Sometimes I like to check how DeepL would do something, mainly to see if it's capable of picking up on some obscure/unusual language (which it usually isn't). Anyway, it does tend to make some assumptions I find
Fraser McQueen
@frasermcqueen.bsky.social
Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies, University of Leeds. Islamophobia & cultural production in France. Retired ex-Thai boxer. Co-convener @psafrenchpol.bsky.social He/him.
'If' doing some real heavy lifting here
Chronicle of Higher Education@chronicle.com · 2w agoOpinion: If AI is now part of academic writing, what should institutions actually evaluate? This essay argues that analytical writing should be judged by evidence, structure, argument, and accountability not by guesses about how each sentence was produced. https://chroni.cl/4eDRdjg
thrilled to announce that, at 5:40 pm, I've made it through all of today's emails and am ready to start doing some work
Fairly tight deadline because some doofus forgot to log into my personal BlueSky and post it (going to have stern words with this jabroni when I identify them), but if anyone is interested in submitting a paper to the French Politics specialist group for the PSA27 annual conference, please do!
Very nice coincidence to have become aware of this image from the current high school protests under a week before my 'May 68' lectures start. Looking forward to cementing my position as the king of cringe. Maybe I'll do the hand thing. It's so important to keep pushing your limits 💫
Just think about it. We can only say what blue looks like by describing something that's blue. The blue guy couldn't do that because everything's blue. He has no concept of (for example) red, he can't say the colour of blood because his blood is blue. So he wouldn't say he's blue da ba dee da ba da.
U wouldn't have a fish saying 'i'm in the water da ba dee da ba da' because it doesn't know there's something other than water. It's the same for the blue guy
The thing that bothers me about the song blue by eiffel 65 is that if everything in the guy's world was blue he wouldn't be saying 'i'm blue'. He wouldn't know about other colours so 'blue' would mean nothing to him. The idea of anything not being blue would be unimaginable to him. It'd be like a fi
While prepping my teaching for the coming year, I came across this word cloud from last year's week 1 welcome seminar on 'Introduction to French Studies'. The minds of young people are fascinating to me. What on earth is mint squash
One thing you will never see me do is apologise for 'cross posting', which I think is for cowards.
Very pleased to share that I've risen three places to fourteenth in the Good Posters league table 2026. This is testament to the hard work I've been putting into my posting game.
Can't remember exactly what I imagined being an academic would be like when I started pursuing it as a career, but if I had to guess I'd say that I probably thought I'd be spending more time in book-lined studies solving the world's problems and less time thinking about budget codes.
Worrth remembering that Andy Burnham has a long record of being anti-immigration. He's kept Shabana Mahmood in place because he agrees with her
[engaging with media] here's a twisted take for you. what if the protagonist was a Villain
Have you tested your smoke alarm lately? We recommend testing them once a week and you should have one installed per floor of your home.
Thrilled to announce - delighted to share! - that I have completed my annual online data protection training. This is a significant milestone as I aim to become the most boring man ever to have lived and I would like to thank GDPR for making it possible. 364 sleeps until I get to do it again 💪 💫
A wee happy looking kid just ran past me in Costa, so I smiled at him only for his mum to say 'stop it, you're annoying the man'. Wtf no he isny. Leave me out of this
I’ve got no wish to divide and I give total solidarity with those affected there; but, as others have said, it is notable how much more attention the proposed cuts at Exeter are getting relative to those at some other institutions, including my own (where the numbers affected are, I believe, higher)
A stupid thing I do that I quite simply refuse to deal with is only own one suitcase. If I'm going somewhere for like 3 days I need to use either the 2-week-holiday case or just a backpack. This would be so easily solved by buying a second case, but I will probably never do that.
mad business model to only be selling two products but who am i to judge if it makes money
SPOKE TOO SOON I JUST TRIED THIS AGAIN AND THEY STILL ASKED ME TO REPEAT IT. HOW DO I MAKE IT SIMPLER THAN BOB
Fraser McQueen@frasermcqueen.bsky.social · 5mo agoJust told an English barista my name was Bob. Very good tactic I think
A very good afternoon to all my fellow Sco-atians 🏴 🇭🇷
Oldfirmfacts@oldfirmfacts.bsky.social · 5mo agoThis 'Anyone But England' mentality is petty and reflects badly on us as a nation, and it's about time we molim vas, zanemarite početak ove poruke i podržite naše herojske Hrvate protiv Engleza
Deadline now extended to Friday 19th June - please consider submitting an abstract if your research touches on any of the areas covered!
Fraser McQueen@frasermcqueen.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe CfP for this year's PSA French Politics Specialist Group annual workshop is attached here! The workshop will be held in Leeds on Friday 11 Sept. We look forward to receiving your abstracts! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to reach out either to me or to @salomeietter.bsky.social
Got back from a few days at a conference/other work-related commitments to what I can only describe as this extremely dubious pleasure
