soaproot

Also known.as: Jim Kingdon. Interested in: formal mathematics, software development, dance (especially country-western and #MorrisDancing, but many kinds), plants.

🏳️‍🌈 gay

Pronoun: he
San Francisco, CA, USA

I'm on Bookwyrm at soaproot Books (npub1qse…06ps) (disclaimer: I'm a pretty light user there).

github: https://github.com/jkingdon
software blog: https://jkingdon2000.blogspot.com
metamath: https://us.metamath.org/ileuni/mmil.html
wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kingdon

Public Key

npub1apr2heur93jr5479pxrv0v0h0vhqm9n8av50mdv7jtx90e3rgtcq5rcjsk

NIP-05 Address

soaproot_at_sfba.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsws34tu7pjcep62lzsnpk8k8mhktsdjen7k28akk0f9nzhuc359uqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsyd7r2w

Publishing to

nostr.mom

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1apr2heur93jr5479pxrv0v0h0vhqm9n8av50mdv7jtx90e3rgtcq5rcjsk

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Last Notes

2026-05-11 20:31:56 UTC

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There's probably some way the display and download functionality could better handle both of those kinds of users, but I don't have a proposal in mind and I don't think the current situation (in which maps show out of date soon after being downloaded) is an especially big problem. @npub1ptg…tyqr

2026-04-19 03:55:30 UTC

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For (slightly) more information see https://sfba.social/@announcements/116401088567092431 . I think @npub1y2r…kvzk might have had a post too but I'm not sure I'd be able to find it.

2026-04-17 21:54:05 UTC

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Thank you IFTAS, for your work against this kind of unwanted activity. Since I'm not connected with IFTAS, perhaps I can get away with dropping a link to their donation page: https://about.iftas.org/donate/ . cc @npub1m9m…nuez

2026-03-06 15:28:08 UTC

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Nice article. The part that jumped out at me was "facilitating the creation of a community that meets both in person and virtually to ensure steady contributions." I don't know a lot about Wikipedias in languages with a small number of speakers but I do gather it is important to recruit people who know the language well to participate.

2026-02-08 15:10:40 UTC

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Unless Bob has REALLY changed, nature is what he glances at while waiting to find the thing which will recharge his batteries.

2026-02-01 19:29:10 UTC

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My intuition didn't immediately figure out what to do with "each ant in a pair follows a geodesic that lies a small distance to either side of the marked one, initially pointing in the same direction." (and in fact the illustration only shows one path per pair, I guess because figuring out where the other one lies is basically what the problem is about). @npub12cu…d38p

2026-01-28 04:33:17 UTC

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Oh that's where I saw that link, hope I didn't make it sound otherwise. (Just wanted to amplify it a bit more)

2026-01-28 03:00:02 UTC

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As for the post saying meta.mathoverflow shouldn't be talking about whether the site is welcoming to women, it is now running at minus 10 so I guess maybe that particular thing is working itself out.

2026-01-28 02:57:42 UTC

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Sadly it sounded all too familiar as someone who is part of a mathematical community which almost ran out a female contributor not long ago. Fortunately for us, she came back and has been doing amazing work (which as far as I have noticed is recognized as such by all of us).

2026-01-28 02:55:00 UTC

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I found "Why I’m not on MathOverflow" at https://ilaba.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/why-im-not-on-mathoverflow/ to be worth a read.

2026-01-06 23:20:41 UTC

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For those who didn't find it, "Help me make nature software" at https://www.patreon.com/posts/help-me-make-146556126 is also a good article with more detail.

2025-11-18 01:44:16 UTC

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Jesuitical and Inside the Vatican, both published by America Magazine.
I also liked the Gloria Purvis podcast but the most recent episode was in October 2024 and I don't know anything about whether it is coming back.
Anyone else have suggestions for ones they like?

2025-11-17 18:44:14 UTC

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Ouch. I'll be curious to hear how this (and other things coming out of the meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting) get covered by the Catholic podcasts I listen to.

2025-11-13 16:16:05 UTC

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One of the cool things about @npub1shd…nqra is that they make no attempt to sugar coat or ignore the unsavory/evil aspects of people who in other ways might be heroes. Not always comfortable but in my opinion the account does a great job striking this balance.

2025-11-08 01:07:12 UTC

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I love my @npub1hn8…g0mt phone but I don't view promoting alternatives and pressuring Google to be an either/or proposition.

2025-11-04 23:08:31 UTC

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The moderators at @npub13qg…k2et are amazing! I've had the chance to meet some of them and also have been aware of situations they have handled with calm, good judgement, and yes firmness where needed (fortunately, mostly situations I heard about secondhand).

2025-10-22 19:27:10 UTC

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What does it sound like when you are setting fields on JIRA tickets?

2025-09-13 01:15:32 UTC

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I was going to plug the exact same grid forming inverter podcast episode. (He's also done an episode on wood powered power plants in the past, to mention something else from this thread).

2025-08-07 04:05:36 UTC

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I had to look up the luggage gargoyle, and yes, very cool.

2025-08-03 03:21:47 UTC

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Well done because you say why we think that's the reason. Reasons for things like wearing trousers are one of those areas where it is all too easy to get way over our skis in terms of going beyond the historical record (or not even find the historical record when it does exist).

2025-07-15 00:16:25 UTC

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Ooh do we know if these were built in any significant quantity and if so whether any survive? Or whether someone has built a replica from the patent? Part of me really wants to drop everything and go off to the museum which has a bed which folds up not into a sofa but into a desk.

2025-06-29 19:12:21 UTC

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I could probably write an essay length post about what has been going on in Ruby too (not identical to yours but broadly similar). There are bright spots (such as Mastodon although not just because it is written in Ruby). Here's to hoping you find something which resonates with you and whatever audience you need and can get.

2025-06-20 18:54:02 UTC

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That sort of truthfulness really isn't that hard, or maybe it is more fair to say that @npub1shd…nqra makes it LOOK easy. I appreciate it too.

2025-05-22 22:28:55 UTC

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Oh, oh, "not one you want to omit". I thought you meant "not one we want to name-drop" (as in, all 5 are examples of infamy). I think I need to check my doomscroll versus share good news ratio and adjust my attitude as needed.

2025-05-08 17:09:11 UTC

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Oh my theory had to do with whether the heating was evenly distributed or not and my mind was going to microwave turntables and stirring. Yours might be better though especially if the frozen case is involved.

2025-04-09 05:14:53 UTC

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There are a few blocks of the financial district in San Francisco which a little bit remind me of walking in New York (for example, you have to decide which lane of the sidewalk you are in). But outside that, yeah totally different activity.

2025-02-24 16:36:16 UTC

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Oh, I'm more awe-struck than scared by the classification of finite simple groups. No doubt if I studied finite groups more I'd get to the scared stage (then back to awe, then scared, repeat as necessary). As you say, nice to see the classification apparently has one more application.

2025-02-15 20:26:52 UTC

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I have definitely been paying more attention to @npub1hn8…g0mt , @npub1mtr…trt0 and other open source phone projects.

2025-01-21 03:27:50 UTC

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Ouch. In addition to all the moderation/policy related reasons there's also "the algorithms that drive what people see on Meta had changed, resulting in a huge drop in impressions" which would appear to make this an easy decision. Glad to hear you are finding an audience here, on Bluesky, and on your website.

2025-01-18 06:06:20 UTC

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Getting to know your admin isn't a bad idea in general (for example, do they have an admin account? A discord server? Posts to Patreon? A web site? Etc). I mean you can use this network without that but if something comes up regarding defederation, moderation, etc, it can help to know where they are coming from.

2025-01-14 03:30:39 UTC

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I don't know that part of Somerville well, but the McGrath project would appear to have the potential to be transformational. By putting in infrastructure for bicycles and pedestrians, this can build on having the Green Line there and do a lot more than just remove one piece of bad infrastructure.

2024-12-13 02:53:02 UTC

@npub17ll…2k3w The article bringing the fame of #JohnMasotodon to the world was published late on December 16, 2022 and went viral on December 17, 2022. Therefore the #JohnMastodonOrthodox celebrate #JohnMastodonDay on December 16 every year whereas the #SeventeenthDayAdventist sect celebrates it on December 17.
Keep the legend alive.

2024-10-18 16:56:13 UTC

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Is Francis Perkins on your list, @npub1shd…nqra ?

2024-08-14 03:44:07 UTC

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Are we still using the #BlackMastodonAliies hashtag for people who aren't black themselves? I see a very small amount of traffic but maybe this mostly died off somewhere along the way.

2024-08-02 15:52:26 UTC

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Yeah but at least in my own head I turn that around. When someone with a threads account turns on the limited form of federation that they have and starts getting curious about what is happening to their posts over here, I'm like "if you want to fully interact with the photographers and mathematicians and clam enthusiasts on fedi, you need to make a Fediverse native account"