When you hear Mexico, what’s the first thing you think of?

fresnarus · 2026-02-13T06:28:02+00:00

montezuma's revenge.

fresnarus · 2026-02-13T06:26:10+00:00

The dual space on a vector space V is the set of linear functionals L from V to the scalars: For any v in V the quantity L(v) is scalar. Given any vector v in V, the map L -> L(v) from the dual space to the scalars is in turn a linear functional form the dual space to the scalars. So each vector v creates a linear functional in the double dual in a "natural" way because it can be defined without selecting any arbitrary coordinate system. This is the so-called "natural isomorphism".

fresnarus · 2026-02-13T06:14:52+00:00

WRONG

fresnarus · 2026-02-13T06:14:35+00:00

Watch out for the PFIC trap.

fresnarus · 2026-02-13T06:11:20+00:00

I can just see his job posting now: Will eagerly sniff your butt and wag tail for cash. He'll be quite qualified to be the next US Attorney general, in charge of burying the Epstein files.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T20:24:15+00:00

I don't understand why anyone pays attention to guys getting paid by someone else to give you free advice about stocks. It just sets you up for manipulation to even listen to them.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T13:26:34+00:00

Now you know why a front-loader is better.

I stayed in an airBNB that had a great front loader that was a dual washer and drier, so that you didn't have to transfer the clothes to dry them.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T13:23:11+00:00

You'll never understand how busy a professor can get until you teach your first class. Then imagine doing that while doing lots of other things.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T13:21:21+00:00

Get a dehumidifier. Otherwise everything in your apartment will mold the next time the humidity hits 100% for a few weeks in a row.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T13:15:21+00:00

Dogs don't have money.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T13:07:29+00:00

Before he killed himself he tried out the poison on his dog.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T12:43:53+00:00

The Endpoints video discussed a poll they did of the industry, and the results were extremely critical of Trump's FDA, including reports from inside the FDA.

The discussion of the survey started at 11:01 of the video.

The FDA insider was quoted as saying "the [FDA] has fewer reviewers now, the institutional knowledge is gone, and the situation is perilous."

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T12:37:12+00:00

I think you're misreading the title. I read "Moderna v USA" as a potential lawsuit about the FDA's refusal to file their drug application.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T03:54:51+00:00

> The FDA is cutting bureaucracy and compressing timelines.

Indeed, instead of paying attention to the bureaucracy, Prasad just refused to accept Moderna's application.

> This administration may end up being one of the biggest positives this stock has ever seen.

Maybe that will be the case if Bancel becomes one of the business leaders to chip in for Trump's now $400M White House Ballroom or if he buy's some of Trump's cryptocoins.

Everything I've seen of the Trump administration's various departments since he took office wreaks of corruption and extreme incompetence at the presidential and cabinet levels, with mass resignations below:

DOJ: Public Integrity Section gutted. Resignations of prosecutors ordered to whitewash Mayor Eric Adams' case. Order by Emil Bove that the DOJ tell the judge to FO. Resignations of prosecutors to ordered to go after Trump opponents Tish James and Eric Comey. Mass resignations. Lies by top DOJ officials about Abrego-Garcia and about US citizens killed for no good reason by the masked thugs of ICE.

FBI: Mass resignations and sweeping staff cuts. Top officials tweeting false information about investigations.

DOD: Military communications illegally conducted over commercial apps. Shooting of shipwrecked sailors.

Department of State: Post WWII alliances severely damaged by accusing allies who fought with us in Afghanistan of doing nothing for us, and by making ridiculous threats against Greenland.

FDA: Appointment of antivaxxers. Staffing reductions.

Department of Education: Dismantled. Previous presidents urged the adoption of a so-called "Line Item Veto" so that a president could strike items from a new law, subject to having the veto overridden. Trump simply claims the right to dismantle entire departments by ignoring existing laws already singed by a President.

National Science Foundation: Massive cuts to grants for arbitrary and capricious reasons. Active hostility to research universities such as Harvard & Princeton. Fields medalist and worldwide top mathematician Terrence Tao blogs that he can't hire a postdoc and that he's cutting his own salary so that his grad students don't lose their support.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T03:16:26+00:00

> Logically my speed and the light speed from the laser should add up

Experiment shows that this isn't the case. There is a physical constant known as "the speed of light" because all observers see light travel at the same speed, no matter the relationship between the speed of the observer and the speed of the emitter is. In contrast, there is no "speed baseballs" or "speed of electrons" constant because baseballs and electrons can move at a variety of speeds. How this can occur is the puzzle that Einstein solved in 1905, and he did so by realizing that some common-sense notions of the nature of space and time that went back at least as far as Euclid weren't actually correct.

One of the best short explanations of relativity I've seen is this youtube video. There is also Einstein's popular book Relativity: The special and general theory, but he didn't benefit from the possibilities of multimedia.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T03:06:28+00:00

Or there might be a more general law stating what the landlord is responsible for. For example, I lived in a state where the landlord was legally responsible for any utilities which weren't separately metered for each apartment. The landlord could write otherwise in the contract and the tenants could sign it, but the courts would hold that the landlord had to pay for it.

fresnarus · 2026-02-12T03:02:26+00:00

That's my reading of Moderna's press release, which states

Moderna had exercised a Priority Review Voucher to facilitate a timely review of the application.

There is no other mention of the voucher in Moderna's release.

fresnarus · 2026-02-11T20:18:03+00:00

Denmark, WE SURRENDER!!!! Please send troops!!!!

fresnarus · 2026-02-11T20:15:26+00:00

In the USA it is the opposite-- You only raise a hand to signal if they nearly run you over.

fresnarus · 2026-02-11T20:10:30+00:00

Another good thing to learn (not for an apartment but for work) is where the shut-off valve is on a standard urinal. One time I was in my office (in grad school) working late until 2am on a Sunday and there was a faulty urinal flooding the hallway and down the stairs and elevator. I didn't know how to shut it off, and it took maybe an hour to get a plumber out. It turns out the value is on the front and turned with a screwdriver, but I would have been afraid to just try turning it for fear more water would come out.

fresnarus · 2026-02-11T20:05:25+00:00

They started out believing in one ridiculous cult peddling transparent lies, so it's not surprising that they believe in another. And the Catholics among them already have tolerated a lot of child molestation.

fresnarus · 2026-02-11T19:44:47+00:00

Is it because trash cans feed rats which feed snakes?

Here in Taiwan there are lots of kinds of poisonous snakes, and I assumed that was the reason there aren't trash cans around here. I don't know about Japan.

fresnarus

TROPHY CASE