Josh Nicholas
@joshnicholas.com
Scribbler and data journalist. https://joshnicholas.com
Pinned
Josh Nicholas
@joshnicholas.com
· Mar 21
Tourists, watercolours and the sad, still Star: sketching the route 35 tram showed me a Melbourne I had never really noticed
When you are in a city every day, you start to take things for granted. So, after three years in Melbourne, Josh Nicholas decided to be a tourist
www.theguardian.com
I wrote a thing about drawing and Melbourne www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
We're hiring for a Steel Demand-Side Analyst to join our research team. Could it be you?
Applications close 18th November 2025 app.beapplied.com/apply/l0ms3k...
Applications close 18th November 2025 app.beapplied.com/apply/l0ms3k...
November 11, 2025 at 12:29 AM
We're hiring for a Steel Demand-Side Analyst to join our research team. Could it be you?
Applications close 18th November 2025 app.beapplied.com/apply/l0ms3k...
Applications close 18th November 2025 app.beapplied.com/apply/l0ms3k...
The opposite of in app purchases. I think they call it... fun?
November 11, 2025 at 12:25 AM
The opposite of in app purchases. I think they call it... fun?
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
10 years old and maybe never more relevant than in contemporary software development
www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/08/2...
www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/08/2...
November 10, 2025 at 9:11 PM
10 years old and maybe never more relevant than in contemporary software development
www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/08/2...
www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/08/2...
Absolutely brutal. Love to see it. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/n...
November 10, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Absolutely brutal. Love to see it. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/n...
The True Cost of China’s Falling Prices www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
China’s Deflationary Spiral Hurts Economy Harder Than Official Numbers Suggest
Bloomberg analysis shows deflation on the ground feels more pronounced than official data show, with prices of everyday goods plunging and the share of loss-making companies at a 25-year high.
www.bloomberg.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:24 PM
The True Cost of China’s Falling Prices www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
Really thankful for this, from @winterjessica.bsky.social—a long-overdue corrective to an exhausting discourse. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
What Did Men Do to Deserve This?
Changes in the economy and in the culture seem to have hit them hard. Scott Galloway believes they need an “aspirational vision of masculinity.”
www.newyorker.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Really thankful for this, from @winterjessica.bsky.social—a long-overdue corrective to an exhausting discourse. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
"Information superhighway" is a term we don't hear enough nowadays
November 10, 2025 at 2:54 AM
"Information superhighway" is a term we don't hear enough nowadays
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
We're running a trial of exercise in nature here in Sydney. Free support for exercise and wellbeing for those who participate. If you know anyone who might be interested, please share our link: www.powerlab.site/research/pan...
November 9, 2025 at 10:53 PM
We're running a trial of exercise in nature here in Sydney. Free support for exercise and wellbeing for those who participate. If you know anyone who might be interested, please share our link: www.powerlab.site/research/pan...
More music journalism like this please www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
‘Take On Me’ has been stuck in our heads for 40 years. Here’s how it got there.
“Take On Me,” the 1980s synth-pop hit song from the band A-ha, marks 40 years of global ubiquity even while personal disputes have chilled the Norwegian trio.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:20 PM
More music journalism like this please www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
We have more renewable energy than ever before. Why are we switching it off? www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
The wind blows, yet turbines lie still. It's a symptom of Australia's renewables glut
Mountains of clean power are regularly "wasted" as Australia's energy system evolves. But a large amount of battery storage is waiting in the wings, ready to soak it up.
www.abc.net.au
November 9, 2025 at 10:03 PM
We have more renewable energy than ever before. Why are we switching it off? www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
🛠️ New tool for the data journalism community
I automated reverse engineering government portal APIs. Includes reusable slash command + open source marketplace
ruibarros.me/blog/finding...
#DataJournalism #OpenData #WebScraping #FOSS
I automated reverse engineering government portal APIs. Includes reusable slash command + open source marketplace
ruibarros.me/blog/finding...
#DataJournalism #OpenData #WebScraping #FOSS
How to Find Hidden APIs Using AI – Rui Barros
Discover how AI can find and document hidden APIs in government portals and data websites in minutes instead of hours. Step-by-step tutorial using Chrome DevTools MCP with real examples.
ruibarros.me
November 8, 2025 at 10:25 PM
🛠️ New tool for the data journalism community
I automated reverse engineering government portal APIs. Includes reusable slash command + open source marketplace
ruibarros.me/blog/finding...
#DataJournalism #OpenData #WebScraping #FOSS
I automated reverse engineering government portal APIs. Includes reusable slash command + open source marketplace
ruibarros.me/blog/finding...
#DataJournalism #OpenData #WebScraping #FOSS
"Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show. And the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day" www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:18 PM
"Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show. And the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day" www.reuters.com/investigatio...
This was really highlighted when I processed birth data for this Guardian project - so many Australians recorded as being born in countries that no longer exist, vague regions or continents, or even things like "French ship" or "British Antarctica" www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Apart from anything else there are a huge number of people in the world who were born into countries that no longer exist. Ask any former Soviet passport holder just how fluid nationality can be
I spit on the reputation of the U.S. Supreme Court, not that it can get much more degraded than it has already become by the repulsive actions of its disgusting GOP members.
You can hear the transphobic sneer in these words.
You can hear the transphobic sneer in these words.
November 6, 2025 at 10:35 PM
This was really highlighted when I processed birth data for this Guardian project - so many Australians recorded as being born in countries that no longer exist, vague regions or continents, or even things like "French ship" or "British Antarctica" www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
I've been wanting to explore Apple's local LLM ("Foundation Models") that's now there on every macOS 26 install. I was surprised I couldn't find any python bindings. A few hours with Claude Code (still mind blowing to me this is possible!) and I have an initial version: github.com/btucker/appl...
GitHub - btucker/apple-foundation-models-py: Python bindings for Apple's FoundationModels framework - on-device AI
Python bindings for Apple's FoundationModels framework - on-device AI - btucker/apple-foundation-models-py
github.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:57 PM
I've been wanting to explore Apple's local LLM ("Foundation Models") that's now there on every macOS 26 install. I was surprised I couldn't find any python bindings. A few hours with Claude Code (still mind blowing to me this is possible!) and I have an initial version: github.com/btucker/appl...
November 6, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
This has been an extraordinary set of data to process: 1.3B unique passwords, 2B unique email addresses (including mine 😭) and almost 3M of our @haveibeenpwned.com subscribers in there. It’s been weeks of processing to get this loaded, and finally, it’s done www.troyhunt.com/2-billion-em...
2 Billion Email Addresses Were Exposed, and We Indexed Them All in Have I Been Pwned
I hate hyperbolic news headlines about data breaches, but for the "2 Billion Email Addresses" headline to be hyperbolic, it'd need to be exaggerated or overstated - and it isn't. It's rounded up from ...
www.troyhunt.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:09 AM
This has been an extraordinary set of data to process: 1.3B unique passwords, 2B unique email addresses (including mine 😭) and almost 3M of our @haveibeenpwned.com subscribers in there. It’s been weeks of processing to get this loaded, and finally, it’s done www.troyhunt.com/2-billion-em...
Not sure if I believe the story of a couple of dudes who put a trampoline on top of the Great Pyramid but this is an amazing yarn nevertheless hadtrampolinedidtravel.blogspot.com/2013/05/part...
Part 1 - Let's Go to Egypt!
The Great Pyramid Trampoline Caper A short story by Ron Munn “Say ...
hadtrampolinedidtravel.blogspot.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Not sure if I believe the story of a couple of dudes who put a trampoline on top of the Great Pyramid but this is an amazing yarn nevertheless hadtrampolinedidtravel.blogspot.com/2013/05/part...
I love how much the ABC are using illustration in their interactives www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
AI is creeping into every part of life — work, therapy, art — and Australians are divided between fascination and fear
We asked people if they were concerned about the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. What they told us revealed a deep unease about what the technology means for our future.
www.abc.net.au
November 5, 2025 at 10:55 PM
I love how much the ABC are using illustration in their interactives www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Dick Cheney's wiki page was the most visited yesterday (excluding the main page, special pages etc.), almost doubling up Mamdani in second
November 5, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Dick Cheney's wiki page was the most visited yesterday (excluding the main page, special pages etc.), almost doubling up Mamdani in second
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
BusinessDesk has a fantastic (and rare) for a data journalist in New Zealand. The Herald and BusinessDesk are separate publications, but whoever is in this role will work with me on projects like Budget day visualisations 1/2
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
Data Journalist - BusinessDesk - NZME
Join BusinessDesk as a Data Journalist—break market-moving stories, visualise insights, and set the global benchmark for data-driven reporting.
careers.nzme.co.nz
November 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM
BusinessDesk has a fantastic (and rare) for a data journalist in New Zealand. The Herald and BusinessDesk are separate publications, but whoever is in this role will work with me on projects like Budget day visualisations 1/2
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
Skilled workers are increasingly shunning America and Britain as top place to emigrate to
• In 2008 more than one-tird of educated young adults picked US or UK as top destination
• Share has dropped to 23%, with Canada among biggest beneficiaries from loss in US and UK allure
• In 2008 more than one-tird of educated young adults picked US or UK as top destination
• Share has dropped to 23%, with Canada among biggest beneficiaries from loss in US and UK allure
November 5, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Skilled workers are increasingly shunning America and Britain as top place to emigrate to
• In 2008 more than one-tird of educated young adults picked US or UK as top destination
• Share has dropped to 23%, with Canada among biggest beneficiaries from loss in US and UK allure
• In 2008 more than one-tird of educated young adults picked US or UK as top destination
• Share has dropped to 23%, with Canada among biggest beneficiaries from loss in US and UK allure
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
New favourite example of structural ambiguity
November 5, 2025 at 4:54 AM
New favourite example of structural ambiguity
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
I’ve just looked this up and holy shit does Seattle’s icon go hard
November 5, 2025 at 6:11 AM
I’ve just looked this up and holy shit does Seattle’s icon go hard
Reposted by Josh Nicholas
Look at the distribution of z-values from medical research!
November 4, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Look at the distribution of z-values from medical research!
From Ruins to Reuse: How Ukrainians Are Repurposing War Waste e360.yale.edu/features/ukr...
From Ruins to Reuse: How Ukrainians Are Repurposing War Waste
Russian bombardments have generated more than a billion tons of debris across Ukraine since 2022. Now, local and international efforts are meticulously sorting the bricks, concrete, metal, and wood, p...
e360.yale.edu
November 5, 2025 at 12:06 AM
From Ruins to Reuse: How Ukrainians Are Repurposing War Waste e360.yale.edu/features/ukr...