iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 21/09/2026

Wrapped up a short trip to DC with a visit to the Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to the United States so I could apply for my Luxembourg passport and ID card.

A middle-aged bald white man with a goatee wearing a gray shirt. He stands in front of a European-style building flying the flags of the EU, Luxembourg, and Ukraine.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 22/08/2026

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

Screenshot of wisc.edu from February 2000. Link in upper left for text only version. Images are small and low res, but links go to the same things you’d find on the homepage today.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 02/08/2026

Yes, I did a thing with my hair (or lack thereof) about a month ago. I like it. That’s not the point here. Today I visited the grave of my great great great grandfather Nicholas Steffen in Platteville, WI.

A middle-aged white man with a shaved head and sunglasses in a cemetery. He holds a Luxembourg flag and a piece of paper with a lion rampant on it. Behind him is a gravestone with the name Nicholas Steffen.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 23/06/2026

I have Josiah (Jed) Bartlet and Leo Thomas McGarry. Jed doesn’t really have a silly nickname, although sometimes I do call him my chonky boy. Leo has this very squeaky meow, so he often gets called Squeaky. If Lord John Marbury made an appearance, he would undoubtedly call him Gerald.

Josiah Bartlet (the cat) is a gray tabby who is sleepy and on my lap with his eyes just barely open. Leo is not pictured because he has climbed the cat tree for bed already.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 26/05/2026

Cappadocia is magical! This was the view from my hotel rooftop this morning. Back in Istanbul for a couple more days before heading home.

A colorful sunrise sky filled with hot air balloons floating over rooftops in Göreme, Cappadocia.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 12/04/2026

Spent five nights in Budapest during Spring Break, leaving on April 2nd. Hungary is a wonderful country, and as a mathematician, I have had more opportunities than most Americans to get to know Hungarians. (My academic brother is Hungarian and my office neighbor at UW is as well.)

View of the Hungarian parliament building at night, from the Buda side of the Danube. Photo taken from my hotel window, actually 😁

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 29/01/2026

🤦‍♂️ Sadly, there were 44 comments before mine, and I was the first to point out that this is nonsense.

$A screenshot of a Facebook post from the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Text reads “At Georgia Tech, triple integrals aren’t just homework; they’re jump scares.” The image in the post is a triple integrals on a white background enclosed by a gold rectangle. The integral is \int_{-1}^1 \int_0^z \int_{x-z}^{x+z} (x+y+z) dx dy dz.$

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 26/12/2025

Lefse! Norwegian potato-based flatbread. This year, we got 53 lefse from 10lb of potatoes, and with two of us working, it took four hours.

Rolled lefse on a rolling board along with a lefse turning stick with a handle painted blue and yellow. In the background are three discs of dough waiting, a sifter, and a cloth-covered rolling pin.

Lefse cooking on a griddle. A lefse turning stick rests on the griddle’s handle and a festive mug sits next to the griddle.

Cooked lefse piled on a flour sack towel to cool.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 26/12/2025

Festive baking! Dessert after Christmas dinner tonight was @americastestkitchen.com Mini Peanut-Praline Chocolate Pies. Three fun techniques: mini pie shells baked on inverted muffin tin, hard caramel + peanut butter in food processor for praline, and namelaka (~ganache with gelatin).

Seven mini pies on a platter. The pies have a ganache-like topping piped in various patterns on top. The platter sits on a festive placemat and some holiday greenery is in the background.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 20/10/2025

last November. I’ll include a little video here with a snippet of @jbpritzker.bsky.social’s remarks to the crowd. Wish I’d recorded when he got us all to yell “We love America! We love Chicago!” as a counter to the allegations it would be a hate America rally.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 20/10/2025

In July, I planned to spend this weekend in Chicago because I wanted to attend Open House Chicago and see Sarah Millican. I booked a tower room at Pendry Chicago in the iconic Carbide and Carbon Building. It was lovely weekend, and I’m glad that I was able to manage my Charlottesville 2017 PTSD

View from the choir loft at St Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Chicago. There are marble columns on the side with the upper walls and ceilings adorned with paintings of biblical scenes. The altar sits below a stained glass window.

Pre-show shot of Chicago’s 1889 Auditorium Theatre. The backdrop on the stage says Sarah Millican Late Bloomer.

View from the 27th floor of the Carbide and Carbon Building in Chicago. Most of the view is other skyscrapers, but a bit of the Chicago River and the Tribune Building’s tower are visible in the distance.

No Kings (October 2025) rally in Chicago. A wide range of people are standing with their backs to the camera listening to the speaker. The Chicago skyline is visible in the distance.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 22/07/2025

Yesterday I went and picked blueberries at a local farm. Tonight I made jammy fruit bars with them. Soooo good! Recipe: www.seriouseats.com/jammy-fruit-...

A rectangular Tupperware container filled with a dozen square bar cookies. The bars are golden brown, filled with fresh blueberries, and the topping and crust contain rolled oats.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 11/03/2025

It is offensive that a week and a half after shuttering important, identity-based resource centers including the LGBTQ Resource Center and Women’s Resource Center that Georgia Tech would ask for money and use the word “pride” in their request.

Screenshot of a text message that reads:
Mitch, you were part of a historic Georgia Tech Giving Day last year raising $852,258! Help reach even greater heights this year and ensure Georgia Tech's continued success for years to come, taking pride in knowing it's funded by you. Give

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 09/02/2025

Spent the weekend in San Francisco. Had a little time to go out and shoot some photos, too. Alt text will give more information on location.

View looking down California St in San Francisco at sunset. A trolley is coming up the hill and the Bay Bridge is visible between the buildings.

Ceiling of the Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco. Light is coming through the stained glass and casting red light on the left side of the triangulated, geometric ceiling.

Looking up from the ground to the skylight above the spiral staircase of the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco

View of the Ferry Bullding, clock tower, and skyline by night in San Francisco from Pier 1. The Port of San Francisco sign is illuminated in red and casts a glow on the water.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 25/12/2024

I don’t think I’ve made this for six years, but glad to whip it up again. @americastestkitchen.com’s Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake! You start with a flourless chocolate cake as the base mousse, then make a chocolate mousse and finally a white chocolate mousse. A tiny slice is plenty!

A slice of triple chocolate mousse cake on a plate in front of a window. Distinct layers of dark chocolate, more milky chocolate, and then white chocolate are viewed from the side.

Flourless chocolate cake in a springform pan. The cake is risen in this photo but collapses before being topped with the next layer.

Triple chocolate mousse cake in a springform pan so the middle chocolate layer is visible.

Top view of triple chocolate mousse cake in springform pan. The white chocolate layer is visible.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 15/11/2024

I don’t think I’d call those buttons at the top of every page anything close to inconspicuous. Pretty sure the adoption reports don’t go to the author either, as I’ve never gotten one. (My book isn’t NC, but I can’t imagine they do anything different based on that.)

Screenshot of a book on LibreTexts.org. It shows the title of a book section above prominent buttons including one to Donate. The authors’ names are immediately below with affiliations inverted and outdated. The authors are not affiliated with LibreTexts and have never gotten a penny that has been donated to this unethical site.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 11/11/2024

Today was a “bake your feelings” sort of day. A few weeks back, I went to help pick cider apples for The Cider Farm in Mineral Point. I was paid in apple brandy and cider but also got some French pastry apples. Today some of them went into the McDonald’s apple turnovers from BraveTart. Delicious!

Two homemade apple turnovers on a white plate.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 29/09/2024

North Dakota doesn’t have voter registration, so they don’t need to check. Many states have Election Day voter registration. So, yeah, if your state has registration and doesn’t have EDR, then check regularly and also advocate to join the states that have EDR to simplify things.

A US map showing the states with Election Day registration (WA, CA, ID, MT, CO, UT, WY, NM, MN, IA, WI, IL, MI, VA, MD, CT, NH, VT, ME, HI). NC is marked in a different color since same-day registration is allowed for early voting but not on Election Day.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 16/09/2024

Oh, look, I did make it into the first million users! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Celebrating 10 million BlueSky users and @mitchkeller.bsky.social is #868,251. He joined on Sept 5, 2023 and is in the first 10%.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 25/08/2024

New semester is almost here (still a week and a half for us), but that meant I needed to visit Teasider and stock up on teas. I’m always amazed when the owner recognizes me even though I get in there like every six months. Need to try to go more often!

Five bags of tea from Teasider in Madison, WI. Golden green, masala chai, and cabin chai in large bags. Smaller bags of white swan raw puerh and dark peony oolong.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 24/01/2024

The US Embassy in London posted this on the bad place. The closing line is amazing.

UNITED
STATES EMBASSY
LONDON
January 24, 2024
United States Embassy Press Release
Today's media reports of an American Professor's recipe for the "perfect" cup
of tea has landed our special bond with the United Kingdom in hot water.
Tea is the elixir of camaraderie, a sacred bond that unites our nations. We
cannot stand idly by as such an outrageous proposal threatens the very
foundation of our Special Relationship.
Therefore we want to ensure the good people of the UK that the unthinkable
notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States
policy. And never will be.
Let us unite in our steeped solidarity and show the world that when it comes
to tea, we stand as one.
The U.S. Embassy will continue to make tea in the proper way by
microwaving it.

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Mitch Keller @mitchkeller.phd · 24/11/2023

The spot I see it in Madison is at this intersection. Most cyclists are on bike path on NW side of University. We get green bike signal when walk signal is on. They’ve had to put up a giant no right on red illuminated sign here to keep drivers from turning across bike lane on red when we have green.

Satellite image of the intersection of University Ave and Spring Harbor Dr in Madison, WI. A bike path runs along the NW side of University Ave.

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