Ever since I was a kid I've wanted to engage with modeled facilitation protocols

There's a general problem in media that it's nearly impossible to tell a story about a charismatic but villainous white man, because too many people will end up siding with him. See also Walter White.

We don't drink it to be safe. We drink it to feel alive.

A reader described Trumpian logic as "modus trollens."

My latest opinion, in meme form

*Math guy looks around at what's happening in the world* "This place needs more math."

Trump's outlandish numerical claims — like reducing drug prices by 600% — are a good reminder of the importance of math education as a civic virtue. I wrote about it in the NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/o...

I find these to be mostly harmless annoyances, with the exception of calling people like Epstein "PDF files," which is just great.

I know the amount of Nintendo I played as a child was probably unhealthy, but at least that thing never served me any ads.

At a Superbowl party in Newton, MA, my wife's cousin just said, "It's like we're sittin' shiva here."

A formative experience I had as a young person in Chicago was hearing then-mayor Daley say, essentially: space-savers are fine and sensible. This was, to my understanding, clearly against the law, but I learned that sometimes the people are governed by a higher, unwritten law.

Where are Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel when you need them

Hey I know this one: the answer is eugenics

Today I learned: there was briefly a plan for a Nintendo character called "Walupeach," the evil version of Princess Peach as Wario is to Mario and Waluigi is to Luigi. But Shigeru Miyamoto scrapped the idea because it was too similar to existing anime characters. www.reddit.com/r/Waluigi/s/...

People have been trying (understandably) to dunk on the FDA about this, but I think there's real progress in their acceptance of Bayesian stats. When I wrote about pediatric COVID vaccines in 2022 the FDA was still requiring frequentist methods, delaying the approval. www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/o...

"Ghost in the Machine approaches ubiquitous questions like “What is AI?”, “Who is building it?”, and “What will humans become?” by exploring how emerging technologies have historically reshaped identity, culture, and global power..." Read the full interview with @valerieveatch.bsky.social here!

I’m thrilled to be a part of @ghostdoc2026.bsky.social a landmark documentary that’ll be mandatory viewing for anyone thinking about or using AI. The film is directed by Valerie Veatch and premieres at #SundanceFilmFestival next month. Follow or sign up for updates at ghostinthemachinedoc.ai

Update: I needed this to solve a problem, and in the course of that solution I also claimed that 219 is prime. Really showing off my math skills.

Doing some advanced math today.

Chat is there a name for a crime committed while one is waging war? I feel like this may have come up

Trump's concern for "any President" is much like my 4-year-old asking if "people" are allowed to eat Halloween candy for breakfast.

Sometimes you meet the bar, and sometimes the bar meets you.

Real ones know that you only need to cook turkey to 165 if you're planning to eat it immediately at that temperature. Hold your bird at 150-155 for a few mins for juicy, bacteria-free results.

It will be interesting to see who wins

Was reading the Wikipedia page for Nicolas Slonimsky and found this A+ cat name

A fun number theory fact I learned recently from teaching: if n is a pseudoprime to base 2, then so is 2^n-1. It follows that there are infinitely many pseudoprimes!

I saw a tragically AI-generated version of this poster, so I have recreated a 100% human-made version for all your protest sign needs.

As long as we all agree the best Bond movie is Casino Royale (1967)

Yesterday @aubreyclayton.bsky.social delivered a talk for the Ergodicity Economics seminar series. Aubrey shows how it is possible to derive the equations of probability without linking them to frequencies. A video of the talk is here: ergodicityeconomics.com/2025/10/01/6...

"Per the syllabus..."

Hard to believe he couldn't persuade more voters with his visionary platform of Bike Lanes Suck, and I'm Rich.

Do you know how easy this is for me?

Wasn't the fact that this is illegal a central plot point of Clear and Present Danger?

Wishful thinking in the Boston public schools today (Tuesday, September 2nd)

Fortunately for us all, teachers (even ex-military) do not have qualified immunity like police, and so the liability risk to schools from an armed teacher accidentally killing someone would be astronomical, to the point of making this a non-starter.

"He was second to Nolan Ryan in most strike-outs" is Randy Johnson erasure and will not be tolerated. (Also Clemens was juiced to the gills)

I have a hard time remembering which one is Amanda Knox, which one is Casey Anthony, and which one is Laci Peterson. It's just a haze of 2000s crime victims/accused perpetrators

I don't mean to brag, but my 4-year-olds are watching a cartoon intended for 7-year-olds due to "mild fantasy violence."

#ICYMI: You can spot E.J. Antoni, Trump's pick for Bureau of Labor Statistics Chief, in the crowd of Capitol rioters via our archive of 500+ Jan. 6 videos. Watch him walk through the bottom of the screen starting at ~1:41 in this clip: projects.propublica.org/parler-capit...

Chrono Trigger's 30 years old you say? Time flies.

I understand why people compare our current political situation to Idiocracy—Trump is a buffoon, politics is dominated by entertainment, voters are ignorant, etc. But the movie is really quite a toxic eugenicist vision of the consequences of the wrong people breeding. Maybe watch something else?

In fairness this is also what Lincoln would have wanted

This was also true of the British eugenicist worldview, which became the American one. www.liberalcurrents.com/degenerate-n...

To play video games with a 4-year-old is to be caught in an endless loop of "Can you help me?"<-> "I can do it!" Getting passed a controller only to have it snatched away immediately, forever.

ChatGPT disagrees

At least it didn't try to blame the tsunami on the Jews

For baseball fans of a certain age who grew up watching Cubs games on the WGN superstation in the '80s and '90s, Ryne Sandberg was such an important figure. I remember we all wanted to be #23

Yeah, that figures

What perfect album came out when you were sixteen?