Conor Houghton
@conjh.bsky.social
I find language confusing.
conorhoughton.github.io
conorhoughton.github.io
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-...
I just learned that Molly Brodak whose poem "In the morning . . ." is a personal earworm was a finalist on the US version of The Great British Bakeoff, how much life can end up not enough, or how little and too much. People are a mystery, vivid but a mystery.
magazine.nytyrant.com/three-poems-...
magazine.nytyrant.com/three-poems-...
Three Poems by Molly Brodak - NY Tyrant
How to Not Be a Perfectionist People are vivid and small and don’t live very long— The Crowd Think of it like a block of ice or a beetle upended— the certainty of your interface, irreducibly unlas...
magazine.nytyrant.com
January 11, 2026 at 2:35 PM
I just learned that Molly Brodak whose poem "In the morning . . ." is a personal earworm was a finalist on the US version of The Great British Bakeoff, how much life can end up not enough, or how little and too much. People are a mystery, vivid but a mystery.
magazine.nytyrant.com/three-poems-...
magazine.nytyrant.com/three-poems-...
To avoid: the Royal Society outrage! Ignore the Royal Society's claim to be some sort of elite house on the hill of the great and the good: what a bankrupt notion, any self-selecting club of the self-proclaimed great and good is a ark of pissantery.
January 11, 2026 at 2:27 PM
To avoid: the Royal Society outrage! Ignore the Royal Society's claim to be some sort of elite house on the hill of the great and the good: what a bankrupt notion, any self-selecting club of the self-proclaimed great and good is a ark of pissantery.
Reposted by Conor Houghton
Please spread the word🔊My lab is looking to hire two international postdocs. If you want to do comp neuro, combine machine learning and awesome math to understand neural circuit activity, then come work with us! Bonn is such a cool place for neuroscience now, you don't want to miss out.
January 10, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Please spread the word🔊My lab is looking to hire two international postdocs. If you want to do comp neuro, combine machine learning and awesome math to understand neural circuit activity, then come work with us! Bonn is such a cool place for neuroscience now, you don't want to miss out.
December 26, 2025 at 5:31 PM
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die and had no alternative, shone on the nothing new.
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, roams the vitrified surface of the Earth under a red Sun that no longer sets. He reckons time in mountain ranges now, not Christmases.
“God Bless Us,” he observes. “Almost Every One.”
“God Bless Us,” he observes. “Almost Every One.”
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, woke to find himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.
December 25, 2025 at 10:47 PM
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die and had no alternative, shone on the nothing new.