I am staying here mainly to keep track of who from the people I follow has not migrated to "the other side" yet, and follow them there when they do.

People should not really blog about things they don't understand.

In Memoriam: Ian Shipsey https://t.co/KRZt43BLbJ

What happens if you let a theorist give the closing talk at a conference. [With Goran Senjanović]

That's a lot of work for these potentials to produce just the right amount of interaction between fundamental particles. I'm just sayin'.

“A London poet once said to me: I just don’t see the point gigging outside London cos every other city is just like London but not as good. Here's a photo of Edinburgh for you. There are volcanoes & castles & an underground city. Go out & check it out. London will still be there”

Preparing for CERN's 70th anniversary event with my colleague @MamaPhysikerin [Disclaimer: these are NOT my nails]

Athens of the North.

All-group meeting for @Edinburgh_PPE at Univ of Edinburgh for the start of the academic year. We have grown to 85 members! @MamaPhysikerin is giving the overview of the group's activities, and I am taking pictures and posting on social media. Sounds about right.

[In the picture:] Specimen smuggled into Edinburgh by (very proud of himself) colleague who went recently on a trip to China. End of second day of new academic year. 252 more days to go. ✌️🙏🥳 The End 11/11

"My wife blinded me and I picked the Japanese produced one 10/10 times -for a final test I wore garden gloves and could still pick it out when blinded. It's not hard; the Japanese original feels like water flowing out of your hand onto the board." 10/11

"However, it has a slight roughness from inconsistent density and is slightly more prone to fracture. The Japanese original has a density, consistency, and feel that is superior to anything else I have personal experience with. " 9/11

[Testimonial #2:] "I personally find the Korean Sejongmall produced Hagoromo to possess particularly vibrant colors across its spectrum that are easier to read over larger distances than their Japanese predecessors. " 8/11

"Shin received permission to continue producing the chalk, and he received the knowledge and equipment to do so. Sejong Mall began producing the brand in 2015. One mathematician evaluated Sejong Mall's chalk as indistinguishable from the original." 7/11

"He announced that the company would close. However, Shin Hyung Seok, who had founded Sejong Mall in 2009 as an exclusive importer of Hagoromo to South Korea, had good rapport with Watanabe. " 6/11

"The chalk has found particular favor among mathematicians,& has been described as the 'Rolls-Royce of chalk'. By 2014, Hagoromo Bungu's chief Watanabe Takayasu had no chosen successor, but he rejected several Japanese companies that offered to continue producing the brand" 5/11

[Wikipedia article for context:] "Production of the [Hogoromo Fulltouch] chalk began in 1932. It reached its peak sales of 90 million pieces of chalk a year in 1990, and started to achieve international popularity from the 2000s. " 4/11

"I can finally say, after months of pursuit, that such a chalk indeed exists. It is called the Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk." 3/11

[Testimonial #1:] "There have been rumors about a dream chalk, a chalk so powerful that mathematics practically writes itself; a chalk so amazing that no incorrect proof can be written using this chalk. " 2/11

Things (some) academics obsess about. A short story on the Hagoromo chalk. A thread. 1/11