Stuart Watt
@morungos.bsky.social
Cognitive/social scientist and occasional coder. Umquhile Mancunian. Purveyor of Jurassic Park memes. Writes on modernization and technology. Consciously uncoupling from corporate shenanigans. Halifax, Nova Scotia
https://morungos.com/
https://morungos.com/
A lovely patch of flat-branched clubmoss in the forest yesterday. So cute.
The top yellow spike is one of the sources of lycopodium powder. I foresee some experiments.
The top yellow spike is one of the sources of lycopodium powder. I foresee some experiments.
January 7, 2026 at 2:34 PM
A lovely patch of flat-branched clubmoss in the forest yesterday. So cute.
The top yellow spike is one of the sources of lycopodium powder. I foresee some experiments.
The top yellow spike is one of the sources of lycopodium powder. I foresee some experiments.
That sense of impending doom, of inexhaustible dread. The feeling that the world has just taken one more step towards its inevitable doom.
Yes, there’s a new Trivago ad.
Yes, there’s a new Trivago ad.
January 7, 2026 at 12:33 AM
That sense of impending doom, of inexhaustible dread. The feeling that the world has just taken one more step towards its inevitable doom.
Yes, there’s a new Trivago ad.
Yes, there’s a new Trivago ad.
Fourth season of Blackadder. No doubt. All the feelings, all of them.
That final scene: anybody who has seen it will know.
That final scene: anybody who has seen it will know.
Given that apparently the Stranger Things finale was meh (idk, didn't watch it, just the scuttlebutt) and we're not that far removed from the disastrous GOT finale that retroactively made everyone have never cared about the show:
What's the *best* ending to a show you've ever seen? Quote/reply etc
What's the *best* ending to a show you've ever seen? Quote/reply etc
January 6, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Fourth season of Blackadder. No doubt. All the feelings, all of them.
That final scene: anybody who has seen it will know.
That final scene: anybody who has seen it will know.
Reposted by Stuart Watt
Please consider signing this petition
🔴🔴🔴
We, the undersigned, Residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to pass legislation requiring majority Canadian ownership and control of print, digital and other non-audio-visual news media, to protect Canadian sovereignty ...
www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...
We, the undersigned, Residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to pass legislation requiring majority Canadian ownership and control of print, digital and other non-audio-visual news media, to protect Canadian sovereignty ...
www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...
Sign this Petition - Petitions
www.ourcommons.ca
January 6, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Please consider signing this petition
The framing “Coalition of the Willing” is genius and fascinating use of language, thanks to the implied description of those who aren’t part of it.
Thank you to President Emmanuel Macron for bringing together the Coalition of the Willing in Paris today. Canada and France are strong Allies and partners — and we’re working relentlessly to secure a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
January 6, 2026 at 1:33 PM
The framing “Coalition of the Willing” is genius and fascinating use of language, thanks to the implied description of those who aren’t part of it.
Reposted by Stuart Watt
Epiphany is time for my #linocut of Perchta, also known as Frau Perchta or Berchta (or Bertha in English), a figure from Alpine folklore, who visits during the 12 days of Christmas. Her name may come from “the bright one” or the German word for the feast of the Epiphany and her history is linked to
January 6, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Epiphany is time for my #linocut of Perchta, also known as Frau Perchta or Berchta (or Bertha in English), a figure from Alpine folklore, who visits during the 12 days of Christmas. Her name may come from “the bright one” or the German word for the feast of the Epiphany and her history is linked to
Reposted by Stuart Watt
kind of darkly funny that "gender studies" is the stereotypical "useless degree" because gender studies will help you understand a large and important chunk of the current psychosis in american life
January 6, 2026 at 2:00 AM
kind of darkly funny that "gender studies" is the stereotypical "useless degree" because gender studies will help you understand a large and important chunk of the current psychosis in american life
Reposted by Stuart Watt
The prize goal for Stephen Miller and others who surround Trump is to trigger both the Alien Enemies Act and the Insurrection Act - formal bases for unlimited executive power.
A great deal of what is being done is simply them working backwards from that objective.
A great deal of what is being done is simply them working backwards from that objective.
December 19, 2025 at 7:44 AM
The prize goal for Stephen Miller and others who surround Trump is to trigger both the Alien Enemies Act and the Insurrection Act - formal bases for unlimited executive power.
A great deal of what is being done is simply them working backwards from that objective.
A great deal of what is being done is simply them working backwards from that objective.
Reposted by Stuart Watt
This makes a lot of sense.
Foreign interventions being used to trigger domestic legal powers.
Foreign interventions being used to trigger domestic legal powers.
I keep saying this but no one is connecting the dots. The war is to satisfy legal preconditions for mass removal *domestically* of Latinos (i.e., suddenly a lot of people are going to be “Venezuelan” for purposes of removal). This is 100% Stephen Miller…oil claim is to make grandpa go along
There is no national security logic that would impel the US to want to do regime change in Venezuela. It's simply not that important. I'm not even sure wag the dog is the right metaphor for what's happening here. Seems like an insane misallocation of US national security assets and attention.
December 19, 2025 at 7:36 AM
This makes a lot of sense.
Foreign interventions being used to trigger domestic legal powers.
Foreign interventions being used to trigger domestic legal powers.
This is really interesting, and reminds me of Newell’s “You can’t play 20 questions with nature and win”. And is why I love modelling. It’s the synergy between experimental work and modelling that is so fascinating.
And side issue: human reading is so much more complex than LLMs, we need this work.
And side issue: human reading is so much more complex than LLMs, we need this work.
Individual differences in cognition — hard work ahead! Replicate Me if You Can: Assessing Measurement Reliability of Individual Differences in Reading Across Measurement Occasions and Methods - Haller - 2026 - Cognitive Science - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 4, 2026 at 2:25 PM
This is really interesting, and reminds me of Newell’s “You can’t play 20 questions with nature and win”. And is why I love modelling. It’s the synergy between experimental work and modelling that is so fascinating.
And side issue: human reading is so much more complex than LLMs, we need this work.
And side issue: human reading is so much more complex than LLMs, we need this work.
Reposted by Stuart Watt
During Fiona Hill's testimony to Congress on Oct 14, 2019, she described how Trump and Putin discussed exchanging Ukraine for Venezuela. The quid pro quo was if Trump refuses to help Ukraine fight off a Russian invasion, Putin would not help Venezuela (a Russian ally) resist a US takeover.
January 4, 2026 at 2:36 AM
During Fiona Hill's testimony to Congress on Oct 14, 2019, she described how Trump and Putin discussed exchanging Ukraine for Venezuela. The quid pro quo was if Trump refuses to help Ukraine fight off a Russian invasion, Putin would not help Venezuela (a Russian ally) resist a US takeover.
Reposted by Stuart Watt
Ok. So. They anonymised the sheep.
January 4, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Ok. So. They anonymised the sheep.
Reposted by Stuart Watt
Soon!
January 4, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Soon!
Trump is the same as Putin in one serious sense. He will keep on attacking until he is stopped.
The only thing that will stop him is a bloody nose.
I hope the US is ready for this. And I hope we are too.
The only thing that will stop him is a bloody nose.
I hope the US is ready for this. And I hope we are too.
January 3, 2026 at 10:44 PM
Trump is the same as Putin in one serious sense. He will keep on attacking until he is stopped.
The only thing that will stop him is a bloody nose.
I hope the US is ready for this. And I hope we are too.
The only thing that will stop him is a bloody nose.
I hope the US is ready for this. And I hope we are too.
That moon is big and round.
I wonder if it will be friends with me.
I wonder if it will be friends with me.
January 3, 2026 at 10:33 PM
That moon is big and round.
I wonder if it will be friends with me.
I wonder if it will be friends with me.
Reposted by Stuart Watt
Dressed in orange blaze (including orange cover on my backpack)with red sequinned antlers and waving my arms, and the car 6 feet away from me at the crossing still tried to run me over during the pedestrian priority light. Plus my hiking buddy was similarly dressed, minus the antlers.
January 1, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Dressed in orange blaze (including orange cover on my backpack)with red sequinned antlers and waving my arms, and the car 6 feet away from me at the crossing still tried to run me over during the pedestrian priority light. Plus my hiking buddy was similarly dressed, minus the antlers.
I could make a case that the current era strongly prefers rhetoric to logic. Logic is, in many ways, irrelevant — even inconvenient. All that matters is persuasion.
The ironic part is that soi-disant “rationalists” are among the worse for this.
And intriguingly, non-knowledge is often the vector.
The ironic part is that soi-disant “rationalists” are among the worse for this.
And intriguingly, non-knowledge is often the vector.
For a bad-faith position, using bad facts and bad logic isn't an error, it's a tactic. It tricks people into arguing the facts and logic rather than challenging the framing. That's futile, because a bad faith position can change facts and logic at will with almost no cost.
January 3, 2026 at 4:12 PM
I could make a case that the current era strongly prefers rhetoric to logic. Logic is, in many ways, irrelevant — even inconvenient. All that matters is persuasion.
The ironic part is that soi-disant “rationalists” are among the worse for this.
And intriguingly, non-knowledge is often the vector.
The ironic part is that soi-disant “rationalists” are among the worse for this.
And intriguingly, non-knowledge is often the vector.
And if you need another reason to avoid Google…..
The cloud is classic reflexive modernity at work. Products transformed into services. Automation downloads both labour and risk onto customers.
It enables small outfits to work globally, sure, but ultimately, in any conflict…. you’ll lose.
The cloud is classic reflexive modernity at work. Products transformed into services. Automation downloads both labour and risk onto customers.
It enables small outfits to work globally, sure, but ultimately, in any conflict…. you’ll lose.
"Google Cloud Run cost me $4,676 in 6 weeks with zero traff"
> I fed my setup, budget, and constraints as context into Gemini CLI,
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4637...
fuckin vibe infra
> I fed my setup, budget, and constraints as context into Gemini CLI,
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4637...
fuckin vibe infra
Google Cloud Run cost me $4,676 in 6 weeks with zero traff | Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com
January 3, 2026 at 3:57 PM
And if you need another reason to avoid Google…..
The cloud is classic reflexive modernity at work. Products transformed into services. Automation downloads both labour and risk onto customers.
It enables small outfits to work globally, sure, but ultimately, in any conflict…. you’ll lose.
The cloud is classic reflexive modernity at work. Products transformed into services. Automation downloads both labour and risk onto customers.
It enables small outfits to work globally, sure, but ultimately, in any conflict…. you’ll lose.
I’m a long time user of VSCode, but today I am done with the US and done with Microsoft.
Time to switch. vscodium.com
Time to switch. vscodium.com
VSCodium - Open Source Binaries of VSCode
Free/Libre Open Source Software Binaries of VSCode
vscodium.com
January 3, 2026 at 2:53 PM
I’m a long time user of VSCode, but today I am done with the US and done with Microsoft.
Time to switch. vscodium.com
Time to switch. vscodium.com
It is gorgeous that moon.
Now, where’s the cheese?
Now, where’s the cheese?
January 3, 2026 at 12:41 AM
It is gorgeous that moon.
Now, where’s the cheese?
Now, where’s the cheese?
Reposted by Stuart Watt
Hi, I am studying library science, the thing everyone claims LLMs are good for.
Spoiler: they aren’t.
I’ll start with a hypothetical based on a thing I have dealt with a thousand times. Person comes in and says, “I don’t remember the title or the author but I know it’s about vampires.”
Spoiler: they aren’t.
I’ll start with a hypothetical based on a thing I have dealt with a thousand times. Person comes in and says, “I don’t remember the title or the author but I know it’s about vampires.”
January 2, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Hi, I am studying library science, the thing everyone claims LLMs are good for.
Spoiler: they aren’t.
I’ll start with a hypothetical based on a thing I have dealt with a thousand times. Person comes in and says, “I don’t remember the title or the author but I know it’s about vampires.”
Spoiler: they aren’t.
I’ll start with a hypothetical based on a thing I have dealt with a thousand times. Person comes in and says, “I don’t remember the title or the author but I know it’s about vampires.”
A great thread, very much worth a read.
(Side note: a lot of the pre-AI machine learning work I did was in information retrieval, including using language models. Information science folks are amazing. Listen to them.)
(Side note: a lot of the pre-AI machine learning work I did was in information retrieval, including using language models. Information science folks are amazing. Listen to them.)
Hi, I am studying library science, the thing everyone claims LLMs are good for.
Spoiler: they aren’t.
I’ll start with a hypothetical based on a thing I have dealt with a thousand times. Person comes in and says, “I don’t remember the title or the author but I know it’s about vampires.”
Spoiler: they aren’t.
I’ll start with a hypothetical based on a thing I have dealt with a thousand times. Person comes in and says, “I don’t remember the title or the author but I know it’s about vampires.”
January 2, 2026 at 4:58 PM
A great thread, very much worth a read.
(Side note: a lot of the pre-AI machine learning work I did was in information retrieval, including using language models. Information science folks are amazing. Listen to them.)
(Side note: a lot of the pre-AI machine learning work I did was in information retrieval, including using language models. Information science folks are amazing. Listen to them.)
Reposted by Stuart Watt
I call these ones Portraits Of A Jerk.
January 2, 2026 at 2:11 PM
I call these ones Portraits Of A Jerk.
Is it worth trying to make home-made Jaffa cakes? Yay or nay?
January 2, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Is it worth trying to make home-made Jaffa cakes? Yay or nay?
