Good Morning! On this day, (Thurs) Jan 22 in 1858 Beatrice Webb was born. She was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term collective bargaining. She was among the founders of the London School of Econ. #WomeninSTEM 🧪

Scientists have "a new way to help control crown-of-thorns starfish—one that co-opts the animals’ own communication systems to lure them to their deaths. " www.biographic.com/how-to-kill-... Australians “have been fighting against [COTS] for 50 years,” Cummins says. “It’s an exciting time.”

Calendar year 2025 was pretty snowy here, as was the winter of 2024-25. Winter 2025-26 is only half over and it is already at or past (?) the typical winter average. kitchenerwaterloo.weatherstats.ca/metrics/snow...

Visitor: our garden; half an hour ago. #echidna #nipaluna #lutruwita #hobart #tasmania

Just re-read. This time was struck the reference to the science of GHG-induced global warming.

Nicest thing that happened today: cyclist on fat / studded tire bike stopped while I was shoveling to offer to take over for me. Declined the offer, but had a nice chat about winter cycling that almost convinced me to give it a go. Maybe next year. Or the year after.

Lovely photos by Scott Ritchie of the birds and mammals of Australia. whyevolutionistrue.com/2026/01/22/r...

In recent years, the Great Barrier Reef has been endangered by rising temperatures. These scientists are trying to save it by helping corals have babies.

Relevant story in Private Eye about Ethiopian runners being denied entry to the US to attend the U20 world cross country championships in Florida. The team are the current the world champions. It's a big ask. England and Scotland footballers shouldn't attend the World Cup.

Wholesome Australian traditions.

The Shingles vaccine and reduction of dementia: a new natural experiment from Canada replicated 3 others and adds to this week's link to slowing of biological aging. erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-...

The Coldest 100 returns to Bluesky this Saturday with 100 Australia-adjacent musical oddities, atrocities and curiosities. Listen at your own peril ☠️ #coldest100 #hottest100

The idea of an arctic security corridor is one of the key ideas championed throughout our multi-year industrial policy research program at IRPP. It's time to get serious about it. irpp.org/research-stu...

This and trying to explain what money is* are routinely the two things that make intro economics students the maddest. But they are typically teenagers no-one listens to, not CEOs.** * Not gold. ** OK of kinda fake companies, but still.

Gotta ask, is calling -9C "unbelievably cold" laughable to every Canadian? I need some input from Vancouver and area here. Is this a truly uniting moment for us?

This sounds very interesting.... #econsky

Let's observe a master of camouflage working its magic. 🐙 What amazing aliens of the deep.. #cephalopod #marinelife #intelligence #camouflage

I am in awe of the dazzling diversity of Proteaceae in Australia. Hakea sericea has tough, awl-like leaves, a world away from the broad leaves of H. victoria that I posted earlier today. Just amazing! 📷: Dave Richardson CCBY4. #Proteaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

A case where winter doors o the second floors might work! #LeftHandofDarkness

Benkei Bridge (Heisei) | Toshi Yoshida

Skies in Hobart tonight. Quite something.

Australia hoping no-one will notice it all the way down there. It might work. But if it doesn't it's going to be a bit of an issue finding new allies.

A very good column: Allied nations are openly reassessing their global relationships with China and Russia in light of the US’ increasing unpredictability. Australia? Not so much. www.crikey.com.au/2026/01/21/a...

OK, well then.

OK, this has absolutely brilliant stuff in it that I've read and love, along with a bunch of things I've been meaning to read. Strong recommend. #EconSciFiBookClub

The world's largest EV, a battery electric catamaran ferry powered up it's water jet motors as part of it's harbor trials. 🧪🔌💡☀️💨💧🔋 www.autoevolution.com/news/earth-s...

RIP Rob Hirst www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01... youtu.be/SAFv2NEE-_c?...

Literally everyone who even vaguely knew what a tariff was said this when they were introduced! You don’t need a team of economists to analyze the situation — no one who lives in reality was confused by this!

In 2023, Canada and Denmark formally recognized split ownership of the tiny uninhabited arctic island Hans Island, forming a new land border. And I ask you this: what was the point of all that if Canadians can't start confusing everyone by saying stuff like "our neighbours, the Danish"

Ever wondered what a downtown pedestrian streets looks like on a Monday evening in the middle of January in Montreal?

Meanwhile in SWO

Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes, the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area, and the third-largest by volume, bordering Canada (Ontario) and the U.S. (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan) Nature #MondayMotivation

Echidnas are spiny little egg-laying mammals, native to Australia and New Guinea. They have long snouts to find ants, termites, and worms, which they catch with a long, sticky tongue. Lacking teeth, they use their snout to smash food.

Also good work to the people and organisations who hosted Kevin Hassett.

the knitters too. this is the top pattern on ravelry right now

📢 #CallForPapers - Paris-Lyon Public Economics Workshop (PL-PubEcon) 📆28-29 May |📍ENS Lyon Deadline: 1 March Organised by: @bgarbinti.bsky.social‬ & Jonathan Goupille-Lebret cepr.org/events/paris... #EconSky

Mad Kings used to build real things. Pointless canals in Siberia. Golden statues to face the sun. Neuschwanstein.

Right: inputs are perhaps recieved but have no effect. Given which, imvh(and uninfluential)o, Canada should be worrying less about how Trump/the US administration will react and more about how other agents respond, as well as what is ethically correct. bsky.app/profile/madd...

“We can continue reacting every winter — accepting mass illness, overwhelmed hospitals, and preventable deaths — or we can interrupt the engine itself. We don’t need school closures to do that. We need clean air in schools.” tactnowinfo.substack.com/p/the-school...

"Trade is not fundamentally about competition. It's not us versus Canada. It's us and Canada." It's really about cooperation. And if the United States won't cooperate reliably with Canada, we shouldn't be surprised when Canada looks for new friends to cooperate with. And Americans miss out.

“Australian travellers have given the Trump presidency a resounding thumbs down,” writes Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute. Read the full piece on The Point: thepoint.com.au/off-the-char...

Seems unfair that you only get to use the bouncy slide to get off a plane when things have gone wrong. The bouncy slide should be a treat they give to the best passengers who did the flight correctly.

We already saw this with tariffs and predicted economic damage - grandpa levies bajillion percent tariffs on everything from China - economists et al al go "uhhhh holy fuck holy fuck" - naptime defeats tariffs otaku and most stuff reverts to 10% - bunch of people accuse economists of exaggerating

The belief of some really smart people on here that we can change what the US is going to do by some kind of meliorative policy is equally dismaying. It's not "zero regard for the consequences": it's that our actions are non-causal wrt US aggression, but causal wrt European support for us.

Need to deal with vulnerabilities re what countries exactly? I can think of two options, neither of whom Trump seems to have any concern about defending against anywhere but places he himself wants to invade.

I do admire consistency in libertarians when faced with a difficult real world situation. Haven't noticed it being that common.

There was room for the embarrassment to grow?

"Most of the adults who got vaccinated did so because they felt a strong sense of duty to get the vaccination, not just to protect themselves but to protect their community. When they know that they're making a difference, it matters." abcnews.go.com/Health/measl...

Post the cover of a book you love from the 90s. (Any century!) #BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books