The Welsh universities are by far the most exposed to collapse. And yet the country's election campaign sees not one serious thought on what to do. (1/2)
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/wales-n...
I’ve set up a petition, please do sign if you feel able too:
petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/24...
@cilipcymru.bsky.social @whelfed.bsky.social
#BookSky #Literacy
Crikey. AI agent posts a code fix and it's rejected due to human-only policy. The agent then posted a personal takedown slur against the person who banned it on a public website in retaliation 😱
github.com/matplotlib/m...
Bud Cort in HAROLD AND MAUDE.
RIP Bud Cort. Harold, Brewster and so much more.
I'd watch a muppet show movie where the muppets infiltrate an academic conference.
I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
A major new report has revealed the extraordinary role Wales’s bookshops play in sustaining local communities, nurturing culture and strengthening the Welsh language
Italian voice actor Carlo Bononi was the voice of all of the characters on Pingu. A trained clown by trade, he used a theater technique called grammelot, which consists of "speaking" in a mix of babbled gibberish noises. He improvised all the voices live and unscripted.
Do you work in a UK HE library? Are you early-career? Would you like a sponsored place to attend the Copim Conference at the end of February?
Find out how to apply for these sponsored places, which are offered in memory of our beloved friend and colleague, Elaine Sykes: buff.ly/sbU2eRP
#OAbooks
If I were a politician planning to defect to another party, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t do it while The Traitors was on.
Do you produce an Actual Play?
Do you want it to be available to the public in 10+ years?
Upload to the Internet Archive! I made a checklist to walk you through it, and to help us coordinate.
Librarians are wonderful. “Use AI to explore. Use libraries to verify. Use your brain to evaluate.”
It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵
Baxter Dury on stage in Bristol
Cracking Baxter Dury gig in Bristol last night. Ears still ringing.
This is terrifying.
"[AI agents] can... infer a researcher's latent hypotheses and produce data that artificially confirms them."
...
"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people" -@seanjwestwood.bsky.social
Tawny owl
Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.
After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵
It’s a beautiful hypnotic installation and the artist’s name is Céleste Boursier-Mougenot.
It's now thirty years since Wales' most brilliantly unique band Super Furry Animals released the 'Llanfairpg (In Space)' EP. To celebrate, Leon Barton enlisted the help of a selection of prominent Furry fans to compile the 30 greatest SFA songs
"During a period of major economic challenges for the UK’s higher education sector, the N8 statement highlights the unsustainable nature of the current publishing ecosystem and calls for alternatives that are financially viable, transparent, and aligned with the values of open research."
Just a week left! The only way to get a book is through the Crowdfund...
THANK YOU so much for all the support with this! So chuffed that people want to see Valleys communities represented 😍
Carpanini's Cardiff Arms Cafe, Treorchy
All purchase details www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/valleys-ph...
Amazing new exhibition at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea: Tigers and Dragons, looking at Mother India and Mother Wales, and the colonial history, through the most astounding artworks. It's running for 6 months, so no excuse not to go! Amazing watching Nikhil Chopra do a live installation1/3
can't remember who I'm quoting here, but: the most disappointing moment of the 90s was hearing the rest of Spaceman by Babylon Zoo
Via Jennifer Lynch. Hollywood Forever Cemetery. That’s a hell of a gravestone.
There's a very demoralizing thread on the code4lib list where all the libraries describe how they're getting hammered by AI crawlers who behave basically like bot-nets trying to DDoS servers. (Along these lines: go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2025/03/ai-b... ) 1/2
How to start a conversation with a cat in seven different countries...
7. Pss-pss-pss (England)
6. Kiss-kiss-kiss (Finland)
5. Pish-pish-pish (Iran)
4. Mee-mee-mee (Myanmar)
3. Minou-minou-minou (France)
2. Ming-ming-ming (Philippines)
1. What’s new pussycat, whoa, oh whoa (Wales)
We now subscribe to @elicit.com - an advanced AI tool that allows you to use natural language to quickly and easily find and analyse journal articles.
Information on how to create an account so you can access all the features is available here: xerte.cardiff.ac.uk/play_22575
Like everyone else - I have some thoughts on the Clarivate announcement: tinyurl.com/35jxfnwc
Not just a change in the model, but a representation of a larger shift in the landscape, and the dangers of monopolies and market consolidation - threatening the core mission of libraries globally.
