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MichaelW

@somewise.bsky.social
614 followers 660 following 654 posts

Programmer/Computational biologist (microbes). COPE Trustee. GAICD. (he/him/his) Proud Ally "... But if I'm only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" Loves K+A.

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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Aboriginal woman Olivia Cox singing what I think is the best version of "I Am Australia", in both Engish and also Yawuru, the languge from the Kimberly region. Listening to it is almost like a Welcome to Country www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBpU...
youtube.com
Olivia Coe Fox - I am Australian [Full Voice 2025 Audition]
YouTube video by Seb Oz
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Fruit-mince challah. A lovely sweet way to end the week (not just for High Holidays😀) Shabbat Shalom
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I love it that the longest German word in use today is Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-Hyperaktivitätsstörung, ie ADHD. There were longer ones, famously Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän (Danube Steamship Travel Company Captain - which my Dad imparted to me at with a wink
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Dengue is not in Australia apart from rare appearances in far northern Australia, More commonly brought home by Australians ret.rning from Dengue hotspots, often south east Asia. It can be debilitating, sometimes deadly. Now, finally there is a vaccine www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clini...
www1.racgp.org.au
newsGP - Dengue vaccine available in Australia
ATAGI now recommends Qdenga for patients with a history of dengue fever who are travelling to endemic areas.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
In a remarkable win for the #environment, the High Court of Australia - Australia's highest judicial authority - has ruled that approvals for export #coal mines need to take account of all emissions (incl Scope3 - burnt overseas) www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
NSW coalmine climate ruling a massive shake-up to Australia's coal and gas
Australia's High Court rules in favour of a Hunter Valley community group in a landmark climate ruling that could redraw how fossil fuel projects are approved in Australia.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
While it's good to be alive on this lovely spring day in Perth, 7 October has become a shit of a day to have a birthday, which I share with Vladmir Putin <uggh>. Thankfully also with Desmond Tutu, Niels Bohr, Thomas Keneally and @timminchin.bsky.social
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A man in New South Wales was injured - not seriously - by an exploding can of bean (no heat applied). I wonder what the odds are (setting aside the stupidity of heating a can till it explodes) www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...
abc.net.au
Tomato soup tin explodes in man's face, slicing open his nose
A tin of tomato soup has exploded in a man's face, leaving him with a nasty wound.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Post A large study of giving Meningitis vaccine by itself to babies, or together with other vaccinations, shows that the combination REDUCED side effects. So much for vaccine overload! www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clini...
www1.racgp.org.au
newsGP - Is it better to split up vaccinations or give them all in one go?
Giving MenB vaccines alongside routine childhood immunisations may lower the likelihood of side effects, according to new research.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The nuanced but highly significant moves, this time in Switzerland, to abandon - at scale - Microsoft for public administration. Bottom line: if your files live in the part of cloud operated by a US company, they can be compelled to hand over your data. medium.com/@Ella456/swi...
medium.com
Switzerland Just Fired Microsoft 365.
On September 3, 2026, Switzerland’s federal government published the results of a pilot that will move 3,000 government workstations off…
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
his paper shows rather nicely that, contrary to popular believe, increased corporate taxes leads to increased productivity in highly productive firms. Less productive ones struggle, and multinationals move to avoid the problem. HT Joachim Klement www.fww.ovgu.de/fww_media/fe...
fww.ovgu.de
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A nice explainer on the #geopolitics of the interconnected web that creates and maintains #AIart️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
'No country controls every layer': The AI complex systems reshaping global power
ChatGPT might be the face of AI, but behind the prompts lies a complex physical ecosystem that is reshaping power balances around the world.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In a speech today, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, used the phrase "great white hope", refering to her wish that AI will lift Australia's productivity. I agree with the sentiment, and am NOT suggesting she is racist, but it is a racist phrase www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Live: ASX rises, AI rally pushes Nasdaq to record high, oil falls below $US100
The Australian share market started its day higher after Wall Street's AI stocks surged, pushing the tech-heavy Nasdaq index to a new record high. Follow live.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A UK parliamentary committee is examining why UK has been doing so poorly in the #Eurovision Song Contest. Rubbish songs? That said, "Still in Love with You." deserved to fare better in 2015.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Experimental fruit mince Challa for the first Shabbat of the new year. Very yum. Shabbat Shalom!
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Reposted by MichaelW
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I don’t normally write about what ails me because I can’t imagine anything more boring for you to read. But I decided to tell you something about my health today that I’ve never before revealed because I want to help dispel some of the stigma attached to a condition I’ve had.
robertreich.substack.com
Subject to Fits
My epilepsy
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Reposted by MichaelW
Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
@jsross119.bsky.social and team show an impressive multiplier effect of a routinised trial data sharing platform. There's no control- but 79% secondary publication rate, 18% of which were external, is definitely not the norm with ad hoc (and slow and frustrating) data requests
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Trump’s Worst Fear (further proof that he is a looser) , by @RBReich. If he loses #midterms will simply resign (after first denying the loss, don't forget) robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-gre...
robertreich.substack.com
Trump’s Worst Fear
His vanity, narcissism, vainglory, and vindictiveness are mere symptoms
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Men's health charity @MovemberAUS is offering nice looking #postdoc fellowships focussing on psychological aspects of men's health view.email.movember.com?vawpToken=7W...
view.email.movember.com
Movember
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A colleague who I have been mentoring for some time gave me this. I am so pleased and grateful
Turtle-y Awesom
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The importance of preserving variety in the face of hyperselection, e.g. the joy of quirky shops in otherwise uniform high streets/malls. Also true for preservering natural variation theconversation.com/how-hypersel...
theconversation.com
How ‘hyperselection’ is making modern life efficient, pleasant – and boring
Are we optimising too much?
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
While #HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was is remains nonly this report also tells us that it has not gone away. Remember that HIV, while manageable, is not curable. www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...
unsw.edu.au
HIV diagnoses in Australia stable, but experts caution progress is uneven
New Kirby Institute data show Australia has met key global HIV testing and treatment targets, but experts warn that progress is not being shared equally across communities.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The article is about the sucess of extreme-right, anti-immigration AfD party in a state election in Germany. With a bucketful of nuance, it could also be about One Nation, Politics of those who feel left behind.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
9/11 Consequences. A prescient intervention that fell on deaf ears.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This paper makes the observation, based on Sweden and Finland joining NATO, that joining a military alliance also has the effect of increasing bilateral trade. I really wonder if Australia has seen such benefits from #AUKUS. (HatTip Joachim Klement) papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
Beyond security: The trade implications of joining NATO
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 raised a critical question: do military alliances strengthen or fracture trade ties when war breaks out
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
AI pioneer Yann LeCun says that current LLM-based AI, being fundamentally a next word language engine, is essentially limited. Instead he's setting about building world models. Makes sense. World data hard to come by medium.com/@thenovtech/...
medium.com
He Invented a Core Technology Behind ChatGPT. Now He’s Betting $1 Billion It’s a Dead End.
Here’s why the rest of the industry should be listening.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Organist as athlete in this 16hour Bach marathon. I always marvel at how they have a part for each hand, like pianists, but also notes played by the feet. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/s...
theguardian.com
'Insane’: Australian organist plays 16 hours of back-to-back Bach
Starting at 6am this Sunday, Calvin Bowman will embark on an epic feat of endurance so physically demanding he’ll have a masseur on hand to aid his recovery
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Entry level positions in IT are disappearing due to AI; more senior staff thrive. There is the conundrum of the the next generation. Taking a lead from aviation manual checks, this article proposes deliberately adding human steps, in IT case debugging. Retain skill spectrum.ieee.org/ai-engineer-...
aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
AI Efficiency Could Cost Us the Next Generation of Experts
Lessons from aviation and nuclear power show how to preserve human skills
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"The Very Model of a Modern Day Typographer". Clever. Mentions two of my faves: Lucida (Bright) and Palatino, but not Century Schoolbook.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
There is ample evidence that reducing the tax on cigarettes makes matters worse. No long lasting change in behviour, but more people starting smoking and getting sick. Only solution is smart enforcement theconversation.com/cutting-the-...
theconversation.com
Cutting the tobacco excise won’t stop the illegal trade. This is how other countries solved the problem
The illicit market for tobacco is not an inevitable result of high excise taxes.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
It turns out that #meditation, like all #medicine, can have adverse effects as well as well researched benefits. www.abc.net.au/news/health/...
abc.net.au
This is what happens when meditation goes wrong
In recent years, there has been a huge uptake in meditation, promoted to improve mental and physical health. But it can be harmful for some people.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
In the category of convincing fakes (or not letting a good story be spoilt by facts) this scene showing a woman escaping East Berlin during the early Cold War was actually a scene from a film (suitably editted) made a decade later fakehistoryhunter.net/2016/09/03/n...
fakehistoryhunter.net
NOT an 1955 Berlin border crossing
This famous photo is shared all over the internet as supposedly being made during the cold war in Berlin on the border between east and west and showing West Berlin policemen and East German Volksp…
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Reposted by MichaelW
NPR @npr.org · 03/09/2026
At a time when women were largely limited to domestic roles, Steinem challenged gender stereotypes and championed feminist ideals like equality, sisterhood and reproductive freedom. n.pr/3T6gEma
n.pr
Gloria Steinem, trailblazing journalist and activist, dies at 92
At a time when women were largely limited to domestic roles, Steinem challenged gender stereotypes and championed feminist ideals like equality, sisterhood and reproductive freedom.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Thinking about vibe coding, “If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.” (Gerald Weinberg), but now it's on steroids
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Thought-provoking commentary by Joachim Klement. Democracies can choose efficiency (lower costs, more failure modes) or resilience (high costs, but greater redundancy). Linguistic note that here, "redundancy" is seen as a virtue www.reuters.com/commentary/r...
reuters.com
COMMENTARY: Efficiency or resilience? Democracies can only pick one
Efficiency has long been the prime objective of business and government policy. But the pandemic, trade wars and armed conflicts have called this into question, stressing the importance of resilience....
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Jewish Australian English words versus Jewish American English words (how niche can you possibly get 😄) thejewishindependent.com.au/australians-...
thejewishindependent.com.au
New Study Finds Unique Jewish English Terms in Australia - The Jewish Independent
A new study reveals how Australians and Americans differ in their knowledge of Jewish English terms like shtum, cobber and shemozzle.
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Reposted by MichaelW
𝕯𝖆𝖓🍂🎃🕸️ @arepublic86.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This is what a real leader says.
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Reposted by MichaelW
Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Letter from 130 bioethicists condemns the “unwarranted, ill-advised, & frankly bizarre vendetta against a scientist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, rather than making a sincere effort to learn from the painful experiences of the pandemic to improve national preparedness” bioethicstoday.org/blog/an-open...
bioethicstoday.org
Blog - An Open Letter of Support for Anthony Fauci from the Bioethics Community - Bioethics Today
As individuals concerned with ethics in science, medicine, and public health, we wish to express our dismay at the approach taken by Senate leaders to
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
My son is doing a Multiple Choice test for his biology unit. One question related to ethics. In among the more obvious choices about "is it ethical for X to eat Y" was the question: "Is it ethical to tick a random answer in a multiple choice question. Tempting. So tempting😄
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
At the final hearings of the antisemitism and social cohesion Royal Commission, the choices we face about the Australia we want to have. It needs to be a rededication to Australia's best selves, thejewishindependent.com.au/antisemitism...
thejewishindependent.com.au
Bondi Beach Tragedy: Choosing Light over Darkness - The Jewish Independent
A poignant reflection on the Bondi attack and the ongoing Royal Commission, calling on Australia to confront rising antisemitism.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A review of an interesting looking book on what an real evolutionary anthropologist thinks about food fads. Paleo, ie lots of meat, is out, for example.
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Reposted by MichaelW
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 26/08/2026
Shingles vaccine linked to lower risk of heart attack and stroke, study finds
theguardian.com
Shingles vaccine linked to lower risk of heart attack and stroke, study finds
Researchers say benefits of two-dose Shingrix vaccine could be comparable to taking daily blood pressure medication The current shingles vaccine appears to significantly lower the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to scientists who say it could help prevent thousands of deaths each year. The research, based on records of 70,000 people in the US, found that those who had received Shingrix had a 12% lower risk of a cardiovascular diagnosis in the following three and a half years. If confirmed, this benefit would be comparable to taking a daily blood pressure-lowering medication, the scientists said. Continue reading...
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Voters across the political spectrum support a 25% tax on gas exports. So, let's put it to the people. Join the call for a national plebiscite and let Australians decide. gas-plebiscite.australiainstitute.org.au
gas-plebiscite.australiainstitute.org.au
A National Plebiscite for a 25% Gas Export Tax
Voters across the political spectrum support a 25% tax on gas exports. So, let's put it to the people. Join the call for a national plebiscite and let Australians decide.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
This database and the paper that describes it examines the co-occurence of conflict risk and climate risk. There are lots of places where the two don't coincide, but interesting where they do, and will it get worse? econpapers.repec.org/paper/osfsoc...
econpapers.repec.org
EconPapers: The Climate Conflict Vulnerability Index: Mapping Global (Co-)occurrence of Climate and Conflict Risk
By Daniel Mittermaier, Simon Merschroth, Cornelia Auer, Tobias Bohne, Stefano Ferri, Vanessa Gottwick, Sidney Michelini, Sana Slouma, Daniel Racek and Barbora Šedová; Abstract: Climate and conflict ha...
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Stark difference between temperature (how fast atoms move) and heat (energy transferred) made obvious when Voyager spacecraft crossed heliopause with no effect despite 50k degrees outside blogpranshu.medium.com/voyager-flew...
blogpranshu.medium.com
Voyager Flew Through a Region Hotter Than the Sun’s Surface. Here’s Why It Didn’t Burn.
At the edge of the solar system, temperatures reach 50,000 Kelvin. Two spacecraft from the 1970s flew through it without a scratch. The…
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Reposted by MichaelW
it's an uncivil war @lucyksy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
A cultural comparison in one image. 
30 people getting coffee in the US
30 people getting coffee EU
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Apple has released a marketing video giving advanced notice of cameras being included in the next iteration of iPods. The tag line on the marketing video says "If you see it, you can save it for later", pointing to a book. Could be anyone ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...
ia.acs.org.au
Apple video accidentally leaks AirPods with cameras
Other unreleased products also listed in beta code.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Tree as virus?
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
X has prevailed in a case before Australia's Federal Court aimed at preventing regulation by the eSafety Commissioner. It will come, and sooner the better. ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...
ia.acs.org.au
X wins lawsuit against Australia's eSafety Commissioner
Musk's platform claims victory in content rules dispute.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
In the first case in Australia of an AI agent going rogue, a man wishing to book a coveted morning gym session using AI agent (OpenClaw) ended up hacking the gyms booking system which removed from the waitlist someone earlier in the list. Trivial, but ominous. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
abc.net.au
How a simple request for AI to book a gym class exposed a major threat
When Andrew asked his AI personal assistant to book him a spot in a gym class, he had no idea he would accidentally initiate an autonomous cyber attack.
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MichaelW @somewise.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Infographic on the world's more valuable crops. Tea is there, but not coffee. I assume that's down to China and India being tea drinkers. www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-w...
visualcapitalist.com
Ranked: The World's Most Valuable Food Commodities
The world’s 40 most valuable food commodities generate $4.3 trillion combined, with five meat commodities accounting for over $1 trillion.
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