iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 17/10/2026

The other day I was remembering how, when I was about 7 or 8 years old, I would go to the library and check out books on native American culture. That got me thinking about that library, and wondered if there were good pictures of it around, since it is no […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

The front of a small brick building, the Bennett Library building. It looks like a small church, with steeple and large stained glass window.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026

Decent ride today around the north part of Lake Washington. #cycling #bike

A green-yellow bicycle leaning again railings adjacent to Lake Washington. Old rotting pilings extend out into the lake. Beyond is north Seattle and clear sky.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

Crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows crows.

A view looking upward at a building under construction. Along the top is a wooden rail with many crows. The building is covered in a bright yellow material. One crows is in flight.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

Found a house for sale on my walk home today. Asking $1.5 million for the house, and yet they can't get their brochures printed correctly...

A two-sided flyer for a house for sale showing four images of the house. One image is overlaid with text. The text reads:
ERROR: ioerror
OFFENDING COMMAND: image
STACK:
-dictionary-

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026

I felt like riding down to the waterfront today.

Handmade panoramish photo of part of Seattle's waterfront, with Puget Sound on the left and lots of railroad tracks on the right.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

I wanted some kraft paper to wrap some artwork. The artwork is more than 3'x3', and I found 4' wide paper that I thought would do the trick. Without thinking too deeply, I bought 600' of it. Turns out, the roll weighs about 50 pounds, not super easy to manage […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

A 4' long roll of paper suspended using a broom handle and three books on each end.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 12/09/2026

This is one of my favorite things I've ever made. I made it in 2000 as a member of the video art group Paul Harvey Oswald. This video was for the On The Waterfront festival in Rockford, Illinois. The audio sample is from a fantastic LP I have that was created […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

I just read Man Bites Man, a book of drawings/cartoons by various artists from 1981. A lot of ho-hum, but I thought this piece by Ralph Steadman, "Ecology Lesson", was worth sharing. archive.org/details/manbitesmantwod… #drawing #books #reading #ralphSteadman

A black and white pen-and-ink drawing. A child sits in front of a screen. The child's face is distorted as though burned or mutilated. There are wires connecting the child's face and head to the screen. Text on the screen reads: "Hi Kid!! Today, I'm gonna learn you about nature". To the left is a tree with a bird, a single musical note indicates the bird is singing.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026

Rode my fairly usual, flat, dull (but completely car-traffic-less) ~70k ride today and tacked on a few more k by riding through the UW campus (where I teach and do other things). There's this nice fountain on campus. #cycling #bike

A yellow bicycle in front of a large circular pool of water in the center of which are several fountains shooting water into the air in nice arcs. Behind can be seen nice old campus buildings.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2026

Did a short ride today. I rode to Fisherman's Terminal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishermen's_T… and rode to the end of the dock. I like seeing the variety of ships there (mostly commercial fishing boats, as far as I know). It's particularly nice to […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

A bicycle on a dock. The bicycle is in the foreground. In the background is a ship, the Glacier Bay.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 06/08/2026

Being stuck inside with the windows closed for smoke-filled, hot air consistently triggers my anxiety and hypertension. To make myself feel better, I made another animation from a Library of Congress stereograph. This time, of an elephant. More on my website […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

I noticed that I can download all (or a big chunk of) my data on Movielens, the site where I rate movies (a free service of the University of Minnesota). So I downloaded the two relevant files and thought, as always, R will make quick work of this. I think […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

A scatter plot of "movie release year" versus "year rated".

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 01/07/2026

I found a Stellar's jay feather today. We get quite a few Steller's jays around here in Seattle. They are very pretty, and make the least pleasant bird sound I know of (like a crow's caw, but much harsher). #birds #feather #StellarsJay

A close-up photograph of a Stellar's jay feather lying on the ground. It is a deep blue with several black latitudinal bands.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 01/07/2026

I have a new chapbook. It's straight-up mathematical visualization, this time of the squares and cubes modulo n for n=2 to n=200. I have more description on my blog: www.madandmoonly.com/hhh Send me your postal address and I'll mail you one! I think […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

Front cover of a chapbook titled "Squares and Cubes Modulo n" with the author's name, Matthew M. Conroy, below it.

A page of a chapbook showing circular figures, each numbered. Around the circle are radial "stacks" of small circles in various places.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 22/06/2026

I'm feeling out of sorts tonight, so I fell back on my usual thing: making an animated gif from LOC stereograph images. Source and more animations on my website: www.madandmoonly.com/doctormatt/ste… #animation #stereographs

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 14/06/2026

The campus libraries have a very large open cardboard box on one of the loading docks on campus. They are filling it with hardcover books they are removing from their collections. Discarding books makes me sad, as I can't get over my love of physical books […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

Stamped message on the inside of the front cover of a library book which reads "No longer property of the University of Washington Libraries"

Title page of the book Harold Pinter: Complete Works: Two
with the title and the list of plays below it:
THE CARETAKER
THE DWARFS
THE COLLECTION
THE LOVER
NIGHT SCHOOL
REVUE SKETCHES:
Trouble in the Works
The Black and White
Request Stop
Last to Go
Special Offer
With an introduction: “Writing for Myself”

Title page of a book:

Library of Applied Analysis and Computational Mathematics
THE APPLICATION OF
CONTINUED FRACTIONS AND THEIR
CENERALIZATIONS TO PROBLEMS
IN APPROXIMATION THEORY
by
ALEXEY NIKOLAEVITCH KHOVANSKII
Translateq by
PETER WYNN

Page near front of a books with a typed message:
Be fair to others
Who might also want to use this book
Be sure
It is properly checked out
Before you take it from the library

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 16/05/2026

Oh no! Seattle graffitists are so high on dairy products, they've lost the ability to spell! #graffiti

The edge of a wall graffitied with "walnet apple vanllia ice cream" (sic) in black marker on gray paint. On the right past the edge of the wall are several concrete steps going up and a handrail.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 10/05/2026

A good 55km ride today with a fair amoung bit of gravel. I didn't get a picture on the route, so here is my bike in the alley behind my house, with the rhododendron and white rose (I think...) that just grow like this without my doing anything. Also, there's […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

A green-yellow bicycle leans against a retaining wall in an alley. The yard behind the retaining wall is full of plants, including bright pink rhododendron flowers and white roses (I think: the stems are thorny in a very similar way to the way rose plants are thorny).

A screenshot of Strava data showing fastest times on a descent near Seattle.
Rank Name Date Speed HR Power Time
1 Matt Conroy Nov 8, 2025 43.3 km/h 115 bpm — 1:25
1 Matt Conroy Apr 5,2026 43.3 km/h 113 bpm — 1:25
1 Matt Conroy May 9, 2026 43.3 km/h 119 bpm — 1:25
4 Matt Conroy Oct 5,2023 42.8 km/h 115 bpm — 1:26
5 Matt Conroy Apr13,2024 42.3 km/h 117 bpm — 1:27
6 Matt Conroy Sep 13,2024 41.8km/h — — 1:28

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 29/04/2026

I did an easy ride to Fisherman's Terminal today. They got big boats there. It was my first ride in weeks; I've been sick with some serious lung thing, but I think I'm better now. It was helpful that I wanted to get 1000 km YTD by the end of the month, and […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

A bicycle leans against a crane control pillar(?) on the edge of a dock. A large boat, the Titan Explorer is in the water in the background. A large line connects the boat to the dock. The sky is cloudy and water is gray.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 22/04/2026

My win for this Tuesday. How are you doing today?

Medical report printout that says:
Here are the diagnoses that we discussed today:
1. Acute cough
2 Wheezing
Chest xray does not show pneumonia.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 02/04/2026

I ask my students to fill out a get-to-know-you survey at the start of the quarter. This is one student's answer to one question. I don't know what it means but I love it.

A screenshot of an answer to a survey question.

Question 6

A word that describes how you feel about this class at the moment is

Your Answer:

Fragrance

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 28/03/2026

[bloody lip, open mouth] My lip not infrequently splits. zine permission granted #photography #monochromeMarch #monochrome #blackAndWhite

A close-up, black-and-white photograph of a lower lip which is split and bleeding. The mouth is open and teeth can be seen.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 21/03/2026

Cherry blossoms on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. As much as I like the trees, I love that so many other people like the trees and come to campus each spring just to see them. Hand-made panorama. #photography #panorama #cherryBlossoms

A panorama of the "quad" on the University of Washington campus in Seattle showing a bunch of cherry trees in bloom. Paths go off in several directions from the vantage point, and there are many people standing around enjoying the trees.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 15/03/2026

[food] Having a horseradish and peanut butter sandwich again. It's nice!

A small plate with two slices of bread. One is covered with peanut butter, the other with horseradish sauce. The plate lies on a bright orange-red countertop.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 14/03/2026

We haven't had any snow this winter in Seattle until today. It was nice to see. I always like how the view out my back window makes it look like I live in a forest (with a neighbor or two). Trees are great!

View out a window at lots of trees covered with a bit of snow. A white roof of a nearby snow-covered house is in the center.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 11/03/2026

A dried rose that's been helping me wash the dishes for over a year. #flower #bloomscrolling #rose #photography

A close-up of a dried rose showing layers of petals in a circular/spiral pattern. The coloring is kind of magenta-to-yellow/brown pastiche.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 11/03/2026

We planted plum trees on my street many years ago, thanks to a neighbor who spearheaded the idea. Now they bloom every spring. I usually try to get an image of, essentially, the whole street of trees, but I failed to get a decent one this year. I fall back on […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

Plum blossoms: small light pink flowers with five petals and many stamens.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 01/03/2026

A little longer ride today. It was so windy coming across the 520 bridge (across Lake Washington) that I stopped to take a picture. #seabikes #cycling

A yellow-green bicycle leaning against a railing on a bridge over Lake Washington. Behind is the lake, very blue, with the surrounding land in the distance.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 27/02/2026

A windy ride today. Crossed the Sammamish river twice, as I often do. #cycling

A green-yellow bicycle leaning again a fence on a bridge over a river. The river extends into the distance behind, with brown winter vegetation on both banks, left and right.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 15/02/2026

Easy ride down to the waterfront again after a rough week. #seabikes #cycling

A green-yellow bicycle leaning against a fence. It the background is Puget Sound with a large ship nearby. A bit of sky with puffy clouds shows at the top of the picture.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 12/02/2026

It continues to amaze me that I have this thing in my chest. It's a stent keeping my aorta nice and open; I have congenital heart defects, and the stent is helping out with that. (X-ray from Monday: it's been a week...).

A chest xray. The curious feature is a large stent in the descending aorta. It appears as a cylindrical-ish metal mesh.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 05/02/2026

I may be just a wanna-be randonneur, but I like my kit. #randonneur #sir #cycling

An old man in the pink cycling kit of the Seattle Randonneurs in front of a retaining wall against which leans a yellow-green bicycle.

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 05/01/2026

Bike parts replacement time! My old rear derailleur guide pulley on the right and its brand-new replacement on the left (with the cute little twist-tie to hold its guts in). Sixteen years of wear, but it was shifting fine... Still, it's nice to replace worn […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

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Matthew Conroy @matthewconroy.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 31/12/2025

My annual contribution to nonsense data visualization: km ridden plus book pages read, by year. #nonsense #dataVisualization #reading

A plot of my km ridden plus pages read versus year. The years range from 2010 to 2025. The y values are all in the range 9000-21000. Each data point is a black filled circle and there are black line segments connecting the data points chronologically.

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