Alasdair Stewart
@abestew.bsky.social
Sociologist | Socialist | Neurodivergent | Linux & FLOSS advocate | he/they
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
New analysis with @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social and @kittyjstewart.bsky.social: If we are serious about trying to reduce child poverty we cannot rely on employment alone. We need serious investment in social security.
largerfamilies.study/publications...
largerfamilies.study/publications...
Benefit changes and larger families
We are a group of university-based researchers investigating how families with more than two children are coping with the benefit cap or the two-child limit.
largerfamilies.study
November 12, 2025 at 1:38 PM
New analysis with @ruthpatrick0.bsky.social and @kittyjstewart.bsky.social: If we are serious about trying to reduce child poverty we cannot rely on employment alone. We need serious investment in social security.
largerfamilies.study/publications...
largerfamilies.study/publications...
That bosses love AI despite it not living up to its promises isn't surprising. Before AI bosses were already trying to replace workers with shitty over-priced endlessly frustrating cloud 'solutions'; swooned by companies that spend vastly more on their marketing than programming team.
November 13, 2025 at 12:51 PM
That bosses love AI despite it not living up to its promises isn't surprising. Before AI bosses were already trying to replace workers with shitty over-priced endlessly frustrating cloud 'solutions'; swooned by companies that spend vastly more on their marketing than programming team.
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
The International Criminal Court is ditching Microsoft Office, saying it’s too dependent on US tech, in favor of Open Desk, a German open source alternative.
The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.
The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.
International Criminal Court to ditch Microsoft Office for European open source alternative | Euractiv
The court will move its internal work environment to Open Desk, a German-developed open source software
www.euractiv.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:36 PM
The International Criminal Court is ditching Microsoft Office, saying it’s too dependent on US tech, in favor of Open Desk, a German open source alternative.
The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.
The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.
Continuing with genAI tells - the biggest data analysis tell was removed between 4o and 5, which was comments along the lines of "# Assuming your data is in a data frame named ...", but there remains other tells of copied/pasted ChatGPT code.
November 13, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Continuing with genAI tells - the biggest data analysis tell was removed between 4o and 5, which was comments along the lines of "# Assuming your data is in a data frame named ...", but there remains other tells of copied/pasted ChatGPT code.
ChatGPT's love of rule of three - including in 2nd image a rule of three at the end of a rule of three. 3rd and 4th images are examples of bullet-point list rule of three.
November 13, 2025 at 11:05 AM
ChatGPT's love of rule of three - including in 2nd image a rule of three at the end of a rule of three. 3rd and 4th images are examples of bullet-point list rule of three.
Ah, it looks like it's "etc" if in brackets and "and so on" when not using brackets.
November 13, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Ah, it looks like it's "etc" if in brackets and "and so on" when not using brackets.
The switch-up between em-dash asides and bracket asides is more noticeable across whole response than paragraph by paragraph, but first image shows an example. Second image has em-dashed rule of three aside, this is within same response as first image that has bracketed rule of three aside.
November 13, 2025 at 10:51 AM
The switch-up between em-dash asides and bracket asides is more noticeable across whole response than paragraph by paragraph, but first image shows an example. Second image has em-dashed rule of three aside, this is within same response as first image that has bracketed rule of three aside.
Italics and bold variations. Can see in second image the new found fondness for brackets as well.
November 13, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Italics and bold variations. Can see in second image the new found fondness for brackets as well.
Colons are the new em-dashes.
November 13, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Colons are the new em-dashes.
From early testing, it looks like ChatGPT 5.1 uses em-dash significantly less. A lot of the usual tells someone has copied/pasted genAI text remain - such as obsessive rule of three - along with a few potential new ones.
November 13, 2025 at 10:22 AM
From early testing, it looks like ChatGPT 5.1 uses em-dash significantly less. A lot of the usual tells someone has copied/pasted genAI text remain - such as obsessive rule of three - along with a few potential new ones.
Amazing title for this open letter:
"Open letter: retract your unscientific AI hype"
www.euractiv.com/news/stop-ov...
"Open letter: retract your unscientific AI hype"
www.euractiv.com/news/stop-ov...
Stop overhyping AI, scientists tell von der Leyen | Euractiv
Open letter criticises the Commission President for remarks earlier this year – when she anticipated AI would “approach human reasoning” in 2026
www.euractiv.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Amazing title for this open letter:
"Open letter: retract your unscientific AI hype"
www.euractiv.com/news/stop-ov...
"Open letter: retract your unscientific AI hype"
www.euractiv.com/news/stop-ov...
Grammarly's rapid descent into an outright plagiarism tool continues. Grammarly will now misleadingly report text rewritten by its AI 'humanize' feature as "Typed by a Human".
www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/11/06/h...
www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/11/06/h...
How Grammarly Launders AI-Generated Content
Grammarly’s Authorship tool is billed as a powerful way to prove that your words are authentic. Even though it allows you to easily launder AI-generated text.
www.plagiarismtoday.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Grammarly's rapid descent into an outright plagiarism tool continues. Grammarly will now misleadingly report text rewritten by its AI 'humanize' feature as "Typed by a Human".
www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/11/06/h...
www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/11/06/h...
In NVivo training I always emphasise that with any issues encountered "It's not you, it's NVivo".
Today an NVivo bug that is a perfect example of this - and I thought was long gone - came up at a training event today.
This bug causes NVivo to crash because... NVivo doesn't like your printer...
Today an NVivo bug that is a perfect example of this - and I thought was long gone - came up at a training event today.
This bug causes NVivo to crash because... NVivo doesn't like your printer...
November 11, 2025 at 7:13 PM
In NVivo training I always emphasise that with any issues encountered "It's not you, it's NVivo".
Today an NVivo bug that is a perfect example of this - and I thought was long gone - came up at a training event today.
This bug causes NVivo to crash because... NVivo doesn't like your printer...
Today an NVivo bug that is a perfect example of this - and I thought was long gone - came up at a training event today.
This bug causes NVivo to crash because... NVivo doesn't like your printer...
How do folk survive commuting to work everyday? Had to leave house at 7am today and just got back 11 and half hours later and feeling half dead.
November 11, 2025 at 6:42 PM
How do folk survive commuting to work everyday? Had to leave house at 7am today and just got back 11 and half hours later and feeling half dead.
No idea why I slept on it for so long, but finally decided to give lazygit a go - and it has immediately surpassed my prior git workflow of relying on random aliases I created over the years & praying Control+R can find lesser used commands from my terminal history.
github.com/jesseduffiel...
github.com/jesseduffiel...
GitHub - jesseduffield/lazygit: simple terminal UI for git commands
simple terminal UI for git commands. Contribute to jesseduffield/lazygit development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:48 AM
No idea why I slept on it for so long, but finally decided to give lazygit a go - and it has immediately surpassed my prior git workflow of relying on random aliases I created over the years & praying Control+R can find lesser used commands from my terminal history.
github.com/jesseduffiel...
github.com/jesseduffiel...
Impossible Challenge - Find a pro-genAI journal article that doesn't read like genAI was used at least in part to write it.
There are some decent articles, yet they still have scattering of genAI phrases. Come across a few though that are questionable & won't be surprised if they end up retracted.
There are some decent articles, yet they still have scattering of genAI phrases. Come across a few though that are questionable & won't be surprised if they end up retracted.
November 9, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Impossible Challenge - Find a pro-genAI journal article that doesn't read like genAI was used at least in part to write it.
There are some decent articles, yet they still have scattering of genAI phrases. Come across a few though that are questionable & won't be surprised if they end up retracted.
There are some decent articles, yet they still have scattering of genAI phrases. Come across a few though that are questionable & won't be surprised if they end up retracted.
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
Very much enjoyed reading this. Perfectly timed since I'd assigned the ChatGPT short story as a reading for an AI lecture this week.
Literature Is Not a Vibe: On ChatGPT and the Humanities | Los Angeles Review of Books
Rachele Dini discusses OpenAI’s “A Machine-Shaped Hand” and an academic sector in crisis.
lareviewofbooks.org
November 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Very much enjoyed reading this. Perfectly timed since I'd assigned the ChatGPT short story as a reading for an AI lecture this week.
Initial work on visual refresh of the SGSSS NVivo Guidance pages now done.
sgsssonline.github.io/nvivo-guidan...
sgsssonline.github.io/nvivo-guidan...
November 9, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Initial work on visual refresh of the SGSSS NVivo Guidance pages now done.
sgsssonline.github.io/nvivo-guidan...
sgsssonline.github.io/nvivo-guidan...
There is disturbing number of journal articles promoting LLMs as making quantitative analysis 'more accessible', removing need for students to learn how to code, and similar arguments.
My response - "Have you never heard of snippets?"
My response - "Have you never heard of snippets?"
November 6, 2025 at 9:43 AM
There is disturbing number of journal articles promoting LLMs as making quantitative analysis 'more accessible', removing need for students to learn how to code, and similar arguments.
My response - "Have you never heard of snippets?"
My response - "Have you never heard of snippets?"
Reposted by Alasdair Stewart
Amid misinformation, Wikipedia's volunteer community stands out. Editors uphold neutrality, verify sources, and log every edit.
Without corporate ads, its scale and transparent governance make it a beacon of trust. Learn more ➡️ w.wiki/7zfT
Without corporate ads, its scale and transparent governance make it a beacon of trust. Learn more ➡️ w.wiki/7zfT
November 5, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Amid misinformation, Wikipedia's volunteer community stands out. Editors uphold neutrality, verify sources, and log every edit.
Without corporate ads, its scale and transparent governance make it a beacon of trust. Learn more ➡️ w.wiki/7zfT
Without corporate ads, its scale and transparent governance make it a beacon of trust. Learn more ➡️ w.wiki/7zfT
Proposal for new coding convention - a "slop" folder that is included within .gitignore and instructing LLMs via Agents-md file that it cannot edit the main code base but it can spit out example code & explanations into the "slop" folder.
November 5, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Proposal for new coding convention - a "slop" folder that is included within .gitignore and instructing LLMs via Agents-md file that it cannot edit the main code base but it can spit out example code & explanations into the "slop" folder.
Giving quickemu a try. Images for both downloaded OK, though macOS refused to work after installing so trying again. Windows couldn't find hard drive, but seems to be installing now after copy/paste of bash script from GitHub.
November 4, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Giving quickemu a try. Images for both downloaded OK, though macOS refused to work after installing so trying again. Windows couldn't find hard drive, but seems to be installing now after copy/paste of bash script from GitHub.
Linux folk - what is best option these days for running Windows and MacOS virtual machines. Was using VirtualBox, but MacOS image hasn't worked for couple years and now Windows image crashes randomly after 15-20 minutes.
November 4, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Linux folk - what is best option these days for running Windows and MacOS virtual machines. Was using VirtualBox, but MacOS image hasn't worked for couple years and now Windows image crashes randomly after 15-20 minutes.
Unexpected 'benefit' of being dyslexic - higher GitHub contribution stats due to any major commit being followed by "fixed typos", "fixed more typos", "yet more typos", etc commits. 273 contributions in 2025 so far, and at least half is fixing my horrendous spelling/grammar.
November 3, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Unexpected 'benefit' of being dyslexic - higher GitHub contribution stats due to any major commit being followed by "fixed typos", "fixed more typos", "yet more typos", etc commits. 273 contributions in 2025 so far, and at least half is fixing my horrendous spelling/grammar.
Progress on my first attempt at knitting.
November 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Progress on my first attempt at knitting.