Conor Houghton
@conjh.bsky.social
I find language confusing.
conorhoughton.github.io
conorhoughton.github.io
Reposted by Conor Houghton
Curious how language can emerge within swarms of robots? 🤖🗨️🤖 Then join our "Swarm Robotics for Language Evolution" workshop at @evolangconf.bsky.social, where you'll get to explore this topic through a live-coding demo and hands-on simulations. More info and signup here: romamile.com/SwarmLangEme...
Swarm Robotics as a Test Bed for the Study of Language Emergence
Static Website for the Workshop Swarm Robotics as a Test Bed for the Study of Language Emergence at EvoLang 2026
bit.ly
February 12, 2026 at 4:53 PM
Curious how language can emerge within swarms of robots? 🤖🗨️🤖 Then join our "Swarm Robotics for Language Evolution" workshop at @evolangconf.bsky.social, where you'll get to explore this topic through a live-coding demo and hands-on simulations. More info and signup here: romamile.com/SwarmLangEme...
Reposted by Conor Houghton
Oh this is splendid. Reminds me of a famous incident from when I was at university when the union events organiser was told to order £500 of smoked salmon for a party. Instead he ordered 500lbs. It had to be delivered in a truck. Everyone ate salmon for weeks
A Korean bitcoin market intended to give away prizes worth ₩620,000 or about $425. Instead, they gave away 620,000 bitcoins worth roughly $40 BILLION at the time—despite not actually holding that many tokens. It’s a massive failure of crypto safety protocols. Now they’re asking for the coins back.
A Bitcoin Blunder for the Ages: $40 Billion Accidentally Given Away
A botched prize giveaway has landed a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange in hot water.
www.wsj.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:12 AM
Oh this is splendid. Reminds me of a famous incident from when I was at university when the union events organiser was told to order £500 of smoked salmon for a party. Instead he ordered 500lbs. It had to be delivered in a truck. Everyone ate salmon for weeks
They came to our countries and stole stuff and left people starving, we come to theirs to look after sick people, teach and make delicious food and they panic and talk nonsense about British values.
Obviously zero reflection in any of this on how operating the largest empire in human history may have turned us into a multicultural nation. We are here because you were there. #Empireland
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
PM asks Sir Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for saying UK 'colonised by immigrants'
Sir Keir Starmer says comments by the businessman and Manchester United co-owner are
www.bbc.co.uk
February 12, 2026 at 10:23 AM
They came to our countries and stole stuff and left people starving, we come to theirs to look after sick people, teach and make delicious food and they panic and talk nonsense about British values.
In 2000 it was already possible to submit to Physical Review by sending them the arXiv number. It is taking biology so long to catch up.
Every time I upload a paper to #bioRxiv, I wonder why it can't be this easy at every journal 🧪
February 12, 2026 at 7:55 AM
In 2000 it was already possible to submit to Physical Review by sending them the arXiv number. It is taking biology so long to catch up.
_Giovanni's Room_ is such an incredible book, romantic, intense, tragic and written with such elegance and power. I wish I wasn't so late coming to James Baldwin; if you've made the same mistake rectify it now!
February 4, 2026 at 1:09 PM
_Giovanni's Room_ is such an incredible book, romantic, intense, tragic and written with such elegance and power. I wish I wasn't so late coming to James Baldwin; if you've made the same mistake rectify it now!
I see from UKRI that the UK government has spotted the massive open goal but decided to swap the ball for a dime bar and a couple of yokes.
February 2, 2026 at 10:28 AM
I see from UKRI that the UK government has spotted the massive open goal but decided to swap the ball for a dime bar and a couple of yokes.
Some probably dirty words from Lig Sinn i gCathú I can't find in the dictionary.
anabhainn.substack.com/p/some-new-v...
anabhainn.substack.com/p/some-new-v...
February 1, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Some probably dirty words from Lig Sinn i gCathú I can't find in the dictionary.
anabhainn.substack.com/p/some-new-v...
anabhainn.substack.com/p/some-new-v...
Estimating the power-law exponent of the tail of the eigenspectrum from noisy data is a difficult problem. Here is an approach based on eigenmoment estimation. 👏🏻
A hard stats problem remains open: Can we find an estimator of the tail exponent for which we can PROVE unbiasedness, consistency, etc.?
A hard stats problem remains open: Can we find an estimator of the tail exponent for which we can PROVE unbiasedness, consistency, etc.?
New paper out at PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Revisiting the high-dimensional geometry of population responses in the visual cortex with @jpillowtime.bsky.social. The review took forever because a reviewer was doubtful our new estimator can infer eigenvalues beyond the rank of the data! (1/6)
Revisiting the high-dimensional geometry of population responses in the visual cortex with @jpillowtime.bsky.social. The review took forever because a reviewer was doubtful our new estimator can infer eigenvalues beyond the rank of the data! (1/6)
January 28, 2026 at 9:54 AM
I am pretty sure that if Kemi Badenoch wasn't leading the Tory Party she'd have defected from it by now.
January 26, 2026 at 1:04 PM
I am pretty sure that if Kemi Badenoch wasn't leading the Tory Party she'd have defected from it by now.
The parade of monsters continues; without the cruel and incompetent what will the Tory Party stand for?
January 26, 2026 at 1:03 PM
The parade of monsters continues; without the cruel and incompetent what will the Tory Party stand for?
Reposted by Conor Houghton
crazy etymology
January 26, 2026 at 9:14 AM
crazy etymology
I hope he chokes on the Eucharist.
January 26, 2026 at 12:33 AM
I hope he chokes on the Eucharist.
Head injuries are more typical of car accidents than cycling accidents, if anyone should wear helmets it's people in cars.
Not surprising that a minister in this lazy government thinks that the solution to a complex problem is to force cyclists to wear magic clothes so he doesn't have to contemplate all the other, far more effective, measures.
@davewalker.bsky.social
@davewalker.bsky.social
January 24, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Head injuries are more typical of car accidents than cycling accidents, if anyone should wear helmets it's people in cars.
PCA of the 2024 election, 12 random consistencies, for my AI lecture; up-down is socially liberal, left-right is homogeneity I think, Galway West mixes city and country for example, colour, the third component is "is there a local candidate", Tipperary North is blue because of Seamus Healy for eg.
January 23, 2026 at 1:40 PM
PCA of the 2024 election, 12 random consistencies, for my AI lecture; up-down is socially liberal, left-right is homogeneity I think, Galway West mixes city and country for example, colour, the third component is "is there a local candidate", Tipperary North is blue because of Seamus Healy for eg.
Reposted by Conor Houghton
#OTD 116 years ago, Mary Haas (1910–1996) was born 🥳 An expert in historical linguistics, Thai, and Native American languages. She was the first modern linguist to document the Creek language. In 1963, she was the second female president of the LSA.
#WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx
#WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx
January 23, 2026 at 10:06 AM
#OTD 116 years ago, Mary Haas (1910–1996) was born 🥳 An expert in historical linguistics, Thai, and Native American languages. She was the first modern linguist to document the Creek language. In 1963, she was the second female president of the LSA.
#WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx
#WomenInLinguistics #LinguisticBirthdays #Histlx
January 22, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Conor Houghton
Man Donates Body To Culinary Science https://theonion.com/man-donates-body-to-culinary-science/
January 19, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Man Donates Body To Culinary Science https://theonion.com/man-donates-body-to-culinary-science/
January 19, 2026 at 6:07 PM
In nine hundred and eighty three or four
Leif Erikson sailed to the Vinland shore
Big mistake.
Leif Erikson sailed to the Vinland shore
Big mistake.
January 18, 2026 at 11:55 PM
In nine hundred and eighty three or four
Leif Erikson sailed to the Vinland shore
Big mistake.
Leif Erikson sailed to the Vinland shore
Big mistake.
Reposted by Conor Houghton
God forbid women have hobbies
January 11, 2026 at 10:13 PM
God forbid women have hobbies
Just went over to X to shut down some old work accounts; ones that hadn't been used in ages but hadn't been ever deleted. I was surprised to see people I know, like normal, everyday people, friends, big labs, assorted stuffed shirts, just chatting a way there like it wasn't weird. Scarlet for them.
January 11, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Just went over to X to shut down some old work accounts; ones that hadn't been used in ages but hadn't been ever deleted. I was surprised to see people I know, like normal, everyday people, friends, big labs, assorted stuffed shirts, just chatting a way there like it wasn't weird. Scarlet for them.
Does anyone know why many Irish first declension nouns have weak plurals, I mean historically?
anabhainn.substack.com/p/the-first-...
anabhainn.substack.com/p/the-first-...
January 11, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Does anyone know why many Irish first declension nouns have weak plurals, I mean historically?
anabhainn.substack.com/p/the-first-...
anabhainn.substack.com/p/the-first-...