Dan Drake 🦆
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ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Dan Drake 🦆
@ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
11 followers 1 following 210 posts
Former #softwareengineer, current #mathematician, college #math, #computerscience and #datascience lecturer in #stpaulmn #Minnesota at #Macalester College.

Here, have […]

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ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Very proud of my fellow Minnesotans and Twin Citians: yesterday was brutally, viciously cold -- high temperature was -9 Fahrenheit (-22 Celsius). That was the HIGH temperature.

And in that brutal weather, tens of thousands of people went outside to protest […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Tens of thousands of people in downtown Minneapolis, January 23, 2026, protesting against ICE. People at Minneapolis-St Paul Airport (MSP), January 23, 2026, protesting against ICE. Tens of thousands of people in downtown Minneapolis, January 23, 2026, protesting against ICE.
January 24, 2026 at 1:51 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
🧵 1/N

I was struck by this artwork at the Minnesota Museum of American art. It was part of an exhibit called Queering Indigeneity. I noticed the fractions, and pondered what that would have to do with queerness.

Well, being queer could be viewed as being […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Photo an artwork with a person facing away, with a table of fractions projected onto the person. Fractions such as 1/2, 15/32, 9/64, and so on.
January 11, 2026 at 1:30 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
My friend @gobfrey sent me this photo. It looks like an origami crease pattern!

Also, he knows exactly the kind of geometric images that I find irresistible.

#origami #pylons
An image of an electrical transmission line pylon, taken from underneath the pylon looking straight up. The trusses of the pylon form a 4-fold symmetric pattern.
December 21, 2025 at 6:20 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
New Yorker magazine should have a diaresis over one of the zeros in its 100-year anniversary logo.
Screenshot of the New Yorker magazine's 100-year anniversary logo: the usual logo together with "100" in red.
December 14, 2025 at 1:07 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
@divbyzero @JenJen now you've got me experimenting with square twist tessellations. The pattern on this paper looks neat with the twists.
Photo of an origami piece with a 2x2 square twist tessellation. Photo of an origami piece showing the back side of a 2x2 square twist tessellation.
December 4, 2025 at 12:40 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
I really like the old-school, text UI style of this cookie popup on the JetBrains website.

II usually click reject cookies -- or even click "manage" and decline them there, which surely puts me in rare territory -- but I liked this enough that I accepted the […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
A screenshot from the JetBrains website, showing their "manage cookies" popup, which looks like an old-style text-based interface.
November 28, 2025 at 12:43 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
🧵 1/2

Earlier this semester, trying to look all super ambitious and so on, I volunteered to speak at the department seminar. My talk is next week, and they sent out a flyer advertising it...and suddenly it's on nearly EVERY office door near me. So now I'm all […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Flyer for a seminar talk: "When Bad Predictions Are Better"
October 25, 2025 at 11:44 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Achievement unlocked: I have ridden a bicycle with square wheels. This is from earlier this week at our department's "block party" for our majors and interested students.

I'm proud (and a bit intimidated TBH) to work in the same department as Stan Wagon, the […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
September 27, 2025 at 12:05 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
#macalester College has a Kofi Annan Ping Pong Table.
A sign that says "Kofi Annan Ping Pong Table: a salute to Kofi Annan '61, in recognition of the table tennis championship he won in his senior year."
September 13, 2025 at 9:49 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
The Minnesota State Fair is going on, and it's a tradition there to find the craziest food that is either (1) fried, or (2) served on a stick. (Or both.)

Some great math folks -- in particular, Chris Danielson of https://talkingmathwithkids.com/ -- started […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
August 31, 2025 at 11:59 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
After you've learned Discrete Mathematics with Ducks....

https://www.amazon.com/Discrete-Mathematics-Ducks-Sarah-Marie-Belcastro/dp/1466504994

...you can, it seems, learn Bayesian analysis with dogs.

#math #dogs #ducks
The cover of the book "Doing Bayesian Data Analysis", which has pictures of dogs.
August 21, 2025 at 10:49 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
@soaproot my little bit of subversive culture jamming...actual one-sided paper...
A box of Mobius strips next to a sign advertising notebooks made with "one-sided paper".
August 19, 2025 at 6:50 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
When I saw this sign advertising one-sided paper, I was really hoping that it would be next to a bin full of Mobius strips.

Alas, it seems the paper they're providing actually has *two* sides...sigh. 🤔 😀

#topology #math #reducerepairreuserecycle
A sign advertising "one sided paper here".
August 18, 2025 at 9:34 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Where I am right now...

#seattle #worldcon2025
Selfie of myself at WorldCon in the Seattle convention center
August 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Google's Gemini said its image generation is now much better, and suggested a "make a vintage postcard" prompt to test it out.

I tried it, with my own modifications...and the results were not as good as I would have hoped.

In particular, it seems like since […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
An AI-generated vintage postcard that says "Saint Paul, Minnesota" and has the Saint Paul skyline against the Mississippi River...with a sea monster. An AI-generated vintage postcard that says "Welcome to Saint Paul" and has King Kong climbing the First National Bank building while being attacked by a flying saucer shooting a purple laser. An AI-generated vintage postcard that says "Welcome to Saint Paul" and has King Kong climbing the First National Bank building while being attacked by a flying saucer shooting a purple laser.
July 28, 2025 at 1:35 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
#madisonwi's #nokings protest.

Some favorite signs:

"so bad, even introverts are here" (resonated with this autistic introvert)

"Alexa, change the president"

"the only orange monarch I approve of is a butterfly"

@johncarlosbaez @inthehands
Me at the No Kings protest, in a crowd of people in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol. My protest sign is Python code: if __name__ == "Trump": protest() constitution.restore() return power_to(the_people) Me at the No Kings protest, in a crowd of people at the UW-Madison Library Mall. My protest sign is Python code: if __name__ == "Trump": protest() constitution.restore() return power_to(the_people)
June 14, 2025 at 9:33 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Man, I love Julia's Pluto notebook:

#julia #plutonotebook #dontpanic
Screenshot from a Pluto notebook, with cells that have error messages. The cells have little badges on the corner that say "don't panic!" and "everything's going to be okay!"
June 12, 2025 at 12:16 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
A real-world application of those "what's the next number in this sequence?" problems: I want a heavier pair of dumbbells. What weight should I get? 🙂
three pairs of dumbbells: a 3-pound, 5-pound, and 8-pound.
June 5, 2025 at 11:33 AM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
When an erstwhile software developer attends a protest...

(Please no comments on the typography...I know a proper coding typeface should be monospace, especially for Python, but if I may channel Fermat, the sign was a bit too narrow...)

#mayday #protest #madisonwi #50501movement
A person in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol building, attending a protest, holding a sign with Python code on it: if __name__ == "Trump": protest() constitution.restore() return power_to_(people)
May 2, 2025 at 12:18 AM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
A silly meme I'm copying from a rando Facebook post...I wonder if
τ should somehow be in there...

#pi #meme
April 15, 2025 at 11:42 AM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
I've been poking at Pixelfed, hoping to find a fediverse alternative to Google Photos. I don't think it's really what I need. But I do have some photos there -- here's a cool one: https://pixelfed.social/p/ddrake/816666846511902567

Copying that here: one […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
a colorful woven cloth
April 13, 2025 at 1:09 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
2/2

The connection with #crochet is cabling: I want to make a scarf, and have 6 cables; I want to make each of them in a different color, and have each color at some point in each position as you go along the scarf. The photo here is roughly what I'm […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
March 8, 2025 at 1:48 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
I want to find a particular sequence of permutations. The requirements are:

* you start with the identity
* each permutation differs from the next by a permutation with only adjacent transpositions
* each number appears in every position at least once.

For […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
March 8, 2025 at 1:40 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
OMG! In Spotify, when you play the Star Wars main theme, the progress bar is a light saber!
A screenshot of Spotify's progress bar while playing music from the Star Wars films. The progress bar is styled to look like a light saber. As the song plays, the glowing part of the light saber extends.
February 28, 2025 at 2:23 PM
ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
OMG! In Spotify, when you play the Star Wars main theme, the progress bar is a light saber!
Screenshot of the Windows Spotify application showing the progress bar when playing the Star Wars main theme, which looks like a light saber.
February 21, 2025 at 9:06 PM