iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Prof Laurie Stras

CN Lester 🏳️‍⚧️ @cnlester.bsky.social · 6h

I think a lot about the fact that mocking/refusing/throwing outrage at the idea of building resilience used to be an easy way of promoting yourself and growing your audience in certain online circles. What are the incentives for brand growth vs. community health?

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...

But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I saw this at a community screening last night (Penge Climate Collective) and I was blown away. See it, take it to heart, but use it to do something 1/ www.nebriefing.org/the-film

nebriefing.org

National Emergency Briefing

A 50-min film centred around the National Emergency Briefing. The frank facts, but also the huge opportunity if Government steps up and leads a WW2-scale response. Designed to be watched by communitie...

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Dr Dion Georgiou 🇨🇾❤️🇬🇾 @drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Now subscribe Lucy Powell to the UCU mailing list

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Dean Barker @deanbarker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Just as they do with temps, humidity, etc., weather stations should put out a Harpsichord Intensity number to help ppl sort out their day, ranging from "can barely tell the difference from piano hammer felt" to "sound of metal ripping apart." app.idagio.com/albums/domen...

app.idagio.com

Domenico Scarlatti: 14 Sonatas

Listen to Domenico Scarlatti: 14 Sonatas by Aapo Häkkinen, Domenico Scarlatti. Stream now on IDAGIO

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Elizabethan playhouses were supplied by a network of tailors, merchants & craftswomen. Their names survive in records, but little is known about their lives. I’m working on new research that brings the stories of these makers & traders centre stage. Here is the project in biscuit (cookie) form. 🍪

A photograph of eight rectangular biscuits (cookies) arranged in two rows on a square white plate. The plate is framed on all sides by a trailing vine pattern in green with pops of red. The biscuits are mostly in shades of ivory, cream, yellow, and grey, with a burst of vivid red and blue in one corner of the arrangement. Moving across the top row of biscuits from left to right, the designs include: neat lines of handwritten names in an early modern parish register; a section of a hand-drawn map from 1561 featuring St Paul’s Cathedral, with street names like ‘Carter Lane’ visible in a tiny spiky font; an extract of text from a funerary monument printed in an early modern book, ending ‘So transitory is our glory’; a section of embroidery from a funeral pall featuring metallic silver armour, crossed gold keys, and two hands holding up a crown. The biscuit designs on the bottom row include: horses prancing past shopfronts on Cheapside in the mid-sixteenth century; a receipt written in early modern secretary hand, which is difficult to read; a portrait of a stern-looking women dressed in a ruff, pearls, and sober dark clothing; swirling calligraphy and dense secretary hand featuring on a will dating from 1638.

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Dr Ella Hawkins @ellamchawk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Together with historian Dr Anouska Lester, I’m trawling through documents like the ones biscuified here to show how integral tradespeople were to the early modern theatre industry. The project is titled ‘Shakespeare’s Makers’. Stay tuned for our findings!

A bullet-point list of the sources used to create this biscuit set. The text reads as follows:

The items depicted in this biscuit set include:

Top row (from left to right)
- The parish register for Saint Mary Magdalen, Milk Street (1559-1653)
- The Agas Map of London (1561)
- John Stow’s 'Survey of London' (1633)
- The Fishmongers’ Funeral Pall (c.1512-38), a richly embroidered textile piece used to adorn the coffins of members of the Fishmongers’ livery company

Bottom row (from left to right)
- An anonymous 1809 engraving depicting Cheapside c.1547
- A receipt documenting the sale of clothing to Elizabethan theatre impresario Philip Henslowe
- A portrait of Dame Barbara Stone (c.1605), wife of Sir William Stone, Clothworker
- The will of Jane Heath (1638), wife of Richard Heath, Mercer

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Writing up a paper that was already random sources strung together with gossamer threads of musicology. Realising I should do the time-honoured thing of starting at the end. Whereas a paper can be a detective story leading to a big reveal, it's rarely a good idea to write the chapter like that.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Why EVER use AI for anything? A related question: did you know the word "gullible" isn't in the dictionary?

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Chris Kluwe @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We could have bridges, Ed. We could have windmills, and solar, and public transit across the entire goddamned country. Instead we’re doing this, and it’s driving me a little insane!

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Moraa Unredacted @omoraa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Don’t make legends out of them by calling them the Cornell 7. Call them what they are: the Cornell rapists.

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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The humanities have been calling out genAI theft since the jump, while STEM has rallied around “discovery potential”. I am *ONCE AGAIN* reminding EVERYONE that science is not the sacred cow, STEM isn’t the exception. They are going to steal our IP, too. We aren’t special.

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Aida @aidap.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Labour banned trans women from its women's conference floor ~200 turned up to a hall that used to hold 1,000 Unison, Usdaw and every affiliated union stayed away over that one issue Labour's own ballot sheet: zero union votes on 4 of 6 motions. No mandate angryaida.substack.com/p/its-offici...

angryaida.substack.com

It's official: Labour's transphobia has no mandate from women across the UK

Labour held its women's conference, barred trans women from the hall, and women across the country stayed away.

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Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is the clearest possible example of how trans exclusion harms women's rights. This conference hosted important discussions about a whole range of critical issues, but its decisions were devalued by the fact that the party capitulated to the threat of lawfare. Transphobia harms all women.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I do wish that the university education = employment skills equation could be quietly, unceremoniously dropped from every opinion piece on universities' futures. In the 4 cases cited below, vocational training existed separately from university first degrees before the polytechnics were vaporised.1/

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Kirkdale Bookshop @kirkdalebooks.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I just misread something as "counter-tenor police".

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Kimberley Johnson @kimberleyjohnson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

But I need to smile more.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Many joyous responses to this, and none (I hope) intended to shame the students. Even so, may I offer the following as a counterbalance. In 2003, I used this video for an in-class analysis teaching Mulvey’s “male gaze” essay 1/ www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/i...

nfsa.gov.au

Do It with Madonna music video by the Androids

The Androids’ 2002 single 'Do It with Madonna' stands out as a satirical pop-rock commentary on celebrity culture of the early 2000s.

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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Cannot tell you how much I hate this & how ashamed & angry I am that @ukri.org have taken this step. We KNOW this sort of gAI is socially biased, we KNOW it favours slopAI output over human-written. Our research landscape is falling apart due to underfunding, & they do this? it's *appalling*

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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky

I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking.

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review. Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage. To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

nfsa.gov.au

Do It with Madonna music video by the Androids

The Androids’ 2002 single 'Do It with Madonna' stands out as a satirical pop-rock commentary on celebrity culture of the early 2000s.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Next Monday my kid starts his first week studio teaching in UKHE. One wolf is screaming, you said you'd never let your children follow you into work, plus it's a shitty employer in dispute with the union. The other wolf is bursting with pride and happiness to see his long-term ambition fulfilled...

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Naomi Smith @pimlicat.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

✍️ Can you help us reach our petition target? We need the EU, or risk being left out of the biggest team-up of our allies for 80 years. Urge the PM not to let the UK be left behind. bestforbritain.org/petition/tel...

bestforbritain.org

Tell Burnham: Canada's Getting Closer to the EU - We Don't Want to be Left Behind - Best for Britain

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"Tommo" was arrested on suspicion of four possible crimes, say police www.hampshire.police.uk/news/hampshi...

Police press release. For text see the link.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Much mirth watching the fash argue over the power of language.

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Beyond Fossil Fuels @beyondfossilfuels.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

There is little evidence to suggest AI can lead to emissions reductions. A new report by @ketanjoshi.co and a consortium of climate groups has found Nvidia’s indirect emissions have risen by a dramatic 725% since 2020. www.euronews.com/next/2026/09...

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Gary Bainbridge @garybainbridge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

When "white sauce" in fish pie Contains cheese, it’s a lie. That’s a mornay.

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Professor Lisa Johnson (known as Lisa Colton) @lisacolton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

AHRC PhD funding for 9 awards at Universities of Liverpool, RNCM, and Lancashire, for 2027 start. Deadline for Expressions of Interest 1 Dec. Themes include craft, care and curation, archival work, and options to work as part of collaborative arrangements. ahrc-crafting-care.ac.uk/home/how-to-...

ahrc-crafting-care.ac.uk

How to Apply

The competition for October 2027 Entry is now open! The application process has two stages: Expressions of Interest are invited from prospective candidates by the 1st December 2026, after which sho…

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🍺Donald Clarke 🎥 @donaldclarke.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

But… this is excellent

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I may, just may, have written a #SRSlygood abstract about an impossible object biography. #nuntastic, too, of course.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

All the UK’s soft power in higher ed and creative industries circling down the drain (bless those of us at the intersection) and not a peep from the government. @elliereeves.bsky.social , constituent here, why is this being allowed to happen?

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Darach Ó Séaghdha @darach.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Reminded of this in light of recent events.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Well, lots of ripe olives on our olive tree that is breathing free since we took down the bay next to it. But how to get them down? #gardenrenovation

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paranormal mattivity @windows98support.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A skate park does more to reduce knife crime than “more bobbies on the beat”, the only difference is middle class white people are scared of groups of kids at skate parks and they’re comforted by the presence of the police.

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I once saw a consultant who told me that since pain like mine was notoriously resistant to pharmacological treatment, Jameson was fine. But in all seriousness, this headline? Go home, @financialtimes.com, you’re drunk and spouting nonsense. The only answer to the question is, tea.

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

every day of my life I think about the people using “she” to describe this computer program who still need to be convinced to use it for trans women

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

these people axed their writing center

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Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

PAUL: What’s in the box? REVEREND MOTHER BUT SHE'S AN ARCHIVIST: Pain. [PAUL hesitantly puts his hand in the BOX, then FROWNS IN CONFUSION. He pulls out his hand covered in STICKY TAPE.] REVEREND MOTHER BUT SHE'S AN ARCHIVIST: Awful, right?

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It's Pipes, Mum! Pipes is here! @scriblit.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The person with the music written on their arse from Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights has pulled out of Ed Sheeran's tour

A bare bum with music written on it. Someone is pointing at it all 'look! Arse music!'

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Sexy Plato's Cave @andrewblair.co.uk · 16/09/2026

The arts industry in the UK: we contribute so much money to the economy but we are dying, please help Lisa Nandy: Village Parish Council: we held a pretend referendum Lisa Nandy: I'm listening

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

All local pharmacies out of my migraine meds for the last four weeks. Trying not to cry in public. Why is everything so crap?

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