I've been asked a few times now about any reverse culture shock from moving back to Canada. To be honest, I don't really have any this time around. It's more about reminding myself the following: 🐿️ not 🐀 running on the streets and rooftops 👶 not 🐶 in the strollers going for afternoon walks

Today in luxury surveillance.

My granny starter pack just arrived: heated cat bed and grocery push cart! I’m doing my darnedest to recreate our 15-minute neighborhood lifestyle. I’ll check back in during winter to let you know (I mean, is it worse than +42 in the heat? Time and frostbite will tell).

‘Flip a switch’: Calgarians encouraged to turn out the lights for birds www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/arti...

#linguistic folks!

Come on Canada, take a stand, pick consistent units of measurement!

Have #publiclibrary card and new reading materials. Calm descends upon the household. Meet you in the kitchen when we’re all hungry. (Satisfied sigh)

Ah, a brief moment of nothingness - yes, please

Nature things we’re learning in Calgary: we’ve seen a lot more rabbits 🐇 than expected but fewer squirrels 🐿️ Magpies here have the attitude of Seoul pigeons but not the filth from dumpster diving or pollution

Passed the first “new to the building neighbor” test AKA their dog really likes me so I must be good people

At that stage of an international move where you start turning off all the old apps and begin searching for the equivalent new local ones. Can’t delete them though as you still want to do product and price comparisons.

After 18+ years in Seoul 🇰🇷 and 20+ years in Asia, it’s time to go ‘home’ 🏡 After living abroad for so long I feel more international than I do Canadian 🇨🇦. I’m looking forward to the next adventure. Learning about Calgary, Alberta again and using my international skills and experience. 1/2

New evidence just out shows definitive link between mechanisms driving cancer in smoking with those caused by pollution. Common mechanisms included mutations in the TP53 and EGFR genes 🧪

This bomb is going to blow over the next decade and will hit Calgary particularly badly due to so many single-family-zoned neighbourhoods that are poorly serviced by transit - not to mention the complete lack of winter maintenance in residential areas lloydalter.substack.com/p/the-demogr... #yyccc

As always, you’ve been a delight #Birmingham, 🇬🇧 until next time

The world's most advanced AI models are exhibiting troubling new behaviors - lying, scheming, and even threatening their creators to achieve their goals. u.afp.com/SxDw

Worth a watch: Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.

Spot the tourist, Birmingham, UK edition - nervously walking without a crosswalk or without the light but in the crowd … (none of you would make it in Seoul!)

Cookies and a new book, thanks, Stephen! @stephenpihlaja.bsky.social I’m looking forward to reading it

Do you know a young person with an interest in insects? 🦋 The Douglas Boyes Fund aims to provide people aged 14-18 with access to entomology equipment, fostering their passion for insects and inspiring them to engage and share their interest with other young individuals 🔽

And that’s a wrap! Thankful for the opportunity and the funding to come to the University of Birmingham to present at the College of Arts and Law Research Festival.

Hello Joe! Nice to see you again

We are pleased to announce this year’s Sinclair Lecture by @jwgrieve.bsky.social, titled “Corpus linguistics is all you need: Large language models and the legacy of John Sinclair”, on 7 July. Open to the public and live-streamed. Details and registration below. www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edac...

Man if people think kids struggle to develop their imagination now, wait until all their toys are conduits for ChatGPT

When your team's work - based on six years of research - gets cited but the core message is ignored, because 38 men say it's no big deal 😡 @mantrap.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Great conversation by Ron Dolin for the #BayCHI (Computer Human Interaction) SIG, about how society is going to deal with the personhood or #non-personhood of #AI. Link to his AI Integration Task force www.aiitf.org

🚨PSA for anyone using GPT in human subjects research🚨 A judge has ruled that OpenAI must retain ChatGPT and API data indefinitely, with few exceptions. This might have implications for your IRB compliance and the security of your participants' data. 1/

People often ask what accessibility considerations to keep in mind when creating data visualizations. For guidance and advice, check out Sarah L. Fossheim's list of 10 things to do (or not do) when designing accessible data visualizations. fossheim.io/writing/post...

As summer temperatures across Canada rise with climate change, many cities are considering the swimming potential of their lakes and rivers — and contending with contamination, infrastructure and squeamishness. thenarwhal.ca/swimmable-ci...

Very excited to learn that I was selected (with funding) to present at the CAL Research Festival - part of the #125Anniversary of University of Birmingham. The panel is 📜 Sick Systems: Interventions and Inequities

Ah, yes, nothing says “I’m a professional with linguistic skills” quite like spelling your own name incorrectly on tickets and having to call to get them corrected

I can’t run my bakery without free flour!

Maybe helpful for those wanting to give examples of tweets in teaching, etc.

Next Tuesday (May 27), I'll be presenting on how to use corpus queries in discourse analysis in Darmstadt - [lemma=$adv_high_degree] [lemma="look" & pos="VVG"] "forward" "to" "this" "!" @dhssfau.bsky.social @tuda.bsky.social #DigitalHumanities #CorpusLinguistics

BC Ministry of Energy & Climate Solutions staff recently told me they specifically remembered @cape-bc.bsky.social's campaign, and how it shaped the government's response. Never doubt that what you do makes a difference. Take a look at this fantastic resource here: www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/... /2.

In 2022 Dr. Lori Adamson led a campaign for @cape-bc.bsky.social with @bctf.bsky.social calling on the BC government to get fossil fuel promotion out of BC schools. Last month the province released its brand-new, Ministry-approved K-3 #climatechange curriculum. 👏👏👏 /1

Academia is full of challenges (authorship? peer review?) that can be as frustrating as they are rewarding. Join our free workshop on 7 June to examine challenges and how to handle them. #AcademicSky Register now:

Oh, I finally just saw my first example of word substitution in an online video to avoid censorship Yahtzee gathering (for N*z*) - in reference to MAGA rallies in the US I’ve read about the substitution in China on a regular basis but finally saw one “in the wild”!

Google Scholar is glitching Heart momentarily stops in PhD anxiousness

Never underestimate the power of the parental /guardian network- got a text about our child getting hurt even before the school had a chance to get in touch (and they were speedy too!). #Community

A wonderful new addition to a conference I attended on the weekend were promotional booths of local artists and vendors. The creation and encouragement of #community by linking these together is a great example of how conferences can help. 1/2

We’re hiring! The project “Linguistic Diversity & Social Participation Across the Lifespan” seeks 3 doctoral fellows to pursue sociolinguistic ethnographic research in Hamburg. Deadline for application is 6 June. More info here: www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan...

ONLINE TALK TODAY I run an online special interest group (SIG), which brings together people from a range of disciplines and backgrounds who are interested in critically evaluating research into adolescent mental health and school mental health interventions. (cont)

Asthma is on the rise. Rates are soaring in the oil sands region: patients feel it, data confirms it. Canada’s new government must prioritize clean air and health equity. Read our op-ed in @TheHillTimes. Accessible only today! 🔗 loom.ly/rP6GcwU #WorldAsthmaDay #OilSands

Hey Calgarians! Want to hang out with an amazing climate hero? Dr. Katherine Hayhoe is coming to town! June 22nd. from the @calgaryclimatehub.ca www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/an_evening_w...

Well this makes no sense- Korean news “Everything is awful” Korean exchange rate “Getting better!”

THE CONVERSATION: Silencing the harm: The urgent need to tackle childhood verbal abuse for healthier minds and thriving futures - by Eamon McCrory

It's a holiday in Korea. I'm doing PhD stuff. Our child is watching Snoopy - all I hear is intense cackling from the living room.... very hard to concentrate with so much joy in the other room - I feel like Linus in this current situation so it's an apt gif

And, you can now build your own personalised warning stripes via this NASA tool, developed by @alexruane.bsky.social: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/webapps/clim...

The Warming Stripes have now been extended downwards into the ocean and upwards into the stratosphere! Collaborative paper which tells the story of how the stripes were developed, and discusses their extension across the Earth system, is now available in BAMS: journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...