• Sign in
  • Sign up
Elektrine
EN
  • EN English
  • 中 中文
Log in Register
Modes
Overview Search Chat Timeline Communities Gallery Lists Friends Email Vault VPN
Back to Timeline
  • Open on mathstodon.xyz

gjm

@gjm@mathstodon.xyz
mastodon 4.5.7

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios.

I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

0 Followers
0 Following
Joined November 27, 2022

Posts

Thread context 2 posts in path
Parent @cstross@wandering.shop Open
@cstross@wandering.shop
RE: https://techhub.social/@rayckeith/115891885954410747 Also: you give someone free rein (as in, what you use to control horses), not free reign (that's what Donald Trump wants for himself).
Current reply
gjm
gjm
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios. I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

mathstodon.xyz
gjm
gjm
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios. I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

mathstodon.xyz
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz · Jan 14, 2026
@cstross@wandering.shop Seems to me that the things you get when hungry are both pangs and pains. "Pangs" is more traditional and a bit more specific, but "pains" isn't a _mistake_ in the way that e.g. "mute point" is. I think there's literally (like, _literally_ literally_) no situation where using "begging the question" is a good idea other than when you know all the people you're talking to well enough to know how they will understand it. A lot of the problem here is that "begging the question" is a really unnatural way (in modern English) to say the thing it traditionally means, and rather a natural way (in modern English) to say the thing it often means nowadays, and both of those are things it's reasonable to want to say. So I say something like "assumes what you're trying to prove" when I mean _petitio principii_, and "raises the question" when I mean the other thing. (Sometimes I might say something like "begs the question, in the original sense": if I'm talking to people whom I know _know_ the original sense but there isn't enough common knowledge -- everyone knows that everyone knows, etc. -- that they can safely assume that I am using the words that way without further clarification.)
View full thread on mathstodon.xyz
0
0
0
0
Thread context 3 posts in path
Root @cstross@wandering.shop Open
@cstross@wandering.shop
#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 13. Are you actively building your working vocabulary? How? Not specifically these days, but I instinctively look up unfamiliar words I run across when reading. When I was about
Parent @cstross@wandering.shop Open
@cstross@wandering.shop
Postscript wrt. #WritersCoffeeClub Jan 13: My current WIP contains some obscure words. Per scrivener, some dictionary words used once (in 116,000) include: efficacious blithe chandler phenethylamine d
Current reply
gjm
gjm
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios. I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

mathstodon.xyz
gjm
gjm
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios. I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

mathstodon.xyz
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz · Jan 13, 2026
@cstross@wandering.shop These are almost certainly just typos, but just in case they have actually crept into the text: surely "polstilion" should be "postilion" and "obnubliated" should be "obnubilated".
View full thread on mathstodon.xyz
0
0
0
0
Thread context 2 posts in path
Parent @cstross@wandering.shop Open
@cstross@wandering.shop
Is it just me, or does the old Evil Overlord List look an awful lot like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, Peter Thiel et al are systematically looting it for all the worst of their ideas? https://web.mit.e
Current reply
gjm
gjm
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios. I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

mathstodon.xyz
gjm
gjm
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios. I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

mathstodon.xyz
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz · Dec 02, 2025
@cstross@wandering.shop I had a look through and see approximately zero things in the list that Musk, Zuckerberg, Thiel et al seem to be taking inspiration from (maybe #59 and #100, I guess) so I think it may just be that they look evil-overlord-like for other reasons. (I acknowledge that it's also possible that for some reason I'm failing to notice the parallels. And I did mostly stop reading after the original 100 rather than proceeding to examine the later annexes.)
View full thread on mathstodon.xyz
0
0
0
0
Thread context 2 posts in path
Parent @cstross@wandering.shop Open
@cstross@wandering.shop
oh dear chulhu the nineties were 35 years ago /me: crumbles to dust https://thecanadian.social/@MostlyHarmless/115641842232215523
Current reply
gjm
gjm
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios. I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

mathstodon.xyz
gjm
gjm
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz

Mathematician. Reader. Fiftysomething. Cruciverbalist. Not very good at thinking of witty things to put in short bios. I wasn't on Twitter before that nice Mr Musk suggested that everyone go to Mastodon, and I don't expect to be very active here, but who knows?

mathstodon.xyz
@gjm@mathstodon.xyz · Dec 01, 2025
@cstross@wandering.shop Dunno if it helps any, but note that it's only the _start_ of the nineties that was 35 years ago; 1999 was still the nineties and was "only" 26 years ago. (Dolly was 1996; Sojourner was 1997. Both nearer the end than the beginning.)
View full thread on mathstodon.xyz
0
0
0
0
313k7r1n3

Company

  • About
  • Contact
  • FAQ

Legal

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • VPN Policy

Email Settings

IMAP: imap.elektrine.com:993

POP3: pop.elektrine.com:995

SMTP: smtp.elektrine.com:465

SSL/TLS required

Support

  • support@elektrine.com
  • Report Security Issue

Connect

Tor Hidden Service

khav7sdajxu6om3arvglevskg2vwuy7luyjcwfwg6xnkd7qtskr2vhad.onion
© 2026 Elektrine. All rights reserved. • Server: 05:44:23 UTC