Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 1d

Actually, I think it was down your way, in Labrador.

David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 1d

"We are in Brisbane for the biannual Australasian Ornithological Congress. Some of the biggest names in bird science and conservation have turned up to this session...
I’m almost certain that none of us expects what happens next."

theconversation.com/the-remarkab...

The remarkable rise of eBird – the world’s biggest citizen science project

In 2002, an online database was set up allowing birdwatchers to record their species observations. It is now a vast resource, shaping scientific research.

theconversation.com

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 2d

Incredible.

Jack Posobiec references the earliest version of antifa -- the anti-fascists in the Weimar Republic who were opposed to the Nazi Party -- as the bad guys.

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 2d

Having sat in meetings where heads of school and above have discussed how important accreditation was for their programs, I find this astonishing.

Tim Lyons @picketer.bsky.social · 2d

"It was not until Othniel Antwi had finished his masters and was looking for work that he realised his degree was not accredited."
This is horrendous from public unis - *I sold you this great car for your commute, but oopsie you can't drive it on a public road, sorry.* www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Careers in limbo after graduates discover university courses were never accredited

Students have been left with HECS debts and careers that are "non-existent" after completing degrees that were not accredited. Class actions have been launched against two Australian universities.

www.abc.net.au

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John Quiggin @johnquiggin.bsky.social · 2d

I've got 40 years of work invested in #Apple, and now they've gone evil. No easy way to shift, so for the moment I've just shelved all plans to buy anything new. I was really looking forward to an iPhone 17.

pluralistic.net/2025...

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Tim Lyons @picketer.bsky.social · 2d

"It was not until Othniel Antwi had finished his masters and was looking for work that he realised his degree was not accredited."
This is horrendous from public unis - *I sold you this great car for your commute, but oopsie you can't drive it on a public road, sorry.* www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Careers in limbo after graduates discover university courses were never accredited

Students have been left with HECS debts and careers that are "non-existent" after completing degrees that were not accredited. Class actions have been launched against two Australian universities.

www.abc.net.au

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 3d

Gotta admit it, a lot of people are laughing at the US a lot of the time.

Not all the time, of course. Sadly, it’s intermingled with cringing and being horrified.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Albanian leader and Macron filmed laughing at Trump confusion over what wars he ended

Trump has confused parties in Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict before

www.independent.co.uk

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 4d

Not as big as the dot com bubble, by a long way?

www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

Just How Bad Would an AI Bubble Be?

The entire U.S. economy is being propped up by the promise of productivity gains that seem very far from materializing.

www.theatlantic.com

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 6d

“The classified data backs up the findings of several studies suggesting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed civilians at a rate with few parallels in modern warfare."

www.972mag.com/israeli-inte...

IDF database suggests 83% of Gaza dead were civilians

Classified intelligence reveals Israel killed 8,900 militants by May, indicating an almost unparalleled proportion of civilian slaughter.

www.972mag.com

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 6d

Another eg of the cost of short-termism in markets, this time on the internet.

How an dominant ISP refused to modernise. A long-term focus might reduce the share price. As "execs were mostly paid in stock, they decided not to risk a drop in their personal net worth"

pluralistic.net/2025/10/03/w...

Pluralistic: When your ISP pays you (03 Oct 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 6d

www.jstor.org/stable/20634...

A New Federalism on JSTOR

E. G. Whitlam, A New Federalism, The Australian Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Sep., 1971), pp. 6-17

www.jstor.org

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 7d

Great that Trump uses the rhetoric of anti-Semitism to justify all sorts of interference in universities and impingements on free speech, and yet...

David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 7d

Soros gets a run from Trump at 51’:

"Because a lot of these insurrectionists are paid by — whether it’s Soros or other people, but they’re paid by the radical left."

www.sofx.com/president-tr...

Hooboy.

President Trump Address to Pentagon Leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico – Full Transcript

(0:00 - 0:19) Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of War. Well, you've heard from me. So now it's the main

www.sofx.com

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 7d

Soros gets a run from Trump at 51’:

"Because a lot of these insurrectionists are paid by — whether it’s Soros or other people, but they’re paid by the radical left."

www.sofx.com/president-tr...

Hooboy.

President Trump Address to Pentagon Leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico – Full Transcript

(0:00 - 0:19) Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of War. Well, you've heard from me. So now it's the main

www.sofx.com

1

David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 8d

Read this transcript of a presidential address to the senior leadership of the largest armed force in the world.

Then tell me what you think of the sanity of the speaker.

www.sofx.com/president-tr...

President Trump Address to Pentagon Leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico – Full Transcript

(0:00 - 0:19) Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of War. Well, you've heard from me. So now it's the main

www.sofx.com

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 8d

Ten years??

Rod Campbell @rodcampbell.bsky.social · 8d

Big congrats to Santos Ltd!!

10 years. $46.7 billion in sales.

ZERO TAX

New ATO data out today.
@markogge.bsky.social @australiainstitute.org.au
data.gov.au/data/dataset...

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Rod Campbell @rodcampbell.bsky.social · 8d

Big congrats to Santos Ltd!!

10 years. $46.7 billion in sales.

ZERO TAX

New ATO data out today.
@markogge.bsky.social @australiainstitute.org.au
data.gov.au/data/dataset...

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 8d

Kimmel just said he has 200 on his show.

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 8d

Not as far as I should.

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Zach Parolin @zparolin.bsky.social · 11d

New WP: We study how minimum wage increases affect poverty and food hardship in the U.S from 1981-2019. Different from recent work, we study the Supplemental Poverty Measure + two measures of food hardship, factor in cost-of-living differences, and more. www.iza.org/publications...

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 11d

Six weeks later and STILL the OECD “Data Explorer” gives me this rubbish.

@oecd-ocde.bsky.social @oecdstatistics.bsky.social

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 12d

What a comeback

Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 12d

One for the “who could have seen this coming “ crowd

Headline from October 2024: Kamala’s newest lie: Trump will send the army after you

Headline from September 2025: Trump says he’s sending troops to Portland

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 13d

You've got a banned word in the title.

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 13d

What a quarter

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 13d

Lime milk was good even before the Raiders discovered it. At least, it was in my days of unrestricted eating...

David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 15d

why stop at 100? There are so many zeros you could add.

David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 18d

You’ve just become a validity oracle revelator.

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 18d

In 1938, an assassination was the pretext for Kristallnacht "marking the first time the regime conducted mass arrests and put people in concentration camps because of who they were and not what they had ostensibly done."

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/21/o...

Opinion | I Look at This Country and I See a Stranger

www.nytimes.com

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 19d

One of Matt’s best.

See how RFK Snr’s speech from the back of a flatbed truck, after the assassination of MLK, contrasts with the violent rhetoric we’ve seen from MAGA since the shooting of Charlie Kirk.

And see what all the president’s men have in mind.

Matt Bevan @mattbevan.bsky.social · 20d

Here it is: youtu.be/uiUPis_XDTA?...

Charlie Kirk’s murder sparks calls for revenge | If You're Listening | ABC NEWS In-depth

YouTube video by ABC News In-depth

youtu.be

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David Peetz @davidpeetz.bsky.social · 19d

On paper, the US has stronger protections than Australia.

e.g. a clearer constitution that explicitly sets out several rights, whereas our system only works because of accepted norms (1975 shows what happens when they’re skipped).

On our side is a less politicised, more competent judiciary.

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