Oisín McGann
@oisinmcgann.bsky.social
Over 30 years in commercial art and more than 20 as a published author – mostly children's and young adult. No hope of ever getting a proper job. Lifelong nerd who's concerned about climate change. No AI data scraping. He/Him. http://oisinmcgann.com/
Pinned
Oisín McGann
@oisinmcgann.bsky.social
· Nov 9
I've had a lot of new followers joining this weeks, so short introduction: I'm an Irish writer and illustrator who's been working since the 90's and has published 47 books for different reading levels in a range of genres, including 14 novels. I also work in a range of different illustration styles.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
‘When I talk about fish on Bluesky people ask me questions about fish. When I talk about fish on Twitter, people threaten to kill my family because we’re Jewish.’
Since it looks like we're going through the "liberals who stayed on X/Twitter trying to convince others to go back there," I'll just remind folks I already wrote a long article pointing out how that makes no sense and is, in fact, an incredibly dumb idea.
www.techdirt.com/2025/09/15/s...
www.techdirt.com/2025/09/15/s...
Stop Begging. Start Building
As a reminder, I’m on the board at Bluesky, which means you should consider me extremely biased, even as this article isn’t really about Bluesky. The writer Jerusalem Demsas wants you to stay on Tw…
www.techdirt.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:54 PM
‘When I talk about fish on Bluesky people ask me questions about fish. When I talk about fish on Twitter, people threaten to kill my family because we’re Jewish.’
That’s the price of a life lived in the fast lane.
The old band from the Northside of Dublin are back live busking for the festive season but the years are beginning to show their toll …
#SpéirGhorm
#SpéirGhorm
December 15, 2025 at 9:26 PM
That’s the price of a life lived in the fast lane.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
December 15, 2025 at 8:18 PM
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
None of these people is a programmer, an engineer, a developer, or an inventor.
The "architects of AI" are the (many) people who designed and built it. Not the ones who paid them.
The "architects of AI" are the (many) people who designed and built it. Not the ones who paid them.
Representing oligarchs as working class heroes is a new low…even for us.
December 15, 2025 at 9:23 PM
None of these people is a programmer, an engineer, a developer, or an inventor.
The "architects of AI" are the (many) people who designed and built it. Not the ones who paid them.
The "architects of AI" are the (many) people who designed and built it. Not the ones who paid them.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
warning: reading this piece will leave you outraged
"Code of Practice is failing to protect human rights. This draft relies on faulty logic that dramatically limits the ways in which AI developers would need to mitigate human rights risks from their AI models"
www.techpolicy.press/human-rights...
"Code of Practice is failing to protect human rights. This draft relies on faulty logic that dramatically limits the ways in which AI developers would need to mitigate human rights risks from their AI models"
www.techpolicy.press/human-rights...
Human Rights are Universal, Not Optional: Don’t Undermine the EU AI Act with a Faulty Code of Practice | TechPolicy.Press
The Code of Practice draft takes a step backward due to its weak approach to human rights protections, write Laura Caroli, Laura Cabrera, and David Harris.
www.techpolicy.press
December 15, 2025 at 6:51 PM
warning: reading this piece will leave you outraged
"Code of Practice is failing to protect human rights. This draft relies on faulty logic that dramatically limits the ways in which AI developers would need to mitigate human rights risks from their AI models"
www.techpolicy.press/human-rights...
"Code of Practice is failing to protect human rights. This draft relies on faulty logic that dramatically limits the ways in which AI developers would need to mitigate human rights risks from their AI models"
www.techpolicy.press/human-rights...
Reposted by Oisín McGann
There are so many of these, it got its own Wikipedia page. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27No_W...
December 15, 2025 at 8:21 PM
There are so many of these, it got its own Wikipedia page. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27No_W...
Is ChatGPT being run by ChatGPT?
Just so I'm clear on this, computer memory has tripled in price because a bunch of it that hasn't been produced yet has been ordered to populate GPUs that aren't installed in data centers that aren't built yet in order to service a demand that doesn't exist to make profits that don't happen.
December 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Is ChatGPT being run by ChatGPT?
Reposted by Oisín McGann
A major part of having dogs is asking why is that wet
December 14, 2025 at 9:57 PM
A major part of having dogs is asking why is that wet
Reposted by Oisín McGann
wait a minute how are the "your body has gone soft from not eating the raw meats of your ancestors" guys also the "the computer should summarize the big scary email for your inadequate brain" guys
December 15, 2025 at 7:32 PM
wait a minute how are the "your body has gone soft from not eating the raw meats of your ancestors" guys also the "the computer should summarize the big scary email for your inadequate brain" guys
Reposted by Oisín McGann
FBI Designates Brown University Shooting A Cold Case
December 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM
FBI Designates Brown University Shooting A Cold Case
Reposted by Oisín McGann
When the AI boom began, copywriters were singled out as one of the jobs most vulnerable to AI. Now, three years later, I wanted to hear from workers on the frontlines of the industry, to hear what had actually taken place on the ground.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
"I was forced to use AI until the day I was laid off." Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry
Copywriters were one of the first to have their jobs targeted by AI firms. These are their stories, three years into the AI era.
www.bloodinthemachine.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:47 PM
When the AI boom began, copywriters were singled out as one of the jobs most vulnerable to AI. Now, three years later, I wanted to hear from workers on the frontlines of the industry, to hear what had actually taken place on the ground.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
Earlier this year all conservatives agreed that mocking somebody's murder should cost you your job, so one of them should go fire the president.
December 15, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Earlier this year all conservatives agreed that mocking somebody's murder should cost you your job, so one of them should go fire the president.
That’s pretty impressive.
please take a moment to appreciate Tesla's epic accomplishment of coming dead last in the auto industry in reliability, despite making relatively expensive cars with a tiny fraction of the moving parts
www.consumerreports.org/cars/which-b...
www.consumerreports.org/cars/which-b...
December 15, 2025 at 8:09 PM
That’s pretty impressive.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
Hello from the middle of Meath, where we basically have no train service at all.
They've done it again, they've cut more rail projects. The most criminal one for me is cancelling the reopening of the Waterford-Wexford/Rosslare line. On the left is the All-island Rail Review published by the last government and on the right is the plan published today.
December 15, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Hello from the middle of Meath, where we basically have no train service at all.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
Every time I see Tr*mp say something shitty about the death of someone whose passion and decency he is incapable of understanding, I think about the unprecedented, global party that will break out on the day that he dies.
December 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Every time I see Tr*mp say something shitty about the death of someone whose passion and decency he is incapable of understanding, I think about the unprecedented, global party that will break out on the day that he dies.
Hello from the middle of Meath, where we basically have no train service at all.
They've done it again, they've cut more rail projects. The most criminal one for me is cancelling the reopening of the Waterford-Wexford/Rosslare line. On the left is the All-island Rail Review published by the last government and on the right is the plan published today.
December 15, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Hello from the middle of Meath, where we basically have no train service at all.
Did they just eject INTO THE ROOF?!
Russian pilots are mysteriously ejecting from planes randomly, nobody knows the reason why.
December 15, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Did they just eject INTO THE ROOF?!
Reposted by Oisín McGann
when I read a student paper that's obviously written by them
a man with long hair is sitting in front of a laptop computer
Alt: gif of Antonio Banderas getting extremely happy after seeing something on his computer screen. he closes his eyes and smiles and brings his hand to him mouth and leans back in absolutely satisfaction and happiness.
media.tenor.com
December 15, 2025 at 4:04 PM
when I read a student paper that's obviously written by them
Reposted by Oisín McGann
First Combat Use of Underwater Kamikaze Drones: Russian Kilo class Submarine Disabled in Novorossiysk
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has carried out a special operation in the port of Novorossiysk, marking the first-ever combat use of underwater kamikaze drones.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has carried out a special operation in the port of Novorossiysk, marking the first-ever combat use of underwater kamikaze drones.
December 15, 2025 at 3:12 PM
First Combat Use of Underwater Kamikaze Drones: Russian Kilo class Submarine Disabled in Novorossiysk
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has carried out a special operation in the port of Novorossiysk, marking the first-ever combat use of underwater kamikaze drones.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has carried out a special operation in the port of Novorossiysk, marking the first-ever combat use of underwater kamikaze drones.
Every time I see Tr*mp say something shitty about the death of someone whose passion and decency he is incapable of understanding, I think about the unprecedented, global party that will break out on the day that he dies.
December 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Every time I see Tr*mp say something shitty about the death of someone whose passion and decency he is incapable of understanding, I think about the unprecedented, global party that will break out on the day that he dies.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
December 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
Interrailed to Sweden with my teenage daughter last summer. Best holiday ever.
Less than 48h left to buy an Interrail pass with 25% discount (I already have!). Buy now, activate any date in next 11 months.
About Interrail and how to buy: www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a...
About Interrail and how to buy: www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a...
December 15, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Interrailed to Sweden with my teenage daughter last summer. Best holiday ever.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
which language? which human expert? what level of expertise? in which domain? by what metric?
If language is what makes us human, what does it mean now that large language models have gained “metalinguistic” abilities? www.wired.com/story/in-a-f...
For the First Time, AI Analyzes Language as Well as a Human Expert
If language is what makes us human, what does it mean now that large language models have gained “metalinguistic” abilities?
www.wired.com
December 14, 2025 at 6:23 PM
which language? which human expert? what level of expertise? in which domain? by what metric?
Reposted by Oisín McGann
Look, us dads of teenagers have to find joy where we can.
Overheard in the supermarket. Two teenagers.
1: 'Where's Dad?'
2 (with ineffable weariness): 'In the cheese aisle, having the time of his life.'
1: 'Where's Dad?'
2 (with ineffable weariness): 'In the cheese aisle, having the time of his life.'
December 15, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Look, us dads of teenagers have to find joy where we can.
Reposted by Oisín McGann
They drive among us.
tesla owners admitting without shame they don’t know how to drive anymore
December 15, 2025 at 12:07 PM
They drive among us.