Listened to Shostakovich's first symphony today, written when he was 18-19, and dang, it's impressive how much he sounds exactly like Shostakovich from the get-go.

"We asked the doors at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory why they didn't open, not the people who chose to lock them."

So these journalists are asking *Grok* what happened, not a spokesperson for the company that made it?! I'm just flabbergasted. Do you ask a car for a comment when it has a part recalled??? It's just beyond parody.

Here’s the end of the article. The author sets up a straw man that is very unlikely to ever occur and then says “see how reasonable this is?” What would actually happen is that people would sue because someone way more qualified but with an SAT score 10 points lower got the job over them.

“I’m 30 years old. I’ve done 10+ years of higher education culminating in original research in my field of study. I’ve taught college classes and published in academic journals.” “But how did you do on a standardized test when you were 17? I am very smart.”

Listening to the Coventry Carol today like this

One thing that absolutely definitely happens for real in the academic job market is that when you do not get a job, the Dean calls you and explains why you didn't get it. This is extra-super true when the explanation is something legally actionable on its face.

I honestly feel pretty despondent about how we've given up on even paying lip service to being against distracted driving. A lot of people texted while driving the moment texting became a thing, but it used to be socially unacceptable to admit to doing it.

It turns out we could have paid using an app, but our @nicebus.bsky.social driver didn't bother to tell us, even when we asked if there was a way to pay other than cash or Metrocard. Really unpleasant first attempt to use Nice! I would even go so far as to say it was...not Nice.

Bus indignity otd: the Long Island buses, which cost $2.90 and only run once an hour, only accept coins (not bills) and Metrocard (which is being phased out in 20 days). So after waiting for it in the cold, we couldn’t get on! Sorry we didn’t come here with 22 quarters 🙄

Well that escalated quickly. (Figure from “A survey of the theory of hypercube graphs” by Harary, Hayes, and Wu)

IIRC ~80% of Utah's water is used for agriculture, so 16% of that other 20% is ~3%. The vast majority of that is golf courses & lawns, and it's a little unclear from the article whether that kind of outdoor use is being counted. If not, then we're talking 16% of ~5%.

Yes, HID headlights are very bright but the bigger problem is the proliferation of gargantuan vehicles with 5’+ hood heights so that if you’re driving a normal sized car their headlights are at your eye level rather than seat level like they’re supposed to be.

happy trans day of remembrance. you are beautifully and wonderfully made and I will never stop fighting for you. the world is better because you are in it

There should be a reciprocal newspaper membership like with botanical gardens and art museums. If you subscribe to your local paper, you should be able to read a few articles from other local papers. I don't mind newspaper paywalls on principle, but I can't subscribe to every paper.

But still teaching?? Nauseating. Imagine being a young woman in one of his classes and having to know about the pathetic gutter misogyny he was emailing to his convicted child sex offender friend under a decade ago. Imagine being *anyone* in one of his classes and having to know that!

❤️ Love this ❤️ @mathforge.org has done what I’ve never been organised enough to do myself, and catalogued every #geometrypuzzle I’ve ever posted on social media. It looks amazing!

I can't say enough good things about @cragcrest.bsky.social's Book Proposal Boot Camp! I've been trying to get a proposal done for years, and this helped me get up to speed and actually writing. christieaschwanden.com/the-book-pro...

Third time in a row my yogurt failed. :( I've been making yogurt almost continuously for about 17 years now, and I think this is the worst run I've had. It's really shaking my confidence, in addition to wasting food and throwing off my morning routine.

It’s Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s 220th birthday! To celebrate, I have a new recording out of her Sonata in G Minor which you can now listen to on the streaming platform of your choice

Get to know your mutuals. List 10 random things you like: beans thrifting Shostakovich string quartets La Croix tangerine seltzer oolong tea silk scarves the smell of autumn leaves postcards biocrust quail chicks

It's exhausting to be angry all the time about egregious important things. My current outrage about something that doesn't matter at all: LeBron James plays violin. He's 6'9" with a 7-foot wingspan. Why would you waste that on a violin instead of a viola?! He could have such a rich C string sound!

My takeaway from every new Epstein revelation is that some powerful people victimized many powerless young women, many more knew, some actively enabled it--and we're still being told that MeToo and accountability for sexual violence have gone too far

My brain is short circuiting tonight over how pathetic this email is. Really got em with that "I implied women are only 50/51ths as intelligent as men" zinger. If I were the 63 yo former secretary of the treasury, I'd definitely think it was a cool & clever thing to email to my convicted pedo buddy.

Gonna tell my kids this was Cats (2019).

Listening to an Elizabethan era album today and feeling this meme deeply. (As I do often because this meme captures my very essence.)

via @xaqwg.bsky.social a good NYT article on the great Moon Duchins www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/s... #gerrymandering

Tfw the book you’re reading cites you. 😆 Hi, @drmichaelbrooks.bsky.social, glad you liked my blog post about a silly way to draw a lute. www.scientificamerican.com/blog/roots-o...

Sharing this here now because I promised I would and I shared it earlier this week in my newsletter and we're half full already.

These yogurt flatbreads are way too good smittenkitchen.com/2020/04/laye... I make my own yogurt and sometimes a batch isn't quite right. My most recent batch must not have fermented all the way or something and was really runny and developing off flavors. Still worked great in this recipe!

I drew the meme! Day 6 - Ratio! #rattober2025 #rattober #rats

"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?" Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.

AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.

I'm sure someone ( #MTBoS #ITeachMath #MathSky ) has a go-to CSS color palette for accessible text on a website... Any pointers?

All can be measured by the standard of the capybara. Everyone is lesser than or greater than the capybara. Everything is taller or shorter than the capybara. Everything is mistaken for a Brazilian dance craze more or less frequently than the capybara. ... www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

I didn’t know until now that in the original Rosie the Riveter painting, she is crushing a copy of Mein Kampf under her foot. Happy feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, remembering all the women who crush the serpents of Satan under their heel.

Bonus panel here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/dress #smbc

Inexplicable thrift store find OTD: a framed ceramic tile illustration of the E8 lattice. (Yes, I’m moving in less than a month. No, I should not be acquiring new knick-knacks. Yes, I bought it anyway.)

You would call the "time and temperature" number to reset your clocks after the power had gone out (or if you didn't know if they were right for some other reason).

*sits down backward in my ancient Mesopotamian chair* you know who ELSE blew up the copper market www.wsj.com/opinion/dona...

POLITICS IS NOT A SPORT. YOU DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE TO COVER POLITICS LIKE IT'S ALL A BIG GAME.

"saved" is an interesting variant spelling of "stole." People paid for benefits they were not receiving! It recently took me multiple months of phone calls to my insurance company to make them cover a screening that I called in advance to make sure would be covered!

Every women’s restroom at this airport has a line with like 8-12 people out the door and none of the men’s rooms do, which makes me wonder why women’s rooms aren’t larger than men’s by default. Someone must have figured out what a reasonable ratio would be between men’s and women’s stalls

"had this happened to my family, I would have done everything in my power to mock them and use their deaths to advance my political agenda."

I'm old enough to remember when Mike Lee couldn't vote for Trump because he cared about religious minorities and the constitution. www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/u... He was no peach then, don't get me wrong, but he's really leaning into all the worst impulses of the right these days. So embarrassing!

Everything that’s happened over the past six months has been a response to an imaginary crisis. There is no immigrant invasion. No trade crisis. No scientific or governance crisis. Just people completely high off their own supply trying to fundamentally reorder society. None of this had to happen.

This sounds like an amazing opportunity for math teachers and communicators or anyone who just wants to know a little bit about what modern math research is!

Not @nytpitchbot.bsky.social: Whether they're trying to live safely as their authentic selves or looking for permission to bully, beat, or kill people for living as their authentic selves, all Utahns' viewpoints are equally worthy of respect. by Spencer Cox www.sltrib.com/news/politic...