Not much of a lesson from my personal experience, other than: it's okay to say no to potentially sketchy things. I've said no to a few of them; some probably harmless, some doubtless bad. Your integrity as a person isn't worth a few bucks or a few connections.

Russia’s full-scale invasion began 4 years ago. It began in winter, and so this winter is the 5th. And, for civilians, the worst. Russia launches missiles and drones at energy infrastructure to force Ukrainians to endure the freezing cold. Here's how you can help snyder.substack.com/p/the-long-u...

Perimeter Institute openings: 1. Particle Physics: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31429 2. The intersection of Theoretical Physics and Artificial Intelligence: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31430 3. Quantum Computing and Quantum Information: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31435

Ultimately you're not supposed to believe it. It not mattering is the point. The bolder the lie, the greater the impunity. The ultimate victory for evil is not convincing you, it's the truth being irrelevant.

So important ⬇️

Trump is threatening wars with NATO and Venezuela for the same reason he’s at war with the American people: fascism must always be on the march. Authoritarians are good at offense, but bad at defense. The only strategy for combating the Epstein crisis is literally going to war.

Have been begging to use more analytics for yrs at @caltech.edu. Now it’s used sparingly. We get sooo many applications, a large % are not strong enough. @virginiatech.bsky.social “A second person will step in if the AI and human reader disagree by more than two points on a 12-point scoring scale”

Wow, someone discovered a more efficient way of multiplying two 3×3 matrices! It uses 23 multiplications and 58 addition/subtractions. The previous best used 23 and 60. (Better methods exist if your matrix entries live in a *commutative* ring. This handles quaternions!) arxiv.org/abs/2512.21980

The horrific tragedy at Brown University is the 389th mass shooting this year and the 230th gun incident on school grounds so far this year. This is not normal and we don't have to live this way. bradyunited.org @bradyunited.org

🌟 Exciting news! We're thrilled @bterhal.bsky.social is Riverlane's newest Fellow with @quantumearl.bsky.social + @danbrowne.bsky.social 🎉 Under Barbara's leadership, the Delft hub will focus on integrating #AI and #ML into real-time #QEC 🚀 www.riverlane.com/press-releas... The best part...

Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ. It's a surreal--and troubling--read. drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...

Department of Physics at UIUC is looking for an Assistant Professor in Theoretical Quantum Information Science, including, but not limited to, quantum error correction, quantum optics, quantum algorithms, and AMO physics. Application deadline: Dec 1 illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Tenure track position in Dept C&O, U Waterloo, with continuous optimization as priority area! www.mathjobs.org/jobs/lists/2...

RFK fired the CDC official (w/decades of experience) leading the measles outbreak response. It's been decades since we've had such a large outbreak. And just to ensure they they can spread the measles outbreak even farther, they also fired the leadership for the center focused on immunization.

MSNBC from last night.

A 12-foot golden statue of Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin was unveiled outside the US Capitol

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

I wrote an op-ed on the world-class STEM research ecosystem in the United States, and how this ecosystem is now under attack on multiple fronts by the current administration: newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...

I ditched my old website and created a new one on GitHub Pages: johnwatrous.com It's a great option for a static web page, particularly if you like to do your own CSS styling rather than flipping through pre-built templates that are never quite right.

My thoughts on the crucial importance of methodology on self-reported AI performance on mathematics competitions, and my policy on commenting on such reports going forward: mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1148814...

BREAKING: A few minutes ago, a vehicle of three people was rammed by a truck belonging to federal immigration authorities in Boyle Heights, CA. According to security footage shown to me, they deployed chemical munitions & detained the driver at gunpoint. All are US citizens according to the wife.

A sequel to arXiv:2309.16387 ... now analysed for all noisy states with a nondegenerate principal eigenvalue. arxiv.org/abs/2503.22644

Canadian MP Charlie Angus: When we see people being pulled off the streets, when we see students at universities being grabbed, detained, and kidnapped, and when we see Kristi Noem filming this disgusting video, we’re looking at a nation we no longer recognize. We don’t want to be like that nation.

American officials in Greenland went door-to-door to find people willing to be photographed with Usha Vance. No takers. Which is wise – who wants to look like a collaborator? nyheder.tv2.dk/live/2025-01...

I know this first hand. When I was a child, my entire community was branded as spies and sabateurs, justifying our internment inside barbed wire camps for years without due process, trial or charge.

Today is a reminder of Zelensky's superhuman stamina and strength. He deflected deeply unfair vile attacks in his 3rd language and kept it together while two bullies threatened his country's existence and repeated the tired but infuriating propaganda tropes of the aggressor.

Here I react to the shameful encounter between American leaders and media and the Ukrainian president. No doubt there were more, but I saw five failures on our side: of hospitality, decency, democracy, strategy, and independence. Please watch and share. snyder.substack.com/p/five-failu...