@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

bremner

@bremner@mathstodon.xyz

computer scientist, mathematician, photographer, human. Debian Developer, Notmuch Maintainer, Scuba Diver, #nobot

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christianp, to random
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

That moment when you enter a university campus and all bets about the path-connectedness of two places you can see are off

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianp I had a similar experience in the Newark airport recently: it took me an hour, a train, and a shuttle van to reach a hotel 500m (and visible) my starting point. In this case the underlying issue is the many lanes of traffic to cross and lack of interest in pedestrians.

christianp, to random
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

About to be in charge of 50 8-year-olds, getting them to stick pieces of paper together. Wish me luck!

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianp Honestly I'd take 50 8 year olds over 8 50 year olds.

juliank, to random
@juliank@mastodon.social avatar

Debian unstable, welcome to the APT 3.0 development series.

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@juliank How about an automatic pager, is that still in the works?

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@juliank Well, I'm just bored of apt complaining when I pipe it to less. This is never a problem for you?

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

I sometimes wonder if the biggest drawback to inheritance in programming is thinking about it. Stop thinking. Do. Don't think.

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@dabeaz Inheritance tax now!

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@dabeaz Oh the charming optimism of thinking i need to think about something to oppose it.

christianp, (edited ) to random
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Sitting here waiting for my toast to pop and the toaster's not even turned on

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianp Quantum mechanics experiment?

slothrop, to random
@slothrop@chaos.social avatar

We've had a printer* for the last four years. No problems at all. Zero.

But now, the prints started coming out crumpled. Turns out there was a sheet of paper wrapped around a fuser roller, deep inside the printer.

Guided by the first 2 mins of this video, I took apart the printer, fixed and cleaned the roller, and put it back together. No tools needed, it's all just clicky plastic elements.

Works like new! 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTUBwL66Avg

  • an MFC L2710DW, if you must know.
bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@slothrop Videos seem to actually be a good way to show how to repair physical devices.

christianp, to typst
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

This morning I'm looking at .
The first thing in the tutorial (https://typst.app/docs/tutorial/writing-in-typst/) is how to write a header, and it annoys me that it makes the same mistake HTML, and everything following HTML, made: you specify the level of the heading absolutely, and it's not scoped to a section of the document.

So when you want to have a heading one level lower, you have to know what level the previous heading was. And you can't tell how much of the document the heading applies to, only inferring it as going until the next header of the same or higher level.

I've always wondered why has
\section{name}
instead of
\begin{section}{name} ... \end{section}

Am I alone in wanting this?

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianp To be fair, this is a real problem with math.

liztai, to random
@liztai@hachyderm.io avatar

Attempt #2 Let's hope I remember to go this time 😆

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@liztai I hope it is more relaxing than the name suggests!

bremner, to random
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Me: as soon as I get off the call, I will do X

Bad me: does Y instead.

juliank, to random
@juliank@mastodon.social avatar

Should not have eaten 3 mochi

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@juliank On the plus side, I'm guessing you didn't choke.

christianp, to random
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

The ability of Teams to tell transparent lies, such as "this team has 3 members; here are the names of 20 people in the team", is quite admirable actually

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianp I think it needs to be in Parliament before it can be PM, sorry.

christianp, to random
@christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

There's a new release of - https://jsxgraph.org/wp/2024-01-26-release-of-version-1.7.0/.
Among other things, it adds an 'implicit curve' object.

I thought I'd try it out in @numbas, then realised that the way Numbas evaluates expressions is far too slow for this kind of numerical approximation - it does a lot of dynamic type-checking that takes a long time.

So I nerdsniped myself into writing a routine to take a Numbas JME expression and make a function which is as close to native JS as I can get. It works on all of the operations that you'd expect a student to use, since those have plain-JS implementations. There's just the control flow stuff and things to do with collections that need the whole JME system.

And now that I've done that, I have a nice, real-time interactive function plotter!
I've made a demo question at https://numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk/question/152679/give-a-function-defining-an-implicit-curve/preview/

It's really simple to implement in Numbas: you set up a JSXGraph diagram, and fill in the function parameter of the implicit curve object with the expression the student typed. Just a few lines of code. Nice!

A Numbas question with a diagram containing a set of Cartesian axes and two sliders, above an input where I type mathematical expressions. I type the implicit formula for a circle, and the diagram shows a circle. I type a more complicated expression and it shows a more complicated curve. When I move the sliders corresponding to parameters in the expression, the curve changes.

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@christianp @numbas Congrats, you can now add "compiler writer" to your CV :turing:

Teri_Kanefield, (edited ) to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

I have my weekend blog post ready. I always put it here first. The first few people will get that error. Just wait a minute and try again.

I plan to demonstrate that any democratic government—by its very nature and under its own terms—will have a dangerous anti-democratic opposition because eliminating the opposition cannot be done using democratic means.

The opposition can be blunted and, with constant work. . .

1/

https://terikanefield.com/the-anti-democratic-opposition/

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@Teri_Kanefield At the end you write "I think it’s safe to say that his speech did not violate the First Amendment." I'm unclear on how the speech of a private citizen could violate the First Amendment. Is this another way of saying his speech did not violate the relevant statutes, and is protected by the first amendment? Very much not an expert here...

loke, to random
@loke@functional.cafe avatar

So gruber decided to comment on the EU compliance from apple. Say what you will about him, but he's certainly predictable. He's almost a furious as apple appears to be (which isn't surprising really)

bremner,
@bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@loke What's the emotional equivalent of owning a lot of stock in a company?

johncarlosbaez, to random
@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz avatar

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    bremner, (edited )
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    @johncarlosbaez Sorry if this is obvious, but aren't the page numbers in the second quote about other papers, not the submitted document? I read it just as bibliographic rules.

    Disclaimer: I have never applied for an NSF grant, so I might just be being annoying here.

    bremner,
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    @johncarlosbaez Unlike the NSF, loosing my wits from dealing with grant proposals is something I know well. :chalkdust_scorpion:

    christianp, to random
    @christianp@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    I'm staring at a list of 21 people and a list of 22 people that should be the same and I can not see who the extra person is

    bremner,
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    @christianp Excel is the new DNS. It's always Excel 😉

    bremner, to random
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    Shout out (at?) whoever is running the wood chipper on my block, obsoleting my alarm and helping me deal with 4h of jet lag.

    It's actually surprisingly late in the season for these kind of hijinks, I wonder if there was an unexpected tree fall in the neighbourhood.

    bremner,
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    @CyrilBrulebois You mean like a Fargo re-enactment?

    Toastie, to random
    @Toastie@journa.host avatar

    Jason Asenap (Comanche & Muscogee) reviews Netflix's 'Frybread Face and Me,' which he calls "a thoroughly original Indigenous coming-of-age film that speaks to queerness but is centered on the complexity of growing up ."

    "How often does an Indigenous director get to use actors portraying characters from the tribes they actually belong to?," he writes. "The cast has a natural chemistry; their dialogue and reactions feel authentic."

    https://www.hcn.org/articles/arts-culture-frybread-face-and-me-shows-the-complexity-of-indigeneity

    bremner,
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    @Toastie thanks for pointing out the movie, really enjoyed it.

    slothrop, to debian
    @slothrop@chaos.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    bremner,
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    @slothrop Don't make me tap the sign

    https://mathstodon.xyz/@bremner/109626231877739161

    liztai, to thailand
    @liztai@hachyderm.io avatar

    City I dislike:
    City I think is overrated:
    City I like:
    City I love:
    City I most feel myself in:
    City I still need to visit:
    I dream of living in:

    How about you?

    bremner,
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    @liztai Thinking of going to this summer for a work-related conference. It's my first time in Korea, not sure if I can make time to visit as well (other than the airport). It is tempting, but also a bit overwhelming.

    bremner,
    @bremner@mathstodon.xyz avatar

    @liztai Yes, I can take a couple days in Seoul.

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