B Haas

Tips for ethical AI use:

1. Don't

How many years does it take for something to become "the way it's always done" or "the way things are"? I'm thinking about what I was told as a grad student 15-20 years ago about the "how the academic job market works." Today's reality doesn't match that. My grandfather's academic career (pre early 1980s) didn't match it either I'm thinking about saving for college and how that was different for my parents vs me vs (someday) my kids I'm thinking about what "winter" and "heat waves" look like

Dear conference organizers, Presentation ≠ PowerPoint If you will be requiring the use of PowerPoint, you must SAY SO in advance. It doesn't matter if "everybody" uses it. "Everybody" isn't everybody. Sincerely, Me

@inthehands A labor organizer once told my colleagues & me something along the same lines to what you're saying now, and I've come back to it again and again in the years since, since applies in many contexts: "If you’re waiting for the cavalry to come over the hill, they’re not coming. It’s just you, but you are enough." It's just us, but we are enough!

Apparently there's a new NYT op-ed on grade inflation (not reading it, not linking it) You know what would stop grade inflation? Getting rid of grades! Grades were invented to rank & sort people (first students, and later instructors & schools), and they continue to be used for that purpose. It would be awesome if we stopped doing that!

I'm making more black raspberry jam today, and I had so many berries that I needed a full kilo of sugar! I am not used to using sugar at that scale

Well, my first impression of remote access to #BCCE2026 is… mixed The camera in the room was entirely out of focus for >5 min, but they fixed it Audio is good. Once the camera focus got fixed we have a good view of the room It's streaming in Zoom and somebody who is not presenting inadvertantly shared their screen The opening message is very good but the speaker (Bassam Shakhashiri) is in the habit of walking away from the microphone

@toni@zug.network @futurebird@sauropods.win I have some sympathy for "students don't know [previously assumed knowledge] anymore" complaints It is important to define the symbols and state the assumed knowledge because that is the decent and inclusive thing to do. It's also true that you can't teach everything in one course More time on previously assumed knowledge is less time on something else. It might be for the better! But it can still be frustrating

@KarenDorman @eclectech Your friendly weird shadow kinda reminds me of Shaun the Sheep

@hgrsd@hachyderm.io @SRLevine@neuromatch.social Ugh. Two different family members each gave us a copy of Giraffes Can't Dance when my first kid was born. I hate that book for exactly this reason

@guyjantic@infosec.exchange And then administrators at my little university in NY point to SUNY and say "We should do that too!" and act as if all SUNY faculty must totally be on board with the AI push and we few naysayers at a private institution are clueless and out of touch in comparison 🙄 Solidarity from a fellow academic

@AG100pct@infosec.exchange It's almost 10 years old now, but this (long) article is one of my favorite pieces of environmental journalism, and it's about the radioactive waste in Coldwater Creek https://www.guernicamag.com/the-fall-out

@GetzlerChem@mstdn.science @MEActNOW@mastodon.social Blum's earlier book about 1920s & '30s forensics, The Poisoner's Handbook, is also quite good, as is the PBS show on it. I have used them to teach part of my non-majors chemistry class, and I always point out that regulations made life safer for all of us

@scottbarolo@mastodon.social 😆 I’m adopting this as my Goodreads rating scale

I've switched to another symposium for the next talk The speakers are trying to get to their PowerPoint slides to show them, and it is like seventeen steps of two-factor and Microsoft redirects to websites they don't need (like opening a Copilot tab when they just want PowerPoint) Microsoft is the WORST #BCCE2026