Sign in

Leah Berman Williams

@leahwrenn.bsky.social
2.6K followers 2K following 4.8K posts

Mathematician (discrete geometry), U Alaska Fairbanks prof, former FNSB assembly. In Alaska since 2009. She/her/hers. @Leahwrenn@mastodon.social @leahwrenn on MeFi

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Dr Alessio Veneziano @aveneziano.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Another really bad #DataViz! The worst kind actually: when someone makes a conscious decision to mislead its audience! #Brexit #Data #stats 🧪
1202
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 4h
(In case you're worried, any neutrinos managing to interact within your body will still do essentially nothing. You'd have to go to a LOT of trouble to be harmed in any way by neutrinos. But @xkcd.com has a nice explanation here if you want to know what that would look like. what-if.xkcd.com/73/)
what-if.xkcd.com
Lethal Neutrinos
819616
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 4h
How rare are neutrino interactions? A neutrino (of the type emitted by the Sun) could go through a light year of lead with only a small chance of interacting. They pass through the Earth, and each of us, constantly, without anyone noticing. 100 trillion neutrinos go through you every second.
616414
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates - West @ppaawest.bsky.social · 21h
Fairbanks and Juneau voters, THIS TUESDAY is local Election Day! Local elections often come down to a handful of votes. Make yours count. plannedp.info/ak-endorseme... #Alaska #AkLeg #AkElect #AlaskaSky #VoteLocal
Fairbanks Local Election 2026 Endorsements by Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. School Board: Tim Doran, Bobby Burgess, Sean Holland. Assembly: Alexis Howell, Nick LaJiness, Scott Crass. Vote by October 6!Juneau Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates endorsements: Board of Education: Britteny Cioni Haywood, David Noon. CBJ Assembly: Paul Kelly, Mila Cosgrove, and dual approval of Karla Hart and Joyce Niven.
254
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Declan Troy @troydeclan.bsky.social · 4h
It's not just bulls. Here's an earnest looking cow on the hunt for some leafy greens before they all drop for winter. Anchorage #Alaska #moose 🦊🫎
0172
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Pat Race @pat.alaskarobotics.com · 21h
#akleg Good reminder, don't get your elections news from AI.
AI response to a query which incorrectly indicates Wilson announced she was dropping out of the race.
092
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Ernest Pons @epons.bsky.social · 10h
#stats #science "International Day of Women in Statistics and Data Science" 📅 Hoy, de octubre de 2026 www.idwsds.org cc/ @socestadistica.bsky.social
001
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Alaska Beacon @alaskabeacon.com · 22h
COMMENTARY: We’re making a tough call on an upcoming U.S. House debate alaskabeacon.com/2026/10/05/w...
alaskabeacon.com
Commentary: We’re making a tough call on an upcoming U.S. House debate | Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Beacon is dropping out of a debate that it had planned to co-host with the Alaska Landmine ahead of the general election.
10348
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Vincent Ledvina @vincentledvina.bsky.social · 15h
Aurora starting here south of Fairbanks. 8:44 pm. iPhone photo. Naked-eye visible.
06410
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 23h
ChatGPT is adding the signatures of real New Yorker cartoonists to its AI-generated images. So far, I've found the signatures of more than 15 contributors. "It’s slop, and unlike the other slop that I’ve encountered, this is slop that’s pretending to be me." www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/chat...
Left: A cartoon generated by ChatGPT and signed with Emily Flake’s signature that was posted to a Reddit forum in June. Right: A real Emily Flake cartoon published in The New Yorker on August 20, 2026 and licensed via The Cartoon Bank.
7936881451
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Carrie Nash @carrieinfbx.bsky.social · 22h
Thank you to the crew at the Alaska Beacon for making this call! I am certain it was the right thing to do! alaskabeacon.com/2026/10/05/w...
alaskabeacon.com
Commentary: We’re making a tough call on an upcoming U.S. House debate | Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Beacon is dropping out of a debate that it had planned to co-host with the Alaska Landmine ahead of the general election.
0286
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
K. Thor Jensen @kthorjensen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
thesovereigninstitute.org/articles/77-...
thesovereigninstitute.org
77% of Your Employees Are Pasting Confidential Data Into ChatGPT Right Now
## The Shadow AI Demand Signal Your Security Team Cannot See ### The Problem Cyberhaven monitored 1.6 million workers across 639 organizations and found that 11 percent of data pasted into ChatGPT.....
714011
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
K. Thor Jensen @kthorjensen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
chat is this good
best_of_web 1d
A customer just tried to use an employee discount code that ChatGPT gave her. I work at a high-end clothing store and clocked in to my manager telling me about the most unhinged interaction from yesterday. A woman walked in asking if she could use a 40% off code she got online. We don't have any sales running, so my manager looks at the screen and realizes ChatGPT straight up handed this woman a real employee's internal ID number.
6351831169
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Anil Dash @anildash.com · 05/10/2026
I can’t emphasize this enough — “AI” wasn’t born corrupt and toxic. For ~75 years, it was mathematicians and scientists doing interesting, thoughtful work and trying to solve problems, making only the usual human mistakes. What “AI” did to machine learning is as tragic as what it did to artists.
271051202
Leah Berman Williams @leahwrenn.bsky.social · 18h
I'm still willing to answer my phone if I'm not doing something else, but if you're not willing to identify the "national public opinion firm" you're calling on behalf of, I'm not going to answer your survey.
080
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Lucky Budd @luckybudd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Saturn is at its closest to Earth this year :) I caught it with moons Thetys and Rhea on Oct 3. Just as Earth tilts on its axis, so does Saturn—making the ring angle shift noticeably year after year. SUCH a cool planet to see! Imaged from my backyard in Victoria, BC. 🔭 #astronomy #astro #saturn
26117
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
tenuretracker.info @tenuretracker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
University of Pennsylvania is hiring: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position in Algebra or Analysis #assistantprofessor #mathsky #algebraanalysis
111
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Climatologist49 @climatologist49.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Atigun Pass webcam. @alaskawx.bsky.social
3875
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Both candidates in Alaska's Senate race support the oil industry because of the jobs it creates in the state. But 40% of the workforce are nonresidents, and only 2.5% of total employed people are in oil and gas. From Alaska's own @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social. prospect.org/2026/10/05/a...
prospect.org
In Alaska, Senate Candidates Claim the Oil Industry Creates Local Jobs. It Doesn’t. - The American Prospect
The state’s own data shows an increasing number of oil and gas industry jobs have been going to nonresidents.
46230
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Cerebro Digital @cerebrodigital.net · 05/10/2026
Un recipiente poco profundo vibrado a la frecuencia justa convierte el agua quieta en cuadrados, hexagonos y espirales: las ondas de Faraday.
0216
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 05/10/2026
Here's a sanderling taking a brisk run down the shore, for all your smiling needs. 😁 🪶
732245
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Cephalopods Daily @cephalopodsdaily.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
As you probably guessed, the Seven-armed octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) has EIGHT arms! The males' hectocotylus (specialized mating arm) is curled up in a pouch which, along with their large, gelatinous bodies, makes it look like only have seven arms, hence their common name. #OCTOtober
A seven-armed octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) swimming while extending its arms. Webbing is between its arms and the tips of the arms are curled outwards. The rest of the octopus is gelatinousA seven-armed octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) swimming while holding a jellyfish in its arms. It's arms are curled away from the jellyfish. The octopus is quite gelatinous and has a white colour, and the jelly fish is golden with short stingers.A view of a seven-armed octopus's (Haliphron atlanticus) mouth. Its arms are spread out, showing the messy row of suckers and webbing. You can see the octopus's eight arms. The octopus is orange with white suckers. It is swimming in a kelp forest.A seven-armed octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) swimming towards the camera while extending its arms. Webbing is between its arms and the tips of the arms are curled outwards. The rest of the octopus is gelatinous. It is pink
26114
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · 05/10/2026
If you are an academic who uses arXiv, please consider signing this. **Give Authors Control: Let Us Decide If AI Bots Can Read Our arXiv Papers** math.mit.edu/~elmos/petit...
Currently, authors posting to arXiv have no control over whether bots scrape their full-text PDFs and LaTeX source files.

We are calling on arXiv to implement a simple permission toggle during submission, allowing authors to decide what automated scrapers can access:

Full Access: Bots can read and scrape the full text and source files.

Metadata Only: Bots are restricted to the Title, Abstract, and Citation metadata.

Open science for human readers should not mean mandatory, unconsented data harvesting by commercial entities. Advancing scientific knowledge demands immense time, resources, and intellectual rigor — we deserve a say in whether our original work is fed into massive, opaque training sets.
75227
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Movies Silently @moviessilently.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
ERIC SCHMITT: Mr. Smith, did you or did you not change your name to Mary Pickford and bill yourself as "America's Sweetheart" despite being Canadian? JACK SMITH: No sir, that was GLADYS Smith.
7968
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Because it's buried at the bottom of the article and CNN is presenting it in a misleading way: before people worry, the "unknown" part is how the worker was exposed, the pathogen is good old fashioned Y. pestis which we understand extremely well and can treat just fine if caught early
5688207
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 04/10/2026
We just want healthcare
New York Times for today 
Superpowers race to put nuclear reactor on the moon
16532110
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 02/10/2026
> an increase in thin papers of narrow scope, as well as ‘salami’ papers, where a single work is broken up and submitted as a set of smaller papers. There is also a marked increase in dense, AI-written papers. AI tools are making it easy for authors to flood arXiv [and others with] low-value papers.
A histogram showing the incredible increase in submissions. 

> In September of 2016, arXiv received 9,869 submissions. In September of 2024, arXiv received 20,569 submissions. This September, arXiv received 40,363 submissions, which in turn generated almost 9,000 support tickets for arXiv staff and moderators. In only the past two years, submissions have doubled.
321662
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It is a subtle decorative choice, wrapping the body in mint green chiffon with a swirl of piping around the waist attached with bridging stitches. Early #1940s style, soft layers and sleeves that seem to fold into themselves #goldsteinmuseum #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
The front of a lower calf length dress of floaty pale green chiffon with short sleeves and a v neck. It has a panel of piped fabric at the centre of the waist that encircles the bodyBack view of the pale green chiffon early 1940s evening dress. The back is higher around the neck but the piped mid section continues from the frontA detail of the piping in the middle of the early 1940s pale green chiffon evening dress. It shows how the bridging stitches attach the green piping in a concentric patternSleeve detail of the early 1940s pale green chiffon evening dress which shows how the sleeve is folded into a soft draped shape
821528
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Ivan Hodes @chugachmtnblues.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The commissioning of the _USS Ted Stevens_ at Whittier, Alaska, 3 October 2026
1113
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
1️⃣ Alaska One of most important states this fall, no doubt: —Senate seat could flip, determine majority. —Dems hope to flip governorship, too. —An Indy is making a bid for US House. —Measure to repeal ranked-choice voting (again). —Bipartisan coalition seeks to keep legislature.
112947
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Today, Oct 4, is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi: the day when you can bring your pets to church for a blessing.
481435426
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Feena van @feenavan2099.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
"Before Stonehenge was raised, before Egypts first pyramid broke ground,before the Nazca people drew their famous lines across the Peruvian desert,someone in what is now southern Arizona shaped a 272-foot fish into the earth On April 23,2026,"a border-wall contractor drove heavy equipment across it"
gadgetreview.com
Trump's Border Wall Construction Destroys 6,500-Year-Old Arizona Geoglyph – Older Than Stonehenge
Arizona's 6,500-year-old Las Playas Intaglio, the oldest dated geoglyph in the Americas, was irreparably damaged by border wall construction in April 2026.
8419911231
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
people who got angry about those buddha statues should be even angrier about this
16859275
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Anchorage Daily News @adn.com · 04/10/2026
As the use of artificial intelligence to cheat is becoming increasingly common among students at the University of Alaska Anchorage, the UA Board of Regents will consider adoption of a document guiding AI use across the university system later this year. www.adn.com/alaska-news/...
adn.com
AI policy coming to University of Alaska as student misuse increases
Student use of the tools to cheat is a “steeply growing trend,” according to a report on generative AI use among UAA students.
241
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I didn't know folding old silverware like origami was an art form!
Culinary bird behind a wood block
523064
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
*taps sign*
lifeisasacredtext.com
A Jewish Case for AI work exemptions
or: why should CHICAGO POPE have all the fun
314218
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Quarantining every single person who had contact with that woman is a very smart thing. And Public health works when we let it.
1858
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Not a medical doctor, but a historian of medicine. Pneumonic plague is much more serious than bubonic plague. It's also much rarer. BUT, both are treatable with antibiotics if caught early. So, it's a scary story, but let's slow our roll a bit.
122544
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Douglas Natelson @nanoscaleviews.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
🧪⚛️ Some thoughts on the past and future of the arXiv, a genuinely remarkable repository for human knowledge. nanoscale.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-...
nanoscale.blogspot.com
The arXiv - where it's been and where it's going
Back in the ancient mists of time, scientists and mathematicians would circulate preprints of their articles among friends and colleagues vi...
1126
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.゚✿ ⋆ @sababausa.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Macabre Spooktober grotesquery: in July 1793, the National Convention voted to exhume & destroy all the kings of France from the crypt of Saint-Denis (roughly France’s Westminster Abbey) dating to the 7th c. Merovingians parishistoryofourstreets.com/2021/10/15/t... mavcor.yale.edu/conversation...
parishistoryofourstreets.com
The Desecration of the Basilica of Saint Denis: Part One
The horrifying history of what happened to 1,000+ years of royal remains during the French Revolution
1167
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Joshua Grochow @joshuagrochow.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
U Colorado Boulder Computer Science is hiring for three (3) tenure-track faculty positions in: - #Quantum Computing - #AI - Computer Architecture & Systems Links to each here: www.colorado.edu/cs/jobs Please help spread the word! #AcademicSky
colorado.edu
Jobs
Jobs Mailing ListThe Computer Science Department maintains a moderated Jobs Mailing List. The list is open to anyone, students, alumni and even the public at
078
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
tenuretracker.info @tenuretracker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
University of Washington is hiring: Assistant Professor in Statistics #assistantprofessor #statistics
112
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
John C. Baez @johncarlosbaez.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Rutherford's puzzle about 'Napoleon's theorem' was published in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴' 𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑟𝑦: 𝑜𝑟 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛'𝑠 𝐴𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑘. Interestingly, this woman's magazine was an important forum for math problems before more 'serious' math journals appeared in the UK in 1830.
Title and abstract of Teri Perl's paper "The Ladies' Diary or Woman's Alamack, 1704-1841", which is available here:

https://doi.org/10.1016/0315-0860(79)90103-4
0175
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Massimo (mirror) @rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
LEGO doors [📹 Brick Experiment Channel] Original post
013123
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
"You do know you fail more [dissertation] proposals than any other committee member" A postdoc. On multiple dissertation committees. You can't just find and replace professor with postdoc, homies.
3702
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Rick Thoman @alaskawx.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
High temperatures (ºF) in and around Alaska on Friday. Most of the region north of Alaska saw temperatures near or below freezing all day. A bit milder south of the Alaska Range and still above normal southern Yukon Territory. #akwx #weather
Map centered on Alaska showing site-specific high temperatures (ºF) on Friday, October 2, 2026. Plotted temperatures range from 10F at Toolik Lake, AK to 59F at Fort Laird, NT.
083
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Tim Chartier @timchartier.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
He painted the stars swirling and the sunflowers blazing. Here he is, made from both. #CreativeCoding #MathArt #GenerativeArt
081
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
But ice cream shops can’t give a free cone to someone with an “I voted” sticker
862231450
Leah Berman Williams @leahwrenn.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I wonder who's bothering to answer the phone anymore in Alaska -- so many "spam call" "political call" "surveys that are really push polls" that I think lots of folks have given up. I did get an Alaska Survey Research text poll the other day though, which I was excited to answer.
280
Reposted by Leah Berman Williams
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
literally in the next 48 hours! be aware!
5737488