MathIsLife

@damianmolinari

Math educator, hill and mountain wanderer, and music and bean lover. Working to create a humane learning community.

536 Siguiendo810 Seguidores1353 Publicaciones

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MathIsLife@damianmolinari· 17d

My 2 kids are on a San Francisco bus adventure dreamed up a few weeks ago. No plan, no phone, just hopping on buses to unplanned stops and finding another bus route to head in a different direction. They are on a real life choose your own adventure story, and I'm excited to hear about their journey.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· 17d

We had a baby skunk who seemed to be stuck in our backyard while I was working on it a few years ago, and it was the cutest.

Skunk on hind legs looking at lemon tree in pot.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· 23d

This is Bean. She prefers hanging out with her humans, but in a pinch a shoe will do.

Brown dog curled up right next to a blue shoe on a wood floor.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· 26d

This part:

And this service-- everybody cared so much.

3:34 And everybody tried so hard. And everybody loved so much.

3:40 It just-- it didn't feel like one person trying to survive.

It felt like a group of people

3:48

supporting each other, trying to lift each

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jul 11

No matter where in the Sierras I am, it always feels like a homecoming.

View of mountain lake with a small island.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jul 5

LMAO 2:00 am wod be July 5th...

“We have lots of phrases that involve two words, the last of which, the second of which is ‘day,’ Labor Day, Memorial Day, George Washington’s birthday, Independence Day, birthday and Election Day, and they’re all particular days,” Alito, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said.

Alito added, “If we start with that, if I have nothing more to look at than the phrase ‘Election Day,’ I think this is the day in which everything is going to take place, or almost everything.”

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jul 5

For those that don't know San Francisco summers, it's 57 degrees and blowing here. Yes, I've only seen colorful fog on the 4th.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jun 28

This city still finds ways to inspire awe.

Rainbow spotlight shining across the night sky from downtown San Francisco

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jun 27

Instead you get this:

Adult taking picture of 2 kids in front of "Experience Indiana" promotional posters. Kids appear to be playing with a mini golf putter on a tiny strip of astroturf with obstacles that are flat (cardboard?) race cars and a flat brick wall.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jun 27

Reading this article, it occurred to me how fractal-like the Trump admin is. No matter how closely you zoom in or out, there is always evidence of the rot. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/27/u...

$Image of a fractal$

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jun 11

Teenager: "Why is there so much graffiti in Rome?" Me:

Woman lighting cigarette from paper on fire that has written on it: dictatorship
Repression
Authority
Rules

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jun 2

If only there was a word for "anti-diversity stance"...🤔

NYT headline and byline: Hegseth Strikes Female and Black Navy Officers From Promotion List
The defense secretary’s decision to block the officers’ promotions appears driven by his anti-diversity stance rather than based on merit.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Jun 2

Would you believe this quote is from 1988?

In the current political climate, there is little talk about schools and
democracy and a great deal of debate about how schools might
become schools might become more successful in meeting industrial
needs and contributing to economic productivity. Against a landscape
of shrinking economic resources, the breakup of liberal and radical
school coalitions, and the erosion of civil rights, the public debate
about the nature of schooling has been replaced by the concerns and
interests of management experts. . . .
Unfortunately, at a time when we need a language of analysis to
understand the structure and meaning of schooling, Americans have
retreated back into the discourse of management and administration,
with its focus on issues of efficiency and control. These issues have
overshadowed concerns regarding understanding. Similarly, the need
to develop at all levels of schooling a radical pedagogy concerned with
critical literacy and active citizenship has given way to a conservative
pedagogy that emphasizes technique and passivity. The stress is no
longer on helping students to “read” the world critically; instead, it is
on helping students to “master” the tools of reading. The question of
how teachers, administrators, and students produce meaning and
whose interests it serves, is subsumed under the imperative to master
the “facts.” The script is grim. (pp. 1–2)

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· May 28

🤯🤬 This is horrendous. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

School boards and police agencies are responsible for oversight, state officials said. But in interviews, two dozen board members from across Texas said they did not consider that part of their job. “We just approve what they need to buy,” said Michael Valdez, a board member in the Edgewood school district in San Antonio.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· May 25

It's almost like the emphasis on explicit instruction and worked examples (just tell them)is a small part of a much more encompassing science of learning. #EduSky

Beyond offering a better understanding of how the human brain learns, these findings could have applications in classrooms. Kounios believes that applying insight-boosting strategies to teaching could lead to better learning outcomes for students. Insight seems to be a powerful and positive experience that generates accurate solutions, confidence in our answers and strong memories.

“It’s very intensive for a teacher to do this, but a lot of really good teachers try to get the students to have the insights themselves about how something works, and that will burn it into their memories,” Kounios said. “Another aspect of that [is], it’s very motivating, too.”

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· May 23

Exporting all our best ideas to the world. 🤡

"In 2024, we had around 2,460 attempts, but in 2025, there was a significant decrease to 1,746," said Prefect Inspector José Contreras Hernández, the regional head of Chile's investigative police force.

"The most significant increase we have seen is actually in attempts by people to leave or try to leave the national territory irregularly," says Contreras Hernández, attributing the exodus to migration policies and the change of government.

Yet doubts remain over whether digging ditches along short stretches of Chile's more than 4,800 miles of porous borders will do much to curb the flow of migrants, drugs, or contraband. And with desert winds already blowing sand back into the trenches, the question is no longer just how far this barrier will extend — but whether it will stop anyone at all.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· May 9

Even our art has been co-opted by the whitewashing backlash of the current moment.

Strenuous attempts to avoid ‘woke’ work resulted in terrible art
Not everyone loved the previous US pavilion from 2024 by Jeffrey Gibson, but it was certainly lively with its rainbow colours, regular Native American powwows and dances, and super-queer vibes. Contrast that with Alma Allen’s US pavilion – his “not yet titled” sculptures were devoid of meaning or aesthetic pleasure and looked like something you would see joylessly plonked in a hotel lobby.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Apr 22

Nice! I love Irises, but I've never seen one of these. Here's one of my Douglases.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Apr 8

Saw a beautiful Buckeye Butterfly on the ground outside my house today.

Brown and orange toned butterfly with several false eyes on the wings.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Apr 7

What a bad move. The music application seems like a terrible idea. Also, this made me scoff.

The Giants said in a statement that this partnership will “deploy AI voice and audio technology throughout the ballpark to elevate the fan experience.”

What exactly that means is to be determined, said Giants chief information officer Bill Schlough, who has been with the team for 28 years.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Apr 5

I planted this douglas iris a few years ago, and this is the first time it bloomed since then. 🌼

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Apr 4

Is this a slope field on a jazz album cover? #MathSky

Album cover for Illegal Hit by Yttling Jazz

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Apr 2

Gift article: www.sfchronicle.com/food/article...

Mark McKenna, a UCLA law professor, called the Rancho Gordo bean club listing “a classic case of trademark overreaching” and compared it to a winery trying to trademark the term “wine club” as an example. “A lot of other wineries would be upset, legitimately, if they weren’t allowed to call their program a wine club,” he said. “It takes the most natural way of talking about what they’re doing and prevents other people from saying it.”

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Apr 2

Beautiful! Here is my camellia bush.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Mar 25

This group of students was so determined and excited to figure out this proof for opposite angles of a paralellogram that they just kept asking for more whiteboards. ☺️

4 students working Ata table with 4 different mini whiteboards that have a diagram of a parallelogram with various math statements of congruence and equality.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Mar 16

When I walk out the door in the AM I get hit by the sweet smell of ceanothus blooms and the buzz of the many bees intent on getting every last bit of pollen. I can't decide which makes me happier, but together the experience bouys me up for the day ahead.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Mar 11

Yeah, that drives me crazy. Nothing a defender can do in that situation other than

Bullfighter leading bull past him with red cape.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Mar 9

Email from a S who got a zero for turning in work identical to another S's. Need to practice staying calm and neutral before our conversation on academic honesty and communicating professionally with teachers. 😬

You gave me a 0/60 on Trigonometry Summary Assignment even though i did it and turned it in. Please fix it.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Mar 4

While checking out the Smarter Balanced testing resources (been thinking about testing lately), this problem was on the practice test. What even is this and who thought this would work to assess math understanding?

(Diagram with 2 sets of parallel lines)

When a transversal intersects a pair of parallel lines it will create two pairs of alternate exterior angles
Part A:
Rickv claims the angles within each pair are congruent to each other, but not congruent to either angle in the other pair

Part A
Draw a transversal through the point that supports Ricky's claim, or select NONE if there is not a situation to support the claim.

Part B
Draw a transversal through the point that refutes Ricky's claim, or select NONE if there is not a situation to refute the claim.

MathIsLife@damianmolinari· Feb 28

Sing this from the top of every hill.