Tootfinder

Riding around with Kid1 last night, I remarked that many of the drivers, who seemed more agitated than normal, were "ornery." I explained what the word meant and he said, "I think 'hornery' better describes it." We now have a term for a specific form of dangerous driving.
#BikeTooter #cycling

Since halving my #sertraline dose, down to 50mg / day, my brain feels like it’s halved in processing power. Words are more difficult to find, my speech is slower, my thought patterns and creativity are stifled. I’m generally more lethargic. On the plus side I’m less agitated and less prone to angry outbursts. If only I could have all of the good bits and none of the bad. That’s not really h…

Trump weaponizes words. His opponents should, too | Cognoscenti https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2025/06/03/donald-trump-big-beautiful-bill-political-rhetoric-steve-almond

Trump weaponizes words. His opponents should, too
In an era of agitated distraction, Americans latch on to simple catchphrases as a way of grasping complex realities, writes Steve Almond. Trump and Republicans use this to their advantage. Democratic and progressive leaders could do the same.

Ordering According to Size of Disks in a Narrow Channel
Dan Liu, Michael Karbach, Gerhard M\"uller
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07266 https://

Ordering According to Size of Disks in a Narrow Channel
A long and narrow channel confines disks of two sizes. The disks are randomly agitated in a widened channel under moderate pressure, then jammed according to a tunable protocol. We present exact results that characterize jammed macrostates (volume, entropy, jamming patterns). The analysis divides jammed disk sequences into overlapping tiles out of which statistically interacting quasiparticles are constructed. The fractions of small and large disks are controlled by a chemical potential adapted…

Jammed disks of two sizes in a channel: segregation driven by steric forces
Dan Liu, Michael Karbach, Gerhard M\"uller
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05420

Jammed disks of two sizes in a channel: segregation driven by steric forces
Disks of two sizes are confined to a long and narrow channel. The axis and the plane of the channel are horizontal. The channel is closed off by pistons that freeze jammed microstates out of loose disk configurations, agitated randomly at calibrated intensity and subject to moderate pressure. Disk sizes and channel width are such that under jamming no disks remain loose and all disks touch one wall. The protocol permits disks to move past each other prior to jamming, which facilitates randomnes…