Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
@ijlaba.bsky.social
750 followers 280 following 600 posts
Mathematician. Childless cat lady. Noise is the new secondhand smoke. ORCID 0000-0002-3810-6121
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ijlaba.bsky.social
I did like DMW when it was staged here. M-D I have not seen. Maybe I should look it up sometime?
ijlaba.bsky.social
Yeah, either that or else pick a subplot and focus on that. For K&C, you have to keep the three main characters or else it's not K&C. But maybe less war? The deployment to Antarctica could be cut out? Do you spend time on the comics they work on? Dunno.
ijlaba.bsky.social
I loved the book, too! And now I'm going to spend the rest of the evening thinking about how I would adapt it 🤣🤣🤣

(As a mathematician, I've had to give 20-minute talks about 200-page proofs. It's actually a very similar problem.)
ijlaba.bsky.social
Same for "math ability". It's not a single type of ability, it can't be measured on a linear scale, and the mythical "far end of the bell curve" is lost in the fog of the margin of error.
Reposted by Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
histoftech.bsky.social
happy sunday, remember that you are completely expendable to your employer and that when you die they will forget you ever existed within weeks and easily replace you
Work really hard and one day this can be you (followed by graffiti of a headstone that says “RIP worked really hard” on it
ijlaba.bsky.social
I do like the idea that analysis is salty 😂😂😂
ijlaba.bsky.social
And the Danzig Corridor is being brought up as the WW2 counterpart to the Suwałki corridor? Which, of course, Russia offers to "resolve peacefully"?
Reposted by Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
junlper.beer
it’s really good when “technology of the future” treats you leaving as if you were leaving a cult
ijlaba.bsky.social
Yep. I'm an actual researcher in math, as in: I create research rather than just "research" with Google. I've seen Google AI blurbs on the topics on my research, with sentences from my papers taken out of context and rearranged so that they no longer make sense. I cannot recommend it to anyone.
ijlaba.bsky.social
"Our power isn’t in making one of the choices that are presented to us. Our power is in shaping the choices available to us."
johnraimo.bsky.social
Gift link: essential and sadly brave writing for dark times from Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd.bsky.social). www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Opinion | Mourn, or Else
www.nytimes.com
ijlaba.bsky.social
Someone needs to cut off their mushroom supply.
jmcelroy.bsky.social
Vancouver Developers Being Chill About Redeveloping Malls By Building Two Million Dollar Condos On Top Of Them Challenge: impossible

(this is for oakridge)
ijlaba.bsky.social
Yeah, I know. That was a "yes, and". And I'll make sure to vote against every single one of those ABC fuckers next time.
ijlaba.bsky.social
I remember one specific time when Sean Orr voted no and said explicitly that this was based on the feedback. That's one out of 10...

I'm sorry, I'm just really bitter about the whole thing.
ijlaba.bsky.social
Council does not even pay attention, in my experience. They just ram it through.

I still submitted feedback on various similar projects, but the process is not anywhere close to being unbiased.
ijlaba.bsky.social
Just typed "omeha" instead of "omega", so I guess I'm having trouble separating math from politics?
Reposted by Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
xl772.bsky.social
In FY25, the University of Vermont had 39 H1B beneficiaries approved.

In 2016, I was one of them.

What this country, my adopted country, my child’s country, is doing is monstrous and will have grave repercussions for all Americans well beyond this current presidential term. This is so sad to see.
thexylom.com
EXCLUSIVE: A new analysis by The Xylom's @alexip718.com shows for the first time just how much America’s top research institutions have grown to depend on H-1B skilled workers — and how this delicate balance might be disrupted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on legal immigration.
The Most Detailed Maps of H-1B Visa Holders Joining America's Top Research Institutions
A new analysis by The Xylom shows for the first time just how much America’s top research institutions have grown to depend on the specialized knowledge of H-1B skilled workers — and how this…
www.thexylom.com
Reposted by Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
ncweaver.skerry-tech.com
Why is this horrible for Universities?

Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.

This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
gergely.pragmaticengineer.com
Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.

One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.
ijlaba.bsky.social
Especially when someone already looks like they are decomposing.
Reposted by Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
dieworkwear.bsky.social
Style lessons from Robert Redford, one of the most stylish men in the last century. 🧵
Apologies for not adding alt text to all these photos. My cat is screaming her head off and if I don't let her outside right this instance, where I have to accompany her, I might die.
Reposted by Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
nytpitchbot.bsky.social
Trump will force all universities to require applicants to submit a two-page essay on Charlie Kirk as part of their application.
ijlaba.bsky.social
Should have said "Anglophone" maybe, instead of Western? Don't want to get into debates about whether for instance The Lives Of Others was Western or Central-European... I'd rank Andor above 1984, though. By a good margin.
ijlaba.bsky.social
Absolutely. The only Western pop-cultural take on totalitarianism that I've ever cared about. Would not be likely to be repeated in any circumstances, let alone what's likely coming.
ijlaba.bsky.social
In Canada, you have to write it off due to ban on news links.
Reposted by Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
badtoss.bsky.social
Thank you, @jamellebouie.net. Signed, this mine's canary.
jessicacalarco.com
Yesterday's piece from @jamellebouie.net is the only high-profile piece I've seen that specifically discusses the watchlist, its effect on academics, and its effect on public attitudes toward academia as a whole. (gift link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/o...
Reposted by Izabella Laba 🇨🇦
chadtopaz.bsky.social
I cannot believe literally have people asking me "but where's the EVIDENCE that Charlie Kirk was homophobic." Well "friends," I have your back. Please enjoy this thread of examples that took me all of a nanosecond to find. If you want more, I'm sure it's out there. Go look for it yourself, I'm done.