One of the "fun" things about AI code assistance the ease with which it lies. "In our tests on synthetic quadratics and large rasters this yields stable, finite coefficient maps (no float‐limit blow‐ups) and still runs in O(N log N)." Friends, I can guarantee it has run precisely 0 tests.

This is a really important read for people who have got excited about "vibe coding" and especially so for academics who think that LLMs solve the problem of how to teach students how to program.

For the love of God please stop

Just back from a few days in the Glen Affric area with @tonyswilderness . Beautiful colours, beautiful light. #glenaffric #scottishhighlands

🚀 The OBS Zoom-to-Mouse Bug on Linux… FINALLY Solved! 🎉 👉 Watch the full breakdown and solution here: youtu.be/relTN31l0Zo Hopefully this helps fellow OBS users and educators who’ve been struggling with the same problem. #OBSStudio #Linux #OpenSource

Geomorphology in the Brandon Sandhills/Assiniboine River area of Manitoba: Crosscutting past and present meandering channels, gullied slumps on terrace scarps, and great examples of spring sapping (R image is closeup of L). HRDEM from Natural Resources Canada via @opentopography.org. More to follow.

#Tram-#Roseburn From trams team Hope it clarifies position now + possibilities @edi.bike @edtiss.bsky.social @wingpig.bsky.social @robbieainsworth.bsky.social @edinreporter.bsky.social @edfoc.bsky.social @unseriously.bsky.social @harryjwilliams.bsky.social @sw20.info @stephenjenkinson.bsky.social

This is a masterpiece. Simply excellent www.instagram.com/reel/DMVGMIC...

Here's what I get for the same 1966-2024 historical period, using 12-h motions from the best tracks. Erin's estimated 20-kt speed earlier today would rank 12th.

OpenTopography is excited to announce a major expansion to its international data catalog with the addition of the High Resolution Digital Elevation Model from Natural Resources Canada. This 1-meter resolution dataset is ideal for a wide range of applications. opentopography.org/news/opentop...

New bus service from Dundee to Aberdeen starting, via Braemar. I really hope this is successful as we get soooo many folk emerge from the Lairig Ghru at Linn o Dee, asking when the buses south are 😉 www.ember.to/news/#new-du...

The Blatten disaster could have been so much worse. Anyone know what data the Swiss government is using to inform evacuation orders? Seismics? Radar? Pixel tracking? GPS? @geoluca.bsky.social @subfossilguy.bsky.social @davepetley.bsky.social

Helicopter view published by Pomona Media (🔗 below) shows the lake building up by the end of the day. 5 m3/s is a lot of water. youtu.be/R0YlCNDW2l4?...

SPEECHLESS BEFORE / AFTER #BLATTEN The magnitude of destruction after the 3:24 pm collapse of Birch Glacier is immense! 😱 All the forest has been razed and the ice/wood/debris dammed the Lonza river 🌊 Some buildings of Blatten are buried 🏠 📷 Pomona

You know you have been in a field a long time when you can tell who wrote the paper just from the colourmap in the figures.

Our new paper as part of Anya Towers' PhD research is out in ESPL! We used in situ 14C to trace sediment storage dynamics in the River Feshie, Cairngorms - finding paraglacial terraces are an important sediment source: doi.org/10.1002/esp.... @simonmariusmudd.bsky.social

University management news: "During the session, committee convener D Ross MSP revealed that the university's recovery plan document sent to trade unions included the number of job losses in its password. Prof O'Neill replied: "I'm surprised at that, I didn't know that." www.bbc.com/news/article...

It is fun when your code spits out something psychedelic

We know this will be upsetting to many colleagues, if you are struggling please see our Staff Wellbeing Sharepoint

When I worked in UK academia I recall hearing of a Japanese man who was baffled at how Britain had decided to run its universities like firms. “Why? Your universities are excellent and your firms are terrible.”

Hey British academics! While we await the latest job cut email, lets look at our pension (or those of us in USS). The Financial Times had a nice plot about Local Government Pension Schemes. The worst one (by far) lost 18.3% for a yr to March 2023. Awful!! Lets have a look at the performance of USS 😱

Delighted to announce that I convinced a student not to use a pie chart today.

Six weeks left to apply for this super-cool fully-funded PhD studentship developing flood forecasting models for HPC; supervised by Mark Bull @epcc.bsky.social, Maggie Creed at Glasgow Uni, @simonmariusmudd.bsky.social, and myself at the British Geological Survey.

I'm quite pleased with this effort.

I was driving through Los Angeles and they did a radio bit explaining Boxing Day. The host said "it is mainly celebrated in Australia". 😫😢🇬🇧

Enjoy some photos of Joshua Tree.

My son said "Japanese food is just uncooked British food" and now I'm concerned he runs a rage-bait social media account.

5 points to whomever can identify my current position.

Our new paper in discussion in @egu-esurf.bsky.social publishes the results of Scotland's Big Sediment Survey - a citizen science project to document the grain size of Scottish rivers led by Anya Towers during her PhD. Find out more here: egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...

My river network template is working to my satisfaction. All you need is an @opentopography.bsky.social account and a web browser. You can scroll through the notebook to see how to update location, your name, comment, sizes, etc. Have fun! github.com/LSDtopotools...

I'm experimenting with an (almost) fully automated notebook for making channel network images.

If you are in the UK, you might have heard UK universities are in trouble, and are particularly sensitive to swings in international student numbers. How sensitive? Here is University of Edinburgh's numbers up to 31 July 2023 (the most recent numbers). Tuition fees make up ~40% of its income.

Can I highly recommend the Earth View extension if you use Chrome. You get a new satellite image every time you open a tab. Coastal geomorphologists: I challenge you to construct an environmental history from this (@61.784147,-80.118452, Nunavut, Canada).

Are you a grad student (or a recent graduate) that has written a model, or a component for a modeling system, or done something cool and modeling-adjacent as part of your research? If so, consider submitting your work for the 2025 Syvitski Student Modeler Award! csdms.colorado.edu/wiki/Student...

🚨 Fully funded PhD opportunity at Edinburgh to Investigate landslide triggers in deglaciating volcanoes and mountainous environments. tinyurl.com/yvwtppss with Dr. Symeon Makris (BGS), Dr. Max Van Wyk de Vries (University of Cambridge), Dr. Beatriz Recinos, and Prof. Simon Mudd (UoE) #naturalhazards

Has anyone else in Edinburgh spotted the guy on an overpowered electric scooter, wearing a kilt over a cookie monster onesie?

I teach a class on data science here at Illinois and during the seminar I host a competition for the class called "The Hunt for the Worst Data Visualization." This was my most popular post on Xitter, so reproducing some of the best submissions from previous years here:

Does anyone know what this !invalid handle business is all about and how do I get one?

Splendid sunset over central #Edinburgh this evening. I bagged this one shot before dashing into Waverley. By the time I was on the platform the show was over.

Another spectacular sunset in Edinburgh.

Light over Edinburgh is amazing right now. Everyone on the street is stopping to take photos.

Happy "celebrate you don't live in the United States today day" day everybody!! 🥳🥳🥳

Hiking up hills in the highlands can be hard work but views like this make it all worthwhile.

I question the hype about AI replacing all programmers since I get the correct code about 10% of the time after a query, and you actually have to know what you are doing to fix it. Note: AI has massively reduced the time I need to create functioning code.

Northwest Slovenia, what a place. What a place to have wall-to-wall lidar

I really have no idea what I'm doing but here is a geomorphology starter pack. Suggestions welcome. Geomorphologists: If I follow you and failed to add you to this list, send me a message and I will send you a hand crafted Microsoft Paint drawing and a grovelling apology. go.bsky.app/CNQSoJg

First-ever interagency sea level rise website is live | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration https://buff.ly/47FP69X

Seems like a really important paper, ICYMI: Waves rippling under continents could explain mysterious plateaus around the world ⚒️🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...

Please enjoy some photos of the Lairig Ghru

Update on the state of academia in the UK, courtesy of Linkedin