David Adger
@davidadger.bsky.social
syntax and other stuff, mainly more linguistics and cogsci but occasional queerness, poetry, cats and @ans.bsky.social 🏳️🌈
Reposted by David Adger
Barn owl numbers soar in Cheshire thanks to volunteers. Three decades after a survey found just six breeding pairs in West Cheshire, the Broxton Barn Owl Group now counts around 160 pairs: a 25-fold increase, driven entirely by local volunteers. buff.ly/F2PfqJQ
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Barn owl numbers 'booming' in west Cheshire thanks to volunteers
A 30-year conservation project has led to a "dramatic increase" in barn owl breeding pair numbers.
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Barn owl numbers soar in Cheshire thanks to volunteers. Three decades after a survey found just six breeding pairs in West Cheshire, the Broxton Barn Owl Group now counts around 160 pairs: a 25-fold increase, driven entirely by local volunteers. buff.ly/F2PfqJQ
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Look what just arrived early! It’s chunkier than I thought. Open access version on publication day which I think is the 18th on the @mitpress.bsky.social website. I must admit, I’m very fond of the colour!!! 🐦🐦 #syntax #newbook
November 7, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Look what just arrived early! It’s chunkier than I thought. Open access version on publication day which I think is the 18th on the @mitpress.bsky.social website. I must admit, I’m very fond of the colour!!! 🐦🐦 #syntax #newbook
Reposted by David Adger
Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
The value of public R&D
www.gov.uk
October 30, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Reposted by David Adger
Less than a month to go until our Language and Society Scotland (LASS) event on Language and AI.
Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/language-a...
Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/language-a...
Language and Society Scotland: Language & AI
Language and Society Scotland (LASS) network event on "Language & AI".
www.eventbrite.co.uk
October 30, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Less than a month to go until our Language and Society Scotland (LASS) event on Language and AI.
Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/language-a...
Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/language-a...
Reposted by David Adger
Reposted by David Adger
Apropos of nothing, I really do think UK journalists and politicians need some reminding that mass deportation of LEGAL immigrants, particularly those with permanent status, is far more extreme than even Trump's America and would basically place Britain completely on its own among democracies.
October 19, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Apropos of nothing, I really do think UK journalists and politicians need some reminding that mass deportation of LEGAL immigrants, particularly those with permanent status, is far more extreme than even Trump's America and would basically place Britain completely on its own among democracies.
Reposted by David Adger
![1
Nurse:
It’s become a real problem in this area
2
Nurse:
We’ve seen the whole community lost to addiction
3
Show a building sign posted:
Westminster ‘X’ Addiction Clinic
With various Westminster people or looking at their phones outside it
Nurse:
Ministers, Spads, Researchers…
4
Nurse:
Most mornings we’ll get a call about someone acting strangely
[Nurse on phone taking a call]
Ok - we’ll be right over
5
Nurse:
We just have a gentle chat
[Nurses approach a minister –Robert Jenrick? - standing in the Palace of Westminster
Minister:
I understand your concerns…
6
Nurse:
Are you OK love?
Minister:
Yes I’m just hearing legitimate concerns from real voters
7
Nurse:
That’s a robot, a Nazi and a poorly-disguised Russian
[Show that the people he is talking to are precisely these characters]
Nurse 2:
Give us your phone, love
8
Nurse:
At the clinic we put them in a Grass-Touching Pod, with a real voter to talk to
[We see them back at the clinic, holding the minister's head and pushing him into a glass isolation booth with a grass floor. And it is a baffled looking woman, on a chair, ready to talk to him.]
9
Minister:
YOU MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT THE COMING CIVIL WAR
[woman looks baffled]
10
woman:
I just want a bus service
Minister:
LOOK AT MY FLAG
[produces a St George's flag]
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreicahofq6s4xow7vowj7dx6odw6ejdwr4kwcmzta7qwi4hg2nvywji@jpeg)
Reposted by David Adger
🤖 If you use LinkedIn, please be aware that they automatically use your profile to train their GenAI. To turn off, go to Settings > Data Privacy > Data for Gen AI improvements.
October 11, 2025 at 11:04 PM
🤖 If you use LinkedIn, please be aware that they automatically use your profile to train their GenAI. To turn off, go to Settings > Data Privacy > Data for Gen AI improvements.
Lovely catching up with @dannybate.bsky.social at his [[new book] party] tonight. Why Q needs U. Why indeed!?!? 🐦🐦
October 8, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Lovely catching up with @dannybate.bsky.social at his [[new book] party] tonight. Why Q needs U. Why indeed!?!? 🐦🐦
Totally idiotic, as usual
She's nothing if not predictable, is she? I know the Tories aren't keen on anything Green these days, but pretty much all they've done this week is recycle stuff they've been banging on about--for the most part fruitlessly--for the last decade and a half. And today it's "Mickey Mouse" degrees. 🙄
Badenoch: Curb students taking 'rip-off' degrees such as English
The performing arts, sociology and anthropology are among the subjects the Conservatives would like to cut
inews.co.uk
October 8, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Totally idiotic, as usual
Reposted by David Adger
Great advert for Tory private education if they can’t even spell Britain 🤦🏼♂️
It helps to be able to spell the country you say only you are competent enough to run.
October 6, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Great advert for Tory private education if they can’t even spell Britain 🤦🏼♂️
in amongst all the awful, there are still crows being crows!
The University of Glasgow groundspeople are going to be quite annoyed when they come in to work tomorrow...
October 5, 2025 at 8:00 PM
in amongst all the awful, there are still crows being crows!
Reposted by David Adger
New preprint 🌟 Psychology is core to cognitive science, and so it is vital we preserve it from harmful frames. @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I use our psych and computer science expertise to analyse and craft:
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
October 4, 2025 at 5:33 AM
New preprint 🌟 Psychology is core to cognitive science, and so it is vital we preserve it from harmful frames. @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I use our psych and computer science expertise to analyse and craft:
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵 1/
Reposted by David Adger
The Gender Critical have already inundated this survey with their disgusting views on banning trans people from using the ponds.
Would be a shame if we inundated with trans positive views on not banning trans people.
hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is/en-GB/propos...
Would be a shame if we inundated with trans positive views on not banning trans people.
hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is/en-GB/propos...
Public Consultation on Hampstead Heath Bathing Ponds | Commonplace
hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is
October 1, 2025 at 7:11 AM
The Gender Critical have already inundated this survey with their disgusting views on banning trans people from using the ponds.
Would be a shame if we inundated with trans positive views on not banning trans people.
hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is/en-GB/propos...
Would be a shame if we inundated with trans positive views on not banning trans people.
hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is/en-GB/propos...
Reposted by David Adger
I’m not
It isn’t.
It should be, but you’re working very hard to ensure it isn’t.
It isn’t.
It should be, but you’re working very hard to ensure it isn’t.
September 27, 2025 at 6:25 AM
I’m not
It isn’t.
It should be, but you’re working very hard to ensure it isn’t.
It isn’t.
It should be, but you’re working very hard to ensure it isn’t.
Reposted by David Adger
Kind of feels like a big deal that a Reform/Brexit Party former MEP has been convicted of taking bribes to promote Russian interests in Ukraine, and it feels like a bigger deal that this isn’t being treated as the major scandal that it clearly is.
September 26, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Kind of feels like a big deal that a Reform/Brexit Party former MEP has been convicted of taking bribes to promote Russian interests in Ukraine, and it feels like a bigger deal that this isn’t being treated as the major scandal that it clearly is.
Reposted by David Adger
3. this is not the moment for an incredibly expensive increase in state surveillance infrastructure to be run for profit by private tech firms just before Labour ushers in an (even more) authoritarian right wing government.
FIX THE GODDAMN COST OF LIVING INSTEAD YOU FREAKS.
FIX THE GODDAMN COST OF LIVING INSTEAD YOU FREAKS.
September 26, 2025 at 8:28 AM
3. this is not the moment for an incredibly expensive increase in state surveillance infrastructure to be run for profit by private tech firms just before Labour ushers in an (even more) authoritarian right wing government.
FIX THE GODDAMN COST OF LIVING INSTEAD YOU FREAKS.
FIX THE GODDAMN COST OF LIVING INSTEAD YOU FREAKS.
Reposted by David Adger
🚨🚨🚨 Survey Researchers! WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM!🚨🚨🚨
I have access to the Comet browser by Perplexity.
I asked it to pretend to be a human, take the survey, and give me feedback. IT DID!
I have access to the Comet browser by Perplexity.
I asked it to pretend to be a human, take the survey, and give me feedback. IT DID!
September 22, 2025 at 9:51 AM
🚨🚨🚨 Survey Researchers! WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM!🚨🚨🚨
I have access to the Comet browser by Perplexity.
I asked it to pretend to be a human, take the survey, and give me feedback. IT DID!
I have access to the Comet browser by Perplexity.
I asked it to pretend to be a human, take the survey, and give me feedback. IT DID!
Reposted by David Adger
Yeah man we should really fight back by staying on X
September 21, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Yeah man we should really fight back by staying on X
I guess it's kind of obvious, given the design, that LLMs will hallucinate, but interesting to see Open AI researchers showing that the "majority of mainstream evaluations reward hallucinatory behavior" arxiv.org/pdf/2509.04664
arxiv.org
September 21, 2025 at 5:14 PM
I guess it's kind of obvious, given the design, that LLMs will hallucinate, but interesting to see Open AI researchers showing that the "majority of mainstream evaluations reward hallucinatory behavior" arxiv.org/pdf/2509.04664
Reposted by David Adger
The problem is that the centre-left can't win every election. And trying can make them cautious, when they need to be bold.
Really successful govts - Attlee, Thatcher, Blair - secure the things they believe in by forcing their opponents to change. But that requires a confident project of their own.
Really successful govts - Attlee, Thatcher, Blair - secure the things they believe in by forcing their opponents to change. But that requires a confident project of their own.
September 21, 2025 at 8:01 AM
The problem is that the centre-left can't win every election. And trying can make them cautious, when they need to be bold.
Really successful govts - Attlee, Thatcher, Blair - secure the things they believe in by forcing their opponents to change. But that requires a confident project of their own.
Really successful govts - Attlee, Thatcher, Blair - secure the things they believe in by forcing their opponents to change. But that requires a confident project of their own.
Spot on: "Adopting nativist discourse and policies does not win back far-right voters. It leads to losses for centrist and leftwing parties. Moreover, it raises the salience of the topic and the expectations of the government, which will always fall short" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
After the far-right mass rally in London, Britain must learn lessons from abroad – and fast | Cas Mudde
This is no time for complacent exceptionalism. The UK is part of the fourth phase of the far right in the postwar era, and its politicians must respond, says political scientist Cas Mudde
www.theguardian.com
September 20, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Spot on: "Adopting nativist discourse and policies does not win back far-right voters. It leads to losses for centrist and leftwing parties. Moreover, it raises the salience of the topic and the expectations of the government, which will always fall short" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
definitely watch this video. excellent for a linguistics class 🐦🐦!
GOP: We are putting forward a proposal to ban the use of all pronouns.
Dems: Um…we all use pronouns.
GOP: Oh. Withdrawn.
Dems: Um…we all use pronouns.
GOP: Oh. Withdrawn.
LOL Awesome.
September 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
definitely watch this video. excellent for a linguistics class 🐦🐦!
Reposted by David Adger
Disgraceful. Absurd. As with the Kimmel situation, politicians across the world want to suppress protest and creative resistance. They hate opposition. They hate protest. They hate satire. They hate art. Soon we will wake up and find our mouths gagged, our hands tied, our pens and laptops taken away
Sally Rooney unable to collect award over Palestine Action arrest threat
The Normal People author can no longer safely enter the UK without potentially facing arrest, according to a statement read out by her publisher at the prize ceremony
www.theguardian.com
September 19, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Disgraceful. Absurd. As with the Kimmel situation, politicians across the world want to suppress protest and creative resistance. They hate opposition. They hate protest. They hate satire. They hate art. Soon we will wake up and find our mouths gagged, our hands tied, our pens and laptops taken away
Reposted by David Adger
A new book chronicles one Cherokee citizen’s odyssey of working to revitalizing the Cherokee language.
September 17, 2025 at 4:25 PM
A new book chronicles one Cherokee citizen’s odyssey of working to revitalizing the Cherokee language.