iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 23/10/2026

I wrote to my local TDs about the DRCC kerfuffle and got a response from one, the office of Deputy Joe Neville. Here's a screenshot, and I've put the text in the Alt box. I've yet to hear what "in many ways was counterproductive" actually means. What ways? How exactly was it counterproductive?

Screenshot of a response from the office of Deputy Joe Neville to a letter I wrote making a point about the inappropriateness of Jim O'Callaghan's comments and actions regarding the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre ad on Consent. The text is as follows:

Hi Stephen,

I hope that you are well.

Deputy Neville is fully aware of the important work that the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre including the 'We -Consent' programme they run aimed at informing, educating, and engaging all member of society about consent.

While it is vital to ensure that people understand the concept of consent when it comes to sexual relationships, this video did not advance that aim and in many ways was counterproductive.

We all agree that talking about consent is important if we want to stem the tide of sexual violence.

This video should not take away from the fact that that work is really important and is part of wide range of services and activities that Cuan, the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, funds on behalf of the Government. The overall We Consent programme is funded and supported by Cuan. But this is not a Government advertising campaign, and we are of the view that this isn't the best way to communicate this message.

Warm regards,
Síofra Nee

Office of Deputy Joe Neville
Teachta Dála Kildare North
01 6184197

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 21/10/2026

From the article, "Contra Literacy-Laundering...", a good point showing the issue with a top down push for AI use. In a HE context, neither lecturers nor students have the bandwidth to verify outputs to the extent necessary to mitigate inevitable error production. zenodo.org/records/2122...

Screenshot from a preprint article entitled: "Contra Literacy-Laundering: Mechanistic Critical AI Literacy", by Ishani Ray and Olivia Guest, 2026.

Text reads: "Once generation is understood in these terms, the relevant issue is not only how individual outputs should be interpreted, but also how such systems reshape the epistemic environments into which they are introduced. The characterization of generative AI as an “epistemic carcinogen” is instructive here (Berman, 2025). Training on surface form rather than grounded reference, the production of statistically averaged and highly compressible text, and the absence of sensitivity to error in the human sense, make it possible to generate large volumes of knowledge-like content at negligible cost and to scale its circulation across communicative and evaluative systems. The risk, then, emerges at the level of epistemic ecology, where the ease of producing knowledge- like discourse lowers the cost of saturation and increases the burden on already strained mechanisms of verification, whose capacity does not expand at a comparable rate. In short, the stochastic parrot cannot bottom out its own representations; the cognitive labor that produces epistemically committed writing is the very work that LLM delegation forecloses (Schwerzmann, 2026)."

The third and fourth sentences are highlighted yellow.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 07/10/2026

I bought this maybe 20 years ago, but it was made in the 50s, a Weston Master II exposure meter. It has never let me down. I even use it when shooting digital, because I can trust its readings, and I can't trust digital cameras to do exactly what I want. #analog #filmphotography

Photo of a black Weston Master II light meter, with a white face, white dial and red plate. It's very well worn.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 06/10/2026

This glass thing filled with endless cubicles where people no doubt have jobs that involve excel sheets and emails and meetings about meetings is where the Screen cinema once stood. I watched many fine movies there. It wasn't a pretty building, really, but at least it wasn't boring.

Some glass office block on the site of the old Screen cinema in Dublin.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 06/10/2026

This is my darling, wondering why I keep closing my eyes.

Photo of a black and white border collie who is not allowing me to nap.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 23/09/2026

What was your first computer growing up?

Advertising photo of a Commodore Vic 20, a personal computer from the late 1900s. I phrase it like that to make the GenX-ers like me feel real uncomfortable about their age.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 04/09/2026

This is my shockingly pretty Riley, checking out her new toy.

Photo of a black and white border collie looking with excitement at her new toy, a red sqeaky squid.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 03/09/2026

These two posts came in sequence and I did in fact LOL

A screenshot of two posts. The first is the post this reply answers to. The second, appearing in my timeline after it, is a screenshot of Max Schreck playing Nosferatu in the 1922 silent movie, looking behind him.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 23/08/2026

Every now and then I come back to Francis Bacon paintings. I always loved this one, well maybe not 'loved', but was fascinated by, or struck by, or disturbed by. Nowadays it makes me think of modern America. A sort of corporatised Hellraiser.

screenshot of Francis Bacon's Painting 1946. A sort of nightmarish image of a corpse-like man in a suit, an umbrella hiding his eyes, meat and flesh hanging behind him and arranged in front of him.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 11/08/2026

Your last saved meme is now your moral philosophy.

Meme showing the famous trolley problem in philosophy. Except a girl has drawn the tracks so that whatever choice is made, everyone will die.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 05/08/2026

Well hello there, spiffy new Orphic Collection! Love getting a new Loeb.

Picture of the green cover of a new Loeb Classics vilume. The text is:

Loeb Classical Library
"Oprhic Collection"
Edited by Alberto Bernabé
Translated by Michael Chase

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 02/08/2026

without downloading new pics what's it like dating you?

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 29/07/2026

I get this message at least once a week. Yet, not once in years has any update made PowerPoint better.

Screenshot of an update message in PowerPoint, which says: "Update Available PowerPoint keeps getting better - restart to apply the latest updates"

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 14/07/2026

This, to me, is a beautiful image. I don't understand why.

Black and white image of a wall with a duct in the top half, to the right of which looks like a vent. Minimalist.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 08/07/2026

This is a lovely essay, I'd never read before, by Virginia Woolf: "How Should One Read a Book? Read it as if one were writing it" yalereview.org/article/virg...

Screenshot of text from the essay linked. The final sentence is highlighted. The text reads: "But it is undoubted that these hybrid books, these warehouses and depositories of facts, play a great part in resting the brain and restoring its zest of imagination. The work of building up a life for oneself from skulls, thimbles, scissors, and sonnets stimulates our interest in creation and rouses our wish to see the work beautifully and powerfully done by a Flaubert or a Tolstoi. Moreover, however interesting facts may be, they are an inferior form of fiction, and gradually we become impatient of their weakness and diffuseness, of their compromises and evasions, of the slovenly sentences which they make for themselves, and are eager to revive ourselves with the greater intensity and truth of fiction."

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 08/07/2026

Two very small insects (just over 1mm) have found their way *inside* the screen of my iMac. I cannot shoosh them away because they're between the glass and the image. This is unusually disturbing.

A macro photo of a tiny insect inside a computer screen.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 05/07/2026

Always liked this photograph of a cat from Josef Koudelka's "Exiles", somewhere in England, 1972.

Black and white photo of a wall at the side of a house. In the centre od the wall, running down it, is a cat and its shadow.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 20/06/2026

All data centres should be required to provide their own sources of power and cooling, independent of electricy grid and local water supply.

Free speech meme, with a painting of a man standing in a crowded room to declare his opinion.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 19/06/2026

A robin has foolishly decided to nest in a small tree in our garden, about two foot off the ground. Recently it's been terrorised by magpies so I've tried to build up some branches and grass so only the robin can fit in and out. Not sure what else to do. At least 3 chicks, but probably 4.

Photograph of a robin's nest in one of our trees. Used a very long zoom lens from about a meter away. You can see the heads of two chicks clearly, and one slightly covered on the right. They are speckled light and dark brown, with lighter feathers under their beaks. They initially hid completely, but over the past few days as we've built up the branches around the tree to protect from magpies, they've started to poke their heads out to see what this big hairy human is up to.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 04/06/2026

Ah yeah. There's the auld MU in LiDAR (slightly out of date). Very cool. www.arcgis.com/apps/mapview...

A LiDAR image of the Maynooth University campus. The image is black and white, showing the North and South campuses. Information from the website: "LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing technology, i.e. the technology is not in direct contact with what is being measured. From satellite, aeroplane or helicopter, a LiDAR system sends a light pulse to the ground. This pulse hits the ground and returns back to a sensor on the system. The time is recorded to measure how long it takes for this light to return. Knowing this time measurement scientists are able to create topography maps."

I wonder if LiDAR has been or is being used to create 3D models of locations for visually impaired people to experience?

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 04/06/2026

Whether to laugh or to cry 😔... after presenting a bunch of terrifying statistics, the report then uses an AI-generated image. Most will skip the text underneath, illustrating how much such an image costs in terms of electricity, carbon footprint, water, and land. Still, hire an artist, people.

Screenshot of an AI-generated image in the 'Executive Summary' of the UN's report on the Environmental Cost of AI's Energy Use, p. 11.

The image is of a massive footprint in the dirt, with imprints like those of a shoe, but in the form of electronic circuit lines. In the background on the left are what look like 4 nuclear towers, and on the right three data centres.

The text beneath the image illustrates the environmental cost of producing such an image: "AI-generated conceptual image of AI's environmental footprint, generated using OpenAI’s ChatGPT/DALL·E, May 2026. Estimated footprints per standard-resolution AI image: 2.9 Wh electricity, 1.22 g CO₂e, 28.6 mL of water, and 0.45 cm² of land, based on literature benchmarks and global average electricity footprint factors."

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 19/05/2026

Two photos from Edinburgh, taken with the Chroma 24mm f11 lens, which is a fun lens. Basically point and shoot because there's no focusing. None needed at those specs, as everything is pretty much in focus from 1m to infinity. #photography

A black and white photograph inside one of Edinburgh's train stations, on a balcony overlooking a platform. A train is pulled up in the middle of the shot, and there are people all around. The roof is visible with criss-cross metal beams supporting everything. On the right of the image is a ramp road leading up out of the train station.

A black and white photograph of a view of Edinburgh castle which is visible at the top of the hill at the top of the photo. On the bottom left of the photo is a very large ornate fountain. The picture is taken near sunset.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 12/05/2026

I am very, very tired, and coffee has stopped making a difference.

Image of the cartoon Winnie the Pooh, an orange bear in a red t-shirt, reading a piece of paper. His eyes look very, very tired. He is exhausted.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 06/05/2026

A classic scene from Skakespeare's great work, Romeo and Juliet and Godzilla. At this point, I look forward to Godzilla's The Odyssey more than Nolan's The Odyssey.

Two colour panel's from the comic Romeo and Juliet and Godzilla. On the left panel are two characters running towards us. The one on the left says: "Here's much to do with hate, but more with love. Dost... dost thou not laugh?" The one on the right says: "No, coz, I rather weep. For retreat must, if we wish our lives to keep!"

In the panel on the right we see the giant Godzilla stomping on buildings, with our two characters running off to the right. The sound effect is written: BOOM, in large red letters as Godzilla roars.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 02/05/2026

To make custard, one takes custard powder, adds milk, and heats the lot. Or you can buy ready made custard in a carton. For some reason, the ready made contains palm oil, even though no palm oil is required in making custard from powder, or from scratch.

A photo of two varieties of Bird's Custard. On the left is a ready made carton, labelled 'ready to serve'. On the right is a tub of custard powder, which you have to prepare yourself.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 29/04/2026

I felt it would be wrong not to try this.

Photo of my hand holding a bottle of minrral, Club Sublime 99: ice cream flavour. The liquid is pink.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 17/04/2026

A view from the darkness of ignorance as I attempt to successfully navigate Loeb online, a flash of knowledge, alas, unreachable. (Francis Danby (1793-1861), The Opening of the Sixth Seal, 1828)

Painting by Francis Danby (1793-1861), The Opening of the Sixth Seal, 1828.

This is a depiction from the biblical book of Revelations of the opening of fhe sixth seal. At the top of the image is light and clouds, under which is a scene of gloom, redness from what looks like fire (or perhaps the depths of hell), suffering humans on a rocky outcrop at the bottom left. On the right of the painting is a flashing bolt of lightning, presumably the sixth seal opening. Although I don't know about Revelations, so this is just my interpretation.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 15/04/2026

This is a subskeet. People, this should not be allowed, especially when academic writers earn so little from these publishers. Also a PDF shouldn't cost the same as a printed book.

A screenshot of two purchase buttons from an unnamed website, for a book. Both buttons are blue with white text.

The first button says: Purchase eBook 109,95€

The second button says: Purchase Hardcover 109,95€

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 09/04/2026

Since I removed myself from Meta's evil place, I've taken very few photos. Just doodling around in the garden is all. And photos of Riley the dog. Haven't felt the urge in a very long time. I've probably 25-30 undeveloped rolls of mostly 120 film sitting collecting dust. Landscapes and abstract.

Black and white photo of the top branches of a tree in my back garden. It's starting to flower with white blossoms. The sky in the background is cloudy.

Close up black and white photo of some of the white blossoms on a branch of a tree in the garden.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 01/04/2026

Harry Hill's AI bot, S.A.R.A.H. (Synthetic Animatronic Robot And Helper), is the only AI for me, I think.

A screenshot from Harry Hill's podcast showing his custom AI bot, S.A.R.A.H., which stands for: Synthetic Animatronic Robot And Helper

Disbelievers may see this Ai as a human in a cardboard box covered in tin foil with stick arms that have forks on the end of them.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 25/03/2026

For me it's this, from the Silmarillion.

A photo of the first page of Chapter 19 in Tolkien's Silmarillion, titled "Of Beren and Lúthien".

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.eurosky.social · 11/03/2026

Example eleventh hundred kabillionteen of how the search engine is dead. Searching for the source of "et in arcadia, ego", I get Lance Henrickson, fine actor, but I don't remember him playing either Virgil, Poussain, or Pope Clement IX. Could be wrong though...

The text reads: '
Virgil's Eclogues
Et in Arcadia Ego source
The phrase "Et in Arcadia ego" originates from Virgil's Eclogues, where it describes the idealized Sicilian rustics and their memories of Arcadia's blissful past. Poussin's painting, which is the most famous representation of this theme, was commissioned by Pope Clement IX in 1638. The painting's inscription, "Et in Arcadia ego," is a memento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of death, set against the idyllic backdrop of Arcadia.

---

However, the image is a painting or AI generated image of Lance Henrickson looking off to the right, in a black top, white teeshirt.

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