Richard
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rwpickard.bsky.social
Richard
@rwpickard.bsky.social
190 followers 230 following 1.4K posts
Reader, tree-hugger, teacher, preserver of foodstuffs. Canadian.

Deleter of rwpickard from Twitter/X.

http://boughtbooks.blogspot.com
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rwpickard.bsky.social
Anyone with notes on what to put in my 2-3 minutes of talking about AI during our upcoming department seminar? (I mean, I have thoughts, and it has to be under 3 minutes, but.) #againstAI
Cheerful poster announcing a six-presenter talk, including me, on the topic of generative AI and departments of English. I have cropped the names of the other presenters out of the image, in case they don't want to appear on social media
October 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Absolute trash.
Screen shot from an April 2025 KPMG report, of a smiling KPMG partner saying transparently irresponsible and illogical things about AI in higher education.
October 9, 2025 at 5:54 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Anyway, my family tired of my ranting and made me a t-shirt, that I'm teaching in today #againstAI #noAI
Your humble correspondent, looking grumpy and wearing a t-shirt that reads "Keep Humanities Human." It also has a raised fist holding a pencil, and the letters A and I inside a circle with a line through it.
October 8, 2025 at 6:40 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Sometimes I really hate it here. Bluesky's better than Twitter at this point, and useful for keeping up with some things and some people, but uurrrggghhhhh. #againstAI #bluesky
Screenshot showing account @doiyoiyoiski.bsky.social behaving like an AI and acting on instructions
October 8, 2025 at 12:42 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Blogger's stats have always been suspect and weird, but the last while is another level. I write a humble book blog, and other than Google, these are alleged to be the top referring pages:
A list of websites that Blogger.com inexplicably thinks are my top referring sites: Lowe's, Walmart, Binance, Science Mag, etc
September 29, 2025 at 4:32 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Not making this up: these folks developed a way to deliver and grade 600 oral exams simultaneously, about all of which I have SO MANY THOUGHTS. #highered journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
A photo of the late, lamented David McFadden, who was enthusiastic about almost everything and should not be blamed for any of the current technological fascism, fetishism, and social destruction. It's just that I love everything about this picture of McFadden sitting at his 1980s computer that he has set up outside on a picnic table, so I use it at the slightest provocation.
August 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Writing during climate change: I struggle with Tim Lilburn's prose, no question, but for the right reader (ie, not me), he's got so very much to say. 1/4 #reviews #booksky #envhum #climate boughtbooks.blogspot.com/2025/08/tim-...
The cover of Tim Lilburn's 2023 book Numinous Seditions: Interiority and Climate Change, which was published by the University of Alberta Press
August 25, 2025 at 6:32 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Whoops: screenshot
A screenshot from Cosmos Magazine, showing that they've removed the article in question because it didn't meet their editorial standards. My point is that they should be more precise than this: what went wrong, what was the story about, and who was the writer
August 1, 2025 at 6:58 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Progress? It has been taken down, though the phrasing doesn't say much, and honestly the page should specify the topic and/or title of the article. @cosmosmag.bsky.social
A screen-shot from COSMOS Magazine, showing that the article in question has been taken down while, in their words, they review some queries about the content
July 30, 2025 at 5:35 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
I've been making GF sourdough for a while, for some folks in my life who need that, and the numbers are ... gosh. A single 900-gram loaf using sorghum flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, and psyllium husk, from a millet starter, costs $6.76 in dry ingredients. #glutenfree #gluten #celiac
An uncut loaf of gluten-free sourdough bread, on a bamboo cutting board in front of a Mason jar of gluten-free sourdough starter A sliced loaf of gluten-free sourdough bread, on a bamboo cutting board, in front of a Mason jar of gluten-free sourdough starter and a small basket of strawberries
July 27, 2025 at 6:58 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
I mean, at least it wasn't the paperclip game? But I can see why folks think it's hallucination, even though it isn't. Intriguing reading. #noAI
May 29, 2025 at 2:21 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Right?!?
James Spader and Susan Sarandon, heating up the screen in White Palace (1990): looking into each other's eyes while standing at a bar, with bottles on the bar, with the image in black and white to make them look a bit Bogart and Bacall. Screenshot from IMDb
May 17, 2025 at 2:59 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
With @338canada.bsky.social projecting Liberal @wgreaves.bsky.social, it feels like the right vote strategically. Will's a colleague (but from a different department); I like and respect him a lot, and he'd be terrific. It'd be HARD not to vote Green or NDP, tho. 2/ 338canada.com/59042e.htm
Screenshot from 338Canada.ca, showing the projections for the Victoria riding as of April 27, 2025. They're arguing a 94% chance of a Liberal win in the riding; 6% for the NDP; and <1% for the Conservatives.
April 28, 2025 at 6:36 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Uh oh, what did I say this time....
A screenshot showing that for some reason, I've had more than 30 notifications since logging in last, only a few hours ago
April 27, 2025 at 10:58 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
I'm following the right people, my feed tells me. #againstAI
A screenshot of two skeets: one by Matthew Kirschenbaum, reposted by Shannon Mattern, and one by @oksettledown.bsky.social, reposted by Alex Hanna. Both skeets have a lot in common with my own feelings about AI, which is that it's a toxic scam being wielded by fascists
April 24, 2025 at 9:44 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
And if you're lucky, you find yourself in amongst the ponderosa. So much here that isn't wine, honest! 3/3
Looking southeast from behind a ponderosa pine, just north of Oliver BC, with arrow-leaf balsamroot blooming in the grass behind the big pine. Vaseux Lake is in the deep valley behind the second row of hills, before the distant mountains
April 21, 2025 at 4:59 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
All kinds of #wildflowers: balsamroot, paintbrush, ballhead waterleaf, buttercup... 2/
A single blossom of arrow-leaf balsamroot near Oliver BC. Usually they bloom in clumps, but on exposed rocky ground, you'll sometimes find singles like this one. A paintbrush plant, from the genus Castilleja. For many years it was known as Indian paintbrush, but for obvious reasons, the term has fallen out of favour Ballhead waterleaf: a purple flower that doesn't photograph nearly as brightly as it looks to the eye Buttercup, a long way from a lawn: possibly a native variety, but it's hard to tell
April 21, 2025 at 4:59 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
The south Okanagan can be so beautiful: a great ATV ride today with my father, looking for wildflowers. (ATV life is SO not me!) 1/ #nature #okanagan
The poster's father, looking south from a hilltop towards Oliver, BC
April 21, 2025 at 4:59 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Current location: visiting my parents in Oliver, British Columbia. My father took me hiking to this view, south across Stag Hollow vineyard and Vaseux Lake to McIntyre Bluff / nʕaylintn (pronounced nye-lin-tin). Balsamroot in the foreground, one of my favorites! #travelBC #hiking #winery
A photo taken just north of Oliver, British Columbia. The view is south across Stag Hollow vineyard and Vaseux Lake to McIntyre Bluff, also known as nʕaylintn (pronounced nye-lin-tin)
April 18, 2025 at 8:24 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Big Timber was one of several movies from Sinclair novels, but I'm not sure about its filming: I'd have to dig, but here's one note from Wikipedia (twice)
A screen-grab from the Wikipedia page about the 1917 film Big Timber, from the novel of that name by Bertrand Sinclair, commenting that it was remade in 1924 under the same title A screen-grab from the Wikipedia page about the 1924 film Big Timber, commenting that it was NOT a remake of the 1917 film of the same name, which was based on Bertrand Sinclair's novel Big Timber
April 17, 2025 at 1:50 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Logs in, notices the notifications number, considers deleting the app and never finding out what I did now.
A screenshot of the Bluesky menu at the bottom of the screen, showing that there are 30+ notifications
April 6, 2025 at 2:41 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
In nature news, the Easter lilies are out! They have been for a while. Please ignore the very small wolf blocking your view.
Easter lilies, blooming in early April 2025, in Victoria BC Easter lilies, blooming in early April 2025, in Victoria BC, obscured by a Pomeranian
April 3, 2025 at 9:09 PM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Tonight's #weirdbeer: Oberon's Elixir Dark Blackberry Sour, from Wildeye Brewing in North Vancouver. Good, but much less punch than a beer with that name should have, and a long way from my favorite in this genre (Bite Me Raspberry Sour, from Bones Brewing).
A beer can in front of a Canadian flag. Specifically, a can from Wildeye Brewing called Oberon's Elixir Dark Blackberry Sour
April 3, 2025 at 2:04 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
See, I was losing track of which weird local small brews I'd had, and how I felt about them: nerdism was the only reasonable option.

Over the last 48 months, I've logged about 150 distinct beers, probably 130 from the Island and Lower Mainland. These are the last few, before tonight's.
A screenshot demonstrating a spreadsheet that tracks the various beers I've sampled over the last four years. The image shows six stouts and one scotch ale, with alcohol values between 5.5% and 10%. The best of these is Boombox Brewing's Midnight Train Milk Chocolate Coconut Stout, at 8.8%.
March 31, 2025 at 5:12 AM
rwpickard.bsky.social
Wish me luck, friends. Tonight's #weirdbeer offering is the Chocolate Mint Winter Beeracle, described as a "warming winter ale" at 6% ABV, from @deadfrogbrewery.bsky.social. (Should my weird local beer tastings be a recurring feature?)
A tall can of beer with a label that looks like a Christmas sweater. It's called Chocolate Minute Winter Beeracle, from Dead Frog Brewery in Langley, British Columbia
March 31, 2025 at 1:40 AM