Tim Hsu
LightNews LightNews
banner
timhsu.net
Tim Hsu
@timhsu.net
2.3K followers 570 following 650 posts
SJSU math prof living in SF. Too old to spend this much time on comic books and music. He/him
Posts Replies Media Videos
timhsu.net
A movie that takes place where you're from
Movie poster for Stephen King's IT, child in the foreground, Pennywise and a red balloon in the background
November 24, 2025 at 2:40 AM
timhsu.net
Pregame show at Monkey King, SF Opera
Lion dancers in lobby before the opera
November 16, 2025 at 10:04 PM
timhsu.net
The world is back to being trash but at least dinner (mapo tofu and garlic pea shoots) came out ok last night
Two woks: on left, mapo tofu, on right, pea shoots with garlic
November 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
timhsu.net
Waiting for the Crazy Ex Girlfriend reunion show to start

I'M JUST A LITTLE EXCITED
Stage of the Crazy Ex Girlfriend reunion show in San Francisco, right before the show
October 19, 2025 at 2:58 AM
timhsu.net
"no one is in the saddle forever"
... Think even of the longest lasting fascist or authoritarian dictatorships. Franco? About 35 years. Pinochet? 16 years, ousted by a referendum. I don’t imagine this will last for even a tiny fraction of that length of time. My point is simply to demonstrate the incontestable point: no one remains in the saddle forever.
September 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM
timhsu.net
I hear all these people telling me how there won’t be a 2026 election, or that it won’t be free and fair or a bunch of other things. My question to them or maybe to you is what are you going to do about it? History is long. No one is in the saddle forever.
September 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM
timhsu.net
I hope everyone reading this will subscribe to TPM and go read the full version (short thread)
“That’s why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream,” Carr wrote at the time. He knows what he’s doing. I want lawmakers to be telling people like Carr and his ilk not that they’ll have regrets but that they’ll face consequences.
September 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM
timhsu.net
mood in response:
from Romy and Michele's High School Reunion: Romy, Michele, and Sandy Frink dancing to "Time After Time"
August 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
timhsu.net
WHAAAAAA (from @goldderby.com)
And then there’s a sequel fans have been clamoring for: Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion with Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino. Cumming confirms he’ll reprise Sandy Frink. “It’s so great. The script is really exciting. We were supposed to do it this year, but Lisa was shooting The Comeback. I think we’re shooting next year. I’m so excited,” he says.
August 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
timhsu.net
Puppies! at #MAAthFest
MathFest attendees playing with puppies
August 8, 2025 at 6:33 PM
timhsu.net
Age verification?
Original TRS-80, 4K RAM, storage system a RadioShack cassette player, monitor a black-and-white TV set
July 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
timhsu.net
If modular arithmetic is jenga on peyote, how would you describe nimber multiplication?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimber
The multplication table for the field of nimbers {*0,...,*15}, aka the multiplication table for GF(16)
June 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
timhsu.net
Looped-wire sculptures/gyroid (3/4)
Asawa's looped-wire sculptures of multiply-connected (mostly) negatively curved surfaces A gyroid: an infinitely connected negatively curved minimal surface that is triply periodic in R^3
June 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
timhsu.net
Tied-wire sculpture/Cayley graph of free group on two generators (2/4)
Asawa tied-wire sculpture that resembles an infinitely branching tree Cayley graph of the free group on two generators
June 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
timhsu.net
Ruth Asawa retrospective at SF MOMA/low-dimensional topology and geometry, a short thread

Looped-wire sculptures/Ricci flow (1/4)
Asawa's looped-wire sculptures that look like spheres connected by thin tubes Stages of Ricci flow on a manifold
June 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
timhsu.net
❌👑

Come on out today and support democracy!
www.nokings.org
Protest sign with cartoon of Trump wearing a crown, with a "no" symbol superimposed on it, captioned NO KINGS
June 14, 2025 at 4:16 PM
timhsu.net
I got this error message:
Error message: Domain configuration pending
June 12, 2025 at 6:14 PM
timhsu.net
First time on new(ish) electrified Caltrain!
Selfie of me sitting on spiffy new Caltrain
April 18, 2025 at 2:29 PM
timhsu.net
Am I wrong in thinking that Columbia has already accepted an agreement where the government dictates what they can teach and research and whom they can fire?
Ms. Shipman wrote that Columbia would “reject heavy-handed orchestration from the government that could potentially damage our institution and undermine useful reforms.” She said that any agreement in which federal officials dictated “what we teach, research, or who we hire” would be unacceptable.
April 15, 2025 at 10:23 PM
timhsu.net
As many others are observing, there's something quite irritating about being pirated without being asked or even notified. Is there a class action lawsuit somewhere?
My two books and a bunch of articles of mine, verified as being pirated by Meta's LibGen
March 20, 2025 at 3:29 PM
timhsu.net
This is such a smart take from @rosalafersousa.bsky.social. Americans want American STEM to succeed and lots of folks who would be sympathetic aren't hearing from us in a direct and emotional way! So #MathSky please share your stories and sign up for activism here:

www.ams.org/government/r...
Lafer-Sousa said her goal is to amplify the stories of early-career scholars and help the average American understand the erosion of scientific research. “I want her on a news channel in Missouri, on a local news channel where people are like,‘Oh, she went to my high school, she went to go pursue her dreams,’” Lafer-Sousa said of the Pitt applicant, who is from St. Louis. “I want them to hear her story, because they’re not reading The New York Times, they’re not watching Rachel Maddow. We need to reach them.”
February 27, 2025 at 7:16 PM
timhsu.net
how's everyone doing this fine Friday
Mood board asking "How are you feeling today on a scale of (gestures at everything)?" with 8 options, except all 8 options are Munch's _The Scream_
January 31, 2025 at 9:32 PM
timhsu.net
I kinda regret sharing this now that I realize that @joinmaa.bsky.social is going to be pushing AI stuff on a regular basis? After #JMM2025, is there no escape from this stuff anywhere? As the great Roz Chast put it:
Cover of cartoonist Roz Chast's book, "Can't we talk about something more PLEASANT?"
January 14, 2025 at 9:29 PM
timhsu.net
Post your favorite #DoctorWho. Wrong answers only.
Carrie Preston playing Elsbeth Tascioni on Elsbeth
January 13, 2025 at 9:18 PM
timhsu.net
Score #JMM #JMM2025 #MathSky
Plastic and foam versions of aperiodic monotiles (shirt/hat and spectre), available at mathartfun.com
January 9, 2025 at 7:05 PM