David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
@gringene.org
Neurodivergent freelance bioinformatician, cuddler of data, and theoretical geneticist, with a love for Free Software and the hacking thereof. Rangitāne o Wairau. He/they.
https://ko-fi.com/gringer
Website: https://www.gringene.org
https://ko-fi.com/gringer
Website: https://www.gringene.org
Pinned
David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
@gringene.org
· Nov 7
If you're considering following me, bear in mind that I'm a social butterfly, both in research (as a bioinformatician), and on social media. If there's news I want to spread, I'll repost a woman's report of it (if possible). "Like" means I like something, and have read it.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
Who wrote this? Why is there no byline?
If the PM is working from home, he can still take calls, so what's stopping journos from getting on the blower and asking him what the hell he's playing at and what his response is to the major current affairs of the day?
#nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
If the PM is working from home, he can still take calls, so what's stopping journos from getting on the blower and asking him what the hell he's playing at and what his response is to the major current affairs of the day?
#nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Christopher Luxon working from home as year gets underway
"I've always been used to going back to work on the 3rd or 4th of January," the PM said before Christmas.
www.rnz.co.nz
January 8, 2026 at 3:55 AM
Who wrote this? Why is there no byline?
If the PM is working from home, he can still take calls, so what's stopping journos from getting on the blower and asking him what the hell he's playing at and what his response is to the major current affairs of the day?
#nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
If the PM is working from home, he can still take calls, so what's stopping journos from getting on the blower and asking him what the hell he's playing at and what his response is to the major current affairs of the day?
#nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
New preprint 🚀 We uncover and correct systematic bias in nanopore-based RNA modification detection. ModkitOpt optimises pipelines using validated sites, increasing true positives while reducing unvalidated calls across contexts.
💻: github.com/comprna/modk...
📄: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
💻: github.com/comprna/modk...
📄: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Resolving systematic bias in nanopore-based RNA modification detection
Nanopore direct RNA sequencing has accelerated the growth of the epitranscriptomics field, yet nanopore-based RNA modification landscapes are generally unreliable due to the heuristic and unvalidated ...
www.biorxiv.org
January 8, 2026 at 7:22 AM
New preprint 🚀 We uncover and correct systematic bias in nanopore-based RNA modification detection. ModkitOpt optimises pipelines using validated sites, increasing true positives while reducing unvalidated calls across contexts.
💻: github.com/comprna/modk...
📄: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
💻: github.com/comprna/modk...
📄: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
I had someone, whose work and claims I respectfully and critically analyzed in my talk, stand up at the end of the talk, turn around to the audience, and ask "did you understand any of what she just said?"
Some from the audience later told me they were surprised given that the talk was so clear
Some from the audience later told me they were surprised given that the talk was so clear
This is a v good explanation of what I believe is the intended effect of this rhetorical tactic.
But I think it overestimates the chance of success by assuming that the authority that the speaker needs to believe they hold in order to make the attempt must be accepted and respected by the audience.
But I think it overestimates the chance of success by assuming that the authority that the speaker needs to believe they hold in order to make the attempt must be accepted and respected by the audience.
January 7, 2026 at 9:10 PM
I had someone, whose work and claims I respectfully and critically analyzed in my talk, stand up at the end of the talk, turn around to the audience, and ask "did you understand any of what she just said?"
Some from the audience later told me they were surprised given that the talk was so clear
Some from the audience later told me they were surprised given that the talk was so clear
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
Also my example is also about all 4 women in the thread. Our work is directly being called irrelevant as that paper is all our work combined giga chadily. 😌
I really appreciate your support. Of course!
I really appreciate your support. Of course!
January 8, 2026 at 3:56 AM
Also my example is also about all 4 women in the thread. Our work is directly being called irrelevant as that paper is all our work combined giga chadily. 😌
I really appreciate your support. Of course!
I really appreciate your support. Of course!
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
WOMEN are doing the vast majority of the front-line organizing against ICE, the vast majority of the front-line reporting, the vast majority of the legal observing, the vast majority of the care work, the vast majority of the corking and safety volunteering. It's so often women who are being killed.
Renee Good, who was murdered in cold blood today by ICE, was a queer woman. June "T-Rex" Knightly, who was murdered in Portland, was a queer woman. The ICE detainees who were sexually assaulted in Louisiana are queer women and trans men.
Queer and trans immigrants allege forced labor and sexual assault in Ice facility: ‘I was treated worse than an animal’
At the South Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Basile, detainees say they were forced into hard labor – and sexually assaulted and stalked by an assistant warden
www.theguardian.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:18 AM
WOMEN are doing the vast majority of the front-line organizing against ICE, the vast majority of the front-line reporting, the vast majority of the legal observing, the vast majority of the care work, the vast majority of the corking and safety volunteering. It's so often women who are being killed.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
I feel like a big thing people often don't get is that computers are stupid. They are really, truly, stupid. They can only do what you tell them, exactly what you tell them, and they cannot think "well this is an obvious problem, clearly this wasn't intended" the way even a small child often can
January 8, 2026 at 8:57 AM
I feel like a big thing people often don't get is that computers are stupid. They are really, truly, stupid. They can only do what you tell them, exactly what you tell them, and they cannot think "well this is an obvious problem, clearly this wasn't intended" the way even a small child often can
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
I think it's important for the non-technical people to understand: this is dumb. This is not an elaborate hack. This is an exploitation of a very big mistake.
January 8, 2026 at 7:49 AM
I think it's important for the non-technical people to understand: this is dumb. This is not an elaborate hack. This is an exploitation of a very big mistake.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
Specifically, MMH confirmed that there was no server-side compromise, just abuse of the API, and that one user-level stolen credential was involved.
That means the hacker queried the API using one user credential, and was able to trick the API into giving out 127,000 users' files.
That means the hacker queried the API using one user credential, and was able to trick the API into giving out 127,000 users' files.
January 8, 2026 at 7:47 AM
Specifically, MMH confirmed that there was no server-side compromise, just abuse of the API, and that one user-level stolen credential was involved.
That means the hacker queried the API using one user credential, and was able to trick the API into giving out 127,000 users' files.
That means the hacker queried the API using one user credential, and was able to trick the API into giving out 127,000 users' files.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
Then hacker comes in, with a stolen ticket. And then they ask for every coat on the rack. The instruction was "only give coats to people with tickets". Hacker has ticket. So, they give them all the coats.
The stolen ticket is not the issue here. It's that the instruction missed a crucial qualifier.
The stolen ticket is not the issue here. It's that the instruction missed a crucial qualifier.
January 8, 2026 at 7:58 AM
Then hacker comes in, with a stolen ticket. And then they ask for every coat on the rack. The instruction was "only give coats to people with tickets". Hacker has ticket. So, they give them all the coats.
The stolen ticket is not the issue here. It's that the instruction missed a crucial qualifier.
The stolen ticket is not the issue here. It's that the instruction missed a crucial qualifier.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
Temperatures in the high 30s for a few days, Aoteraoa New Zealand. Get your live stock and pets under shade with plenty of water. And, remember, paws burn on concrete, tarseal, and stone, etc. If its too hot for your feet, its too hot for theirs, too.
www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...
www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...
Heat alerts, fire risks with temperatures set to reach 37C
MetService has issued heat alerts for hotspots across the country as temperatures are forecast to soar on Friday.
www.stuff.co.nz
January 8, 2026 at 7:41 AM
Temperatures in the high 30s for a few days, Aoteraoa New Zealand. Get your live stock and pets under shade with plenty of water. And, remember, paws burn on concrete, tarseal, and stone, etc. If its too hot for your feet, its too hot for theirs, too.
www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...
www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
people are withdrawing from Adelaide writers week faster than can be reported. In addition to the names listed here are Ren Wyld, Emma Shortis, and Fiona Katsaukas. Important detail: the only creative, Stephen Page, has left the Adelaide Festival board.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Authors withdraw from festival after Palestinian Australian author dropped
After Randa Abdel-Fattah was dropped from Adelaide Writers' Week by the Adelaide Festival Board, a slew of authors, including Michelle de Kretser, have withdrawn from the event.
www.abc.net.au
January 8, 2026 at 6:28 AM
people are withdrawing from Adelaide writers week faster than can be reported. In addition to the names listed here are Ren Wyld, Emma Shortis, and Fiona Katsaukas. Important detail: the only creative, Stephen Page, has left the Adelaide Festival board.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
We vaccinate against diseases because they’re nasty—they HARM our children and others in our community
Vaccines are absurdly safe—the diseases they prevent cause hospitalizations and even deaths
Babies will suffer horribly and even die needlessly
This situation is a nightmare
Vaccines are absurdly safe—the diseases they prevent cause hospitalizations and even deaths
Babies will suffer horribly and even die needlessly
This situation is a nightmare
"Over the last 30 years, I have hospitalized hundreds of children with complications from influenza, RSV, rotavirus and other vaccine-preventable diseases that have now been removed from the CDC schedule. I have never hospitalized a child from a vaccine reaction."
abcnews.go.com/Health/pedia...
abcnews.go.com/Health/pedia...
Some pediatricians are already seeing negative effects of changing vaccine recommendations
Pediatricians told ABC News they are urging parents to still vaccinate their children despite changing federal guidance
abcnews.go.com
January 8, 2026 at 8:17 AM
We vaccinate against diseases because they’re nasty—they HARM our children and others in our community
Vaccines are absurdly safe—the diseases they prevent cause hospitalizations and even deaths
Babies will suffer horribly and even die needlessly
This situation is a nightmare
Vaccines are absurdly safe—the diseases they prevent cause hospitalizations and even deaths
Babies will suffer horribly and even die needlessly
This situation is a nightmare
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
You and your wife drop your 6-year-old off at school. You just moved here. You see ICE terrorizing your new neighbors. You film them, as is your legal right. Your wife complies with orders. She is then shot in the head. You still have to pick up your child later today.
This could be you.
This could be you.
January 8, 2026 at 12:15 AM
You and your wife drop your 6-year-old off at school. You just moved here. You see ICE terrorizing your new neighbors. You film them, as is your legal right. Your wife complies with orders. She is then shot in the head. You still have to pick up your child later today.
This could be you.
This could be you.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
This report is utterly damning, so of course it didn't get much coverage at the time.
Best of 2025: The findings of a new IMF report suggest NZ is not just underperforming, but actively backing the wrong kinds of growth.
NZ’s economy is not underperforming by accident
newsroom.co.nz
January 8, 2026 at 5:20 AM
This report is utterly damning, so of course it didn't get much coverage at the time.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
"MMH has offloaded responsibility of deleting their old accounts onto the patients but many people get signed up to such portals by their GPs switching to the platform. It should not be patients’ responsibility to delete accounts if they did not individually get into a contract with the platform"
Manage My Health data breach – Expert Reaction
Manage My Health data breach - Expert Reaction - Science Media Centre
Hackers have reportedly threatened to release the health information of over 120,000 Kiwis unless a ransom is paid by 5 am tomorrow. Manage My Health, which holds health information on over 1.8 million...
www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
January 8, 2026 at 4:29 AM
"MMH has offloaded responsibility of deleting their old accounts onto the patients but many people get signed up to such portals by their GPs switching to the platform. It should not be patients’ responsibility to delete accounts if they did not individually get into a contract with the platform"
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
This is the sort of truth we need from the media.
Well done, Chris Hayes.
Well done, Chris Hayes.
@chrislhayes.bsky.social: “A 37-year-old American citizen, the mother of a young child is dead tonight. She was shot in the face by an agent of the federal government, and that government has spent the day telling despicable lies about her.”
January 8, 2026 at 7:00 AM
This is the sort of truth we need from the media.
Well done, Chris Hayes.
Well done, Chris Hayes.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
Yeah that's really it, I don't know what to do in general. Everyone I talk to is not doing well, everyone is feeling punished so I can't understand any of this. Corporations can't also be doing well surely if communities can't purchase? Our elected officials don't seem to get it.
January 8, 2026 at 8:52 AM
Yeah that's really it, I don't know what to do in general. Everyone I talk to is not doing well, everyone is feeling punished so I can't understand any of this. Corporations can't also be doing well surely if communities can't purchase? Our elected officials don't seem to get it.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
You can’t, & I don’t expect you to either but we have a couple of buildings in Wellington full of elected representatives who should be earning their paycheque working for us and not their fucking campaign donors.
January 8, 2026 at 8:46 AM
You can’t, & I don’t expect you to either but we have a couple of buildings in Wellington full of elected representatives who should be earning their paycheque working for us and not their fucking campaign donors.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
There are some days (more in the last year than the last 17 years in business) that I think I should look for a job rather than own a business. I have come to the harsh realisation that I'm not really qualified to do anything eek & as everyone knows the job market is slim pickings. Life in NZ aye?
January 8, 2026 at 7:12 AM
There are some days (more in the last year than the last 17 years in business) that I think I should look for a job rather than own a business. I have come to the harsh realisation that I'm not really qualified to do anything eek & as everyone knows the job market is slim pickings. Life in NZ aye?
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
A healthy 31-year-old woman developed sinus pressure, headache, and blurry vision 10 days after COVID-19 infection.
The case adds evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection can trigger immune-mediated optic neuritis and highlights the importance of early diagnosis and treatment to preserve vision.
The case adds evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection can trigger immune-mediated optic neuritis and highlights the importance of early diagnosis and treatment to preserve vision.
Unilateral Optic Neuritis Post-COVID-19 Infection: A Case Report
COVID-19 has affected millions of individuals worldwide, yet the neuro-ophthalmic consequences among survivors remain incompletely characterized. In this case report, we describe a case of unilateral ...
www.cureus.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:23 AM
A healthy 31-year-old woman developed sinus pressure, headache, and blurry vision 10 days after COVID-19 infection.
The case adds evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection can trigger immune-mediated optic neuritis and highlights the importance of early diagnosis and treatment to preserve vision.
The case adds evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection can trigger immune-mediated optic neuritis and highlights the importance of early diagnosis and treatment to preserve vision.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
This shit FRUSTRATES the hell out of me because this is what my students will do. They'll get together and try to come up with better prompts to ask a goddamned AI instead of sitting down with me, who is trained in how to help them, and talking through the kinds of questions they want to ask.
January 8, 2026 at 3:39 AM
This shit FRUSTRATES the hell out of me because this is what my students will do. They'll get together and try to come up with better prompts to ask a goddamned AI instead of sitting down with me, who is trained in how to help them, and talking through the kinds of questions they want to ask.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health”
It's worth keeping in mind with both of these approaches that content-mediated harm may not be picked up by broad patterns of use. This is what Meta seems to have sorted out internally as the key mechanism, and then promptly buried.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege
Rather than publishing the findings or pursuing additional research, Meta called off further work.
www.reuters.com
January 7, 2026 at 5:11 PM
“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health”
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
Look man. Renee Good was murdered, and I hope to God this leads to the dismantling of ICE and America's militarized police.
But there is a list of Black, brown, and queer women who have been murdered by police fucking MILES long, and that hasn't done anything yet.
I'm not holding my breath.
But there is a list of Black, brown, and queer women who have been murdered by police fucking MILES long, and that hasn't done anything yet.
I'm not holding my breath.
January 8, 2026 at 4:28 AM
Look man. Renee Good was murdered, and I hope to God this leads to the dismantling of ICE and America's militarized police.
But there is a list of Black, brown, and queer women who have been murdered by police fucking MILES long, and that hasn't done anything yet.
I'm not holding my breath.
But there is a list of Black, brown, and queer women who have been murdered by police fucking MILES long, and that hasn't done anything yet.
I'm not holding my breath.
Reposted by David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️
tired: correlation is not causation
wired: correlation is not cognition
wired: correlation is not cognition
We present a typology of traps to avoid:
1. Believing that AI systems are minds
2. Believing that AI systems are theories
3. Believing that cognitive science can be automated.
Learn to recognise and avoid these traps. Failure to avoid leads to numerous problems.
3/🧵
1. Believing that AI systems are minds
2. Believing that AI systems are theories
3. Believing that cognitive science can be automated.
Learn to recognise and avoid these traps. Failure to avoid leads to numerous problems.
3/🧵
January 8, 2026 at 4:05 AM
tired: correlation is not causation
wired: correlation is not cognition
wired: correlation is not cognition