Owen Biesel
owenbiesel.bsky.social
Owen Biesel
@owenbiesel.bsky.social
Math prof, dad, gardener, knitter, bike rider, community member, friendly introvert. he/him 🏳️‍🌈

Also on mastodon as @owenbiesel@mathstodon.xyz
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Hey, and stats/data visualization folks wanna help me with a project? I gotta figure out how best to estimate missing bike counter data from last year. Problem is, I got a C in high school stats. Email tom@seattlebikeblog.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Friends - have any of you moved from Substack to Ghost? I'd love to talk about it/hear about your experience. Thanks!
February 9, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Wow this is really awesome.
February 8, 2026 at 11:38 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
it’s funny how everyone is talking about Newsom when Ossoff is, by far, the strongest 2028 candidate. he’s about to cruise to re-election in Georgia and when he does I think folks will start to wake up and realize he’s been the one all along
SEN. OSSOFF: “.. why are roving gangs of masked men — who look like they couldn’t pass the Army physical exam — dressed up like pretend Delta Force operators, on our streets, demanding papers, dragging people from their cars, and shooting people to death?”

@acyn.bsky.social
February 8, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Today I’d like to see the following l donate their entire February pay checks to cover mutual aid rent fundraisers (as many of my colleagues did in January):

MN Governor Tim Walz
MPLS Mayor Jacob Frey

MPLS City Council Members:
Linea Palmisano
Pearl Warren
Elizabeth Shaffer
Jamison Whiting
February 8, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Am seeing compliments for the WaterFox browser on here. Does it let you save a set of default sites that open whenever you start a new browser session?
February 8, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
RESULT: Democrat Chasity Martinez wins a special election for a legislative seat in Louisiana, 62% to 38%.

This was a district that Trump carried by 13% last year, so a big overperformance by Dems, but the seat was already Dem-held.
February 8, 2026 at 3:14 AM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Could we please start calling them what they are: concentration camps? (They aren't death camps...yet.)
The proposed centers are so large that some could house as many as 8,000 detainees at once, according to a DHS spreadsheet of more than 20 potential locations that was verified by NBC News. The largest federal prison in the U.S., for example, has roughly 4,000 inmates.
ICE plans to build mega warehouses for immigration detention spark growing concern
Sources at two government contractors told NBC News they were worried that new warehouses — and the large numbers of immigrants who would be housed in them — would present safety problems.
www.nbcnews.com
February 8, 2026 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Happy #SuperbOwl 🦉 Sunday to all who celebrate.
February 8, 2026 at 11:39 AM
To paraphrase Nemik, "Car culture requires constant effort."
If public transit and cycling had even 10% of the subsidies we give to car culture, our cities would look completely different.
February 8, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
It's Feb., so #AcademicSky nerds may soon need to think about fall 2026 course offerings. If you will teach anything related to race and/or the criminal legal system and/or data, there is something in my book for you and I hope you might consider using it. Very happy to answer questions. Also,
Unlocking Justice
How we can challenge social injustice—with data and humanity
press.princeton.edu
February 8, 2026 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:
February 8, 2026 at 5:06 AM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) averaged about 429 ppm in January 2026

10 years ago January averaged about 403 ppm

Data available at gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/
February 7, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
🚨BREAKING: Local Minneapolis police SWARM ICE protesters making mass arrests in front of ICE prison. One protesters forehead is gushing blood ⬇️
February 7, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
🚨Minneapolis Police gather up DILDOS to throw back at protesters from the street after they were thrown into the street to protest ICE, creating quite the scene.

LIVE NOW ⬇️
February 7, 2026 at 6:38 PM
I've been really enjoying FiddleBrix!
2026 reminder that FiddleBrix (🆓 to play 🆓 to download 🆓 of ads) is a word game that I cocreated w a crew of mathers & Bogglers

Available on Android and iOS today!

🎻🧱 #FiddleBrix
Tuesday, January 6, 2026
0:18 (no hints!)
🟪🟪🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟦🟨
🟪🟦🟦🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟨
fiddlebrix.com
fiddlebrix.com
February 8, 2026 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
“the Epstein class” should be THE tagline tbh. it’s so accurate their only defense is redactions, and it captures a hundred different linked evils at once. it also perfectly clarifies why trying to distinguish btw “kitchen table issues” (ie money) and “identity politics” (ie misogyny) is impossible
Ossoff: We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It’s the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class. They are the elites they pretend to hate.
February 7, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
#solarpunk in real life
THIS IS THE WAY
(Artists forming a co-op to purchase a maker space from retiring owners.) coloradosun.com/2026/02/07/d...
What’s Working: How Denver's Art Gym went from private passion project to artist co-op
It required more than creative thinking. Plus: State Demographer explains population growth, DougCo lands star tracker, AT&T’s internet purchase, and more!
coloradosun.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Brockman had to have INTENTIONALLY avoided inviting non-white scientists to these events where Epstein would show up because Epstein didn't believe in the intellectual equality of non-white scientists to white ones

If you're a white scientist in an all white space, ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT WHY
February 7, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
The amount of bus stops I have to service and the amount of times I’ve had to physically get out of my seat, even with the bus lowered and the ramp out in order to help, elderly and disabled passengers onto my bus after a storm is ridiculous. I’m one of those I would love to see every single
February 7, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
I just want as much attention and awe for the young people of color who are defending their families in majority POC communities as there is for the white people who are supporting their neighbors in historically white communities

lataco.com/lapd-arrests...
LAPD Charges at Hundreds of High School Students in Peaceful Walkout Protest at MDC ~ L.A. TACO
LAPD arrested at least two teenagers protesting ICE raids in Los Angeles yesterday. They were also seen corresponding with ICE agents on Alameda Street during the demonstrations.
lataco.com
February 7, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
GM: Charisma check.

Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]

GM: that’s a d6 how did you

Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
February 7, 2026 at 5:01 AM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Hallelujah. Exactly exactly. Half the sidewalks in my area are impassable because of massive snow piles dumped into them to clear the road, bike lanes uncleared. Imagine having a stroller, or a wheelchair, or need to cycle, or be old with fragile bones. Cities are for ALL people - not just drivers.
Per Tuesday's Globe editorial, "Make the political choice to tackle snow removal more aggressively on sidewalks and bicycle lanes than roads. Cars can be mounted with snow tires but people can’t." #BikeTO #WalkTO #TOpoli #VisionZero www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...
February 7, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Look, we can do this the easy way (0 ∈ ℕ) or the hard way (universal free ice cream).

Or both.
Not taking zero as part of N is insisting we live in a fantasy world where I always have at least 1 ice cream. God i wish that were true but it’s not
February 6, 2026 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Owen Biesel
Eliminating ICE is the modern equivalent of opposing the Iraq War, and right now there are two types of Democrats: those who can see where the ball is moving and go to it, and those who will be swept away because they refused to do so.
“I would rather you vote for what is morally correct,” Davidson said.

“Don’t talk to me about my own morality,” DeLauro shot back.

“Don’t tell your constituents what they can and can’t talk to you about,” replied Rev. Nathan Empsall. “What you are voting for is not moral.”
DeLauro to pressing clergy: 'I will not vote to abolish ICE'
The Connecticut U.S. representative found herself at odds with faith leaders.
www.ctpublic.org
February 7, 2026 at 12:35 AM