Michael Brightwood

I feel it's a bit embarrassing and potentially undermining to have a species listed that occurs on so many farms in the area.

I'd be very happy to be proven wrong on all points. And interested in the story of how it was listed in the first place.

Hoary Sunray (Leucochrysum albicans) is listed Endangered federally as well as in Vic and NSW state legislation.

And I don't think it passes the sniff test. It is in every scrap of scribbly gun woodland I visit in the ACT and surrounds. Seems to do well under disturbance (loves roadsides).

You beta believe it!

He's the man for the job alright.

There's a perfect seasoning in the blend of
salt,
sugar,
MSG,
onion powder,
garlic powder,
white pepper,
chicken stock.

I just don't know the weights.

It's a high dimensional optimisation problem soluble only with wet-ware.

UTC is *MINUS* 10 hours. But you know, what are details to a digital forensics specialist.

Deathcap (Amanita phalloides) Deathcap in May 2023 by Tom May. Under row of planted oak trees

inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations...

Adding this mushroom to iNat project

"Mushrooms for reasonable doubt"

Murder trial testimony around mushroom identification and citizen science is utterly fascinating to me this week:

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...

Deathcap (Amanita phalloides) Deathcap in May 2023 by Tom May. Under row of planted oak trees

Here's one of the @inaturalist.bsky.social observations allegedly used by Erin Patterson to forage up some death caps.

It was made by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria's leading mycologist.

inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations...

How to take down a lottery.

1) Enlist a lottery BtoC to partner distribution for target lottery.
2) Buy and print 26 million $1 lottery tickets covering ~all combinations
3) PROFIT

Getting the stake down is always as much of an effort/art as finding the edge.

www.news.com.au/finance/mone...

ALP firming in this betting market. 79% chance

Tomorrow morning I will do my first ecological fieldwork in over 6 years:

A volunteer bird survey (or four) for the Birds on Farms program @birdlifeoz.bsky.social

Hoping for Crested Shrike Tits and Diamond Firetails.

🦆

Labor pulling ahead on the betting markets in the last week.

Attorney General Bonta Urgently Issues Consumer Alert for 23andMe Customers Californians have the right to direct the company to delete their genetic data OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a consumer alert to customers of 23andMe, a genetic testing ...

Looks like 23andMe might be on the verge of shutting down. If you or a family member have used their services, now’s a good time to download and remove your data from their servers before it gets sold off. oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...

Trying something new:
A 🧵 on a topic I find many students struggle with: "why do their 📊 look more professional than my 📊?"

It's *lots* of tiny decisions that aren't the defaults in many libraries, so let's break down 1 simple graph by @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social

🔗 www.ft.com/content/73a1...

Just had four different recruiters approach me for the same single APS contract role.

What is this recruiter business model? How are four of them working on the same thing?

ECRs will be advised to move countries/institutions for "experience", "breadth".

The real reason is that one is always seen as junior in the place one trains.

Orgs love the potential upside of the unknown person and don't see their flaws. They struggle seeing the developed talent as matured.

The UK has now issued a travel warning for the US: possible arrest or detention for failing to meet entry requirements.

Teaching Claude To Teach Claude To Play Chess When AI competes against a powerful chess engine, it seems doomed - unless the AI learns how to cheat.

To experiment with multi-agent systems you either need a clear business case and big budget, or you need to be a jabroni with a high credit limit.

I'm just the jabroni for the job, so I taught Claude to play chess, and learned a ton along the way:
jfkirk.github.io/posts/claude...

I also wonder if the specialist agent versus generalist Uber-agent might present a more general lesson about work. 🤔

This is terrific.

Please, more games!

Can a DS for CarSales.com.au please share us a chart on used Tesla listings?

Pleeeeaaase?

If I could time travel I would go back to 1978.

To a studio in Düsseldorf.

Kraftwerk are recording 'The Robots'.

I would tell those cats that 46 years later it is the most listened to song by a 4 year old in Canberra.

Fair! 😁

Ok Tony. I'm willing to give you another chance after last year's third place in the office tipping comp.

Summer looks around the neighbourhood

Exactly.

Academia is hardly ethically pure, despite the admirable north star.

And not every business seeking to make a profit is morally bankrupt.

The shift in focus from rigour to value is a big adjustment and can be a challenge.

In academia the analysis needs to be unassailable under tough scrutiny. In industry, the goal is often "good enough" to provide business value.

When I worked in UK academia I recall hearing of a Japanese man who was baffled at how Britain had decided to run its universities like firms. “Why? Your universities are excellent and your firms are terrible.”

r/fednews if you want to feel some fraction of the human cost right now in the US public service.