David Bindel

Things are all pear-shapes, and yet, I got some bunny paper clips along with my order of whiteboard marker refills, and that sparks joy.

Quote from Mary Ellen Rudin : "There are lots of problems in mathematics that are interesting but have not been solved, and every time you solve one you think up a new one. Mathematics, therefore, is something that expands rather than contracts."

"There are lots of problems in mathematics that are interesting but have not been solved, and every time you solve one you think up a new one. Mathematics, therefore, is something that expands rather than contracts." – Mary Ellen Rudin (1924– 2013)
#quote #mathematics #problems #maths #math

Also got to have lunch with a former student of mine yesterday. Time flies.

On the AC Transit to Berkeley for day 3 of Developments in Modern Methods for Linear Algebra... aka DMML, aka happy 70th to my PhD advisor, Jim Demmel.

Realized that I am now the same age he was about halfway through my PhD years...

gender norms admit the existence of gender metrics which can be abstracted to gender topologies which, here, we categorify into gender locales, also known as pointless genders

- Asvine just released a new pen! The V800 is very pretty. I don't need more fountain pens, but can still admire.
- I get to check out a CT scanner setup tomorrow! Research reasons, nothing medical.
- The CAM students remain an excellent community. They did tie-dye shirts today.

- I am learning about the mechanics of hair! Which is also awesome.
- Apparently, thinking these things are awesome is a thing the administration now thinks can be cured with Vitamin B. My vitamin B levels are fine, and I am happy they are wrong (even if I wish they were less in my face about it).

- I am also writing a recommendation for a postdoc, who is awesome and should land that faculty job he wants. And if the market sucks, well, I am still happy he's awesome and working some of the time with me.

- I am astounded that I don't yet have a better alternative than TikZ and dvisvgm for programmatically producing the titles of math diagrams I want for notes and slides, and it's fun to Google variations of "really?" in the hopes of finding a different answer.

- My background music is K2 singing in the shower.
- I spent time redoing lecture notes today, and am enjoying the process.
- Next weekend is the DMML meeting, aka JimFest -- in honor of my advisor (a) retiring and (b) turning 70. Looking forward to a couple days in the Berkeley.

In a day of wtf nat'l news moments (again!), I also know:
- Today was AppleFest in Ithaca! And yesterday, and tomorrow.
- K1 is out enjoying a concert, and has been noodling around on his guitar all week.
- K2 just got back from playing basketball and is heading to a sleepover soon.

Your daily opossum break:

I have taken
the Tylenol
that was in
the medicine cabinet

and which
they think probably
is the reason
you like trains

forgive me
but that’s bullshit
you got autism
from your dad

I approve of books and bunny (?) both!

This generalizes beyond n=2, but that's just a little longer than one skeet!

Consider m=2. If switching arguments switches sign, then f(u,u)=-f(u,u), so f(u,u)=0. Conversely, suppose f(u,u)=0 for all u. Then f(u,v)+f(v,u)=f(u,v)-2f(u,u)+f(v,u)=f(u-u,v)+f(v,u-u)=0. So zero if two entries the same is equivalent to changing signs of two arguments are swapped.

A function of n vectors, linear in each argument, such that swapping any pair of arguments changes the sign.

Up to a scale factor. On an n-dimensional space, there is only a one-dimensional family of alternating n-forms. The determinant is the basis vector for that space that yields 1 when applied to the standard basis for Rn.

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It should be needless to say, but it is perhaps at this moment worth saying, that transgender individuals have the same right as anyone else to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Trump admin escalates space race with China, banning visa-holding scientists from working at NASA | CNN NASA has banned Chinese citizens with US visas from participating in agency programs — a dramatic escalation in the space race between China and the United States.

This fucking sucks. Our Chinese colleagues are valued colleagues. I am so tired of the bipartisan yellow threat shit. www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/s...

The great Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh's poetic antidote to anger www.themarginalian.org/2022/02/01/f...

Also: "the super banana orbits" should be a band name for someone, somewhere.

There does exist techno-babble-sounding jargon in the world. But then there's technical jargon as captured from a research conversation today: "I'm tracing long enough to capture many bananas." Plain, short, descriptive... and yet, it takes some experience to have any clue what's being said.

(long, reluctant sigh)

sub-terfuge

Picture of an office full of boxes.

The movers will come tomorrow to take my stuff to my office in the new building. I will still spend some time in this office (I am CAM director through end of June 2028). But the books are moving.

Discworld QOTD, from Night Watch

“Once you get troops on the streets, it’s only a matter of time before it goes bad. Some kid throws a stone, next minute there’s houses on fire and people getting killed.”

Week 29 Within, amongst, against

Each Friday, I summarize what happened this week in science 🧪& higher ed. This was Week 29:

- new executive order makes a mockery of peer review
- UCLA facing demand for $1 Billion, patents are latest attack on Harvard
- mRNA, climate assessments & so much more at buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

A painting of a bird next to the words "at least let me get some coffee before you start in with your horseshit"

Me in 2023: Just chill. All the AI doom scenarios involve giving models direct access to and control over real world systems, and no one would be that dumb

In 2025: oh fuck