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Steve Riddle

@riddsteve.bsky.social
125 followers 237 following 40 posts

Academic, walker, photographer, accidental haikuist and player of Northumbrian pipes, not necessarily in that order. Working at School of Computing, Newcastle university. Playing somewhere across Northumberland, UK

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Reposted by Steve Riddle
HappyToast @happytoast.co.uk · 15/10/2026
such a horrifying ending
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
"The AI industry reminds me of those serial killers who are desperate to get caught, so they keep sending notes to the police that read 'pLeAsE sToP mE'. But everyone just assumes they're doing it for attention."
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Really enjoyed this from the 3 Tynes podcast - lovely music and conversation substack.com/@3tynespodca...
substack.com
Yaryna Kvitka: musician, artist and performer from Ukraine
Today, my guest is Yaryna Kvitka, a singer, artist and performer whose upbringing in western Ukraine has created a love of tradition in both folk music and her country.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I, a human, wrote and drew this cartoon with my human body and sent it to human art printers who printed it with their human hands and you a human (?) can now buy a ltd edition print of it in my shop! Link in bio
[Scene is a kitchen, a person is boiling some peas on the hob]

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PERSON 1:
Oh dear! 

PERSON 2:
What is it babe?

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PERSON 1:
I am so overwhelmed with cooking these peas...

PERSON 2:
You mean you’re not using AI peas?

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PERSON 1:
AI peas?

PERSON 2:
They’re peas with AI!

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PERSON 2:
AI powered peas harness the potential of your peas

PERSON 1:
What

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PERSON 2 [Now in voice-over as hi tech meaningless graphics play]:

Taking your peas to the next level with new AI features powering your peas

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PERSON 2 [V/O over increasingly ridiculous graphics]:
Each pea has AI in a way we haven’t quite worked out yet but it’s fine

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PERSON 2:
Putting  AI to work for your peas and connecting every corner of your peas
 
PERSON 1:
Peas don’t have corners 

PERSON 2:
It does not matter!

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PERSON 2:
Our game-changing PEA-AI gives you the freedom to get the peas done 

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PERSON 2:
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas

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PERSON 2:
to spending millions on adding AI to the peas and then having to work out what that means

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PERSON 1:
Is it necessary to - 

PERSON 2 [grabbing her buy the cardigan]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET

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[Advert ending image showing the product, a bag of peas, with its slogan]

PEA-I AI PEAS WITH AI

Just ‘peas’ for God’s sake buy the AI peas


[Ends]
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Charles Fourier @charlesfourier.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Well that was both a weird as I'd hoped and as unnerving as I'd feared. I was probably more unsettled by the conversation with Carrie Quinlan than anything else. I do hope she's ok. Time to go back and listen to both series..
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Newcastle University School of Computing @computingnewcastle.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Is AI good for education? That's the question being considered in this recent From Newcastle podcast, with School of Computing's Phillip Lord and Dean of Postgraduate Research David Kennedy from @sagencl.bsky.social. 🎧 lnkd.in/eYmwuHfA #ArtificialIntelligence #FromNewcastle #HigherEducation
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Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
2026 basically
A photo of an ice cream machine with a sign reading, "Anything is possible with ice cream." Beneath that is a hand lettered sign reading, "No ice cream".
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Simon Mayo @simonmayo.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
My favourite movie line. Thank you Rob Reiner.
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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out
A man with a spectacular 1970s mullet, wearing big wellies and a v-neck jumper over a T-shirt, looks at camera as he stands on a boat which is itself standing on the muddy bottom of an empty canal. He is holding up an enormous wooden plug on a long chunky chain
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K. Thor Jensen @kthorjensen.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
The singularity is awesome
Google search for “all you can eat buffet near me”
Al Overview
To find an all-you-can-eat buffet near you, you can use online search engines like Google or Yelp, specifying "all you can eat buffet near me". These searches will typically provide a list of nearby restaurants offering buffet-style dining, including their addresses, contact information, and customer reviews. You can also refine your
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Davenant 📸 @marcdavenant.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Study shows that relying on generative AI kills off your critical thinking skills. gizmodo.com/microsoft-study-finds-r…
gizmodo.com
Microsoft Study Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills
Researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University warn that the more you use AI, the more your cognitive abilities deteriorate.
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.mastodon.org.uk.ap.brid.gy · 09/05/2025
#DailyHaikuPrompt - lush Howway bonny lad Ham pease pudding, that's ma bait Geet lush stotty cyek #haiku Happy Geordie cliché haiku Friday
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.mastodon.org.uk.ap.brid.gy · 11/04/2025
Sneaking in a few days in Dublin before heading back to work next week. Beautiful weather today for a train trip to Howth, walking on the cliffs for a couple of hours. The smell of that gorse.. #dublin #howth #cliffs #lighthouse #walking
View across undulating clifftop towards a promontory with a lighthouse at the end. A bay beyond this, with land rising on the horizon. Blue skies, blue sea. Yellow gorse flowers adorn the clifftop merging together into middle distance.Yellow gorse in foreground gives way to cliffs dropping sharply into a cove, seabirds nesting in the cliffs. Blue sea beyond, and a ferry on the horizon heading towards the port at Dun Laoghaire
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Heard Island Government @heardislandgov.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Rico: “They’ll never know we exported anything from their science love shack.” Julian: “If the Albatross find out, this will blow back” Rico: “I say we green light.” Howard Lutnick: …. Rico: “We are currently clean on Opsec”.
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Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Passing on a plug from my federated alterego...
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Faculty of Science, Agriculture & Engineering @ Newcastle Uni @sagencl.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
🚀 Join Dr. @aimafidon.bsky.social this week at our #PublicLecture as she explores the future of tech, innovation, and diversity in STEM! Don't miss this inspiring talk from a leading voice in technology and education ➡️ tinyurl.com/3kwebtze #WomenInSTEM #TechInnovation
A promotional banner for a British Science Week event at Newcastle University. The left side features a photograph of Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, a social entrepreneur and computer scientist, wearing a yellow dress and a blue beaded necklace. She is holding a stack of books titled 'She's In Ctrl' and smiling at the camera. The right side has a dark blue background with white text providing event details: 'In conversation with Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon,' scheduled for Thursday, 13 March at 5:30 PM in Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building. It includes a call to book a free place at www.ncl.ac.uk/events/public-lectures. The Newcastle University logo is displayed at the top, and the 'INSIGHTS' logo appears at the bottom right.
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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Snippet from QAA Insights Conference focused on AI featuring great insights from Prof Mary Davis (Oxford Brookes) and Prof David Webster (University of Liverpool) 🤖 bilt.online/ai-compassio... #artificialintelligence #AI #highereducation #academia #qaa #academicintegrity
bilt.online
AI, compassion and the future for HE
Higher Education continues to face thorny challenges thanks to AI, as outlined at this week’s QAA Insights Conference. In one of the breakout groups titled “compassion in education” two speakers pr…
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Today's university in crisis is Kingston, which is cutting all the departments and subjects below, a savage retrenchment that won't even make them half of the £20m savings they need. Every day will be like this until something is done.
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.mastodon.org.uk.ap.brid.gy · 27/02/2025
An old friend will call Listen and remember then Book on the next train #DailyHaikuPrompt - friend #haiku #senryu
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Spydere man Spydere Man Doth al things a spydere kan Sondrye webbes he kan weaven Thieves lyke flyes he kan cacchen Lo, anon cometh Spydere Man
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Paul Greatrix @registrarism.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
This is an extremely helpful review on @hepi-news.bsky.social of a book I didn't want to read before and definitely do not need to do so now. As @profstevenjones.bsky.social sharply observes "Why is it that only ‘cancelled’ academics seem to have media agents?" www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/02/15/w...
hepi.ac.uk
WEEKEND READING: Matt Goodwin's 'Bad Education' isn’t good scholarship, but does that matter? - HEPI
In Bad Education, Matt Goodwin makes the argument that Western universities have moved ‘sharply and radically to the left’ (p.51) over the last six decades, to the extent that diversity is now deemed ...
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
“Is there any evidence that people with, to quote Trump, ‘severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities’ can become air-traffic controllers? There's more evidence that they just end up President of the US.” @mrkennycampbell.bsky.social @pimlicat.bsky.social
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.mastodon.org.uk.ap.brid.gy · 19/01/2025
#DailyHaikuPrompt - pebble A beach of shingle Retreating waves drag across Loud whispering stones #haiku #poetry
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Unexpectedly having a few days in That London, if we still call it that. View from Primrose Hill as the sun goes down, still unbeatable.
Early evening view across grassy slopes to London skyline, clear cold sky and long shadows across the grass. Girl sitting left foreground, long black hair. Middle distance, right, a couple sat together. All facing towards the city.
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Bylines Scotland @bylines.scot · 31/12/2024
The UK government’s consultation on AI is not fit for purpose, seeking to benefit big tech at the expense of creative talents | Jennie Kermode @jenniekermode.bsky.social
bylines.scot
Stop, thief! Writers and artists deserve protection from AI developers
The UK government’s consultation on AI is not fit for purpose, seeking to benefit big tech at the expense of creative talents
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.mastodon.org.uk.ap.brid.gy · 30/12/2024
#DailyHaikuPrompt - December At last December Takes the hint and slips away Key under the mat #haiku
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.mastodon.org.uk.ap.brid.gy · 16/12/2024
Welcome to the world A new daughter, granddaughter This morning her first Breath - #dailyHaikuPrompt A very personal one this morning, but the prompt was just too perfect. So, just call me grandpa. Lily born just after 3am, mother and baby doing very well.
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
It's a brand new podcast (episode) For twenty twenty (four) They Might Be Giants brand new album ... A fantastic, and surprisingly comforting, episode referencing a surprising number of songs that aren't actually on the album. Loved it.
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Marc Burrows @20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk · 09/12/2024
I'm not saying that AI-written books are becoming a problem on Amazon, but here is the first page of a new book on the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege.
The forweord to a history book that begins "I understand you're looking for a 3000-word foreword for your book that ...", obviously written by ChatGPT The cover of a book called THE SEIGE THAT SHOCKED BRITAIN - London's Iranian Embassy, 1980, by Diane Fairweather. The image is black and white and shows a figures in combat gear looking out of a window.
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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
“Taking Britain out of the Erasmus+ programme was a huge mistake. Labour must rejoin and accept the EU’s offer of a youth mobility scheme” 👏👏👏
sussexbylines.co.uk
Bring back Erasmus+ and youth mobility in Europe
Taking Britain out of the Erasmus+ programme was a huge mistake. Labour must rejoin and accept the EU’s offer of a youth mobility scheme
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Adam Sharp @adamcsharp.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
What Joe Bloggs (just normal men) are known as in seven different languages: 7. Joe Little Carrot (Slovak) 6. Otto Normalconsumer (German) 5. Wang Number Five (Mandarin) 4. Average Svensson (Swedish) 3. Name Nameson (Danish) 2. Mid-range Vasya (Russian) 1. Statistical Kowalski (Polish)
A poster of the film The Magnificent Seven, edited (by the brilliant marc blanc) to show the seven Joe Bloggs alternatives (Statistical Kowalski, Otto Normalconsumer etc.) under the image (of seven cowboys on horses)
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Sad indeed. And "... perhaps the saddest part of the story will be the ending of the scheme which Windows had with young musicians, whereby they could rent an instrument out to see if it suited them before buying it…", absolutely - great scheme for violin rental when the kids were at school
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David Quantick @quantick.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
So... some years ago I made up a horse for a joke. And AI took me seriously.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Big fact-check on lots of the immigration lies being amplified today by the usual grifters. Please boost.
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 22/11/2024
I did it! I wrote up my Posting Middle Classes Theory, and tried to explain why I think Threads failed where Bluesky succeeded: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/down-in-th... (free to read)
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Cʜʀɪs Sᴛᴇɪɴ @chrisstein.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
@icysedgwick.bsky.social congratulations, Dr! Enjoy the official ceremony bit 🎓
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Excellent starter pack, best I've seen so far. RIP Geoff.
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Steve Riddle @riddsteve.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
So this mastodon bridge thing is fun, I'm now following myself (my alter-ego over there is generally concerned with haikus, for which I make no apology)
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George O. Wood @gwood.dev · 14/11/2024
Oh dear, Meta isn’t having a good day, is it? ground.news/article/eu-s...
ground.news
EU slaps Meta with a nearly 800 million euro fine for engaging in 'abusive' Marketplace practices
European Union regulators hit Facebook parent Meta with a fine of nearly 800 million euros on Thursday for what they call “abusive practices” involving its Marketplace online classified ads business.
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