Nathan Couch

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!

“—; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.” — Keats, Ode to Autumn

fuck you and your shitty slogan

My wife has been gone a week. I am achieving a deeper understanding of TikTok.

Thesis: The Jester, compared to the Clown, is generally more aggressive and angular, but limited in their capacity to unsettle because they are a natural character. Canny and clever, they challenge the normal social order but are still recognizably human.

For roasting.

I’m already getting defensive about Aristotle.

The dollar sign ($) is — the only commonly used unit in English that precedes the number it qualifies — inconsistent with the spoken ordering — usually inferable from context On these grounds, I submit that we should place the dollar sign after the number, e.g., “Gas is over 4$/gal!”

My friend Jason is taking piano lessons with his six-year old daughter, learning alongside her from the same teacher. Seeing him struggle and make the same simple mistakes as her, even though he can already play the guitar and the trumpet, seems to give her confidence that she will get better 💕🥰

On the definition of a planet:

Love watching three hummingbirds fight over a feeder only for none of them to get it.

“Millenials are the best at computers because we learned the right way” doofs did not hang out with kids then or now. Their peers were not all fucking around with HTML when they were young, and a great many teens are carrying the tradition forward now.

I adore the flowers on bessobela (Ethiopian basil). Modest and graceful, they are favored by smaller pollinators, like tiny green flies and solitary bees.

I was taught, and believe, that I should always say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you.’ This applies whether they are human, sentient, or even alive.

Keep thinking about Odysseus telling Penelope that people in the future won’t know how to read.

Matt Damon’s Odysseus is a dumb jock whose first instinct in every situation is to lie and gets away with it cause he is good at brawling.

me and the crew playing chess (we’re clones)

Celosia, Hoary Mountain Mint, Basil, and Marigolds.

They have become more numerous since I began killing them. There is but one possible explanation: Revenge!

Just watched a Black Capped Chickadee snatch a bug flying around my marigolds: so gratifying to see the system working.

“But Doctor!” wailed Pagliacci, …

Cherry tomato galette

Can’t stop thinking about the man who said he would sharpen his aunt’s butter knives when he was a child.

Pawns are unique among pieces, in that their set of moves is distinct from their captures. As a consequence of this quirk, only pawns can occupy a square without changing the number of pieces attacking the square. The price is paid, regardless: weakness in the squares adjacent to the pawn.

Bold

Marigolds, hyssops, celosias, and bee-balm

We labor in the garden for all Autumns to come.

I biked and drove yesterday, and I’m more convinced than ever that driver’s licenses should be renewed annually with a driving test.

Fuck, drivers in Buffalo are trash.

Mentioned this to our server, who asked the manager: He ate three cheesecakes, four ice creams, and nothing else.

Fascinated by the man at AYCE sushi who appears to be eating only little cups of ice cream.

Dreaming of October Asters

Bottle feeding is the perfect opportunity for reflective work: with nothing to do but monitor the level of milk in the nipple, the mind is free. And whenever the inquiry drifts too close to existential dread, you just look at the baby!

“You fucking monsters! We stand no chance without your heads. I want heads!”

Anthem for our Age “What kind of heaven awaits someone so cruel and afraid?”