Spent the evening in the ER with Ms18 after she was bitten by a Doberman while on her run today. Luckily she's ok.
1. It's great that Caltech is verifying student application information 2. It's appalling that people are spending time emailing college admissions offices anonymously about other applicants www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
The ‘Fraud Squad’ at Caltech Will Catch You if You Lie on Your Application
Investigators at the college vet every admitted student’s application as schools nationwide battle AI-fueled cheating.
wsj.com
We were discussing Ms18’s packing for college and I said it reminded me of Enid Blyton’s _The Secret Island_. So in a throwback to when she was younger, she asked me to start reading it as a bedtime story tonight. Maybe I’m not the only one partly sad she’s grown up.
Iowa ag secretary candidate proposes $10M school food plan
Iowa ag secretary candidate proposes $10M school food plan
Chris Jones, a Democrat running for Iowa agriculture secretary, unveiled a $10 million proposal to increase locally grown food in schools, aiming to improve health, rural economies, and water quality.
kcci.com
@lkpwrites.bsky.social: @illinoistech.bsky.social cuts 160 faculty and staff just before fall semester www.wbez.org/education/20... "Faculty say leaders’ slow response and lack of transparency have deepened the crisis."
Illinois Institute of Technology cuts 160 faculty and staff just before fall semester
University officials say finances have taken a hit from declines in research funding and foreign student enrollment. Faculty say leaders’ slow response and lack of transparency have deepened the crisi...
wbez.org
@mariamsilva.bsky.social: @vassar.bsky.social agrees to $5 million settlement in gender pay discrimination lawsuit www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley... How could a former women’s college be discriminating against women faculty?!
Vassar agrees to $5 million settlement in gender pay discrimination lawsuit
The settlement will compensate 84 professors and require the college to institute pay transparency measures and annual equity audits.
timesunion.com
@daveschilling.bsky.social @lamaterial.com, The Neglected Crown Jewel of LAX lamaterial.com/p/lax-neglec... "I launched my own mini-investigation into how the symbol of our airport’s Space Age future deteriorated into a sad shell from the past."
Wallach, Mission High leads California in @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social admissions. But many don’t graduate. sfstandard.com/2026/07/30/m... “@ucdavis.bsky.social mathematician Joel Hass says placing students in programs well beyond their preparation is ‘a cruel recipe for ruining their lives.’”
Mission High leads California in UC Berkeley admissions. But many don’t graduate
Test-blind admissions have eased the path into the university, but students struggle to keep up.
sfstandard.com
Joy Harjo, This Morning I Pray for My Enemies And whom do I call my enemy? An enemy must be worthy of engagement. ⋮ poets.org/poem/morning... Hmm. Many do not qualify.
This Morning I Pray for My Enemies
And whom do I call my enemy?
poets.org
What’s Happening to the World of Math Olympiads? www.educationprogress.org/p/whats-happ... The failure mode Chen describes, "advanced education has long moved away from public schools" is equally true about sports--if you haven't been playing on a club team, good luck making your high school's.
educationprogress.org
Seeing how sloppy the refs of this paper by Wu, Grossi, @dogamurat.bsky.social & Zorzetti are, I looked to see if the content is just as bad. Page 2: "problem becomes a convex optimization problem". Well, no. *Maximizing* a convex function over a convex domain is not a convex optimization problem.
Mark M. Wilde@markwilde.bsky.social · last wk.AI hallucination in arxiv.org/abs/2607.24968 I can confirm that this paper does not exist! I've never published in PRE! journals.aps.org/search/resul...
AI hallucination in arxiv.org/abs/2607.24968 I can confirm that this paper does not exist! I've never published in PRE! journals.aps.org/search/resul...
@retractionwatch.com, "@profjasonarday.bsky.social numbered his participants from 1 to 32, but there were actually two 13s: One of them he described as a Black female undergraduate and the other as a Black male undergraduate."
Retraction Watch@retractionwatch.com · last wk.After Arday enlisted Carter-Ruck, one of the United Kingdom’s leading defamation law firms, to send @timeshighered.bsky.social a letter, the publication spiked the story, according to three sources who spoke to Retraction Watch.
@scottwortley.bsky.social exercises the due diligence that @profjasonarday.bsky.social's hagiographers have not ...
Scott Wortley@scottwortley.bsky.social · last wk.At that time there were two pro snooker tours, the challenge tour (UK based) & WPBSA tour. Records of all snooker players and their tournament records in pro, pro am, amateur snooker, and at all levels (including minor events) are maintained by the excellent cuetracker site. This is Arday's record
Others can comment on plagiarism and Prof Arday but I note one oddity about snooker in his bio. In an interview when at Bath blogs.bath.ac.uk/vice-preside... he said he had joined a professional snooker tour. Jason Arday played in the English amateur championship in 2002. He lost 4 0 in the 1st rd
@hannahnatanson.bsky.social, After Trump’s order, West Point curbed faculty speech. One professor said no. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/... A great story about an admirable guy. Makes West Point look pathetic.
After Trump’s order, West Point curbed faculty speech. One professor said no.
Tim Bakken argues that the Pentagon's attempt to stifle what teachers can say and write makes the military more susceptible to bad decisions.
washingtonpost.com
Otterbein & Thompson @axios.com, DEM panel taps South Carolina to hold first 2028 presidential primary www.axios.com/2026/07/24/d... “Kamala Harris could benefit from the decision to put South Carolina at the top of the calendar.” Great, the DNC is shooting itself in the foot again.
Dem panel taps South Carolina to hold first 2028 presidential primary
Black leaders argued the state deserved the first chance to weigh in on 2028 presidential hopefuls.
axios.com
Chambala, @cornelluniversity.bsky.social Prohibits Processing Wild Animals in Communal Kitchens After Bear Skinning Uproar www.cornellsun.com/article/2026... “follows a incident in which students skinned & butchered a legally hunted bear in a shared kitchen in Ganędagǫ: Hall, a residence hall”
University Prohibits Processing Wild Animals in Communal Kitchens After Bear Skinning Uproar
Cornell prohibited the processing of game in shared kitchens after two students skinned and butchered a legally hunted bear in Ganędagǫ: Hall in September.
cornellsun.com
Superheroes are dead now, so Hollywood has no choice but to stage incredibly elaborate adaptations of unfilmable science fiction classics. The masses need The Book of the New Sun!
Chien @lamaterial.com, Why is Everybody Parking on the Larchmont Boulevard Median? lamaterial.com/p/larchmont-... LA story for a Saturday morning:
It is very hard for women in science to remain productive, competitive with male peers and colleagues, etc... It is *especially hard* for Mothers in Science. For that, check out this initiative for researchers in STEMM! www.mothersinscience.com Share it! Make it visible!
Mothers in Science
We are a global nonprofit organization that advocates for mothers in STEMM and creates evidence-based solutions to promote workplace equity and inclusion of caregivers.
mothersinscience.com
Eight to nine million acres of Iowa are used to grow corn for Ethanol. Chris Jones (who needs to be Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture) has some ideas for better uses. riverraccoon.substack.com/p/how-much-c...
NHK World News, "日本气象厅从今年开始使用“酷暑日”一词来表述最高气温达到40度及以上的天气，这是开始使用这一表述后的首个'酷暑日'。" www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/zh/...
岐阜县和爱知县遭遇首个“酷暑日” | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
日本许多地区7月21日也气温节节攀升，在岐阜县郡上市八幡13时56分观测到了摄氏40.0度的高温，该地这一天的天气属于“酷暑日”。日本气象厅从今年开始使用“酷暑日”一词来表述最高气温达到40度及以上的天气，这是开始使用这一表述后的首个“酷暑日”。
www3.nhk.or.jp
@minzlicht.bsky.social, "It is not that activists are dishonest or that justice does not matter. It is that science can only be loyal to one thing: the truth." The whole essay is worth reading.
Michael Inzlicht@minzlicht.bsky.social · 2w agoI p-hacked my early work on prejudice. It never felt like cheating. I now wonder if that's because I believed the cause was good. New essay on why scholar-activism is a dangerous turn for social psychology. If justice comes first, truth is what gets sacrificed. open.substack.com/pub/michaeli...
Discussed the #FieldsMedal announcement w/Ms18 as we drove to work this morning. She was less interested in Hong Wang being the 3rd female winner than in the Kakeya problem itself, and began constructing its geometry as we talked, although she didn't quite get to the deltoid.
@kevinhartnett.bsky.social, "Tsimerman now spends less time on classical math research. Rather than organize math conferences, he is coordinating events that he hopes will prepare mathematicians for the changes ahead. He has also shifted his research focus toward AI safety."
Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · 2w agoThe mathematician Jacob Tsimerman is familiar with the angst that comes with imposter syndrome. “Your first paper seems impossible to write,” he said. Today, he won a Fields Medal. www.quantamagazine.org/jacob-tsimer...
Hong Wang, “I always wish that I could come back to that time when I just feel like I had infinite time to read. ... I think that time was really nice.”
Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · 2w agoLast year, Hong Wang and Joshua Zahl presented a 127-page inductive argument proving the three-dimensional Kakeya set conjecture. For Wang, there was no celebration. Only more questions. Now Wang has won the Fields Medal. www.quantamagazine.org/hong-wang-wi...
Two of this year's #FieldsMedal winners are #IMO gold medalists: Yu Deng (China) & Jacob Tsimerman (Canada). John Pardon (USA) is an #IOI gold medalist Deng was a Putnam Fellow and Tsimerman & Pardon scored in the top 15.
Congratulations to Team USA! Liam Reddy🥇 Alexander Wang🥇 Ruilin Wang🥇 Royce Yao🥇 Feodor Yevtushenko🥈 Oron Wang🥉 2nd place at the #IMO2026, behind China. www.imo2026.com/Results/Team...
Team Results-IMO 2026
imo2026.com