Alasdair Stewart
@abestew.bsky.social
Sociologist | Socialist | Neurodivergent | Linux & FLOSS advocate | he/they
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
Linux is good now. The author had enough of Windows and Microsoft shenanigans. I'm brave enough to say it: Linux is good now, and if you want to feel like you actually own your PC, make 2026 the year of Linux on (your) desktop
www.pcgamer.com/software/lin...
www.pcgamer.com/software/lin...
I'm brave enough to say it: Linux is good now, and if you want to feel like you actually own your PC, make 2026 the year of Linux on (your) desktop
Now if you don't mind I'm going to delete the root folder and see what happens.
www.pcgamer.com
January 2, 2026 at 11:19 AM
Linux is good now. The author had enough of Windows and Microsoft shenanigans. I'm brave enough to say it: Linux is good now, and if you want to feel like you actually own your PC, make 2026 the year of Linux on (your) desktop
www.pcgamer.com/software/lin...
www.pcgamer.com/software/lin...
OpenAI didn't think through thier "Your Year With ChatGPT".
In the "Your Chat Style" section my top example was "Stop bullshitting" and number 4 was "That's not what I asked".
Summary sentence ends with "... often demanding thoroughness and evidence over vague generalities".
In the "Your Chat Style" section my top example was "Stop bullshitting" and number 4 was "That's not what I asked".
Summary sentence ends with "... often demanding thoroughness and evidence over vague generalities".
January 1, 2026 at 9:49 AM
OpenAI didn't think through thier "Your Year With ChatGPT".
In the "Your Chat Style" section my top example was "Stop bullshitting" and number 4 was "That's not what I asked".
Summary sentence ends with "... often demanding thoroughness and evidence over vague generalities".
In the "Your Chat Style" section my top example was "Stop bullshitting" and number 4 was "That's not what I asked".
Summary sentence ends with "... often demanding thoroughness and evidence over vague generalities".
Reasons I love TaskWarrior #94: scriptability
Working on Python script to create a "can-do" command that checks current calendar event and returns list of relevant tasks. For example, if current event is a timeblock for "X article" it'll return all tasks relevant to working on that article.
Working on Python script to create a "can-do" command that checks current calendar event and returns list of relevant tasks. For example, if current event is a timeblock for "X article" it'll return all tasks relevant to working on that article.
December 31, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reasons I love TaskWarrior #94: scriptability
Working on Python script to create a "can-do" command that checks current calendar event and returns list of relevant tasks. For example, if current event is a timeblock for "X article" it'll return all tasks relevant to working on that article.
Working on Python script to create a "can-do" command that checks current calendar event and returns list of relevant tasks. For example, if current event is a timeblock for "X article" it'll return all tasks relevant to working on that article.
Pocket Casts Playback for 2025.
December 31, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Pocket Casts Playback for 2025.
Update on the canal leak.
December 29, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Update on the canal leak.
Maw's laptop running Windows with no apps open - 90%+ RAM usage & sounds like plane about to take off.
Maw's laptop running Linux with no apps open - 38% RAM usage max and silence.
Maw's laptop running Linux with no apps open - 38% RAM usage max and silence.
December 25, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Maw's laptop running Windows with no apps open - 90%+ RAM usage & sounds like plane about to take off.
Maw's laptop running Linux with no apps open - 38% RAM usage max and silence.
Maw's laptop running Linux with no apps open - 38% RAM usage max and silence.
Seeing if can avoid being eaten by a grue and complete a game that's older than me.
December 22, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Seeing if can avoid being eaten by a grue and complete a game that's older than me.
Anyone know how you're supposed to report an issue to Glasgow Council when their dire Glasgow CC app doesn't include option for the issue... nor an 'other' option?
Was going to log it via another issue, but there isn't even a box to comment when selecting an issue to specify exactly what it is.
Was going to log it via another issue, but there isn't even a box to comment when selecting an issue to specify exactly what it is.
December 22, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Anyone know how you're supposed to report an issue to Glasgow Council when their dire Glasgow CC app doesn't include option for the issue... nor an 'other' option?
Was going to log it via another issue, but there isn't even a box to comment when selecting an issue to specify exactly what it is.
Was going to log it via another issue, but there isn't even a box to comment when selecting an issue to specify exactly what it is.
And that's email to editors sent for a 2nd article on my list.
Been collating a list of journal articles that likely contain genAI plagiarism. Finally got the evidence for one sent off to journal editors today. I see since I originally added it to the list of those to check that another article by same author has been retracted for genAI misuse.
December 18, 2025 at 7:57 PM
And that's email to editors sent for a 2nd article on my list.
Been collating a list of journal articles that likely contain genAI plagiarism. Finally got the evidence for one sent off to journal editors today. I see since I originally added it to the list of those to check that another article by same author has been retracted for genAI misuse.
December 18, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Been collating a list of journal articles that likely contain genAI plagiarism. Finally got the evidence for one sent off to journal editors today. I see since I originally added it to the list of those to check that another article by same author has been retracted for genAI misuse.
The low standards of academic integrity - where academics cite texts they've never read simply because other texts already cite them - is a huge contributor to this problem.
Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
The low standards of academic integrity - where academics cite texts they've never read simply because other texts already cite them - is a huge contributor to this problem.
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
Ghost jobs, robot gatekeepers and AI interviewers: let me tell you about the bleak new age of job hunting | Eleanor Margolis
Ghost jobs, robot gatekeepers and AI interviewers: let me tell you about the bleak new age of job hunting | Eleanor Margolis
In my six months of looking for work, I’ve found that from fake ads to AI screening software, the search is more soul-destroying than ever, says columnist for the i newspaper and Diva, Eleanor Margolis
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Ghost jobs, robot gatekeepers and AI interviewers: let me tell you about the bleak new age of job hunting | Eleanor Margolis
Can academics please stop regurgitating the myth that we can't detect genAI.
'[T]the majority vote among five such “expert” annotators misclassifies only 1 of 300 [genAI written] articles [...] even in the presence of evasion tactics like paraphrasing and humanization.'
arxiv.org/pdf/2501.156...
'[T]the majority vote among five such “expert” annotators misclassifies only 1 of 300 [genAI written] articles [...] even in the presence of evasion tactics like paraphrasing and humanization.'
arxiv.org/pdf/2501.156...
arxiv.org
December 17, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Can academics please stop regurgitating the myth that we can't detect genAI.
'[T]the majority vote among five such “expert” annotators misclassifies only 1 of 300 [genAI written] articles [...] even in the presence of evasion tactics like paraphrasing and humanization.'
arxiv.org/pdf/2501.156...
'[T]the majority vote among five such “expert” annotators misclassifies only 1 of 300 [genAI written] articles [...] even in the presence of evasion tactics like paraphrasing and humanization.'
arxiv.org/pdf/2501.156...
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
Waterfox is a free and opensource browser based on Firefox with all LLM or AI stuff removed. This might be the replacement.
Repo github.com/BrowserWorks...
Home page www.waterfox.com
Blog post www.waterfox.com/blog/no-ai-h...
Repo github.com/BrowserWorks...
Home page www.waterfox.com
Blog post www.waterfox.com/blog/no-ai-h...
December 17, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Waterfox is a free and opensource browser based on Firefox with all LLM or AI stuff removed. This might be the replacement.
Repo github.com/BrowserWorks...
Home page www.waterfox.com
Blog post www.waterfox.com/blog/no-ai-h...
Repo github.com/BrowserWorks...
Home page www.waterfox.com
Blog post www.waterfox.com/blog/no-ai-h...
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
GenAI doesn't democratise art, it homogenises images within specific patterns with heavy defaults it gravites towards that is outwith user control. If you want to see what democratising of art looks like, see the communities that form around open source apps like Krita.
December 17, 2025 at 8:22 AM
GenAI doesn't democratise art, it homogenises images within specific patterns with heavy defaults it gravites towards that is outwith user control. If you want to see what democratising of art looks like, see the communities that form around open source apps like Krita.
Example - project instructions are for simple low detail bold inked illustrations with dark pastel watercolours in spook school style, and prompt is for image of a panopticon as if designed by Macintosh. Left old image model, right new image model.
December 17, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Example - project instructions are for simple low detail bold inked illustrations with dark pastel watercolours in spook school style, and prompt is for image of a panopticon as if designed by Macintosh. Left old image model, right new image model.
Testing ChatGPT's new image model and looks like it confirms my suspicion that over time "improved" models have heavier defaults they gravitate towards.
There is assumed user intent in how models are trained to respond, that if your intent differs requires more detailed prompts to try counter it.
There is assumed user intent in how models are trained to respond, that if your intent differs requires more detailed prompts to try counter it.
December 17, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Testing ChatGPT's new image model and looks like it confirms my suspicion that over time "improved" models have heavier defaults they gravitate towards.
There is assumed user intent in how models are trained to respond, that if your intent differs requires more detailed prompts to try counter it.
There is assumed user intent in how models are trained to respond, that if your intent differs requires more detailed prompts to try counter it.
Been long enough since last plagiarism interview I've done that can post this without anyone thinking it's about them specifically:
Students if you are accused of plagiarism for GenAI misuse, please don't use GenAI to counter the allegation.
Students if you are accused of plagiarism for GenAI misuse, please don't use GenAI to counter the allegation.
December 17, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Been long enough since last plagiarism interview I've done that can post this without anyone thinking it's about them specifically:
Students if you are accused of plagiarism for GenAI misuse, please don't use GenAI to counter the allegation.
Students if you are accused of plagiarism for GenAI misuse, please don't use GenAI to counter the allegation.
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
"...campaigning by disabled activists, & ensuing disability rights wins (made it) possible to reclaim diagnoses such as autism or ADHD... to recognise forms of workplace discrimination, harm, & exclusion caused by inaccessible institutions & in turn the productivist norms of capitalist society."
A talk I gave earlier this year has, unfortunately, become relevant again this week so I've published it here.
open.substack.com/pub/neurodiv...
open.substack.com/pub/neurodiv...
The Fascist Echo in Labour's "Over-diagnosis" Inquiry
Why Wes Steeting's new inquiry is about more than just renewed austerity
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 10:46 PM
"...campaigning by disabled activists, & ensuing disability rights wins (made it) possible to reclaim diagnoses such as autism or ADHD... to recognise forms of workplace discrimination, harm, & exclusion caused by inaccessible institutions & in turn the productivist norms of capitalist society."
Slides for training session running today on critical genAI literacies.
sgsssonline.github.io/genai-guidan...
sgsssonline.github.io/genai-guidan...
Critical GenAI Literacies – Social Science in the Age of AI
sgsssonline.github.io
December 10, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Slides for training session running today on critical genAI literacies.
sgsssonline.github.io/genai-guidan...
sgsssonline.github.io/genai-guidan...
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
A talk I gave earlier this year has, unfortunately, become relevant again this week so I've published it here.
open.substack.com/pub/neurodiv...
open.substack.com/pub/neurodiv...
The Fascist Echo in Labour's "Over-diagnosis" Inquiry
Why Wes Steeting's new inquiry is about more than just renewed austerity
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:40 AM
A talk I gave earlier this year has, unfortunately, become relevant again this week so I've published it here.
open.substack.com/pub/neurodiv...
open.substack.com/pub/neurodiv...
What's everyone self-hosting these days? So far across router & minipc I've got setup:
- TaskChampion for syncing TaskWarrior tasks
- Radicale for calendar & recurring daily/household tasks
- mpd for playing/streaming music
- AdGuard for ad & tracking blocks
- LinguaCafe for language learning
- TaskChampion for syncing TaskWarrior tasks
- Radicale for calendar & recurring daily/household tasks
- mpd for playing/streaming music
- AdGuard for ad & tracking blocks
- LinguaCafe for language learning
December 6, 2025 at 10:49 AM
What's everyone self-hosting these days? So far across router & minipc I've got setup:
- TaskChampion for syncing TaskWarrior tasks
- Radicale for calendar & recurring daily/household tasks
- mpd for playing/streaming music
- AdGuard for ad & tracking blocks
- LinguaCafe for language learning
- TaskChampion for syncing TaskWarrior tasks
- Radicale for calendar & recurring daily/household tasks
- mpd for playing/streaming music
- AdGuard for ad & tracking blocks
- LinguaCafe for language learning
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
But if AI is so userful and everyone wants it, why does Microsoft have to cut its AI sales targets in half?
Microsoft drops AI sales targets in half after salespeople miss their quotas
Microsoft drops AI sales targets in half after salespeople miss their quotas
December 4, 2025 at 4:20 PM
But if AI is so userful and everyone wants it, why does Microsoft have to cut its AI sales targets in half?
Microsoft drops AI sales targets in half after salespeople miss their quotas
Microsoft drops AI sales targets in half after salespeople miss their quotas
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
This is the conclusion, which I'm pulling out from behind the paywall because it'll probably be a free newsletter or podcast one day. I think the AI era is a reckoning for the tech industry, one where consumers finally realize they're being abused.
December 5, 2025 at 4:02 AM
This is the conclusion, which I'm pulling out from behind the paywall because it'll probably be a free newsletter or podcast one day. I think the AI era is a reckoning for the tech industry, one where consumers finally realize they're being abused.