Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Aaron Schiff

Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · 2d

I just saw someone use the abbreviation “AI;DR” and I’ll be laughing for a while.

Reposted by Aaron Schiff

Clara Murray @claradoodle.bsky.social · 1d

Actually... from my reading of the artists' basic income report, the government did not earn money back from the scheme (although its costs were offset 37%)

Most gains were societal and came from putting the artists' improvements in wellbeing in € terms

assets.gov.ie/static/docum...

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Reposted by Aaron Schiff

Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 3d

"Deloitte Australia will issue a partial refund to the federal government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a $440,000 report littered with errors including three nonexistent academic references and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgement."

bianca wylie @biancawylie.com · 3d

“Deloitte was forced to investigate the report after University of Sydney academic Dr Christopher Rudge highlighted multiple errors in the document.”

www.afr.com/companies/pr...

Deloitte to refund government, admits using AI in $440k report

Deloitte will issue a partial refund to the government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a report littered with errors.

www.afr.com

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Reposted by Aaron Schiff

@ratlimit @ratlimit.bsky.social · 9d

This is the single most overrated image on the internet. Pisses me off how every time I see it, it has thousands of Likes.

Airplane diagram with red dots marking where planes are shot

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 6d

I went to the new Book Hero store today. It's not huge or fancy but it makes me so happy that an actual physical real-life book store has opened near where I live bookhero.co.nz

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Reposted by Aaron Schiff

Mike Dickison @adzebill.bsky.social · 6d

Ah, the joy of freelance life. A couple of 2026 funding pools have just dried up, so if anyoneʻs interested in a project with a Wikipedian, now’s the time to get in touch. www.rove.wiki

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Reposted by Aaron Schiff

Julian King @juliankingnz.bsky.social · 6d

Thanks to you Aaron, I now have the Bee Gees stuck in my head: It’s just your vibe workin’, you’re telling me lies, yeah; vibe workin’, you wear a disguise…

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 6d

Yes but if it increases my work output by 200% then I'll have 120% more correct stuff and infinity% more incorrect stuff

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 7d

Yo Excel, I’m feeling bar-charty rn. Hit me up with some good bars bro

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 7d

There is absolutely no way I am ever doing something called “vibe working”. Apart from sounding stupid, it demeans the people who pay for my work. www.microsoft.com/en-us/micros...

Vibe working: Introducing Agent Mode and Office Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft 365 Blog

Microsoft Copilot introduces Agent Mode in Office apps, enabling smarter document creation, analysis, and collaboration across Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

www.microsoft.com

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 7d

Good news! Or at least, not bad news www.ft.com/content/6e0e...

Donald Trump pulls ally EJ Antoni’s nomination to lead statistics agency

White House also drops bid to name Brian Quintenz as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

www.ft.com

Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 7d

Ooh, it might be time to rebuild my personal R package for making nice charts

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 7d

I didn’t weigh them but I think you’re right. They did look slightly better quality than the loose ones, but definitely not 4x nicer

Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 7d

Apparently you can, it is $1.23 PER ONION

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 7d

Am I missing something, or is Woolworths New Zealand really selling wrapped onions for about 2.5x the price of loose onions?

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Reposted by Aaron Schiff

Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 8d

Payment surcharge ban will raise prices

www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/payment-s...

Payment surcharge ban will raise prices, reduce competition between big and small businesses, officials warned

We warned you. Hiding the problem doesn’t fix the problem.

'Something to hide': Retail NZ hits out as advice shows surcharge ban will raise prices

Ministry advice showed the ban will weaken competition and increase prices for consumers.

www.nzherald.co.nz

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 8d

These words that Nigel Latta wrote in 2015 have always stayed with me

What's the hardest thing about being a parent?

It isn't the sleepless nights, or the endless fights. It isn't the constant worrying about every last little thing, or the constant pestering about every last little thing. It isn't the impact on your work life, your love life, or your social life. It isn't the lack of money, the lack of time, or even the lack of anything approaching a life of your own.

It feels like it's all of those things, but it it's none of them.

In the end, the hardest thing about being a parent is truly understanding that everything comes with a number. You get a certain number of bedtime stories, and a certain number of bedtime kisses. Your get a certain number of roads they'll cross holding your hand, and a certain number of sports matches on a Saturday morning. You get a certain number of bike rides, and a certain number of bad jokes with no real punchline. Most of all... you get a certain number of hours.

One day you'll go to the bucket, and it will be empty.

So--and I'm saying this as much to myself as to anyone else--get as much as you can, of all that you can, for as long as you possibly can. It's the only score you'll get that will ever truly mean anything, and it's also the hardest one to keep track of.

Good luck.

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 8d

Sorry, I read it wrong last night. The $200m co-investment fund is a separate thing from Investment Boost and it does sound like a fossil fuel subsidy to me.

Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 8d

Ah right thanks. I’m not sure if I’d call Investment Boost a subsidy, it’s more like a time-shift of tax obligations. It would apply to other energy investments too eg solar, so doesn’t seem like it would favour fossil fuels.

Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 8d

Enes Yilmazer usually does tours of luxury properties and superyachts but this tour of a container ship is pretty interesting youtu.be/10bTq3KhjaY

Crossing the ATLANTIC OCEAN on a Containership!

YouTube video by Enes Yilmazer

youtu.be

Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 9d

From their boards' point of view, wouldn't reinvesting dividends or taking on new capital effectively be the same choice? If so, I'm not sure if they would choose to take on more capital even if given the ability to do so, unless forced to by regulation or competition.

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 9d

Craig Mod walks are some of my favourite things

Craig Mod @craigmod.com · 9d

Walking 200km of the Kiso-ji (back and forth) starting on Thursday; more deets and signup links here:

craigmod.com/ridgeline/216/

Between Two Mountains — A New Pop-up Newsletter

Walking 200 km of the Kiso Valley

craigmod.com

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Reposted by Aaron Schiff

Ben Harrap @bharrap.bsky.social · 9d

Great pointer from @nrennie.bsky.social on making data visualisations

We as makers spend hours with the data and creating the visualisation, but we need to consider those who are looking for 5 seconds

#WOMBAT2025 #dataviz

A slide about accurate visualisations asking

Is the chart appropriate
Are the axis ranges reasonable
Is it intuitive
Is the 5 second conclusion the same as the 5 minute conclusion

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 9d

I don't know the details of that $200m but public subsidy of fossil fuels doesn't make any sense

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Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz · 9d

I think there is some danger of hindsight bias in evaluating whether the AI investment was rational given expectations, but the real world limits of the technology seem clear enough now that current levels of investment look crazy to me

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