David Simmons-Duffin

@duetosymmetry Done

CC @davidsd can you share James's advertisement to relevant folks you know on the postdoc market?

My colleague, James Bonifacio (not on twitter) is hiring a postdoc in high energy theory! If you're into field theory, amplitudes, the conformal bootstrap, gravity, or anything like that, think about applying! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/23691

"I'm prepared to go forward with it" youtube.com/watch?v=KxlPGP…

.@nathanheller on why stutterers who gain fluency, like Joe Biden, never lose awareness of their speech. nyer.cm/gsevMw0

@RaeHaskell Does this mean that in a future Proxy-less world we should all turn on AllowAmbiguousTypes? It sounds a bit scary... Really like the video, btw -- looking forward to more!

My new video series launched today, where I blather on about Haskell, share some brain-bending code, debug in public, and generally provide flashes of insight. Intro video: youtube.com/watch?v=5vqB0G…; first technical video: youtube.com/watch?v=FFZXWo…

@naomigend I agree about muted names. I made class "participation" required, where a student could fulfill the requirement either by (1) turning on Zoom camera during lecture, or (2) posting a question/comment on the class forum. Turning on camera was easiest, so most students did it.

@selenasd Pretty cool :)

@duetosymmetry Yikes. My experience with AppleScript: at age 12, I programmed my dad's secretary's computer to show a dialog box that said "Ready for retinal scan" with a rectangle to look at. It was a security measure to fool people who didn't know monitors can't do retinal scans.

@davidsd I wanted to be able to launch a terminal in the cwd of the frontmost window of the frontmost app, regardless of app. I gave up once I understood that there is no consistency in how apps name the appropriate attribute. It requires per-app specialization. I wasted a lot of time....

Applescript is a very bad language.

@duetosymmetry I played with Applescript as a kid, but I don't really remember any. For the record, I agree that it is not a good language.

@davidsd Ok I don't know if this means you know Applescript... do you want to help me?

@DD_Baumann I prefer live lectures, and the students I've talked to seem to prefer them too. It helps to emulate a classroom as much as possible -- require everyone to turn on their cameras, encourage interruptions. Take a 5 minute break for students to say where they're calling from.

Preparing to teach a new cosmology course (this time to students in Amsterdam and Taiwan simultaneously). Are there good resources on online teaching? Any opinions on pre-recorded vs live lectures? (A video system has been set up here, so I can use a blackboard

This is a Penrose illustration appreciation thread. Post your favorite figures below.

My statement on President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis:

We were asked many times: "How close did the fire get?" We have the answer. (Video from SEP 17) Damage: Smoke and soot inside upper story of The Monastery but otherwise unscathed. How these heroic firefighters managed to save the building is incredible! #bobcatfire

But I do feel like my performative question-asking changes something imperceptible in the atmosphere of the mathematical spaces I inhabit. I like to imagine that the difference is that it's easier for others to find their voice as well. But who knows.

SoCal just experienced an M 4.5 quake, probably along the Puente Hills thrust fault system, the same one that ruptured in the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. The aftershock forecast can be found here: earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ev…

.@Caltech operates the Mount Wilson seismic station. It has recorded all the important California earthquakes for 100 years. The #Bobcat fire threatens to destroy it today.

@xkcd_rss xkcd was scooped by @daniela_witten

University COVID Model xkcd.com/2355/

Shout-out to all the people who are like “you must not know any physicists” 🤣

It actually makes sense that the physicists didn’t know about college parties

@emilyriehl Hi! Congrats on the interview and the upcoming book! I see your name appear every once in a while in relation to both QFT and Haskell (which I use in my work). It was fun to read about you in Quanta.

@davidsd Oh hi David! Great to hear from you.

Wonderful interview in Quanta with my former math classmate @emilyriehl quantamagazine.org/emily-riehl-co…