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Stephen McCarthy

@misterjabsticks.bsky.social

270 followers 260 following 490 posts

Latin, Epicureanism, data protection and AI, dogs, photography, legislation, science fiction. (he/him). Fervently #TransRightsAreHumanRights. 📷 photography is currently without a home, having left Meta's evil influence.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · May 23

"When you outsource the thinking, you outsource the learning."

HackerNewsTop5 @hackernewstop5.bsky.social · May 23

The Copilot Delusion

#HackerNews

<a href="https://deplet.ing/the-copilot-delusion/" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://deplet.ing/the-copilot-delusion/

Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

Daniel Miller @danielmiller.net · 8h

"Hey copilot, how do I install Linux to replace you?"

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 8h

If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education.

We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.

Vlad 🐸 Țepeș @porcupunk.bsky.social · 21h

Wow. Just wow.

"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."

When Knowledge is Free, What are Professors For?

Higher Education Must Stop Competing with AI on Information and Start Teaching What Machines Can’t Do

www.forbes.com

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Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

Patrick Bresnihan @pbresnihan.bsky.social · 8h

Good example of how 'lobbying' doesn't accurately describe the relationship between the Irish state & corporate interests.

In the meeting, the Dept of Def updated an arms industry lobby group on policy, & lobby group updated the Dept on industry needs & strategy.

www.ontheditch.com/department-o...

Department of Defence regularly briefing l arms lobbyists

Government just announced a record €1.49 billion defence budget.

www.ontheditch.com

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Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

Edzard Ernst @edzard.bsky.social · 13h

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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 9h

So have I seen a bird with clipped wing making affrighted broken circles in the air, vainly striving to escape the piratical hawks.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 9h

Shocking dog snog attack.

Me and my border collie Riley. She is black and white. In the background are books.

Me and my border collie Riley. She is black and white. In the background are books. She is looking at me.

Me and my border collie Riley. She is black and white. In the background are books. Riley has gone in to lick my ear.

Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 10h

PS: how to edit your settings to remind you to add ALT text.

Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · Nov 9

If you always mean to add ALT text but you forget until it's too late, there's a toggle to prevent that in the accessibility section of your settings!

Screenshot of my settings screen. The accessibility section with “require alt text before posting” is highlighted by a hand drawn dark pink oval drawn around it.

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 11h

Services that increase subscription prices while not improving the services? Off you fuck.

Services that increase subscription prices to accommodate their exciting new AI integration? Double off you fuck.

Lot of cancellations recently in my house.

Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

FredRIK WORTHam 🎃 @rikworth.bsky.social · 14h

I was there, Gandalf. I was there every damn day, when the courage of men failed.

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Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 23h

we were now in that enchanted calm which they say lurks at the heart of every commotion

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 1d

brought to you by the same company that is building you “agentic” ai and “agi”

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Working Classicists @workingclassicists.bsky.social · 1d

Talking monsters in Dundee in a week or so 👹

Why not pop by and say hello 👋

Myths & Monsters with Miri Teixeira and George Connor
Saturday 25th October 2025, 2:30pm
Lochee Community Library, High Street, Lochee Dundee, DD2 3AU
For further information contact: 01382 431835 or lochee.library@leisureandculturedundee.com

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Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

Johnny Ryan @johnnyryan.bsky.social · 1d

Note for Irish Department of Finance:
you should have a plan for what you will do if/when AI bursts and the large tech firms ask for massive bail outs/collapse

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like this was one of the few good things about this budget.

Hacker News 100 @hn100.atproto.rocks · 1d

Ireland is making basic income for artists program permanent
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/ireland-basic-income-artists-program-permanent-1234756981/

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45590900

Three Years After Trial Launch, Ireland Is Making Basic Income for Artists Program Permanent

Several years after launching a trial, Ireland is set to make its basic income for artists program permanent starting in 2026.

www.artnews.com

Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 1d

What I want in the online Loeb, is either for the arrows to stay in the same bloody place on each page, so I can quickly move forward and backward, or for the stupid thing to obey the arrow keys. Stupid thing.

Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 1d

I mean it was from the 70s. I should've come across the damn thing...

Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 1d

I dislike it when someone points to an article you should have read (and when you read it you realise it brilliantly solves a multitude of questions), but it was never mentioned in all of the hundreds of other articles and books you've read for a thing that shall not be named. But I should've known.

Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 1d

I don't know why there's a surge in Tom Bombadil posts (in my neck of the Old Forest), but I'm all for it! I just re-read that section and love it. #unapologetic

Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

Luke Plunkett @lukeplunkett.com · 1d

kids teacher just sent this home as part of an assignment he's doing and i want to smash every computer at the school

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 1d

I was scrolling too quickly, thought it was Val Kilmer.

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Puppius Caledonius @skanedog.bsky.social · 2d

Every single word of this was written with the intent of taking the world further down the road to darkness.

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 2d

i don't have the words to emphasise how seriously bad things are gonna get

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 2d

i don't have the words to emphasise how seriously bad things are gonna get

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Stephen McCarthy @misterjabsticks.bsky.social · 2d

Good. Just because there's a nominal ceasefire (Israel still killing Palestinians regardless), doesn't mean they should get away with what they've done.

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 2d

"The case is proceeding."

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa says the US-backed agreement to end Israel's war on Gaza will have no bearing on his country’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/xhyzpq

Reposted by Stephen McCarthy

Aubrey Hirsch @aubreyhirsch.bsky.social · 2d

Did you know that if you buy my book on Amazon, Jeff Bezos makes 5 times as much as I do on each copy sold? Sharing some behind-the-scenes book math on why buying directly from presses is best for EVERYONE (except Bezos) in my newsletter today! aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/book-math

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404 Media @404media.co · 2d

An attorney in a New York Supreme Court commercial case got caught using AI in his filings, and then got caught using AI again in the brief where he had to explain why he used AI, according to court documents filed earlier this month.

🔗 www.404media.co/lawyer-using...

Lawyer Caught Using AI While Explaining to Court Why He Used AI

The attorney not only submitted AI-generated fake citations in a brief for his clients, but also included “multiple new AI-hallucinated citations and quotations” in the process of opposing a motion fo...

www.404media.co

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