Nicolas Addington
@naddington.bsky.social
Mathematician, University of Oregon.
Crazy mushrooms growing on the lawn in front of my office.
November 17, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Crazy mushrooms growing on the lawn in front of my office.
Came across an etymology: the verb “wax” meaning “grow,” as in “waxing moon” and “wicked men… are become great, and waxen rich” (Jer. 5:26-27), comes from the proto-Indo-European root “aug,” to increase, which also gives us “augment” and “auxiliary.”
Beeswax is unrelated, from the PIE root “wokso.”
Beeswax is unrelated, from the PIE root “wokso.”
November 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Came across an etymology: the verb “wax” meaning “grow,” as in “waxing moon” and “wicked men… are become great, and waxen rich” (Jer. 5:26-27), comes from the proto-Indo-European root “aug,” to increase, which also gives us “augment” and “auxiliary.”
Beeswax is unrelated, from the PIE root “wokso.”
Beeswax is unrelated, from the PIE root “wokso.”
Running a spectral sequence in Excel...
November 12, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Running a spectral sequence in Excel...
I think I need to be listening to more Schumann.
November 5, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I think I need to be listening to more Schumann.
Sixth grader misremembered her classmate’s Freddie Kruger costume as Eddie Bauer.
November 1, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Sixth grader misremembered her classmate’s Freddie Kruger costume as Eddie Bauer.
🎶 It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flying people eater
That she wore for the first time today 🎶
That she wore for the first time today 🎶
October 31, 2025 at 3:04 PM
🎶 It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flying people eater
That she wore for the first time today 🎶
That she wore for the first time today 🎶
Hey @littmath.bsky.social, do you figure the diameter of the empty metric space should be be 0 or -∞? I can see it either way.
October 27, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Hey @littmath.bsky.social, do you figure the diameter of the empty metric space should be be 0 or -∞? I can see it either way.
Enjoying a sudachi from @nowhyok.bsky.social’s garden, squeezed into in a glass of fizzy water.
October 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Enjoying a sudachi from @nowhyok.bsky.social’s garden, squeezed into in a glass of fizzy water.
Oh shit Guillermo del Toro and Benicio del Toro have been two different guys this whole time.
October 24, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Oh shit Guillermo del Toro and Benicio del Toro have been two different guys this whole time.
After my arugula debacle in the spring and early summer I took a chance on planting green beans at the beginning of August. But now I’ve got fresh green beans in October! First harvest, more on the way.
October 18, 2025 at 1:39 AM
After my arugula debacle in the spring and early summer I took a chance on planting green beans at the beginning of August. But now I’ve got fresh green beans in October! First harvest, more on the way.
Passion fruits still fruitin’ away.
October 11, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Passion fruits still fruitin’ away.
I’d always assumed that Listerine was named after Listeria, because it was invented to kill it or something. But it turns out they’re both independently named after Joseph Lister, 1827-1912, an early proponent of the germ theory and surgical hygiene.
October 10, 2025 at 6:36 AM
I’d always assumed that Listerine was named after Listeria, because it was invented to kill it or something. But it turns out they’re both independently named after Joseph Lister, 1827-1912, an early proponent of the germ theory and surgical hygiene.
Got 35 emails in my inbox saying either “please remove me from this mailing list” or “please remove me too” or “stop replying to all!” Haven’t seen one of these in years, it’s like a blast from 2002.
October 1, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Got 35 emails in my inbox saying either “please remove me from this mailing list” or “please remove me too” or “stop replying to all!” Haven’t seen one of these in years, it’s like a blast from 2002.
As pumpkin spice latte season ramps up, I'm once again trying and failing to come up with a joke involving the projective special linear group PSL(n) and the projective general linear group PGL(n) and how they're the same over an algebraically closed field.
September 22, 2025 at 4:32 PM
As pumpkin spice latte season ramps up, I'm once again trying and failing to come up with a joke involving the projective special linear group PSL(n) and the projective general linear group PGL(n) and how they're the same over an algebraically closed field.
Watching Butch Cassidy on account of Robert Redford died… the Indian leading the posse that’s tracking them is called Lord Baltimore, but it sounds like they’re saying Lord Voldemort which is a surreal touch.
September 21, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Watching Butch Cassidy on account of Robert Redford died… the Indian leading the posse that’s tracking them is called Lord Baltimore, but it sounds like they’re saying Lord Voldemort which is a surreal touch.
Why is everyone at the grocery store tonight buying flowers? Seen like for guys now.
September 17, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Why is everyone at the grocery store tonight buying flowers? Seen like for guys now.
Alice: [Describes the school’s new eHallPass system where they have to fill out a form on an iPad before they go pee.]
Nick: Oh my god, that’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.
Alice: Is it though?
Nick: Oh my god, that’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.
Alice: Is it though?
September 10, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Alice: [Describes the school’s new eHallPass system where they have to fill out a form on an iPad before they go pee.]
Nick: Oh my god, that’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.
Alice: Is it though?
Nick: Oh my god, that’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.
Alice: Is it though?
Looks like the administration may have backed down on closing departments and laying off tenured faculty? We just got an email from the university president saying this:
September 8, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Looks like the administration may have backed down on closing departments and laying off tenured faculty? We just got an email from the university president saying this:
Maybe I should take up eating cheese for dessert, as an affectation but also because it’s delicious.
September 7, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Maybe I should take up eating cheese for dessert, as an affectation but also because it’s delicious.
And she finished off the summer by playing the national anthem with the youth orchestra at a Eugene Emeralds game.
September 4, 2025 at 12:18 AM
And she finished off the summer by playing the national anthem with the youth orchestra at a Eugene Emeralds game.
Been listening more regularly to Gardeners’ Question Time from BBC Radio 4, lot of good tips and banter, but it’s always like “our panelists today are Matthew Pottage, Pippa Greenwood, and Bob Flowerdew” and I’m starting to wonder how many of them are stage names.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
BBC Radio 4 - Gardeners' Question Time
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts
www.bbc.co.uk
September 1, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Been listening more regularly to Gardeners’ Question Time from BBC Radio 4, lot of good tips and banter, but it’s always like “our panelists today are Matthew Pottage, Pippa Greenwood, and Bob Flowerdew” and I’m starting to wonder how many of them are stage names.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
This is some really deep shit, or maybe not, trying to think it through.
critically: it’s just as important to know a guy as it is to be a guy that someone else knows
August 31, 2025 at 5:49 AM
This is some really deep shit, or maybe not, trying to think it through.
Passion fruits fruitin’.
August 30, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Passion fruits fruitin’.
I think my new favorite thing to serve with risotto is okra. Kind of a gloopy rice, kind of a gloopy vegetable…
August 20, 2025 at 1:57 AM
I think my new favorite thing to serve with risotto is okra. Kind of a gloopy rice, kind of a gloopy vegetable…