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Welcome to my 182nd gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.1.Bad GraphsIt's fun (and important) to share examples of misleading graphs with students. @ticktockmaths has shared a gallery of bad graphs which will be very helpful. I love the example below: at first glance it seems very clear and the scale seems fine, but when you think about

For sharpening all chisels, planes, spokeshaves and knife types, in fact, anything with a cutting edge, diamond plates do it all, they cut steel very fast, stay flat, and they are cleaner than oilstones, natural stones, water stones, man made or naturally occurring all of which need additional paraphernalia with little good reason or advantage.... Source

By the time I click Publish, it’ll be probably Sunday Question even where I live, but I just came back from Hawaii where for the next 3+ hours it’s still Saturday, so I’ll pretend that I’m still there. I plan to share some photos in a separate post next week, but for now, back to […]

Introduction I had recently remembered that while I store metadata for each page in my website as shell variables instead of XML, JSON, or something truly unholy like YAML, I need not keep them inside shell scripts with the .sh extension if they're not meant to be executed. I could instead keep them in plain text files (.txt) if they're meant to be read by other shell scripts. This is …

1. Well who could possibly have seen this coming? I wrote a while ago that the era of major levels of affiliate revenue for publishers was going to come to an end within the next three to five years. Generative AI writing means both that Google is likely to become a sea of slop, and that anyone with a search engine – especially Google – is going to cream off …

According to my notes, it went live shortly after midnight on Oct 13, 1994. We sat in the conference room in the dark and listened to different sound effects fired for each different platform that was downloaded. At some point late that night I wandered off and wrote the first version of the page that loaded when you pressed the "What's Cool" button in the toolbar. (A couple days later, …

Nithikul Mimjulrath’s process of translating a hand-knotted cup into a digital representation Knots are fascinating: they tie together topology, embodied experience, and material culture. As Thai textile artist and designer Nithikul Nimkulrath (2024) has pointed out, knots are the kind of thing we come to know “through and in making”. One of her artworks (see photo) explorers the materiality of knots by translating a physical, hand-knotted container into a 3D …

In 1982, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone popularised the gamebook genre in the United Kingdom with the first Fighting Fantasy adventure, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain -- a book authored by having Livingstone literally write the first half and Jackson the second. Jackson was responsible for the game's final puzzle, and strives to protect the book against cheaters by devising a puzzle where you have to use the numbers associated …

We must rediscover the idea of the metaphor which is real. — First and Last Notebooks Gravity and Grace (tr. Crawford): – Any attempt to gain this deliverance by means of my own energy would be like the efforts of a cow which pulls at its hobble and so falls onto its knees. – Man only escapes from the laws of this world in lightning flashes. – Whoever endures a …

I've said it before; the most exciting thing in fishing for me is a pike run. Sometimes you've been watching the float all day when suddenly it comes to life - then sails away - when it does it could signal a two pounder or it could be twenty. Not much over two in this case!

One week at number one on 20th March 1982Thanks to this blog, Gary Bushell has been on my mind a lot lately. While attempting the daily chores such as emptying the dishwasher, hanging out the laundry or walking the dog, my thoughts have often wandered and allowed his bearded visage to emerge in mind’s eye, stoical and almost impossible to read.It’s not the first time in my life I’ve been …

If you live in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin or Nevada, you’re lucky. You can still register online this week to vote in the Presidential election. vote411.org/register The post Sunday Secret appeared first on PostSecret.

A brand new experience for me: finishing first in a race. Assumed audience: People interested in endurance running (or endurance sports more generally), or who just like to hear what I am up to as a runner. Here is a story you ve heard from me recently: Today, I ran a race! Specifically, the half marathon event at the Longview Marathon and Half Marathon. Here is another story you have …

Voting is now open for BC’s election, which concludes in one week on Sat Oct 19. I’ve done voting guides for Vancouver and Canada in the past, but I’ve never done a BC one since the decision here has traditionally been simple. There has long been two viable parties: one on the left, and one on the right. This continues, with no centrist party on the ticket and the Green …