Owen Biesel
@owenbiesel.bsky.social
Math prof, dad, gardener, knitter, cyclist, community member, friendly introvert. he/him 🏳️🌈 Also on mastodon as @owenbiesel@mathstodon.xyz
created April 24, 2024
585 followers 529 following 302 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
I move factors over from the 24 to the 15: 15 x 24 = 15 x 6 x 4 = 90 x 4 = 360. Seeing a nice result I double-check with an angle I know: 15 x 24 = 15 x 3 x 8 = 45 x 8 and 45 degrees is indeed an eighth of a whole circle!
Ruthanna Emrys (@r-emrys.bsky.social) reposted
Flag-raising for Leiden Pride! About the right level of Pride intensity for our household of queer introverts.
bettybarcode (@bettybarcode.bsky.social) reposted
Gentrification is what we call it when demand exceeds supply. It is not caused by bike lanes. The answer is not to suppress demand by enshittifying cities, or to justify endangering & killing people outside of cars as a rent control mechanism, but to increase supply.
AM (@skchicago.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
A few months ago someone on social media offered the best question to ask yourself when doing a purge: if it had poop on it, would you clean it or get rid of it? 🤣 It made my spring cleaning purge so easy 🤓
derek van vliet (@derek.bike) reposted
here’s a version where the POV is blacked out whenever the driver takes their eyes off the road
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 (@chanda.bsky.social) reposted
The thing is, every time you defend Newsom as a great candidate and what “we” need, you’re telling trans people that you’re willing to throw them under the bus You can sit in my mentions and whine about how I’m criticizing Newsom too much and I will continue to highlight how your transphobia sucks
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Happy Birthday! Congratulations on making the cupcake happen and I'm sorry the taste test will have to be another time.
Susan Kaye Quinn is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱 (@susankayequinn.bsky.social) reposted
time to email your governor and tell them to step TF up regarding vaccines
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
I think the biggest hint may have been the personality... I didn't see it coming though.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks for the recommendation!
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social)
Hive mind: Where do you go to get photos printed (or where do you order prints from online)? I used to use Target, Walgreens, or CVS, but the quality got so bad it wasn't even worth the few cents per print. (Plus I haven't shopped at Target since the boycott started.)
Brent Toderian (@brenttoderian.bsky.social) reposted
One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.
Brent Toderian (@brenttoderian.bsky.social) reposted
“Over the past 20 years, Paris has undergone a major physical transformation, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces. Part of the payoff has been invisible — in the air itself.” Leadership, strategy, real action, common sense. #Paris
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
YES
Janne K. Flisrand (@jannefrommpls.bsky.social) reposted
I mail hand-knit baby booties to new-parent friends. I'm outside of the US, and postal services here won't deliver even these packages to the US because of tariff policies
Lizzie Kodpuak née Acid Lich (Gröbnerpilled era) (@acidlich.bsky.social) reposted
Homotopy tycoon
The War on Cars (@thewaroncars.bsky.social) reposted
For no particular reason, we're thinking of cafe locks... those simple locks one finds on most Dutch bicycles where the keys stay in when its unlocked so you don't lose them.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Or the derivative of your executive function! (I'll see myself out.)
clarabiesel.bsky.social (@clarabiesel.bsky.social) reposted
Over half of this year's global health funding has been approved but not spent. Contact your reps here to urge them to keep our Global Health Funding from Expiring: nwmd.social/s/copylink/4...
Leah Berman Williams (@leahwrenn.bsky.social) reposted
This sounds right up my alley, but I tried The Poppy War and had to bounce because I just couldn’t with the unrelenting horrors of war. Does anyone know, is this lighter/less grim?
Alison Stenning (@alisonstenning.bsky.social) reposted
The last of the completed North Shields 800 murals, “Spirit of Shields” at North Shields FC’s stadium, by Mark One87, who worked with local Phoenix Detached Youth Project to workshop and prepare the mural wall. More here: ilovenorthshields.com/elevation-mu... Two more murals to come, I think.
Josh McLaurin (@joshforgeorgia.bsky.social) reposted
I took this picture myself at the CDC protest today. These are among the hundreds of bullet holes in CDC headquarters windows, visible from the street. I heard today that the admin has no urgent plan to fix these windows. Imagine being a CDC employee going to work under these conditions
America Walks (@americawalks.bsky.social) reposted
👟✨💵 Your community needs a new crosswalk or a street safety redesign... How do you define the project — and where do you find funding to bring it to life? From governmental to non-governmental funding sources, we've got you covered! ➡️ buff.ly/K4j9q8k
Kate Lowe (she/hers) (@kateontransport.bsky.social) reposted
I would love for us to collectively push back at routine competition and rankings in academia including this that becomes another lever for extractive labor practices amid constant neoliberal projects in universities...
Alex von Tunzelmann (@alexvont.bsky.social) reposted
If you have published anything, please consider doing this. The window is closing and you should get your details registered now for a chance at a settlement. The form works wherever in the world you are based.
clarabiesel.bsky.social (@clarabiesel.bsky.social) reposted
You guys. Have you seen that many countries are no longer delivering mail to the US? www.msn.com/en-us/money/... Including NL. 😭
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
This is also my stance.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
"For any" is another one that people have strong conflicting opinions about!
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks so much!
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Thank you!
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social)
Hey #BikeSky, does anyone have a short op-ed on a biking-related topic that you think first-year college students should read? @clarabiesel.bsky.social
Soapy (@soapy2019.bsky.social) reposted
Thomas Deininger uses plastic waste to create sculptures,or should I say,works of Genius!!!!!!
Five Books - Expert Book Recommendations (@fivebooks.com) reposted
NEW: "Solarpunk...focuses on how we can make the world better: how we can thrive and adapt in the world that we are headed into" Sarena Ulibarri recommends the best solarpunk books: fivebooks.com/best-books/t...
Tom Flood (@tomflood.bsky.social) reposted
preparation
Prisonculture (@prisonculture.bsky.social) reposted
The first thing everyone in this country who is anti-fascist can do now is to join something where people are already gathering to address any issue. Can't find anything you want to join, then make your own thing and invite people to join you. This is not a time for Lone Rangers.
Tom Broderick (@trumbullbrod.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
And if you’re in Connecticut and interested in parking reform, check out @ctparkingreform.bsky.social and our website! ctparkingreform.org
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Noooo! I'm so sorry.
emly in minneaparis (@eeewade.bsky.social) reposted
I love the state fair & I love this @streets.mn article by @blindeke.bsky.social from 2018 streets.mn/2018/08/27/s...
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
The timing logic seems to be "It's too unsafe to let bikes go whenever anyone else has a green, so the bikes have to get their own phase. But that would slow everyone else down so the bike phase only lasts two seconds." Somehow that doesn't apply to simultaneous car greens and ped walk signs.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
We have signals like these on the main bike route downtown. It's frustrating because the bike signals don't even activate every cycle, so you have to hope the sensor can see you (it usually doesn't).
Noah Giansiracusa (@profnoahgian.bsky.social) reposted
I now have a speaking agent! If you think your organization (company, non-profit, university, library, school, etc.) might benefit from hearing about one of the topics below, click this link to learn more and book me! Or pass the link on to a friend: www.pandelectures.com/noah-giansir...
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
One of my biggest takeaways from the past year is a trio of observations that together make a coping mechanism I feel good about: 1. Taking action feels so much better than looking away. 2. Even small acts of resistance stave off helplessness. 3. Small actions make bigger actions easier.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Is it this one? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oth...
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social)
It's not too late to make a difference! This school year I'm starting a bike bus with a few other families who live nearby, hoping to coordinate more soon.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social)
My university just announced a campus event called "Overview of GenAI and Its Current Climate." The schedule includes some useful-sounding local info, but the keynote speaker is the author of this scholarly work of unmitigated #AIHype : papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Should I go? Advice welcome.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
THE main reason it took me so long to get mental health help was that on days I had the wherewithal to take steps toward said help, I was like "Look, I can do stuff, so it can't be that bad." Not that that's where you are, just that I've experienced one piece of me accusing another of exaggerating.
The Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute (@dairinstitute.bsky.social) reposted
"Plastic...is very difficult to avoid. But we are at a moment with "AI" where things aren't so deeply integrated, though corporate interests are pushing for them to be...every act of refusal is especially powerful & meaningful now..." @emilymbender.bsky.social buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
Kelli Refer (@kellireef.bsky.social) reposted
My bicycle was just stolen in Capitol Hill Seattle. Please keep an eye out for a small sized Salsa Vaya, green bicycle with a rear rack, steel fenders, dynamo hubs, 26” wheels. Parked at a bike rack at 15th and Pike. Saw my lock cut and thrown on the ground.
Paris Marx (@parismarx.com) reposted
i want to believe… …that the ai bubble is finally bursting
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
To me one of the missing pieces is still how much energy/water a query uses if you add in the model training, averaged out over the lifetime of the model (maybe the number of queries in a year, given how frequently these companies are coming out with newer models).
Elijah the TechnoShaman (@eruditelijah.bsky.social) reposted
I'd like to take this time to spotlight some critiques I have of solarpunk that aren't just misunderstanding what it is. I think a big problem we have beyond the lack of popular media (which may be a blessing) is the lack of certain voices. There is quite a bit of diversity but we need more.
Brooklyn Institute (@brooklyninstitute.bsky.social) reposted
Solarpunk: Theory, Fiction, and Radical Futures | Fall Courses | BISR Online | buff.ly/wnHOV3e
Kea Wilson (@keawilson.bsky.social) reposted
Last day to do this, transportation advocates!
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Seriously! Just imagine how much more cuteness would be in all our lives if public spaces were child-friendly!
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Not to mention it sets up oppressed groups to be targeted. I've heard many stories of Black drivers being ticketed for going 1mph over the speed limit — how does that make sense in context of the 85% rule?
Michael Druker 🇨🇦 (@mdruker.app) reposted reply parent
My hot take is it is corrosive to the fabric of society for it to be normal and even expected to regularly and blatantly break the law
Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) reposted
NEWS: 40-year-old veteran & oysterman Graham Platner demands corporations pay for climate change. He believes the US should fund universal healthcare instead of endless war. And he says the genocide in Gaza is the “ultimate moral test of our time.” And he's running to beat Susan Collins in Maine.
Kingfisher & Wombat (@tkingfisher.com) reposted
All this talk about how infodumping is a neurodivergent trait—listen, we grew up reading SFF in the Nineties, OF COURSE we infodump. Y’all are lucky we’re not a full on italicized prologue.
Mark Hogan (@markasaurus.bsky.social) reposted
Take a minute to respond to the DOT about funding priorities. The Secretary of Transportation said: “I do think it’s a problem when we’re making massive investments in bike lanes at the expense of vehicles,” ttps://bikeleague.org/the-u-s-department-of-transportation-wants-to-hear-from-you/
Bill Wilkinson (@drwilkinsonsci.bsky.social) reposted
Also remember that the best indicator of how you’ll commute tomorrow is how you commute today. Start the term with new habits. Fresh starts are the best time to form new habits. Especially if starting at a new school. @ianwalker.bsky.social taught me that.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
FWIW, I am neither a kpop person (yet?) nor a demon hunter person (probably ever) and I loved it.
Emma Cameron (@ecameron.bsky.social) reposted
Interesting article by Sarah Hall. Agree we need stories about the #climateandnatureemergency with hopeful outcomes (without denying the seriousness of the situation) I’m enjoying addressing this challenge in the novel I’m writing #booksky #writingcommunity www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
You don't think he'll (try to) take it with him?
Oh The Urbanity! (@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social) reposted
A friend’s 3-year old on a pedestrian street: “There’s no cars here so we don’t have to hold hands. I can run!”
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
I need to know more about this campaign
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
One of the things I find super interesting is the decision to move the characters at half the framerate of the animation, giving them that slightly choppy, comic book feel. But not everything (or everyone?!) gets this treatment, and it's so subtle I haven't yet figured out where all it's applied.
Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her) [current mood: kernel panic] (@courtneygibbons.phd) reposted
Want to test drive my Honor Code/Academic Integrity/Good Learning choose your own adventure? Here's the beta version! crgibbons.github.io/stash/CYOA-h... >> It's 5pm on Wednesday, and your professor has just posted the homework due next week. Do you *look at the homework now* or *put it off*?
Sara R (@arsinoepi.bsky.social) reposted
ok #MathSky, Updating syllabi, and need your best math memes. the ones that make you chortle, guffaw, chuckle, lmao, etc. Please and thank you 🫰🏾
Barbara Fantechi (@barbarafantechi.bsky.social) reposted
I understand duolngo is AI-bad. I am bad at making myself do things, and that green owl has kept me learning, slowly but regularly, for two and a half years now. Any suggestions that 1) don't need willpower 2) teach Catalan? I'm okay with paying versions.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Just unsubscribed from a newsletter for that exact reason.
LauraGMitchell (@lauragmitchell.com) reposted
St. Paul folks (+ anyone who bikes in/through St. Paul): An Open House for the Earl Street Reconstruction is being held on August 21st between 4-6 at the East Side YMCA. Please spread the word and join if you can to tell the city that we need off street paths (not painted bike lanes)!
Andrea Kaston Tange (@aktange.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Here you go! I'll write some new ones for this semester too. They loved them. The "read without your phone or screens in the room" was a revelation, and many of them decided to keep doing it. They had NO IDEA (& were horrified) how often they interrupt themselves to look at a phone for no reason.
Kea Wilson (@keawilson.bsky.social) reposted
Did you know that you can weigh in *right now* on what our next big federal transportation bill should look like? You've got until August 20 — and if you're struggling to figure out what to say, these orgs have some great ideas you're welcome to steal.
jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) reposted reply parent
need people to understand that accepting or conceding that he has the authority to do these things is tantamount to giving him the authority, and so your preemptive dooming is actively counterproductive
Chad Topaz Queer DEI Race Traitor (@chadtopaz.bsky.social) reposted
Announcing: My new book UNLOCKING JUSTICE arrives in the first half of 2026! It confronts America's unfair criminal legal system with data and humanity, showing how data science can drive racial justice. I wrote it to be optimistic + accessible to a broad public audience. Info + preorder updates ⬇️.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
I'm going to see it in the movie theater next weekend! It's a sing-along showing and I'm so stoked.
Rachel Storm (@rachelsstorm.bsky.social) reposted
Heads up library workers, Overdrive is shoving AI into Libby. It will be making book recommendations and they are rolling it out over the next few weeks. Smoke is pouring out of my ears. 📚
Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan.com) reposted
I've seen people say things like "our troops weren't designed to be used on US!!!" and look, I totally understand, I agree in some ways, but I really, really hope that if you feel that way you spend time thinking about the fact that there's no such thing as a weapon that can't be pointed at you.
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
... does The Art of Fugue count?
Peter Norton (@norton.bsky.social) reposted
“We love our kids and want them to live.” Even small towns like Boonville, Indiana, need people-friendly streets. To my knowledge, The Ballad of Boonville’s Speedsters has not yet been set to music.
𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚎 🚇 (@taras-grescoe.com) reposted
"Motorized vehicles create remoteness which they alone can shrink. They create distances for all, and shrink them for only a few." —Ivan Illich 📸 #Brasilia
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social)
Why is it a "stethoscope" and not a "stethophone"?
Gernot Wagner (@gwagner.com) reposted
Identical to the climate inaction playbook, too.
Al Jazeera English (@aljazeera.com) reposted
Four Al Jazeera staff, including reporter Anas Al Sharif, were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent for journalists outside the main gate of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital aje.io/onll19
🇵🇸Tim Henke (tɪm 'ɦɛŋ.kə) (@timhenke.bsky.social) reposted
What I desperately need is a phonological dictionary of English that tells me how various accents would roughly pronounce words Like I can easily find RP, SSB, GenAm, sometimes even Australian for most words. But what if I want to know Scottish, or New York, or South African?
Tim Chartier (@timchartier.bsky.social) reposted
As I head home from #MAAthFest, enjoy these wonderful pieces in the Math Art exhibit including pieces by @gwenbeads.bsky.social and @gelada.bsky.social
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Here's a photo of me from when I visited Minneapolis earlier this summer. I happened to come across the same style bus shelter, and wearing the same shirt, as in my profile picture. Please pardon my facial expression; I seem to have gotten worse at selfies since 2022.
Jeff Horwitz (@jeffhorwitz.bsky.social) reposted
Google just offered without prompting to do my math homework for me. (Just tested it out, and the "help" involves providing the answer).
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
I'm back in NL now visiting friends, and it's astonishing how backwards the US system is in comparison. It's a huge hassle even to pay back our friends for shared expenses — a trivial task if you're used to just giving someone your bank account number to make a transfer!
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Only kid is still a bit young, so I'm singing it on the bike when I don't think I'd bother anyone :) Also @clarabiesel.bsky.social and @ktmulvaney.bsky.social and I are learning the three-part harmony for "What It Sounds Like" (because the melody alone is not that interesting!)
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
Does it count as owning it if I have it playing in my head constantly?
Owen Biesel (@owenbiesel.bsky.social) reply parent
I'm so sorry