“British ‘First Fleet’ brought smallpox to Australia — and may have killed millions” www.science.org/content/arti... “Two papers pin the deadly disease’s introduction on British colonists and suggest the continent held far more people than previously believed.”

The world’s 8.2 billion people, shown as a single tree map. India and China dominate, Africa is already nearly twice the size of Europe, and Australia barely registers. Source: buff.ly/P5OtmPg

Very cool graph show what people really mean when they use vague terminology describing the probability of an event. Source: buff.ly/2kJ61T7

Today in heterosexuality

#cats www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wnh...

the future is here and it is picking images for news alerts

Old man shouting at clouds: “I don’t like all this smoke! I’m going to make my people pay more for their imported goods!” “Trump threatens new Canada tariffs over fires sending 'filthy' air into US cities” www.bbc.com/news/article...

Fighting the eternal fight against Dustin Fluff.

Dang they really got a category for everything

NEW NEWSLETTER: “The Weekly Cybers #125” buttondown.com/stilgherrian... Albanese talks up a content-free AI “framework”, Telstra gets grilled over last week’s outage, and sexbots are repurposed as robot teachers. No, really.

How to enter a room. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LFo...

Sat plan: This weekend I need to deal with podcast post-production, administrivia, chores, and errands, but the exact running order isn’t critical. I’ll compile a list and tackle things as I feel like them. And @snarkyplatypus.com is cooking tonight so that will be interesting.

Last night I dreamed that I’d been hired to do community relations for an airport expansion project in Newfoundland. Which is brilliant, because I’m not Canadian and indeed have never been there.

Today, Saturday 18 July, is World Listening Day. worldlisteningday.org Also, (Inter?)National Caviar Day. www.daysoftheyear.com/days/caviar-... And it’s happy 75th birthday to esteemed character actress Margo Martindale. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margo_M...

It's partly cloudy in Sydney today and the temperature will be 2°C above average. Also, just 2°C warmer than yesterday, despite CARROT's hallucinations. It looks quite lovely out, in fact.

Saturday. Ignorance of the liver? Such a vague stereotype of the incapable consumer! Consider the height before anticipating the jump. Saturday.

I wouldn't want to judge, but...

“Cockatoo teasing Kookaburra,” because it’s an arsehole (2017) www.youtube.com/watch?v=K41I...

How to enter a room. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LFo...

ICYMI the other day...

In important durian news, Malaysia is looking for an overland trading route to China to get rid of their durian glut. Move over silk, we now have #TheDurianRoad

“Dog smells durian” www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba5-... (no sound)

The Moon and Venus are in conjunction tonight. It’ll be obvious which is which, and Venus is the brightest thing in the night sky apart from the Moon. Unless it’s cloudy where you are.

In which @elissablack.com posts at length about “The Hunt for Red October”. eigenmagic.net/@vampiress/1... Warning: It includes the phrase “jacking off while thinking of Reagan and Country”.

Mount Gambier has been busy being Mount Gambier.

"Among GenX One Nation is polling north of 40% on the primary vote. Among Gen Z voters reporting exactly the same stress the Greens are polling at 40%. It’s the very same symptoms, in other words, but wildly different prescriptions for a cure." WTF GenX

Median voter:

I cannot stop laughing at this. They were so close to cracking lmao #InfoWars #MAJA

This should work, cats are notoriously bad at filling in forms

NEW NEWSLETTER: “The Weekly Cybers #125” buttondown.com/stilgherrian... Albanese talks up a content-free AI “framework”, Telstra gets grilled over last week’s outage, and sexbots are repurposed as robot teachers. No, really.

How to Hook Up with a Girl

“Secretive Silicon Valley startup tries to quash interview, says it’s definitely not working on growing brain-free ‘organ sacks’” futurism.com/future-socie...

Hold on, my dishwasher is messaging me...

I see that my passport needs renewing. $422 is taking the piss, Australia.

Oh that’s right, I muted the words “royal commission”.

It’s at 0500 AEST Monday on SBS. This meeting could have been an email. I mean, this news story could have been a post.

Fri plan: Easing into the day once again thanks to The Dreams; write and post “The Weekly Cybers” newsletter (check out the archives and subscribe for FREE at stilgherrian.com/theweeklycyb...); yet more important administrivia; TGIF. I will keep crying to a minimum.

Insider Trading as a Service.

Today, Friday 17 July, is World Emoji Day. worldemojiday.com Also, (Inter?)National Wrong Way Corrigan Day. www.daysoftheyear.com/days/nationa... And happy 70th birthday to the everlasting Julie Bishop, much-loved ANU chancellor and UN special envoy for Myanmar. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_B...

It may well be a wet morning in Sydney today after an unexpectedly wet night. 28.8 mm of rain in my bits! Either way, the temperature will be right on average.

Friday. The piano is a computer of wood and iron. Use it to generate the definitive Lost Text. A bitter reliance. Friday.

Still thinking about this.

Stupid things to do with a jet engine, Part 984. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcEk...

NEW BALMING TIGER JUST DROPPED! Balming Tiger - Janjan (Official Video) www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyQ4...

Americans should be forced to pronounce “herbs” and “heinous” the same way.

Enjoying* the flood of press releases with extremely generic corporate commentary on the government’s new AI framework. “Clear national direction on trust, governance and accountability will give businesses a stronger foundation to invest and innovate.” Yeah, mate, but so what?

Crying in CSS.

Sometimes things just happen one after the other.