I'm reading around on vibe coding to develop some teaching materials for my undergrads. The first book starts with a canonical example of writing an app to estimate the time to read a podcast script, based on its word count. GENUINELY who would *write an app* to solve this problem? This is insane!

Don’t forget the reason for the season - it’s the tilt of the earth’s axis! So I’m about to watch sunrise over Stonehenge on the English Heritage YouTube channel www.youtube.com/live/FEnQmoc...

Happy Christmas to all my university colleagues. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A Christmas film for all the bros youtube.com/shorts/jBjfk...

An responsible science reminder at Christmas www.instagram.com/reel/DSM-8yy...

It’s terrible that @robinince.bsky.social has had to leave the BBC because of his public pro-trans opinions. Science comedy isn’t always funny. www.chortle.co.uk/news/2025/12...

Hey ChatGPT show me a successful publisher to invest in vm.tiktok.com/ZNReHWCh2/

My university students interviewed me about LLMs and this is the key frame that they chose on YouTube.

Some physics humour for your timeline: Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Ohm in a car… vm.tiktok.com/ZNRJWJRN7/

Recent anecdotal evidence* shows it’s impossible not to feel happy when listening to this clip *listening to it on a rainy Monday morning youtu.be/CLP15B43uNA

Enjoy Christmas Science Comedy cheer with Dr Paul Conway explaining the Moral Psychology of Santa's Naughty List! Our professional comedy headliner is a cancer scientist that The Guardian described as "deliciously funny". www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/southampto...

My iPhone’s FaceID is refusing to recognise me today and my ego is taking it badly.

A bit of musical science comedy for your timeline - what could be better? vm.tiktok.com/ZNdEgoqU2/

Calling all Women in STEM! November's Southampton Science Comedy features women in STEM who rap, control AIs and electrocute men - because science! Come along and bring your friends!! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/southampto...

Southampton Science Comedy is back this week, on Thursday 16th October. Get your tickets to see the brilliant Farah Sharp perform with researchers and students from @unisouthampton.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/southampto...

Brilliantly thought-provoking workshop on critical and ethical sociological engagement with LMMs in Naples this morning led by @jessogden.bsky.social @lescarr.bsky.social @sociodigfutures.bsky.social @bdfi.bsky.social #rc33 #isa #11ICSSM #Methodology

I’m in Naples for the 11ICSSM conference to run a workshop on LLMs and give a paper about social scientists responses to AI with @susanjhalford.bsky.social .

Scraping tools like @digitalmethods.net Zeeschuimer, @lescarr.bsky.social WDRA are *vital* for social media research but how widely are they used? 🤔 If you use these tools or similar in your work, please reply 'teaching' 'research' 'both' 👇🏽 or via email if preferred 🤗 #AcademicSky

Southampton Science comedy is back in October. Get your tickets to see the brilliant Farah Sharp perform with researchers and students from @unisouthampton.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/southampto...

Me: my research demonstrates the benefits of large language models for qualitative research Also Me: The Last Teams Meeting

I’m just planning a computer science undergraduate training session called “friends don’t let friends vibe code” @softwaresaved.bsky.social

Please stop all this “PhD-level” nonsense when talking about how much an LLM “knows”. A PhD is about being able to systematically create new knowledge. Knowing everything in that field is just a small part of the qualification.

Who says LLMs can’t do comedy? I just tried to use ChatGPT to convert my little #edfringe spreadsheet of shows into an ICS file for my calendar. It wrote a python program with a missing import module, and blamed my data formatting. Now that’s funny!

Let me get this straight… scientists discovered a radioactive wasps nest outside a abandoned military research laboratory and declared it safe because there werent any wasps in it… ANY MORE? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

So far this afternoon at the #edfringe website trying to buy tickets I’ve had slow/no access, cloudflare errors, Fetch errors and a GraphQL error. I’m going to use this as a case study in next term’s devops course.

I’m just trying to organise my t-shirts for the summer. You (a perfectly well-integrated member of society): what colour is in this season? How can I show myself part of the in-group? Me (a socially awkward computer nerd): I’ll hedge my bets.

Next year I will have worked in academia for 40 years - and I still can’t type “university” correctly on a first attempt.

Now we can add “the Internet” to bullying, eating disorders and the climate emergency - the list of things that British children wish didn’t exist. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

In training researchers in AI techniques to support qualitative research methodologies at @unisouthampton.bsky.social, I’m discovering that they mainly need the AI to source, curate, clean and manage complex data for them. Sticking a “good enough” reasoner on a “good enough” search is not helpful!

Get free tickets to see @mattywin.bsky.social and 4 new @unisouthampton.bsky.social comedians at Southampton Science Comedy night on June 19th! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/southampto...

Fantastic article by Dr Neil Gostling on how Sir David Attenborough has reshaped how we see the natural world throughout his illustrious career. Follow him at: @neilgostling.bsky.social theconversation.com/from-zoo-que...

Oops 😬

If the digital and the social are inextricable, what does that mean for research methods? Join us in Naples to explore further! @rcecoleman.bsky.social @jessicaogden.bsky.social @lescarr.bsky.social

Microsoft Authenticator saying “Face not recognised” is the digital equivalent of “Oi! Smile love!”

The lunacy of X owner Elon Musk. There was no “cover up” of English “child rape gangs”. @privateeyenews.bsky.social

After Meta announced they are getting rid of fact checkers, we drove to Meta HQ with our thoughts…

I’ve just pitched an academic panel session with the title “AI and the Monetisation of Human Extinction” just so that I can scream into a different void.

On Musk, Zuckerberg, Thiel, Andreessen et al... Fear the technologists, not the technology? The rise of the tech baron www.computerweekly.com/blog/Compute...

I’m not saying you change as you mature, but for my birthday I have chosen a Vax Smartwash carpet cleaner and it is making me very happy.

Work colleagues: did you have a relaxing Christmas break? Me:

7 reasons why The Thing (1982) is a Christmas film: 1) snow 2) bearded men concealing surprises 3) compulsory party games 4) introverts shunning group activities 5) digestive issues 6) revellers bursting open to reveal partially assimilated canine lifeforms 7) knitwear

Wedding anniversaries: 1 - Paper 3 - Leather 5 - Wood 10 - Tin 20 - China 25 - Silver 30 - Pearl 40 - Ruby 50 - Gold 60 - Printer Ink

The UK government’s consultation on AI and Copyright - where the immovable object of “having cake” contends with the irresistible force of “eating cake”. www.gov.uk/government/c...

Uh oh, here comes hoi poloi!

Kemi Badenoch: “I don’t have time for a lunch break. Sometimes a steak is brought to my desk.”

Get a free ticket for a fun science comedy evening on Thursday 19th Dec. This is your one chance of the year to hear my Christmas joke - don't miss it!

I've discovered a wonder artists through today's Google Doodle. Wow! www.lancelotribeiro.com/the-art

A perfect science comedy riposte to wicked vm.tiktok.com/ZGd2wtgM2/

Many AI articles rely on the future conditional tense to tell you all the benefits you *could get* from AI. This article highlights the practical problems that companies have faced when they implemented LLM systems. None of these should have been a surprise. pub.towardsai.net/dear-it-depa...