I have mostly stopped using Facebook. I’ve only made two posts to my own timeline since the beginning of the year, and one was to update my bio with a message explaining that I’ve stopped using Facebook (which I will probably edit to include a link to this post). I’m not a “Facebook vegan”: I still log in (occasionally) and comment or like others’ posts (even less occasionally). I also occasionally make posts for various organizations with which I’m involved (but I post them to those organizations’ pages).

Some observations: Refugees are risking frostbite to flee the U.S. for Canada. This is a very sad commentary on the lack of compassion from our current administration. I signed the Unitarian Universalist Association’s declaration of conscience, and encourage you to consider signing it as well. I agree with Congressman Ellison: To all my supporters: we may have come up short, but we need to be united. I look forward to continuing to work for the people in MN-05.

The other day, I was writing some lecture notes for my linear algebra class, and wanted to create the following diagram (to illustrate the concept of a Markov chain): I had a very limited time in which to finish these notes. Fortunately, I found the tkz-graph package, which made this a snap: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 \documentclass{standalone} \usepackage{tikz} \usepackage{fouriernc} \usepackage{tkz-graph} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \SetGraphUnit{5} \Vertex[x=0, y=10]{0 points}; \Vertex[x=0, y=5]{1 point}; \Vertex[x=0, y=0]{Win}; \Vertex[x=5, y=5]{Lose}; \Edge[style ={->}, label={$1/3$}]({0 points})({1 point}); \Edge[style ={->}, label={$1/3$}]({1 point})({Win}); \Edge[style ={->}, label={$1/6$}]({0 points})({Lose}); \Edge[style ={->}, label={$1/6$}]({1 point})({Lose}); \Loop[style ={->}, label={$1/2$}, labelstyle={fill=white}]({0 points}); \Loop[style ={->}, label={$1/2$}, labelstyle={fill=white}]({1 point}); \Loop[style ={->}, label={$1$}, dir=EA, labelstyle={fill=white}]({Lose}); \Loop[style ={->}, label={$1$}, labelstyle={fill=white}]({Win}); \end{tikzpicture} \end{document} You don’t even have to specify the locations of the vertices; you can throw caution to the wind and have LaTeX decide where to place them!

It’s been a long time (over a year) since I’ve posted on this blog, because I have (to put it mildly) been very busy with other responsibilities and passions that have taken me away from blogging. Also, I serve as a (low-level, volunteer-basis) officer in a political party, and as a result, I am sometimes reluctant to post my opinions in public, for fear that they might be taken (or portrayed) as official statements, despite my disclaimer (which, to be clear, says that everything written here is my personal opinion and does not reflect the position of my employer or any organization of which I am a member).

Today, I finished reading How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg. This is a very enjoyable, very well-written, general-audience book about mathematics, which I recommend whole-heartedly. Ellenberg, a math professor at the University of Wisconsin, does a great job weaving together a plethora of mathematical topics, including non-Euclidean geometry, probability, statistics, and mathematical analysis of voting systems. He writes in a way that someone who only vaguely remembers—or never really understood—high school algebra would be able to follow and enjoy.

In an op-ed piece titled “College kids have too much privacy“, Michele Willens criticizes the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) for making it difficult for families to monitor their college student children’s academic performance. I can understand why some families are frustrated by FERPA. Many families spend a great deal of money to send their young to college. Consider the parents in Willens’s opening anecdote, who learned their daughter had not actually graduated and skipped class for the last two years.

I hate it when people reply or comment to something you posted, in a way that makes it clear they didn't read what you wrote or posted, (1/) — Chris Phan (@functoruser) May 15, 2015 and that they were just looking for an argument. It's disrespectful and rude. Also, I'm not looking for arguments on the Internet. (2/) — Chris Phan (@functoruser) May 15, 2015 I'm looking for dialogue, discussion, and reasonable disagreement.

I’ve been very busy recently with work and various other things recently. pic.twitter.com/o0PnRFbCq9 — Chris Phan (@functoruser) October 19, 2014

The American Mathematical Society made the following amusing post to their Facebook page today: It’s National Punctuation Day (at least in the U,S,)! To honor the occasion, for positive integers n, let n? = 1 + 2 + … + n. What is 3???? (Hint: < 1000) You can calculate 3???? = 26796, which of course is greater than 1000. The joke is that they aren’t asking you to calculate 3?

Good morning! pic.twitter.com/qR3phXAszo — Chris Phan (@functoruser) August 13, 2014 He’s really growing!