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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 54m

I'm also just wondering if there was much support for the idea of a non-uniform, infinite universe with star density droppping to 0 beyond a certain distance.
Haven't thought much but, if rotating, could that be eternally stable?

Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 1h

The common, simpler version of this is to say that, in an infinite, eternal universe, any straight line drawn from your eye, would end on a star. So there would be light in all directions.

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 1h

Need to re-check as Grammarly continues to "progress", but my university provides Grammarly Pro to some students with support requirements but with the AI features turned off.

Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 1h

Happily, I'm not.

Have to say, unless it's live and they genuinely didn't know, that's an appalling thing for the producer/presenter to allow to be broadcast.

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Reposted by Matt Perks

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 8h

Encourage reading the whole post, which is admirably measured.

TL;DR: We don’t fully understand what’s behind the jump in US pedestrian deaths, but car bloat seems to be an important factor.

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 2h

... I suspect a lot of people will think anything other than a reflection of their worldview is bias. Exhibit A - opinions about the BBC.

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 2h

If the current (or any future) US (or Chinese) administration manages to coerce big AI players into training their models to reflecting their world view, that would be very bad.
What we want is bland and factual. The opposite to what SM algorithms promote.
But also...

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 11h

The administration “is currently pressuring OpenAI and other AI companies to make their models more conservative-friendly.”

OpenAI is trying to clamp down on ‘bias’ in ChatGPT

GPT-5 is better at resisting liberal ‘pressure,’ the company says.

www.theverge.com

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 3h

How much impact does (a) the best feedback, (b) average feedback, (c) AI feedback, have on a student's future work?

I cannot see how AI feedback can be acceptable, but I'm also troubled by not really having much of an answer to these Q's.

Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 3h

I feel like there are multiple issues to think about here.
How does writing to learn relate to writing to pass?
How much is a tutor reading your work important for student motivation?
How much do we (and/or AI) favour the quality of writing over the quality of ideas?
...

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 1d

Being a vicar is also a good way to circumvent the housing cost issue (at least until retirement).

Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 1d

The Pennslyvania Mutiny?

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 1d

This☝️ is one of the more confusing things I've seen on here recently, and it's a heavily-contested field.

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 1d

Interesting suggestion at the end of this youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/french-pm-... by the always interesting and often innovative @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com

French PM MLC: some pros and cons

Behold! I have had a thought.

youngvulgarian.substack.com

Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 3d

This won't be everyone's experience, but for me, the financial bottleneck in buying is scraping together enough cash to pay all the bills on the day you get the keys. Even if 100% of the SDLT goes onto the price, that's £5k you don't have to find on the day.

Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 3d

even for a non-first time buyer, where the impact is heavier, it's still outdone by deposit and mortgage.

at £300k, SDLT is £5k, deposit perhaps £30k, mortgage perhaps £16k a year

at £500k, SDLT is £15k, deposit let's say £50k, mortgage over £25k a year

Reposted by Matt Perks

Jimmy @thatcareersguy.bsky.social · 3d

See also the drop-off in apprenticeships for 16-18 year olds in general since 2018/19, and the subsequent proliferation of business and management level apprenticeships at Level 6 and 7 for people already in work who, frankly, don't really need them. Guess who was in charge?

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Matt Perks @dodiscimus.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, a bit like Infant + Junior sharing a site.
I'd say one's more like that and the other is a primary school that has gradually added Y7-Y11, but I've not spent enough time there to know how integrated the two phases are.
Any shared site must make cross-over experience easier, though.

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Reposted by Matt Perks

Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 4d

A paper in Nature Communication reports on a new method to produce strong, biodegradable plastic from bamboo. The bioplastic resembles oil-based plastics in strength, shapeability, and thermal stability but can biodegrade in soil within 50 days. go.nature.com/4h1xv0X 🧪