Katharine the Geek 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 ❤️🧡🤍💜🩷
@katharinethegeek.bsky.social
Just your average queer scientist 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ 👭🏼. Wife, mom, teacher, anti-fascist. I solve nonlinear PDEs for food.
I'm sorry. Teaching is a great job, but there's so much BS to deal with.
December 2, 2025 at 6:51 AM
I'm sorry. Teaching is a great job, but there's so much BS to deal with.
That's so frustrating that your boss didn't back you up. I hope you're now in a more supportive environment.
My current dean, provost, and president are good folks. But our newly appointed chancellor is most definitely not.
My current dean, provost, and president are good folks. But our newly appointed chancellor is most definitely not.
December 2, 2025 at 6:42 AM
That's so frustrating that your boss didn't back you up. I hope you're now in a more supportive environment.
My current dean, provost, and president are good folks. But our newly appointed chancellor is most definitely not.
My current dean, provost, and president are good folks. But our newly appointed chancellor is most definitely not.
The DOGE algorithm scrapped grants involving transgenic mice and statistical bias. Such an algorithm applied to my undergrad physics degree would have flagged bias voltages and transition matrices. And then there are race conditions in multithreaded computing, and gender changers in circuits lab.
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 AM
The DOGE algorithm scrapped grants involving transgenic mice and statistical bias. Such an algorithm applied to my undergrad physics degree would have flagged bias voltages and transition matrices. And then there are race conditions in multithreaded computing, and gender changers in circuits lab.
Not sure if I'll stay. My wife and I both teach there, and have loved it. I'd like to outlast the current troubles and help rebuild, but we'll see.
December 2, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Not sure if I'll stay. My wife and I both teach there, and have loved it. I'd like to outlast the current troubles and help rebuild, but we'll see.
-- the main reason was the two-body problem -- but it was one of the things that got me looking beyond academia. I eventually went back to academia, this time at a university that's been steadily improving in quality... until this year when they surrendered to fascism. 4/
December 2, 2025 at 5:10 AM
-- the main reason was the two-body problem -- but it was one of the things that got me looking beyond academia. I eventually went back to academia, this time at a university that's been steadily improving in quality... until this year when they surrendered to fascism. 4/
That experience reinforced my respect for the chair and dean (both of whom were good people) but left me utterly disgusted by the upper administration. I was a young assistant professor enthusiastic about teaching. I left that university the next year. That one incident wasn't the only reason 3/
December 2, 2025 at 5:10 AM
That experience reinforced my respect for the chair and dean (both of whom were good people) but left me utterly disgusted by the upper administration. I was a young assistant professor enthusiastic about teaching. I left that university the next year. That one incident wasn't the only reason 3/
His mom called my department chair, who refused to change the grade. She then called the dean, who refused to change the grade. She the called the VP for academic affairs, who refused to change the grade... but agreed to waive his physical science requirement so he could graduate. 2/
December 2, 2025 at 5:10 AM
His mom called my department chair, who refused to change the grade. She then called the dean, who refused to change the grade. She the called the VP for academic affairs, who refused to change the grade... but agreed to waive his physical science requirement so he could graduate. 2/
I once failed a student who took only one of four tests and showed up for zero of the twelve lab sessions. He was a graduating senior, so gave me the "I really need to pass" speech. I refused to change his grade, so he had his mother call me. I still refused to change the grade. 1/
December 2, 2025 at 5:10 AM
I once failed a student who took only one of four tests and showed up for zero of the twelve lab sessions. He was a graduating senior, so gave me the "I really need to pass" speech. I refused to change his grade, so he had his mother call me. I still refused to change the grade. 1/
I think I could have been an economist, had I only gotten a lobotomy.
December 2, 2025 at 4:26 AM
I think I could have been an economist, had I only gotten a lobotomy.
The healthcare plan is coming right after infrastructure week, which will follow the release of trump's tax returns
December 2, 2025 at 4:23 AM
The healthcare plan is coming right after infrastructure week, which will follow the release of trump's tax returns
Not to mention the crimes they'll commit when miller and hegseth turn them loose on the US population.
December 2, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Not to mention the crimes they'll commit when miller and hegseth turn them loose on the US population.
Here's hoping we're not all trapped inside.
December 2, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Here's hoping we're not all trapped inside.
This discussion takes me back: I've not taught astronomy in 25 years. I did my PhD in astrophysics, then drifted into applied math. I'm a much better researcher in math than I was in astronomy and I love teaching math, but do miss having the opportunity to teach non-STEM majors about science.
December 2, 2025 at 2:32 AM
This discussion takes me back: I've not taught astronomy in 25 years. I did my PhD in astrophysics, then drifted into applied math. I'm a much better researcher in math than I was in astronomy and I love teaching math, but do miss having the opportunity to teach non-STEM majors about science.
but wasn't replicable when re-examined after Hubble's discovery of Cepheids. It seems that Kapteyn just saw what he expected to see when using his plate comparison setup. Kapteyn was certainly no fool, but he was human and therefore subject to confirmation bias.
December 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
but wasn't replicable when re-examined after Hubble's discovery of Cepheids. It seems that Kapteyn just saw what he expected to see when using his plate comparison setup. Kapteyn was certainly no fool, but he was human and therefore subject to confirmation bias.
Yes, I also did that one: Shapley-Curtis debate, Hubble's observation of Cepheids in M31, etc. It's a good case study, because some of the measurements were apparently just wrong: Kapteyn's detection of proper motions in spiral nebulae convinced Shapley that the spirals were nearby,
December 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Yes, I also did that one: Shapley-Curtis debate, Hubble's observation of Cepheids in M31, etc. It's a good case study, because some of the measurements were apparently just wrong: Kapteyn's detection of proper motions in spiral nebulae convinced Shapley that the spirals were nearby,
Bingo. Also, with no concept of inertia they didn’t understand how objects thrown in the air could keep up with the motion of the rotating earth rather than flying westward at about 1000 mph. Since that westward flight clearly doesn’t happen, the earth can’t rotate a full turn daily.
December 2, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Bingo. Also, with no concept of inertia they didn’t understand how objects thrown in the air could keep up with the motion of the rotating earth rather than flying westward at about 1000 mph. Since that westward flight clearly doesn’t happen, the earth can’t rotate a full turn daily.
Also important to note that the regents are political appointees.
December 2, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Also important to note that the regents are political appointees.
The Jack and Jill bath has three sinks, no toilet, and no tub. No biggie, they can use the baths in the mudroom and the toilet in the “coat bath”.
December 1, 2025 at 11:24 PM
The Jack and Jill bath has three sinks, no toilet, and no tub. No biggie, they can use the baths in the mudroom and the toilet in the “coat bath”.
If trump wants to be an absolute monarch a la Plantagenets, Tudors and Stuarts, he needs to go old-school and land with the first boat into Venezuela, armed with a sword, his retainers JD and Whiskey Pete at his side carrying the royal banner.
December 1, 2025 at 10:05 PM
If trump wants to be an absolute monarch a la Plantagenets, Tudors and Stuarts, he needs to go old-school and land with the first boat into Venezuela, armed with a sword, his retainers JD and Whiskey Pete at his side carrying the royal banner.
UPS kept bringing a signature-requiring order outside the scheduled delivery window. I stayed home a whole day instead of just the four hour window, and they didn’t come at all despite showing “out for delivery” on the tracker. Took about a week for it to arrive while was physically present to sign
December 1, 2025 at 9:38 PM
UPS kept bringing a signature-requiring order outside the scheduled delivery window. I stayed home a whole day instead of just the four hour window, and they didn’t come at all despite showing “out for delivery” on the tracker. Took about a week for it to arrive while was physically present to sign
Same here.
December 1, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Same here.
Having been the typical cocky physics major who thinks she's "good at math" because she can do differential equations and vector calculus in her sleep, my first homework on the Lebesgue integral got a well-deserved F. But that bad grade told me how much I had to learn, and eventually I got it.
December 1, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Having been the typical cocky physics major who thinks she's "good at math" because she can do differential equations and vector calculus in her sleep, my first homework on the Lebesgue integral got a well-deserved F. But that bad grade told me how much I had to learn, and eventually I got it.
Trans prof here, in a red state. Even though I teach in a rather uncontroversial field -- applied math -- and have tenure, funding, publications, teaching awards, etc, I'll be surprised if I'm not forced out within the year.
December 1, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Trans prof here, in a red state. Even though I teach in a rather uncontroversial field -- applied math -- and have tenure, funding, publications, teaching awards, etc, I'll be surprised if I'm not forced out within the year.
Every University of Google graduate knows that Newton's First Law of Motion is a hoax by Big Physics.
December 1, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Every University of Google graduate knows that Newton's First Law of Motion is a hoax by Big Physics.