Reading this thread I simply cannot fathom the speed with which some scholars *resign* their vocation the moment the option to defer to AI arises. I fought many years for the privilege to write and teach. Even if AI *could* do my job (it can’t) they will have to pry it from my cold dead hands
If you're not going to choose a specialist spinner, you really need to keep an eye on the length of those drinks breaks..
I guess it’s good I can still write on my laptop without getting sidetracked or distracted too much, but.. pen and paper are undefeated. Writing actually feels peaceful!
I used to visit the David Hockney painting “American Collectors” at the Art Institute of Chicago regularly. The irony of the painting — the stiff poses of the Weismans mirroring their prized possessions — always seemed somewhat loving to me. One of the first 20th c. painters I came to admire.
This is about over rates on Day 1 after England chose to bowl in the second Test match against New Zealand, isn't it? 🏏
Dylan, on life in your 80’s, is incredible.
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/06/14/o...
I finished a draft of the proposal for my next book project on my laptop and it was such an odd experience to write on a computer after nearly a year of doing almost all my writing in physical notebooks. Today’s my first day back to pen and paper (working on a Substack essay) and it’s such a relief!
Per most recent figures, net migration to NI *over the past 22 years* has been ~62,000 people.
Only 3% of Northern Ireland’s population currently belong to an ethnic minority.
Pogroms in Belfast (as with Ballymena last year) are just gutter-level "One Is One Too Many" racism, and nothing else.
I'm attending a digital humanities event in Montreal. There was a keynote on AI and something about the talk made me wonder if it had been written by Claude. I said as much in the Q&A. As I posed the question, the speaker shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable. What he said next shocked the room +