Ian Mulvany

August 7, 2026

Assorted links — 2026-08-07



The “In brief” summaries below are AI-generated from the page text captured by the AI Observatory using a small LLM on cloudflare. 

A canvas for workNorbert Kozsir. This is a neat tool for managing many "work areas" on one large canvas. I've started playing around with it, but adoption is held back because my current work patterns are so locked in. Still, I like the idea of this very much.


Get your agent to draw architecture diagrams.GitHub. I've been using this tool over the past few weeks, and it works very well, giving agents a way to create mermaid diagrams.


A solution to the tragedy of the commons?alextabarrok.com. This seems like a very good idea.

In brief: Alex Tabarrok explains that a refund bonus, which pays contributors if a collective project fails, solves the coordination problem that prevents the private provision of public goods. This mechanism, supported by recent experiments, can also signal project quality and resolve the holdout problem in land assembly, though adoption remains slow.


Astrophysicists Puzzle Over Webb’s New Universe | Quanta MagazineQuanta Magazine. There remains more to be discovered, even at the furthest reaches of observability.

In brief: Astrophysicists are struggling to explain James Webb Space Telescope observations of early black holes and galaxies that appear too massive or bright to fit established theories. While new hypotheses like super-Eddington accretion and clumpy gas clouds offer potential solutions, researchers have not yet determined which explanation accurately reflects reality.



About Ian Mulvany

Hi, I'm Ian - I work on academic publishing systems. You can find out more about me at mulvany.net. I'm always interested in engaging with folk on these topics, if you have made your way here don't hesitate to reach out if there is anything you want to share, discuss, or ask for help with!