Conor Mc Bride

As a trans person, I'm here to say that just going out to buy groceries is frightening. I mean, I do it, but I won't pretend I'm not scared.

What I'm scared of is people who have been cajoled to hate me.

This is the Diane Abbott thing. For some of us out-group people, we're visually clockable. For other out-group people, you can pass until you're grassed up. Neither is pleasant, and we owe each other fellow feeling. But the former is manifestly worse, as an experience.

I sometimes say "Cheer up! I might never happen!" to people whose faces turn sour obviously at their awareness of my existence.

I've done "microagression training" at uni. It was bullshit. All of the examples were plain aggression and about race.

I don't go out much. People seem to scowl at me when I do.

It's not directly murderous. But that's the best thing there is to say about it.

Scots warned they'll 'see a lot more' of Keir Starmer ahead of Holyrood election ARE Labour trying to throw the Holyrood election next year?

Oh good, it will make them even less electable

tous unis contre le pen

I may eventually be prescribed hormones when I have lived for a quarter of a millenium.

I try to motivate students to think about what they're doing by reminding them of the world of shit software with which they are already exasperated.

PL folks! Write a text editor once every ten years to see if we've made it any easier. I promise youse, we have!

The key question of our era is CAN HUMANS THINK?

My first-years give me grounds for hope.
The behaviour of the backspace key in this editor makes me sad: corner case of backspace at line start unconsidered, marks docked.

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world's leading experts say - BBC News The world's leading association of genocide scholars cited several actions by Israel, including attacks on the healthcare sector and the killing of children.

Because - amazingly - a citation is apparently needed.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars has declared that Israel is committing genocide. www.bbc.com/news/article...

As has the United Nation’s Commission of Inquiry www.bbc.com/news/article...

YouTube video by Conor McBride CS103 25/26 4. What's Going On?

What CS103 "Machines, Languages and Computation" is really about. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo0i...

This is the world we live in - where good people are mocked and thugs are celebrated - I presume the Business Secretary will say this is a great example of freedom of speech

www.chortle.co.uk/news/2025/10...

Not me. Wains to teach.

What's more, Keir Starmer should be saying so.

Cass Review full of 'stigma' and should not guide trans youth care, say experts A newly published study has argued the Cass Review into trans youth care, published in April 2024, is full of 'stigma' and 'misinformation'.

Cass Review slammed AGAIN. This time by Australian academics.

www.thepinknews.com/2025/10/06/c...

Nearly two thirds of Tory members want pact with Reform, poll suggests, with close to half supporting full merger – as it happened Half of Tory members also want Kemi Badenoch to be replaced as Conservative leader

Snake sloughs off old skin. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

A gem.

I am pleased to accept the suggestion of becoming an insultant. We shall exult in the insult.

Don’t despair, Tories: look upon Reform and see your rightful and fitting legacy | Nesrine Malik If Kemi Badenoch wonders why her party conference looks and feels like a sideshow, perhaps she should reflect on the Conservatives’ 14 years in power, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

Good piece from Nesrine Malik, arguing that the Tory snake is still alive, more venomous than ever, and that the Conservative Party is merely the dead skin it has sloughed off.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The "propagandistic quantifier", i.e., "not all, but enough to be a thing" is insufficiently appreciated.

I'm thinking of starting a sideline as a comanagement nsultant.

Things that people call "policy" are very often long on why and short on how. Push back by rejecting that it even constitutes a policy. Mock upwards for stupidity about deliverability. Don't mince words. Tell them that they might owe you both an actual plan and an apology for showing up without one.

The shitheads get rich on unreasonable expectations. Join a Union.

The usual reason that someone is bad at their job is that their job is bad at them.

WE ARE FAILING.
SO WE ARE BUILDING SYSTEMS WHICH WILL MAKE US FAIL LESS.
ONCE YOU HAVE SPENT TIME FILLING IN THE EXTRA DETAILS, THEY WILL SHOUT AT YOU MORE PRECISELY WHEN YOU ARE FAILING.

I wish it were referring to something specific, but I've lost count. Admittedly, as a Computer Scientist who is still a Mathematician, I'm not very good at counting, but I know how to resource mechanical things to do that for me.