The quality of graduate math instruction at Caltech is so poor it's institutionally embarrassing...

Wedderbum...

in two-dimensional, self-dual lattices (if you're asking or a tiling of the plane satisfying this there's only one!!!). plus the existence of a threshold is just a consequence of Kolmogorov 0-1 law. it could also be trivial, e.g. on a two-ended graph lol

while searching for Menshikov's paper "Coincidence of critical points in percolation problems", AI Overview provided one of the worst explanations of universality I've ever seen. literally so wrong (p_c is not universal lmao)

Learning about MIP* = RE and the Connes Embedding Problem, I wonder: should I have been an operator algebraist?

Bad syndrome: instead of brain there is a dark orb

when are they gonna find a cure

it's actually lowkey fine in lots of ways, it's not that bad, it's just at this point tangibly worse than the life I used to have. I feel it so distinctly. in 6 months-ish the outlook is better.

almost 6 months into PhD and it still feels like I lost my social environment, my friends, the city I loved most, a lively and active research scene, all to be hazed via 3 year-long mandatory first-year classes that you're supposed to game the system and pass out of (but I didn't game it correctly)

feel so depressed. end of quarter and I just don't feel like I care anymore about anything, math, my life, etc. I feel so estranged from myself, I've spent so much time doing math problems for random classes (and I still don't feel I understood the material well) rather than having thoughts

Narratively having Ever Given getting stuck in 2021 to set up Hormuz in 2026 is great foreshadowing. You want your audience to understand the basics of international shipping in a lower stakes context so you drop the real plot without a lot of saggy exposition about the minutiae of cargo logistics.

slay the spire 1 was an obsession of mine for so long

boy in retrospect, really shouldn’t have elected the worst person in the entire country president. that, it appears, was less than wise

this is not how you state theorems, you don't state the assumptions inline way above and say "f will be x" and then write sentences starting (and ending) with mathematical notation saying things like N_p \geq 2

what the hell is the ultimate Cauchy theorem

for example, he proves this proposition with strong assumptions and a weak conclusion, while a much stronger statement is true (for principal value sums) for arbitrary analytic f with |zf(z)| = O(1). Then he assigns a bunch of sum problems that are unsolvable with the weak version given in the book

typesetting is nightmarish, everything is some long in-line derivation which randomly introduces 3 or 4 important definitions, generally not in their own environment, which is then used 4 or 5 pages later. exercises in chapter 11 end up using some random prop in chap 6

it's an absolute disaster, random stuff shoved in at every opportunity, most prominently long historical tidbits of various mathematicians. theorems and propositions are not clearly stated or mathematically well-posed, definitions are given extremely implicitly or omitted.

barry simon's complex analysis textbook is, across several axes, one of the worst textbooks I've ever read from a pedagogical standpoint.

not beating the allegations (chose to present Minkowski bound for my final presentation in Galois theory, as the lone discrete probabilist in the class)

this is a regular meal for like 30% of the world but go off...

among all the ways this is deranged and alien (sesame noodles is not a weeknight meal? cannot buy cilantro?), why does it is also lowkey Racist for no reason

i have never related less to a person

big fat guy who chills is the best type of animal that can kill you

I like it when people tell me about the television shows they're watching. I haven't watched a television show in years and have seen maybe 7 in my life but I like hearing about them. tell me what the brigertons are doing.

Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com

Really important read

I’m sorry but I still can’t get over the fact that the analyst Jean Leray was captured by Nazis in 1940 and knew it was time to become Goblin Wizardman & this is why the world contains sheaves

Man shot in Minneapolis by federal agents identified as VA nurse: ‘He wanted to help people’ Alex Pretti, 37, worked in the ICU at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and had assisted on scientific research

Alex Pretti took care of veterans as an ICU nurse. “He was a super nice, super helpful guy – looked after his patients," said @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social, who worked with Pretti both at the hospital and on scientific research. "I’m just stunned.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

gave my first conference talk and it went really well!!! so much positive feedback from probabilists I really really admire

nice hit tweet Tim