Mark Lawrence

Passionate father, international consultant, risk management & governance specialist for 30+ years incl cyber security, mathematician & Adelaide Crows fan

[CC Sabathia @CC_Sabathia]

Man I wish Bob Uecker was here for this 🕊️💙💛

[Jeff Berardelli @WeatherProf]

New paper by the World’s most prominent climate scientists shows rapid acceleration of human-caused warming, with a warming rate now that tracks to near 2.4°C by 2050, far faster than was expected, if it continues.
From paper: “We are witnessing the rapid destabilization of the Earth’s climate system. This is no longer a warning for the future; it is a diagnosis of the present. Earth’s life-support systems are being pushed beyond stable limits, with changes unfolding faster than our ability to respond. Human activities are driving profound shifts in the atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere.”
Paper Link in replies… H/T @LeonSimons8 …

[𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 & 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 ✨ @ninhnguynt22334]

Two Minutes. One Take. Nothing to Hide!

Recorded in December 1964, this extraordinary two-minute performance was captured in a single, unedited take—no flashy cuts, no Auto-Tune, no digital polish. Just the artist, the camera, and a moment that had to be perfect in real time.

Every breath, glance, and note was exposed. Behind those effortless two minutes were millions of rehearsals and enormous pressure: one mistake could mean starting all over again.

That is what makes this footage so powerful. In an age of filters and endless editing, its raw honesty still feels remarkable intimate.

Sometimes, the most timeless performances are the ones with nothing to hide.

[Steven Strogatz @stevenstrogatz]

Things are heating up on Terry Tao’s blog. In “If Math Is More Than Proof, We Need to Better Celebrate the Rest of It,” Grant Sanderson of @3blue1brown proposes “open exposition problems” -- rewarding the work of making math genuinely understandable.

https://t.co/zBOhhDNuNU

[David Pocock @DavidPocock]

Data centres could be an opportunity for Australia but only if we get the settings right and plan for the long term.

That means putting in place strong power and water safeguards, ensuring they are appropriately located, guaranteeing local compute access for Australian companies and introducing some kind of data centre tax - which we have heard nothing about from government. These companies are experts at profit shifting offshore and we need to retain some benefit here in Australia. We also need to see far greater investment in retraining workers who face job displacement due to AI and make sure we're not make housing affordability worse if data centres are taking away from our construction workforce.

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

My favourite song of all time, beautifully rendered...

[Music over time🎻 @Peal8888]

The Most Beautiful Lie of Someone in Love

I just rewatched the performance by Graham Gouldman and Kevin Godley — the remaining members of 10cc — at the BBC Radio 2 Piano Room. They performed “I’m Not in Love” with the BBC Concert Orchestra, arranged by Anne Dudley. Soft pink and golden lights filled the stage. Gouldman played bass while Godley sat singing with headphones on. His voice was deep, calm, almost detached. The string section created a gentle backdrop that kept the dreamy atmosphere of the original recording but felt much more intimate.

The song was released in 1975, written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. The entire lyric is an internal monologue of a man repeatedly denying his feelings: “I’m not in love / So don’t forget it / It’s just a silly phase I’m going through…” He calls her but warns her not to misunderstand. He enjoys seeing her but insists it means nothing. And the most telling detail: he still keeps her photo on the wall only because “It hides a nasty stain that’s lying there” — just to cover an ugly mark.

What struck me most about this Piano Room version is its simplicity. The 1975 original is famous for its “wall of sound” vocal technique — hundreds of layered voices creating a floating, ethereal harmony. Here, the orchestra replaces part of that vocal wall with soft strings. The melody becomes even slower and more romantic. Godley’s singing never tries to sound heartbroken. He delivers the lines almost coldly. That very detachment makes the listener believe even more that the man is deeply in love — and terrified of it.

To me, “I’m Not in Love” is not a conventional passionate love song. It speaks about the fear of being hurt, the fear of losing freedom, and the awkwardness of trying to hide one’s emotions. Most of us have said “I’m not in love” at some point while our actions proved the opposite. The more the man denies it, the clearer it becomes that he is in love. The photo covering the stain on the wall is really a metaphor for the emptiness inside him — something only the other person can fill.

Nearly fifty years have passed. When Gouldman and Godley sat down to sing this song again under the Piano Room lights, that beautiful lie still carried the same weight. Because some feelings, the harder you try to hide them, the more clearly they show. The song reminds me that pride is sometimes just a mask. And the courage to admit “I am in love” — no matter how frightening it feels — is the truly strong act.

[Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers]

Love what the Australian soccer team says about modern Australia. Seriously, watch this video, and you'll be cheering for them too.

[Saganism @Saganismm]

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

@chellelyons @frankjotzo @emma_aisbett @ArjunaDibley @lvwanu Congratulations Chell! 💥

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

@ChrisLiermann @MattLepay Christopher, I'm now hearing the brilliant @MattLepay radio call for the first time in more than 3 years - I can't thank you enough!!!

#badgers #gobadgers!!!

#happybadgeraluminAustralia 💥

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

@thejholloway And of life in general! 💥

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

@AlyssaLeng @theGCF @ANUCrawford @frankjotzo Terrific and informative presentation Alyssa! 💥

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

@frankjotzo @ANUCrawford Can we have the same again next week please? :)

[Eric Idle @EricIdle]

Must I say it? “Strange women wielding swords is no basis for a system of government.”

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

@lewis_math I see them. Am I an outlier?

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

Thanks @vanmorrison for spending 877 minutes with me in 2022. I couldn’t stop listening to Tupelo Honey. #SpotifyWrapped https://t.co/x5cFV6nkqI

[David M. Green 🇺🇦 @David_M_Green]

RIP Judith Durham

[Mark Lawrence @Crowstraveller]

@rohan_connolly @ESPNAusNZ @FootyTips @StuartRandall @JMichaelsESPN @MattWalshMedia @j96barca It is not only the "non-believers" who abhor the still-too-many examples of outdated toxic masculinity on or off the field which still occur.

[Anthony Albanese @AlboMP]

Tonight we mourn the passing of Archie Roach.

Our country has lost a brilliant talent, a powerful and prolific national truth teller.