Not that other guy, that's for sure
@neogliberal.bsky.social
30% academic discourse; 15% games; 3% misc; 52% skeets I wrote but deleted immediately.
About £3200 per student, on average.
For just two to three months rent, and you're going to cause another 100 people at a single university to lose their jobs. Courses will close over this.
Absolute fucking ghouls, and I won't apologize for saying so.
For just two to three months rent, and you're going to cause another 100 people at a single university to lose their jobs. Courses will close over this.
Absolute fucking ghouls, and I won't apologize for saying so.
Another nail in the parlous state of UK higher education in February 2026. More nails very sadly likely coming to an HEI near you....
UCL students win £21mn over Covid disruption in watershed settlement
Move involving 6,500 claimants is set to put pressure on other universities to compensate graduates
www.ft.com
February 18, 2026 at 7:32 PM
About £3200 per student, on average.
For just two to three months rent, and you're going to cause another 100 people at a single university to lose their jobs. Courses will close over this.
Absolute fucking ghouls, and I won't apologize for saying so.
For just two to three months rent, and you're going to cause another 100 people at a single university to lose their jobs. Courses will close over this.
Absolute fucking ghouls, and I won't apologize for saying so.
Surprisingly good advice for D&D, too.
February 18, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Surprisingly good advice for D&D, too.
Legitimate question: Why does it function like this?
Not only is my inbox equally spammed, but to block this I have to login and engage in a multistep process?
I am sure spam protection is far more complicated than I think, but *this* instance doesn't seem complicated.
Not only is my inbox equally spammed, but to block this I have to login and engage in a multistep process?
I am sure spam protection is far more complicated than I think, but *this* instance doesn't seem complicated.
February 18, 2026 at 8:36 AM
Legitimate question: Why does it function like this?
Not only is my inbox equally spammed, but to block this I have to login and engage in a multistep process?
I am sure spam protection is far more complicated than I think, but *this* instance doesn't seem complicated.
Not only is my inbox equally spammed, but to block this I have to login and engage in a multistep process?
I am sure spam protection is far more complicated than I think, but *this* instance doesn't seem complicated.
I've been around students my entire adult life. First, as one. Then, as an educator.
We can't treat students as a monolith. But students don't realize that they are participating in a vast tragedy of the commons. Every little act (or in this case, BIG act) chips away at the resource that is HE.
We can't treat students as a monolith. But students don't realize that they are participating in a vast tragedy of the commons. Every little act (or in this case, BIG act) chips away at the resource that is HE.
This is emblematic of the consumer culture that fees have engendered.
What the hell did the students expect? It was a ONCE IN A CENTURY PANDEMIC. There were LAWS against congregating in public. Staff worked themselves to the bone to get online delivery working.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
What the hell did the students expect? It was a ONCE IN A CENTURY PANDEMIC. There were LAWS against congregating in public. Staff worked themselves to the bone to get online delivery working.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Students begin Covid compensation claim against 36 more universities
It comes after University College London settled a claim from students there over lost learning in the pandemic.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 17, 2026 at 11:06 AM
I've been around students my entire adult life. First, as one. Then, as an educator.
We can't treat students as a monolith. But students don't realize that they are participating in a vast tragedy of the commons. Every little act (or in this case, BIG act) chips away at the resource that is HE.
We can't treat students as a monolith. But students don't realize that they are participating in a vast tragedy of the commons. Every little act (or in this case, BIG act) chips away at the resource that is HE.
I'm writing lectures on my area of expertise. Many papers have been very influential in my thinking. As a result, I've scrutinized them deeply, and often found they have critical issues.
And so I want to teach the stuff that influenced me... but I think it's broken. So I don't want to teach it..
And so I want to teach the stuff that influenced me... but I think it's broken. So I don't want to teach it..
February 17, 2026 at 10:39 AM
I'm writing lectures on my area of expertise. Many papers have been very influential in my thinking. As a result, I've scrutinized them deeply, and often found they have critical issues.
And so I want to teach the stuff that influenced me... but I think it's broken. So I don't want to teach it..
And so I want to teach the stuff that influenced me... but I think it's broken. So I don't want to teach it..
Pretty close!
February 16, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Pretty close!
I pickled some cucumbers today. If it's proof of anything, it's that 'dad energy' is a state of a mind, and fully independent of one's parental status.
February 15, 2026 at 7:22 PM
I pickled some cucumbers today. If it's proof of anything, it's that 'dad energy' is a state of a mind, and fully independent of one's parental status.
Are you in the UK (and even better, Zone 4) and you garden?
I'm planning this year's garden. Naturally: garlic, onions, leeks, courgette, cucumber, berries.
What could I add to the list for diversity? e.g., I grow one tobacco plant a year. And I have a great artichoke plant.
Others?
I'm planning this year's garden. Naturally: garlic, onions, leeks, courgette, cucumber, berries.
What could I add to the list for diversity? e.g., I grow one tobacco plant a year. And I have a great artichoke plant.
Others?
February 15, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Are you in the UK (and even better, Zone 4) and you garden?
I'm planning this year's garden. Naturally: garlic, onions, leeks, courgette, cucumber, berries.
What could I add to the list for diversity? e.g., I grow one tobacco plant a year. And I have a great artichoke plant.
Others?
I'm planning this year's garden. Naturally: garlic, onions, leeks, courgette, cucumber, berries.
What could I add to the list for diversity? e.g., I grow one tobacco plant a year. And I have a great artichoke plant.
Others?
I'm not much of a gamer. I certainly don't identify as one. But I did beat Grand Mother Silk yesterday. So git gud, n00bs.
February 15, 2026 at 12:57 PM
I'm not much of a gamer. I certainly don't identify as one. But I did beat Grand Mother Silk yesterday. So git gud, n00bs.
Scene: An empty train carriage.
The players: me, two others.
Enter: Two players. Look around. Carriage remains empty.
Action: Sits at same table. Proceeds to ask me to move my laptop 3 inches further away from them.
-Based on a true story.
The players: me, two others.
Enter: Two players. Look around. Carriage remains empty.
Action: Sits at same table. Proceeds to ask me to move my laptop 3 inches further away from them.
-Based on a true story.
February 13, 2026 at 6:14 AM
Scene: An empty train carriage.
The players: me, two others.
Enter: Two players. Look around. Carriage remains empty.
Action: Sits at same table. Proceeds to ask me to move my laptop 3 inches further away from them.
-Based on a true story.
The players: me, two others.
Enter: Two players. Look around. Carriage remains empty.
Action: Sits at same table. Proceeds to ask me to move my laptop 3 inches further away from them.
-Based on a true story.
Reposted by Not that other guy, that's for sure
Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.
February 12, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.
In recent interactions, Keytravel has met and exceeded my expectations*
* for being a parasite on the underfoot of academia.
* for being a parasite on the underfoot of academia.
February 12, 2026 at 10:48 AM
In recent interactions, Keytravel has met and exceeded my expectations*
* for being a parasite on the underfoot of academia.
* for being a parasite on the underfoot of academia.
Reposted by Not that other guy, that's for sure
this is a level of complicity that had not occurred to me
Gallup will no longer measure presidential approval after 88 years thehill.com/homenews/med...
February 11, 2026 at 7:28 PM
this is a level of complicity that had not occurred to me
The line that is the very thesis of Dunk is omitted, and yet we get Arlan schlong and diarrhoea?
Anyway, parts of this are fun. But it should have been one movie. Go make one movie for each short story. I'd bet it'd be more profitable, too.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/k...
Anyway, parts of this are fun. But it should have been one movie. Go make one movie for each short story. I'd bet it'd be more profitable, too.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/k...
‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Showrunner Admits One Change From Book Was a “Mistake”
Ira Parker on a moment he shouldn't have cut from George R.R. Martin's novella: "Not my first not my last [mistake] on this show."
www.hollywoodreporter.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:17 AM
The line that is the very thesis of Dunk is omitted, and yet we get Arlan schlong and diarrhoea?
Anyway, parts of this are fun. But it should have been one movie. Go make one movie for each short story. I'd bet it'd be more profitable, too.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/k...
Anyway, parts of this are fun. But it should have been one movie. Go make one movie for each short story. I'd bet it'd be more profitable, too.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/k...
Has anyone else been contacted by the 'UK government's Metascience Unit' with a request to provide feedback via a 'survey'?
February 9, 2026 at 10:46 AM
Has anyone else been contacted by the 'UK government's Metascience Unit' with a request to provide feedback via a 'survey'?
oh my god. Make this a film. Get Aronofski to direct.
SCORPION: take me across the river
FROG: if I do that, you'll sting me
S: if I sting you, we'll both drown
F: ok, that makes sense
*halfway across the river*
F: so?
S: so what?
F: sting me
S: what?
F: sting me, like you promised
S: no
F: sting me so we'll both drown
S: *crying* what is happening?
FROG: if I do that, you'll sting me
S: if I sting you, we'll both drown
F: ok, that makes sense
*halfway across the river*
F: so?
S: so what?
F: sting me
S: what?
F: sting me, like you promised
S: no
F: sting me so we'll both drown
S: *crying* what is happening?
February 6, 2026 at 12:24 PM
oh my god. Make this a film. Get Aronofski to direct.
The Reductio ad absurdum of this position is to let players stay at home and to write '1' on a piece of paper, cross it out, smile, and write a '2'. Then repeat until they reach '20'.
We don’t expect players who aren’t charismatic to say what they do to convince the guard, why do we expect players who aren’t skilled at squad-based small unit tactical combat to say what they do on their turn? Just let them say “I make the most optimal tactical decision” and roll the dice.
February 6, 2026 at 11:26 AM
The Reductio ad absurdum of this position is to let players stay at home and to write '1' on a piece of paper, cross it out, smile, and write a '2'. Then repeat until they reach '20'.
Skimmed this this morning. Initially really provocative and interesting. My biggest concern is it's just one ape, and that ape is Kanzi. But it's so cool that this kind of research is being done at all.
And the protocol isn't hard! Ape-people, do more!
And the protocol isn't hard! Ape-people, do more!
Imagination in bonobos!
I am thrilled to share a new paper w/ Amalia Bastos, out now in @science.org
We provide the first experimental evidence that a nonhuman animal can follow along a pretend scenario & track imaginary objects. Work w/ Kanzi, the bonobo, at Ape Initiative
youtu.be/NUSHcQQz2Ko
I am thrilled to share a new paper w/ Amalia Bastos, out now in @science.org
We provide the first experimental evidence that a nonhuman animal can follow along a pretend scenario & track imaginary objects. Work w/ Kanzi, the bonobo, at Ape Initiative
youtu.be/NUSHcQQz2Ko
Apes Share Human Ability to Imagine
YouTube video by Johns Hopkins University
youtu.be
February 6, 2026 at 7:59 AM
Skimmed this this morning. Initially really provocative and interesting. My biggest concern is it's just one ape, and that ape is Kanzi. But it's so cool that this kind of research is being done at all.
And the protocol isn't hard! Ape-people, do more!
And the protocol isn't hard! Ape-people, do more!
'The Ear Park' by Department of Eagles (2008) is a perfect album. They never made a second.
Ok, it's a 96% perfect album, because both the name of the band and the name of the album are bad.
You'll know after the first song if it's for you. Try it.
Ok, it's a 96% perfect album, because both the name of the band and the name of the album are bad.
You'll know after the first song if it's for you. Try it.
February 5, 2026 at 9:51 PM
'The Ear Park' by Department of Eagles (2008) is a perfect album. They never made a second.
Ok, it's a 96% perfect album, because both the name of the band and the name of the album are bad.
You'll know after the first song if it's for you. Try it.
Ok, it's a 96% perfect album, because both the name of the band and the name of the album are bad.
You'll know after the first song if it's for you. Try it.
I had a conversation with a lawyer friend on this theme. There must legal conditions in which CEOs are legally responsibility for even the lowest operations of their institution.
Certainly, this is likely to be rare, as there are lots of middling things, but it must be possible and normative.
Certainly, this is likely to be rare, as there are lots of middling things, but it must be possible and normative.
February 5, 2026 at 11:32 AM
I had a conversation with a lawyer friend on this theme. There must legal conditions in which CEOs are legally responsibility for even the lowest operations of their institution.
Certainly, this is likely to be rare, as there are lots of middling things, but it must be possible and normative.
Certainly, this is likely to be rare, as there are lots of middling things, but it must be possible and normative.
I skimmed the 'Tinkering' BBS piece to decide if a commentary is worthwhile and it's really not. It's a re-skin of old and established ideas, using even older (and only poetically or metaphorically related) references?
Did I miss something significant in my haste?
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Did I miss something significant in my haste?
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Social Tinkering: The Social Foundations of Cultural Complexity | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Social Tinkering: The Social Foundations of Cultural Complexity
www.cambridge.org
February 5, 2026 at 5:54 AM
I skimmed the 'Tinkering' BBS piece to decide if a commentary is worthwhile and it's really not. It's a re-skin of old and established ideas, using even older (and only poetically or metaphorically related) references?
Did I miss something significant in my haste?
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Did I miss something significant in my haste?
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Needed an image of a funeral for a lecture, and chose to use a film out of respect.
Googled: 'Death at a Funeral'.
And I'm staring at this. Uncanny. It starred who now? Where's Tudyk?
I just learned there's a US re-make, AND IT ALSO STARS DINKLAGE!?! w0t?
Googled: 'Death at a Funeral'.
And I'm staring at this. Uncanny. It starred who now? Where's Tudyk?
I just learned there's a US re-make, AND IT ALSO STARS DINKLAGE!?! w0t?
February 4, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Needed an image of a funeral for a lecture, and chose to use a film out of respect.
Googled: 'Death at a Funeral'.
And I'm staring at this. Uncanny. It starred who now? Where's Tudyk?
I just learned there's a US re-make, AND IT ALSO STARS DINKLAGE!?! w0t?
Googled: 'Death at a Funeral'.
And I'm staring at this. Uncanny. It starred who now? Where's Tudyk?
I just learned there's a US re-make, AND IT ALSO STARS DINKLAGE!?! w0t?
Reposted by Not that other guy, that's for sure
Last night - freak accident - I flooded my kitchen. Well, my cat did. But I was wearing headphones.
And in this century+ old building, it blew a big ol' hole in my downstair neighbors living room. Fortunately, his guitars and other valuable kit weren't hit, but ... fuck man.
Anyway, how are you?
And in this century+ old building, it blew a big ol' hole in my downstair neighbors living room. Fortunately, his guitars and other valuable kit weren't hit, but ... fuck man.
Anyway, how are you?
February 3, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Last night - freak accident - I flooded my kitchen. Well, my cat did. But I was wearing headphones.
And in this century+ old building, it blew a big ol' hole in my downstair neighbors living room. Fortunately, his guitars and other valuable kit weren't hit, but ... fuck man.
Anyway, how are you?
And in this century+ old building, it blew a big ol' hole in my downstair neighbors living room. Fortunately, his guitars and other valuable kit weren't hit, but ... fuck man.
Anyway, how are you?
... ok, I guess.
February 3, 2026 at 1:40 PM
... ok, I guess.