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Ian Thompson

@iantho.bsky.social
986 followers 728 following 2.2K posts

Once practiced natural resources management and conservation, in government. Now largely an interested observer in Australia

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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 4h
Word Puppets. Mary Robinette Kowal. Ms Kowal narrates too. Haven’t read any John Scalzi short stories but his novels are good and funny. Miniatures by John Scalzi. Not sure who the narrator is. Will Wheaton from Star Trek reads his novels, well. Better heard than read.
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Count Melancholia @lillyh.bsky.social · 4h
Today, rural news, sadly = facebook. In most small towns, it is the only place where residents can find out about upcoming events, sell things etc. Facebook has a stranglehold on people in these places and is one of the reasons why they vote differently than people in urban areas.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 10h
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
'Beautiful weed' steadily choking landscapes across southern WA
The stunning arum lily is a beautiful sight, but there are calls for an all-out war on the imported flower infesting swathes of forest.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 11h
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
4WD wash-downs needed to protect K'gari, traditional owners say
The discovery of a noxious African pest prompted K'gari's traditional owners to develop an award-winning biosecurity strategy to save the island's world heritage status. Now they are calling for the g...
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 22h
Been reading My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. A brilliant book. Now I discover there is a mini series on SBS on Demand. But tonight I discovered Nonnas on Netflix. A charming little foodie comedy.
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Lisa Cox @lisacox.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Freshwater turtles rescued from a dried-up water hole in western New South Wales after the state government cut environmental water to the area are being returned home.
theguardian.com
Rescued turtles return home after NSW government cut flows to wetland
Environmental water to the area was halted after a complaint from a private landholder, leading to the deaths of wildlife and sheep
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The pet trade is a likely contributing factor to the emergence of these diseases. Keeping reptiles requires good hygiene and illegal trade should be avoided www.scribd.com/document/100... theconversation.com/deadly-fungi...
theconversation.com
Deadly fungi are harming Australia’s wild reptiles. This is how to stop the spread
People who love Australia’s reptiles could unwittingly carry deadly fungal diseases from one animal to another. But this is easy to prevent.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Ciuld be worth the wait. As an electric wouldn’t it be more like 4CV and accelerate quicker than a horse and cart?
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Should work very well in sealed British houses. In the coldest parts (-10°C o/n ) of Australia they are slow to warm a space with single glazed large windows, limited insulation and gaps around doors and windows. Meanwhile we are still installing in droves & insulating. The cooling is handy bonus.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
But they aren’t grey and black and covered in plastic! I have a theory that if you are surrounded by good taste you can’t but help to come to think that is normal and to be expected. I believe there are probably a few rules in Bath, Florence, Paris, Bergen and Santorini.
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Kaj Embren @kajembren.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Cop31 host urges wealthy countries to spend ‘much more’ on climate than defence via @theguardian.com bit.ly/4s3X7zV #cop31 #ClimateAction #Methane #CoalMine #Planet #science #Svpol #LeadershipMatters @fionaharvey.bsky.social @politico.com @cop31.bsky.social
bit.ly
Cop31 host urges wealthy countries to spend ‘much more’ on climate than defence
‘The climate issue is the security issue,’ says Turkish minister at Pacific pre-Cop summit in Fiji
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Margaret Morgan 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇦🇺 @margaretmorgan.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, full stop.
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Michael West @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
"No lethal control program is pleasant to contemplate". Richard Swain on the controversial cull of the Snowy Mountains brumbies #auspol michaelwest.com.au/the-plight-o...
michaelwest.com.au
The plight of the Brumbies. Kosciuszko’s heritage deserves a voice, too - Michael West
There is something missing from the heated debate about the culling of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Oops. I read the article about Mary Whitehouse. She was extreme but I think actor Maria Schneider said the butter scene had a tremendously negative effect on her. So Mrs Whitehouse may have been right there too. Lucky she never saw X.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The flying foxes will appreciate them
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
And low lying areas filling up with internal drainage and flows blocked by sea level incursion. Canal estates could be very damp with rotting foundations.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Because of Ronni Salt been reflecting on the 70s. It was a different planet that spoke English. Different tech, no neo liberalism, kids left school at 16, uni for the few, little travel, migrants mainly European. The parents of teenagers in the 70s grew up through the depression & WW2 - it showed
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
This is not about football. I was puzzled when I saw the heading. Port is an old and prominent footy club but not known for literary endeavours.
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Project Gutenberg @gutenberg.org · 11/10/2026
Literary giants Joseph Conrad and John Galsworthy owed their friendship to Port Adelaide By Daniel Keane www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10... Books by Conrad & Galsworthy at PG: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho... www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho... #books #literature
Acclaimed authors Joseph Conrad and John Galsworthy met aboard the clipper ship Torrens in 1893.

Black-and-white triptych: at left, an older bearded man in a suit rests his head on his hand; in the center, the hull and rigging of a tall sailing ship; at right, a clean-shaven man in a bow tie, in profile with his hand at his cheek.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Kills or scares the birds off the nests and wrecks the beach. Beaches aren’t roads.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Steve Hywood went to the same school as me. Not many from the town played in Melbourne. No beer smells there at the game. All footy grounds were dry.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
That was the one where the unfortunate country newbie for Richmond Steve Hywood gave a handball to Jezza in the goal square and Jezza kicked a goal. Not sure Hywood played much after that. ‘No handball in the backline’ was still a thing then too.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
John. I think good footballer and colourful identity was the term
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
If you can afford to replace suits when they wear around the packets and cuffs, nothing beats 10O% wool. If need something long wearing but a bit clammy and shiny, 20% poly but you will look like a public servant - shiny bum. Spandex, do you run in a suit?
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I am assuming this will be blocked in Australia in accordance with our internet standards. I would not watch anyway. Last live US broadcast I watched was the Artemis splashdown. Reminded me of the glory of the moon landings.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Do they charge more for the Squizzy Taylor or the Jack Charles cell (though he seemed to spend more time in low security if his brilliant audiobook is true)? The Kevin Nicholls cell might attract Carlton fans.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
A tasty laksa, papaya with a squeeze of lime for dessert, then a short black.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Rest with a view. Some of us come to swim
Gravestones in a grass filed with a small fires, deep bay and headland in the background
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Yellow tailed black cockatoo
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Still a patch of rainforest at the old Gerringong boat harbour. Sound on. An awesome bird not photographed feeding in the banksia. No baby is being harmed.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Richard Powers gives them a sad but good run in The Overstory for which he won a Pullitzer. A star in Barbara Kingsolvers Prodigal Summer too. It’s getting out there. One of the big biosecurity/invasives stories.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Chestnuts once dominated US east coast forests - cradle to grave timber.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I read today that vets are vaccinating Little Penguins on the Far South Coast of NSW. Not huge colonies but protecting diversity and enhancing survival opportunities.
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Micah @rincewind.run · 07/10/2026
rip to one of the coolest software engineers who ever lived
Margaret Hamilton standing next to a printout of code she and her team wrote for the Apollo program, which is as tall as she is
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I did. New battery does not last as long. Maybe it’s just power hungry new OS.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Gerringong bogongs. They are everywhere.
Brown moths on an orange grevillea
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If we want the truth historians are useful for STEM. They are good analysts. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t
New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 05/10/2026
To cull or not to cull: Greenland debates fate of world’s slowest shark
theguardian.com
To cull or not to cull: Greenland debates fate of world’s slowest shark
As trawlers compete with Greenland sharks for halibut and cod, conservationists and fishers clash over what to do about misunderstood species
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I am sure this is all true. Hawthorn smell and is pollinated by blowflies because remains of Merlin’s body are still rotting in the trunk?
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
All true but interestingly NSW Soil Con up until the late 60s were still recommending Bitou Bush for dune control. By the 70s they hated it. Latency in seeing impact of invasives occurs but Bitou pretty obvious problem for a while. A lag in changing institutional cultures also a problem.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Must be one of the most well reported emergencies for a while. Almost the entire Canberra based press corps there on Christmas holidays. When mobile’s worked (power problems), experienced community m, foreign and war correspondents reporting live. Quality journalism matters.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 05/10/2026
As wildfires raged across eastern Australia in 2019, the small coastal town of Narooma lost power and internet. The only connection to the outside world was a handful of old-school pay phones. Now, one of them has now been given historic status.
nyti.ms
Pay Phone, a Lifeline During 2019 Australia Wildfires, Gains Heritage Status
Hundreds lined up to call loved ones as the internet went down and the flames closed in on the Australian town of Narooma in 2019.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Criminalising underpayments, same job same pay and reducing outsourcing looked ok,but casualising the workforce undercuts them. Aged care is new immigrants, childcare similar, are school teachers next? Can we just accept that conventional productivity measures struggle with the care economy.
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Jonathan Eisen @phylogenomics.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Looking for examples of AI being used successfully to aid in conservation biology
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Small victory
nytimes.com
After Outcry, Monitors the Trump Administration Tried to Scrap Return to Sea (Gift Article)
Under pressure from Congress, a network of ocean monitors that provides vital data to meteorologists, climate scientists, oceanographers and the fishing industry is being restored.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
There are only six of these trees left in the wild. Conservationists are cloning them
The trees are estimated to be between 3,000 to 6,000 years old but they have no future without intervention.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Currawongs, ravens and cats eat bogongs if that helps
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
My advanced bushes are about 20cm tall. Seedlings 3cm. Tomatoes before Christmas are hard and usually wooden Stupiciis
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I just excavated 16 tiny mystery tomato bushes from cracks in the cement path. Some might be green zebras but could be miniatures too. All potted up now. Just need to watch the late October frost.
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Ian Thompson @iantho.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The damage to wetlands and scrub by horses is visibly apparent and well recorded. Pigs and deer are also common and causing significant damage. If the value of the park is to be preserved the horses need to be removed.
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