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.

“A seventh-grade student in Michigan is being hailed by his family and community as a hero after he disarmed a classmate carrying a gun — but instead of being rewarded, he was expelled for failing to notify a teacher immediately.” newsbeyonddetroit.net/2025/09/21/m...

Shana Tovah y'all. Let's welcome sweetness and peace this year. 💗🍏🍯

Italy wins the Billie Jean King Cup of tennis for the second time in a row! Warning: comment in Italian. youtu.be/2L50fkCbppo?...

I also want to keep repeating that ibuprofen/Advil is not indicated after the 20th week of pregnancy and generally discouraged during pregnancy, and that IS supported by science. I’m so scared people will hear this crap about acetaminophen/Tylenol and then do something actually dangerous instead 😭

Current situation: eldest is under the shower, cat is yelling in front of the bathroom door. He now came to me, yelled in my face, and went back to the scratch the bathroom door.

This is indeed excellent, please PLEASE everyone read it.

Also as a formerly judgemental teen, I've learned as an adult to be genuinely happy for people who are excited about things I personally do not give a rat's ass. Reflecting people's joy about frivolous things is a much nicer way to live.

Against my better instincts, I have written some notes on how human probability judgements work and what you should expect from surveys that ask people to guess what proportion of the population is transgender. I hope never to speak of this matter again

My husband has shoulder length blond (and a bit silver) hair, is a professor, but would never wear a jacket over a t-shirt. Native speakers, can I describe him without the hyphen in shoulder length?

This does not look like “impartiality”. It looks like propaganda. www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how...

There are two beliefs that seem common among certain kinds of people. The first is that people on the left who voted third party or abstained cost Harris the election. The second is that in order to win the next election, we must pull Trump voters from his camp.

Well worth reading. Gift article. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o... Quote below is from Jamelle Bouie.

This is an excellent, rigorously organized argument against uncritical AI adoption that everyone in academia should read. In 50 years I think we’re going to look at universities scrambling to endorse ChatGPT Edu like we do those “4 out of 5 doctors smoke Chesterfields — The HEALTHY Cigarette!” ads