Babak Seradjeh

A better starting point is an equinox, such it is for the Persian new year.

How about talking to kids about their likes and managing their attention, instead of banning such a liberating source of useful information?

When I came to the free world in my 20s I found myself in an ocean of free info and nearly drowned. Developing info navigation skills early is vital.

Did he also traffic drugs? That'll increase his odds.

Multiplied by some factor > 2 over 3.5 years it does I guess?

I love flowers, especially fields of them. This is Olga Wisinger-Florian's Blooming Poppies, ca. 1895-1900, Oil on Cardboard, 70 x 98 cm, Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria

Canvas H/T: @APainting_ADay on Twitter, Belvedere from my visit in 2017.

ChatGPT - Understanding Confirmed Shared via ChatGPT

A conversation about understanding, intentions, and natural-language simulations:

chatgpt.com/share/6883d0...

🧪💡

Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸

During their trip to Ukraine, Ferenc Krausz and Serge Haroche visited universities, research institutions and destroyed buildings - and met people who, despite the war, are shaping everyday life and believe in the future.

In early March, the Nobel Laureates Ferenc Krausz and Serge Haroche returned from their visit to #Ukraine with strong and lasting impressions. With their documentary, the two researchers draw attention to the dramatic circumstances 📹 peace4europa.org

This is happening across the state, at several universities. But it does seem from the list that IU takes a larger share of the eliminated and reconstructed degrees.

What academic standards are you referring to?

The changes are due to a new state law that requires a threshold in awarded degrees for a program to continue. As far as I know (I may be wrong) no departments are cut, but some degrees within departments are cut, merged, or otherwise reconstructed.

Happy Canada day! 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦

You are hostile to your own country of citizenship? As a citizen you are entitled to your attitude, as long as you don't cause anyone else any harm.

But non-citizens have no such entitlement.

Do you disagree with that? Do you want to have more people hostile to the US let in to the US?

Ok, so you're saying the State Dept will reject visas for students who have expressed negative views about Trump or Republicans, even though they're not really hostile to the US.

So, are you ok with rejecting visas of those truly hostile to the US?

How would *you* make that distinction?

Interesting. I have asked a question twice and have gotten no answer. It's a simple yes or no question. Maybe I'm not the one with a comprehension problem.

Again, you're slashing down a straw man; this has nothing to do with what I expressed. I invite you to engage in a real convo.

Did I get your statement correctly in my reflection? bsky.app/profile/bser...

Slashing down the strawman must feel so good.

Can you state what I said, just to be sure we understand each other?

I'll do the same: you say 99% of students applying to the US dislike the US so much that looking at their social media content will disqualify them as "hostile to the US." Right?

I don't buy this. There may be mixed feelings about various things, as is normal, but why are they applying to come to a place they don't like or hate?

This isn't to say this thought policing is good. Rather: no one is entitled to be allowed in, and less so if they hate the US.

Doesn't matter how many times you post and re-post this piece. It's still no, it won't.

bsky.app/profile/bser...

The article says Amazon tried but was dissuaded because it drew the scrutiny of antitrust regulators. Sigh.

Me, a year ago: "Perturbation theory is always the same, second quantization is just filling in the gaps."

6000 lines of code and docs later: Pymablock v2.2.0 released🎉 pymablock.readthedocs.io/en/v2.2.0/

We have bosons, spins, fermions, and Floquet, and I'm quite happy about it.

No, it won't.

bsky.app/profile/bser...

🧪⚛️ Most researchers don't choose a country but a receptive environment for work, and nimbly move across continents to do so.

The proposed cuts in federal funding would create a hostile environment that could repel the next generation of scientists from the US. This'd be a major loss for the nation.

Indeed. If the cuts become law, the single PI grants may become a thing of the past.

The estimate is not quite right as we're not talking about 7 totally different proposals. One can shop around with similar or overlapping ideas until one finds a home. But, yes, at that rate there is little point in trying unless one has good reason for better than average chance.

The cuts are deep and wide. This will bleed the entire NSF program for years to come.

With budgets in many directorates slashed down to 30% of current levels, there will likely be zero new awards granted in 2026 in order to service current obligations.

The President's 2026 NSF budget request: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

Overall cut: 55%

MPS directorate cut: $1B+

Expected # awards: 2300, down from 9600

Expected acceptance rate: 7%, down from 26%

Expected # of supported PhD students: 12400, down from 41500

🧪⚛️

The experience of connecting with people by speaking a language directly is nothing like via (machine) translation. Not only it's faster, it's more authentic, deeper and much more fun.

Oof. Another instance of mistaking quantum theory as a theory of consciousness or a theory of mind. People, if they could exist, would have free will even in a completely classic, deterministic world.

The transition line so vertical it feels like it's close to a transition itself.

Please read this thread, it is a factual and honest account of how research misconduct happens, from the point of view of a then-PhD student. Takes almost 10 years to mount the courage to come forward with it publicly!