Yair Mau

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.

triceratops, obviously

I got one of those CO2 meters everyone is talking about and was horrified to learn that the CO2 levels in my home and office are fine and that I cannot easily boost my intellectual abilities by opening a window. Stuck with coffee for now.

A linguistics professor was lecturing his class. "In English, a double negative is a positive. In some languages, like Russian, a double negative is still a negative. But, there is no language wherein a double positive can be a negative." A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."

@bnuyaminim.bsky.social I'm fascinated by this construction, where "et" is omitted before a definite direct object. was this optional in biblical Hebrew?

I make no distinction: reading is about engaging with the ideas, not about the medium

@jfriedman.bsky.social evolution as a phase transition