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ptwiddle.bsky.social
American mathematician in the UK. Mellowing in middle age.
151 posts 155 followers 385 following
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This is a small thread about war, but it starts like this: my high school friends loved Star Trek. Star Trek: TNG specifically, because that's the generation we were. (1/n)

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Solidarity to our members at @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social striking today against cuts

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

A truly amazing essay. AI hype has made me obsessed with the *embodiment* of intelligence in physical and social space. This essay captures the essence of both, even down to its aside on How Not to Be Killed in the Basement of the British Library.

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

The sector is burning. Wonderful colleagues are losing their jobs. Research environments are being decimated. And the Officer for Students is busy slaying chimeras, fighting culture wars, and putting further pressure on institutions abandoned by government. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Padilla: If this is how DHS responds to a senator with a question you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California.

submitted 10 days ago • 840 comments

I have had the grim thought "maybe a bump of foreign students who don't want to go to the US will prop us up for a few years..."

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

National rally in support of higher education, Newcastle.

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Academics during a time of HE cuts: I know we all want to defend our own tribes, but please stop doing this.

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

On some level, it’s simple. Students want what we all want: to feel seen. They want someone they respect to look them in the eye and say, “I see who you are and what you’re capable of and I believe in you.” The problem is, I increasingly feel like I’m fighting my university to get there.

submitted 15 days ago • 4 comments

First learned about ginger congee when reading The Year of Magical Thinking, and didn't really know what it was but it's comforting powers stuck with me, I made it once, and now it's a go-to. Any food you love that you've learned from a boo/song/ someplace you couldn't see/smell it first?

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

If you're the type of mathematics teacher who likes to give exercises requiring exact values of trig functions, but is bored with the old 30°-45°-60° grind, then the Ailles rectangle may be for you! (Seriously, this thing is why I can write down sin(15°), cos(75°) etc without using identities.)

submitted 18 days ago • 8 comments

Tomorrow night (June 6), I’m very pleased to present the second project of my inaugural season as composer-in-residence with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band: The Artistry of Aaron Diehl. www.hr-bigband.de/konzerte/kon...

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

In 1965, Paula Harris would find algorithmic improvements that made LP solving 50% less expensive. She was a senior mathematician in the computing group at British Petroleum Today, 60 years later, her former colleagues still speak in awe of her intelligence

submitted 24 days ago • 3 comments

thread

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

My musical obsession for the last few months has been @gabrielkahane.bsky.social Baltimore was my gateway and still probably my favorite: youtu.be/vxHWClXku0o

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

*Attenborough voice* When startled, the bishop withdraws its body almost completely into its protective shell, where it waits until the threat has gone away.

submitted 29 days ago • 3 comments