John May
@3j0hn.bsky.social
I write math software for a living. I ride bikes for fun. Both bikes and math are awesome but software is kinda horrible
also at @[email protected]
also at @[email protected]
I wear a lot of hats. This weekend, it was an MWBA hardhat for a morning of clearing slides from a beloved trail damaged in the Eaton Fire. It's always a privilege to get access to closed parts of the forest, and we worked hard to make sustainable fixes to these trails. www.mwba.org/updates/mwba...
October 29, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I wear a lot of hats. This weekend, it was an MWBA hardhat for a morning of clearing slides from a beloved trail damaged in the Eaton Fire. It's always a privilege to get access to closed parts of the forest, and we worked hard to make sustainable fixes to these trails. www.mwba.org/updates/mwba...
I love the richness of terms for underwear in Canada (from this piece about the author of the Oxford Canadian dictionary www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/w...)
October 17, 2025 at 3:21 AM
I love the richness of terms for underwear in Canada (from this piece about the author of the Oxford Canadian dictionary www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/w...)
this made me laugh a lot
October 15, 2025 at 6:59 PM
this made me laugh a lot
I am worried that these big cuts at JPL will reduce our ability to deal with lifeforce vampires from Haley's comet
October 14, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I am worried that these big cuts at JPL will reduce our ability to deal with lifeforce vampires from Haley's comet
I am more tempted by this than I should be @tmbg.bsky.social
October 9, 2025 at 4:34 PM
I am more tempted by this than I should be @tmbg.bsky.social
There are lots of bad things about reddit, but I love that there is someone dedicated to tracking knot identification requests on r/knots to keep track of how often people ask to identify the simplest possible knot.
September 4, 2025 at 4:19 PM
There are lots of bad things about reddit, but I love that there is someone dedicated to tracking knot identification requests on r/knots to keep track of how often people ask to identify the simplest possible knot.
While #MathSky doesn't seem to get quite as excited about new shapes as Mathstodon does over on the Fediverse, you still might want to know it's not too hard to construct this shape. I do it in Maple here: www.mapleprimes.com/art/42-The-N...
I should probably 3D print a vase or pen holder...
I should probably 3D print a vase or pen holder...
August 28, 2025 at 7:10 PM
While #MathSky doesn't seem to get quite as excited about new shapes as Mathstodon does over on the Fediverse, you still might want to know it's not too hard to construct this shape. I do it in Maple here: www.mapleprimes.com/art/42-The-N...
I should probably 3D print a vase or pen holder...
I should probably 3D print a vase or pen holder...
Zooming in, here is a 1:1 lift of set of Properties Pink and Orange. Same money/fan values in both games, same paired "Rent" card, and two sided "wild" card. There are a couple extra properties, and 2-3 small tweaks to others in the copycat game - like the level of changes you'd make in a 2nd ed
August 27, 2025 at 4:52 AM
Zooming in, here is a 1:1 lift of set of Properties Pink and Orange. Same money/fan values in both games, same paired "Rent" card, and two sided "wild" card. There are a couple extra properties, and 2-3 small tweaks to others in the copycat game - like the level of changes you'd make in a 2nd ed
The most IRONIC original action card
August 27, 2025 at 4:27 AM
The most IRONIC original action card
We felt the need to actually lay the cards out together and at first I was worried that it was an identical 1:1 copy number and all. But it turns out there are a few minor differences in properties, and a handful of new actions
August 27, 2025 at 4:24 AM
We felt the need to actually lay the cards out together and at first I was worried that it was an identical 1:1 copy number and all. But it turns out there are a few minor differences in properties, and a handful of new actions
The Capt'n's tying the ol' tom fool knot: #2534
August 8, 2025 at 4:18 AM
The Capt'n's tying the ol' tom fool knot: #2534
This birthday gift from my family is a hefty arcane tome. Every field has one of these: a magic manual where you can flip to a random page and learn something new. An ebook can never replace the joy of doing that
August 8, 2025 at 1:22 AM
This birthday gift from my family is a hefty arcane tome. Every field has one of these: a magic manual where you can flip to a random page and learn something new. An ebook can never replace the joy of doing that
I am not clicking through the Weather dot com article teaser, because if that's not Chick-fil-A sauce in the picture, I don't want to know.
August 6, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I am not clicking through the Weather dot com article teaser, because if that's not Chick-fil-A sauce in the picture, I don't want to know.
Burger King is Big in Japan apparently.
July 2, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Burger King is Big in Japan apparently.
Last night I finished "Nobody Runs Forever" and I'm a little sad that I'm nearly through all of the Parker novels. Fortunately they look great on a shelf and are all immensely rereadable
June 17, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Last night I finished "Nobody Runs Forever" and I'm a little sad that I'm nearly through all of the Parker novels. Fortunately they look great on a shelf and are all immensely rereadable
The only thing keeping me from saying yes, is that the center leaf doesn't seem to have a well defined stem ("neck" below) separating it from the other two leaves
June 3, 2025 at 8:52 PM
The only thing keeping me from saying yes, is that the center leaf doesn't seem to have a well defined stem ("neck" below) separating it from the other two leaves
I have no cats, only cavies
May 23, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I have no cats, only cavies
I definitely couldn't do last year's Triple Scoop right now (not just because some of these roads are in the fire closure), but my frail limbs should be able to handle the Double Scoop
May 8, 2025 at 9:13 PM
I definitely couldn't do last year's Triple Scoop right now (not just because some of these roads are in the fire closure), but my frail limbs should be able to handle the Double Scoop
I knew that the Liquid Death sparkling water brand was started by Marketing Assholes TM. But they made a unique and delicious take on flavored sparkling water that I loved.
But, they couldn't make that business work, so they just said FU to existing fans and turned all their drinks into stevia sodas
But, they couldn't make that business work, so they just said FU to existing fans and turned all their drinks into stevia sodas
April 29, 2025 at 8:37 PM
I knew that the Liquid Death sparkling water brand was started by Marketing Assholes TM. But they made a unique and delicious take on flavored sparkling water that I loved.
But, they couldn't make that business work, so they just said FU to existing fans and turned all their drinks into stevia sodas
But, they couldn't make that business work, so they just said FU to existing fans and turned all their drinks into stevia sodas
The CEO of John Deere Tractor (one of the biggest ag equipment companies in the world) is also named "John May" and I get a lot of email by not super bright people trying to reach him. This piece of spam seemed especially funny to me this morning.
April 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The CEO of John Deere Tractor (one of the biggest ag equipment companies in the world) is also named "John May" and I get a lot of email by not super bright people trying to reach him. This piece of spam seemed especially funny to me this morning.
It has been 0 Days since I've had to open a giant Russian tome in aid of fixing a bug in Maple (sadly a PDF, they wouldn't let me take the office copy from Waterloo when I moved to California)
April 15, 2025 at 11:57 PM
It has been 0 Days since I've had to open a giant Russian tome in aid of fixing a bug in Maple (sadly a PDF, they wouldn't let me take the office copy from Waterloo when I moved to California)
Apparently is Citizen Science Month so I got this badge for maintaining my CoCoRaHS precipitation gauge: dex.cocorahs.org/stations/CA-...
April 2, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Apparently is Citizen Science Month so I got this badge for maintaining my CoCoRaHS precipitation gauge: dex.cocorahs.org/stations/CA-...
If Quanta wrote an article about you, what would they accuse you (correctly) of seeing everywhere?
March 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
If Quanta wrote an article about you, what would they accuse you (correctly) of seeing everywhere?
Finally finished my r/Fantasy Bingo card with a week to spare. Procrastinated a few squares really late this year partially due to January being... challenging. On the bright side, this is the first year I can say I actually enjoyed everything I read for the card.
March 22, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Finally finished my r/Fantasy Bingo card with a week to spare. Procrastinated a few squares really late this year partially due to January being... challenging. On the bright side, this is the first year I can say I actually enjoyed everything I read for the card.
People in my feed seem to be posting cavies, so here's Nomi looking disappointed that there are no more pea flakes on offer, and Mango in the background, still hopeful.
March 17, 2025 at 9:53 PM
People in my feed seem to be posting cavies, so here's Nomi looking disappointed that there are no more pea flakes on offer, and Mango in the background, still hopeful.