Nathanael
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Nathanael
@nzgray.com
Reposted by Nathanael
Today is #HobbitDay because both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins were born on September 22nd. Normally we'd shire a hobbit pun or two but it might just feel like a tolkien gesture and we don't want to embarrass our elves. Anyway come and boromir #Tolkien books.
September 22, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Nathanael
The new pope has a maths degree.

Finally—a Pontiff who really knows his cardinal numbers
May 9, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Nathanael
This is *why* retrospective laws are objectionable in principle. Law must be prospective so you can plan your life according to it.

Which is what claimant groups, employers, and public servants have done for years.

All in the bin in under 24 hours. Millions of dollars worth of work on all sides.
My dedicated friend, who works as a mediator, popped in this evening. She's two or three years deep in a pay equity claim with one group. The news that it was all meaningless came through while they were actually meeting today.
May 6, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Reposted by Nathanael
Wrote about this many years ago on Twitter, but your actual goal should be 5 trains/buses an hour - so a 12 minute interval.

This breaks a couple of important psychological barriers for people, based on research by TfL (London's transport operator). Will explain. 🧵 /1
If it’s not more convenient than driving, it will always be your second option.
May 1, 2025 at 6:30 AM
I know it is just encoded into the base prompt of the LLM but I can't help by getting a little kick of good-student-satisfaction every time it tells me "Excellent question." 😂
March 18, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by Nathanael
This is how we could do things.
We visited Forest Lodge Orchard in Otago, New Zealand where they grow cherries.
Big deal I hear you scoff, but hold up. They burn zero fuel to grow many tons of cherries each year.
They are 100% electric, and about 80% solar powered.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhnU...
The World's First Fully Electric Farm!
YouTube video by Everything Electric Show
www.youtube.com
February 12, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Nathanael
From todays’s extra edition of “We’re Here”:
November 7, 2024 at 3:00 AM
Reposted by Nathanael
I've tutored and TA'd for students who 'hated maths' right up until someone just explained the thing to them and THEN asked them to do the thing rather than the other way around.

#kikorangi
Maths teaching fails pupils by ignoring cognitive science findings
From the University of Auckland: We have to prioritise the science of learning over political expediency, to revitalise the mathematics curriculum and its teaching, argues Dr Tanya Evans
newsroom.co.nz
April 10, 2024 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Nathanael
obviously it was pea-hacking
No-one has ever been able to replicate Gregor Mendel's observations of pea plants. They're a little "too perfect", lacking even random statistical noise that would have been expected from small sample sizes.

The big question: was it scientific fraud?

(Art: Harald Ritsch)
March 1, 2024 at 10:55 PM