One thing no one ever talks about being an adult is how much time you debate yourself on keeping a cardboard box because it's, like, a really good box.
Remote
Colin the Mathmo
@ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz
mastodon 4.7.2Fulltime freelance provider of outreach and enhancement in maths ... I talk a lot. About maths.
I talk about other stuff too, like ballroom dancing, juggling, unicycling, education, engineering, software, and "other things".
But mostly about maths.
I tend to follow back, but only if you have something in your profile.
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50 Posts
Joined April 14, 2017
Web site:
Pronouns:
He/Him
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
This graph should be front page news.
Instead, there is silence.
This is now a projection, not a prediction, not the result of a model.
These are measurements, it is what is happening.
Now.
https://www.lyrebirddreaming.com/post/the-graph-that-should-be-front-page-news
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
"... we should catch young people before they become CEOs, investment bankers, consultants, and money managers, and do our best to poison their minds with humanity." -- Kurt Vonnegut
"What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure." -- Samuel Johnson
"People don't hate computers. What they really hate is lousy programmers." -- Larry Niven (paraphrased)
Boosted by @DataKnightmare@mastodon.xyz
"Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration." -- Donald Knuth
I have a cryptic crossword clue and answer ... I can't see entirely how to construct the answer from the clue, and given that it's from fiction, maybe it's not kosher.
If anyone would like to DM me I can pass on the clue, provide the answer on request, and you can help me understand what's going on.
TIA.
Edit for extra information: This is allegedly from a crossword in the 1930s.
(Feel free to boost for reach)
#CrypticCrosswordPuzzles #Cryptic
Your fingers have fingertips but your toes don't have toetips. Yet, you can tiptoe but not tipfinger.
If you choose an answer at random, what is your probability of being correct?
A: 25%
B: 50%
C: 60%
D: 25%
If you choose an answer at random, what is your probability of being correct? A: 25% B: 50% C: 60% D: 25%
There's a fine line between numerator and denominator (and it's called a 'vinculum').
HAH !!!
My (first) talk from #EMFCamp is up!
https://media.ccc.de/v/emf2026-60-1-juggling-surprisingly-mathematical
I honestly didn't know what I was going to say, although I've been giving talks about this material for a long time, so parts of it were well rehearsed.
I'd welcome feedback. It wasn't perfect, but let me know what you think. I only ask that you be kind. Honest, but kind.
"Power corrupts. Powerpoint corrupts absolutely." -- Edward R. Tufte
Wishing a Happy Birthday to Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin.
Extraordinary woman ... simply extraordinary.
Replying to
@catnip@mastodon.online If you have a cat then there is, in truth, no decision at all.
"NASA launches robot to save Swift telescope falling to Earth"
-- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ry4xx7rk8o
When I was a kid this was science fiction.
Replying to
@DarkOptimism@mstdn.social Thank you ... edited.
Replying to
@NanoRaptor@bitbang.social If be suprise if they still had the Excel scripts to reinstate...
Sent to me by a round-about route. I've tracked down a link that allegedly is the original, but fortunately it's been deleted, so I don't need to include a link to Xitter.
(Edit for a typo fix)
Replying to
@johncarlosbaez Quoting Dawkins:
"I gave Claude the text of a novel I am writing."
I wonder if he realises that he just surrendered copyright to that text?
Brilliant day at #EMF ... so many amazing people, so many amazing things.
Thank you for having me.
#EMF2026 @emf@social.emfcamp.org
Fabulous pass of the #ISS ... totally clear skies, magnitude around -3.6 ... brilliant to watch it sail serenely overhead.
Wanted to share the experience with a passerby:
Me: In about 30 seconds the International Space Station will come into view over there.
Him: Will it. I suppose you also believe we've landed on the Moon.
Me: Yes.
Him: What about the Van Allen Belt
Me: They went through thin parts, and they're a lot less serious than people seem to think ... about the same dose as 20 X-Rays
Him: And they knew that then, in the 60s, did they?
Me: Oh yes, they sent Apollo 6 through it to measure it.
Him: We'll just leave it at that then.
--------
So frustrating.
But the #ISS pass was *brilliant !!*
Replying to
@vnikolov@ieji.de When students ask this, usually it's not a genuine question, it's just "This is hard, I don't like it, and I'm not going to do it because I don't see the point".
Every modern athlete does weight training, not because the goal is to lift weights ... the goal is to improve the body in a way that will be beneficial in whatever sport they then specialise in.
So it is with maths. The benefit is not in the actual maths, not in the knowledge of the trig or calculus or the algebra ... it's in the ability to problem solve, and to think abstractly.
But this is, of itself, an abstract argument, and is almost always unconvincing to the audience, because they just find it hard and want any excuse not to bother.
CC: @AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz @dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz @kabel42@polymaths.social @rl_dane@polymaths.social @mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org @raven667@hachyderm.io @tut@fosstodon.org @sjmulder@bsd.network
"The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens." -- Jimmy Carter
I don't usually do this, but I found this too funny not to share:
The Bob Newhart Toupee Sketch That Broke Dean Martin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uau2DK4kwyo
Not entirely sure you can use this to help calibrate your understanding of what I find funny ... I'm in an odd mood today.
#Video #Humour #NotForEveryone
"You are a ghost driving a meat-coated skeleton made from stardust, riding a rock, hurtling through space. Fear nothing." -- Unknown.
Replying to
@edavies@functional.cafe That's FABULOUS !!!
Replying to
@giflian@techhub.social Quite. It's wrong, but in a completely different way than the usual.
Replying to
@naga@toot.cat It is definitely TTM ... now downloaded a PDF and found the exchange.
Thank you for the memory!
CC: @cinebox@masto.hackers.town @jonny@neuromatch.social
Spotted on a Health and Safety poster, and again my mathematical mind betrays me.
Quoting:
"Safe use of projectors :
Avoid staring directly into the projector beam at all times."
I avoid spending all my time staring into the projector. I stare at it occasionally, here and there, now and again, but I don't stare into it "at all times".
So ... is that OK?
1/n
Replying to
Google AI Assist for the win ...
No, wait, not the win, the other thing:
Replying to
@PeteLittle@autistics.life It's interesting. Someone vaguely mentioned it in passing and my synapses lit up like a ... like a ... like a thing that lights up brightly and furiously and overwhelmingly.
Replying to
@naga@toot.cat Pretty sure it's not "Terminal Man", but it's a non-zero probability, and I'll have a scan later tonight.
It's the best option so far.
Another is the execrable "The Turing Option" ... I don't want to have to re-read that.
CC: @cinebox@masto.hackers.town @jonny@neuromatch.social
@ansuz@gts.cryptography.dog Typo alert:
https://cryptography.dog/blog/rng-day-2024/
... because they are >quiet< closely related ...
That should be "quite".
"Being a student is easy. Learning requires actual work." -- William Crawford
Replying to
@simonzerafa@infosec.exchange
👍
Guilty as charged ...
Replying to
Replying to
@matthewconroy@mathstodon.xyz This exact wording comes from a speech by James Clear:
https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/enough-by-john-c-bogle
I don't know that KV used these exact words, but certainly they resonate with many other things he said. It would be interesting to track down actual KV quotations to support that.
Replying to
@PeteLittle@autistics.life Neither of those.
This was not the main plot, it was "side chat" of some sort.
Replying to
@SpaceLifeForm@infosec.exchange Definitely not.
Replying to
@level98@mastodon.social ... Or yet to go to sleep.
Good night ...
Replying to
@jonmsterling You say:
"You can ask me publicly if you like!"
You were asked publicly:
https://mathstodon.xyz/@christianp/116493292135956899
You didn't respond.
Replying to
@niallor@mastodon.ie Indeed ... it's a notation, and has been used in several ways. Another is to indicate the repeating portion of a decimal expansion.
Time for a question.
- In the expression "18÷3x2" ... if I say (regardless of anything you've ever been taught) to do the multiplication first, what happens?
I'd run this as a poll but I don't want to lead the witnesses, so to speak.
-
Start with "18÷3x2"
-
Do the multiplication first
-
What are the steps you go through?
If you are content to do so, please boost to get out of my bubble. Thanks.
Replying to
@naga@toot.cat Absolutely I remember it, but my search-fu is failing me. I might need to tap my network of nerds ...
Well, one of my *other* networks of nerds ...
CC: @cinebox@masto.hackers.town @jonny@neuromatch.social
Replying to
@GBrayUT@hachyderm.io Interesting ... thank you.
Replying to
@naga@toot.cat There was a novel ... I have a clear memory of that, but not of which novel it was.
Now looking ...
CC: @cinebox@masto.hackers.town @jonny@neuromatch.social
Learning how to use "timeout" because I'm using someone else's software that's interacting with hardware that might be less well behaved than they expected.
Replying to
@GBrayUT@hachyderm.io Interesting that my memory of it is so clear, and yet the LLMs don't seem to be able to find it without help.