iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 22/09/2026

Okay wait, please be as aggressively pushy about these as AI people! TIL I want a white rutile to stare into to escape reality. Or a bright pink pixel cut. Or a 1000+ carat glow in the dark garnet.

Store listing (sold out) for a white rutile traditional round brilliant cut green, 8.10 carats, $600

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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 · 09/09/2026

Also - glad to have had this chance to get to know your work! I have always wanted a math syllabus that's a comic, but my own skills are... shabby...

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 02/09/2026

In case you're wondering, Lake America hates America.

Radar showing intense storms coming from "Lake America" to northern New York, north of Buffalo and northeast of Rochester. There were confirmed water spouts moving onto land. The bottom panel says "Special Marine Warning, Tornado... 3 Active Alerts"

A map with regions of NY near Canada patchworked with different warnings. Along the southern shore of "Lake America" is a Tornado Warning. The bottom panel says Tornado Warning, Tornado Watch, ... 3 Active Alerts

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 21/08/2026

Academics, to "celebrate" the start of a new semester, post a WayBack Machine snapshot of your workplace from when you were applying to college (or a later milestone if you missed the dawn of dot edu) #WayBackCollegeChallenge (CC: @professorbrendan.bsky.social)

Hamilton College website, captured Feb 08 1999. There's a header with the college name, pictures of students in the top left, a menu on the right with academics, admission, alumni, campus life, college offices, and the library. There's also a dropdown navigation menu and Go button, a link to search, and a link to a help page. The main text below is "news & events/calendars" and the bottom has the same links as the right menu, horizontally aligned, over the college address. The background color is what I think of as "Web 1.0 Cream" (#FFFFCC, which does actually get described as "Cream" on the lookup charts I just checked).

The WayBack capture info is included in the screenshot with the website (http://www.hamilton.edu)

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 21/08/2026

Not sure if I'm the guy, the cat, or the lasers.

Man with cat in 90s laser background portrait with semi-transparent large cat head superimposed in the background

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 15/08/2026

Here's the watch in action although I guess you can't really tell it's been rebuilt...

A white Casio F-91W with gold details and a display with the date and time. Unlike a regular Casio display, this says "FRI" (the usual is just two characters!).

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 12/08/2026

There are worse ways to prepare for parenting than doodling math cartoons 3×/wk for ~3 years. I'm a prompt-able, generative authentic intelligence. One might even say agentic! Included: some of my pre-parenthood, post- Brown Sharpie doodling portfolio.

Dinosaur thinking about a donut with the text "PALEO DIET?" in the thought bubble (pencil on lined paper)

A doodle titled "The Nat'l Interest" on a banner above a smiling outline of the lower 48 states, with eagles, commentary about Schedule F, a dinner and an elephant looking pissy at each other, some robots, the Capitol dome. Ballpoint pen on the back of something I was supposed to be reading.

Tru, Barnaby, and the Rainbow King from that show whose name I forgot but I'm pretty sure Tru is in the title. Crayon on construction paper.

Tube socks! at the disco
alt title: where the lost socks go when they're gone

Five socks dancing with abandon under a disco ball on a disco floor. Sharpies on the bottom of a faculty meeting agenda.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 05/08/2026

I haven't seen her in anything but she rocks the catwalk!

Magazine cover featuring model Crystal Renn. The cover story is about embracing curves. She is holding a black sleeveless dress in front of her and posing provocatively.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 30/07/2026

He was beloved by his students. One brought a note my dad had written to him in 1972 that he kept throughout his own career as a band director. Another brought a piece she was composing for his advice. My dad wrote a bio for something he was doing ~2000, which is in the alt text of the images here.

Elderly man wearing ridiculous novelty holiday glasses.

Bio 1/3:
When Tom was 18, he joined the American Federation of Musicians (local 234) and began his professional career. He graduated from Danbury State College in 1965 as a bassoon major with a BS in music education, but his formal saxophone education came later under the tutelage of jazz saxophonist Arnie Lawrence (lead alto sax with Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show Orchestra). While in college, he played at Lyndon B. Johnson's presidential inaugural ball. Tom finished (ABD) his Masters work in ethnomusicology (African drumming and African flute) at Wesleyan University. At Wesleyan, he played lead alto in the Afram jazz ensemble under the direction of Stan Kenton alumnus Marvin Holladay, baritone saxophonist.

An ensemble of musicians playing at a church service. The focus is a man playing the flute.

Bio 2/3:
Throughout his career, Tom has had the good fortune to perform onstage with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Della Reese, Tony Bennett, and Johnny Mathis. He's played one-nighters with the Larry Elgart Manhattan Swing Orchestra and the Charlie Spivak Orchestra. Tom has also played with other small combos too numerous to mention.

Almost 50 years ago, New Haven trombonist Sonny Costanzo started a 17 piece jazz band. Tom played alto sax, soprano sax, and flute with the band. He was with the band from its onset for 14 years and left just prior to Sonny's unfortunate passing. During this period, the band was in high demand. They worked constantly and became the foremost big band jazz orchestra in Connecticut, recording frequently and often having as many as two steady gigs per week-highly unusual for a big band. They frequently had two gigs on the same New Year's Eve; they would complete one and rush to the other. They were also headlined at the Vermont Jazz Festival with Rosemary Clooney, Jimmy Heath, Doc Severinsen, and Al Hirt. One summer they did an East Coast tour with the Mitzi Gaynor revue. The band became the resident jazz orchestra at Quinnipiac College and backed guest soloists Clark Terry, David Amram, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Daniels, Phil Woods, and the unequaled Dizzy Gillespie.

A man plays alto saxophone at a church service.

Bio 3/3:
In June of '99, Tom retired as a public school band director (middle and high school) after 34 years of service. He was twice named to "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" and received a citation from the "National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts" for excellence in teaching. Tom spends his "retirement" as a private woodwinds instructor to 20 students a week. He presents high school clinics, plays at his local church services, does freelance recording, plays woodwinds in pit orchestras for local musicals, and guest-lectures at area schools. Until recently, he also played in a lounge group (standards/jazz) with CT legend pianist Ed Cercone and the incomparable vocalist Maria Tiscia.

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That's the end of the bio my dad wrote for himself for some reason I forget now. But he also taught at a private school for a time after, and he still arranges music with Sibelius. Many of the songs his band students played were his own arrangements.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 30/07/2026

Throwing a surprise party for an 85-year-old on oxygen is risky, but we managed to surprise my dad without killing him. #winning My dad taught band (alongside a pretty hectic life as a musician), and some of his former students came. In the '70s, he convinced them his name was Wolfgang (it's Tom).

Thomas "Wolfgang" Gibbons, a senior citizen with glasses and a cannula smiling.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 24/07/2026

Trying life in the slow lane for a minute (but only a minute)

A yellow and black butterfly on milkweed (tiger swallowtail, maybe?)

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 15/07/2026

It's not Saturday, there's no coffee, but it is a selfie! #MathCoffeeSelfie The shirt is too exciting not to share.

Courtney sits outside in a camp chair with her green glasses and exuberant hair enjoying the humidity.

Her T-shirt is black with the sleeves cut off. Printed on the front is a moon with two cats leaping toward it and a unicorn below them. The print is tinted with pastel rainbow colors. It's like the best '90s nostalgia T-shirt you'll see today.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 30/05/2026

Love is making vegan meringue so your kid can have pavlova with Bluey and Bingo. Only an hour to go until the peaks are stiff lol

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 21/05/2026

Quote with a fictional band that isn't Spinal Tap

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 06/05/2026

It's the time of the year that I doodle a lot to keep myself sane. Anyway, this needs to be cleaned up a bit, but for my algepals: Would you wear this on a shirt?

the word "syzygy" hand drawn in a jagged cursive with barbed wire embellishments

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 08/04/2026

Hey baby, wanna come back to my place and see my gyroelongated pentagonal cupola? 😏😚😉

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 07/04/2026

On the subject of abbreviation, our campus had a small fire in a building named "Buttrick Hall" to the delight of all

Emergency alert text: Hamilton College This is an emergency alert from Hamilton College. A fire has occurred in Butt...

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 06/04/2026

A portrait of my desk, made bright and beautiful by @chanda.blacksky.app's newest book!

A few books and other clutter on a wooden desktop. From left: Robert's Rules of Order (revised edition) on top of a linear algebra textbook, with a green pencil next to it. In the center, The Edge of Space-Time with its beautiful half black and white, half tropical rainbow circle. On the right, the very short book On Bullshit with a gavel on it. Paper clutter sits under most of it.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 05/04/2026

The registration in the car was the answer. I did pay this year. I found a tranche (2025 word of the year?) of tax documents, in which the following two bonus things were included (attached).

$5 off coupon for a gun range which is not a thing I'll use (guns are bad, bullets even worse) but if I were going to, today would be the day maybe. I hate taxes

A "LifeCare® Stress Testing Card" which is, I think, a paper-based mood ring. The color coding is
Black: Stressed
Red: Tense
Green: Calm
Relaxed: Blue

I am green. Hmm.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 05/04/2026

The bar is not moving much, but the bar is also open.

A can of Allagash White. It's golden yellow from the top to about halfway down where it meets dark blue mountains. A mountain stream is coursing into the foreground. I would like to be in this idyllic Maine place instead of doing taxes.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 05/04/2026

Cat tax and the 'fit. Step Three is turning out to be find glasses while trying not to think about the unethical and immoral things my taxes will pay for.

Shirt says "I was normal 3 cats ago" which is maybe not true. Vest is has MRC in circles (it's from an AMS Math Research Community).

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 01/04/2026

I think by step 7 you should have worked the bottom half of the chain. I tried a picture. In step 5 you are back at the place where you started chaining 10, then in step 6 you start stitching into the chain again, but on the bottom.

Illustration of pattern (ish). Chain 10 is the middle dashes from left to right.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 29/03/2026

Ah yes. We received a bespoke AI generated coloring book. The expected value for the number of fingers per hand did eventually average out to 5.

AI generated coloring book page with a kid and a badly mangled hand punching a trophy aloft

Hand with six fingers and a soccer ball. (Coloring book)

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 27/03/2026

Welcome back! My human child has decided to become a cat, so now we're back to three cats.

Three black cats looking out a screen door. Cat on right passed away last year, but lives on in toddler's imagination. The other two cats are patiently getting used to the new cat-child hybrid.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 22/03/2026

Finished (minus weaving in a few now ends, adding surface crochet, and blocking)! Kiddo is very excited about his nonconvex dokaitetracontagon.

Crochet hexagonal blanket with one orange hexagon in the middle, six yellow around it, twelve dark teal around that, yellow at the vertices and sage green between, with an orange border. Eventually will have black surface crochet at the seams with decorative slip stitch in the pattern colors.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 18/03/2026

Need to pick a border color. I have three options (white, ecru?, grey) or could acquire more options. Kid's favorite color is orange.

Hexagon blanket in progress on the floor. Green center, warm golden yellow ring of 6, 12 dark teal blue, final ring is sage green with golden yellow at the vertices.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 13/03/2026

Pre-ordered mine today! Filling out the paperwork to request our campus and local libraries get copies too.

Bookstore.org receipt showing a pre-order for The Edge of Space Time.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 26/02/2026

At the foot of Pikes Peak! This is the view just along the east of the Rockies flying south from Denver.

View from a plane window of a plane wing with the Rockies in the distance and Pikes Peak rising slightly higher to the south.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 26/02/2026

Had a turbulent and delay-ful day yesterday, but I made it to my alma mater for the first time in at least ten years! I forgot how sunny it is, and how nice it is to have a huge mountain to keep you oriented in space.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 07/02/2026

My kid's favorite snuggle buddy right now is a pair of eyes on a red plastic ring that he named "Sausages" (but you have to growl it like golum talking about his precious ring)... [pictured below is a purple version] Apparently this is lore from his dad's childhood? Families are so weird.

Front and back image of a pair of googly eyes mounted in purple plastic. Kind of a Mickey Mouse silhouette, but the "face" is hollow to wear as a ring. The eye pieces are roughly spherical. Measurements indicate 3.5cm/1.38in wide. 3cm/1.18in tall.

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 24/01/2026

It's eyelash freezing weather over here, but at least we don't have an exploding tree advisory.

Screenshot of a weather app:
Clinton
Mostly cloudy
-10°
Feels like -19°
High 4° • Low -12°

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 21/01/2026

Two great books that I reread every once in awhile!

The cover of My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki (red chopsticks holding a black and white cow)

Cover of Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (a hand turning pages).

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Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup) @courtneygibbons.phd · 17/01/2026

Cruella knows what's up. I bet she has some dalmatian spots tattooed up one leg.

Cruella DeVille's car from the live action movie. Front-on view focusing on the license plate "DEV IL" with the classic styling of the front reminiscent of a 1930s Bugatti Royale.

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