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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup)

@courtneygibbons.phd
1.5K followers 871 following 3.6K posts

was @/virtualcourtney. math prof, pragmatic idealist, parent. Chief Problem Solver at MOTHERFUNCTOR.co I write a (U.S.) politics newsletter focusing on issues that affect the math community, newsletter.motherfunctor.co

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 20h
Boosting this. Call your reps. Especially if you're a vet. Their constituent services folks are there to help you!
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Dave Kung @dtkung.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Help, #MathSky community: Trying to get a handle on how different techniques of integration are covered at different types of institutions. Take 2 minutes (I swear) and fill out this quick survey: forms.gle/hk9nfSwwme82...
Different techniques of integration, including integration by parts, trig substitution, trig integrals, and partial fractions.
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David K Butler @davidkbutler.bsky.social · 04/11/2023
The area of a triangle.
Something similar works for a triangle.

Two dotted horizontal lines have a triangle drawn between them with one edge of the triangle going from one horizontal line to the other.  The third vertex of the triangle is between the two horizontal lines, and it has a third horizontal line drawn inside the triangle from this vertex to the opposite edge. The vertical distance between the two horizontal lines is marked "h". The horizontal distance between drawn inside the circle is marked "w". There is the formula A=½wh above the diagram.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 29/09/2026
Reading about upcoming AI IPOs and what is clear to me is that we (the normies with normie money and normie jobs) will not be able to afford the true cost of AI, including: - the actual cost of tokens - the inevitable bailouts - the environmental cost - the regulatory cost - the cognitive decline
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And do not ever fucking dare to put other people’s writing into an LLM without consen : no matter why you’ve been asked to read it, for feedback or reviews. Have some decency.
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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward
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Liℤℤy Kodpuak née Acid Lich (can’t spell sheaves without she) @acidlich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Well it stressed me the f out but I got a video made, here is a peek at a work in progress. The diagram here took forever. Drawing rectangles are really hard actually #mathart
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 27/09/2026
I miss the old Math Twitter days, and before that, the Google Reader days, and before that, the Angelfire everybody made a website with an animated background and midi music days, and before that, reading books.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 25/09/2026
Imagine if instead of regulating drone risks the normal way (which we did), we instead paid weird bloggers lots of money to worry about superintelligent dogs sprouting thumbs and using drones to kill us. This is pretty much how the US is approaching AI risks and regulations. My latest:
little-flying-robots.ghost.io
Why We Can't Let Enormous Weirdos Regulate AI
Imagine if instead of regulating drones via the standard lengthy, boring, and bureaucratic process - which we did - we instead decided, in the name of fostering all-important American drone innovation...
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility
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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I kinda get why people hate on fussy philosophical stuff, but on the other hand don't you think we live in a time where it'd be especially helpful to have rigorous conversations about things like personhood, meaning in life, the point of art, the point of pure mathematics, & operationalizing ethics?
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 26/09/2026
One day, they'll know I wrote my own skeets (and everything else) by the sheer number of typos they find. It's my digital watermark/proof of humanity.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 26/09/2026
One thinking that I'm frustrated about is that it's natural for people to be curious about AI, especially gen AI, and it's that curiosity that companies are turning against us to profit. In a different world under different circumstances, we'd be free to play with the technology.
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 26/09/2026
Science world (and everyone who knows someone with cancer or dementia): Keep an eye on this! It looks like another try at the pocket rescission gambit.
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Izabella Laba 🇨🇦 @ijlaba.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
We need to do some soul-searching to figure out how to make that adjustment in mathematics. But it needs to be done.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 25/09/2026
Again feeling some things about insurance companies because it's hard to know there are highly effective treatments available but I have to slog through a few first... The first one is almost as bad as the rheumatoid arthritis. Side effects make eating food the most awful thing I can imagine. 🤮🤢
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 24/09/2026
It's come along enough to share... An Algebra Game (the start thereof, at least), like the Natural Number Game! adam.math.hhu.de#/g/CRGibbons... Play it, critique it, join the development team (which is... just me)! It's meant to go along with a "rings first" semester of abstract algebra
adam.math.hhu.de
Lean Game Server
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 23/09/2026
In contrast Vought and Kratsios have largely killed NSF and its decades-long mission of funding the best discovery science. “For many U.S. scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the agency they know and loved died on 10 Sept.”
science.org
NSF memo implementing Trump’s ‘golden age’ of science unsettles researchers
New document emphasizes support for White House priorities over curiosity-driven ideas
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 22/09/2026
Two people died. "Experts stress the meningitis vaccine currently being offered to more than a million young people starting university protects against it.' Vaccines save lives.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 21/09/2026
This! And, if you use a template, make it your own. Members want to hear from YOU (and also, offices can spot form letters, and it makes it easier to ignore the volume of contact about an issue) Your Members represent YOU! Make sure they hear from YOU! (I speak from experience in an office!)
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Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
when ai leaves u behind
7 panel comic.

Panel 1:
A Red Guy with AI across his chest looks like he’s about to run away. A Yellow Guy stands next to him. Red Guy says “I’m the future, buddy. You comin’?”
Yellow Guy replies “Nah”

Panel 2: 
Red Guy is almost out of the panel. He leans in and says “Enjoy getting left behind, pal”
Yellow Guy replies “ok”

Panel 3:
Yellow Guy stands alone.

Panel 4: 
Close up on Yellow Guy, there is a quiet “huff-huff-huff” noise coming from behind him

Panel 5:
Yellow Guy turns to look behind him

Panel 6: 
Close up on Yellow Guy’s face as if from the point of view of an attacker.
Yellow Guy yells “Jesus Christ”

Panel 7:
AI Red Guy is now chasing the Yellow Guy. 
Red Guy: “Use me”
Yellow Guy “No”
Red Guy “USE ME”
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 20/09/2026
#MathSky #MTBoS FYI: I am working on my _Abstract Algebra, Actively!_ manuscript and testing out the final rearrangement of material with my current students this semester. I thought I'd share the course (as I short-hand it for the semester) as a prelude to the book: pub.pretext.plus/o/1e65c5f6-2...
pub.pretext.plus
Modern Algebra
MATH 325 Semester 2026
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 20/09/2026
Okay, two plus weeks of intense joint pain is starting to crack my work facade. I have to be more conscious of how grumpy it makes me. My daily pep talk to myself is starting to take quite a bit of time!
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 19/09/2026
Deleted my quote skeet of the Converse ad, realizing no one needs to see that shit on their timelines. Sorry for the brief idiocy on my part. Anyway, all done Converse for me.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 19/09/2026
These fucking people. I would love for them to read Van Bush just once. It's like they think the Altmans and Musks of the world just spontaneously generate products in a void. No, those guys *are* the voids. You need a stable platform supporting discovery to nurture what grows from it.
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The most generous assessment is that this was shitty, lazy engineering; the more in-character scenario is that the sandbox was intentionally breakable because of the story it would generate. Whichever you believe, the story is not "OMG, they made AGI!"
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The Anthropic, Meta, and Google "breaking containment" incidents all resulted from setup errors (or a stunt) by the same company: Irregular. Irregular created a sandbox that wasn't really a sandbox because it had a live internet connection, and gave instructions that were then carried out online.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 19/09/2026
Hey that's where I work! Obama spoke at Hamilton College a few years ago, coming back into the spotlight after taking some time out from public speaking. And yes, my college president looks a little like a Doctor Who incarnation (complimentary).
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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
newest MOTHERFUNCTOR!: newsletter.motherfunctor.co/archive/forc... @courtneygibbons.phd closes w: > Anyway, if you're not on Bluesky, you've missed some incredible content (Excellent summary of & commentary on math × AI shenanigans of late...) cc #iTeachMath ♾️ #MathSky 🧮
newsletter.motherfunctor.co
Forcing Solutions?
Forced Navier-Stokes, and the unforced errors of a doom-mongering corporation spending millions to beat mathematicians to the math. (Wherein I tell you how I really feel!)
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Nicolas Hénin @nicolashenin.net · 17/09/2026
Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 18/09/2026
I got my flu and vivid boosters yesterday and stared longingly at the shingles vaccine. 🩹
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
NSF has reduced the research budget for all atmospheric, ocean, and earth sciences by ~80%. 80%! A lot of us will not be conducting new research or training new students for the foreseeable future.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 17/09/2026
Using my rug to check equilaterality of my triangles. 24 needed for the Stella Octangula plushie. Thoughts on joins? Pattern Row 0: foundation sc x2, ch1 turn Row 2n+1: 2sc outer st, 1sc across w/ 2sc outer st, ch1 turn Row 2n: 1sc across, ch1 turn End after n=4 Hdc around, 3 in each corner
Orange crochet triangle on an indigo triangle that's part of a colorful rug with hexagons (each made of 6 different color triangles w/ cream border between the hexagons)
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 16/09/2026
It's official now: I have rheumatoid arthritis. It came out of nowhere. Two weeks ago today I was fine. Two weeks ago tomorrow I could barely move because my joints were so swollen and painful. It felt like I was walking on glass shards and had wasps stinging my hands.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 16/09/2026
That's like 4 times the NSF appropriation for an entire fiscal year.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 16/09/2026
You know what other dystopian abyss we really need to stare more resolutely into right now? We are not doing anywhere near enough to protect civilians from drones.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 15/09/2026
Hey you should read this book
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 15/09/2026
The absolute horror of the public knowing that you disappointed Ms Rachel.
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 14/09/2026
thinking about this tweet again, and the fact that it's got such a hold on me that I genuinely think about it whenever I write a feature because I don't want to do "the hot dog thing"
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 14/09/2026
I long for a president who is only scandalous enough to check work email on a personal phone.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 14/09/2026
“you sensed l was right: there are hash brown for everybody. live luckily, jokers, joining up is easy!” — #fridgle 31 fridgle.net/p/3VM
fridgle.net
fridgle
daily fridge poetry toy
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 14/09/2026
Advice for talking about death with a 4yo? Is a naturally short-lived pet like a triops a good idea?
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The Onion has created a machine that will kill everyone on Earth that is coincidentally running out of money and the only way to slow it down is if my staff and I take a six-week vacation to Cabo San Lucas.
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Imani Gandy @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 12/09/2026
The international chess Federation banned trans women from playing women's chess. CHESS. It's not about fairness. The fairness argument is intended to radicalize people into more violent forms of transphobia.
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 12/09/2026
So do you think there's a Fields medalist group chat or what? I know this is not central to anyone but I'm just curious if they get a special Whatsapp invite or something, maybe a beeper? Do they have a red phone where someone calls 1 999 314 1337 to assemble them to defend mathematics?
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rich harris @rich-harris.dev · 12/09/2026
This short story (by the "there is no anti-memetics division" guy) is fantastic and horrifying and you should all read it
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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 12/09/2026
"Dozens, scores, maybe hundreds of people died by leaping from a burning building, and we have somehow taken it upon ourselves to deem their deaths unworthy of witness—because we have somehow deemed the act of witness, in this one regard, unworthy of us." www.esquire.com/news-politic...
esquire.com
The Falling Man
Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in i...
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benjamin dickman @benjamindickman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Fellowship Placement: United States Senate science.osti.gov/wdts/einstei... "Dr. Benjamin Dickman has been a full-time educator for the past twelve years..." — #iTeachMath #MathSky #EduSky
headshot of me wearing a suit and tie
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
when you work at the BPAF but you’re beginning to realize there’s not going to be a successful IPO
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