I drew a face on a paper plate. Who could even begin to understand how it perceives the world or what it dreams of?

⚠️ Despite all the hype, chatbots still make terrible doctors. Out today is the largest user study of language models for medical self-diagnosis. We found that chatbots provide inaccurate and inconsistent answers, and that people are better off using online searches or their own judgment.

Reform's Sarah Pochin (the one who complained about brown people being in adverts) wrote to Bangor university's student debating society asking to be hosted. They said 'no thanks, you're a bit of a racist, we don't like those' & now Reform are threatening to shut down the entire university!

As a break from work / staring out at the endless rain / existential dread, I've made a massive kedgeree. 100% recommend.

#EnglishCreates: Futures continues with this post by Francesca Mackenney and Jamie Castell (Cardiff University): 'How do representations of sound in literature shape our awareness of the natural world?' Read the full post here: universityenglish.ac.uk/englishcreat... #EnglishStudies #Ecocriticism

The very poorest households in Britain now spend four times as much as a share of their income on Council Tax compared to the very richest households. This unfairness makes the paucity of local services for lower-income families even more striking.

too tired for more of this fuckwittery

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but … if you were an evil cabal trying to turn people into easily manipulable fucking idiots then aggressively pushing Gen AI would be a good place to start.

The Leeds one-way system has absolutely destroyed me this afternoon. I may never drive again.

Fine array of snowdrops at the churchyard in Harewood this morning. Hawfinches didn’t show while I was there. But I did see the Iceland gull (lifer) at Roundhay Park earlier. Needed some quiet birding this morning as I am currently at a very noisy trampoline park for a kids’ party...

Rachel Reeves’s POV as she faces the Final Boss who must be defeated to unleash economic growth.

Dank and murky morning in Leeds, as per usual. Bird song building up though and local song thrush really going for it.

"we cannot begin to talk about freedom and justice in any culture if we are not talking about mass based literacy movements." bell hooks 1997 we cannot begin to talk about freedom+justice in any culture now if we are not talking about mass de-literacy cognitive-incapacitating industries.

Nice to get a year tick (peregrine falcon) from my office window just now.

Just had a polite, apologetic rant about the total global collapse in demand for electric vehicles. I hope it is informative and entertaining. llewellyn.substack.com/p/collapses-...

I’m giving a talk on ‘The Ecology of Eely’ - the interlocking artistic, scientific, public and other contexts that informed and shaped the poem’s development - at the ‘Poetry’s Environments’ conference at the University of Leeds in June.

#EnglishCreates: Futures Our 'Environments' month continues with Prof Ralph Pite's latest piece on bringing nature into the teaching of English Studies: 'How can you make the natural world an everyday, "natural" presence for students?' Full post: lnkd.in/ewQk7pDB #EnglishStudies #Ecocriticism

Games Workshop: You get those drawings of the heroes of our brand new toy range? Will Rees: Sure did boss, real fuckin disgusting just like you asked. GW: what

Saw some photos of my daughter at nursery in Jan 2021, being looked after by some lovely people wearing face masks. And it reminded me that many people were brilliant during the worst of Covid, and a few were selfish and greedy, and our government decided to collude with and enrich the latter.

The point has been made many times before, I know, but it's thoroughly grim that huge resources are going into chasing adolescent space fantasies, rather than addressing actual problems affecting actual people.

I know you've heard that a federal judge ordered the release of 5 year old Liam Conejo Arias and his father, and that they're now home. But did you look at the judge's order? It's less than 2.5 pages and well worth a minute. "Jesus wept." Link to pdf: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Enjoyable #UKbirding in a very wet (but not raining) Lower Derwent Valley yesterday. 66 species, including scaup, white-fronted geese, whooper swans, barn owl, and corn buntings. Lovely to hear singing skylarks for the first time this year, some swooping over the water. @ldvnnr.bsky.social

Pleased to contribute this weeks “Nature Notes” for the Wharfedale Naturalists - available online at www.wharfedale-nats.org.uk/nature-notes Bird books before field guides. From fantastic paintings but of exotic birds from the 19thC e.g. Cuban trogon by Elizabeth Gould… #naturewriting 1/3

Our next indoor meeting is taking place on Wednesday 18th February starting at 7:30pm. The speaker is Craig Ralston who will be taking about 'The Lower Derwent Valley - A Historical Conservation and Migration Review'. #Leeds #RSPB

The tip of the proverbial iceberg. 147 hen harriers have gone missing or been illegally killed on grouse moors since 2018. It's a crime epidemic. Yet the perpetrator gets away with a trifling fine and the employer on whose behalf he committed the crime goes unscathed.

This morning’s shocking news: the sky is NOT GREY.

Just completed and submitted an essay that's important to me. Been a real scrabble to find time to work on it, so am happy, whatever its fate!

There's still time to enter this year's Prize! The deadline for entries is at midnight on Saturday 31 January Good luck with your submission 🍃 #NatureChroniclesPrize #NatureWriting #NaturePrize #Booksky 📚💙 naturechroniclesprize.com

ecohustler.com/nature/a-tal...?

The same people who went after Karen Hao for a unit issue in her book are now going after Emily and I because we decided to explain neural networks to a mansplaining podcaster with little understanding of how they actually work.

Nothing has highlighted just how technically illiterate the senior business management and political classes are right now as the whole AI thing. Just an entire generation of "leaders" incapable of spotting a bad sales pitch because of some woo woo tech words that sound cool.

Back this week trying to travel through headingley on public transport and thinking tearfully about the trams of Basel.

Springsteen steppino up.

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

The government’s suggestion that rolling out 20 minute courses on writing “AI“ prompts, sponsored by Google, Microsoft and Amazon, is somehow comparable to the founding of the Open University (the Wilson government‘s, & Jennie Lee’s, proudest achievement), is an insult to our human intelligence.

Hello all. As those of you who also follow me on Instagram may know, A few days before Christmas we lost my precious sister to a savagely aggressive cancer, which took her in the space of month. Nic was the best and kindest of people. Having her as my little sister was an extraordinary blessing.

AI cannot feel. Its incredibly demeaning to both humans and non-human animals that feel actual emotions to frame it like this, Amanda, you weirdo. You should feel judged.

I seriously do not have time for a migraine this week. Unfortunately, that only makes it more likely that one will emerge, and here it comes. Bastard!

The news is terrible; the weather is gloomy; work is relentless; and my arthritis is bothering me. But you have to find pleasure where you can, and this lunchtime I enjoyed walking around a soggy playing field, counting common gulls (c.80).

Me: What would you like for breakfast? Weetabix? Crumpet? Small daughter: Is there cheese on toast on the menu? Me: Sure Small daughter: I want it shaped like an axolotl head

Getting bookishly busy starting this Thursday with the #WildWomenWriters Salon hosted by @beewyld.bsky.social on Bogs & Other Portal Spaces... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wild-women...

This perfectly demonstrates the pernicious nature of BBC two-sidism. It almost always benefits the side with the most power. In this case that's the side which is murdering peaceful protesters in the street, on camera, and then lying about it

@pbresnihan.bsky.social will be coming to Edinburgh to discuss his new book From the Bog to the Cloud: Dependency and Eco-Modernity in Ireland, co-authored with Patrick Brodie. 17 February, 3.30pm. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launc...

Leonard Nimoy was more than a colleague—he was a friend, an ally, and my political soulmate. Leonard played a half-human, half-Vulcan officer—a being caught between two worlds. Yet in his own life, he was perhaps the most profoundly human person I have ever known.

In the spirit of celebrating small victories, I finished the first draft an essay today, despite many many distractions. It needs a lot of sorting out, but it has escaped from my mind and into the world and I am pleased.

Fuck this garbage. Think of all the talented artists in Glasgow who you could have chosen from to get a payday from this gig instead of the money being handed over to a slop merchant.

Belgian PM not fucking about.

Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...