New-Cleckit Dominie
@ncdominie.bsky.social
University maths teacher (failed academic); very amateur local history; slightly worse photography. Uaireannan beagan Gàidhlig cuideachd. Same handle on the elephant site. Web: http://www.dominie.scot.
Pinned
Luath.
11 October 2011 to 15 November 2025.
Run free, my best of hounds. Run free.
11 October 2011 to 15 November 2025.
Run free, my best of hounds. Run free.
Moonshot in St Enoch Square.
November 25, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Moonshot in St Enoch Square.
1. Prof experiences urge to be Helpful about X.
2. Prof asks long-suffering administrator to collect info about X.
3. LSA knows nothing about X; emails me asking for info.
4. I send LSA info about X.
5. LSA sends Prof info about X.
6. Prof sends me info about X.
7. Prof has now been Helpful.
2. Prof asks long-suffering administrator to collect info about X.
3. LSA knows nothing about X; emails me asking for info.
4. I send LSA info about X.
5. LSA sends Prof info about X.
6. Prof sends me info about X.
7. Prof has now been Helpful.
November 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
1. Prof experiences urge to be Helpful about X.
2. Prof asks long-suffering administrator to collect info about X.
3. LSA knows nothing about X; emails me asking for info.
4. I send LSA info about X.
5. LSA sends Prof info about X.
6. Prof sends me info about X.
7. Prof has now been Helpful.
2. Prof asks long-suffering administrator to collect info about X.
3. LSA knows nothing about X; emails me asking for info.
4. I send LSA info about X.
5. LSA sends Prof info about X.
6. Prof sends me info about X.
7. Prof has now been Helpful.
Apparently I am not now required to meet the QAAACUK team next week. I shall have to sit in my office making duck noises instead.
Very niche UKHE problem: can anybody else not see the web address qaa.ac.uk without their brain making duck noises?
November 25, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Apparently I am not now required to meet the QAAACUK team next week. I shall have to sit in my office making duck noises instead.
33°C this morning. It is 0°C outside. And we wonder why our utilities bills are so high.
In "mind you, sometimes the sector doesn't help itself" news, I cam in to find my office at over 30°C because the underfloor heating has malfunctioned again.
I look forward to the annual conversation with Estates about form 27b/6.
I look forward to the annual conversation with Estates about form 27b/6.
a group of men wearing red hats and jackets are standing next to each other and smiling .
Alt: Do you have a 27b/6?
media.tenor.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:06 AM
33°C this morning. It is 0°C outside. And we wonder why our utilities bills are so high.
Today's batshit wikipedia paragraph encountered when innocently trying to identify a chunk of local architecture:
![Borromeo's diocesan reforms faced opposition from several religious orders, particularly that of the Humiliati (Brothers of Humility), a penitential order which, although reduced to about 170 members, owned some ninety monasteries. Some members of that society formed a conspiracy against his life, and a shot was fired at him with an arquebus in the archepiscopal chapel. His survival was considered miraculous.[12]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:pe4agiuhnyekwfdk2atrutfh/bafkreihciouzz3cgsaieoxzofb62snp7eyhs7yhdma3mfriczglaw2xftu@jpeg)
November 24, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Today's batshit wikipedia paragraph encountered when innocently trying to identify a chunk of local architecture:
The City Chambers lit up without the rest of the George Square bling have a slightly forlorn look, like someone who's turned up to work in their Christmas jumper to discover that it isn't Wear Your Christmas Jumper To Work Day.
November 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
The City Chambers lit up without the rest of the George Square bling have a slightly forlorn look, like someone who's turned up to work in their Christmas jumper to discover that it isn't Wear Your Christmas Jumper To Work Day.
Dear research-active academics,
"I'm travelling" is not a valid excuse for leaving time-critical emails unanswered for two weeks. Eduroam exists, and on occasion even works.
If what you mean is "I have travel money so I matter more than you", just damn well say it.
"I'm travelling" is not a valid excuse for leaving time-critical emails unanswered for two weeks. Eduroam exists, and on occasion even works.
If what you mean is "I have travel money so I matter more than you", just damn well say it.
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Dear research-active academics,
"I'm travelling" is not a valid excuse for leaving time-critical emails unanswered for two weeks. Eduroam exists, and on occasion even works.
If what you mean is "I have travel money so I matter more than you", just damn well say it.
"I'm travelling" is not a valid excuse for leaving time-critical emails unanswered for two weeks. Eduroam exists, and on occasion even works.
If what you mean is "I have travel money so I matter more than you", just damn well say it.
In "mind you, sometimes the sector doesn't help itself" news, I cam in to find my office at over 30°C because the underfloor heating has malfunctioned again.
I look forward to the annual conversation with Estates about form 27b/6.
I look forward to the annual conversation with Estates about form 27b/6.
a group of men wearing red hats and jackets are standing next to each other and smiling .
Alt: Do you have a 27b/6?
media.tenor.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
In "mind you, sometimes the sector doesn't help itself" news, I cam in to find my office at over 30°C because the underfloor heating has malfunctioned again.
I look forward to the annual conversation with Estates about form 27b/6.
I look forward to the annual conversation with Estates about form 27b/6.
I'm sure those poorer British students will benefit greatly from grants to attend the universities that no longer exist because Labour have bankrupted them.
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 8:15 AM
I'm sure those poorer British students will benefit greatly from grants to attend the universities that no longer exist because Labour have bankrupted them.
Looks as if our brief interlude of light is over, so here's another glimpse of Glasgow through yesterday's morning mist.
November 23, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Looks as if our brief interlude of light is over, so here's another glimpse of Glasgow through yesterday's morning mist.
Please boggle at this small selection of the titles of corporate "industrial musicals" from mid-C20th America, as recorded by en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industr....
November 22, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Please boggle at this small selection of the titles of corporate "industrial musicals" from mid-C20th America, as recorded by en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industr....
Their second EP is being described as "lo-fi alt-country with a touch of goth".
November 22, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Their second EP is being described as "lo-fi alt-country with a touch of goth".
The Santa display outside the Transylvania shop always sparks the same observations:
* Apparently immortal.
* Travels at night.
* Has power over animals and lesser supernatural beings.
* Enters a house only if invited in.
* Apparently immortal.
* Travels at night.
* Has power over animals and lesser supernatural beings.
* Enters a house only if invited in.
November 22, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The Santa display outside the Transylvania shop always sparks the same observations:
* Apparently immortal.
* Travels at night.
* Has power over animals and lesser supernatural beings.
* Enters a house only if invited in.
* Apparently immortal.
* Travels at night.
* Has power over animals and lesser supernatural beings.
* Enters a house only if invited in.
Having to check which of the cakes at the church Christmas fair are halal is a very Pollokshields problem to have.
November 22, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Having to check which of the cakes at the church Christmas fair are halal is a very Pollokshields problem to have.
Gille-Brìde. 🪶
November 22, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Gille-Brìde. 🪶
Doing admissions means being stuck eternally between people saying things like "the nature of this refusal means that we will have to carry out further diligence before issuing a CAS for a subsequent programme" and people saying things like "Cats don't need visas! Can we just tell them he's a cat?"
November 21, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Doing admissions means being stuck eternally between people saying things like "the nature of this refusal means that we will have to carry out further diligence before issuing a CAS for a subsequent programme" and people saying things like "Cats don't need visas! Can we just tell them he's a cat?"
November 21, 2025 at 10:49 AM
The Jailbreak of Ballad Reading.
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 9:44 AM
The Jailbreak of Ballad Reading.
*sigh*
I'm just surprised it took so long.
I'm just surprised it took so long.
November 21, 2025 at 8:29 AM
*sigh*
I'm just surprised it took so long.
I'm just surprised it took so long.
Doon the watter.
November 20, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Doon the watter.
Reading about translation ethics, and I discover there's a theory of translation in which the translation doesn't have to have anything much to do with the source text if the translator doesn't feel like it.
Mathematical modellers have a lot more in common with translators than some of us realise.
Mathematical modellers have a lot more in common with translators than some of us realise.
November 20, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reading about translation ethics, and I discover there's a theory of translation in which the translation doesn't have to have anything much to do with the source text if the translator doesn't feel like it.
Mathematical modellers have a lot more in common with translators than some of us realise.
Mathematical modellers have a lot more in common with translators than some of us realise.
Oh goodie. An entity elsewhere in the organisation has awarded itself a five-year strategy, and is demanding that departments report on how well they're performing against that strategy.
The challenge: respond without using the phrases "parasitic growth" or "is this document available in English?"
The challenge: respond without using the phrases "parasitic growth" or "is this document available in English?"
November 20, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Oh goodie. An entity elsewhere in the organisation has awarded itself a five-year strategy, and is demanding that departments report on how well they're performing against that strategy.
The challenge: respond without using the phrases "parasitic growth" or "is this document available in English?"
The challenge: respond without using the phrases "parasitic growth" or "is this document available in English?"
This. What's the alternative: nobody's allowed to have heard of Thor until they've read Snorri Sturluson, or Arthur until they've read Thomas Malory?
Idk I think it's fine if people work back from popular culture to learn more about folklore roots, culture, heritage, etc. People have to start somewhere.
Turning into my father one "the problem is no one reads enough books these days" grumble at a time
November 20, 2025 at 12:43 PM
This. What's the alternative: nobody's allowed to have heard of Thor until they've read Snorri Sturluson, or Arthur until they've read Thomas Malory?
@rmathematicus.bsky.social I like the timeline curation here.
November 20, 2025 at 10:41 AM
@rmathematicus.bsky.social I like the timeline curation here.