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Sir Ian

@sir-ian

Onetime English/radio prof, now policy guy. Media, fiction, Indigenous rights and reconciliation. Here for bad takes & worse jokes. Writing the Radio War, the Edinburgh Companion to Modernism & Technology, & DUBLINERS out now. www.ianwhittington.com

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Latest posts by Sir Ian @sir-ian

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NEWS: The Trump administration confirmed it bombed a girl’s school in Iran.

It's one of the most devastating military errors in decades.

Trump lied about it. Pete Hegseth gutted the office preventing civilian casualties.

175 are dead. Most were kids. Hegseth should be fired.

11.03.2026 16:48 πŸ‘ 4084 πŸ” 1290 πŸ’¬ 365 πŸ“Œ 160
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β€˜I wish I could push ChatGPT off a cliff’: professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI As AI has upended the way students learn, academics worry about the future of the humanities - and society at large

I'm one of many professors quoted in this report from Alice Speri. I really appreciate The Guardian taking an angle which has basically eluded every other major outlet.

10.03.2026 15:11 πŸ‘ 785 πŸ” 307 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 24

10/10 wod recommend

10.03.2026 17:34 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Ai generated image showing a human sitting at a computer performing β€œhuman adjustments”. The step is labeled β€œWod Edit”, which was presumably supposed to be β€œWord Edit”.

Ai generated image showing a human sitting at a computer performing β€œhuman adjustments”. The step is labeled β€œWod Edit”, which was presumably supposed to be β€œWord Edit”.

Actual screen grab from a workplace AI workshop. Looking forward to my important role making β€œWod edits” and other β€œhuman adjustments”.

10.03.2026 17:27 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Tiffany Watt Smith & Sheila Liming: Making Time, Making Friends β€” Toronto Public Library \nTPL presents cultural historian Tiffany Watt Smith and author Sheila Liming in conversation with hostnbsp;Scaachi Koulnbsp;at the Toronto Reference Library's Appel Salon.\nWhy is it so hard to make ...

1 week from today!

I’ll be at the Toronto Public Library w/ Tiffany Watt Smith

Come on out and hang, why dontcha?

tpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/events/69...

09.03.2026 21:11 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

The danger to my job from AI isn't that AI can do my job, it's that my job is made even more precarious by the way AI is shaping ideas of the value of work. It can't do my job, but it can be part of convincing people (incorrectly) that my job isn't necessary.

09.03.2026 20:03 πŸ‘ 524 πŸ” 165 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 6

I think this is about the temperature but honestly it works for decades as well

09.03.2026 04:09 πŸ‘ 5389 πŸ” 957 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 13

I don’t think people who haven’t met Lauren understand, this is one of the kindest people in Oxford, the University was *lucky* to employ her

and we aren’t friends really, I’ve just seen and heard of her being generous and genuine for twenty years straight

09.03.2026 03:12 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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when the edible hits and you try to play it cool

08.03.2026 18:35 πŸ‘ 4645 πŸ” 646 πŸ’¬ 31 πŸ“Œ 20

if we’re fomenting rage against First Nations because people are being given two years notice to vacate their expiring leaseholds on reserve land then we’ve kind of lost the plot

08.03.2026 18:30 πŸ‘ 470 πŸ” 72 πŸ’¬ 14 πŸ“Œ 6

This is the story btw (this report is fine, but is being decontextualized and amplified on X). It's reserve land, the 50 year lease is expiring, the Nation has previously warned they may not renew, they are now giving 2 years notice and waiving pad fees until then

cheknews.ca/residents-at...

08.03.2026 19:06 πŸ‘ 183 πŸ” 63 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 3

I had only ever heard her referred to as the second Ms du Maurier

08.03.2026 14:58 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Gorgeous!

08.03.2026 14:50 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I have a poster of this map framed on the wall and I can stare at it for hours. So much history in that soil.

07.03.2026 19:47 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

soooooo much! I knew there was greater social trust and cohesion in Canada but I didn’t know it was THIS much!

07.03.2026 01:13 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Love how the word itself is so over the top that it adds to the drama-aticness of the situation

06.03.2026 14:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Aaaah the elusive triple portmanteau!

06.03.2026 14:03 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Heard someone say β€œdramastically” (dramatically + drastically) on the radio yesterday and folks I think we should try to make that a thing. Objectively great word.

06.03.2026 13:55 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

The word β€œCompanion” on the cover is straining under the weight of multiple codings

04.03.2026 17:53 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

deliverabilis longa, vita brevis

03.03.2026 19:01 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Huzzah! Congratulations to you, and to your uni for their good sense.

02.03.2026 21:12 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Spent the morning exploring a place I hadn’t visited in maybe 25 yearsβ€”Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site. A weird day to be touring an old gun battery with loads of artillery guns pointing out to sea. But at least Fisgard Lighthouse was looking fine in the sun today.

01.03.2026 04:47 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Sup chat this is Slouching Towards Bethlehem with your boy The Rough Beast, and it looks like today’s stream could be a big one, as some of you might’ve already seen there are rumors going around social media that the hour has come round at last, so we’re gonna get right into it

28.02.2026 23:51 πŸ‘ 2366 πŸ” 646 πŸ’¬ 36 πŸ“Œ 23

Holy moly I haven’t thought about that in ages! The full thing is lost to time, unfortunately. Glad the one line lingers like (wait for it) that whiff of Axe on Fraternity Row

28.02.2026 18:01 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Lorraine Schneider, 1967

28.02.2026 11:56 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Nothing but profound sadness and rage today. Hoping against hope that this brutal day isn’t the start of much worse things for all of us.

28.02.2026 15:11 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Still from the Twin Peaks opening sequence, with β€œFRASIER” presented as the title.

Still from the Twin Peaks opening sequence, with β€œFRASIER” presented as the title.

Would watch

28.02.2026 04:35 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1
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β€œWe did this. People did this.” How Canada’s rarest mammal was pulled back from the brink of extinction | Discover Wildlife Canada’s rarest mammal was on the brink of extinction but, in a remarkable conservation success story, it is on the road to recovery

A bit of local good news: The Vancouver Island Marmot’s wild population has increased from a low of 30 individuals in 2003 to over 400.

Also, this article taught me the fun word β€œhibernacula”, in case you’re ever looking for a word to rhyme with Dracula.

www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts...

26.02.2026 17:25 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Damn

26.02.2026 04:58 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Horrible echoes of the so-called β€œStarlight Tours” that killed Neil Stonechild and others in Saskatchewan in the 1970s-1990s. State murder of marginalized people. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskato...

26.02.2026 00:31 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0