Matt Farr

Laws of Nature and Chances: What Breathes Fire into the Equations This book’s subtitle is based on a question the physicist Stephen Hawking once asked: “What breathes fire into the equations…?”...

Craig Callender, the unreformable Humean, reviews Loewer’s book with lots of cooking and home improvement metaphors. Both delightful and informative #philsci #philsky

All action at Great St Mary’s today. #TodayInCambridge

Fun day talking (and listening) about time at the @iop.org ⏳

Off to talk about Time at this exciting event at the Institute of Physics tomorrow. @iop.org
iop.eventsair.com/rems-feb2026/

Course: The Principle of Indifference
Background knowledge: None required

Today’s running route turned out to be easier for the swans. 🤿

Today’s fun…

Getting to the stage of marathon training where my watch casually suggests a gentle 24-hour run before work.

Some colour on St Mary’s Street.

More happy with the positioning within the age category than the age category itself, but you can’t have everything. 🏃⌛️ #parkrun #relentlessunfathomablecruelunforgivingpassageoftime

Matt's marathon in memory of Mum (for Macmillan) Help Matt Farr raise money to support Macmillan Caring Locally

In 100 days I'll be running my first marathon - the London Marathon - in memory of my mum, who we lost a few months ago to cancer. I'm fundraising for Macmillan Caring Locally, the charity that supported her hospice care and those with similar terminal illnesses. www.justgiving.com/page/matt-fa...

It is the same charity that also supported my dad's hospice care when he also died from cancer in 2014. I'm hoping to give something back. Any donation is hugely appreciated.

Matt's marathon in memory of Mum (for Macmillan) Help Matt Farr raise money to support Macmillan Caring Locally

In 100 days I'll be running my first marathon - the London Marathon - in memory of my mum, who we lost a few months ago to cancer. I'm fundraising for Macmillan Caring Locally, the charity that supported her hospice care and those with similar terminal illnesses. www.justgiving.com/page/matt-fa...

Cyclist passing by Peterhouse, Cambridge, towards the rising sun against the blue sky on a visibly frosty morning.

Chilly morning in Cambridge.

🤘

‘Her time has come’: did Mondrian owe his success to a cross-dressing lesbian artist who lived in a Cornish cove? Piet Mondrian found fame, fortune and glory with his grid-like paintings lit with basic colours. But did many of his ideas come from Marlow Moss? Our writer celebrates an extraordinary British talent who died in obscurity

‘Her time has come’: did Mondrian owe his success to a cross-dressing lesbian artist who lived in a Cornish cove?

Fewer

A resolution I actually managed to keep.

Year 4: More improvement!

• distance up from 1384km (2024) to 1673km (2025)
• New PBs at each distance
- 5k: 21:28 ➡️ 20:44
- 10k: 45:12 ➡️ 43:20
- HM: 1:45:49 ➡️ 1:42:29

2026 aims: first marathon, keep getting a bit faster.

Was recently astonished to discover that a movie I watched didn’t feature Joaquin Phoenix, only to discover the existence of Michael Stuhlbarg.

I used to wonder that, then realised the conspiracy is that a lot of actors have doppelgängers who are also actors.

Birthday boy 🎁

Trinity St, leading to St John’s College, lit by sunlight at back centre.

Christmas tree in Great Hall, Trinity College.

Birthday boy, Isaac Newton, in Trinity College Chapel.

Great Court, Trinity College.

Christmassy in Cambridge.

The scaffolding is finally down, just in time for Christmas at Wolfson College.

The cover of Dr Jessie Munton's book. Dark background, and spots of colour.

🎉Warmest congratulations to Dr Jessie Munton on the publication of her book, Priority and Prejudice: The Epistemology of Salience and Attention (OUP) 📘
@jessiemunton.bsky.social
@oupphilosophy.bsky.social
@stjohnscollege.bsky.social
@leverhulmetrust.bsky.social

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Thanks to the huge work of @milenaivanova.bsky.social history and philosophy of science will now be taught at the Professional and Contunuing Education at Cambridge. Bravo, Milena! Please share so she recuits a strong first cohort to start in autumn 2026. #philsci #histsci #hps

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

Although both songs are from 1982 so who knows who got the riff first.

No, exactly. Mad World (at least the Gary Jules version) also lifts the main riff from Walking in the Air, which adds to its festive credentials.

As Trump prepares to accept the FIFA Peace Prize (?!) and make the World Cup draw (?!?!), a reminder that he previously did the quarterfinal draw for the 1992 Rumbelows Cup.

“Children waiting for the day they feel good” is more Christmassy than anything in Jingle Bells.