Development, labor, and nerdy measurement stuff | Sr. Lecturer, @UQ_News | @iza_bonn | @jpal | insulin addict | dad of an awesome girl | previous @kdi_school
Joined June 2009
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1,877 Photos and videos
Jun 13
Finally got to the Great Barrier Reef and… wow. So fucking cool.
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Jun 12
Brazilian referee: I’ll be the one everyone’s talking about on day one of the WC.
Korea: hold my (really untasty) beer
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🏆 Referee announced for 2026 #SuperCup!
We're pleased to share that Somali referee Omar Artan will officiate the highly anticipated match between PSG and Aston Villa in Salzburg.
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I’m very confused. If this is a joke I don’t get it.
I was in the stadium and I cheered him.
As a life long New Yorker from the Bronx, thank you 45.
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Ugh
Jun 8
World Cup referee - Africa's best - is denied entry to United States and sent back after landing at Miami Airport, despite having a diplomatic passport trib.al/NScoXem
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Omg lol
And the Walkley award for Dumbfuck Headline of the year goes to…🤣😂😅
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Josh Merfeld retweeted
Jun 5
We get to support amazing people in so many ways as academics. One of my favourite jobs is chairing the R.G. Menzies Fellowship, which sends a diverse array of Australians to Harvard. See below for the extraordinary people who are on their way in 2026.
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“They work here… pay taxes here.” I’m currently on a temporary visa with a path to PR. You think I don’t work here and pay taxes here??
Australian homes should be prioritised for Australians. One Nation makes no apologies for putting Australians first.
Foreign owners – temporary visa holders and foreign citizens residing overseas – would be given two years to sell their Australian residential properties under One Nation’s policy.
Permanent residents have been accepted to settle in Australia permanently. They live here, work here, pay taxes here and build their lives here. Many are on the path to citizenship. One Nation’s policy does not require them to sell their homes.
Governments routinely regulate foreign investment in housing, agriculture, infrastructure and strategic assets.
The Commonwealth already bans most foreign persons, including temporary residents and foreign-owned companies, from purchasing established dwellings, subject to exceptions.
Labor extended that ban in the 2026–27 Budget. One Nation’s policy effectively only extends these bans to new homes. Politicians attacking One Nation’s policy are attacking a principle the government already applies.
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Yah also 100 years ago everybody died 🫠
Jun 4
Just 100 years ago:
Most dairy products were consumed raw.
Most honey was unprocessed.
Seed oils were not commonly used.
Genetically modified (GMO) foods did not exist.
PFAS chemicals had not yet been developed.
Synthetic food dyes were not in widespread use.
Plant-based meat alternatives did not exist.
High-fructose corn syrup had not been invented.
Autoimmune diseases, heart disease, cancer, and obesity were far less common than they are today.
Do you see what is happening?
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There’s no vaccine so I guess US cattle aren’t anti vax (yet), but they’re certainly anti vax adjacent.
Jun 4
NEWS: Screwworm has been detected in Texas, USDA confirmed - marking a serious threat to US cattle and other animals
Larvae of the parasite were found in the umbilical cord of a 3 week old calf
Screwworm was eradicated from the US in 1966
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“Even crappier MDPI journal” made me laugh
In January, I reviewed a Review for a crappy MDPI journal.
It was 100% AI, missing citations, etc. I sent a massive report, and the authors withdrew it.
Today, I see it published without a single change in another even crappier MDPI journal.
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Can we do this @UQ_News ?
UChicago announced today that it had partnered with AI company Anthropic to give students, faculty, and staff access to Claude Enterprise services on a rolling basis starting in July. All University community members will have access by fall quarter. Story to come.
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Josh Merfeld retweeted
Jun 2
If Trump really were "the most pro-innovation president we’ve ever had" he would not attempt to cut research budgets by half.
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Josh Merfeld retweeted
Jun 2
I believe we now have evidence of FIFA's World Cup ticketing shell game: FIFA is colluding with third-party resale platforms for its own supply management.
Look at this SeatGeek map (secondary market!) for Saudi Arabia vs Cape Verde. The circled areas are not random single resale tickets, but large, contiguous blocks of seats: entire rows and swaths in sections 101/102, 112/113, 119/120, 134–137, 139, ...
The blue circles appeared weeks ago, then the purple blocks suddenly showed up a day or two ago, and the red blocks seem to have appeared recently too.
That's not what ordinary fan or even commercial scalper resale looks like who resell pairs, fours, and scattered seats. Instead, this looks like inventory being dumped in bulk onto secondary markets, at prices below FIFA's official site.
Why doesn't FIFA just lower prices on its own site Probably because official price cuts could trigger refund demands, chargebacks, or consumer-protection headaches from fans who already bought at much higher prices.
Instead FIFA keeps official prices high, avoids openly admitting the market-clearing price is lower, and moves unsold inventory through third-party resale platforms instead.
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Josh Merfeld retweeted
Jun 1
i don’t know why you need this information, but these are the aerodynamics of a capybara.
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The comments to this are *insane*
Today, I signed an Executive Order temporarily repealing bedtimes in the City of New York so that kids of all ages can watch our team in the NBA Finals.
As Mayor, you’re forced to make many difficult decisions. This was not one of them.
Go Knicks.
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What about trees? Did they cut down a bunch of trees?
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