Darren Simmons
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darrensimmons.bsky.social
Darren Simmons
@darrensimmons.bsky.social
260 followers 160 following 4K posts
He/him. Mathematician (ask me about groups!). Erstwhile fan of sport. De facto anarchist, not having a great time these days. Atheist, but usually not a jerk about it. Used to be @mathman_85 at the old place.

Views expressed are my own.
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darrensimmons.bsky.social
As I said....
A snowy landscape. Road in the foreground. Trees in the background.
November 10, 2025 at 3:13 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
An image of Captain America speaking to Spider-Man, saying: Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides something wrong is something right. This nation was founded in one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the world... ..."No. YOU move."
September 23, 2025 at 2:19 AM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Though on second thought—as I had to type all that out myself to make the alt text—this is just an A.I.-generated summary of, essentially, the abstract.
Screenshot of Google’s AI description of an academic document: “On Lagrangian Algebras in Braided Fusion Categories” is the title of a 2017 doctoral dissertation by Darren Simmons, completed at Ohio University. This work explores a generalization of the concept of symmetry, using fusion categories to create generalized associative algebras and study their properties. Key aspects of this work include: • Braided Fusion Categories: These are a class of mathematical structures that generalize the notion of symmetry beyond classical group theory. • Lagrangian Algebras: The dissertation constructs and analyzes generalized associative algebras within these categories, with a focus on those that are “Lagrangian”. • Generalization of Symmetry: The research contributes to the study of symmetry in physics and mathematics by providing a more general framework than traditional group theory. • Mathematical Formalization: The study formalizes concepts in abstract algebra to better understand the properties of these generalized algebras. [Two lsink to access the document via OhioLink’s Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center]
September 12, 2025 at 7:25 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Oh, so, this guy’s on the case, then:
A cartoon image of an orange, black, white, and yellow humanoid robot whose head is a top (as in, the spinning toy)—Top Man from the Capcom® Nintendo video game Rockman/Mega Man Ⅲ.
September 11, 2025 at 10:13 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Miss that little furball.
An orange-and-white cat lying on his back on grey carpet.
August 27, 2025 at 12:22 AM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
“Usee the egg”, etc., etc.
A sequence of “A.I.”-generated pictures of instructions for cooking an egg. 1. “Preemt skilket” — Picture of a frying pan on a stovetop burner. 2. “Urepeat skillet” — Picture of the frying pan with oil being poured into it… in the form of an egg. 3. “Usee the egg” — Picture of the frying pan with a salt shaker pouring an egg into it. 3. “Use oil sparfly” — Same as image #2 above, albeit less brightly lit. 5. “Intrody the edrisp” — Picture of a single egg being fried in the pan, with three uncracked eggs off to the left and a salt shaker above. 5. “Wait for edges to” — Picture of a single egg being fried in the frying pan.
August 10, 2025 at 2:41 AM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Orange cat on blue blanket on human's lap. Computer in left background, swivel chair and staircase in center background.
August 8, 2025 at 6:48 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
My Dad and me, ca. 1987.

Requiescat in pace, Dad. 💔
My father and a very young me in a blue–grey easy chair with a Sesame Street book.
July 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Image here:
An image of a _Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal_ comic: Two people are walking through a forest speaking. A: I’m a substance dualist because it’s just not plausible that brute matter could give rise to mental states. B: Absolutely. B: That’s why we should believe in the much simpler idea that [_sharp intake of breath_] B: Consciousness arises from physically undetectable, yet also indestructible, mind-stuff, which wasn’t present until humanity reached its current evolutionary phenotype, and which, despite not interacting with the body, both determines and is affected by its actions and is also perpetually localized to each individual person until they die at which point it goes to a non-localized location that also can’t be detected. A: I can’t tell if you’re entirely serious. B: One moment… catch breath… then… talk animal consciousness.
June 1, 2025 at 1:22 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
An orange cat lying belly-up on a gray carpet.
May 22, 2025 at 11:25 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
My turn today.
A grilled cheese sandwich in a frying pan.
March 18, 2025 at 7:50 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
For comparison:
A messy bookshelf in an office. There are cardboard boxes and a computer bag atop it. The top shelf contains boxes of chalk, ground coffee, nondairy coffee creamer, coffee filters, and a pile of problem-set books for various mathematical subdisciplines. The second-highest shelf contains mathematics textbooks. The middle shelf contains dry erase markers, more mathematics textbooks, and hardbound journals. The second-lowest shelf contains a ream of printer paper, a box of chalk, a bottle of Purell, and several boxes of granola bars. The bottom shelf contains a plastic bin and a gallon jug of distilled water.
February 5, 2025 at 3:04 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
It might be kinda clichéd by now, but as you say, Timothy Snyder’s first point in _On Tyranny_ needs to be reinforced:
A screenshot from the book (or pamphlet) _On Tyranny_ by historian Timothy Snyder. 1 Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.
January 21, 2025 at 2:30 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
10 cm of snow and counting. Miserable to trudge through.
A man in a balaclava with orange sunglasses, his coat completely festooned with ice and snow. A frozen river in the far background.
January 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
I talk at people twenty years my junior.
White text on a black background: Poorly explain what you do for a job.
December 30, 2024 at 7:47 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Thanks to my friend Nate for this one. It's gonna take me quite a while to put it together, I fear.
A photograph of a LEGO(R) set on a counter. The set is a 1,222-piece behemot for building a Tallneck from the Horizon video game series.
December 25, 2024 at 4:40 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
I think I might have stolen this one from @scientistmel.bsky.social, but I may be misremembering.

Anyway…
A picture of a Shoggoth—a shapeshifting, multiarmed blob monster—in the background of the following text: ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS CTHULHU SENT TO ME TWELVE SHOGGOTHS BUBBLING ELEVEN TENTACLES SQUIRMING TEN FUNGI GROWING NINE CULTISTS DANCING EIGHT ELDER GODS SEVEN FORMS OF MADNESS SIX BLACK GOATS SPAWNING FIVE NECRO-NOM-ICONS FOUR CRAWLING CHAOS A THREE LOBED EYE TWO DEEP ONES AND NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY MERRY CTHULHUMAS
December 24, 2024 at 11:58 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Ah, so 2⁸ consecutive days of at least 10,000 steps as of today.
Screenshot of a Fitbit app: [check mark] 256 day streak Keep hitting your steps goal to continue your streak!
December 15, 2024 at 2:23 AM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Sagan wrote this in 1995, in The Demon-Haunted World. Can't help but wonder just what he'd say if he were still alive today.
In the 1990s the tabloid universe is expanding, voraciously gobbling up other media. Newspapers, magazines, or television programs that labor under prissy restraints imposed by what is actually known are outsold by media outlets with less scrupulous standards. We can see this in the new generation of acknowledged tabloid television, and increasingly in what passes for news and information programs. —Carl Sagan
December 13, 2024 at 1:54 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
You got me beat. But does yours have its own coffee machine?
Photo of the corner of a desk. An old Mr. Coffee machine is there, with a white-and-green "Ohio University Department of Mathematics" mug, an overturned blue Solo cup, a black plastic spoon, a couple of bottles of Purell, and a red-and-black Oakley sunglass case.
December 12, 2024 at 8:26 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Suppose it *is* that time of year.
Cropped and edited screenshot of a weather app notification. Text reads: [REDACTED] | Snow 09:16 Snow possible in the next few hours
November 29, 2024 at 2:20 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
A screenshot of the now-blank ex-Twitter profile @mathman_85—my old account—that states that “This account doesn’t exist//Try searching for another.”
November 13, 2024 at 1:34 AM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
"Nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain."
A rainy landscape of a small river. Trees and hills in the background. Smidge of bike path in right foreground. Taken November 10th, 2024.
November 10, 2024 at 4:08 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Orange cat named Eddie lying on his back on a grey carpet.
November 5, 2024 at 10:40 PM
darrensimmons.bsky.social
Civic duty: done.
Me outside my polling place wearing a T-shirt reading "READ BOOKS. DRINK COFFEE. FIGHT EVIL." and with my "I Voted!" sticker.
November 5, 2024 at 4:46 PM