Preston von Gabbleduck

Enterprise tech worker focused on ethical advancement of the industry. Heavily into #DataProtection – of the storage/availability kind (particular emphasis on #backup and #recovery). Blog and publish books on it, just for ongoing nerdery on the topic.

Also a huge #PowerPlate fan & user.
Posts are my own, unassociated with any employer. Links at https://linktr.ee/backupbear

Data Protection Blog: https://nsrd.info/blog/
The Artisanal Geek: https://artisanalgeek.blog
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/backupbear
Pronouns: He/Him/His

Public Key

npub124wh8y983cfww42xw6xe67nz2h82mty64yjsjvcf6zcqux0n2jjsy0wx7v

NIP-05 Address

backupbear_at_aus.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs92htnjzncuyh824r8drva0f39tn4d4jd2jfgfxvyapvqwr8e4ffgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds36hveu

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub124wh8y983cfww42xw6xe67nz2h82mty64yjsjvcf6zcqux0n2jjsy0wx7v

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-05-13 15:51:56 UTC

Them: "Do you like to live dangerously?"
Me: "Huh?"
Them: "Do you dabble with danger?"
Me: "Oh yes."
Them: "Can you give an example?"
Me: "Yes."
Them:
Me:
Them: "Please walk us through the example."
Me: "I once gave a presentation to 300+ people knowing that my company laptop was going to force an update on me that morning because I'd already deferred it 3 times and the next time the update popped up it would insist on running."
Them: "Oooh. Too dangerous. We were hoping for something about abseiling."

2026-05-13 03:59:56 UTC

#auspol while the Federal budget sucked for a lot of people who are doing it tough, whenever you hear a politician rant about the market impacts on changing CGT or negative gearing, do be sure to go and look at their investment portfolio on the parliamentary register of members interests, and ask yourself: are they actually unbiased in their assessment?
https://www.aph.gov.au/senators_and_members/members/register

2026-05-07 08:20:57 UTC

- reply

Been through the waiting and diagnosis, and a magnesium drip. Vials of blood drawn and x-ray done, now just waiting for confirmation that I can go home and wait it out there. Second year medical student did my cannula and that was about as fun as you can imagine but I was happy to have her practice on me, rather than someone in a real emergency situation. Anyway, here’s an obligatory unflattering hospital pic.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/532/317/639/356/810/original/53c2221647165269.jpeg

2026-05-07 04:11:22 UTC

- reply

And the ER stint begins. Afib hasn’t settled (though it thankfully hasn’t been severe), but with it heading up to 18+ hours it was time to call in and get it checked out. Current mood:
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/531/336/260/054/319/original/d0f1fffc017b39dd.mp4

2026-05-06 16:40:17 UTC

Ah yes, my watch is telling me I've been in afib since ~8pm last night. That'll explain the level of fatigue I'd been feeling for 24-48 hours before (I'm starting to see the pattern).
So, signed off work before I even started for the day and watching to see if I need to visit the hospital. Le'sigh.

2026-04-30 07:49:55 UTC

Annoyed with someone but not hugely annoyed? Consider one of our petty curses instead of cursing them with sickness or worse:
"May your laptop fans always spin louder than you find comfortable!"
"May your gas-lift chair randomly drop at inopportune moments!"
"May your car wait until you are on a freeway where you cannot stop before starting to incessantly beep that it has detected weight on the back seat from shopping bags that it has interpreted to be a child without a safety belt!"
"May Netflix always assume you had finished watching a movie if you stop it 10 minutes before the end!"
"May all your packages be sent via Couriers Please!"
"May the ISO images you need to transfer to a USB stick always be 200KB larger than than the size of the available stick."
"May you always find that someone has pressed all the buttons on an elevator just as the doors close."
Remember, you should always curse with a level commensurate to the slight.

2026-04-30 04:29:59 UTC

The year is 3042. More than a thousand years after I became an unkillable, immortal cyborg, the purpose of my transformation has finally paid off: I have used the last staple from the pack of 5,000 staples I got with my office stapler I purchased in 2024.

2026-04-28 17:00:39 UTC

Since we went on the weekend, here's my obligatory shot from the Twelve Apostles. It was fairly great weather for seeing the locale.
#TwelveApostles #Victoria #Australia
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/483/380/251/218/192/original/4a4cd0728606f27e.jpg

2026-04-26 03:24:11 UTC

- reply

we had already left … had looked at Gibson Steps but the carpark was full and decided to forgo it this time

2026-04-26 02:57:20 UTC

I may have seen some of the most interesting* art** ever, today in the town of Simpson. And I love it and want to take it home with me.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/468/759/599/828/588/original/c068956e042b1c3c.jpeg

2026-04-26 02:18:09 UTC

Great day at the Twelve Apostles.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/468/597/513/375/639/original/3b217dca41f7b6e2.jpg

2026-04-21 01:19:31 UTC

Two thoughts on dipping back into #vinyl #music after a few decades ... and at least 20+ years of only using music via electronic sources (CDs, then MP3s, more recently streaming):
1. No, I don't notice any difference in audio quality between analog and digital. (Yes, the vinyl experience is from the turntable to speakers, no bluetooth or USB in the mix.) There's no "richness" in sound that I've been missing all these years – if anything, adaptive/5.1+ audio I'd say makes for a far more immersive audio experience in the modern format.
2. What I can say is – it's slow music. I've become so inured to skipping tracks I'm not interested in, in the moment, or assembling playlists, or repeating a track I really wanted to hear again, etc. Going back to a format where it really is about listening to the end to end item is all about committing to the experience and not being impatient.
The value is really in the slow-down-and-listen, not some imagined aural differentiation.

2026-04-17 02:55:58 UTC

New office poster, and office fridge magnets have arrived. Huzzah!
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/417/793/279/007/602/original/9dbf06fcd5a69734.jpeg
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/417/793/559/453/850/original/3ecd51e73363cc2a.jpeg

2026-04-14 03:48:49 UTC

I hearby demand that the Kraken blockades the blockade of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

2026-04-12 07:27:59 UTC

My husband and I have been rewatching Star Trek: Lower Decks (as well as DS9), and on Friday night we reached the episode where ... I've now been walking around the house all weekend just randomly exclaiming, "Moopsy!" #StarTrek #LowerDecks

2026-04-10 17:34:43 UTC

Voyager-1 is now less than a light-minute from being a light-day away from us. How utterly remarkable.
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/where-are-voyager-1-and-voyager-2-now/#V2-current-position

2026-04-08 07:06:02 UTC

Folks, I've found something worse than a 3am to 4pm day:
A 2.30am to 4pm day.

2026-04-08 00:48:00 UTC

So a Very Rich Person in Australia does not understand why a former soldier might be charged with war crimes.
Here ends my TED talk on "money guarantees neither wisdom nor intelligence".

2026-03-31 21:54:14 UTC

The year is 2029. The potato sprouts have reached down from the ISS to ground, creating the first (admittedly nonviable) space elevator in human history. All hail potato.
https://www.sciencealert.com/purple-lifeform-photographed-sprouting-tentacles-on-the-iss

2026-03-20 08:01:56 UTC

Advertising peaked at this and has never improved upon it. Fight me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIJD93Z2C_8

2026-03-17 16:51:29 UTC

"You can't have gay Klingons!", shout the dumberatti from the sidelines, having never realised that Star Trek was always a show about wokeness.
Huh? Huh? You want to say that a warrior culture would repress homosexuality when our own history shows us that warrior cultures in our past embraced it?
How about this take on one of our favourite fictional races: maybe to a Klingon, it would be an act entirely without honour to deny someone the right to become a fully fledged member of their society, just based on who and how they loved.
Maybe in Klingon society anyone who discriminates against someone just because they're gay is likely to get ostracised or challenged to a duel to the death.
Maybe Klingons believe that who you love doesn't change whether you can fight or not, and they'd look at human history of discrimination against LGBTI folk as one of the worst forms of dishonour imaginable.
#StarTrek #Klingon #LGBTIQ

2026-03-15 01:17:44 UTC

If there was any lesson we failed to learn from cartoons growing up, it came from Scooby Doo, where they tried to warn us that the villain is always a rich old white guy who wants to illegally and unethically acquire more money than he needs.

2026-02-14 04:41:00 UTC

Phase one of crispy lamb ribs done for dinner. Now they sit and cool before a final pre-dinner blast of heat.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/067/138/877/613/868/original/507a279072282b28.jpeg

2026-02-11 08:00:09 UTC

Look, I know for years people have been talking about guillotines and billionaires and such, but I think the Epstein files teach us that there's not been enough thought given to high speed jet-powered acceleration into walls.

2026-02-09 22:50:29 UTC

Look, since rap is a music genre I don't follow at all, I had not heard of Bad Bunny until approximately 2-3 weeks ago.
But.
Based on the collective aneurysm his very existence seems to be putting on MAGA folk, I do very much wish him to become the most successful recording artist of all time.
Good things should be rewarded, after all.

2026-02-06 02:42:05 UTC

BRB, updating my LinkedIn profile pic to send marketing into an apoplexy.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/021/377/209/013/032/original/dd4ae11698953657.jpeg

2026-02-04 21:00:38 UTC

"You will be redirected to frictionless MFA. Click here to continue."
(1) Buddy, it's not fucking frictionless if I have to add another click to my login process.
(2) If the redirect then takes 15+ seconds to complete, it's also not fucking frictionless.

2026-01-31 20:23:59 UTC

I suspect some snails are behaving lewdly in my driveway.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/991/578/897/061/986/original/e0bde98898dda057.jpeg

2026-01-27 02:22:48 UTC

Just got a delivery from a sun-worn Australia Post parcels agent; he was palpably relieved when I offered him a cold drink and definitely looked far better for it. Was explaining that he has a drinks mini fridge in his van but it just doesn't cope in this heat.
Be kind to your delivery workers on these sorts of days, folks. Doesn't take much to progress from uncomfortably hot to heat stroke.

2026-01-23 07:40:48 UTC

Periodic reminder that day to day news can be shitty and horrible and depressing, but if you do want to read some good things, you can always check out Positive News for a news cleanser.
https://www.positive.news

2026-01-21 06:34:16 UTC

- reply

Very, very messy. Will it be enough to trigger an outright revolt from the suckholes in the republican party, and the oligarchs – that's the question.

2025-12-13 07:32:37 UTC

"It is a fact, universally acknowledged, that an #Apple Watch user in possession of an update must be in need of an Eight Hour Fucking Window In Which To Run The Update."

2025-12-01 22:25:37 UTC

A genie appears: "You get one wish! But before you make your wish, know that there are three things you cannot wish for. (1) You cannot wish for more wishes, (2) You cannot wish for immortality, and (3)You cannot wish for someone to die. What is your wish?"
Me: "I wish for email search to work 100% reliably 100% of the time."
Genie: "There are four things you cannot wish for..."

2025-11-29 07:43:10 UTC

Tomorrow marks our 7th wedding anniversary and our 29th actual anniversary. And yesterday we got this card in the post from my mum. When we first got together the thought of getting an anniversary card like this seemed just so far beyond fantasy that it wasn't even something you thought about.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/631/847/148/901/837/original/65707f647613cb89.jpeg

2025-11-26 04:55:29 UTC

Thanks, Guardian. Three words I did not ever want to see together were:
"RFK's erotic poetry"

2025-11-23 03:54:19 UTC

Santa spotted in Ballarat this afternoon.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/596/987/947/050/784/original/adebc50322b67214.jpeg

2025-11-22 01:26:14 UTC

200MP of #Lavender, with a bonus #bee thrown in. I am quite enjoying the #Oppo Find X9 Pro. Takes a second to load but I think it's worth it. #Bloomscrolling.
https://artisanalgeek.blog/images/2025/Lavender_200MP.jpg

2025-11-19 04:20:59 UTC

Many* years ago (approximately 27 in fact), when I was a Unix sysadmin at BHP-IT in Newcastle, we had one of our periodic "blame the network" events where suddenly all our systems went offline.
I, and another Unix sysadmin bolted to the network team's office to let them know there was a significant outage.
And so did admins from the NT team.
And so did admins from the VMS team.
And so did admins from the Tandem team.
And then, admins from the Mainframe team arrived.
***OH SHIT***
So we all piled downstairs to see the emergency lights on in the datacentre, and a very sheepish looking $telco engineer being escorted from the next-door operations centre from one of the senior operators.
And that was the moment it dawned on folks that having an unshielded "Emergency Stop" button right next to the "Open Door" button, both the same colour, was perhaps not the best of ideas. Particularly when neither were labelled.
It was also my first lesson that causes for major outages don't have to be highly esoteric or technical. The simple fact is that so many outages are caused by sheer mundanity. The mundanity of some bean counter refusing to pay for a small perspex cover. The mundanity of leaving a human – subject to human error – being left in the wrong place unattended. The mundanity of not putting labels on buttons.

2025-11-15 07:35:03 UTC

What? It's not Wensleydale?
https://www.sciencealert.com/its-official-scientists-confirmed-what-is-inside-our-moon

2025-11-10 07:59:16 UTC

Me, as a junior sysadmin in 1996: "Threaded/conversation view in email is the most essential feature of any email client. Any email client that doesn't default to it should be fired into the sun."
Me, as a curmudgeonly self-organiser in 2025: "Any email client that either (a) defaults to conversation view or (b) makes it hard for me to turn off conversation view is pure evil and should be fired into the sun."

2025-10-27 21:35:57 UTC

Remember how everyone was warned about turning off computers before December 31, 1999, 23:59:59?
Growing older in IT is just a continual feeling that it was probably a mistake to turn them back on again.

2025-10-21 07:20:15 UTC

We've been re-watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries over the last couple of weeks and I'd forgotten just how enjoyable it is.

2025-10-16 01:00:06 UTC

The Australian tax office is warning people not to dip into their superannuation to pay for #dental. That sounds like a pretty good freaking reason to add dental to #medicare. This obstinate view that somehow "dental" isn't an essential medical service is a joke. And FFS, we could still rule cosmetic dental activities out of scope, the same way that most cosmetic surgery isn't covered by standard medicare.

2025-10-01 20:04:57 UTC

YTD meetings as of end of September:
1,036 meetings done of 1,231 accepted (84% hit rate).
No wonder I feel so tired.

2025-09-30 22:36:01 UTC

And for today's lesson in checking AI generated slop images before using them in your advertising, we turn to McAfee.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/295/629/944/871/267/original/dead9fce6f75fdf1.png

2025-09-30 05:54:52 UTC

Just a few minutes before my last meeting of the day starts. First meeting was (scheduled for) 2am (rescheduled while I slept to 2.30am) and now my 14th and final meeting of the day is soon to start.
That was on top of just 4 hours sleep.
Totally buggered.

2025-09-22 07:39:21 UTC

My alarm is set for 1am tomorrow morning. I'll be jumping out of bed, rapidly showering to try to wake up a bit, then slug a coffee down to try to wake up a bit more, then slug an energy drink down to try to wake up a bit more, then ... sit in an all day workshop until 10am.

2025-09-19 21:17:20 UTC

Us, driving past Starbucks (ugh):
Me: “I shall skip the pumpkin latte.”
Daz: “What about a potato latte?”
Me: …
Daz: “Mashed potato in a drink. Or maybe little chunks of potato.”
Me: “Little fried cubes of potato in my drink, at last!”
Daz: “It could be like Bubble Tea. But it’s Potatea!”

2025-09-17 08:41:12 UTC

Today ended up being 2am to 5.30pm. That's not something I don't want to do too often.

2025-09-11 03:20:37 UTC

Perhaps my one regret in not having kids is I'll never get to tell them that this was Elon Musk.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/183/503/397/823/836/original/200414d94e9e7ec4.webp

2025-09-02 23:56:05 UTC

- reply

Two energy drinks, one coke (zero), 3 pod coffees, 3 long blacks and a cold coffee.

2025-09-02 23:12:30 UTC

A little past 9am and I've already done 6 meetings today. And I have another 6 ahead of me over the course of the day (all in the afternoon).

2025-09-02 23:07:05 UTC

Error: Your password must contain a mix of upper and lower-case letters, a number, a special character, and a personalised appeal to Cthulhu asking for its intervention in this dimension in a timely manner.

2025-08-31 09:13:57 UTC

Being in Carlton today, after visiting Readings, we dropped into the spice store, Gewürzhaus, to pick out a few blends and spices. Stumbled onto this small bottle of Salted #Honey. We don't have money any more (since my husband is diabetic) but he insisted on us grabbing it for me as a treat. And – oh my goodness. You know that really lovely taste you get from honey on crumpets when you've used a good butter? It's the combo of the salt in the butter and the honey, and just even a touch of this stuff just evokes crumpets. Amazing stuff. #food
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/122/605/690/520/997/original/de7d7d18c97f81a6.jpeg

2025-08-29 00:31:24 UTC

My "Get Up!" mix on Apple Music this morning has jumped from a track by the Fratellis to Jonny McGovern's adorably dumb "Sexy Nerd" song. #music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pivLTWIJ7xo

2025-08-27 17:43:15 UTC

Everyone who thinks that users will read prompts and behave sensibly in an interface at all times really needs to spend an hour trying to talk Double Click Dave, their elderly relative through doing something basic on a computer when their first response is to (a) forget what menus are, (b) click everything they see, (c) dig themselves into a rabbit hole and (d) randomly say "it didn't work, help me" after closing the window before you can read anything they've done. #UX

2025-08-20 02:39:57 UTC

I had my second ever meeting today where this laptop sticker was relevant.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/058/776/081/564/561/original/d362614643fa0c12.jpeg

2025-08-03 01:14:12 UTC

Them, chirpily: “What lovely brunch would you like to order today?”
Me: <gets through food order>
Them, excessively cheerily: “And what awesome coffees do you want to have to go with your lovely brunch?”
Me: <gets through coffee order>
Them, gushing excitedly: “And you don’t have any allergies?”
Me, sotto voce: “Excess enthusiasm.”
Them, smiling so wide the grin actually causes both ears to split in twain: “Lovely!”

2025-07-18 03:20:39 UTC

Them: "Oh my new computer has AI! I'm gonna be so productive with artificial intelligence on my side!"
Me: <looks at label> "Actually no that..."
Them: <starts opening box>
Me: "...means Ants Inside."
Them: <thousands of fire ants start streaming out of the box all over them>
Them: "I paid extra for this!?"

2025-07-10 08:09:37 UTC

"At Qantas, your privacy violation is important to us. Please stay on the line. You are: THIRTY NINTH in the queue for your violation. If you would like, you can hang up now and we will violate your privacy at a time that is more convenient to us."

2025-07-10 03:05:52 UTC

My "Facebook memories" just prompted me on this old chestnut and it made me laugh again. #StarTrek #Gay
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/826/715/302/565/022/original/aa562c383549fddc.png

2025-07-09 07:50:44 UTC

Or – and hear me out, here – France could accidentally ship it to Greece, and Greece could hold it hostage until the British Museum returns the Parthenon Marbles.
https://www.euronews.com/culture/2025/07/09/the-bayeux-tapestry-to-be-displayed-in-uk-for-first-time-in-nearly-1000-years

2025-07-02 00:56:33 UTC

- reply

8.3º with a balmy 1.7º feels-like here. Staying in doors watching the birds shiver outside.

2025-07-01 02:18:48 UTC

HR: "Do you have a moment? We just want to ask you about your self-assessment?"
Me: "Sure."
HR: "So, for 'personality type', we were expecting something from Myers-Briggs. You know, like ENJF."
Me: "Oh?"
HR: "You selected 'Other' and filled in, 'Chaotic Good'."
Me: "Yes, that's right."
HR: "Why?"
Me: "Because I use the term 'fortnight' as often as possible in communications in a US-based company, replace 'z's with 's'es, and convert dates everywhere to ISO8601."
HR: "Well yes we can see how that would be classified as 'Chaotic Good', but we were expecting something grounded in science."
Me: "So why were you asking for Myers-Briggs?"
#Microfiction

2025-06-28 09:50:31 UTC

Ah, the joy of older Victorian Tourism Ads. Second: Daylesford - Lead a Double Life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUuBlmSKPL0

2025-06-27 04:07:25 UTC

Dear Restaurants:
If your "homepage" is a Facebook page and on the Facebook page you offer a Linktree Link and I click that and it offers me a link to your Menu and that link takes me back to your Facebook page with an album showing two photos, and both of those photos are for your drinks menu rather than your food menu ...
... I've well and truly given up and decided you're just too exhausting to deal with.

2025-06-24 07:58:23 UTC

Can confirm: 3am to ~6pm kinda sucks.
(And sucks even more after 3 hours sleep.)

2025-06-19 09:13:10 UTC

Something I still find jarring even after many years of working daily with Americans ...
... the horror they express when you casually say something like, "going to the doctor's this afternoon".
For them it genuinely always seems that going to the doctor is a last minute act of desperation and financial uncertainty.
Simple things to be grateful for.

2025-06-18 09:27:29 UTC

- reply

I have arthritis in both my little fingers – they get slower to move because of it and on bad days that definitely screws up touch typing.
But, take heart! All things can be blamed on autocorrect these days :D :D

2025-06-18 00:05:51 UTC

Them: "Why is your house so difficult to find?"
Me: "It has the number on the letterbox, very clearly."
Them: "But <map app> pointed me at another house."
Me: "Do I look like I own <Google|Apple>?"

2025-06-16 08:15:38 UTC

Crazy idea, but let's make sure we leave the mysterious giant viruses in the ocean.
https://www.sciencealert.com/hundreds-of-mysterious-giant-viruses-discovered-lurking-in-the-ocean

2025-06-13 09:56:05 UTC

Ugh. I have (as of tonight) run out of my pre-prepared before-bed blood pressure tablets, and so I must prepare more tomorrow.
This is ... inconvenient. They are, at most, 4mm in diameter, and it's a quarter tablet a night.
I love my doctor, he's awesome. But every time I have to summon up the energy to cut up another 3-4 tablets I could scream at him.

2025-06-13 09:32:19 UTC

- reply

With neighbours behind us who have Huskies they don't look after, 100% my goal is to buy a 10ha property, build a house in the centre with very tall fences around it, and not have to listen to barking dogs on a daily basis.

2025-06-13 09:29:04 UTC

- reply

Haha, there's that. Thankfully I'm practically a hermit so I'm covered there :D

2025-06-13 09:22:06 UTC

- reply

Ah, but there's another take, too
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
Entering the lottery isn't necessarily about believing you'll win, but having a some thoughts that give you hope :)

2025-06-13 08:33:07 UTC

What can I say. This weekend that's starting would have been a feckload longer if we'd won Powerball last night.

2025-06-13 02:54:27 UTC

Practicing my user problem statements:
"As an older Gen-Xer who grew up under constant fear of world-wide thermonuclear war, I want every warmonger rounded up and dumped on a deserted island with nothing but sticks and rocks so they can fight out their rageboners against one another until there's only one left so that the rest of us can live our lives in peace."

2025-06-12 23:20:21 UTC

When the screenshot is dim
With a wavy pattern that's grim...
...that's a moiré.

2025-06-11 03:59:12 UTC

Why is it still just Wednesday?

2025-06-06 10:00:07 UTC

Nice. No alarms for tomorrow morning. Not an alarm for 2.30am. Not an alarm for 4am. Not an alarm for 1.30am and not an alarm for 3am. No alarm. I'm happy.

2025-06-05 22:53:45 UTC

Has anyone calculated yet how many Scaramucci's the marriage lasted for?

2025-06-04 08:38:25 UTC

Tomorrow is going to be a bit hurty. First meeting is at 2am. And I have to present.

2025-05-29 23:19:28 UTC

People saying "we should debate nazis in the marketplace of ideas rather than punching them" seem to forget that collectively, humanity determined in the marketplace of ideas that the only way you can debate nazis is to punch them.

2025-05-29 09:40:44 UTC

- reply

I will note, that being a gay man with an at times immature sense of humour, whenever I hear anyone in VMware circles talk about CBT I start giggling.

2025-05-29 09:30:47 UTC

- reply

Maybe I should chat to my latest GP about it since moving to Ballarat. He's about the most switched on and open-minded GP I've ever seen, and that was including 10 years going to Northside in North Fitzroy.

2025-05-29 09:17:05 UTC

Multiple GPs to me over the past 15 years: "There's definitely no need to do any ADHD or other neurodivergency tests for you, you don't exhibit any traits."
Me <every time I see a post about ADHD or neurodivergent behaviour> "Um, I'm reading about me."
Roaring commentary on aphantasia: 50/50 on whether it's a sign of neurodivergency or just can often accompany it.

2025-05-29 09:10:51 UTC

Our lounge room is feeling more complete now with bookshelves and a few important (to us) things on them. One shelf is dedicated to this trio. An official TARDIS, and two unofficial (i.e., technically whoever made them was probably naughty) objects – a "murder robot" (lol) and a "mechanical dog" (also lol).
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/590/330/845/258/763/original/02cffe4908af77f5.jpg

2025-05-28 09:18:41 UTC

Got my husband a flower basket today for his birthday and while the rest of the basket was great, I loved the Banksias in them. #bloomscrolling
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/584/705/443/012/188/original/b3e619dba3057c47.jpg

2025-05-23 08:04:41 UTC

Had dry needling and cupping done on my back today. First time in a few years for dry needling. First time in forever for cupping.

2025-05-19 21:16:47 UTC

Dear #Abyss Screamer,
We're excited to advise that when your Abyss Screaming Subscription renews at the end of the month, you'll be automatically upgraded to the latest AI-enhanced abyss.
#AI enhancements to the Abyss include:
- Analysis of scream levels and volume with feedback of screaming techniques that you may wish to consider in future.
- Insights into other common screaming techniques.
- A summary of your scream.
Additionally, if you're feeling time constrained, you can ask the Abyss to scream into itself so that you can keep working.
We're certain you'll find our new AI Enhanced Abyss an exciting addition to our Abyss portfolio. Please keep in mind that your Abyss Subscription will increase by $15 per month to take advantage of these new features.
For concerns or comments, please scream into the abyss.
[The abyss is not monitored and you will not get a reply.]

2025-05-18 08:23:38 UTC

Look, I'm not saying that crossovers are inherently worth watching, but hear me out:
Murderbot, she Wrote.

2025-05-17 10:55:26 UTC

I've decided it's time for a re-read of Catch-22 and I'm only a few chapters in and ... yet again I'm falling in love with it.

2025-05-17 00:11:34 UTC

Think I might look for one of those remote island jobs where your role seems mainly to wait 6 weeks between grocery deliveries and chase the seagulls away while composing bad poetry and listening to never-ending rain.

2025-05-14 09:43:02 UTC

Biggest lies in interface design, part alpha & omega:
[X] Stay logged in
#UX

2025-05-12 20:53:44 UTC

Supplier: "We don't have in stock what you ordered <that showed in stock when you ordered>, please select a substitute product or let us know if you'd prefer store credit."
Me: "I'll take a refund thanks."
Them: "That's not how this works."
Me: "It is if I involve my credit card company. Try again."

2025-05-09 08:52:19 UTC

Really looking forward to this shoulder steroid injection on Tuesday. Really, really looking forward to it.

2025-05-09 08:39:45 UTC

That bit where you've got a delivery on the way and it gets checked in to the local depot at 7.37am on a Friday and ... yeah, it'll be delivery on Monday.

2025-05-09 01:26:23 UTC

So he's a Chicago Pope, but does that mean he's a Deep Dish Pope?

2025-05-07 08:54:32 UTC

Scam call today:
Them: "Hi, this is Jason from Telstra."
Me: "Hi scammer, I don't have any Telstra services, do you want to try again?"
Them: "Hi, I meant this is Jason from from CBA."
Me: <laughed / hung up>

2025-05-06 09:46:43 UTC

As of today I'm now a week away from a steroid injection into my shoulder and after so many months of continuous pain I'm kinda hopeful it might give me some relief.
If nothing else the local anaesthetic might give me a few hours break. That'd be nice.