Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
@jlkavanaugh.bsky.social
Glaciologist and Earth system scientist at the University of Alberta. Luthier, photographer, baker, and coffee maker. Two-wheeled travel enthusiast and dog companion. He/him.
Reposted by Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
It seems like this is a good time to tell you all why LLMs are never, and can never be, conscious.
Are AI companies being extremely irresponsible with incomplete and badly defined parameters for their LLMs? Yes!
Are they unwittingly creating Skynet? No. Grow up. Come on
Are they unwittingly creating Skynet? No. Grow up. Come on
September 16, 2026 at 10:15 PM
It seems like this is a good time to tell you all why LLMs are never, and can never be, conscious.
This is so damned bleak.
This is the future of scientific papers.
Instead of a PDF, the paper is an AI agent that you can talk to, ask questions, run analyses.
No more digging through supplements - just ask the paper directly: "what p-value cutoff was used in Fig 3B? Re-run at 0.01."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Instead of a PDF, the paper is an AI agent that you can talk to, ask questions, run analyses.
No more digging through supplements - just ask the paper directly: "what p-value cutoff was used in Fig 3B? Re-run at 0.01."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reimagining research papers as interactive and reliable AI agents - Nature
Paper2Agent converts research papers into interactive artificial intelligence agents by turning manuscripts, code and data into model context protocol-based tool-invoking systems that reproduce origin...
www.nature.com
September 17, 2026 at 2:08 PM
This is so damned bleak.
Reposted by Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
As an academic I feel like that I'm living in that scene in The Big Short where they see all the empty houses and know it's a bubble, but for me it's hearing about all the innovation and growth in higher education, then teaching a class where only 8/250 students show up weekly
September 17, 2026 at 2:15 AM
As an academic I feel like that I'm living in that scene in The Big Short where they see all the empty houses and know it's a bubble, but for me it's hearing about all the innovation and growth in higher education, then teaching a class where only 8/250 students show up weekly
Reposted by Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
This week I handed the newsletter over to climate policy & politics expert Leah Stokes. She says, talking about climate change doesn't lose elections. It wins them. Read on!
Climate action comes in waves | Talking Climate with Katharine Hayhoe
Leah Stokes on voting for climate, where policy failed, and the Carbon Wave Calculator This week I’m excited to be handing this newsletter o
www.patreon.com
September 16, 2026 at 11:23 PM
This week I handed the newsletter over to climate policy & politics expert Leah Stokes. She says, talking about climate change doesn't lose elections. It wins them. Read on!
If stress makes an appearance during my daily cyclecommute, its origin is pretty much always the same: some interaction with an automobile - or, more accurately, the automobile's driver.
Typically because the driver is wielding the automobile like a weapon. Knowingly, purposefully.
Typically because the driver is wielding the automobile like a weapon. Knowingly, purposefully.
Just cycled home at pootling speed on my E-Brompton. Local rush hour. Every car, a single stressed and/or angry person, hating the world and everyone else. Can't be good on a repeated basis!
September 16, 2026 at 5:55 PM
If stress makes an appearance during my daily cyclecommute, its origin is pretty much always the same: some interaction with an automobile - or, more accurately, the automobile's driver.
Typically because the driver is wielding the automobile like a weapon. Knowingly, purposefully.
Typically because the driver is wielding the automobile like a weapon. Knowingly, purposefully.
Speaking of “dope,” @behindthebluemotel.com, check out this WWII photographer’s two-Leica setup:
September 16, 2026 at 1:48 AM
Speaking of “dope,” @behindthebluemotel.com, check out this WWII photographer’s two-Leica setup:
Reposted by Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
GEFILTE PHISHING
Just got a phishing email from someone posing as my Rabbi, so that's a fun escalation.
September 15, 2026 at 10:30 PM
GEFILTE PHISHING
@nardwuarserviette.bsky.social would have gotten video.
September 15, 2026 at 3:17 AM
@nardwuarserviette.bsky.social would have gotten video.
I'm apparently seven years late to this party, but damn - what an ensemble.
Every bit of it is fantastic - the voices, accompaniment, and mix - but Nick Campbell's bass work is absolutely stellar, and that open-E/upper-G# combo he hits several times are my favourite dyad on the instrument.
Enjoy:
Every bit of it is fantastic - the voices, accompaniment, and mix - but Nick Campbell's bass work is absolutely stellar, and that open-E/upper-G# combo he hits several times are my favourite dyad on the instrument.
Enjoy:
Monster | Pomplamoose & dodie
YouTube video by PomplamooseMusic
www.youtube.com
September 14, 2026 at 5:47 PM
I'm apparently seven years late to this party, but damn - what an ensemble.
Every bit of it is fantastic - the voices, accompaniment, and mix - but Nick Campbell's bass work is absolutely stellar, and that open-E/upper-G# combo he hits several times are my favourite dyad on the instrument.
Enjoy:
Every bit of it is fantastic - the voices, accompaniment, and mix - but Nick Campbell's bass work is absolutely stellar, and that open-E/upper-G# combo he hits several times are my favourite dyad on the instrument.
Enjoy:
Reposted by Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.
September 13, 2026 at 11:54 PM
It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.
I’m out at Rad Torque Raceway today, watching some of the Edmonton Motorcycle Roadracing Association’s final races of the season. On now: intermediate 600 Superbike.
September 12, 2026 at 7:49 PM
I’m out at Rad Torque Raceway today, watching some of the Edmonton Motorcycle Roadracing Association’s final races of the season. On now: intermediate 600 Superbike.
The first sourdough boule of the season, fresh from the oven.
September 12, 2026 at 4:26 PM
The first sourdough boule of the season, fresh from the oven.
This effing place.
A leaked document obtained by @drewanderson.bsky.social has led to political backlash in Alberta over moves the doc says could raise electricity and gas prices. It's all to spur data centre and oil & gas growth. Read more, and see excerpts from the document, here: thenarwhal.ca/alberta-oppo...
Alberta’s alleged push for more AI data centres, oil and gas, sparks outrage | The Narwhal
‘For her foreign billionaire friends’: Opposition leader accuses Danielle Smith of possibly raising energy bills for AI data centres. Here’s a peek at the leaked doc he’s talking about
thenarwhal.ca
September 11, 2026 at 11:42 PM
This effing place.
Reposted by Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11, when Canadians responded, united, to support and protect our American neighbours. Tonight, I was reflecting on the sacrifices our country made - only to see them now derided by US leaders. I wrote this 6 years ago. I think it’s worth a reread now.
Finding Fortitude - Alberta Views
Canada’s most powerful memorial.
albertaviews.ca
September 11, 2026 at 2:24 AM
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11, when Canadians responded, united, to support and protect our American neighbours. Tonight, I was reflecting on the sacrifices our country made - only to see them now derided by US leaders. I wrote this 6 years ago. I think it’s worth a reread now.
Given that we're already strong and free, why again are we wasting so much time and money on the upcoming referendum?
Oh, that's right. Silly me.
Oh, that's right. Silly me.
‘Strong and Free’: New Alberta welcome signs unveiled
‘Strong and Free’: New Alberta welcome signs unveiled
Alberta’s new welcome signs were unveiled Thursday, displaying the province’s motto, “Strong and Free.”
bit.ly
September 10, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Given that we're already strong and free, why again are we wasting so much time and money on the upcoming referendum?
Oh, that's right. Silly me.
Oh, that's right. Silly me.
My Seiko mechanical watch can’t do this (which makes me very happy).
Watching this Apple event tout how iPhones will soon be able to record ambient audio/conversations and transcribe "high level notes" for you. It's billed as private and end-to-end encrypted, but I think the bigger harm is the normalization of always-listening devices. It's creepy and not normal.
September 10, 2026 at 12:23 AM
My Seiko mechanical watch can’t do this (which makes me very happy).
I'm loving this picture of Jerry, wearing Doug Irwin's "Wolf" guitar - though apparently before Jerry had slapped the namesake sticker on it, and before Doug subsequently peeled the sticker off and reproduced its likeness with inlaid pieces of wood - thus creating the "Wolf" we know (and 🩷).
The boys debuted the full Weather Report Suite in stunning fashion, following it up with a punchy Roll Out the Barrel before an epic Eyes and China Doll. But all of that might be eclipsed by the magisterial He's Gone on what would have been Pig's 28th birthday. gratefuldeadoftheday.com/09-08-1973
Dead of the Day: September 8, 1973
Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York
gratefuldeadoftheday.com
September 8, 2026 at 9:16 PM
I'm loving this picture of Jerry, wearing Doug Irwin's "Wolf" guitar - though apparently before Jerry had slapped the namesake sticker on it, and before Doug subsequently peeled the sticker off and reproduced its likeness with inlaid pieces of wood - thus creating the "Wolf" we know (and 🩷).
Yikes.
But as a daily, year-round bicycle commuter, also “Yep.”
But as a daily, year-round bicycle commuter, also “Yep.”
September 6, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Yikes.
But as a daily, year-round bicycle commuter, also “Yep.”
But as a daily, year-round bicycle commuter, also “Yep.”
Despite the fact that Linnaean classification doubles down on the common name for these beautiful birds — “Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus” means “Yellow-headed yellowhead” — I still like to think of them as “Black-bodied yellowbirds.”
Today's special #BirdOfTheDay theme is the letter #X. A male Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) loudly proclaiming his territory.
#Saskatchewan #ECK #photography #birds #nature #wildlife #Kodachrome #1990s #ManualFocus
#Saskatchewan #ECK #photography #birds #nature #wildlife #Kodachrome #1990s #ManualFocus
September 6, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Despite the fact that Linnaean classification doubles down on the common name for these beautiful birds — “Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus” means “Yellow-headed yellowhead” — I still like to think of them as “Black-bodied yellowbirds.”
Reposted by Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
This is a cogent piece for Americans to absorb.
It is also a good roundup for Canadians to reflect on where we've come over the last year and where our future lies notwithstanding the economic punishment coming our way from Trumplandia.
It is also a good roundup for Canadians to reflect on where we've come over the last year and where our future lies notwithstanding the economic punishment coming our way from Trumplandia.
Most Americans are unaware of the US tensions with Canada.
americanpulse.substack.com/p/special-re...
americanpulse.substack.com/p/special-re...
SPECIAL REPORT - Your Neighbour Canada Has Changed And You're Not Going to Like What is Happening Underestimating Canadians - Trumps Fatal Mistake
50% tariffs, a collapsed trade deal, and a Canadian economy posting record highs anyway. Here's news you're not going to like, but you need to know it
americanpulse.substack.com
September 5, 2026 at 1:07 PM
This is a cogent piece for Americans to absorb.
It is also a good roundup for Canadians to reflect on where we've come over the last year and where our future lies notwithstanding the economic punishment coming our way from Trumplandia.
It is also a good roundup for Canadians to reflect on where we've come over the last year and where our future lies notwithstanding the economic punishment coming our way from Trumplandia.
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this reporting, and so really shouldn’t be sharing it. Neither should you.
Apparently people are sharing this far and wide on social media, which I think is horrible. This could cripple ICE operations. PLEASE do not share this.
September 5, 2026 at 8:39 PM
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this reporting, and so really shouldn’t be sharing it. Neither should you.
Reposted by Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh 🇨🇦
More feel good news
Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.
September 4, 2026 at 10:33 PM
More feel good news
For what it's worth, those appear to be ~12 mm bolt heads.
😂 lol come get your carbrain medal, sign maker 😂
Also interesting that they use four different terms with slightly different connotations: traffic, motorist, vehicle, driver.
Also interesting that they use four different terms with slightly different connotations: traffic, motorist, vehicle, driver.
September 3, 2026 at 3:07 PM
For what it's worth, those appear to be ~12 mm bolt heads.
I do love riding bicycles in the rain, though I'm less fond of the resulting grit* in my teeth.
*sorry, sedimentologists; 'fine to very fine sand'
*sorry, sedimentologists; 'fine to very fine sand'
September 3, 2026 at 2:47 PM
I do love riding bicycles in the rain, though I'm less fond of the resulting grit* in my teeth.
*sorry, sedimentologists; 'fine to very fine sand'
*sorry, sedimentologists; 'fine to very fine sand'