Andrew Jaffe

Cornhole is “American pétanque”.

Ulysses for longer things. Obsidian and apple notes for notes. MarsEdit for blogging from my Mac. Trying out @scripting.com’s Wordland. Plain text editors for LaTeX technical writing.

We left our home in London exactly a year ago for my sabbatical abroad. After stops in Japan & New York, tomorrow we depart from our last long-term stop — a temporary but already much-loved home — in Leiden, the Netherlands, with still a few weeks to go before our final return.

Congratulations to Imperial’s Professor Michele Dougherty, the UK’s new Astronomer Royal!

15% still seems like a lot.

YouTube video by Yale Press The Random Universe by Andrew H. Jaffe

youtube.com/shorts/z1QJ4...

@ppfideas.bsky.social

Past Present Future podcast Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.

. @ppfideas.bsky.social Thanks to the Past Present Future podcast episodes on the American Revolution, trial of Charles I & English Revolution, I finally understand the American Revolution against the tyranny of the King despite the British constitution’s weak monarch and strong Parliament.

Freewheeling family fun in the Netherlands: a cycling and camping trip along the Maas river The Maasroute is the ideal entry-level, multiday bike trip for young children – flat with plenty of riverside cafes, family-friendly campsites and ice-cream stops en route

The latest from Lisa Lucas at the Guardian! Freewheeling family fun in the Netherlands: a cycling and camping trip along the Maas river. With special guests!

U.S. abandons hunt for signal of cosmic inflation | Science | AAAS

Now-canceled CMB-S4 project would have searched the afterglow of the Big Bang for signs of cosmic exponential growth spurt.

This is mildly clever, very slimy, and a little bit funny (since it only works against other slimy — or at least lazy — people).

@tedbunn.bsky.social Happy Birthday, Ted!

Thanks, Dave. It wasn't clear to me where to post feature requests; apologies for misusing/misunderstanding the infrastructure that you've set up.

@scripting.com Just trying to figure out how best to ask about my wordland.social questions/feature requests... (1. getting my posts into wordland when created/edited elsewhere; 2. direct markdown editing.) Are these hopeless?

WORDLAND The best writer's toolkit for WordPress.

It seems that olive oil, cheap balsamic vinegar, greek yogurt, miso paste and garlic make a good chicken marinade. (Also, this is a Wordland test.)

www.youtube.com/watch

Always impressed that Stockholm Arlanda airport has eduroam WiFi.

Very impressed that Apple’s autocorrect knows that it’s apostrophes and not quotes in “rock ’n’ roll”.

Flat tire in the Biesbosch (Holland, near Dordrecht).

Yes! (But you can pre-order today…)

The Random Universe An award-winning astrophysicist looks at how the understanding of uncertainty and randomness has led to breakthroughs in our knowledge of the cosmos   All o...

From “aether” to “Zwicky, Fritz”, The Random Universe now has an index. yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

My morning bicycle commute (Leiden, NL)

I love the Netherlands, and I especially love cycling in the Netherlands. I don’t love the various motorized vehicles that are allowed to share the cycle lanes in the Netherlands.

Well, now I have a story about the time I went to see The Mekons but accidentally saw a very loud hardcore band with two drummers instead. This was not my desired outcome. (The Mekons were upstairs. I am kind of bereft.)

Horror, by Mekons 12 track album

Going to Amsterdam, in the fourth country over 35 years in which I’ve seen The @mekons.bsky.social, a band whose music and shows and philosophy of life, art, and politics have meant more to me than almost any other.

Eight teamLab Sensory Playgrounds to Visit on Your Next Vacation The group’s psychedelic sensory playgrounds of light, sound, stars, bubbles, birds and more are expanding around the globe, dazzling millions of visitors a year.

The latest from the amazing Lisa Lucas at the NYT!

@yalepress.bsky.social

@yalebooks.bsky.social

Proof!

Coming later this year, but you can pre-order from your favourite small bookseller today.

Apparently, my fingerprints are almost worn down (according to biometric scans of the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).