david jon furbish
@davidjonfurbish.bsky.social
granddad and emeritus professor studying statistical physics of sediment transport & science philosophy
essays on these topics: https://my.vanderbilt.edu/davidjonfurbish/
author of Fluid Physics in Geology: https://academic.oup.com/book/40895?login=false
essays on these topics: https://my.vanderbilt.edu/davidjonfurbish/
author of Fluid Physics in Geology: https://academic.oup.com/book/40895?login=false
Pinned
As a point of reference, meet Rowan the intrepid woof. Together we invented the game of Dragon Soccer involving two soccer balls and a stuffed dragon. The rules are complicated… and fluid. But it seems that whoever controls the dragon controls the game. I’ll be posting numerous pics of Rowan.
My dear friend and brilliant colleague, Peter Haff, died two years ago. I miss Peter, and I think about him frequently. Here is a link to my 2024 statement.
“A legion of beautiful stars watching over Peter Haff’s beloved Mojave Desert twinkled extra last night…”
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
“A legion of beautiful stars watching over Peter Haff’s beloved Mojave Desert twinkled extra last night…”
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
cdn.vanderbilt.edu
February 4, 2026 at 2:16 PM
My dear friend and brilliant colleague, Peter Haff, died two years ago. I miss Peter, and I think about him frequently. Here is a link to my 2024 statement.
“A legion of beautiful stars watching over Peter Haff’s beloved Mojave Desert twinkled extra last night…”
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
“A legion of beautiful stars watching over Peter Haff’s beloved Mojave Desert twinkled extra last night…”
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
Winter storm conditions in Nashville w/ continued freezing and power outages are grim. Needed to use crampons, for sure, just to take Rowan outside for her constitutionals, dodging downed trees and power lines everywhere. We did 2 days/nights w/ fireplace and camp stove before making our way south.
January 28, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Winter storm conditions in Nashville w/ continued freezing and power outages are grim. Needed to use crampons, for sure, just to take Rowan outside for her constitutionals, dodging downed trees and power lines everywhere. We did 2 days/nights w/ fireplace and camp stove before making our way south.
the English language meets Cantor’s continuum hypothesis lol
January 19, 2026 at 2:56 PM
the English language meets Cantor’s continuum hypothesis lol
Reposted by david jon furbish
People have been trying (understandably) to dunk on the FDA about this, but I think there's real progress in their acceptance of Bayesian stats. When I wrote about pediatric COVID vaccines in 2022 the FDA was still requiring frequentist methods, delaying the approval.
www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/o...
www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/o...
January 15, 2026 at 12:42 AM
People have been trying (understandably) to dunk on the FDA about this, but I think there's real progress in their acceptance of Bayesian stats. When I wrote about pediatric COVID vaccines in 2022 the FDA was still requiring frequentist methods, delaying the approval.
www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/o...
www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/o...
When Rowan was a puppy she enrolled in several self-guided courses. After excelling in Basic Couch Use 101, she then took Principles of Pillowing 101, and Advanced Pillowing 240. Scored well in both. A genuine autodidact. 😊
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
December 29, 2025 at 3:35 PM
When Rowan was a puppy she enrolled in several self-guided courses. After excelling in Basic Couch Use 101, she then took Principles of Pillowing 101, and Advanced Pillowing 240. Scored well in both. A genuine autodidact. 😊
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
eBook Preview (continued): Statistical Physics of Sediment Particle Motions and Transport
Chapter 11: Rain Splash Transport
Rain splash transport has been described in the literature as the "simplest of all geomorphic processes."
sure ok lol 😊
1/2
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
Chapter 11: Rain Splash Transport
Rain splash transport has been described in the literature as the "simplest of all geomorphic processes."
sure ok lol 😊
1/2
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
cdn.vanderbilt.edu
December 23, 2025 at 5:49 PM
eBook Preview (continued): Statistical Physics of Sediment Particle Motions and Transport
Chapter 11: Rain Splash Transport
Rain splash transport has been described in the literature as the "simplest of all geomorphic processes."
sure ok lol 😊
1/2
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
Chapter 11: Rain Splash Transport
Rain splash transport has been described in the literature as the "simplest of all geomorphic processes."
sure ok lol 😊
1/2
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
For those interested in sediment transport in rivers:
We've all stared at log-log plots involving a gazillion data points of bed load transport rate versus shear stress and noticed that the residual variance about some selected empirical flux-stress function typically spans...
1/3
We've all stared at log-log plots involving a gazillion data points of bed load transport rate versus shear stress and noticed that the residual variance about some selected empirical flux-stress function typically spans...
1/3
December 13, 2025 at 6:47 PM
For those interested in sediment transport in rivers:
We've all stared at log-log plots involving a gazillion data points of bed load transport rate versus shear stress and noticed that the residual variance about some selected empirical flux-stress function typically spans...
1/3
We've all stared at log-log plots involving a gazillion data points of bed load transport rate versus shear stress and noticed that the residual variance about some selected empirical flux-stress function typically spans...
1/3
Sometimes Rowan forgets to look, but today she responsibly and capably checked for trolls under all the bridges — and she’s not shy about chasing them out!
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
December 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Sometimes Rowan forgets to look, but today she responsibly and capably checked for trolls under all the bridges — and she’s not shy about chasing them out!
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
eBook Preview (continued): Statistical Physics of Sediment Particle Motions and Transport
Chapter 6. Kinematics of the Particle Flux
Everybody in the business thinks they understand the sediment particle flux, but nobody actually does lol 😊
1/4
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
Chapter 6. Kinematics of the Particle Flux
Everybody in the business thinks they understand the sediment particle flux, but nobody actually does lol 😊
1/4
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
cdn.vanderbilt.edu
December 9, 2025 at 6:00 PM
eBook Preview (continued): Statistical Physics of Sediment Particle Motions and Transport
Chapter 6. Kinematics of the Particle Flux
Everybody in the business thinks they understand the sediment particle flux, but nobody actually does lol 😊
1/4
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
Chapter 6. Kinematics of the Particle Flux
Everybody in the business thinks they understand the sediment particle flux, but nobody actually does lol 😊
1/4
cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd...
a delightful description of the ice slipperiness problem and the explanations that folks have proposed!
The textbook explanation for ice’s slipperiness emerged from experiments in the 1930s at the Jungfraujoch Ice Palace, a human-made ice cave in the Swiss Alps. Today, many scientists disagree with it.
Why Is Ice Slippery? A New Hypothesis Slides Into the Chat. | Quanta Magazine
A newly proposed explanation for the slipperiness of ice has revived a centuries-long debate.
www.quantamagazine.org
December 8, 2025 at 9:14 PM
a delightful description of the ice slipperiness problem and the explanations that folks have proposed!
Rowan the intrepid woof couldn’t find any frogs along the edge of the pond this time of year, so instead she decided to study waves. Seems to like fluid mechanics as much as aquatic biology. 😊
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
December 8, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Rowan the intrepid woof couldn’t find any frogs along the edge of the pond this time of year, so instead she decided to study waves. Seems to like fluid mechanics as much as aquatic biology. 😊
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
#dogs
#dogsofbluesky
#AustralianShepherd
Happy birthday to Rowan the Intrepid Woof!
5 years!
Rowan insisted that we do a special romp in the woods this afternoon for her birthday — you know, to make sure we sniffed all possible interesting sniffable things that we might have missed this morning!
#dogs
#AustralianShepherd
#dogsofbluesky
5 years!
Rowan insisted that we do a special romp in the woods this afternoon for her birthday — you know, to make sure we sniffed all possible interesting sniffable things that we might have missed this morning!
#dogs
#AustralianShepherd
#dogsofbluesky
December 5, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Happy birthday to Rowan the Intrepid Woof!
5 years!
Rowan insisted that we do a special romp in the woods this afternoon for her birthday — you know, to make sure we sniffed all possible interesting sniffable things that we might have missed this morning!
#dogs
#AustralianShepherd
#dogsofbluesky
5 years!
Rowan insisted that we do a special romp in the woods this afternoon for her birthday — you know, to make sure we sniffed all possible interesting sniffable things that we might have missed this morning!
#dogs
#AustralianShepherd
#dogsofbluesky
essential reading regarding the use of AI in higher education, with specific reference to the California State University system
“Welcome to the brave new world of parasocial machine bonding—sponsored by the campus center for teaching excellence.”
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
“Welcome to the brave new world of parasocial machine bonding—sponsored by the campus center for teaching excellence.”
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM
essential reading regarding the use of AI in higher education, with specific reference to the California State University system
“Welcome to the brave new world of parasocial machine bonding—sponsored by the campus center for teaching excellence.”
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
“Welcome to the brave new world of parasocial machine bonding—sponsored by the campus center for teaching excellence.”
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
December 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by david jon furbish
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
“As a result… even the best AI systems will never be anything more than serviceable artists that write you a nice wordy email.”
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Large Language Models Will Never Be Intelligent, Expert Says
The AI industry is staking its future on language models. But LLMs, an expert argues, are fundamentally incapable of being intelligent.
futurism.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:45 PM
“As a result… even the best AI systems will never be anything more than serviceable artists that write you a nice wordy email.”
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Reposted by david jon furbish
'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain'
#Iran 🇮🇷
#Iran 🇮🇷
Iran president says capital move now a necessity as water crisis deepens
Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has mad...
www.iranintl.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:52 AM
'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain'
#Iran 🇮🇷
#Iran 🇮🇷
intriguing thread and accompanying comments
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 10:29 PM
intriguing thread and accompanying comments
I’m nearly a week late with this post, but I only recently realized that this great event in US history, now with its own holiday — Exploding Whale Day — falls on my birthday! I turned 15 the day it occurred 😊 Definitely watch the video in the article… lol
www.oregonlive.com/travel/2024/...
www.oregonlive.com/travel/2024/...
Exploding Whale Day now a full-fledged holiday on the Oregon coast. Here’s how to celebrate
Florence has gone all-in on its explosive legacy.
www.oregonlive.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I’m nearly a week late with this post, but I only recently realized that this great event in US history, now with its own holiday — Exploding Whale Day — falls on my birthday! I turned 15 the day it occurred 😊 Definitely watch the video in the article… lol
www.oregonlive.com/travel/2024/...
www.oregonlive.com/travel/2024/...
this is really good lol
November 14, 2025 at 12:38 AM
this is really good lol
Oh gosh our befriended dragon Icarus was seriously injured in a game of Dragon Soccer! Fortunately the Chief Woof does excellent dragon surgery (generally a dangerous business) and fixed Icarus’s noise-maker innards and the laceration. Look at those beautiful butt/tail stitches! All better 😊
October 15, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Oh gosh our befriended dragon Icarus was seriously injured in a game of Dragon Soccer! Fortunately the Chief Woof does excellent dragon surgery (generally a dangerous business) and fixed Icarus’s noise-maker innards and the laceration. Look at those beautiful butt/tail stitches! All better 😊
if you’re wondering, the verb “tech-bro’d” is not complimentary
a nice analysis of yet another tech “solution” that no one needs nor wants
a nice analysis of yet another tech “solution” that no one needs nor wants
The true cost of “solar power at night” with Reflect Orbital
If you played SimCity 2000, you might've loved the idea of "beaming power from space" down to Earth.
Reflect Orbital took that idea, tech-bro'd it, and now could end "night" as we know it.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro
If you played SimCity 2000, you might've loved the idea of "beaming power from space" down to Earth.
Reflect Orbital took that idea, tech-bro'd it, and now could end "night" as we know it.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro
The true cost of "solar power at night" with Reflect Orbital
Solar power has the disadvantage that there's no Sun at night. Satellite startup Reflect Orbital wants to change that, but at what cost?
bigthink.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:39 PM
if you’re wondering, the verb “tech-bro’d” is not complimentary
a nice analysis of yet another tech “solution” that no one needs nor wants
a nice analysis of yet another tech “solution” that no one needs nor wants
“This “compact” is… like an invitation to borrow money from the mob, with substantial control and future penalties assured. If any university agrees to this proposal, it will be under federal control and subject to some unpredictable, arbitrary, extreme penalties.”
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
newrepublic.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:30 PM
“This “compact” is… like an invitation to borrow money from the mob, with substantial control and future penalties assured. If any university agrees to this proposal, it will be under federal control and subject to some unpredictable, arbitrary, extreme penalties.”
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Reposted by david jon furbish
For anyone interested in stochastic dynamics, nonequilibrium/critical phenomena, Langevin equations, etc, I *strongly* recommend these new lectures (40x 40 min) by Erwin Frey (LMU Munich). Outstanding.
🧪🧮
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
🧪🧮
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Nonequilibrium Physics -- Stochastic Dynamics & Field Theories - YouTube
This lecture explores the fundamental principles and advanced concepts of nonequilibrium field theories and stochastic dynamics. The course focuses on stocha...
www.youtube.com
October 4, 2025 at 8:28 AM
For anyone interested in stochastic dynamics, nonequilibrium/critical phenomena, Langevin equations, etc, I *strongly* recommend these new lectures (40x 40 min) by Erwin Frey (LMU Munich). Outstanding.
🧪🧮
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
🧪🧮
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
