Giving me a Windows laptop to work on while IT "evaluate" my MacBook (which they just need to replace...) is a particularly cruel form of torture.

Hint - if you can't work out who these people are, you're one of them.

Anonymous Don@anondon.bsky.social · 2d ago

I wld guess that many academics can think of at least 1 person in their dept (and probably several leaders in their field) who bend the truth, exaggerate claims & puff out their portfolio 2 fast track their career. Such ppl are adored by department heads & snr admin, but are a nightmare 2 work with.

As sad as it was to leave Dublin five years ago, the reality is that I don't think staying was affordable. This is a great piece on how that problem is hollowing out the city's heart.

Eoghan Sweeney@eoghan.eurosky.social · 3d ago

Superb piece on the death of Dublin, killed by greed. It's not immigrants who wielded the blade; it's our own, developers and property owners obsessed with squeezing every penny of profit out of the city, on the backs of stressed, overworked people they've priced out of living in it #spéirġorm

Superb piece on the death of Dublin, killed by greed. It's not immigrants who wielded the blade; it's our own, developers and property owners obsessed with squeezing every penny of profit out of the city, on the backs of stressed, overworked people they've priced out of living in it #spéirġorm

Dublin is now a shell of its once former self - opinion - Western People

Dublin is now a shell of its once former self - opinion - Western People

westernpeople.ie

The Times, one of the leading voices when it comes to 'protecting women and girls' calling a man who assaulted his young pregnant girlfriend, said he would rape the kids if he was a teacher and called for child sex abuse porn to be legal, 'brilliant'

I always thought Goldfinger was such a ridiculous character. Like, all that power and money and he still cheats at golf? and he has a weird fetish for tacky gold things? And he wanted to rob the Federal governments coffers? Like - what an unrealistic thing. Who would ever be like that.

I know it's not news Kemi Badenoch is not across the detail, but this is an absolute shocker. She says the UK's net zero plans are 'perversely increasing carbon emissions'. In 2019 when net zero targets were adopted emissions were 45% below 1990 levels. Last year they were 54% below 1990 levels.

The sec of state who has seen at least 15000 academics lose their jobs just said this. Out loud. Mercy me. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

‘It hurts to lose a job you love’: Starmer loyalist Bridget Phillipson fights on despite cabinet demotion

Exclusive: The former education secretary on her new role as Labour chair and continuing as the minister for women and equalities

theguardian.com

It is two years today since this dimwit gave us the most hilarious demonstration of karma in history.

Someone nearly went out of the window on a Ryanair flight recently. Possibly not the *right* person.

Hemant Mehta@friendlyatheist.com · last wk.

Evangelist Whitney Lynn says she preaches on planes because she loves “a captive audience.” She's not alone. It's becoming a trend. If spreading your message requires listeners who can't escape, maybe it's not as compelling as you think. www.friendlyatheist.com/p/christian-...

Good thread on how ludicrous the current system for adult social care is You have no idea if you or loved ones will need it, and it costs an absolute fortune More people are going to need care as we live longer, and we have to face up to that - and pay for it

Dan Neidle@danneidle.bsky.social · last wk.

I have a modest proposal for a new tax. It involves a deck of cards and a monkey throwing darts. Here are the rules:

This disingenuous commentary doesn’t help anyone. Frauds start unravelling pretty quickly. That you apparently cannot afford to put your oven or treat yourself is quickly undermined by the question “so why are you spending £50 per week on petrol?” Then, it turns out, she has an agent and /1

Ash@queerash.bsky.social · 2w ago

Elaine in this article "can't remember the last time she used her oven" but also spends £200 a month on petrol (so driving probably ~50 miles a day?) (she's also a professional old person; she was on Good Morning Britain last year, and then also at the Nov budget, and the year before lmao)

It's 12 minutes of Harry trying to persuade the Hogwarts toilet inspector that he needs to go into the girls toilets to rescue Hermione from a Troll and that he shouldn't have to show them his genitals first.

I can't help but think that if I had written a paper on digital molecular visualisation, I would at least make sure that my AI slop TOC graphic had matching 2D and 3D structures.. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Enhancing High School Students’ Spatial Thinking in Organic Chemistry through Digital Molecular Visualization (KingDrawHD)

In today’s evolving educational landscape, digital tools offer new opportunities to support learners in subjects such as organic chemistry that rely heavily on visualization. This study examines the e...

pubs.acs.org

I don't know where I found this, but it's brilliant.

In 1925, Sidney Pressey built his “teaching machine”. Printed questions were put on it and it would spit candy out when you got a certain number of questions right. The point is, for all the potential of AI has in education, people have been promising this for a while.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Burgum says data centers could "provide a personalized tutor for every kid in every school district in your state"

Are we weaponising smarm? "Don't attack us, or we'll set this irritating git on you."

James Heale@jaheale.bsky.social · 2w ago

Wes Streeting is the Defence Secretary

If nothing else, let's hope that the new education secretary actually notices that universities exist. That alone would be progress.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2w ago

Lucy Powell is SoS Education Johnny Reynolds back to Business Annaliese Midgley as Chief Whip Those ones were all expected. Philipson is keeping Equalities.

AB, a 🧵

One if the first responses to this post was “so they did worse when you took away the tool?” as though that was a slam dunk refutation. If you take away a tool and the student can’t do the skill you said the tool was teaching, then the tool didn’t teach the skill. This is education 101. 2/

Yet another way in which Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is completely bloody useless.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3w ago

Molten salt and human sweat: the weird batteries that could store renewable energy

it’s amazing how often the solution to endlessly multiplying pedagogical problems turns out to be restoring an actual pedagogical relationship between instructors and students

Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa@benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social · 3w ago

A really interesting piece on reducing AI cheating in the classroom from a Professor of English and former Dean of Humanities at University of Utah. The solutions? Smaller classes, lower teaching loads for faculty, and in-person classes.

I'm no theologian, but I'm willing to bet that the phrase "long-term capital growth" does *not* in fact appear in the Bible.

Claire Boardman@claireboardman.bsky.social · 3w ago

The reason: "the secretary general of the archbishops’ council, said [the] motion was inconsistent with the church’s legal obligations & responsibility to ensure “long-term capital growth”." All credit to @wildcard.land an inspirational team I met at the Glasgow 'Into the Wild' meeting recently.

I made this because as far as I can see nobody else has?

Erm...

For anyone interested, this ISN'T us 😬 Try these guys... bsky.app/profile/uni-... 😅

The Mill@manchestermill.bsky.social · 4w ago

BREAKING: Three people have been arrested on suspicion of money laundering, fraud and bribery at University of Greater Manchester, @molliesimpson.bsky.social reports. Greater Manchester Police are investigating the alleged misuse of as much as £1.7 million. manchestermill.co.uk/breaking-thr...

Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface

An awful lot of words, saying very little. We really do need a better education secretary.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4w ago

DfE appears to have disavowed the paragraph as a component of writing. Might make this speech easier to read out loud, but it's quite disconcerting as an audience reader (and quite telling). Actually, though, it makes it a useful teaching tool if you're teaching students how to write this autumn.

The number of people who fail to realise that they can board a flight by the rear doors is always surprising. Getting on at the back when you're sat in *row 2* is genuinely astonishing behaviour, though. Ah... Ryanair.