How? How do you double-check the accuracy, if you're not already an expert? Ask a different GenAI? Or do you, you know... Have to go and do the research you would have done anyway, pre-AI? Because I'm buggered if I can think of how you do that in a way where the GenAI saved you time.

I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!

The problems with coining terms like 'rage bait' and 'brain rot'. The words, metaphors and ideas we use to describe experiences and phenomenons may not necessarily be able to explain them, writes @emmaefarrell.bsky.social @maynoothuniversity.ie www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

"If people experience mental health and/or substance use issues, but services cannot adequately respond, then they can find the symptoms of their illness and subsequent behaviour are being criminalised." - Dr Daniel McFadden, Applied Social Studies www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Just received a notice from Apple saying that it has found X to be in breach of the App Store rules due to its nudification functions.

Poll: Is Met Éireann To Blame For Government Not Funding Flood Relief Systems That Were Asked For 10 Years Ago? https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2026/01/28/poll-is-met-eireann-to-blame-for-government-not-funding-flood-relief-systems-that-were-asked-for-10-years-ago/

Ourselves, @dublincommuters.bsky.social, @galwaycommuters.bsky.social, & Cork Commuter Coalition wrote to Iarnród Éireann & the NTA today, asking them to cease posting real-time service updates exclusively on X. This vital info should be widely available. Read below: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

If Bilbo had Chat GPT

For those of you already preparing an entry, it may overlap with some of your research or if you are still to decide, it could provide some inspiration. Remember the closing date for this year’s award is Tuesday 7th April at 12.25am. The overall award winner will take home a €2000 cash prize.

Will the real St Brigid please stand up? 👋 Here's the evidence which indicates that the Kildare woman was real - and why this is worth emphasising today, writes Dr Niamh Wycherley from the Dept of Early Irish (Sean-Ghaeilge). @ceilteachomn.bsky.social www.maynoothuniversity.ie/research/spo...

Should museums return artefacts to where they came from? My Oxford colleagues have been working on a moral decision aid for cultural institutions. Link here darca.uehiro.ox.ac.uk

One small consolation to come from the tragic situation - we won’t have to listen to philosophers debating the finer points of whether the US is descending into fascism or not any more

Was a little surprised that @seanferrick.bsky.social didn't give biceps-with-cheerios an explicit up. Interesting that they let cloned eyeballs work. I believe iris patterns aren't genetically determined, so a cloned eyeball doesn't have the same iris as original. Thanks for explaining dedication!

Waterford Whispers News particularly on point. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbTo...

This is what I told Farage’s biographer quite a few years ago. Now corroborated by more than 30 others

Things stepping up. ICCL and Digital Rights Ireland have written to the Garda Commissioner calling for an urgent investigation of X.

ChatGPT-generated text is often more predictable than human writing and uses certain recurring words, writes Prof Jennifer Foster of the Hamilton Institute at MU. www.maynoothuniversity.ie/research/spo...

Ice, accidentally extruded from some posts for a metal hand rail in @maynoothuniversity.ie...

Your fact of the day: The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in six American citizens suffers a food-borne illness annually. In the UK, the figure is one in 132. bylinetimes.com/2020/02/28/f...

At 5.15pm GMT today, the Earth will be at perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in our annual round. This should be the start of the year. Happy new orbit, everyone!

It means absolutely nothing to anyone concerned right now but here's what the United Nations says about kidnapping Heads of State. legal.un.org/ilc/texts/in...

Today, I rediscovered the existence of the The Magnamund Companion via realising that I owned a copy. gamebooks.org/gallery/lone...

"You said autistic children are a burden. That they ruin families. That they’ll never pay taxes or write poems. That they are, in essence, collateral damage. I’d like to introduce you to my daughter." #McSweeneysTop25of2025

Put that headline on a t-shirt. And how is it that a company can look for a meeting with the Taoiseach to ask why more of the country isn’t using their toxic product? And now they’re trying to push it into our education system? How about no? Just no.

Sorry but we literally debunked this like last month when he did this dog whistle. Fintan O'Toole literally did the maths, in the Times no less, that showed that this isn't true. Why are we bothering to publish such an obvious lie when we know it's a lie?

I'm calling on Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan to scrap plans that would force people to use a state-run Digital ID card to access social media. Will you sign too? my.uplift.ie/petitions/no... @uplift.ie

Another dozen or so authors could request a correction like this. "In Covid's Wake" egregiously misrepresents research and ignores the scientific consensus throughout. Embarrassing that it's being praised by credible outlets.

This is a BIG DEAL! (excuse the Trumpian capitalisation but I've been a producer & consumer of hydrological datasets over a quarter of a century....how things have come along!) Both will be great assets to the community. Huge congratulations to the teams involved!

If this got more views on YouTube than the actual show, it would make my year. youtu.be/Y54OJC0FtCs

Quite a fun lego kit, which we made a wee error while assembling... www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkQN...

Good King Wenceslas has some good images: kings looking out, deep crisp even snow, the rich and powerful caring for the poor. We could score carols to see how many of these they mention, and produce a measure of Wenceslasness. A carol with no such similarities is Wenceslasnessless.

slow day in the office so figured we'd start some beef with museums

Russell's Headline: "If the Headline Asks a Question, is the Answer No?"

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

This blog post about Google de-indexing a personal blog very much rings a bell for me -- journal.james-zhan.com/google-de-in... . The vast majority of my own blog is no longer in the Google index, for the same reason: "Page is not indexed: Crawled – currently not indexed"

AI companies: We can't have 50 state AI laws. There has to be just one rulebook for AI EU: Here you go AI companies: not like that

We’re looking for an Administration Manager to join the FreeBSD Foundation team. This role supports our operations, ensuring the Foundation can continue to help grow, maintain, and promote FreeBSD worldwide. Full details and how to apply here: buff.ly/0nNiJK4 #FreeBSD #Hiring #OpenSource

#PayGapWrapped part two. This is where the madness has led me.

Oh go on then, let's do a #PayGapWrapped for the hell of it

Michal Špaček @spazef0rze.bsky.social presenting his talk "Password Reuse Is a Dumpster Fire – We Brought a Hose" at #PasswordsCon in Prague, December 2, 2025. youtu.be/AuCNgoDf-5c

Maximilian Golla @maximiliangolla.com presenting "Measuring the Risk Password Reuse Poses for a University" at #PasswordsCon in Prague, December 2, 2025. youtu.be/6dEQRwueX98

Just booked a taxi. The AI interface on my phone read the confirmation email, added an event called "bus" to my calendar, set it for 2 hours ahead of the time I'm actually travelling and then alerted me that I need to start driving NOW to make my appointment at my home, the place where I already am.

I wrote about Oura's security and privacy practices earlier this year for this.weekinsecurity.com, and found: • Oura rings *don't* end-to-end encrypt users' health data; • Oura *can* access its users' data; • Oura told me that the company *has* received U.S. government demands for users' data.

Ireland’s @norfireland.bsky.social Festival (NORFest) 2025 took place on the 6-7 November, 2025 in the RIA. This two-day booked-out event had over 150 guests in attendance. Read more: www.ria.ie/2025/11/26/n...

I will be on RTE's The Business tomorrow morning to discuss my work on the gender pay gap. Show starts at ten and I expect to be the first guest on. Per usual, they'll have folks ringing in to say I'm talking nonsense, so if you're listening, please consider dropping them a message to say I'm not :D

How to detect text which has been written by ChatGPT. AI-generated texts tend be more predictable than human-written text with the use of certain words, phrases and emojis, explains Jennifer Foster @maynoothuniversity.ie @researchireland.ie www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

I have: 6/42 Rules 6/45 Rules Issue 1 6/45 Rules Issue 2 6/45 Rules Issue 3 6/47 Rules Issue 1 (document unclear about effective date) 6/47 Rules Issue 2 6/47 Rules Issue 3 (same effective date as Issue 2!) 6/47 Rules Issue 6 6/47 Rules Issue 7 6/47 Rules Issue 8 6/47 Rules Issue 9