Ian Hall
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drianhall.bsky.social
Ian Hall
@drianhall.bsky.social

Professor of International Relations at Griffith University, India’s foreign policy, Indo-Pacific stuff, snakes when I find one. Usual caveats.

Political science 68%
Economics 10%

I mean, why not? At least we might get more than two days of cricket.
One day, this could be true. We can still make days 3, 4 and 5 when the game will be over.

Reposted by Ian Hall

One day, this could be true. We can still make days 3, 4 and 5 when the game will be over.

By Herod Antipas
If the Romans had simply deported woke baby Jesus to South Sudan, a lot of trouble could have been avoided

Reposted by Ian Hall

If the Romans had simply deported woke baby Jesus to South Sudan, a lot of trouble could have been avoided

About time, some might say.

Reposted by Ian Hall

Modi turns his focus to reforming India’s economy ft.trib.al/b1Tu6TQ
Modi turns his focus to reforming India’s economy
Emboldened by political victories at home and facing high US tariffs, PM is preparing to embark on ‘big bang’ overhaul
ft.trib.al

Xi Jinping cannot believe his luck.
Q: In terms of the mission, do you see these ships as a counter to China?

TRUMP: It's a counter to everybody. It's not China. We get along great with China.

Reposted by Ian Hall

Q: In terms of the mission, do you see these ships as a counter to China?

TRUMP: It's a counter to everybody. It's not China. We get along great with China.

If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I'd take back those words that have hurt you and you'd stay
If I could reach the stars, I'd give 'em all to you
Then you'd love me, love me like you used to do, ohh...

Reposted by Ian Hall

If this is already the normal procedure everywhere, i.e. a google scholar import, universities’ library catalogues will be useless tomorrow.
When viewing the fake article in Google scholar on my university network, there is a link to access the article via my uni's library. That link sends me to a library page that makes fake article appear real... Turns out library page is made programmatically from info on Google scholar 🤦

A response to the murders of US troops and a translator, yes, but also the wider context…. www.bbc.com/news/article...
US carries out 'massive' strike against IS in Syria
The US says it struck dozens of targets across Syria in response to last week's deadly Islamic State attack on US forces there.
www.bbc.com

Reposted by Ian Hall

India has detailed systems for measuring poverty. But when it comes to wealth, the data goes dark.
Why We Still Don’t Know Who the Rich Are in India
India has detailed systems for measuring poverty. But when it comes to wealth, the data goes dark.
buff.ly
Takeaway from that "What Do Gen Z Republicans Think?" piece is not what participants said, but how the publication behind it—City Journal from the Manhattan Institute, the think tank that employs Chris Rufo—summarizes them: Economically comfortable, driven by boredom, see politics as entertainment.
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵

Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

Reposted by Ian Hall

The Trump family business empire is booming. We map out 268 pieces of it, from crypto to Bibles to golf courses.
The Trump Family Business Empire Is Growing. We Mapped Out 268 Pieces of It.
A second-term boom in crypto and other areas has created billions in new wealth for the first family.
on.wsj.com

And being assisted by the leaders of public institutions that depend on that inheritance for their existence.
It is international law 101 that a military blockade is not just a violation of the UN Charter, but a crime of aggression.

Unless that blockade is in response to an 'armed attack.'

None of President's Trump's list of complaints come close to an armed attack.

1/

A IS-driven transnational terror plot, in other words, not some kind of spontaneous hate crime. The international reporting more accurate than the local.
cnn.com CNN @cnn.com · 9d
The father and son duo suspected of carrying out a massacre at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach on Sunday were “driven by Islamic state ideology,” police say, as Philippines authorities confirmed the two recently traveled to a part of the country long known as a hotbed of extremism. https://cnn.it/3YBRn2d

Reposted by Ian Hall

CNN @cnn.com · 9d
The father and son duo suspected of carrying out a massacre at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach on Sunday were “driven by Islamic state ideology,” police say, as Philippines authorities confirmed the two recently traveled to a part of the country long known as a hotbed of extremism. https://cnn.it/3YBRn2d

I guess it is good to see a minister call it pollution, instead of pretending it is just normal winter fog. www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/i...
'I apologise': Delhi minister as pollution chokes capital, admits it's 'impossible' to fix
Delhi environment minister Sirsa said the current government had inherited a “disease of pollution” and was working daily to address it.
www.hindustantimes.com

Tourists, businesspeople, diplomats. It is impossible to have a conversation about India these days without someone bringing up the everyday pollution and horrific winter smog. economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/ser...
Poor air quality may keep many tourists out of Delhi
Several countries including Singapore, UK and Canada have issued advisories for their citizens in India. Rising pollution levels in North India are causing concern among international travellers. Trav...
economictimes.indiatimes.com
Did you know that from tomorrow, Qualtrics is offering synthetic panels (AI-generated participants)?

Follow me down a rabbit hole I'm calling "doing science is tough and I'm so busy, can't we just make up participants?"
MI6 Chief gives speech. Speech may contain words that are interesting. But because MI6 Chief is a woman @telegraph.co.uk prints an article about her appearance, with no mention of the speech’s content.

"...it's not making much money from its AI products. That's because no one is buying them, and that is because very few people actually find them useful..."
"tests from earlier this year found that AI agents failed to complete tasks up to 70% of the time..."
www.extremetech.com/computing/mi...
Microsoft Scales Back AI Goals Because Almost Nobody Is Using Copilot
Google's Gemini is on pace to push Copilot into third place.
www.extremetech.com

Reposted by Ian Hall

Vox @vox.com · 11d
America, you have spoken loud and clear: You do not like AI. But what if AI is the way to restart the world’s idea machine?
We’re running out of good ideas. AI might be how we find new ones.
What if the best use of AI is restarting the world’s idea machine?
www.vox.com