They should have to have warnings on thirty year old movies that there are Trump jump scares

Blow up the Pokies is basically the easiest way to make the world better by banning one single thing

feeling attacked

Like most of your risible takes this one is based on a profound truth. Our eclectic fox-like racism has led to the two overlapping hedgehog-like ideas that now animate the rest of the racist world: boat-stopping is humanitarianism, and offshore detention is a disincentive. We really are the worst.

This is a terrific observation because it’s what a moral panic looks like. If there was a good article to be written on this topic, then someone would do it and there wouldn’t be a market for a million lesser follow-ups

the minute the fb algorithm clocks you as a straight man it immediately sets about trying to destroy your life & endanger those around you

In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

I wish university presses would try to get some physics textbooks by women published Too much push for memoir, not enough push for “write about the thing you do”

Ok so I have had time to properly read and digest Hogg's paper in detail and it will not shock you as his former postdoc that I agree with close to 100%. But the spiciest take here isn't anything about LLMs, it's the assertion that astronomy lacks a right edge. This is true but you can't say it!

Just for reference, it is very, very possible to have a civil and productive conversation about AI and LLMs on Bluesky, and I do it every day, and people who say you can't do so are either lying to further an agenda or just have a massive skill issue. Feel free to point to this post if needed!

Found an additional graphic that gets even more of these quotes together. I've kept "I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees" pinned above my desk since I first started studying evolutionary biology as an undergraduate. So relatable to get extremely frustrated with your study system.

not sure given the state of the discourse that I'm very excited for the LNP to move even further to the right, seems like there's a bit of hubris on here thinking this will keep them further from government rather than eroding norms of decency and tolerance even further

Reading Hogg's paper with great interest this morning... This is a point I've been trying to explicitly make for years to students from day 1 in working with me. This project is FOR YOU, not me. If I "needed" it done, then I should do it.

"When we employ a graduate student to perform some work, it absolutely must be because the graduate student will benefit from that work, not merely because that work needs to get done."

Reading David Hogg on LLMs in astrophysics should be mandatory.

As a grad student who's recently taught a class for first-year grads I really like the section on focusing on learning over just producing work! I think a grad costs ~as much as a postdoc, and is bound to produce less, but it's worth it for our learning - it's nice to see the field-wide view of that

David Hogg has written a white paper on doing astrophysics in the age of LLMs. It looks to be thought-provoking. My initial reaction is that either LLMs will destroy the field or they will force a reckoning with and re-imagining of the current system that often prioritizes output over quality. 🧪

Andrej Karpathy was cursed by a witch to write smaller and smaller GPT implementations until he finds one that fits in a single character. We can only guess at what he did to earn such a fate

At least once a week I stride confidently through the Metro gates after tapping and there is a slight lag and I hit it. I also never learn not to do this

QUT will take over famous literary magazine Meanjin, after the journal was closed by Melbourne Uni Publishing last year. This is a win for all who campaigned to save the masthead, but hardly makes up for the damage done last year www.smh.com.au/culture/book...

Ninefax has the story but there’s no more information, just a summary of the story until now. www.smh.com.au/culture/book... ($)

mumbling to mephistopheles: I just want to do more work on my paper mephistopheles: paper work, got it

If you're on the postdoc market for exoplanet/ML applications--strong recommendation to apply for this job at Macquarie, Ben is great!!

To restore any faith, the NSW Labor caucus should immediately replace Minns. Then the party itself should expel him. His actions & weasel words evoke the worst ever Aust Premiers; Bjelke-Peterson in QLD & Askin “run the bastards over” in NSW

I searched the Epstein files for astronomy and astronomers, and consistent with Sean Carroll's posts about why his name is listed, it seems like Epstein was trying to rope in scientists they perceived as smart, and scientists tried to get financial backing from him. 🔭 Some examples:

We'll also shortly be advertising a PhD position alongside this postdoc - so if you or anyone you know wants to do a PhD project on this please get in touch!

Very happy to advertise a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Exoplanet Science position with me and Christian Schwab at Macquarie University in Sydney. We'll be working on applying machine learning & differentiable physics models to extremely precise radial velocity surveys.

I think this is not very clear to people, but the police blocked all the exits and protestors could not get out, even the ones who were not intending to march. People just wanted to leave but were trapped by police, then charged at by cops, pepper sprayed and assaulted.

You really gotta feel sorry for this bloke. A classic case of tokenisation and racism where he will receive none of the respect he deserves from the people who hired him. Many such cases.

Why have I never seen a video of a cop beating the shit out of a nazi?

If last night's footage shocked you, you're not alone. Join your state Council of Civil Liberties who have been fighting police overreach and threats to our democracy for decades. More than anything, what the people in power fear most is an active citizenry. Posting isn't praxis. Joining is.

A disturbing statement from former prime minister Tony Abbott. It is hard to see how statements such as these contribute positively to social cohesion.

"[D]o you fundamentally achieve public safety by trying to repress protests, by trying to prevent street processions, by creating a legal regime where there’s no independent arbiter or are in fact those things potentially quite dangerous to community safety?" Good questions. #auslaw #nswpol

It wasn’t impossible - the cops where there to incite violence. And Albanese (and everyone else) knew this would happen and he let it.

Minns defending thug cops repeatedly punching people with their hands up is not surprising but it tells us all we need to know about why protest and resistance remains essential

Footage "appears to show" - no motherfucker that's showing, that's what the word means

Nothing to see here. Thug violence is fine, if you're in a uniform. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

The footage of Australian police acting like ICE agents is pretty shocking, but the media broadly stepping up to downplay, deny and mis-describe their violence in ambiguous terms is completely unsurprising. It's an industry fundamentally incapable of ever assigning any blame to the police: ever

Pushing and injuring a prominent MP who clearly identifies herself as such and who is filming peacefully is the sort of thing you can only do if you expect impunity

The Town Hall Police Riot needs charges laid against cops who attacked protesters and resignations at the top. A total disaster for social cohesion

I very genuinely do not think that Australia's media industry can be classified as any other than fully supportive of police violence, because you have to actively, consciously and knowingly work to frame what happened as general "violence mars protests" rather than "police violently attack protest"

A content warning for very, very significant police violence on this video: Israeli President Herzog is visiting Australia, and police in New South Wales are violently bashing prone protesters. The media is framing it in completely neutral terms. Watch the video, then look at the headlines.

How do cops ever want any community to trust them when the cops are the actual baddies? This is disgusting. The guy clearly had his hands up, was presenting no threat and did not provoke anything for 3-4 of these guys to start laying into him like he was a punching bag.

This is really getting to me, Abigail is so lovely she wouldn't hurt a fly. Just out there trying to do what's right and peacefully protect people at prayer, and gets assaulted by the cops. Like, stood together with her right there at town hall only a couple of weeks ago to support the Kurds

Holy shit, one of our Greens MPs 😭

All of the footage is NSW cops assaulting peaceful protesters. They are a disgrace. Chris Minns gave them licence to be as violent as they want.

Something to remember as you watch this footage is that NSW Police approved the antisemitic National Socialist Network demonstration outside of NSW Parliament House.

Yeah this can’t go on. You can’t have a functional society when the cops are suppressing overwhelming public opinion with overwhelming violence

This overkill really spits in the face of people who voted ALP to avoid Trump style abuses of power from Dutton. Shameful of Minns and Albo.

I haven’t seen cops acting like this since the NYPD in 2020