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mathbug.bsky.social

@mathbug.bsky.social
16 followers 54 following 107 posts
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Yessssss, join the dark side…
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
She is lovely! Here’s a Northern Crab Spider only slightly annoyed that I disturbed her hiding spot.
A yellow spider with brown stripes and markings perches on an equally yellow petal of a black-eyed-susan flower. Unusually for a crab spider, she is covered in short brown bristly hairs all over.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Look I just really really want to know what the derivative of 3x^2 - 5x is, and I’m hoping maybe after ten years one of my freshman calculus students will finally tell me the answer once and for all.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Alt text in 2nd image is entirely correct, no notes
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Thanks for the description! A detail that makes this photo even better: the books on the bench are P.G. Wodehouse books, not his own. Presumably he’s referencing the character Lord Emsworth, whose dearest love is his prized sow the Empress of Blandings.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Definitely! (You can tell by the stack of P. G. Wodehouse books next to him!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Seriously how is she SO pretty?
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I dare you to sneak in one made-up term for every three real words used. Bonus if you catch another writer using your word within five years.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
They’re great to look at! So many colors, fun shapes, I’m delighted to have ‘em in my sketchbook. But why have we collectively decided to pretend that mushrooms are tasty and belong anywhere near our mouths? Some of them are horrifically toxic for gods’ sake! Tomatoes now, tomatoes are delicious.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
And I’m *trying*, I really am. I keep on gamely tasting them sauteed with garlic, deep fried, in a soup. Different kinds—my friend insisted that lion’s mane would have the flavor and texture of crab. Nope, stringy eraser.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
No, I’m pretty sure it’s *mushrooms* you’re thinking of. People are obsessed with them, restaurants keep trying to sneak them onto my pasta, everyone says they have a “wonderful nutty flavor”. No, those are nuts. Mushrooms taste like old gasoline and feel like I’ve bitten into an eraser.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Ok but wait, why haven’t I heard anything about this book? Is it out yet? If not, WHEN??? I must have! *grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you (but, y’know, respectfully)*
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Correction: your feet are the exact right amount warm for her comfort.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The whole time I was reading it I was like “I hope they meet Halla and Sarkis because Edmund and Halla will be INSTANT BEST FRIENDS while their boyfriends are trying to kill one another.”
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Are these aphids all clones birthed asexually? So yeah, xeroxed seems about right
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The MERL, banned??? I don’t think I could survive. Where am I going to get my chickens in trousers? AI could never.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
But, but…Are teachers not READING the writing their kids turn in? You can just SEE the em dash right there (and then praise the kid for using it correctly, or offer suggestions on how to do it better).
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
As a person who grew up in a Diet Pepsi household, I always ask for Diet Pepsi first, and make a said face if they offer Diet Coke instead. But I’ll drink it. Regular Pepsi and Coke are disgusting and I won’t drink it. so you are correct: Pepsi is never ok.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
You look at whatever freaky zombification thing that parasitoid wasp larva has done to that caterpillar and do not go “wow, evolution is amazing!” what are we even doing?
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
You look at a wasp and do not go “wow, that is the most elegant and perfectly designed creature in existence”, I question your judgement. You look at a caterpillar and do not find it cute, I question your soul.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Also these Cottonwood Dagger Moth caterpillars I’ve named Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
A large green leaf with big toothy margins, with a very fluffy, bright yellow caterpillar curled into a C shape. The caterpillar’s dark head can just barely be seen under the long, silky mass of highlighter-yellow hair. Along its back, the caterpillar has five long, thin tufts of black hair, stiffer than the yellow so that they stick out straight.A curled, partially eaten leaf of bigtooth aspen, occupied by another fluffy yellow caterpillar. This one is a paler yellow than the first, and its hair looks tousled. This one only has three black tufts of stiffer hair along its back, one near the head and two near the end.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
How about proto-moths? I was delighted to spot this Camouflaged Looper (aka Wavy-Lined Emerald) the other day. I’m going to try to rear it.
A large black-eyed Susan flower fills the frame, with yellow ray florets and a dark brown center. On the left side of the central disc is an arch of brown material, with ragged edges. It looks like a bit of debris, but is actually a tiny caterpillar covered in pieces of the brown florets from the center of the flower.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Wow, you can’t even see the most distant peaks because they’re artistically obscured by clouds. You should probably demand your money back.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
That’s funny, because I am gripped by the insatiable urge to read more books about bugs!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
I love your art so much, because I can see in it such love for your subjects! No one could so intimately depict the little fine lights and darks on the legs of a tiny hairstreak if they didn’t truly love the little creature, or capture that soft, quilted texture on those lilacs.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
I can see why painting this fine, fine detail can feel a bit like punishment, but I hope you are also deriving some joy and satisfaction from it, both while deep in the process, and afterwards having succeeded!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Ok, after a perusal of hairstreak species on iNat I’m going with green hairstreak, Callophrys rubi? It’s got those very subtle pale marks on the hindwing that you’ve carefully picked out.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Gotta be a Lycaenid, surely? I would go with a hairstreak rather than a blue, but I don’t know your European hairstreaks too well. Something with a lot of green on it, to go over that yellow underpainting?
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Because each one is a teeny bit different, and it is such a joy to discover and evoke those variations? But meanwhile I am just rubbing my hands in anticipation of our little lepidopteran friend at the top! Are you saving them for last, as a treat?
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
WOW! Those are some seriously impressive antennae. Love a longhorn!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Ooh ooh, me next!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Oh no no nonono!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Ohhhhhh Tilda Swinton would be fantastic as Vivian!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
I get very nervous about books I LOVE being made into tv shows, but hearing the author say the filmmaker really gets the book gives me confidence!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
OMG YES
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Infinity comes in different sizes. But also, there are as many numbers between 0 and 1 as there are numbers.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Usually they take the bus for the legroom, but sometimes Mary insists on carrying the others in her carpetbag.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Miss Frizzle, Mary Poppins, Santa, and Doc Brown travel around together delivering presents, making children’s lives weirder and/or better, learning about the water cycle, and trying to steal the almanac back from Biff.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
And it was GREAT and I very much appreciated that the *black vultures* were on the side of Good which is accurate because vultures are Perfect Creatures. And then I got the paperback which has the most beautiful cover art I’ve ever seen, so it all worked out.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
“It’s set in North Carolina and T. Kingfisher knows her birds, SURELY that cover is a mistake…UNLESS? Maybe it’s a PLOT POINT that a griffin vulture or whatever is on the wrong continent?…” and I agonized over it ‘round and ‘round until I finally decided to just read the damn thing and find out.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Well ok, at the risk of giving offense, the one I almost Did Not START was A House With Good Bones, because I kept looking at the cover and thinking, “It’s gotta be turkey vultures or black vultures, right? It can’t be an Old World vulture like is CLEARLY in that silhouette, surely.”
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I treasure that story close to my heart! I especially appreciate how Mercedes Lackey had clearly read up on Monty Roberts’ techniques, and was like “OR maybe a pair of magically smart giant mares could just squash him till his eyes pop out.”
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
YOU! You are SMART! Actually, I can think of just the spot, with some lovely old trees and lots of tiny white flowers (starflowers, for the next few weeks anyway). The mosquitos are dire, but it might be worth it.
Three white starflowers in a line going up the image. The small flowers have seven pointed white petals and a spray of white stamens in the center with yellow anthers at the ends. The flowers rise on delicate stems out of a whorl of green, pointed leaves.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Oh no, oh no, oh no, I usually try to resist these fancy special editions, but when the cover looks like someone has actually READ the book…oh no… Welp, at least I’ll have a second copy so I can lend one to all my friends!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
So yeah, same!
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I read it in two days, suffered in agony for several weeks because I couldn’t read it for the first time ever again, lent it to a friend, took it back so I could read it again, and just last week bought the audiobook which is SO PHENOMENAL that it IS like reading it again for the first time.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
(The author did acknowledge ain’t no way a knight in armor is traipsing all over the country with just ONE horse, even without carrying a second person, but she just had to write it that way for the aesthetic.)
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Her companion has no seat on a horse, especially riding double, and she is sparing poor Hen the agony.
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I did at least appreciate in @alixeharrow.bsky.social ’s The Everlasting that the knight explains why they are taking the route along smooth roads through hostile villages, instead of game trails through countrysides:
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mathbug.bsky.social @mathbug.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
I haven’t heard red-winged blackbirds yet here in NY, but my backyard cardinals have started singing! They don’t migrate, but they’re pretty quiet in the winter. Soon I’ll be able to complain about them waking me up at 4am again! ☺️
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