poorly drawn cat with very long legs

a picture of a white-and-gray cat lounging on the edge of a bed, its front legs hanging straight down unusually long toward the floor

The thing that's so offensive about 95% of #AI technology is that it's real function is to replace human relationships: friendship, counselling, love, creativity, collaboration.

Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

I'm working on a foresight review on the safe adoption of AI in complex and engineered systems. Just back from a very intense and brilliant week in Kenya, working with all kinds of experts, and I've never felt more strongly that human knowledge(s) & capabilities are *amazing*

I keep wondering why they hate us but that is pointless, we may never know. Oh, to hear their villain origin story!

If they policed the roads as much as they do universities, this country would cease to have any traffic violations.

10 years ago, Elisabeth Bik published a preprint heard around the world Elisabeth Bik If you are at all familiar with scientific sleuthing, you’re familiar with Elisabeth Bik. She is quoted so often in the mainstream media it is probably difficult to imagine a time bef…

10 years ago today, @elisabethbik.bsky.social published a preprint heard around the world.

I miss the heck out of all-night breakfast (even if this is not how I write)

A sphynx cat stretched out on a grey blanket with an alert bordering on wacky expression on his face.

Sometimes, a gnat gets in your brain and you don't know what to do and then you have to run around and wrestle with invisible ghosts. I don't write the rules.

Infinite Patience Is Not Good for Education How many times does Sal Khan get to fail?

For all their yammering about accountability in education, there is none for professional ed reformers and Ed Tech purveyors.

My photo shows a frontal view of a buff-coloured Minoan pottery jug with a dark-red, stylised octopus painted beneath the dark red pouring spout. The jug has a rounded body with very short neck with out-turned rim, the body tapers downwards to a slightly turned out flat base also painted red. On each shoulder there’s a small chunky loop handle. The octopus is stylised and looks cartoon-like with a vertical dumbbell shaped body, with two large circular eyes with central red dots staring out at the viewer. From the top of the head emerge eight suckered arms. Four arms hang symmetrically downwards on each side of the body, writhing and curling at the tip. There is a similar red octopus on each side of the jug not shown in my photo.

A 3,500 year-old Minoan jar with a cartoon-like octopus under the spout! 🐙

From Kommos, Crete. Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me

#Archaeology

Give Phil the veto button for all considered conversions from dumb to smart appliances.

The year is 2035. All scientists now spend all their time either applying for grants or reviewing grants. No science is conducted.

„The only remaining way to mitigate this situation is to reduce the number of applications.“

They’ve tried nothing and are all out of ideas? Whether this is good or bad, it is unjustified. There is no impact analysis, no engagement with research on funding procedures. Government by vibes

I see a million tech moguls complaining that media coverage has become "anti-tech" like some kind of spontaneous vibe shift, and regrettably few wondering if, maybe, the issue is that a bunch of the tech industry became less worthy of being positive about over the past several years.

I think a big part of what’s different here is their ability to just put this shit on things we already own. I could ignore them telling me to buy crypto. But it’s different when my phone or computer updates and suddenly there’s AI trying to write my emails.

surveys can be fun! (so can data viz)

There is a fully-funded PhD position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to pursue dissertation research among the Mayangna of Nicaragua, expanding a longitudinal study of subsistence strategies and behavioral ecology. Please share the posting!
www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

There is even a museum of bad art (recommended!)

museumofbadart.org

Interesting. Another recent THE University of the Year in 2022 is in dispute with the union over changes to employee pensions (and 'needs' to make £25M in savings this year).

🤷

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/awards-...

Ulster University to cut up to 450 jobs It is not clear which parts of the university, which has campuses in Belfast, Londonderry and Coleraine as well as in Qatar, will be affected.

"We are all just devastated there is so much fear and anxiety across all of the campuses."

Staff at Ulster University told today the uni will cut 450 jobs to save £25 million

#UKHE #HigherEd #AcademicSky #UCU

This makes me also want to see a version of this in the UK!

At its core, the political economy of scholarship was never supposed to rely on ~$50k from a smelting fortune. Institutions have hollowed out their support, the feds have done the same, and all that's left is inadequate private funding.

Spending mornings in Week 3 of my sabbatical scrolling through Bluesky is completely defensible, right? (right?)

Love the bollards decorated with mosaics scattered throughout the Woodlands area of Glasgow. Created as part of the Glasgow 1999 project and designed by local kids, each one is different.

Cont./

#glasgow #bollard #mosaic #streetart #woodlands

WEEKEND READING: The time for change is right now: why Northumbria is moving ahead with pension reform - HEPI This blog was kindly authored by Jane Embley, Chief People Officer and Tom Lawson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, both of Northumbria University. For over a year, Northumbria University has been ...

its not reform Jane its just a cut, youre taking £100,000 out of my pension because you overspent on some buildings! And overestimated how much student and grant income you could drum up!

See you on the picket line @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social

www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/04/12/w...

UK universities ‘foolish’ to bank on overseas student growth Foreign students no longer a magic bullet for cash-strapped universities as visa changes and pricing wars force leaders to reconsider growth strategies

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-univ... yes, but ... if we were market stall holders.. you said we could only sell apples for 50p. and it didn't matter how much inflation was, 50p was the price. but you also said we could sell peaches for as much as we like, because the price of apples was.. 1.

If you haven’t already watched the tv documentary ‘Dirty business’ it’s an important watch. Truly heartbreaking.
Trailer here (C4)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEz6...

👀

Gesture-based Instruction Enhances Neural Synchrony and Predicts Children's Mathematical Learning Abstract. Teachers' hand movements during instruction can influence how children learn mathematics, but not all movements are equally effective. Gesture-based instruction on problems such as 4 + 2 + 5...

Why do kids learn better from gestures than visually similar actions with objects? In our new paper out in JoCN, we looked at how the brain responds to both. Check out the full paper here: doi.org/10.1162/JOCN...

Thanks to @ycleong.bsky.social Susan Goldin-Meadow, Marc Berman and all collaborators!