mathematics, mud, and modesty

Saturday, October 17, 2026

Telamon took me by force, then my father sold me to him.

1. Mathematicians warn: rush to formalize all math could do lasting damage
2. AI doubled small software projects — but zero growth in breakout hits
3. 19th-century Maine lumberjacks who couldn’t stop jumping
4. NASA: 2026 El Niño now historic in scale
5. Small dam removals in the Northeast are bringing herring back in droves
6. Alvin Toffler’s reminder: 650 of 800 human lifetimes were spent in caves. Still the most arresting compression of human history I know