don't miss out! the deadline for proposals to the ever amazing, annual Queer and Trans Studies in Religion conference is ONE MONTH from today, August 15! studyofreligion.ucr.edu/holstein-cha...

Struggling to write a conference presentation which can be max ca. 2100 words (15-20 mins to present). Apparently, I have not had to do this in awhile, and I'm finding it very difficult!

Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia It's been a year & people tell me they've changed their mind, feel safer now to sign, etc. So I'm sharing it again for them. We're almost at 2k & anybody from anywhere can add their names. openletter.earth/open-letter-...

Are we asking the wrong questions about Ireland's data centres? Writing in @thejournal.ie, Dr Paul Davis of DCU Business School points out that measuring water and energy alone gives an incomplete picture. Read the full piece: launch.dcu.ie/4fUUPgN

Philosophers, spread the word! The next Special Issue of The Philosophical Quarterly will be 'Philosophy and Climate Change' - Guest Editor Stephen Gardiner, call for papers here: academic.oup.com/pq/pages/cal...

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

Can anyone recommend a good podcast focused on ancient Christianity that's accessible to a popular audience?

let’s be clear: limiting access to information means folks being unable to question the information they’re given. that is the point; tech oligarchs want to narrow our possibilities for making meaning(s) out of this world. genAI is anti-knowledge.

AI Companies Are Buying Antique Books, Ingesting Their Contents to Train Models, and Then Destroying Them at Incredible Scale, Even If Almost No Copies Remain

AI companies are quietly obtaining rare books, ingesting their contents, and then destroying them -- even if they're exceedingly rare.

futurism.com

Looking forward, @sabrinainowlocki.bsky.social!

Sabrina Inowlocki@sabrinainowlocki.bsky.social · 3w ago

and it's out! OA thanks to @romanaerc.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/element...

I want people to understand the full impact of the devastation that First Nations in Canada are facing. It's NOT just that people and wildlife are losing their homes...it's the history that is being lost for generations to come.

We do not have to live this way. The billionaires think they own all land. All air. All water. All thought. They don’t.

Visited this on a wee 'babymoon' a few years ago whilst a postdoc in Aarhus...gorgeous.

Sara Ellis-Nilsson (she/her), PhD 🕊️@ellisnilsson.bsky.social · 3w ago

One of Bornholm's oldest and largest round churches, Østerlars kirke. Oldest bits from the 12th c. Dedicated to St Lawrence (Lars). Some of the church seems to have been used for military defense. The main round section has 3 levels that you can climb up to using the staircase in the wall!

Congratulations to the government on saving 2700 jobs by nationalising British Steel. Now, about the 18,000 university jobs lost in the last 18 months, with more coming…

Call em up and rat out your local data centre

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 3w ago

Uisce Éireann defends hotline for people to report ‘non-essential’ use of water

Consider an MA in Gender & Sexuality at DCU!

New UN report on the environmental cost of LLMs. Key points include: inference (use) causes 90% of energy cost; web search with AI summary costs 10 times a regular search, and video generation is extremely energy intensive. Also, land and water use must be tracked too. unu.edu/inweh/collec...

Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water, and Land Footprints

AI’s rapid growth drives huge energy, water, and land use, raising environmental and equity challenges across its global infrastructure.

unu.edu

You're going to get left behind if you don't use Al." Leave me then. Leave me with my critical thinking skills, my ability to read and write long- form, and books without needing Al summaries.

DCU is a 'University of Place' and a valuable resource for North Dublin. That’s why our engagement with local communities extends way beyond our campuses and into the wider region. Find out more about how you can get involved with DCU: dcu.ie/dcu-community

Heads up, Sturgeon County, Alberta.

Kai, a very old GenX 🇨🇦@kaicable.bsky.social · 4w ago

Cheyenne suspends datacenter wastewater after rare bacterium traced to Meta's AI site. City officials say wastewater from the site introduced a rare bacterium into Cheyenne's reclaimed water system. www.techspot.com/news/113041-...

Really looking forward to this next month! blogs.helsinki.fi/npm2026helsi...

Huge congratulations, @jeremyfcohen.bsky.social!

McMaster Religious Studies@mcmasterreligion.bsky.social · last mo.

Jeremy Cohen has been with us since 2016, first as a PhD student and then on a contractually limited appointment. We are delighted to announce that he has recently been converted to tenure-track assistant professor!

Applications for the Postdoctoral Fellowships are open. This fellowship is a three-year award made to an annual cohort of outstanding early-career researchers in the humanities or social sciences. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4xWduAS

Our magnificent PhD students made this film about the research supervision they receive from colleagues in Classics, Ancient History, Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter. #DefendExeterUni www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXTm...

CAHRT Is Its People

YouTube video by Leah Lawford

youtube.com

And also: the AI lit search does away with another beautiful way of gathering sources: asking a friend with expertise in the desired area. That email where you ask said friend for all their best recommendations and take the opportunity to enquire about their life

Miriam De Cock@miriamjane5.bsky.social · last mo.

In a similar vein, that moment when you happen upon an article or monograph that will absolutely alter your work on x project whilst you're on the hunt for something else. Another 🖕to the over-reliance on AI lit review searches! The happening upon is pure joy, pure human

2-3 (fully funded) PhD Research fellowships in theology/religious studies at the University of Oslo. 3 years, with the opportunity of 1-year extension.

2-3 Doctoral Research Fellowships at the Faculty of Theology (303853) | University of Oslo

Job title: 2-3 Doctoral Research Fellowships at the Faculty of Theology (303853), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Sunday, August 23, 2026

jobbnorge.no

In a similar vein, that moment when you happen upon an article or monograph that will absolutely alter your work on x project whilst you're on the hunt for something else. Another 🖕to the over-reliance on AI lit review searches! The happening upon is pure joy, pure human

Miriam De Cock@miriamjane5.bsky.social · last mo.

That gorgeous moment when reading a primary text for a specific purpose and you instead/also discover details that will help with the other side projects you've slowly been working toward for a couple years...surely to be lost if we let AI do our preliminary source analysis...

Six key messages from Exeter UCU. The upshot is that these proposed cuts are unnecessary and damaging. We must stop them. Please amplify these messages if you can!

Something else I will drink to is this consortium of Dutch universities working to drop reliance on Microsoft technologies and systems - for digital sovereignty reasons. Lekker voor je! #iamcr2026 www.hollandhightech.nl/en/news-cale...