Smut Clyde, X-Ray Haruspex
@smutclyde.bsky.social
Hyperbolic Tangent Distributed Observer. Snark is my first language.
Imagine my delight to discover that one of the artists who designs cans for Garage Project beers is a fan of Musrum (Earnshaw & Thacker 1968).
January 3, 2026 at 8:22 AM
Imagine my delight to discover that one of the artists who designs cans for Garage Project beers is a fan of Musrum (Earnshaw & Thacker 1968).
The References had a seizure and started speaking Qwghlmian.
December 30, 2025 at 8:03 PM
The References had a seizure and started speaking Qwghlmian.
December 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Smut Clyde, X-Ray Haruspex
I am brimming with holiday spirit
December 8, 2025 at 12:47 PM
I am brimming with holiday spirit
Reposted by Smut Clyde, X-Ray Haruspex
One more bookish set for good measure.
These biscuits are inspired by the weird and wonderful world of medieval illustration.
These biscuits are inspired by the weird and wonderful world of medieval illustration.
May 29, 2025 at 7:18 AM
One more bookish set for good measure.
These biscuits are inspired by the weird and wonderful world of medieval illustration.
These biscuits are inspired by the weird and wonderful world of medieval illustration.
Reposted by Smut Clyde, X-Ray Haruspex
I have much better than yours
December 4, 2025 at 8:47 AM
I have much better than yours
Reposted by Smut Clyde, X-Ray Haruspex
We see a new phenomenon. Fake authors in papers with hundreds of citations. Papers are easy to produce by ChatGPT. Even if a paper is retracted, no punishment to the real authors, but citations still count. Today's puzzle is about a similar case papermills.tilda.ws/2025advent4
Advent2025 4
papermills.tilda.ws
December 4, 2025 at 8:45 AM
We see a new phenomenon. Fake authors in papers with hundreds of citations. Papers are easy to produce by ChatGPT. Even if a paper is retracted, no punishment to the real authors, but citations still count. Today's puzzle is about a similar case papermills.tilda.ws/2025advent4
These are not references. These are what happens when the cat hoiks up a hairball while you are dictating into voice-recognition software.
December 2, 2025 at 6:56 PM
These are not references. These are what happens when the cat hoiks up a hairball while you are dictating into voice-recognition software.
PRO-TIP: When you ask Chat-GPT to write your paper, *read* the responses before copy-pasting them into the document.
pubpeer.com/publications...
pubpeer.com/publications...
December 2, 2025 at 4:40 AM
PRO-TIP: When you ask Chat-GPT to write your paper, *read* the responses before copy-pasting them into the document.
pubpeer.com/publications...
pubpeer.com/publications...
November 26, 2025 at 6:45 PM
November 26, 2025 at 6:35 PM
@deevybee.bsky.social @rosewind.bsky.social I finally finished writing a thing.
forbetterscience.com/2025/11/25/a...
forbetterscience.com/2025/11/25/a...
A bit of Frye and Rossignol
“Trapped inside every autist, a normal child with normal cognition is struggling to get out – only needing the right drug or therapy to be released”, – Smut Clyde
forbetterscience.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:37 AM
@deevybee.bsky.social @rosewind.bsky.social I finally finished writing a thing.
forbetterscience.com/2025/11/25/a...
forbetterscience.com/2025/11/25/a...
So red wine does *not* cure erectile dysfunction after all. I am disappoint.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 19, 2025 at 7:06 PM
So red wine does *not* cure erectile dysfunction after all. I am disappoint.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 19, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Smut Clyde, X-Ray Haruspex
The Fribourg Declaration
forbetterscience.com/2025/11/17/t...
forbetterscience.com/2025/11/17/t...
The Fribourg Declaration
“The papermill crisis is not an external attack on science but a mirror held up to its dysfunctional ecosystem. The for-profit publishing industry, posing as a newly found saviour of research…
forbetterscience.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:13 AM
The Fribourg Declaration
forbetterscience.com/2025/11/17/t...
forbetterscience.com/2025/11/17/t...
@retractionwatch.com One for your Confabulated References archives.
These references were hallucinated by ChatGPT!
@elisabethbik.bsky.social
@elisabethbik.bsky.social
November 16, 2025 at 4:44 AM
@retractionwatch.com One for your Confabulated References archives.
I did enjoy @scalzi.com's cheerful disinclination to identify his narrator / protagonist as male or female. "Does it matter? You choose! Which do you prefer?"
To the annoyance, I am sure, of readers who think that clearly gendering the characters is part of an author's job description.
To the annoyance, I am sure, of readers who think that clearly gendering the characters is part of an author's job description.
I read The Kaiju Preservation Society to my two children* and we were all delighted to see Murderbot get a mention…
“My master's thesis had been on bioengineering in science fiction from Frankenstein through the Murderbot novellas…”
💖💖💖
*they’re quite grown up now!
“My master's thesis had been on bioengineering in science fiction from Frankenstein through the Murderbot novellas…”
💖💖💖
*they’re quite grown up now!
November 12, 2025 at 7:07 AM
I did enjoy @scalzi.com's cheerful disinclination to identify his narrator / protagonist as male or female. "Does it matter? You choose! Which do you prefer?"
To the annoyance, I am sure, of readers who think that clearly gendering the characters is part of an author's job description.
To the annoyance, I am sure, of readers who think that clearly gendering the characters is part of an author's job description.
This is *not* how to plagiarise text by asking Chat-GPT to paraphrase it.
November 10, 2025 at 9:33 AM
This is *not* how to plagiarise text by asking Chat-GPT to paraphrase it.
One of the first papermills was 'MedChina' - a Dr Jia-Li Liu - following a template to churn out fake meta-analysis papers.
forbetterscience.com/2022/06/07/t...
12 years too late, the editors of Gene finally got around to checking the .doc metadata of the manuscript.
pubpeer.com/publications...
forbetterscience.com/2022/06/07/t...
12 years too late, the editors of Gene finally got around to checking the .doc metadata of the manuscript.
pubpeer.com/publications...
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 AM
One of the first papermills was 'MedChina' - a Dr Jia-Li Liu - following a template to churn out fake meta-analysis papers.
forbetterscience.com/2022/06/07/t...
12 years too late, the editors of Gene finally got around to checking the .doc metadata of the manuscript.
pubpeer.com/publications...
forbetterscience.com/2022/06/07/t...
12 years too late, the editors of Gene finally got around to checking the .doc metadata of the manuscript.
pubpeer.com/publications...
So I thought that Elsevier was already as enshittified as possible. I was wrong.
November 4, 2025 at 4:19 AM
So I thought that Elsevier was already as enshittified as possible. I was wrong.
Starting a petition to replace the word 'palindrome' with 'palinilap'.
November 3, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Starting a petition to replace the word 'palindrome' with 'palinilap'.
"Additionally, the author stated that they have used AI tools for generating some images, including Fig. 1."
Reviewers and editors could not work that out for themselves.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reviewers and editors could not work that out for themselves.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
October 31, 2025 at 5:42 PM
"Additionally, the author stated that they have used AI tools for generating some images, including Fig. 1."
Reviewers and editors could not work that out for themselves.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reviewers and editors could not work that out for themselves.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Happy Birthday!
Inclusive: For Better Science is 10 years old now!
One Decade of For Better Science
forbetterscience.com/2025/10/28/o...
forbetterscience.com/2025/10/28/o...
October 28, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Happy Birthday!
Today I realised that the 'Madonna in the Dry Tree' was a stock image, and the original owner of the version in the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum didn't want to pay Petrus Christus to paint a legitimate copy, which is why it's adorned with the little 'A's of the Alamy watermark.
October 23, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Today I realised that the 'Madonna in the Dry Tree' was a stock image, and the original owner of the version in the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum didn't want to pay Petrus Christus to paint a legitimate copy, which is why it's adorned with the little 'A's of the Alamy watermark.
The editors of ACS Omega cheerfully accepted the authors' excuses and replacement image for this weird shit.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
H/t Leonid @forbetterscience.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
H/t Leonid @forbetterscience.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 11:34 PM
The editors of ACS Omega cheerfully accepted the authors' excuses and replacement image for this weird shit.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
H/t Leonid @forbetterscience.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
H/t Leonid @forbetterscience.bsky.social