iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

What does it mean when I hear an interesting sound and immediately want to see the spectrogram

A spectrogram of a whistling kettle has a fundamental at 3375 Hz with two strong harmonics visible

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

As in a variable? Not "m" for mass, meters, and milli-?

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

That anomaly feels to me like confirmation that a simple exponential regression is the wrong model. Also, I had no idea you could let it make its own vertical shift! How did you do that?

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I have previous year's data recorded...I should see how well it fits!

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The only answers I can think of are: 1) There is no "reason" per se, this is a coincidence 2) the interaction with the container makes a 1st-order approximation like simple exponential decay inadequate, and the real differential equations have this solution

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Here is the graph, if you'd like to mess with it. Room temperature was measured at 21º C, so that was subtracted from the data so that it's degrees ABOVE room temperature and the asymptote is the x-axis. www.desmos.com/calculator/e...

desmos.com

Earthscience Water experiment 9-30-26

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Science folks...is there an explanation for this? I usually teach radiometric dating to 8th graders with an experiment where we record the temperature of hot water as it cools over time. The trend is roughly exp decay, but this year I tried to make the curve fit better. Why a fractional exponent?

A desmos graph shows the temperature above room temp of water cooling down over 45 minutes. An exponential regression fits moderately well, but a more complex function fits better. The exponent is raised to the two-thirds power.

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Sometimes I catch myself saying something like "that's not doing math, it's just counting" and I'm like... Wait a minute

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Here's an answer for teachers...if a test has 50 questions, each is worth 2%. If you earned a 16%, you only got 16/2 = 8 questions right.

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Reposted by Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

As someone in a STEM discipline, I really abhor the kind of messaging that Mark describes. The messengers aren’t people who actually care about STEM. It’s really a shorthand for “do something practical, focus on your relation to the labor market”.

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

In my thermodynamics class, I review countable and uncountable nouns as a way to get students to understand the micro/macro distinction. I love this MiB quote for this

A pair of slides for a thermodynamics class. The top slide says physics is about "things" and chemistry is about "stuff," and the bottom slide says that distinction is artificial and useful. It features the Men In Black quote "a person is smart...people are dumb" as an illustration of the importance of different levels of analysis.

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The law of identity applies to the arbitrary, assigned "identity" we made up, not the thing-in-itself. I don't think the law of identity is shown to be *false* so much as irrelevant to reality. It's a description of how we make sense of labels

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Ea-nāṣir has been real quiet since this dropped

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Top row: soundtrack Middle row: gameplay/story Bottom row: vibes

My nine games.
Top row: Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, POD, Halo
Middle row: Halo 2, KOTOR 2, Mechwarrior 3
Bottom row: Abe's Oddysee, Descent, Half-Life 2

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I think my favorite part is that I was able to get the time lapse to be one frame per minute, so the second hand appears frozen

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Back in the VHS days, we had recorded this when it was on TV once. I watched it soooo many times. Immediately after that was the "worker and parasite" alternate itchy and scratchy bit from the simpsons

static.klipy.com

Star Trek Scotty: Hello, computer!

ALT: Star Trek Scotty: Hello, computer!

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I have not done that one! I usually use dice for random number experiments. You can get linear regression (sum of rolls so far) and exponential decay (if your roll matches mine, you're out...how many left?) But I love that sierpinski idea. I may have to steal that

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

We do fractals after logarithms so we can calculate fractal dimension... We make koch snowflakes in December!

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm giving a practice quiz in algebra 2 today, and it's 3 pages, so I figured I could put the answer key (shrunk to fit on one page) on the back. But with 3 pages, there's still an empty quarter page left. So, I made it appear recursively. Lol #ITeachMath

A three-page algebra quiz about linear functions. The fourth page is an answer key that shows all three solutions recursively in the last quarter of each iteration

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Considering the one on the left has a Pythagorean triple to work with (6, 8, 10) it would be easier on all counts, right?

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I have used the gym analogy, but to make this point that you have said right here

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Reposted by Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈

Pam Harris @pwharris.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It's time for #MathStratChat! Rules: post your favorite or a clever solution! It's also fun to comment on other's strategies. Tell us about your reasoning. Like/share so others can see! #MathIsFigureOutAble #MathStratChat #MTBoS #ITeachMath #MathEd

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Now that I think about it, 10.50 is 9 + 1.50, which is 3 and 1/2 of 3. I'd prefer not to divide 47.25 by 3.5 mentally. But wait! 3.5 is half of 7, which goes into 49 seven times! So 3.5 goes into 49 fourteen times. 47.25 is 1.75 less than 49, which is half of 3.5, so half less than $14 is $13.50.

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

My first thought was to set up a proportion: 47.25/10.50 = x/3 If 10.50 didn't easily go into 47.25, I was considering trying 10.50/3 = 47.25/x However...I knew 10.50 * 4 was 42.00, and the remainder 5.25 was half of 10.50, so the ratio is 4.5 and the price is 4.5 * 3 = 4*3 + 0.5*3 = $13.50

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Awesome, thanks for the replies. I have something to look into now

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Time-lapse of an NaCl crystal forming. Saturated salt water is drying on a microscope slide. The yellow tint is from the camera. #EduSky #ITeachScience

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Perhaps I misunderstand what physicalism entails, because I thought it considers the mind a physical epiphenomenon. The mind is something the brain DOES, not a thing-in-itself. Are you a compatibilist of some kind? I agree with your larger point about LLMs, so feel free not to get sidetracked here.

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

How do you see "machine intelligence is possible" in the light of your prior rejection of physicalism? I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that physicalism being false just meant that conscious beings must have immaterial souls.

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Make a band edible: Livers of Nihil Vealdhjarta Meshugar Spearmintbox Also...Jinjer?

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Oh, Watership Down...such a source of childhood trauma

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I was scrolling by and thought I read "the sugar-rich core of the planet" and i was like WHAT IS THIS MAGICAL PLACE

static.klipy.com

Homer Simspons Dances with Ice Cream

ALT: Homer Simspons Dances with Ice Cream

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

As the screenshot shows, I have officially reached half of the life expectancy for my demographic. All in all, I would say being alive has been acceptable I know no one is promised tomorrow, but even if my life was halfway through, at least I got to have a really cute dog youtu.be/Tj2v6k6NqOc

A still frame from a music video. Besides images of the performance is a frame showing male life expectancy in the USA and an equation showing that half of 76.5 is 38.25. It is implied by the words "life expectancy" that the performer is this age.

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

😮First time for me! I showed the game to one of my kids and they made a few moves while I was gone. Come back to see it's 3 words away from using up every letter. Happy as I am to see this score, I'm even happier to share it with my kid ❤️ hankgreen.com/smush · Sep 7 1020 pts · PERFECT 💯 🥞🥞🥞 🥞⭐🥞 🥞🥞🥞

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Preparing my lesson plans for this week, I came across upon one of my favorite slides I've ever made #EduSky #ITeachPhysics

This slide, titled "x and t are relative," is an explanation of simple relativity of measurement for location, time, and velocity. It features an image of a crowd of 12-inch rulers saying "all hail the one true ruler" in adoration of a 12-inch ruler on a throne wearing a crown. The text reads:

"Measurements of space and time are relative, or observer-dependent, because the universe doesn’t have built-in rulers or clocks.
We have to bring our own rulers and clocks, and there’s no reason mine is “correct” and yours is “wrong.” There is no experiment we can do to prove which frame of reference is the right one.
Therefore, we must abandon the idea that there is such a thing as a correct one."

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Labor Day weekend gave me time to express a mid-life crisis youtu.be/Tj2v6k6NqOc

youtu.be

Today

YouTube video by Darth Calculus Music

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Darth Calculus 🏳️‍🌈 @darthcalculus.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I hate this stupid ad so much. If I have to listen to this man eat one more time I think I'll set something on fire.

A man eats a burger. It is a still frame from an ad for Wonder.

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