If you know anyone who was at the Maurie Plant meet, then and MSAC this morning, and on Dandenong road 20 minutes ago… ask them to check if they have an extra set of keys.

Now it’s time to mark 70ish exams, hopefully by tomorrow.

12) a few weeks ago i was eating some dates and bit into one that still had a seed. The tooth hurt for a while and I saw a dentist. It appeared fine and wasn’t bothering me.

Today I bit into a cookie and found a small stone in it. On closer inspection, that stone was actually 1/4 of the tooth.

11) my original keys are wandering around the city again,

10) Stopped for gas. Locked key in car. had to buy umbrella so that I could reach in to unlock the car through the window.

9) Drove home with spare keys. Spare keys have an issue. the automatic unlocking mechanism is broken so a physical key is needed to unlock. It is separate from the bit used to lock and turn the car on.

8) The tile on the lost keys had shown up in the parking lot for the sports center. keys not turned in at sports center. Wandered parking lot. Not detected.

7) in morning drove back to stadium with wife with spare keys to collect car.

6) two ubers refused to drive us home. Eventually got home well after midnight.

5) yes, tile was now in different part of the city.

4) walked for a while before finally finding a place to buy a charger so that we could charge phones enough to check if the tile on the keys was registering location.

3) Lost keys while at the track meet. Did not discover this until already at car to drive home. Phone ran out of battery. Returned to meet but nothing turned in to lost and found.

2) went to a track meet yesterday with family. Drove myself and older daughter partway to be picked up by my wife with our other daughter on their way back from another event. They picked us up and we drove on.

Left unmarked exams in less than secure parked car. inlaws had to collect car.

Had quite a weekend so far. before I get into it… Anyone know anyone who went to the Maurice Plant meet last night and then to Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre this morning?

My weekend:

1) on Friday I gave students exam with one question that was harder than intended.

Exciting new Research Fellow position in modelling infectious diseases to reduce inequities in health outcomes in Africa! Join a multidisciplinary 4 year project with me at UCL and partners in Zimbabwe, Zambia, The Gambia, South Africa, Kenya and the UK. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Thoughts?

I just got an email about disease forecasting. They seem to be interested in a *very* specific cohort.

Here's the email subject:

"Forecasting infectious disease epidemics in men who have sex with men on Friday, 6 February 2026, 11:00 AM"

This new #InterfaceFocus issue presents a selection of papers on emerging topics within an exciting new interdisciplinary domain combining #InfectiousDisease modelling and public health #ethics: royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rsfs/202... @joelcmiller.bsky.social

PhD position (Dublin, Ireland)
Transmission of bovine tuberculosis: deciphering biological mechanisms with statistical and mechanistic models.
with Miriam Casey, Michael Fop
at UCD-CVERA
More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2325

PhD position (Montpellier and Nairobi, France and Kenya)
Modeling of vector and pathogen under global change and the efficacy of surveillance and control
with @https://bsky.app/profile/antoinebarreaux.bsky.social
at...
More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2324

And if you know someone who might want to do mathematical fluid mechanics (especially "soft matter"-style work), I might know someone in Australia who could supervise such projects.

La Trobe graduate research scholarships Browse our available research projects.

Looking for potential PhD students - DEADLINE SOON: Mar 31 (Australia time - that's Mar 30 for US).

Do you know a strong candidate who might like to spend 3-4 years outside the US on a PhD?

Modeling epidemics &/or network dynamics?

Let me know.

www.latrobe.edu.au/research/gra...

Outgoing head of heralded U.S. global HIV/AIDS program urges Trump to reverse cuts John Nkengasong, who had helmed PEPFAR since 2022, says “history will remember we showed humanity”

The former head of PEPFAR pleads for the preservation of the lifesaving program. @cohenjon.bsky.social speaks with John Nkengasong. www.science.org/content/arti...

Let’s triple check the earth is round while we’re at it…

Including frameworks of public health ethics in computational modelling of infectious disease interventions Decisions on public health interventions to control infectious disease are often informed by computational models. Interpreting the predicted outcomes of a public health decision requires not only hig...

A new important work by @camzachreson.bsky.social @joelcmiller.bsky.social on integrating ethical frameworks in epidemic modelling: arxiv.org/abs/2502.00071

A huge thank you to Nefel Tellioglu, Jessica Stockdale, Julie Spencer, Wasiur Rahman Khuda Bukhsh, @joelcmiller.bsky.social and Cameron Zachreson for including me on this @matrix-inst.bsky.social project we just preprinted results from

t.co/9ioaiNWMQa 🤓

Offer to become a state if you can get immediate representation in the House and the Senate.

You'd be the largest state. Immediate Dem control of the House. Huge number of safe Dem electoral votes. Large constituency that expects free health-care.

No way he could go along with it.

Trump: "Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State... Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada – AND NO TARIFFS!"

Come on Canada, call his bluff... Please?

Features of Adulthood

Anyways - here's the xkcd strip:

xkcd.com/3034/

One night a Marine who was on patrol outside the residence came in flustered because he had just been caught in a pit trap covered by sticks.

Prof Davis's wife noticed that one of their children seemed nervous and quiet. She asked if he knew anything about it. Turned out he had dug it that day.