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

"I've said I want to die on Mars. Just not on impact." -- Elon Musk

@johncarlosbaez Also:

Mathematics in archaeology: return to basics. Science and Archaeology 28: 32-7 (1986)

I should see if I can find copies of these on-line. Or indeed, IRL.

CC: @sarahtaber

@pozorvlak The archaeologists were scathing. They particularly hammered us on including nutrients and food sources that they knew weren't in the middens.

"Why include these things in your analysis when we know they won't be relevant?"

In hindsight should we have anticipated that? Don't know ... it's nearly 40 years ago now.

Times have changed, the nature of archaeological research has changed.

CC: @johncarlosbaez @sarahtaber

@johncarlosbaez Ah, here we are:

Conceptual issues in environmental archaeology (1988)

"K V Boyle & C D Wright (283-90) write on 'Foraging theory: mathematical modelling of socio-ecological change', advocating the use of Linear Programming to predict the optimal allocation of scarce resources."

-- https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1005775&recordType=Monograph

CC: @sarahtaber

@johncarlosbaez My first academic paper, despite being a Pure Mathematician, was in archaeology.

We applied Linear Programming to solve The Diet Problem for hominids in the late upper paleolithic in the South West of France. Having computed the "Optimal Diet" from first principles, we then predicted what should appear in middens, and achieved very good agreement.

The limiting factor in the diet was, indeed, fat, so despite the wealth of rabbits and roe deer, there was an unexpectedly large amount of nut debris, and this was explained by the calculations.

I should try to find copies of the papers ... I think there were two.

CC: @sarahtaber

HAPPY APHELION !!!

From here on in, for the next six months, we are picking up speed and falling into the Sun ever faster ...

All that glitters has a high refractive index.

Talk about a tower!

#CellTower 1140

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬇️⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⏹️⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️⏹️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️ https://www.andrewt.net/puzzles/cell-tower/?p=1140

Quoting Ken Ono:

"I came up with a problem which experts in my field would recognize as an open question in number theory—a good Ph.D.-level problem,"

He asked o4-mini to solve the question. Over the next 10 minutes, he watched in stunned silence as the bot unfurled a solution in real time, showing its reasoning process along the way.

-- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/inside-the-secret-meeting-where-mathematicians-struggled-to-outsmart-ai/

And yet they don't tell us what that problem was.

*So* frustrating.

The legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practice at age 95. The reply came: 'Because I think I'm making progress.'

Friend of a friend reports that another friend got a job in tech straight out of university, zero experience, because they had learned three medieval languages for their degree, and could read a #knitting pattern.

The interviewer allegedly said:

"Well, you won't have any problems learning to code, will you !!"

#FibreArt #FiberArt #FibreArts #FiberArts #Languages #Coding

Seen elsewhere ...

News about a new, open-access journal covering original work in the intersection of mathematics and fibre/fiber arts.

Details are on the website :

https://interlace-journal.org

Looks intriguing!

This *definitely* needs to get outside my bubble, so boosts are especially welcome, and if people can suggest more hashtags, that would be great.

#FibreArt #FiberArt #Mathematics #Math #Maths #Journal #Knitting #Crochet #Weaving

More hashtags suggested ... adding here as an edit ... not all are applicable, but ... who knows!

#Knitting #Knitstodon #FiberArts #FibreArts #NeedleArts #Maker #Creator #Crafts #HandMade #SurfFeeds
#PrintMaking #Woodcut #Art #HandMade #Analog #Arte #Xilografia #Grafica #ArtIsForEveryone

Thank you for your indulgence ...

Does anyone know what kind of bar code this is? What should I do a search for?

From @peterrowlett ...

"Matrix multiplication doesn’t work like that"

https://aperiodical.com/2024/08/matrix-multiplication-doesnt-work-like-that/

A super bright pass of the international space station will start in just over 10 minutes at one minute past ten.

#ISS

@adrianh I have a clear memory of my father going to his office one day to order his medical supplies for the next month.

"They've redesigned the web site!" ... he called to us.

"How does it look?" asked my mother.

"Really good" he replied.

She followed up ... "Can you find what you need?"

There was a long pause.

...

"No".

@cstanhope Absolutely.

Sometimes I look at how convinced some of them are that they must be right, based on their extensive experience of programming, and their clearly impeccable reasoning, and wonder if I am similarly afflicted with an excessive confidence in my abilities.

It serves as a warning ... I hope I heed it well enough and often enough.

That said, some of the people there are stunningly good. I hope *that* judgement isn't based purely on whether they agree with me.

"When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set." -- Lin Yutang

Quoting:

"I learned this week that you can put
our troops’ lives in danger,
compromise our national security,
and violate the Espionage Act. And
the government will do nothing.
But if you write an editorial for your
school newspaper that Trump
doesn't like, you will be abducted on
the street and disappeared."

Seen here:

https://mathstodon.xyz/@joewo@mastodon.social/114241772592878340