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Michael Irving

@mikeirvo.bsky.social
2.3K followers 347 following 824 posts

Science journalist and copy editor at ScienceAlert. Attempted author. Obsessive Simpsons collector.

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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Spent most of today begrudgingly updating my LinkedIn profile and my god they will just not shut up about AI over there huh
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Well, my redundancy has been finalised today. Not really sure what to do with myself now, but posting about it again feels vaguely productive.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Making good use of my newfound unemployment by going to the first screening of Coyote vs Acme this morning
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It's looking increasingly likely that my time at ScienceAlert is coming to an end. So I guess I have to join the chorus of people asking if anybody knows of any outlet that might be in need of an experienced writer, editor and/or fact checker, in science, tech, games or pop culture.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Maybe it's asking too much of a rag like this, but if you ARE gonna rip off a story, you should probably at least also rip off the facts properly?
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Been working on this story for a couple weeks, and it's got everything: surprisingly valuable antiques, the plight of the thylacine, and bad taxidermy. www.sciencealert.com/antique-fox-...
sciencealert.com
Antique 'Fox Head' Bought at Auction Wasn't a Fox at All. It Was a Long-Extinct Species.
With its googly eyes, lumpy forehead, and awkward almost-smile, the strange, taxidermied fox head at the antique market was funny enough to throw down 50 quid on.  When the buyer later sold it at auct...
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Ladies and gentlemen... We got him patch.com/california/n...
patch.com
Coyote Finally Catches Road Runner In Wild LA Photo
On "Looney Tunes," Wile E. Coyote never had much luck catching Road Runner. But one real-life canine was more successful.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The End of Oak Street was a popcorn-fun movie, but I can't help but feel like there was a darker original ending that got focus-grouped out of existence. Threading in case anyone cares about spoilers...
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Went to the Australian premiere of Coyote vs Acme today and my God, that movie was worth the wait. Genuinely hilarious, and weirdly heartfelt. I have absolutely no idea why they were gonna kill this but let Space Jam 2 out into the world.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I'm just so tired
A screenshot of a real Facebook post from the official Victorian Department of Health saying "Will things ever be Fergalicious again?"
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Cracked.com used to be my favourite website, and it was a dream to get three articles published there - including I think the best thing I've ever written. But it looks like they've wiped their archives - those stories are gone, along with classics from much better writers.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Our boy Pinchy won the crab race!
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
There's uh, a dog in our hotel room.
A dog in a hotel room.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I bought a shiny new Switch 2 game for the occasion but I've spent the entire trip playing Picross on the Game Boy
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Origins by @neildegrassetyson.com and The End of Everything by @astrokatie.com make a fun double bill of vacation reading. Technically they cover every other book that has ever or will ever exist
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Sustaining myself on cocktails in colours that don't exist in nature
A guy's stunning wife sitting by the beach with a pina colada and a daiquiri.An espresso martini and a tequila sunrise by a pool.A guy with a multicoloured drink in a restaurant.A rooftop bar in a tropical location.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
First day of our honeymoon and my wife has already met two new loves of her life.
A woman playing with a small ginger cat. A woman petting a small cat in a tropical location.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Everyone's done this one right
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Okay I think I've packed everything
An open suitcase full of clothes - and a ginger cat sitting in it.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Came home from pub trivia where we not only won overall, but also won two jugs of beer. Sat down to finish some work I needed to get done and my wife asked, in a tone like I had just sat behind the wheel: "whoa, are you okay to write?"
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Married in a prison, party in the gallery. It was very Us.
A married couple walking down the aisle in an old prison.A married couple dancing in an art gallery.A married couple dancing under the Pumpkin sculpture at the National Gallery of Victoria.A married couple at a fountain, the groom piggybacking the bride and both laughing.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I love a fossil that tells a story, and this one is a doozy www.sciencealert.com/epic-turduck...
sciencealert.com
Epic 'Turducken' Fossil Reveals Ancient Sea Monsters Devouring Each Other
Making a turducken – stuffing a chicken inside a duck, then stuffing that inside a turkey – seems like a recent Thanksgiving tradition, but paleontologists in Australia may have found the dinosaur-era...
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Aww can I just do it anyway? Is it weird I find this stuff kinda fun?
Overseas on census night: if you're overseas on census night, you don't need to complete the census.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
A big bucket of popcorn, beer, and a shuffled playlist of 176 golden era Looney Tunes shorts on the projector in the loft makes for a solid Sunday night
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
New from me: T. rex hatchlings may have been smaller than cats and born by the dozen, according to new research. www.sciencealert.com/neglected-mu...
sciencealert.com
Neglected Museum Fossils Turn Out to Be The First T. Rex Hatchlings Ever Found
Jurassic Park was wrong.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Sam Neill is the rare celebrity death that brought me to actual tears. I watched Jurassic Park so many times as a kid he felt, as cliche as it sounds, like a father figure. More recently seeing him pop up on my social feeds, talking to animals, was a much needed balm. vt.tiktok.com/ZSX2bmKhC/
vt.tiktok.com
TikTok - Make Your Day
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
This knock-off Lego feels in very poor taste. I kinda love it.
A cheap off-brand Lego set, called Ideas Block, depicting the Titanic partway through sinking. Little not-Lego figures are drowning and freezing in the seas below.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Well that sure was the 4th or 5th best Toy Story
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Larry David has such a unique brand of yelling that I can tell my wife is watching his new show from upstairs with my headphones on.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Loving this wedded bliss thing, which I assume means "the relief about not having to plan and organise a wedding anymore."
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
I'm not used to saying "wife" yet, but we've got plenty of time to practice.
A smiling groom and laughing bride in a limo.A bride and groom at a classic Italian dinner table.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
For someone who's a ball of anxiety at the best of times, I'm surprising myself at how not nervous I am today, on my... wedding day? That can't be right
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
I vote we implement a new money system based on lives in Mario. Once you hit 99 (million dollars), every dollar you get over that just vanishes into the void (or goes to Luigi, who can't get past this level with only 2 lives)
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
You can buy cinema popcorn then take it home and watch a movie and they can't stop you
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Sometimes you just have to cover the hard-hitting science news www.sciencealert.com/it-turns-out...
sciencealert.com
It Turns Out Birds Masturbate Too, And Evolution May Explain Why
Birds do it, all right.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
There probably aren't many jobs where "do bees masturbate?" is a legitimate thing to Google during the work day
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Okay there was more to Backrooms than I expected (which I guess is thematically fitting). Between that and Obsession we're eating good for low budget horror lately.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I've never been happier to be sick than 3 weeks before my wedding. That's some proactive thinking, body, let's get this out of the way now
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
I am at my bucks and 11pm drunk at 7:30pm
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Reposted by Michael Irving
worm @rfksbrainworm.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen was a weirdly reassuring watch a month out from my own wedding. Like, ok for all our stress it won't go THAT bad
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
It takes some back-snapping SEO gymnastics to describe The Lego Movie this way.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Found this in my grandfather's wardrobe. Are you guys aware of this?
A newspaper from 1945 declaring "War Ends in Europe".
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Spending my Saturday at a kid's book conference. I honestly don't know much about this world but desperately want to be part of it. Pitching to a publisher this afternoon! #KidLitVic2026
A photo from a conference panel titled To Rhyme or Not To Rhyme. A photo of a conference panel titled How to Navigate the Current Publishing Climate.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
My partner and I did a ring-making class today, and made each other's wedding bands.
The before pic, of two strips of gold and rose gold.Applying the solder to the seam. Using the butane torch to seal up the ring.The two finished rings in a box.
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Reposted by Michael Irving
sam @samthielman.com · 20/04/2026
From “The Simpsons” house genius John Swartzwelder, interviewed in The New Yorker by Mike Sacks
It's the only way I know how to write, darn it. But I do have a trick that makes things easier for me. Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the way through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible, putting in crap jokes and pattern dialogue-
"Homer, I don't want you to do that."
"Then I won't do it."Then the next day, when I get up, the script's been written.
It's lousy, but it's a script. The hard part is done. It's like a crappy little elf has snuck into my office and badly done all my work for me, and then left with a tip of his crappy hat. All I have to do from that point on is fix it. So I've taken a very hard job, writing, and turned it into an easy one, rewriting, overnight. I advise all writers to do their scripts and other writing this way. And be sure to send me a small royalty every time you do it.
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Oh man. I haven't been this excited for a movie since the "Great Simpsons Movie Countdown of 2006-2007"
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
I hardly ever see science news reach outside my little bubble, so it's been real nice to see everyone getting behind the story of NASA slingshotting a crew in a little tin can around the Moon and back safely. youtube.com/shorts/iWQWO...
youtube.com
Artemis II Is About to Return to Earth!
YouTube video by ScienceAlert
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
I've just been made aware that planning a wedding involves a lot of planning. Are people aware of this
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Michael Irving @mikeirvo.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Heard everyone was watching the Mario movie this long weekend, so
Bob Hoskins as Mario in the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie, on a TV screen.
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