Josh Nicholas
@joshnicholas.com
📤 4010
📥 582
📝 34
Scribbler and data journalist.
https://joshnicholas.com
pinned post!
I wrote a thing about drawing and Melbourne
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
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Tourists, watercolours and the sad, still Star: sketching the route 35 tram showed me a Melbourne I had never really noticed
When you are in a city every day, you start to take things for granted. So, after three years in Melbourne, Josh Nicholas decided to be a tourist
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/22/tourists-watercolours-and-the-sad-still-star-sketching-the-route-35-tram-showed-me-a-melbourne-i-had-never-really-noticed
8 months ago
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"Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show. And the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day"
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
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Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/
about 16 hours ago
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This was really highlighted when I processed birth data for this Guardian project - so many Australians recorded as being born in countries that no longer exist, vague regions or continents, or even things like "French ship" or "British Antarctica"
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
add a skeleton here at some point
about 16 hours ago
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Josh Nicholas
Ben Tucker
about 17 hours ago
I've been wanting to explore Apple's local LLM ("Foundation Models") that's now there on every macOS 26 install. I was surprised I couldn't find any python bindings. A few hours with Claude Code (still mind blowing to me this is possible!) and I have an initial version:
github.com/btucker/appl...
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GitHub - btucker/apple-foundation-models-py: Python bindings for Apple's FoundationModels framework - on-device AI
Python bindings for Apple's FoundationModels framework - on-device AI - btucker/apple-foundation-models-py
https://github.com/btucker/apple-foundation-models-py
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www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
about 18 hours ago
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Josh Nicholas
Troy Hunt
1 day ago
This has been an extraordinary set of data to process: 1.3B unique passwords, 2B unique email addresses (including mine 😭) and almost 3M of our
@haveibeenpwned.com
subscribers in there. It’s been weeks of processing to get this loaded, and finally, it’s done
www.troyhunt.com/2-billion-em...
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2 Billion Email Addresses Were Exposed, and We Indexed Them All in Have I Been Pwned
I hate hyperbolic news headlines about data breaches, but for the "2 Billion Email Addresses" headline to be hyperbolic, it'd need to be exaggerated or overstated - and it isn't. It's rounded up from ...
https://www.troyhunt.com/2-billion-email-addresses-were-exposed-and-we-indexed-them-all-in-have-i-been-pwned/
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Not sure if I believe the story of a couple of dudes who put a trampoline on top of the Great Pyramid but this is an amazing yarn nevertheless
hadtrampolinedidtravel.blogspot.com/2013/05/part...
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Part 1 - Let's Go to Egypt!
The Great Pyramid Trampoline Caper A short story by Ron Munn “Say ...
https://hadtrampolinedidtravel.blogspot.com/2013/05/part-1-lets-go-to-egypt.html
1 day ago
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I love how much the ABC are using illustration in their interactives
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
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AI is creeping into every part of life — work, therapy, art — and Australians are divided between fascination and fear
We asked people if they were concerned about the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. What they told us revealed a deep unease about what the technology means for our future.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-06/artificial-intelligence-rise-australia-readers-concerns/105861182
1 day ago
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Dick Cheney's wiki page was the most visited yesterday (excluding the main page, special pages etc.), almost doubling up Mamdani in second
1 day ago
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reposted by
Josh Nicholas
Chris Knox
2 days ago
BusinessDesk has a fantastic (and rare) for a data journalist in New Zealand. The Herald and BusinessDesk are separate publications, but whoever is in this role will work with me on projects like Budget day visualisations 1/2
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
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Data Journalist - BusinessDesk - NZME
Join BusinessDesk as a Data Journalist—break market-moving stories, visualise insights, and set the global benchmark for data-driven reporting.
https://careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721-data-journalist-businessdesk
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Josh Nicholas
Agathe Demarais
2 days ago
Skilled workers are increasingly shunning America and Britain as top place to emigrate to • In 2008 more than one-tird of educated young adults picked US or UK as top destination • Share has dropped to 23%, with Canada among biggest beneficiaries from loss in US and UK allure
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Josh Nicholas
Gretchen McCulloch
2 days ago
New favourite example of structural ambiguity
add a skeleton here at some point
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Josh Nicholas
Liam Hogan
2 days ago
I’ve just looked this up and holy shit does Seattle’s icon go hard
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Josh Nicholas
John Holbein
3 days ago
Look at the distribution of z-values from medical research!
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From Ruins to Reuse: How Ukrainians Are Repurposing War Waste
e360.yale.edu/features/ukr...
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From Ruins to Reuse: How Ukrainians Are Repurposing War Waste
Russian bombardments have generated more than a billion tons of debris across Ukraine since 2022. Now, local and international efforts are meticulously sorting the bricks, concrete, metal, and wood, p...
https://e360.yale.edu/features/ukraine-war-debris-recycling
3 days ago
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This is great
neal.fun/space-elevator
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Space Elevator
Take a trip to space!
https://neal.fun/space-elevator
3 days ago
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reposted by
Josh Nicholas
Geoff Lemon 🍋
3 days ago
Legit, for the past couple of years Teen Vogue has been one of the very few remaining major titles to publish political commentary that clearly addressed the American cultural descent into madness. Invaluable for young readers, filing a gulf. No wonder it’s being squashed
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In their darkest moments, too many Australians are being met with lethal force instead of love and care
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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In their darkest moments, too many Australians are being met with lethal force instead of love and care | Lorena Allam
Police are often not equipped to deal with mental health callouts. Alternative first responders are better placed to de-escalate tension and reduce harm
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/04/mental-health-first-response-callouts-police-lethal-force
4 days ago
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3) are the visual differences in my elaborate chart so minuscule its actually just a table in disguise
add a skeleton here at some point
4 days ago
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Josh Nicholas
Nick Huntington-Klein
4 days ago
A big personal and professional change coming for me. I've accepted a professor position in the School of Business and Creative Industries at the University of the Sunshine Coast which means that next year (visa willing), the family and I will be heading to Australia.
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Josh Nicholas
Stephanie Convery
4 days ago
I had a very nice time writing about this new/old shipwreck found down at Point Lonsdale
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Look what the tide brought in: shipwreck found on Victorian beach may have lain there for a century
Only half of the 660 known wrecks in the state have ever been found, so the discovery of a timber vessel poking out of the sand is exciting archaeologists and locals alike
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/03/shipwreck-victorian-beach-may-have-lain-there-for-century
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Josh Nicholas
Erin Cook
4 days ago
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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How an Accused Scam Kingpin Built an Empire From Cambodia to London
Three years ago, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen gifted locally crafted luxury wristwatches to other world leaders at the time, including Joe Biden during a regional summit in Phnom Penh.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-02/how-accused-scammer-chen-zhi-s-cambodia-business-empire-prospered-before-charges
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Josh Nicholas
Nick Evershed!?
5 days ago
the Coalition dumping net zero and going harder on immigration to chase One Nation votes is not likely to help them if they ever want to win enough seats to form government again - and this (complicated) chart shows one reason why!
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
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Josh Nicholas
John Hollinger
5 days ago
The dream is over for Chicago. Bulls can still finish 81-1, but season feels hollow now.
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This is great
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
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‘You’re that guy on TikTok!’: the vice-chancellor who reimagined how a Sydney university could work
Prof George Williams of Western Sydney University thinks the sector is letting students, especially domestic students, down – but engaging with them on their terms can help rebuild trust
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/03/tiktok-vice-chancellor-professor-george-williams-western-sydney-university
5 days ago
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How racing makes its deadliest moments disappear
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
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How racing makes its deadliest moments disappear
For years, the racing industry has been quietly removing falls and deaths from its replays. Now, industry insiders are speaking out.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-02/horse-racing-disappearing-video-replay-ethical-concerns/105812252
5 days ago
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How hurricane hunters measured Melissa
www.reuters.com/graphics/STO...
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How hurricane hunters flew into the eye of Melissa
Scientists plunged through the category 5 hurricane in specialised aircraft to collect data
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/STORM-MELISSA/HUNTERS/klvyjeaykpg/
5 days ago
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www.smh.com.au/interactive/...
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Do you work too hard?
How many hours do people working the same job as you or living in your suburb clock up each week? Use our interactive to see how you compare.
https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2025/do-you-work-too-much/
5 days ago
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Josh Nicholas
Julien Chaumond
5 days ago
Training LLMs end to end is hard. But way more people should, and will, be doing it in the future. The
@hf.co
Research team is excited to share their new e-book that covers the full pipeline: · pre-training, · post-training, · infra. 200+ pages of what worked and what didn’t. ⤵️
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Josh Nicholas
Kevin Bonham
5 days ago
* Worst Coalition primary in a public poll ever, 3 points worse than previous Newspoll low * Highest ON primary in Newspoll history, sort-of tying last week's Essential (though that was raw not net) * Lowest combined major primary in Newspoll history by 3 points.
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Josh Nicholas
Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham
5 days ago
Dropping a beta version of this page while everyone is up and processing baseball! This tool lets you search the full text of papers from the American Economic Review, American Economic Journal series, and over 30,000 NBER working papers.
paulgp.com/econlit-pipe...
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Economics Literature Search
Full-text search across 15,000+ papers from top economics journals and NBER working papers. Track how empirical methods have evolved over time.
https://paulgp.com/econlit-pipeline/index.html
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Josh Nicholas
Adam Weinstein
5 days ago
Truly epic. Everyone is gonna remember that time Will Smith shocked everyone on live TV
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Josh Nicholas
ali alkhatib
5 days ago
in early 2016 facebook came to the conclusion that everyone with a facebook account at the time was connected to everyone else on facebook by an average of about 3.5 hops
research.facebook.com/blog/2016/2/...
add a skeleton here at some point
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"In the past five years, the median house price in Mount Gravatt has grown by about 77 per cent, from $731,000 to about $1.3 million, according to Cotality data. Ten years ago, the median house price in the area was only $555,000, and in 2000 it was just $174,000."
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
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A $1.5 million unit sale captures a growing house price problem
A recent auction for a three-bedroom townhouse in Brisbane has captured just how much property prices have skyrocketed in recent years, highlighting the nation’s fast-growing housing affordability cri...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-02/real-estate-property-market-first-home-buyers-schemes/105941822
6 days ago
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Gonna be so hot today it broke the scale on my chart
6 days ago
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Sun is pretty amazing today. Would recommend.
#scribble
6 days ago
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So many people to do the cricket broadcasts
7 days ago
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Cricketttttt
#scribble
7 days ago
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