Just back from a lovely film premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival – of Midwinter Break, very layered but down to earth – and I was shocked to see it only got about 57% on Rotten Tomatoes; seems to be split between ‘boring’ and ‘wonderful’. I suppose people really don’t like character studies??

lol @olamichalec.bsky.social your fault (also yes)

Fidgets & Fries: “What would have been a proper response? One that centers the harm. One that can acknowledge disability without weaponizing it as a shield. One that restored dignity to the people targeted, in this instance Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo. One that involved reaching out to them…”

The best part of being between contracts is that I can read ALL the interesting articles/ books etc. and start making connections between them; casual PhDing just for my own pleasure without the stress of doing an actual PhD/ having to write a dissertation 🥰

Whoohoo, fist proper bike ride of the year hear we go 🚴‍♂️

Ohh look what just arrived 🥰 (well not so new now, this was published in 2001 but arguably still underutilised)

Oh mai! I’ve just discovered The Marvelous Miniature Workshop on BBC iPlayer and I’m in love 😻 soo good, fingers crossed it gets another series.

In a kinder, less shitty universe the LLM would have been like "I don't understand, what are you trying to ask?" repeatedly until the user treats it like a productivity aid or whatever the hell it's supposed to be; instead they've kept the friend simulator aspects but this time it's a jerk

I got a same day appointment with the GP today and got a course of antiviral treatment for an annoying cold sore and a repeat prescription for ADHD meds, which I then fulfilled in the pharmacy a few doors down, all for £0. NHS Scotland is so good sometimes. Take all my tax money.

Anyway, rather than getting annoyed at the myths around LLMs & how they work/ the whole epistemological mess, I'd like to share two really neat bits of technology: sign language! (great bit of social tech) & a way to learn either BSL or ASL via an app that has really good UX, from native signers!

Oh my fucking god.

Starting to think two UR contracts falling through for me this year has actually been a good thing, as it's forcing me to start connecting the dots & building the connections between the fields I want to end up in - it's the hunger that propells you forward, vs taking the easier way out to safety.

Following my lovely tea catch up with the learning lead at Scottish Mediation, I’m slowly dreaming up a potential workshop for experienced mediators on interrogating meaning, narrative inquiry, framing/ reframing & metaphors to help facilitate shared understanding even if people perceive differently

I’m on the train to Edinburgh about to meet someone who wrote an article called ‘Reflections on AI: what do people truly care about?’ Last Dec, talking entirely about Appreciative Inquiry in the context of action learning & social/ systems change work and it warms my little heart 🥰 but also lol

Same but for research. In fact, I’d go further & say obviously gibberish parts of the transcript were *good*, as it forced you to still immerse yourself in the data, I.e. the recording with its multimodal/ contextual depth. Quicker in qual often means not only less reliable, but also more shallow

Shibas are weirdep 2: when Molly wants to get attention, she doesn’t bark (thank god). She’ll sit down directly in front of the TV & stare you down without flinching until you give in & get up. She’ll then immediately run to a toy or a treat cupboard, looking back to see if you’re following

Uh-oh, PS5 store seems to have big reductions now on things I've had wishlisted for a while 😬

Shibas are strange & particular, episode 1: Molly has stopped eating her food over the last week when she used to *race* to the bowl in the past. She's not necessarily ill; she does chomp it as usual if I tip it out of the bowl onto the floor in front. Why? What changed? Who knows. Shiba stuff

Ill be clear about why I am so angry and critical about it: Im seeing a good portion of my students who have imbibed the notion that they dont have to read, think or write for themselves because ChatGPT/CoPilot will do their thinking for them, and its terrifying. It should scare all of us.

Oh no, starting to feel another small cold coming on 🫩 3rd this year if so, yh. Partner went to Manchester over the weekend, must have brought it back.

Age verification? I used to carry the original Game Boy everywhere I went.

As part of The Year of Being Active, I wanted to go more to the theatre this year. Today it’s Top Hat the musical!

Strength training update: going well! Although I’m still having the DOMS (heh) 2 days later. The safe deadlifting form finally clicked so I might be able to move on from 30kg soon, managed 5 bench presses of 20kg (with some extra adrenaline surge near the end.. 😅) and slowly getting back to pull ups

The abstract alone is pure art.

Prototyping in the open on Bluesky, because LinkedIn feels too final :) My contract that was meant to start 2 weeks ago fell through for now sadly, may come back later, may not. SO! I need to advertise wider again *shudders*.

Yay! Some of them were interesting to answer truthfully, esp balancing my belief in futures thinking as a useful practice with some ridiculous & amoral conclusions of longtermism, belief in altruism (but not 'effective') + the pill one as I am taking ADHD meds partly for better emotional regulation

I’ll have been in country for ten years in August, & should have been eligible for ILR, then citizenship the day after we get married in November. I have paid in the range of £15k in visa fees since arriving, and have been in work nonstop, paying tax. This fascist dumbass is stealing that.

Aww I came across somw reflexive homework exercises that formed a part of my initial intro to mediation training nearly 2 years ago and just look at this adorable nerdy eager beaver 😊

Definitely my experience on the ADHD wait list.

My local climbing group has been raving about this game; I may be tempted, even though I'd usually wait for a disk version of PS5 for the resale potential 🤔 store.steampowered.com/app/1588550/...

Headline based [cruel] policy making at its finest (yes, I’m well too chuffed with coming up with this term because sadly it’s proving way too useful).

Omg there’s just no way we’re ever going to be able to bring systems thinking into Gov if they can’t even do a bog standard risk assessment of proposed policy now 😩 I suppose ‘simple direct unintended consequences’ is already a step too far, let along complex feedback loops & third degree risks

Do you remember when people were saying "I think my phone is listening to me, i'm getting ads for stuff I spoke about" and people said "They arent listening to you, they're just this good at predicting your interests"? Well, it happens they were doing exactly that. www.cbsnews.com/news/google-...

We're going to do a light redesign of the kitchen (mainly some paint, new wall tiles & light joinery for the window; maybe a cheeky brass rail). As I'm playing around with a moodboard, I got reminded of the last time I made one a few years ago for a friend who handmade us a beautiful coffee table

A perfect metaphor for our technocratic times.

Unexpected benefit of a smart watch: I don't have to scramble to try to find my phone whenever I need to verify myself online with a code.

Something I've been thinking about since the AI hype started is that the inevitable end game here is that human interaction will only be for people who can afford to pay for it. This isn't accessibility, it's automated inequity

I’m starting to think what we really need in ‘innovation’ literacy in this country. What does innovation mean & why it’s not just limited to tech? How to spot a genuinely new way of meaningfully approaching & framing problems from shiny new quick fixes which in the end create more systemic problems?

Oh for fuck’s sake. I’m already not able to travel to Poland on my British passport, so now I’ll have to carry both passports every time I travel there 😩 very safe to have all your forms of id on you & not one at home.

Quote with 5 jobs you’ve had: (yes, volunteering & internships also) 1. Applied semiotician 2. Medical receptionist 3. Admin for asbestos testing 4. Home insurance call centre (make sure you have trace & access cover for leaks!!) 5. Assistant for The Changing Room Arab art exhibition (2012, London)

Random second degree of separation from now apparently a Very Famous Person: I know Josh O’Connor’s brother! He seems to be in *all the films* this and last year. Good for him, but also weird haha

In other news, I’m making a simple creamy mushroom pasta and just whipped up a divine sauce: butter/ double cream infused with some garlic & shallots plus whole mozzarella. I may have to get into French cooking after this.

Those are the times I’m thankful for devolution. I feel bad for Wales though, more often than not roped into the ‘…and’ part + looks like part of the announcement was to refuse devolving Welsh policing/ having no say on the matter of those – let’s face it – techno dystopian visions from Labour.

Quite niche, but anyone here or linked up with someone who works or did in the past in product marketing in health tech? A contact has a high stakes interview in that space & looking to hire someone for some coaching/ prep: remote & paid.

So today I learned via a threatening letter that confirming your identity with Companies House & then linking it to your company using the personal code when filing a Confirmation Statement is not enough, as one also had to submit a separate ID verification statement using a separate form/service.

Oh no, I’ve trained the Vinted algorithm on arts & crafts items 😬

Just had a catch up with someone I used to know 12 years ago (sic!) back in the Manchester gorilla filmmaking days and a) we talked for 2.5 hours straight as if no time had passed b) it turned out they got diagnosed as ADHD 2 years ago.

Took me 3 weeks but I finally managed a proper enough form for a deadlift tonight and got to 40kg 🥳 Let me tell you, poor proprioception mixed with back hypermobility does not make keeping safe form easy 😵‍💫

I'm starting my first upped 10mg dose of Methylphenidate tomorrow, so it might be time to start working on creating a wee website 😬 ... I'll start with some 'market research' inspiration board of other people's websites. Part of the process with aphantasia and all, definitely not procrastination 😄