I think one of the most obnoxious things in the world is a recorded message saying "You can solve problem X by going to our website." No I bloody can't. If I could solve problem X on your website, I wouldn't be in your stupid phone tree.

My reading for July, according to @thestorygraph : slow but steady again! Two books finished, one started, and three in progress. #Bookstodon #Reading

I'm doing some research for a song and came across this fabulous quote: "That the true way of Art is not by Instruments, but by Demonstration: and that it is a preposterous course of Artists, to make their Schollers only doers of tricks, as it were Juglers" -- William Oughtred, inventor of the […]

The History and Mathematics in Education Network (HaMiEN) exists to connect people with some sort of experience or interest in: - History OR¹ - Mathematics AND - Exploring mixing the two to enrich classroom experiences in both. https://historyand.mathsy.space ¹ this is an inclusive 'OR'!

The HaMiEN Network | History & Mathematics in Education

A professional cross-curricular network for secondary teachers, researchers, and history of maths specialists. Share lesson ideas, academic papers, and teaching resources.

historyand.mathsy.space

I've added mine and @robeastaway 's upcoming appearance at British Congress of Mathematics Education's #BCME10 conference in October to the #HaMiEN's events page: https://historyand.mathsy.space/events Should be fun! #History #Maths #MathsToday

The History and Mathematics in Education Network's (#HaMiEN) website has had a pretty substantial update. I'm not much of a web designer, but I think it's a bit easier to find what you want, and there are some more useful features including a filterable resource list! Give it a click, and let […]

I had tickets to see the Gibb brothers film a children's TV show at an iconic New York Pink venue but had a panic attack and couldn't go. An unfortunate case of the CBeebies CBGBs Bee Gees heebie-jeebies.

[Q: What is never odd or even?] A: a palindrome

I went to see the latest instalment of Matt Damon Gets Stuck Somewhere this evening, and I have to say I really rather enjoyed it. #film #MattDamon

Want to see me hugging an artistic elephant? Keep an eye on this post and its replies and you might just get to see me do exactly that not once but TWELVE TIMES!

For both people who enjoy my aperiodic #ViewFromAHotelWindow series, here's part some of many! Plus a bonus image: it was one of _those_ situations (I was in room 16).

A load of elephants have appeared in Milton Keynes, and this one appears to be paying tribute to my book*! *Yes, I know it's not really about my book... Search for "Elmer's Art Parade Milton Keynes.

🧪 The placebo-controlled trial wasn't invented by doctors. It was invented by medieval witch hunters. In 1423, Jean Gerson proposed testing religious claims with consecrated vs unconsecrated objects that looked identical - the same logic behind modern placebo controls. His method ended up in […]

Our classic #DrWho journey sees us almost at the end of 3rd Doctor story Inferno: an absolutely batshit but thoroughly enjoyable fever-dream of entirely unexplained monsters & a completely left-field trip into a parallel universe complete with dark versions of the main cast. Terrific stuff!

At long last it's release date for Christopher Nolan's Odyssey! What a journey it's been, waiting for that!

It's not AI-powered content theft. It's sloplifting.

Keynote: MA Conference, University of Northampton Keynote: MA Conference, University of Northampton I was invited to give a keynote speech at the University of Northampton's MA Conference, as an alumnus of the their MA Education programme […]

The new £1 National Lottery prize somehow seems more of a kick in the teeth than simply not winning.

I'm on a London Northwestern Train and, as per, it is delayed. It's at the departure station, but we're waiting for staff. The projected delay is 150% of the projected journey time.

[ukpol] I suppose Mr Farage is being treated a bit like an alleged war criminal in that he's being given an opportunity to have a neutral panel assess the evidence, including any defence he cares to offer. He's behaving like a bit like a war criminal in refusing to accept the authority of that […]

I don't use LLMs that much, but occasionally ask a question just to see what happens. A few minutes ago I asked Google's search AI something about T-shirt printing and it decided, for reasons that escape me, to provide the entire response in Simplified Chinese.

So you know those T-shirts with periodic tables on them, and the caption "I wear this T-shirt periodically"? Well I had an idea for a T-shirt that's *48% more nerdy* than that! […]

What's that? Reform's grifter-in-chief is capitalising on someone's death again? You do surprise me.

When you're in a by-election race When you've got a dustbin for a face And you're making a compelling case For state control of Adele When you've travelled 'cross the galaxy To have a chance to be a new MP You need to talk about your policy Of state control of Adele Forget the water-bosses in […]

Punter at open mic meekly asks a performer for a request. "Sure, I can have a go." "I don't know what it's called. It's got a donkey in it." There is a lengthy discussion that involves much of the audience, the bar staff, punter, host and performer. We eventually settle on A Horse With No Name […]

In the group chat: "The UK's effective constitution is a game of Mornington Crescent[^0] that got out of hand." [^0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)

Mornington Crescent (game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

TIL: a precursor to Mornington Crescent, Finchley Central, was written up by mathematicians Beck and Fowler in a magazine edited by Ian Stewart. Love it 🙂

I saw The Last Viking at the cinema last night. As a foreign language (Dutch) film it's likely to be overlooked by many in the English speaking market so it's worth saying it was very good! Funny, dark occasionally violent, but also heartwarming. Well worth a watch!

RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@peterrowlett/116877941317349675 I'm reminded that I feature in one episode of Mathematical Objects (though not a Top 5 episode by any metric I can come up with)!

To quote @MooseAllain: I'm sorry to hear about Nigel Farage. Nothing's happened to him, I'm just sorry to hear about him.