Prof Margot Vigeant

Combo of:
-I can see how the result is connected to the input now;
- I can do it myself and recognize how the steps follow each other (as opposed to do it myself because I’ve rote-memorized the steps)
- I can explain it

Inventing the Renaissance An irreverent new take on the Renaissance, which reveals it as anything but Europe’s golden age. From the darkness of a plagued and war-torn Middle Ages, the Renaissance (we’re told) heralds the dawni...

Really loving @adapalmer.bsky.social ‘s newest book- come for the Renaissance, stay for the under-the-hood examination of what historians actually *do*, why “when was the Renaissance, exactly?” is complicated, & giraffes as a form of conspicuous consumption

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Eagerly awaiting @scalzi.com at Midtown Scholar!

Beaker on fire next to another fire in space

photoshopping muppets onto the cover of national geographic: thread

Very much agree. Did not expect to cry. Really didn’t expect multiple cries & I’m pretty sure @scalzi.com had @wilwheaton.net crying while reading the audiobook. Both did expect & get multiple actual LOLs. Excellent book! And I’ll never again see a wheel of brie without snickering….

Everything is Terrible So Here’s a Picture of a Tree Everything is terrible so here’s a picture of a tree here’s a picture of a cat I’m sorry for sending you a picture of a cat when everything is terrible No, don’t be, please I want the pictures of cats of trees Maybe it’s me who’s irresponsible, wanting those pictures of trees of cats when everything is so terrible No, it’s not It’s not irresponsible to want to remember the fragility of a leaf and its power too the way it buds and grows and changes color and falls. The way it feeds some and shelters others, all while powering something mighty, with such deep roots It’s not irresponsible to want to look at soft warm fur, and imagine pressing your face into that softness, or to contemplate the miracle of toes spread wide in pleasure, or smile at some small naughtiness captured in pixels You send me these things because you love me. And I send them to you because I love you yes, even if I don’t know you I am sending you this picture of a tree, this picture of a cat, because I love you and I want you to know that you are loved enough for me to want you to remember trees and to remember cats even when it feels wrong to do so. Let us both remember that trees have roots that dig into the earth and branches that reach to the sky even on the worst days. And cats— cats especially— for they are famous for enjoying the soft caress of a friend one moment and turning into a ferocious ball of claws and teeth and bristling fur and indignation the next as must we. So send me your pictures of cats of trees And let us both save our apologies for what we cannot do instead of what we can.

I wrote you a poem this morning.

Can we advocate for a particular T or socks at our stop?

Starting our highlights of Winter 2025 articles is the ChE Classroom article by a team at @ukyengineering.bsky.social
on teaching the basics of Chemical Engineering through everyone's(?) favorite spirit - Bourbon! Find it online at: journals.flvc.org/cee/article/...

Does your dentist tho?

I did it and so should you

I share this poem every year with my thermodynamics students.
I include equations in my analysis but the essential point is the same.

A man jumping, under the words "Make Time For Joy"

Reminder: They're trying to demoralize you, and they're doing a great job of it. Part of resisting is making time for joy despite the attempts to make you feel this is not the time for it. Love your people. Dig the art that speaks to you. Go to the places where life flows into you. You deserve joy.

Apologies forgot the alt text:
Image shows a huge crowd, intent on viewing the Mona Lisa which is out of frame behind and to the left
Of the photographer. The crowd in the museum appears to fade into the crowd surrounding Jesus in the painting on the wall facing

It is good for the ML to get its own room, but absolute respect for this amazing curatorial W

Two observations from this summer at the Louvre:
- the bathroom-to-attendee ratio rounds to zero, especially for the wing near the Mona Lisa
- the curators were exceptionally clever in positioning a larger-than life Wedding at Cana on the facing wall, making us all part of the crowd…..

We now have to concentrate our educational time on the human 5%. The good stuff that we are better at. And just like the year 2000, it will take some trial and error and effort to reorient education. But we’ve been here before. This is entirely doable.

What this leads me to now is we are in the exact same place, except it’s a segment of effort we can offload rather than “information”. Same script though. If an ai tool can do 95% of the design of a chemical plant/ writing of an article/ experimental design….

So (many? Most?) of us switched to make class time more about application & critical thinking than about information transmission.
Some jobs went away, others arose, almost all changed. Because now we could/had to concentrate on stuff above and beyond raw information

Attended a talk on AI in education & work last week. My takeaway:
I sat through an identical talk in 1999 except it was about “the web”.
Which was disruptive as information went from scarce to ubiquitous. The point of coming to class *had* to change, because lecture wasn’t the only way to get info

Step 1: join bluesky
Step 2: follow some folks I know
Step 3: follow some famous folks I used to follow on Twitter
Step 4: first post!
Step 5: (hours pass) log back in, see host of new followers
Step 6: realize that most of the new followers are bots
Step 7: block block block

a frog is in a plastic container with the caption hi chat Alt: a frog is in a plastic container with the caption hi chat

Hello world!