Headline from the AFR "Time to end welfare for the wealthy, says big business"
You mean the superannuation tax breaks? No?
You mean the CGT discount? No?
You mean the fossil fuel subsidies? No?
You mean the free gas for multinationals? No?
You mean the failure of the PRRT? No?
You mean the tax dodging trusts? No?
You mean the lack of a wealth tax? No?
No you mean the NDIS FFS
Look, for my money the absolute game changer technologies right now are batteries and biosciences, not statistically modeling a mid conversation, but you do you.
New mRNA vaccine research has basically been shelved by this administration.
We know that vaccines basically eliminate cervical cancers.
The prospect of expanding this to additional cancers is incredible. Particularly the most lethal ones like pancreatic.
Why do the Japanese like their buns askew (2026)
"Scientific Retorts" would be my all time favourite Journal 🤣
We have some fresh and cool #glycotime 🧪 on the impact of including glycosylation explicitly in de novo binder design. Filtering the results of a recent open competition for novel binders to the Nipah Virus Glycoptrotein (NiV-G) with ReGlyco improves the pipeline efficiency significantly ⬇️
Cancel AUKUS, scrap the submarines and remove U.S. troops from Darwin and Pine Gap. We’re pretty unhappy with America here too atm www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...
They directly measure NeuGc/NeuAc binding affinity (fig 3, changes a lot), and also infectivity of virus with the different protein variants (fig 4, doesn't actually change that much)
H5N1 in cows adapts to bind NeuGc, which isn't present in humans or birds. Interesting and important #influenza #glycotime
Can’t believe the actual best dinosaur didn’t even beat Brachiosaurus, what are we coming to as a society
Interesting idea but Vegemite would be even better I reckon
Wouldn't it be cool to invest trillions of dollars into a technology that would actually make society better?
Maybe we can call it “HI” — Human Intelligence.
Instead of “data centers”, we could fund “schools”.
Instead of *stealing* art, literature, and science, we help people *create* it.
Crazy!
Too many people go through life with an insufficiently powerful ass, that is just no kind of way to live.
Your hominid ancestors didn't evolve the largest glutes of any primate, just so you could squander them.
Any government that isn't right now accelerating plans to transition to 100% clean, renewable energy is either:
a. Incompetent
b. In the pockets of people who'd rather they didn't
c. a & b
Also please ignore when I said that once someone has a billion dollars they should no longer count as a human but a dragon, and if someone slays them it's not a crime but a reason to have a big feast, the hand of a beautiful maiden in marriage, and for songs to be written about their heroic act.
Australians will argue passionately for radically progressive policies, but they want those policies explained in calm, moderate language.
à la @zackpolanski.bsky.social
Overwhelmingly, our participants describe themselves as centrists, even when their substantive positions are economically extremely progressive. And, particularly in urban areas and among younger regional Australians, they are socially progressive as well. This self-described centrism is not an accurate ideological descriptor. It is a social positioning device: a way of signalling reasonableness in a political environment experienced as tribal and extreme - something most people hate almost more than they can articulate. Australians will argue passionately for radically progressive policies, but they want those policies explained in calm, moderate language. They reject what they perceive as activist posturing with a visceral intensity because they see it as divisive. And what they crave is community connection and a sense that they and their neighbours can just get along.
Australians describe themselves as centrists, even when they are economically extremely progressive.
This self-described centrism is not an accurate ideological descriptor. It is a social positioning device: a way of signalling reasonableness.
redbridgeintel.substack.com/p/polarisati...
Have you read the new post by @auspoldaily.bsky.social (Alex Fein)? Definitely worth your time.
redbridgeintel.substack.com/p/polarisati...
I’ve considered it and my fundamental problem with negative gearing isn’t that it’s a waste [it is] or that it’s unfair [it is]. Taxes are _moral_ signals, where societies agree what’s to be encouraged and what punished, and giving shit landlords money for nothing is a flat message to wage earners
A guiding principle of my life is, "there is no perfection without iteration."
You must fail. You must be humiliated in the results of your initiative. There is no other way.
To be clear: any outlet that reports "Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz" without reporting "because they explicitly said the ceasefire must include Lebanon and Israel is continuing to bomb Lebanon" is an outlet you cannot trust.
I am here for messaging that the THREAT alone - regardless of if it's carried out or walked back - should end his presidency.
The die is already cast. You cannot wield the power that man has and say that kind of shit.
A few have suggested that some aspects of this mission--joy, international teamwork, diversity--are being played up to stick it to the hateful attitude of the administration. But I don't think it's that. I think it's just that those things are essential to and inseparable from a mission like this.
Mt Roland at dawn
Mount Roland, northern Tasmania
I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake By A Horse Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food. I am thinking I would like to try cake. Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape. Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy. Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much. I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on." Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …
The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me.
It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."
A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)
More context on this #Artemis II image:
* This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right
* The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon:
☀️🌍🚀🌕
It's almost as if Murdoch wants fear, chaos, and panic
We don't have "car culture" by accident.
We have it because Labor, and the Libs and Nats spent decades building cities where the car is the encouraged option.
Telling people to drive less while funding suburban sprawl and multilane roads is like telling people to eat less while subsidising KFC.
If you're serious, stop pouring money into bigger roads. Build public transport that actually works and streets people can safely walk and ride.
The Dutch didn't solve this by asking nicely after the 1970s oil crisis, they changed the system. Laws, infrastructure and culture all radically changed.
