Ian Timaeus
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iantimaeus.bsky.social
Ian Timaeus
@iantimaeus.bsky.social

Confused squirrel; some-time professor of demography; LSHTM; methods, fertility, Africa; likes being outdoors, the Isle of Purbeck, sailing, family history, cricket, birds. 🇪🇺 🌹🍉

Economics 39%
Public Health 28%
Pinned
I feel a new handle coming on!
"Cohen writes like he’s trying to explain complex theories to a confused squirrel: clear, engaging, with unexpected moments of levity. His posts are a delightful mix of academic rigor and casual wit." blueskyroast.com/roast/philip... Here is the actual confused squirrel:

There is an online course available on the IUSSP website that covers intermediate as well as introductory formal demography papp.iussp.org. It could do with an update to cover developments in the last decade, though arguably most of them are advanced and build on what's there.
PAPP - Population Analysis for Policies & Programmes
Module Overview | Acknowledgements | How to reference
papp.iussp.org

Reposted by Ian M. Timæus

Join us next week to hear from @farid-flici.bsky.social on population ageing and social security sustainability in Algeria 🇩🇿

🗓 Wednesday, 22 October 2025
🕐 12:45–13:45 (BST)
📍 KS-LG19
💻 Zoom: lshtm.zoom.us/j/89990670777

ℹ️ More details: www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/cen...

Chapeau, sir.

Reposted by Ian M. Timæus

Reposted by Clark Gray

Demography may be unique in needing the insights of both those who think involution is about the history of rice cultivation in Java and those who think it's f(f(x))=x.

Ironically, you couldn't be more wrong! A number of East Europeans who trained as rocket scientists before the collapse of the rocket-science job market instead became first-rate demographers. I would mention, in particular, Vladimir Shkolnikov, who was educated at the Moscow Aerospace Institute.

There's lots for all demographers (OK, a few of you probably know it all already) to ponder on in this paper. #demography
Looks like my favorite paper on the age trajectory of happiness is finally out!!! So happy for the authors. Go check it out, it’s great.
Looks like my favorite paper on the age trajectory of happiness is finally out!!! So happy for the authors. Go check it out, it’s great.

What is Michaelangelo's David good for? Sierra llama is a beautiful equation. Sure, it has applications, but the world needs more beauty. And the generalization to variable growth rates - it sends shivers down the spine. A profound account of population dynamics encapsulated in a single equation.

My apologies. It was after midnight when I posted (obviously) and I was evidently too tired to be doing so. I just want to reassure you that it's not at all the case that anyone in Europe has somehow developed the crazy notion that nobody American bothers to read our offerings anyway.

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, is a llama (4 for me).

Also in the Emergency Room I discovered on Sunday night, though it might rather spoil things if you yourself happened to be the emergency.

Got it in 3 - I knew that bioanth minor would come in useful one day.

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Doesn't help. The Noisy People's needs trump that.

Best to quickly shuffle out of your crease, plant your front foot, and drive that issue past mid-off for six. Or is that a particularly English academic thing?

It is a lovely piece, but a cricket ball is hard and heavy and can come flying at the batsman at over 90mph in the first-class game. You have to grasp what it takes to face that to appreciate the drama of the duels fought on that large green lawn.

I only got ten but it's not about being one of the cool kids at school is it, so that's fine, really it is, just fine.

My parents fled the eastern hemisphere when I was six but we lived in the borderlands to the south of London and there were even a few "Ossis" at my secondary school, though we mostly treated them the same as normal children.
Users of the Demographic and Health Surveys, please take the United Nations Statistics Division DHS impact survey (form.jotform.com/250913880478...) regarding recent cuts. Replies inform future planning and advocacy. All responses are confidential and presented only in aggregate.
Questionnaire on the use of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data
Please click the link to complete this form.
form.jotform.com

That's tealighting. I may have to rink you.

OK, but it's scenarios that need an ISO standard. Somebody really ought to do something about scenarios.

Reposted by Ian M. Timæus

📢 Funding opportunity 📢

We’re accepting applications for the Basia Zaba Scholarship for the MSc in Demography & Health @lshtm.bsky.social 🎓

The scholarship covers full tuition fees for a UK home student
for the 2025-26 academic year. Deadline 26 March.

For more information 👉 tinyurl.com/3j7esk22
Basia Zaba Memorial Scholarship | LSHTM
This scholarship is for the MSc Demography & Health. Professor Basia Zaba (1949-2018) Basia started her long association with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in 1975 when she
tinyurl.com

Reposted by Ian M. Timæus

Our study estimates excess deaths in children and parental loss due to the war in Gaza in 2023. From Oct 8 to Dec 31, 2023, 8120 children <18 were killed due to the conflict, 15127 children lost a father, and 9886 children lost a mother -in 3 months
pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
A demographic assessment of the impact of the war in the Gaza Strip on the mortality of children and their parents in 2023 - Population Health Metrics
Background Following Hamas’s 7 October attack, Israel launched extensive aerial bombardments in the Gaza Strip, followed by a large-scale ground invasion. During the first 3 months of the conflict, up...
pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com

The Population Studies Group at LSHTM now has a Bluesky account! Feel free to follow us at Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/psgl...

#demography #population #populationstudies #lshtm
bsky.app

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Perhaps he might lose interest in Greenland if they were to try wearing sombreros whenever the foreign TV crews show up.

I thought it might be that.

I'm just an ignorant limey, so why is it he doesn't envisage Mexico becoming the 52nd State?

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