Notices by Colin the Mathmo (colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz)

I can totally believe this:

Dr. Damien P. William...

Remember how i told y'all that text written by neurodivergent peeps would likely have a higher false positive rate on "Al" checkers because masking means they are likely to engage in careful and specific word choice and that that would show up in text as "unnatural?" This is more of that.

Quoting Mike Masnick:

Kid has an English assignment, where school has kids first submit essay to an "Al checker." Kid did not use Al. Al checker says the use of the word "devoid" magically turned essay into 18% Al written. Changing "devoid" makes it drop to 0%. We're spending time "un-Al-ing" an essay that has no Al.

Seen on FFB, copied here with permission. Link and attribution at the end.

FOMO is killing our students' future, one shortcut at a time.

But what if the shortcuts they chase are the biggest lie?

Last night, I stumbled upon a reel about how to ace the 10th and 12th exams.

The video explained how students should attempt questions and how to get perfect marks—fair enough.

But then my feed transformed into a rabbit hole of board exams and quick fixes for prep.

I scrolled past mindless short tricks, claims of guaranteed success, and people begging for followers, promising free videos and notes once they hit 50,000 followers.

Some X-Sirs or Y-Mams were selling below-the-basics products masked as revolutionary tips.

The pinnacle of advice came from a renowned person: Solve the SOLVED QUESTIONS of the top 3 books and read NCERT like a Bible.

Solved Questions. Not Unsolved. Really?

Have you ever noticed the likes on such meaningless videos? None less than 100K.

The comment sections were filled with—fear, doubt, and misery.

1/n

(cont'd)

Where was the joy of learning?

How did learning get shrunk down to meaningless pressure for marks?

What do these marks even signify? Learning?

What has this system truly done to us?

The pressure to conform to these quick hacks—these promises of effortless marks—is killing any real hunger for knowledge.

They're chasing virality and volume, not value.

What we're seeing is a system focused on marks, not mastery.

Concepts are lost.

Critical thinking? Forgotten.

Instead of building a foundation that lasts a lifetime, students are obsessed with patching up with shortcuts.

It's like trying to build a house on sand.

2/n

(cont'd)

And let's not forget the parents.

They, too, are sucked into this game, running after crash courses and rapid results, because FOMO isn't just the students' problem—it's a societal one.

This FOMO-fueled learning mindset has steep consequences.

We're raising a generation of students who equate learning with rote memorization and instant gratification.

They are never given the time or space to struggle with a problem or to think deeply.

In a world that demands innovation, creativity, and resilience, we rob them of the tools they need to succeed long-term.

If this trend continues, what kind of adults will they become?

Quick-fix seekers?

Problem avoiders?

And for what?

A school mark sheet?

3/n

(cont'd)

I saw a comment from a student -- "I can't do this without shortcuts. I'm too dumb for this."

My heart sank. There it was.

That moment when a child's belief in themselves gets crushed under the weight of a system that teaches them to believe they aren't enough.

That moment solidified something for me: The problem isn't just the shortcuts—it's the system encouraging them.

Joy, curiosity, and actual learning are tossed aside in the pursuit of instant success.

We need a paradigm shift.

Learning must be about building mindsets, perseverance, and conceptual understanding.

If we don't shift this now, we'll lose the future to mediocrity masked as brilliance.

-- Rakhi Chawla

https://www.facebook.com/therakhichawla/posts/pfbid027pEUDfVQWivxEXp4CajN8bZ3RbwkzWLJKuAFnd37SYLZVyGC7FHg97V4pkntfEvGl

4/n, n=4

Couple of mis-steps ...

#CellTower 878

⬜➡️➡️⬇️⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜➡️➡️➡️⬇️⬜⬜
➡️⬆️⬜➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️⬆️⬜⬜➡️➡️➡️

https://www.andrewt.net/puzzles/cell-tower/?p=878

Current streak: 224
Best streak: 224

The world is a better place because @Minimus and family are in it.

Just wanted to say that.

@futzle I always find it confusing/disconcerting when the results are not adding up to 100%

Next video from #G4G15 :

Timothy Snyder:
Correspondence between Projective Geometries and Regular Polytopes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz_qUfEb8RU

From the playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5_D5QQxvWKUPpMY3eNV-PrIzh1uHlR8x

All part of the #G4G series of videos:

https://www.youtube.com/@G4GCelebration/playlists

Boosts welcome (if content to do so)

#RecreationalMaths #RecMaths
#RecreationalMath #RecMath
#MTBoS #MathEd #MathEdChat

'Bother,' said the Borg, as they assimilated Pooh

Here's a headline:

"Gatwick train cancelled after squirrels board and 'refuse to leave'"

https://news.sky.com/story/gatwick-train-cancelled-after-squirrels-board-and-refuse-to-leave-13217117

Streak of 200 !! Woo Hoo !!!

#CellTower 854

➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️

https://www.andrewt.net/puzzles/cell-tower/?p=854

Current streak: 200
Best streak: 200

Can you spot the error ...

Not sure I'll persist with this ... it takes too long, and somehow doesn't seem as much fun.

But for today:

Normal: 13 guesses, 3:18
Hard: 14 guesses, 3:09

#GuessMyWord

https://hryanjones.com/guess-my-word/

@annika Hmm. 18 guesses in 5 minutes.

I'll keep this in reserve ... it somehow feels more "serious" than #GrandmasWord

Oh no! #GrandmasWord is off-line!

I'll check again later ... I've been enjoying that.

Apple-the-Company pulling the same "We've got a monopoly in this space and can screw you" crap:

"Apple will be applying their 30% App Store fee to all new memberships purchased in the Patreon iOS app, in addition to anything bought in your Patreon shop."

"Apple has also made clear that if creators on Patreon continue to use unsupported billing models or disable transactions in the iOS app, we will be at risk of having the entire app removed from their App Store."

-- https://news.patreon.com/articles/understanding-apple-requirements-for-patreon

An interesting one on Grandma's Word today ... I should go for simpler words first:

Solved in 15 guesses!

https://grandmasword.com/
#GrandmasWord

Today I found Grandma's Word in just 13 guesses!

https://grandmasword.com/

The true spirit of the Olympics.

Do you remember "Eric the Eel" ??

Here's a thread from the site formerly (and to be honest, still) known as Twitter.

Here's the thread:

https://x.com/Aaronsmith333/status/1817431315916165475

Here's an "Unroll" of it:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1817431315916165475.html

It's by Aaron Smith : @Aaronsmith333

Quoted here in full, sans images.

You probably know the start of this Olympic story, but do you know how it finished?

Eric Moussambani, aka 'Eric the Eel' from Equatorial Guinea, competed in the 100m Freestyle event at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, alone.

Why?

Eric's heat started with 2 other competitors; one from Niger and the other from Tajikistan. Eric's competitors however both broke, and were disqualified, leaving him to swim this event alone.

Eric hadn't completed a full length of a 50m pool before, but he dived in anyway.

It seemed like he wasn't going to make the distance. Touching a lane rope would've been automatic disqualification.

He completed in 1:52.72, the slowest time in Olympic History, and for comparison, 47 seconds slower than I did recently, in my late 40s. Remember these times.

Why was Eric there?

1/n