Josh Merfeld

Not surprising. Courtesy of the "Green Revolution." This is especially true for high-income countries, such as Australia, where commercial agriculture operates at maximum efficiency and thus converts fertilizer into food calories.

@jt_kerwin Restricting competition is good for prices, Jason!

Why are Jones Act defenders obsessed with claiming that it somehow achieves benefits without distorting prices? That’s not even possible, and it makes them seem like liars and morons

Paralegals and the like? Probably. Lawyers? Nah. Tho tbf there’s an entire pipeline there so it may get disrupted.

@KhoaVuUmn @jmartinezr_ "Excuse me do you have time to talk about our lord and savior Jesus Christ?" was right there, Khoa.

"Excuse me do you have time to talk about how AI may affect the labor market?"

@mikekofoed @aefpweb Congratulations! Or my condolences! Whichever fits best.

Some professional news. I'm honored to be selected as one of the three new lead editors for the academic journal Education Finance and Policy. Sponsored by @aefpweb, we strive to publish rigorous papers on all levels of education policy to make improve outcomes for students!

I didn’t know the Trump administration hired @ass_deans

🤦🏻‍♂️

@florianederer Seoul tried to join the bandwagon on this. They shut it down after a few years 🤦🏻‍♂️

@Josh_Merfeld Agree. I can't think of anybody who said "Wow, what a great business move."

$80 billion is a rounding error for Meta and the computing power used for the Metaverse was probably just repurposed for AI.

@LibertadGonLu Sorry I wasn’t there in person! It became clear that I wasn’t going to make it on time and I HATE walking in late or leaving early, so just joined on zoom.

In Brisbane today 🤩

When we moved to Straya we bought an EV. It’s my first experience with an EV. Absolutely LOVE it, even without the higher prices for fuel.

@OliverJia1014 Run away from any department that requires you to publish to graduate. Just a horrible practice.

At a crossroads if I want to continue my PhD in international relations or not. It's a bit of a nightmare due to the following points: 1. Doctoral thesis is about 65% done, but my department won't even look at it unless I have three academic articles published. 2. One article is published and one has gone back and forth between me and my school's journal for months. Waiting for the final result and it's been a frustrating process. I still have one more to write as well. If the second article gets rejected again, it and the third one could take up to another year to get looked at and accepted by other journals while I have to work on the thesis defense. 3. I've written dozens of articles as a professional journalist, so I'm thinking of using two of those instead. But then the department might reject them as "not academic" and I'm back to the problem listed above. Yes, despite being a writer with tons of bylines with respected publications, it basically means diddly squat in the world of academia. Guess why I'm leaving the field? 4. I already know I'm not continuing on with academia. I'm starting my own business (details to be revealed at a later date) and want to start making money. If this whole PhD saga is going to take a year, possibly more to finish, it's not worth continuing. I've been in this program since 2021, so I have no desire to push this beyond 2026. And that about sums it up. Since I'm married (spousal visa recently got approved) and I have enough savings, staying in Japan and paying rent isn't an issue for me. I'm expecting the results of that second article any day now and if it's another rejection, that'll be it for me. I'll move on with my actual career and not look back.

@TMFScottP You might be right but politicians gonna politician. People see the price at the pump. They don’t see the other stuff

Bloody hell... here we go again. More corporate welfare on the taxpayers' dime. Fuel will cost more, as a result. No, not at the pump, but the pump price *plus* the portion of your taxes that prop these places up.

@hot_rails I’m just an ignorant American living here. I’ll leave the steering to you mate.

@Josh_Merfeld Steering the discourse; patriots in control 😎

Manifesting Hyper Australia

@hot_rails Haha didn’t know you had tweeted this!

@Josh_Merfeld Aint no way the phrase “manifest hyper Australia” was a coincidence, especially from a pit viper sunglasses enjoyer.

@hot_rails Nah politicians would always want their name out there

@Josh_Merfeld When you realise political leaders are lurking pseudonymously in your replies…

@JustinWeRchange @jemcustom That’s not how it works. Herd immunity is a thing and there are people who would like to get it but can’t for medical reasons. Vaccines are a modern miracle.

@Josh_Merfeld @jemcustom Nope, they all cause way more than good. Go get as many as you like, just don’t force anyone else to. If you are “protected” then you should have nothing to worry about. We will handle our own risk assessment just like with Covid.

Since 2000, there have been 6 confirmed measles deaths in the US. Since 2000, there have been 500+ reported deaths from the measles vaccine (MMR) to VAERS. VAERS only collects 1% of injuries & deaths. You do the math. Educate before you vaccinate.

@JustinWeRchange @jemcustom Yes, we got better at treating things and better sanitation helped decrease rates of many diseases. That does NOT mean your initial tweet isn’t complete BS. Vaccines absolutely prevent many measles deaths.

@jemcustom @Josh_Merfeld “The facts are clear: infectious disease deaths declined nearly 90% BEFORE vaccines were introduced.” - Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: Trends in the Health of Americans During 20th Century, Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics, December 2000