In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “In Venezuela, we have long faced a brutal paradox: an absent yet omnipotent state,” the social psychologist Colette Capriles writes from Caracas. “Our society has been orphaned, ground down to its most basic capacities.”

Another post from a Venezuelan friend:

Maduro being terrible does not magically make Trump’s actions legal. International law still exists. US law still exists. Trump said it was about oil. Facts don’t cancel each other out.

Starting the #jmm2026 off right- with Maisha Moses of the young people’s project #ypp.

You can simultaneously: - hate the scourge of drugs - be shedding zero tears for Maduro And still think this is a really bad idea.

It’s a really hard day to be a Venezuelan-American…

Even more perfect that the 14-year-old is currently obsessed with this album.

*walking in a winter wonderland* ME: where's bluebird? BIRD: gone ME: w... who are you? *bird looks around shiftily* BIRD: I'm new bird

What a great piece! This just gets better and better as you read. prospect.org/2025/12/11/s...

Can’t believe it’s the last day of the winter school on number theory and physics! Today, Xenia de la Ossa will tell us about applications of Hodge theory to understanding physics, specifically black holes. #ICTP

Now we will hear about some physics applications of automorphic representations from Daniel Persson! #ICTP

Sol Friedberg is giving Lecture 2 of the series on Automorphic Representations (I forgot to take a pic yesterday!). #ICTP

We start today with Jose Burgos Gil and an introduction to Hodge theory! #ICTP

Special evening talk by Philip Candelas on the history of mirror symmetry. #ICTP

Excited for this talk by my Ph.D. Advisor— Fernando Rodriguez-Villegas. #ICTP

Back to the Winter School on Number Theory and Physics! We start the week with Caner Nazaroglu explaining some physics applications of Mock Modular Forms. #ICTP

Today: Masha Vlasenko gives her second lecture on hypergeometric functions (objectively the best functions). #ICTP

Last talk for the day: Claudia Alfes and Harmonic Maass forms. #ICTP

And now @yarntheory.bsky.social will tell us about K3 surfaces!

Good morning from ICTP! We start the day with Federico Zerbini telling us about periods and string amplitudes.

Happy partially muscled skeleton screaming by the perimeter fence day to all who celebrate. A solemn 30 second screaming before vanishing will take place at 11am.

Really liked #frankenstein! Guillermo Del Toro’s aesthetic is so unique and gorgeous and brutal.

Really really loved “One Battle After Another”. #onebattleafteranother

Ursula Whitcher introduces and reads from North Continent Ribbon, her collection of linked stories, which is shortlisted for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.

Slightly diminish a band They are probably not giants

NSF announces funding for ICARM: the Institute for Computer-Aided Reasoning in Mathematics, based in Carnegie-Mellon . Amazing! Carnegie-Mellon press release here: www.cmu.edu/news/stories... www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-inv...

Drop something CHAOTIC

Ok this is really cool.

Finally watched #SinnersMovie last night, and it’s as good as everyone says it is. Beautifully shot, masterful acting, layers upon layers of storytelling and social commentary, great action sequences, and the music! Anyway, go see it.

Can confirm. I was bawling at the end of this song.

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

HAPPY 75th, NSF! We’re celebrating this milestone by highlighting some of NSF’s most transformative accomplishments—innovations that have shaped our world and continue to drive progress in health, technology, the environment, and beyond. Read on 🧵(1/11):

Happy 75th birthday, NSF, I guess. #saveNSF

Mood. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCd5...

first math pope?

I’m not nervous! You’re nervous! momath.org/math-encount...

It’s meeee!

It me! www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3T8...

"Southwestern University for Civic Knowledge (SUCK) would like to reassure the community that it remains firmly committed to whatever version of moral clarity is currently legally advisable."

To the tune of “Guess” by @charlixcxofficial.bsky.social.

My essay about DOGE, the NSF, and my good friend @mathyadriana.bsky.social is reprinted in the latest issue of MAA Focus: digitaleditions.walsworthprintgroup.com/publication/...

Post a movie from the year you turned 18

Masaki Kashiwara is the first Japanese person to be awarded the most prestigious prize in mathematics https://go.nature.com/4l4cy7f

This annoyed me too….

BREAKING: Entire Human Race Flagged By DEI Purge Because of “Homo” in “Homo Sapiens”

This is excellent news!

Yes. So good.

Facts tonight is #OscarSunday

There are still a lot of people illegally fired though— just want to make that clear.

And I just got reinstated (along with a few, but not all, other probationary employees). What a ride. Happy birthday to me, I guess?