Ben Harris‐Roxas

Ben Harris-Roxas

@benhr.bsky.social

2.9K followers 930 following 160 posts

Researcher and educator from Sydney, Australia. You’ll usually find me on the forgotten parts of the web.

https://unsw.to/ben_hr
https://harrisroxashealth.com

Videos

Public Health 27%

Medicine 16%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 1h

Do you like this, as an M.O.?

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 6h

The aphids are being resistant bastards this year.

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 7h

A lot of groups get unfairly blamed for the world’s ills but few have the courage to name the real problem: aphids and scale.

Reposted by Ben Harris‐Roxas

The Cathy Wilcox @cathywilcox.bsky.social · 11h

50 years since the Dismissal.
My @smh @theage cartoon.

Single frame. “Monuments to Idealism, Ego, Fallibility and Pisstaking.” Four busts: Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, John Kerr and Norman Gunston. Note: “50 years since The Dismissal.”

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 3d

You don’t have to go as far as Saturn MORE LATER

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 3d

This ridiculous post (the answer is clearly his own tariffs) made me learn about “Boxed Beef”, a fascinating turn in intensive beef production that reminds me of what has happened to poultry. Sci-fi authors who thought we’d be eating vat protein got it wrong.

A “truth” by Donald Trump discusses the discrepancy between dropping cattle prices and rising boxed beef prices, implying potential criminality.

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 4d

I was reading that before Hitler, it was common to refer to authoritarian power-grabbers as “Pharaoh”, I guess because of the shared biblical touchstone. Really makes you wonder where Ramses III would have been on the political compass.

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 5d

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executi...

Execution of Charles I - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 5d

Putting Facial Recognition Tech onto Meta’s Smart Glasses to Instantly Dox Strangers - 404 Media

Someone Put Facial Recognition Tech onto Meta's Smart Glasses to Instantly Dox Strangers

The technology, which marries Meta’s smart Ray Ban glasses with the facial recognition service Pimeyes and some other tools, lets someone automatically go from face, to name, to phone number, and home address.

www.404media.co

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 5d

Beautiful morning on the Goods Line

Wide pedestrian pathway with sunlight illuminating a tall yellow UTS building to the left, trees creating a canopy on the right, clear blue sky, with a few pedestrians visible. It’s the Goods Line in Ultimo, Sydney.

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 5d

Is it really the sole superpower any more? That status relies on force projection and fiat dominance, and both seem a bit crumbly?

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 6d

It's a real photo. Same time from another angle www.theguardian.com/us-news/gall...

Inside the White House on 9/11 - in pictures

Never-before-seen photos taken in the White House on the day terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Ben Harris‐Roxas

RanTLaw @rantlaw.bsky.social · 8d

I think more people should be scandalised that the ATO is using private debt collectors. Those debt collectors are not usually the most scrupulous entities around.

Reposted by Ben Harris‐Roxas

Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 8d

ATO is paying private debt collector $42m to pursue taxpayers, including welfare recipients

The tax office’s increased reliance on Recoveriescorp has coincided with a spike in complaints to the watchdog * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Australian Taxation Office has awarded the private debt collector Recoveriescorp more than $42m in contracts as part of a hard-edged campaign to pursue some taxpayers, including welfare recipients. The size of the contracts, published on the government’s tender portal, shows how much the ATO has come to rely on the third-party collector in recent years, which has coincided with a spike in complaints to the watchdog. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 9d

Takes all types! It was definitely not for me.

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 9d

I’m afraid you weren’t the preferred vampire for the position.

Reposted by Ben Harris‐Roxas

Erin Cook @erincook.bsky.social · 10d

I actually can't get enough of these solidarity stories of young protest movements across the world www.economist.com/asia/2025/10...

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 11d

Not social credit, SOCIAL SHAME! I think we need to pool all the declined or ignored invitations to review and make a public list 🤣😭

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 11d

In more direct response to your question, perhaps a journal’s mentoring efforts should be focused on developing better reviewers, which invariably leads to better authors?

None of it is easily solved.

It’s not even manageable, which means it’s less of a wicked problem and more akin to collapse.

Reposted by Joanna Tai

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 11d

Before COVID that figure was more like 6-8.

People need to slow down, submit less crap, contribute to peer review. If you don’t there should be stigma and censure. The system is broken but so are the hard-working volunteers who are papering over its cracks.

Ben Harris-Roxas @benhr.bsky.social · 11d

I think there needs to be explicit requirements to do high quality reviews *before* you’re considered for publishing yourself. There’s a massive amount of AI slop being submitted to journals I have editorial roles with, and even for the better stuff I now frequently have to ask 20+ reviewers.

Reposted by Iain Davidson, Ben Harris‐Roxas, McKenzie Wark , and 1 more Iain Davidson, Ben Harris‐Roxas, McKenzie Wark, Catherine J. Frieman

Frank Cvetkovic @gofrankgo.bsky.social · 12d

Back in my day, AI used to stand for Adobe Illustrator! And we hated that, too!

Reposted by Steve Peers, Ben Harris‐Roxas, Greg Linden

depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 12d

In 2008, Google created an ad-powered wiki encyclopedia called Knol, seen as a "Wikipedia killer" amid its highly-publicized launch. And the Wikimedia Foundation gave an unbothered response that I quite like: "the more good free content, the better for the world." Anyway Knol instantly flopped