Love this Pelosi anecdote via @semafor.com www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...

ryan is right. people HATE hearing this. but it is just a matter of simple incentives. if you want a more representative legislature — and if you want a legislature more resistant to corruption — then you need to jack up the salaries. serving as mayor of NYC should net you a cool 500K *at least*

Alright, when do we get to find out what Jack Donaghy was doing in D.C.?

A 34-year-old as a politician: My god he's like a baby. It's like they just elected an infant to be their mayor. A 34-year-old as an athlete: You have to admire the bravery of him attempting that dunk, knowing full well the grim reaper is right behind him.

Maybe just me, but one sign of a good practice problem is there is an instinctive flinch away from doing the problem because we know it will take cognitive effort and the second reaction is thinking the problem is tractable.

Zohran picked 「卓蘭」("excellent orchid") for his first name and「夸梅」("brilliant plum") for his middle name. The orchid and the plum are among "The Four Noble Ones" in traditional Chinese art, the former symbolizing an indifference to fame and fortune, the latter an indomitable, incorruptible spirit.

I am 100% going to try to snag some of this Butternaise when it goes on sale later this week. FOR SCIENCE! 🍽️🍜

Halloween is a 10/10 holiday

This is a solid first attempt at sourdough bread.

This is a very cool use of LLMs. But, the conclusion, that suddenly there will be a surge in LLM intelligence is not certain. I'm not confident one way or another. It just seems entirely plausible that there are upper limits on machine intelligence for reasons we just do not fully understand yet.

I use Claude (an AI) to scan my posts for spelling and grammar errors. On the most recent post (about the East Wing, link below), I got a really amazing addendum. www.pbump.net/o/yes-most-a...

My goal is to be a bug with a big ass. Today's squats.

The annual ritual humiliation.

Did I pass my test today, maybe?? Good thing it's computerized and multiple choice, so I'll know soon. Jk, I'll know in 6-8 WEEKS.

"We're spending our whole lives together, so we need to be really gentle"

My partner said if I don't pass my exam tomorrow, then I won't need to make flashcards for the exam content (I have 60 pages of notes I need to convert). What she doesn't understand is that I am insane and have a compulsive need to remember this content for the rest of my life.

My head is going to explode from the amount of information I'm failing to hold in my brain. I will fail my test on Thursday with grace.

The defanging of the FDA is the main story. And this has some nice practical advice for what protein powders are best.

Failure to return the shopping cart to one of the cart returns if you are able is a sign of someone who does not value the social contract.

Hooty, the North Park Great Horned Owl, says hello! Or maybe buzz off!

Napkin math says easy 100,000 at the Waterfront Park protest in San Diego. That's a lower estimate. #NoKings

It is absolutely nuts at Waterfront Park.

It is *still* unknown whether or not every triangle admits a periodic billiard trajectory. Every triangle with rational angles does. And so does every obtuse triangle of at most 112.4 deg. "112.5 appears to be a natural barrier." gwtokarsky.github.io. #MathSky #Mathematics #Geometry #Billiards

This club has it all: Divorce, and Al therapists, and cybertrucks

I keep reading in outlets like the Washington Monthly that YIMBYism is electoral poison, but here’s a press release from a guy clearly running for president boasting about how many YIMBY things he did this year. www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/15/y...

It's very important to provide a bunker for your praetorian guard as well it turns out. Incentive alignment rules everything around me.

As nutritionists point out, your average American doesn't need more protein. But I lift pretty damn frequently, so if I don't have a ton of protein I'm leaving a lot of gains on the table.

T-shirt with your witticism and a flag.

Very good night tonight! Spotted a Great Horned Owl for the first time which some of the neighbors have been calling "Hooty". Saw Hooty swoop away from a palm tree.

One of my favorite films from the film fest I went to last night, doesn't hurt that the song is a bop youtu.be/FRD0W2-tr64?...

You're telling me I have to learn to write χ and make it distinguishable from X? Another indignity of statistics foisted upon me.

MAJOR NEWS: @GavinNewsom signed SB 79, my bill allowing more housing near public transit — rail, subway, rapid bus. It’s a huge step for housing in California. It’ll create more homes, strengthen our transit systems & reduce traffic & carbon emissions. Thank you, Governor!

He did it!

“The problem with billionaires isn’t that they’re hoarding money that would otherwise pay for a Scandinavian social utopia. It’s that their money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.”

New Madison Cunningham album and new Amber Mark album. It's a good night.

Another victim of AI psychosis. Really sad 😔

DK books are a big reason I'm as smart as I am today. I just picked one up from the library to get better at bar trivia.

I think my partner saw @bikesd.bsky.social riding down 30th yesterday and said "That looks like fun." And today I coaxed her into calling Newsom's office to urge him to sign SB 79. I'm seeing a window of opportunity here.

Called this morning and then got 3 more friends to call. Let's get this thing through the finish line.

CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors. ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart. ISILDUR: true

Syria holds first elections since fall of Bashar al-Assad www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

I know it's a small thing, but if something is named after a eugenicist in statistics then I rename it in my personal notes. Fisher information becomes expected observed information.

There should be a total ban on statistics textbooks introducing probability distributions without a graph of their densities and cumulative distributions.

If the NFL sucks then how did the Bills produce this masterpiece?

one little thing you can do to make a difference this Friday is calling @gavinnewsom.bsky.social and telling him to vote yes on SB79 916-445-2841 is his number, call now or use the link below

A good reminder. They are afraid of us too. And we are not served by cowering, backing down, or abandoning one another.

Just got back from a 5 day backpacking trip, did I miss anything big?

CBS listened to all of the public comment at San Diego Planning Commission yesterday after moving Midway Rising forward. And they interviewed one person of many who gave public comment. Who? The crankiest crank who said nobody rides the bus. Unbelievable.

It is time to do away with 1 with a subscript notation for an indicator function and embrace Iverson bracket notation. I will not be bullied into overusing subscripts.

Goofball