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Brendan Halpin

@bthalpin.bsky.social
466 followers 552 following 1.7K posts

Refugee from ex-Twitter, mostly at @bthalpin@mastodon.social

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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 16h
Sensible informative article in the IT, pointing out that crap standards in Irish apartments explain a lot of their unpopularity, while the geniuses in the Stripe-funded think-tank argue that we should further reduce the standards. www.irishtimes.com/abroad/2026/...
irishtimes.com
Ireland vs Europe apartment living: ‘When family come over... this is not what they envisioned’
Irish people happily living in apartments on the Continent highlight a chasm in building standards, attitudes to communal living and sense of stability
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Ben Recht @beenwrekt.bsky.social · 19h
OpenAI’s faster Fourier transform is less a mathematical breakthrough and more a malicious exploit of mathematical traditions.
argmin.net
Faster Fourier Transforms
The OpenAI algorithm for the FFT is less a breakthrough and more a malicious exploit.
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Mel Farrell @melfarrell.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The funny thing, it was crystal clear 10 years ago and still we persisted with the idea it was 'business as usual'. After 6 Jan. 2021 absolutely no excuse for normalising it.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Uh oh, did someone’s website and personal account experience a big drop in activity after Ukraine hit a Russian data center?
Elon Musk: “Zelensky has gone too far”

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2109033017184338141
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Lisounours @lise-l.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Ils étaient mi-cerf mi-escargot, et re mi-cerf derrière
Image de deux cerfs allongés devant des rouleaux de foin
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Swasticar
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
PS That's a Mastodon post. No way it'll get any traction on Bluesky...
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
nano, they say, it'll always be there when you're setting up a linux box, & it's v lightweight. Yebbut emacs is a quick "sudo install emacs" away & you have a whole world of comfort and convenience. Doing this on a pretty elderly #RaspberryPI tonight, & would recommend it. #emacs #nano #linux
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
As I always say to my students (sometimes with this specific example) you really need to think about the size of the effect and not just the sign. “Do rich people move in response to tax increases?” is not the right question for policy. The right question is, *how much* do they move?
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Remember kids, your quant methods class is political.
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Christopher Julian @chrisajulian.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I reanalyzed the CDC data behind the LGB “free fall” headline. It rests on a change in bisexual identification among one grade, in one wave, of one survey. Gay or lesbian identification did not change significantly. Calling it a "free fall" is sensational and just gives bad actors talking points.
Six small line charts showing the percent of U.S. high school students choosing each sexual identity response option by grade (9th to 12th), 2015 to 2025, with 95% confidence intervals. Heterosexual falls from about 85 to 90 percent before 2021 to about 73 percent in 2021 and 2023, then rises to about 78 to 80 percent in 2025. Gay or lesbian stays between about 2 and 5 percent throughout. Bisexual rises to about 12 percent in 2021 in every grade, then among 9th graders falls to about 7 percent in 2025, its 2019 level, while other grades stay near 10 percent. “Some other way,” added in 2021, falls from about 4 percent to about 2.5 percent. “Not sure” stays near 3 to 5 percent. A dotted line marks 2021, when CDC changed the response options.
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Failure to realise that climate change is in some ways an opportunity as well as a threat (i.e., going all out on solar/wind/EV makes for economic dynamism) is coming to bite Europe in the ass. A bit like Kodak and digital cameras.
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Denis Colombi @uneheuredepeine.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Mais ils n’ont vraiment aucune idée de à quoi peut bien servir leur technologie
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
AI creates truly new possibilities
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Peter Higgs of Boson fame is an example: he had tenure despite by his own admission having such low productivity that he wouldn't have kept his post in current academia. IOW little early evidence of later glory but he wasn't penalised for it.
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Jenni @jennismovingcastle.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
RIP Foucault you woulda loved writing about the government youtubing public executions.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 09/10/2026
i am genuinely shocked by the psychotic bloodthirst on display with hegseth
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
After a decade of inconceivable lows, you'd think you'd be numb, but this is actually shocking.
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Der Fisher @blackholefun.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Unpopular opinion: LLMs are generally deradicalizing people whose beliefs are based on pure propaganda. I've been watching this happen slowly with some people I care about. ChatGPT is one of the reasons they finally accept that the NRA, OAN, and NewsMax are lying to them.
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I taught a PC-lab earlier, where one of the examples contained a €-sign. Wandering around the room, I noticed more than one student had googled "how to enter a Euro sign"... AltGr-4, mostly (except on my laptop where inexplicably it is accent-key/=/C)
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Chris Adams @mrchrisadams.net · 07/10/2026
I guess this is the week Bluesky answers this vital question
The "press two button meme", with "I hate AI more" as one button and "I hate Adobe more" as the other
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Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
the tech industry is about to invent books
Andrew Yeung 
@andruyeung
X.com
We created gyms because modern day work no
longer required physical activity. Without exercise,
our muscles atrophy.
I predict we'll need gyms for our brains too, once Al
starts doing our knowledge work.
10:53 PM • 10/4/26 • 1.3M Views
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Dr Dean Burnett @drdeanburnett.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"By using AI, tasks like essays that used to take hours can be completed in minutes!" Sure, like how if I arrive at the gym and immediately go for a shower, my workout is done in record time. And if I throw my sandwiches straight in the bin, I can finish my lunch in under 10 seconds.
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
2 sides of the climate debate 1: The science is clear: phase out fossil fuels ASAP. By intergovt cooperation as individual actions won't do it 2: Phasing out FFs needs a level of intergovt capacity to regulate capitalism that doesn't exist & can't be allowed to develop. Enjoy the warm weather!
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Jeffrey Archer has died - here is the obituary of Monica Coghlan www.heraldscotland.com/news/1216989...
heraldscotland.com
Misogyny killed Monica many years before she died
When poor Monica Coghlan died in a car crash last week, it was a result both pitiful and inevitable. The rightful order had been restored. Justice had been done. Her sad, brief life was over: she had ...
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A bit like Eoghan Murphy, can't understand why he's not loved by the people, after all his hard work and sacrifice.
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Brandon - "Fietser" @americanfietser.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"But the handicapped need cars!" No, what they need are options in mobility. The tech exists to enable their freedom of independent mobility, but almost always what is lacking is the enabling infrastructure. Bike lanes and quality sidewalks serve everyone.
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Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcculloch.com · 08/09/2026
I have received news of a perfectly named cafe located on the waterfront of Nova Scotia's capital, if you know what I mean
"Broken Man cafe" sign on a big plate glass window, through which one can see cafe tables and chairs and backs of people's heads. In the distance, a sign indicates that this is Pier 22 on the Halifax waterfront
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
We really need to stop treating Chait as serious. He's a lagger on 50% of what he writes. He's nuts on the other 50%.
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Dino Carpentras @justanormaldino.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
1/ People who feel optimistic about AI tend to agree with one another. But people who worry about AI? Not so much. A belief-network analysis of six questions about AI and technology reveals a striking asymmetry. 🧵
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
#notallbirds
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
It's hard to understand what MAGA is doing here: destroying one of the jewels in the crown, part of America's greatest competitive advantage, the world-beating system of research universities. Grift and destruction, at the cost of the US's future. Handing the 21st century to China.
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Soraya Morvan Smith @smorvansmith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Si ça ne déclenche pas un scandale, je ne sais plus quoi dire. Les images de @remybuisine.bsky.social montrent un homme frapper la vitre d’un Chicken Street devant les pandores qui semblent trouver ça tout à fait normal. WTF?
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M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Naomi Klein Is Spot On.......
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Today, 8 years ago, my friend, Saudi Journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered.
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Declan Gaffney @greyskiesthinking.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
How long before the MAGA schismatics start baptising LLMs?
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Gerard Cunningham @faduda.eurosky.social · 02/10/2026
I guess Zelensky had some cards after all..
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Ridiculous maybe, but no laughing matter. #LOL
Torso of a man in shirt and tie, wearing an Orange Order sash with LOL (Loyal Orange Lodge) on one side and the lodge number on the other
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Are these Hegseth T-tests, or Gosset?
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Marc Scully @marcscully.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Behavioural Science in 2026.
The Homer stonecutter meme.

Top image: Remove the stone of "Terrible MTurk data"
Bottom image: Attach the stone of "Terrible synthetic sample data"
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Dean Buckley @deanbuckley.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
there has been remarkably little interest from the Irish press in the takeover of Mount Melleray by a private American university owned by a billionaire with close ties to Opus Dei that recently experienced a major outbreak of measles and has a statue of Charlie Kirk being embraced by Jesus
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Cethan Leahy @cethanleahy.com · 30/09/2026
I think we underrate that JCO came up in 20th century New York literary circles where everyone said five most devastating insults before breakfast and as one of the last one standing, her competition is guys who get sad if their chatbot isn't sufficiently nice to them.
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Colin Harvey @cjharvey1.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Anyone in public life who does not understand what the Garvaghy Road means to every strand of the nationalist/republican community in the North does not deserve to be taken seriously.
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Darach Ó Séaghdha @darach.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
The significance of this isn't that U2 are cool or anything, but rather that they only back a horse when the race is over. --------- U2 jointly condemn Israel over Gaza as Bono admits his past statements 'circled the subject' jrnl.ie/6786986
jrnl.ie
U2 jointly condemn Israel over Gaza as Bono admits his past statements 'circled the subject'
In a lengthy statement posted to social media, the four members of the band individually set out their stances on the war raging within Gaza.
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Cover image of Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu (earlier than Stoker, but with lesbian vampires).
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
An afterthought: "rural" is probably a stand-in for "provincial". As a word & idea, provincial seems outdated, but the relationship of periphery to centre is as relevant as ever. The centre is no longer Dublin or London, but Silicon Valley, SF, NY, DC etc, & Limerick is remote & inconsequential.
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
AI is a boon for Loyalists. See also their substitutes for murals (AI images printed on polythene tarpaulins to string up on gables) -- I think their lads on the ground are too busy supervising "business" to develop artistic skills. (e.g., www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/loyalis...)
belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Loyalist south Belfast group threaten against removal of ‘racist’ AI banner
A loyalist group has said anyone intending to remove an AI banner in south Belfast that has been labelled racist must think “long and hard” of what the outcome will be.
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Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 @lookitup.baby · 30/09/2026
BREAKING NEWS: “Do geese see God” is a palindrome
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Hooded vs carrion crow distribution www.reddit.com/r/crows/comm...
reddit.com
From the crows community on Reddit: The Crow Divide: Carrion vs. Hooded Crowranges in Europe [OC]
Explore this post and more from the crows community
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