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prof-alistair.bsky.social

@prof-alistair.bsky.social
154 followers 78 following 784 posts
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Apparently its now illegal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama’s public education system. "The Gulf of America Act took effect last week, making it state policy to use President Trump’s preferred term for the Gulf of Mexico." Wowser! www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...?
insidehighered.com
Alabama’s New “Gulf of America” Mandate Impacts Colleges
Republican lawmakers say faculty can only call it the Gulf of Mexico for “historical purposes” in academic courses. Journalists are constrained by the restriction, too.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
How about doing it for the voter register as well? Might solve quite a few problems ...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
You'd never guess it from the news and US political discourse but crime rates and incarceration rates in the US are plumeting and the murder rate is lower than it has been for a century. washingtonmonthly.com/2026/09/30/t...
washingtonmonthly.com
The Unheralded End of Mass Incarceration
America’s prison population is plummeting thanks to lower crime rates. The consequences are extraordinary.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
@robertsheppard.bsky.social Just in case you've not seen this. www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2026/09/the-...
psychedelicbabymag.com
“We Were Comedians, but We Were Serious”: The Fugs and Chuck Smith’s ‘Fugs Film!’ - It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine
Ken Weaver remembers the Fugs’ early shows, Chuck Smith explains how he pieced together ‘Fugs Film!’, and Ed Sanders takes us back to the Lower East Side
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Drop Site Daily reports the US is sending a third carrier & up to 10,000 more troops to Middle East to add to the 50,000 already there. Its also deploying Patriot batteries to Saudi Arabia & Qatar. This suggests to me Trump is looking to heat up the Iran war just in time for the mid-term elections.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
🤣🤣🤣Please don't. I nearly choked on my coffee!! I think they're bonkers enough to do it, Shouldn't give them ideas ...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If yesterday's pantomime wasn't "Cruel and unusual punishment" as banned by the Constitution, I don't know what is. Capital punishment is barbaric, & demeans both the victim and the ones involved in organising an execution. It should simply be banned in any country wanting to call itself civilised.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
And back at you too, Michael!!
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I think he just misspelt it. He meant to rename it Supper Intelligence - you know, the intelligence that you get just after T-Time Intelligence ... #Trump #AI
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
As they'd say in Scotland (usually about Edinburgh) 'all fur coat but nae knickers'.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
An important call from Thomas Ekman Jørgensen of the EUA for a response to the US policy paper 'Science - A New Golden Age' Unless we discuss, its in danger of becoming the elephant in the room. Blog & paper can be found here: #research #innovation #AI #higherEd #universities lnkd.in/d52EqXV7
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't know.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Unfortunately, Morgan should realise that he's years out of date. He forgets that as far as almost all the media is concerned today, their job is to attract eyeballs by promoting click-bait - the very approach that brought Trump, MAGA & populists everywhere close to & into power #populism #clickbait
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A chilling development in the US. Federal officials are drafting an executive order to place NIH grants under review by an outside panel, in Trump's latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending & extend control over and pressure universities. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/s...
nytimes.com
White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants (Gift Article)
Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
At last. After 6 years, a collective response to a Trump outrage. Its been for too long coming. It denies him the one thing he's desperate for - attention. #USpolitics #Trump #Media www.nytimes.com/live/2026/09...
nytimes.com
Trump Live Updates: White House TV Pool Suspends Trump Coverage After CNN Ban (Gift Article)
CNN, MS NOW and Politico said they would sue to regain access to the White House. They argued in a joint statement that President Trump’s decision to block them violates the First Amendment.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Please tell me its April Fools Day ... #eurovision www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK's 'dismal' Eurovision song choices to be examined by MPs
It comes after the UK's entry Look Mum No Computer came last in May's final, scoring just one point.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
And then along came this. #GenAI #extinction bylinetimes.com/2026/09/15/b...
bylinetimes.com
Behind the AI ‘Extinction’ Power Bid: Soaring Costs Could Hit 10% of World GDP
AI firms are invoking unproven extinction warnings to justify restrictions on developments by their smaller rivals whilst seeking greater influence over regulation
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Almost exactly what I thought although I approached it from the angle that its the university's executive groups' blueprint for its future.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Scandalous.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
As someone who lived through the 1960s (and even remembers some of it) I'll believe that GenAI is having genuine hallucinations when every false citation it produces is followed by a long exhalation and the phrase, "like far out, man ...". Should also make fake citations easier to spot ... 😎
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I concur completely. The expectation of job-ready graduates displaces the costs of job training onto the students and the State and away from themselves. I might believe in it a bit if only employers could agree amongst themselves what a job-ready graduate looks like,
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I concur with M'learned friend - delightful!
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
If that's the case, then the law's wrong and needs changing. It really is that simple. #Reform #crypto
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Just what if all the "AI is going to destroy us all" apocalypse stories were simply to take our attention from the more pressing issues demanding our attention & that carry more risk .. like climate change, never-ending wars, genocide, rascism fueled by ethno-nationalism - you know the sort of thing
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The 'job-ready' argument is simply support for the displacement of the costs of training workers away from the employer & onto the state and the individual worker or worker-to-be. In addition, its not as though employers are a homogenous group who know what they want from a graduate. I could go on
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Is GenAI making inroads into conferences? Talking about the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Johannes Schöning writes 2023 c. 9,000 submissions 2025 c. 13,000 2026 c. 29,000 Scary stuff for conference organisers! And a raft of questions about quality. interactions.acm.org/archive/view...
interactions.acm.org
What Happens When CHI Reaches 30,000 Submissions in 2030? Preparing for the Tsunami of AI-Accelerated Papers | IX Magazine Issue XXXIII.3 May - June 2026
An irony is unfolding in computer science. The AI communities that built large language models are now struggling to cope with what those models have unleashed: a rapid, accelerating...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
An excellent essay. Thanks. The right has proved able to to organise over a very long period with a long term view in mind in contrast to the left which has generally focused on more immediate issues, proclaimed victory & moved on. Conspiracy of the Left? Not a patch on the conspiracy of the Right!
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A nice piece on publishers' changing approaches to GenAI. (Personal moan. I wish that folk would use GenAI rather than the generic term 'AI' to refer to the phenomenon. We've been using AI for decades [think search engines, Word, SPSS, etc] the new bit is GenAI.) www.linkedin.com/pulse/academ...
linkedin.com
Academic publishers have changed the question they ask about AI
When ChatGPT was released at the end of 2022, academic publishers had to establish rules for generative AI at remarkable speed. The immediate concerns centred on authorship and responsibility; publish...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Oral exams (vivas) "require students to synthesize information, explain concepts in their own words, defend their reasoning, and engage in meaningful scientific dialogue". An interesting piece on the use of oral examinations as part of assessment. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
chronicle.com
The Return of the Oral Exam
The defense against AI cheating is catching on as a better way to teach.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I believe that the word odious was crafted so it could be applied to Farage.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
When will people start to realise that this renaming nonsense is part of the purposeful distraction used by this administration to keep their attention off the more fundamental issues impacting their and others lives and the absolute disaster that the US has become over recent years.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Its like no one want to learn from history any more ....
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I've watched a lot of TV coverage of the AfD's performance in the Saxony-Anhalt elections and all reports have said something like 'it'll be the first time an extreme right-wing party has held power since WW2'. I wonder if the impact would be greater if it was 'the first time since Adolf Hitler'?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Can we please resist this on grounds of both national security and good policy?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Also usual you're correct. Thanks for the vote of confidence in my posts. Genuinely appreciated. I was referring more on the style of writing than the reality being described.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Rivaled only by the provision of clean water to entire communities and nations.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If you're looking for a genuine real world unpacking of the word, bittersweet, I can highly recommend this reflection on the university management class. culture-centered.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-...
culture-centered.blogspot.com
The Suit Walks the Corridor
Mohan Dutta, Culture-centered approach, CARE, Massey University, Mohan Jyoti Dutta, Prof Mohan Dutta, Mohan J. Dutta, Communication for social change
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Agree entirely. There really should be an enquiry into the double standards that seem to apply to different groups of protesters.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Lovely!
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
#sociology Help! This may seem like a daft question but, as someone who tends to work on an interdisciplinary basis, its been meandering round my brain for a while now. What is it that identifies a piece of work as sociology other than its being in a journal with sociology in the title?
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Make sure you put the human mind at the centre as the key tool ...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Stone me ... I didn't notice. That should tell us all something ...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Indeed, Michael! And a very happy coo day to you as well.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Apparently its a thing at the moment to introduce yourself with ten acts you’ve seen live. OK ... Incredible String Band Cream John Mayall Big Brother & the Holding Company Nice Tyrannosaurus Rex The Stranglers The Pirates Pentangle Gong All excellent. Now its your turn!
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The Bird The Blues Brother
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The man is obscenely demented.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Left us all too soon. I re-read the appendix to C. Wright Mills' 1959 book The Sociological Imagination, titled "On Intellectual Craftsmanship", every year or two to reinvigorate my thinking. Fabulous piece of essential reading for any social scientist.
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Good to see Durham Uni Sociology leaving X aka Twitter, @durham.ac.uk #Sociology
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
If they've poached the scholars, perhaps someone could boil the orange frog ...
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prof-alistair.bsky.social @prof-alistair.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Guy gets exit visa for him and his girl but gives his to another bloke.
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