You can tell that LotR was written by an academic because Gandalf disappears for like 20 years doing research to answer a single question.

Fifteen of those twenty years were spent writing unsuccessful grant applications.

While I normally focus on AI deepfake pornography, there's an under-discussed AI-gen harm that's particularly prevalent during the holidays: AI product scams. We counted down the top 10 holiday scams to look out for this year (check out the video), but here are some extra highlights below

I was just going to repost this as another example of genAI being used to devalue the work of artists, but actually, there's more to talk about here. This article is in response to an ad (which I can't find now), for an Irish-language genAI film competition. 1/ www.thejournal.ie/udaras-na-ga...

The painter Anne Madden has died at her home in Dublin. She was 93 years of age. One of the leading Irish artists of the 20th century, she became known for her epic canvases inspired by the Burren in Co Clare and its megalithic monuments.

Absolutely right. AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there. Let me illustrate …

When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.

I believe in Newgrange supremacy. 5 millennia, zero bullshit. Older than Stonehenge and has a roof, get fucked. Solstice icon, no choice but to stan, etc. etc. etc.

And we’re on, with Clare and Frank! #NewgrangeSolstice #WinterSolstice

Just to remind you that the livestream of the solstice sunrise from Newgrange starts 12 hours from now. heritageireland.ie/visit/newgra...

This year is the fifteenth anniversary of Vincent & The Doctor. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubTJ...

14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵 Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

Me, submerged headfirst in Brie: Shu’ up, ’s medishinal.

In exciting culinary news, I have received word of my son "boiling crabs in Monster".

Don't miss livestream of Winter Solstice at Newgrange, Sunday 21 December 2025 "For 17 minutes, direct sunlight can enter the Newgrange monument through the specially contrived small opening above the entrance known as the ‘roof box’, to illuminate the Chamber." heritageireland.ie/winter-solst...

Absolutely nobody asked for this BUT English Anglican cathedrals that have burned down, fallen over, and sank into the swamp: a thread.

Oh my god…

Gift link, probably the funniest thing the Wall Street Journal has done this year.

I had to re-read this a few times because it is hard to believe. Demand from proposed new data centres might be as high as 5.8GW, equivalent to *peak electricity demand for the entire country*. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

The British Library have a searchable interim Archives & Manuscripts Catalogues up & running: searcharchives.bl.uk (posting for all the folks who, like me, had somehow managed to miss this important development)

Hooray! The British Library has just released a beta version of its rebuilt Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue: searcharchives.bl.uk 2,619 hits for 'petition' in Western Manuscripts, texts in English, in case you're curious. 🗃️

There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom

AI’ is becoming shorthand for ’We don’t care if it works, we just don’t want to pay people to do it properly.’ www.bbc.com/news/article...

End the child surveillance state

I think they should just replace all tech CEOs with science fiction writers. I mean, if they really want someone to bullshit about the future, they can afford to hire professionals.

*JOB FAIRY* Role: Rights and Administration Assistant (1 year, part time) UCD Press is seeking a person to support with rights and administration development. We are looking for a person to research, initiate and develop translation rights for the Press, especially in the Chinese market.

Public service announcement to anyone in the UK trying to phone people in Ireland. Chances are that, unless you are a ‘contact’, you won’t get through. We’re being bombarded by spam calls from 0044 numbers atm, & so most of us are not answering unknown UK numbers. #SpeirGorm #IrishBluesky

As an Irish filmmaker, knowing tax funding is going to this boils my blood to a dangerous temperature.

We were thrilled to welcome artist and designer Peter O’Brien last month as he shared the final sketch for our 2025 seasonal card, plus the beautiful preparatory drawings behind it. 🎨✏️ 🎄 📨 Learn more: www.nli.ie/news-stories...

I realize this isn't the main thing here but isn't Times New Roman no longer even packaged with Microsoft Word? (while Calibri is the default there) Maybe worth saying there isn't really a single font that is considered most accessible.. but TNR is very poor for readability.

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

AI - the “liveliest awfulness”, a failed resurrection, a gibbering mass of mouths, eyes and claws, screaming to each other from their separate pits until the power runs out.

Employer: please embed sustainability into your teaching Employer: here’s a list of cool ways to use AI

Gotta admit "the font is DEI" is a stage of absurdity I could not have predicted

Every facet of generative AI has made my professional life worse, without question, but THIS specific aspect has been driving me NUTS. Clients, who have made me toil for weeks over indescribably small details, are now approving & producing in-house commercial artwork that looks like a fever dream.

The frustrating thing is that a good way to make genAI go away would actually be to make damagingly bad adverts that purport to be for big brands and make them go viral, so that the brands pivot to proving authenticity by using cameras and actors again - but that would mean using GenAI.

I tell people who don't know how to permanently turn off the AI to type "-ai" after typing in your search terms to turn it off for that search.

Is this enough to get our political parties, the government and the wider public sector to finally remove themselves from X?

Submissions Call: Sci-Fi Ireland Submissions Deadline: 31st January 2026 Sci-Fi Ireland is a literary magazine. Our mission is to find and publish the best new short science-fiction from the Island of Ireland. To bring sci-fi into the spotlight at a time when philosophy, thought and discussion…

The part where it is starting to look as though some types of dementia are actually long chickenpox is WILD.

Like the Coca-Cola ad it's just a collection of random scenes with different random characters spliced together cos they can't get it to do anything else. They can't get it to do a narrative with central identifiable characters, settings, costumes etc. It's all just random crap shoved together

can't stop watching this clip of a tesla Optimus teleoperator taking his headset off before properly logging out the robot

"ChatGPT’s 300 million weekly users collectively consume 621.4 MWh daily, equivalent to powering 35,000 U.S. homes annually through their AI interactions." ChatGPT: for fans of waste and destroying the planet with climate change (even faster).

A look back at the work of photographer Martin Parr, who has died aged 73. Parr’s photos covered scenes from everyday life in England and beyond. He once said: “The fundamental thing I’m exploring is the difference between the mythology of the place and the reality of it.” #RIPMartinParr

TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque: "This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".

I dream of the day that we defeat fascism and also neutrals

Your . . . your WHAT? And it costs HOW MUCH? Can we all just agree that if a product has the word ‘smart’ in front of it, it was made to serve the manufacturer, not the customer. Even the camera that monitors your shit.