Ginny Barbour

Snake on doorstep

Just a normal Queensland Friday night with a snake on the doorstep

The Other Red Hat (You'll like this one better)

February 26 is an important date in the history of resistance, and it has to do with knitters during WWII. Come read the story. If you’re a knitter, maybe you’ll want to cast on with me tomorrow? And if you aren’t, there are other ideas for you here. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

Know any 2026 UQ, QUT or Griffith Hons or Masters ecology/enviro students? We're keen to add to our 2025 PhD awardee some (modest) support for Hons or Masters projects - esp. any that are broadly relevant to Mt Coot-tha/surrounds. Apply by Feb 27th: www.theca.org.au/2026-theca-s...

The stranger secret: how to talk to anyone – and why you should Forget fear of public speaking. A lot of people now shy away completely from speaking to anyone in public. But if we learn to do this it’s enriching, for ourselves and society

I really love this. I’m an inveterate starter of random conversations. (Apologies if I did this to you and you didn’t appreciate it 😬) www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Poster for the Internet Archive's 2026 Public Domain Film Remix Contest, featuring the "Lockette," a cartoon character with an open lock, seated in a director's chair, legs crossed, and holding a megaphone. Projected on a screen to her right is a frame from the 1930 film "King of Jazz". Illustrated by Freya Morgan.

🎬 Filmmakers! The Internet Archive’s 2026 Public Domain Day Remix Contest is open!

🎥 Create a 2–3 minute short film using at least 1 piece of public domain material from 1930. 🎶🎭📚

📆 Deadline: January 7, 2026
💰 First prize: $1,500
ℹ️ Details 👉 blog.archive.org/2025/12/01/2...

#publicdomain #contest

Good old Ada. Wish she'd lived to see what her computing invention became, and to see better hair styles after the mid-1800s, at least until the mullet poodle perm.

This.

‘The problem is not solely the LLMs, but scholars not checking footnotes and authors not reading the material they are citing. These behaviours… are more about the current crisis in universities worldwide, spurred on by governments who do not wish for an educated population’

My first ever science project was on lichen 💚

Thanks for the reminder to do this
Mine are
@asrc1.bsky.social
SistersInside
Wildlife Queensland

Brexit stole our future: young people are demanding it back Scotland’s young people face limited opportunities after Brexit but could their vision for the future re-shape Scotland’s place in Europe?

"The recent news that British students will be allowed to participate in the EU-wide scheme (Erasmus) without incurring the burden of tuition fees is welcome and a good step forward to undo the terrible mistake of Brexit."

#Erasmus
#Brexit
#Education
#EU🇪🇺
#Scotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Open Science NL is funding 27 replication studies with €5.2M. Projects will reanalyse data, repeat experiments, and explore variations across many fields. Read more 👉 www.openscience.nl/en/news/27-s...

The Greens will work with the government to pass reforms through federal and state parliaments to tighten the rules around gun ownership. This is not America and we must  work both to eradicate antisemitism and racism and to reduce unnecessary guns in our community.

Oh yes. Also pockets of all school bags and clothes. 🤢

‘Tough on crime’ policies are causing Indigenous people to die in custody

More First Nations people have died in custody in the past year than in any since 1980. It’s the inevitable result of policies that flout evidence of what would help.

The EPA has removed references about humans causing climate change from its website. No US government website can be trusted for science information.

Australia takes off the gloves on illegal tobacco while ‘lower the tax’ fantasists plumb new absurdities Australia’s epidemic of illicit (untaxed) cheap cigarette shops is entering a new phase as Australian Border Force reports record seizures and three states (South Australia, Queensland and New Sout…

Australia takes off the gloves on illegal tobacco, while 'lower the tax' fantasists plumb newly absurd depths. simonchapman6.com/2025/12/09/a...

My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’

Yes, I’m well beyond having any tolerance in either treatment of historical stories or crime novels who treat murder of women as a fun whodunnit

Here's the reality this example illustrates:

It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).

The Psychological Impact of Digital Isolation: How AI-Driven Social Interactions Shape Human Behavior and Mental Well-Being Felix Eling 3697-3705 Apr 30, 2025 Education The Psychological Impact of Digital Isolation: How AI-Driven Social Interactions Shape Human Behavior and Mental Well-Being Felix Eling Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacy, Gulu College of Health Sciences, Gulu City, Northern Uganda DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.90400265 Received: 13 March 2025; Revised: 22 March 2025; Accepted: 25 March 2025; Published: 30 April 2025 ABSTRACT The increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in social interactions has transformed how humans experience companionship, communication, and mental well-being. This review examines the psychological impact of AI-driven social interactions, focusing on virtual assistants, AI chatbots, and digital companions. It explores the benefits, risks, and ethical concerns associated with AI companionship. A systematic review methodology was employed, detailing inclusion criteria, databases searched, and analysis techniques. Findings suggest that while AI can offer emotional relief and support, over-reliance may disrupt real-world social bonding. Ethical concerns such as data privacy, emotional manipulation, and regulatory gaps are highlighted. The study underscores the need for balanced AI integration in human socialization. The study also addresses gaps in previous literature by examining AI’s influence on different demographic groups and cultural contexts.

Let me tell you a story. Perhaps you can guess where this is going... though it does have a bit of a twist.

I was poking around Google Scholar for publications about the relationship between chatbots and wellness. Oh how useful: a systematic literature review! Let's dig into the findings. 🧵

I spend so much time verifying everything now from art to cited sources to photos to historical references to citations to quotes to legal and medical information that it's really hard to fathom how much work AI has collectively added to the world, not reduced

Former CEO speaks out: keep VicHealth strong and independent Introduction by Croakey: As the health community in Australia and around the world rallies behind VicHealth to fight plans by

Former CEO speaks out: keep VicHealth strong and independent – Croakey Health Media

www.croakey.org/former-ceo-s...

By Dr Sandro Demaio

I love that poem too

We do our best
we Queens, we mothers
mothers of Queens
we wade through blood
for our sleeping girls.

Carol Ann Duffy Queen Herod

Don’t rely on government to save the British Library - Impact of Social Sciences Following a catastrophic hack British Library remains in crisis. Can it recover by refocusing on the people, skills and systems that enable it to function?

Absolutely cracking blog post from @simonxix.com calling for collective investment in staff and community-owned, open-source infrastructures in place of costly proprietary systems, based on the BL incident. blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

The decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downgrade its recommendations to protect infants from hepatitis B is a dangerous move that will harm children.

Click here to read AAP's full statement: bit.ly/3Y9ZQJT

Ha - my most used emojis on @bsky.app in 2025
Looks spot on to me. 😳

anisota.net/harvest/

In the context of #CeRRA2025 and @coarassessment.bsky.social 3rd anniversay, we are delighted to publish a joint statement on how we partner for #ResearchAssessment change! Our growing community shows the vibrancy and momentum for reform.
Read more 👉 sfdora.org/2025/12/04/d...

Blast from DORA’s past! Reminder from @jameswilsdon.bsky.social that he and @ismaelrafols.bsky.social were the first to bring @dorassessment.bsky.social to a global audience in @theguardian.com a few hours after the Declaration went public back in 2013 #CeRRA2025 www.theguardian.com/science/poli...

"I started laughing immediately!", "It's so practical!", "There's both metric and imperial systems". We are so happy people got the joke and had fun unboxing their bag goodie! 🤩
Join us in increasing awareness of negative impacts of inappropriate metrics and spread alternative practices! #CeRRA2025