Ive seen LLMs pushed a lot to fellow #adhd students and scholarship to "help" them with things like detail work and structuring work. Ive also seen many punished for trusting this offer of help too. Here's what to use instead: #academicsky

“AI is more extractive than artificial. It’s dependent on cheap workers, cheap materials, and stolen information”. From a discussion of AI, societal collapse, + colonial exploitation in Luke Kemp’s Goliath’s Curse (chapter 16). Won’t catch on, but EA (Extractive Algorithms) would be truer than AI.

Happy Sunday! Have a Shoebill to make you smile. A true dinobird!

"From a spray of hazel a nuthatch takes a nut" What to Look for in Autumn, 1960 Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

Step into your own power Others will quit Sth is inevitable

Resilience is a super power

Last night (9 ish) tripped over near the front gate of my place. (Dim street light.) Not severe but still a bit hurt and I suppose I can’t walk very quick or long now… God bless me.

Just asked my parents (by text) 'what they think my talent is'. One answer (they both agreed) surprised (reminded) me: good memory....😂🙃

I keep seeing 2 arguments for getting students to use Gen AI: 1. Damage mitigation i.e. they will use it anyway; 2. Employability. What I'm not seeing are positive arguments for its educational value within a humanities context. Are there any? (I'm sceptical but open to other views.)

Thursday #morningread

Love the new book title. My ideal one 🦊

I'm low on sleep, high on caffeine, and 200+ people are online. What could possibly go wrong?!

For those who might like a copy! 😉 www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/l... #BookSky

Just arrived from the printers. The Book of Bogs began as a community response & has grown beyond the Walshaw Moor into a wider celebration & campaign for bogs & other peatland ecologies. This was the most brilliant crowdfunded project, with over 40 contributions from artists & poets. OUT NOW.

@yalebooks.bsky.social have outdone themselves with the cover of my new book. Out in January for anyone interested.

UK is well on course for losing Willow Tit, Spotted Flycatcher & Wood Warbler as breeding species in our lifetime. Wood Warbler already virtually gone from England. I think Willow Tit would be first extinction of a resident bird since Capercaillie in 1700s or White-tailed Eagle in 1918. #ornithology

A younger, thinner version of me (see photo) is giving an online keynote tomorrow on 'The Humanities in (A) Crisis'. It won't be as gloomy as the title suggests. You probably have better things to do at 7am UK time, but if not... #envhum

This is guaranteed to improve your day

Heartening to see so many students sign our open letter openletter.earth/open-letter-...

Wednesday #morningread

Good morning! What a lovely sunrise. Golden orange veil on the ground.

I am at football training with my son. He is running around in a healthful way. I am reading Richard Jefferies and contemplating the transience of existence.

Happy Equinox / Mabon! May it be fruitful

Tuesday #morningread

Gen AI has been trained and developed in ways that no university research ethics committee would approve. And yet as academics we supposedly need training in how to use it ‘ethically’…

The most admirable virtue: Concentration!

Did some mandatory gen AI training. Unfortunately, I was given an opportunity to provide feedback.

"With dismay we witness our university leadership making soulless choices that hollow out our institutions from within and erode the critical and self-reflective fabric of academia". [from Guest et al., 'Against the Uncritical Adoption of "AI" Technologies in Academia']

First frost of autumn Mist plays across the water It came without sound. #naturewriting #ukcanals #autumn #poetry #haiku

Monday #morningread First day of Autumn Happy Autumn Equinox & Mabon 🍂🍐🍎🌽

Sunday #eveningread

Happy New Moon / Solar Eclipse in Virgo. A commencement. Boundaries | Sovereignty | Karma in Balance For my complete New Moon Energy report with affirmations, journal prompts & channeled message - check out my Substack 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 open.substack.com/pub/manifest... #witchsky #occultsky #newmoon #virgo

#cfp: “The Past and Future of the Environmental Humanities”, Conference "Beyond Dualism—Thinking Creatively Across Worlds" (8–10 July 2026, Germany), org. @carsoncenter.bsky.social Info: www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/news/news_ev... Deadline: 31 October 2025 #envhum #envhist #ecocriticims

Interested in PG study in the fields of literary, cultural, heritage and environmental studies? Why not come along to our Open Day on Sat 4 Oct to find out more about our MA Literature, Romanticism and the English Lake District, based at our Ambleside campus: www.cumbria.ac.uk/events/open-...

Harebell ? at Bolton Abbey (perhaps the first harebell of my life) #wildflowerhour

Boltan Abbey-Strid Wood is indeed one of the best places in the Universe. River Wharfe was so happy today because of the heavy rain. The flood washed away foolish trivial conflicts in human mind. The waterfall was tumultuous but pleasant. No vismig. A passersby told me he saw three redwings.

My first bird of the day @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social and it’s going to be like this for the next few months!!

Had a few redwings over my garden today! They are on their way!! #ukbirding

Encountered a juvenile pigeon on the pavement at the front gate of Woodhouse Moor, Leeds. Have been raining heavily all day long. More or less moved it to a safer place. Its back was cold- it might have fallen down from the nest on the tree. It could walk. God bless it!

I finished Karen Hao's "Empire of AI" today - 10/10 would recommend - and I appreciate the emphasis on an ecological approach to teaching about (and, I'd argue, against) AI, including the technology's political economy and the ideologies of Big Tech's leaders that shape the technologies.

“(…) jargon infused with technology industry hype, such as shown in Table 1, does not meaningfully explain. (…) We strive to remain critical of the vocabulary the technology industry coopts and deploys, and to remain respectful of scientific terminology.” zenodo.org/records/1706... 8/🧵

🧵 Thread with my favourite quotes from: 📝 Guest, O., Suarez, M., Müller, B., et al. (2025). Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 1/🧵

Fully funded PhD with me, @uniexecec.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social @btobirds.bsky.social working on insectivorous bird declines - hopefully esp. House martin www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Saturday #morningread Today, enjoy the rain, then we could admire the sun next week.

Friday chillax energy sent

Hello #academicsky! I'm sharing a cfp for an edited collection on "Naming & Classifying," pulled together by me, Kristin Girten, & @aaronrhanlon.com . We'd love to see your work! Please also circulate to anyone you think might be interested. Deadline 10/31. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Storm is sometimes good as it clear the way. The current lesson: say no without guilty; set the boundary high; protect your energy! Being liked is not as important as being free! New story line is really cool! Who does not want freedom and sovereignty! I love my neighbours but I love myself more! 🦊

I'm applying for research leave for 26/27, hopefully spring '27. Would love to know of any visiting fellowships that might be available in that time and perhaps suitable for me (will probably be trying to make progress on my water and world literature project).