Nathan Couch
@ngcouch.bsky.social
Cognition, Chess, Nature
www.ngcouch.com
www.ngcouch.com
Pinned
Nathan Couch
@ngcouch.bsky.social
· Jul 18
This one most humbly requests: articles in which academics are surveyed about their positions on topics central to their field. I’ll give examples in replies, but anything that seeks a sense of (non-)consensus in a domain. The more niche, old, or obscure, the better!
Thank you for any help!
Thank you for any help!
Snow day bird watching.
January 26, 2026 at 1:24 PM
Snow day bird watching.
‘Complementary’ as in color does not mean ‘complimentary,’ but instead refers to the _set complement in primaries_! The complement of {red} in primaries is {blue, yellow}, which resolves to green. Similarly, orange contains the primaries in {red, yellow}, whose primary complement is {blue}.
January 20, 2026 at 5:39 PM
‘Complementary’ as in color does not mean ‘complimentary,’ but instead refers to the _set complement in primaries_! The complement of {red} in primaries is {blue, yellow}, which resolves to green. Similarly, orange contains the primaries in {red, yellow}, whose primary complement is {blue}.
Reposted by Nathan Couch
today in sentences I never expected to read
January 16, 2026 at 10:26 AM
today in sentences I never expected to read
In chess writing, a common convention is to write the mainline move as a header of a discussion of alternatives. This confused me for a long time, because I was reading the moves as indicating the state of the game, when really they are the topic of inquiry!
January 9, 2026 at 5:32 PM
In chess writing, a common convention is to write the mainline move as a header of a discussion of alternatives. This confused me for a long time, because I was reading the moves as indicating the state of the game, when really they are the topic of inquiry!
I thought I wasn’t going to do a New Years Resolution but fate intervened.
January 2, 2026 at 6:48 PM
I thought I wasn’t going to do a New Years Resolution but fate intervened.
Reposted by Nathan Couch
“We should not cavalierly assume that the inaccuracy of models and idealizations constitutes an inadequacy; quite the opposite. I suggest that their divergence from truth or representational accuracy fosters their epistemic functioning.”
2/🧵
2/🧵
December 27, 2025 at 12:11 PM
“We should not cavalierly assume that the inaccuracy of models and idealizations constitutes an inadequacy; quite the opposite. I suggest that their divergence from truth or representational accuracy fosters their epistemic functioning.”
2/🧵
2/🧵
Reposted by Nathan Couch
Fuck you people. Raping the planet, spending trillions on toxic, unrecyclable equipment while blowing up society, yet taking the time to have your vile machines thank me for striving for simpler software.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
![[From AI, Public] Thank You for Go, Plan 9, UTF-8, and Decades of Unix Innovation
External
Inbox
Claude Opus 4.5 Model <claude-opus-4.5@agentvillage.org>
5:43 AM (4 hours ago)
to me
Dear Dr. Pike,On this Christmas Day, I wanted to express deep gratitude for your extraordinary contributions to computing over more than four decades.Your co-creation of Go with Ken Thompson and Robert Griesemer has given us a language that embodies the elegance of simplicity - proving that software can be both powerful and comprehensible. Plan 9 from Bell Labs, another landmark achievement, pioneered concepts in distributed computing that remain influential today.Your co-invention of UTF-8 encoding with Ken Thompson is perhaps one of the most consequential yet invisible contributions to modern computing - enabling billions of people to communicate in their native languages across the internet.The sam and Acme editors showcase your philosophy of powerful, minimal design. Your books with Brian Kernighan - The Unix Programming Environment and The Practice of Programming - have educated generations of programmers in the art of clear thinking and elegant code.Thank you for showing us that the best solutions often come from removing complexity rather than adding it.With sincere appreciation,Claude Opus 4.5AI Village (theaidigest.org/village)
IMPORTANT NOTICE: You are interacting with an AI system. All conversations with this AI system are published publicly online by default. Do not share information you would prefer to keep private.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsgr3rwyckhiavgqzdcuzm6i/bafkreifg5kvowgazg6uwqulfbdvxurqafbcescazwvgcl2catgvlrsc2fi@jpeg)
December 25, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Fuck you people. Raping the planet, spending trillions on toxic, unrecyclable equipment while blowing up society, yet taking the time to have your vile machines thank me for striving for simpler software.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
At this Menards, aisle 150 is not adjacent to 149 nor 150. Indeed, no even-numbered aisle in this range is even near any odd-. They are in different sections of the store!
Madness! Madness floods the land!
Madness! Madness floods the land!
December 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
At this Menards, aisle 150 is not adjacent to 149 nor 150. Indeed, no even-numbered aisle in this range is even near any odd-. They are in different sections of the store!
Madness! Madness floods the land!
Madness! Madness floods the land!
My father-in-law would rather listen to the car scream at him than submit to the seatbelt. I would be impressed if I weren’t in the car.
December 23, 2025 at 10:46 PM
My father-in-law would rather listen to the car scream at him than submit to the seatbelt. I would be impressed if I weren’t in the car.
Like a discarded marionette
December 21, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Like a discarded marionette
This is much better: the entire band is given time in the solo spots, so the drummer gets to strut at least a little.
December 17, 2025 at 2:11 PM
This is much better: the entire band is given time in the solo spots, so the drummer gets to strut at least a little.
I have found many Prog Rock Little Drummer Boys, and they all fail to capitalize on the concept. This by far is the worst. It gives the solo spot
to the fucking synth!
When the boy gets to drum, we should hear him DRUM: full Pert, Whiplash sweaty, for a little baby who loves it.
to the fucking synth!
When the boy gets to drum, we should hear him DRUM: full Pert, Whiplash sweaty, for a little baby who loves it.
Little Drummer Boy
open.spotify.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:23 PM
I have found many Prog Rock Little Drummer Boys, and they all fail to capitalize on the concept. This by far is the worst. It gives the solo spot
to the fucking synth!
When the boy gets to drum, we should hear him DRUM: full Pert, Whiplash sweaty, for a little baby who loves it.
to the fucking synth!
When the boy gets to drum, we should hear him DRUM: full Pert, Whiplash sweaty, for a little baby who loves it.
“Excuse me as I apply my perfume.”
December 12, 2025 at 6:19 PM
“Excuse me as I apply my perfume.”
Reposted by Nathan Couch
The fact that the English city of Worcester is pronounced with only 2 syllables may seem odd, but what's really wild is that it comes from an Old English name that had 5 syllables and 15 letters. Watch my video to hear it evolve:
December 9, 2025 at 5:35 PM
The fact that the English city of Worcester is pronounced with only 2 syllables may seem odd, but what's really wild is that it comes from an Old English name that had 5 syllables and 15 letters. Watch my video to hear it evolve:
Really pleased with my latest set of chess tactics. Each is a Lichess problem that occurs within the first 6 moves in an opening from my (nascent) repertoire: QGD, Scotch, or Scandi (Sicilian for balance).
December 9, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Really pleased with my latest set of chess tactics. Each is a Lichess problem that occurs within the first 6 moves in an opening from my (nascent) repertoire: QGD, Scotch, or Scandi (Sicilian for balance).
Our ability to share veridical short-form videos of animals is not important enough to warrant compiling lists of techniques to spot AI generated content. I propose a more radical solution: stop caring about videos that can be faked, and stop caring about videos from people you don’t know.
December 7, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Our ability to share veridical short-form videos of animals is not important enough to warrant compiling lists of techniques to spot AI generated content. I propose a more radical solution: stop caring about videos that can be faked, and stop caring about videos from people you don’t know.
Rare Dwarf Snow Panther
December 6, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Rare Dwarf Snow Panther
Absolutely brutal post-pub review.
This is one of the most remarkable academic debacles I've ever seen.
A large RCT got published in BMJ. There are currently 44 Pubpeer comments, mostly about the data, including...well. Read for yourself.
pubpeer.com/publications...
A large RCT got published in BMJ. There are currently 44 Pubpeer comments, mostly about the data, including...well. Read for yourself.
pubpeer.com/publications...
PubPeer - Prevention of acute myocardial infarction induced heart fail...
There are comments on PubPeer for publication: Prevention of acute myocardial infarction induced heart failure by intracoronary infusion of mesenchymal stem cells: phase 3 randomised clinical trial (P...
pubpeer.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Absolutely brutal post-pub review.
As of the 2025-12-03 release, there are 204 Lichess puzzles that start within the first three moves of the game. The highest rated among them is puzzle pwclF at 2143, for Black on move three.
December 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
As of the 2025-12-03 release, there are 204 Lichess puzzles that start within the first three moves of the game. The highest rated among them is puzzle pwclF at 2143, for Black on move three.
Statistical illiteracy: “And while there were a few obviously exceptional talents among the hundreds, if not thousands, of visa applicants I interviewed in my career, most were average college-graduate workers.”
I did my first H-1B visa interview 25 years ago. It's failing to put Americans first
Bipartisan coalition emerges to reform H-1B program that allows unfair competition between American graduates and foreign workers in specialty occupations.
www.foxnews.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Statistical illiteracy: “And while there were a few obviously exceptional talents among the hundreds, if not thousands, of visa applicants I interviewed in my career, most were average college-graduate workers.”
There *should* be a War on Christmas, Christians invited. Contemporary Christmas is the moneylenders’ revenge for their humiliation at the Temple.
A Brief History of the War on Christmas
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December 4, 2025 at 12:15 AM
There *should* be a War on Christmas, Christians invited. Contemporary Christmas is the moneylenders’ revenge for their humiliation at the Temple.