DoctorMikeReddy

Or how watching a YouTube Channel I would never normally watch made me feel less alone… Here it is, A Hoarder’s Heart, the YouTube channel of Melanie Renee, commonly known as “Miss Heart!” as for a while she was anonymous; this was during COVID, I believe, so the face mask was forgivable, if not the dark glasses she used to hide her identity. And hide it she did, because she was concerned with…

How auto-exploitation has had us giving our freedom away willingly… The Myth of Self Improvement – YouTube We are not isolated individuals seeking individual isolated goals. We have nothing to prove. No approval needed. Be your worst self! Do what you should, not just what you can. Processivity over Productivity; the doing is better than the done. Not that you shouldn’t finish anything, but…

An ongoing list of super secret projects (done and undone) #0 the first, but at the time unnamed SSP: redecorating Rachel’s balcony as a garden – DONE and DUSTED. Eventually the fake grass was removed after several years, but the job was done and Bella (her dog) had overcome her fear of going out there. Sadly, Bella died recently, so the impetus to make the balcony a garden has lapsed. #1 is…

Billy Bragg reminded me on FaceBook yesterday that it was Tony Benn’s 100th birthday. Ot would have been if we had been lucky enough to still be blessed by his presence. He’s always been something of a hero: eschewing rank and privilege to represent the Silenced by Society, to represent those unable to represent themselves, to ask the hard questions of the powerful. Here they are, his five…

Listening to the You Aren’t So Smart podcast recently – we all need to be reminded of that, every now and then – I was introduced to the concept of triggers for either a growth mindset or a fixed one. In essence, we can all get into the mood for entrenching our thoughts, feelings and beliefs, seeking to justify our current position by selecting our bias over counter-indicators. The guest speaker,…

Two recent worrying reports about USW, but not worrying for the obvious reasons: https://www.business-live.co.uk/opinion-analysis/university-south-wales-seen-alarming-31300796ANDhttps://nation.cymru/news/staff-unhappy-with-leadership-of-the-university-of-south-wales/ The latter of which involved a leaked document related to the results of a recent staff survey. I’d actually asked myself if this…

My take on GenAI in learning and assessment Hi,  Please forgive the blanket broadcast, but I wanted to make something clear; I know a few of you I no longer teach and you’ll be graduating soon, but it seemed easier to send to everyone.  GenAI… it’s seen by many academics as a threat, because it overturns years (decades?) of assessment practice, making previously time-consuming tasks relatively…

In my post “You may have noticed” (written, I see, nearly four years ago 😦 which comes something of a shock!) I recount the loss and costly retrieval of the domain name and rebirth of the site. While I intimated that I was rather bad at updating things I did assume having to pay my own way could be a personal call to action; sadly those four years (without going into unnecessary details) was my…

If it’s not your words its not your work – on how to (NOT) communicate to students about academic outsourcing*

* I much prefer to avoid the very loaded term “contract cheating”, so when compelled to use judgemental language I will use CC, if that is ok.

Firstly, you should probably watch this video (source):

I first saw this tweeted and retweeted by well known academic integrity/plagiarism experts; it’s always the usual…

You may have noticed…

I am in the process of revamping – resuscitating? <charging whine> “Clear!” <kajunk!> – my dusty old blog and web site. Why now? Well, you only really value something when it is gone. And this web site did disappear for a short while 😦

Several years ago, when I was a little more active in games journalism, I was sponsored by Paco Garcia from G*M*S Magazine, who supported several budding…

I need a title please

Here’s a short story. Can you give me a title?

Untitled Story

Janine wasn’t sure when she first started to go mad. It was either the cut carrots calling out, or the parsnips pleading as the oven heated up to roasting speed. She’d been a vegetarian for decades. A vegan ever since her wedding to Tom, the variety artist. But although he joked that while “meat is murder, but fish is justifiable…

The Girl NOT on the Train – a short story for #Audio365

https://audioboom.com/posts/7028846-the-girl-not-on-the-train-a-short-story-for-audio365

Why UK Gov removing the Feed in Tariff is a bad idea

While it would be better to use something like a Tesla Powerwall, to store excess electricity for the afternoon peak and nighttime usage, and only having enough panels to charge it and cover daytime requirements, the payback for extra generation is a factor. A solar household typically gets a lot less per Kilowatt Hour (KWh) than we pay for incoming energy – usually under