Jon F

Born in the 60s. Living on the South coast of NSW Australia. Former journalist, now full time carer for my disabled son. Music maker, dreamer of dreams.

I like:
Electronic (and all) music, science fiction/fantasy. Rollerskating, swimming, bushwalking.
Degrowth, atheistic post-doom, neo-Luddism; peace, love & anarchy!

I deleted my big tech accounts, I'm now pure fedi. Windows, Android, Apple etc., are expunged from my life, replaced by Linux et. al.

Posts auto-delete after 1 week.

web: https://drongo.day
bookwyrm: [@AvonVilla@ramblingreaders.org](https://ramblingreaders.org/user/AvonVilla )
peertube: https://dalek.zone/a/avon_villa/video-channels
funkwhale: https://tanukitunes.com/@avonvilla https://open.audio/@AvonVilla

Public Key

npub16ydgg3wyvq3cheprttpr0anzkx2rxfdvw0x89mrxm2wt0zx3j7xskh7yjg

NIP-05 Address

avonvilla_at_aus.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdzx5yghzxqgutus344s3h7e3tr9pnykk88nrja3nd489h3rge0rgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dshazvx6

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub16ydgg3wyvq3cheprttpr0anzkx2rxfdvw0x89mrxm2wt0zx3j7xskh7yjg

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-07-06 04:23:22 UTC

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Grrr.
The version of this I am preparing for is buying a new car in the years to come. There are already guides for some cars, showing how to disable the virtual sim card, or even access the 4g/5g device and remove the antenna.

2026-05-03 21:36:41 UTC

Climate science top gun James Hansen predicts 2026 will break heat records, and the IPCC is too optimistic. He's said this sort of thing before and been proved right. Let's see how this forecast pans out.
https://jimehansen.substack.com/p/2026-on-track-for-warmest-year
#climate #postDoom

2026-04-16 08:39:58 UTC

If you are old like me you might remember the cheap double entendres of Mrs Slocombe, who enjoyed nothing more than stroking her pussy. Tonight it is 100% literally true for me, I am totally content with feline companionship.

2026-04-14 10:07:22 UTC

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Last night I had a dream that I lived in the world of "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", and as part of it I went into the cellar of a brutalist building and looked through a small door into a room where a theatre troupe was performing a sort of circus version of "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls".
Today I tried (and failed) to prove my piano teacher wrong, when she said I wasn't ready to try to play Erik Satie and Philip Glass. Maybe next year! Now back to Baa Baa Black Sheep. 😃

2026-04-08 21:32:11 UTC

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Where else? At this stage I'd say nowhere else, and not on Mastodon either.
Tim's bio, his profile photos (including on his zero follower pixelfed instance) and his word salad responses bear all the hallmarks of a sloppy bot. His massive following count looks exactly like bad-actor bot behaviour learned from mass exploitation of big tech platforms. If this continues, he'll be gone soon.
Now back to sarcasm... 😀

2026-04-08 10:12:52 UTC

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Oh I dunno, I was just looking at Tim's profile, and I must ask, who among us is NOT fascinated by thin-shell acrylic concrete hyperbolic roofing, stabilized compressed earth blocks, water distillation, Incinolet toilets and hydroponics?

2026-04-08 09:51:03 UTC

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Tim is really going for it, following nearly TEN THOUSAND accounts, apparently after less than two weeks. Tim is even following me!

2026-04-04 22:59:22 UTC

A bit of bird biffo to entertain me this fine Sunday morning.
#birds
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/348/911/103/572/677/original/11016c5b70da3521.mp4

2026-03-27 04:40:04 UTC

Lachy Wiggle's beard takes some getting used to. Anthony's botox overdose is also disturbing. Some of the recent songwriting is pretty strong, I wonder if the newer members are behind it.
#wiggles #the_wiggles

2026-03-24 05:46:36 UTC

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Volunteering for community organisations is the new punk rock. Or it should be.
For me, today is NDIS support worker day. She was late because she ran over an echidna and took it to the vet, hopefully to save its life. Very stressful. I made her a cup of tea to get over the trauma, and instructed the cat to provide stress relief while I went rollerskating and swimming.
I believe in the healing power of tea and cats (and dogs, although I don't have one). I hope it helped!

2026-03-09 05:44:49 UTC

A motorist at my preferred fuel station had three 20L jerry cans. She fillled one with petrol, two with diesel, and topped up her car as well. She said she didn't want to pay $3 a litre down the track. The cashier told me she'd copped abuse from punters when the price went up last week.

2026-03-05 10:00:54 UTC

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I was only a few kms away from you, but in the end my schedule was mad today. My fortnightly Canberra round trip always involves a 6.30am departure, dropping my son off, then domestic help and brunch with my daughter.
In addition, today I drove to Woden to pick up my new piano before coming home. It is now assembled and waiting to erode my incompetence, at a geological pace.

2026-02-26 05:08:55 UTC

What should I read next? It's gotta be #scienceFiction or #fantasy.

2026-02-25 21:32:18 UTC

I spent part of this morning reading articles posted under the #Chomsky hashtag. Everyone's fascinated with that royal red-eyed slimebag, but his bevaviour is no surprise. Chomsky's role in this horror story is a shocker.

2026-02-22 05:58:39 UTC

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I'll be doing a flying visit to Canberra on March 5... it might be hard to thread the temporal needle, but I'll keep an eye on your hashtag. 😄 I always do brunch with my daughter when I visit.

2026-02-17 08:22:04 UTC

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It reminds me of the jolly Catholic ritual on Ash Wednesday, when the priest would mutter "remember man that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return", while rubbing a bit of ash on my forehead. I can't remember when this started, maybe age 8 or 9?
Also a boy in my class realising his mum had given him a devon and sauce sandwich, and throwing away the devon!

2026-02-14 01:54:51 UTC

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I fear this will be no help, but I can't help myself. When my previous phone failed, one of my options was a used Pixel from cex, modified by me to run either CalyxOS or grapheneOS. These are non-evil operating systems allowing you to detach from google, but they require a bit of tech-fu to get set up. I love that stuff, but it's not for everyone.
In the end I opted for a dumb phone. It was cheaper and better for my technology addiction.
Since then, this intriguing device (Mudita Kompakt) has also emerged, somewhere halfway between a dumbphone and a degoogled custom OS, but with an e-ink screen. I think it counts as "flash". It looks great though. https://mudita.com/products/phones/mudita-kompakt/

2026-02-11 19:31:36 UTC

Angus Taylor emerges to make his case. It's his big moment. "We can't mince with words" he says, mauling the centuries-old phrase about speaking clearly and frankly. By getting it wrong, he did, in a way, actually mince words.
#auspol

2026-02-01 09:18:45 UTC

I'm surprised Djokovic has any energy left after all that time he spent traveling around Victoria giving kids measles.

2026-01-30 09:27:25 UTC

I just finished a re-watch of The Beatles "Get Back" documentary, and I think that even though civilisation is collapsing around us, at least that happened back in 1969, and we can still watch it in all its minute detail.
#TheBeatles

2026-01-23 04:32:57 UTC

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I bought a $29 inflatable pool yesterday in readiness for Sunday's expected heatwave. It's 2.6m long so you can stretch out in it.

2026-01-19 11:27:32 UTC

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Ha ha, that was Goldie, I love his "Inner City Life" album, he earned his place in the doco. And I'm afraid I broadly agree with him, "Blackstar" won me over. I had largely stopped taking Bowie seriously after "Scary Monsters", but his "death album" is the exception, the only one that worked on me since the 80s! But it's not a normal record, it's like he uses his own death as a musical instrument or a studio effect or a new form of counterpoint. In my ears, anyway.

2026-01-19 11:06:30 UTC

I thought "Bowie: The Final Act" was great, much better and more affecting than "Moonage Daydream".
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/bowie-the-final-act-2025
#Bowie

2026-01-16 03:39:57 UTC

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I had a sewer blockage recently. The plumber advised I check the inspection pipe on my driveway. If it was clear then it meant the blockage was on my side. If it was full, then it was on council land. I'd never done this before, so I slowly, awkwardly unscrewed the lid. It exploded in a fountain of raw sewage which just missed my face but landed on my shorts. On the plus side, this meant the council would have to pay to dig up my concrete driveway, fix the pipe and redo the concrete. Best shit fountain ever!

2026-01-10 01:41:04 UTC

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Both!

2026-01-09 19:51:55 UTC

The temperature at my place didn't drop below 30 all night.
#nswWeather #southCoastNSW

2026-01-08 09:55:42 UTC

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Aldi sardines were an economical option for our creaky old Lab Jess. The ones in springwater had no added nasties IIRC.

2025-12-28 21:03:48 UTC

I've noticed increasing diversity of bird life here, including white-headed pigeons this summer. I hope my informal observation is a sign of broader environmental resilience and recovery after the 2019-20 fires.
#birds #AustralianBirds
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/799/180/853/109/497/original/c2db91a81ececc84.jpeg

2025-12-28 20:15:12 UTC

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Has anyone been able to play the stream in LibreElec/Kodi? I can't get it to work on mine.

2025-12-16 19:53:47 UTC

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Post-America? Bring it on.
(Also, a couple of grammatical errors slipped through: "have saw", "can useful own".)

2025-12-07 06:00:54 UTC

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but it feels so right!

2025-12-06 23:06:07 UTC

Here I am with the new Batehaven gorilla.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/675/118/842/636/185/original/1e11aebc5c2a7b67.png

2025-12-06 05:24:32 UTC

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I think you are wrong, the "clean" photo is the original, taken from an article about dog beaches from five years ago. The "dirty" photo is an altered version. See earlier reply by @npub1nel…2tkf, linking to the original photo.

2025-11-19 21:59:58 UTC

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The phone makers deserve the primary blame, but it is also an egregious failure that regulators let them do it.

2025-11-01 08:21:58 UTC

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If I had a fall on the same level as yours it would be devastating for me too. So I am always fully kitted up: helmet, knee, elbow and wrist pads, and also a pair of padded shorts called a Bumsaver. I even wear it all when I'm doing low-level practice in the garage. Feels weird without it now.

2025-11-01 07:36:42 UTC

I just raised the toe-stops. I didn't mind them being low at first, but I need to get on those front wheels to learn how to do transitions and manuals.
Two months after I bought them and I love my roller skates, they will be saved from the fire just after the cat. I am on my skates every day, I don't care if it's not age appropriate, it is a righteous and holy ritual for me, and great for the glutes. 🛼
#rollerskating
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/473/274/443/960/524/original/51f75a36a81830e9.jpg

2025-10-20 01:02:07 UTC

I while ago took a cutting from a geranium outside Batemans Bay Salvo's op shop. It became a krynoid (Doctor Who reference meaning BIG PLANT), and has now produced charming pink flowers for the first time, allowing me to identify it as pelargonium graveolons.
I have planted 5 more from cuttings of my krynoid.
#gardening
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/403/770/866/478/099/original/0df5bd3231d2f4e3.jpeg

2025-09-23 23:05:26 UTC

First swim of the season. Mackenzie's Beach, South Coast NSW.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/256/106/490/696/180/original/aceb841d35cf51f3.png

2025-09-21 21:04:20 UTC

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Hearing of experiences like yours makes me glad I have opted out of quoting in my settings.
Not that I'm expecting any disasters... I also doubt it would happen here. But I generally think making it DIFFERENT here from the commercial/big tech/autocratic platforms is a priority. We especially don't want automated amplification of arseholery.
Also, the concept of arsehole journalists initiating a pile-on of bullying makes me wonder if the journalistic code of ethics is out of date.... just one of many problems legacy media is grappling with now. But that's a whole new rabbit hole.

2025-09-21 07:57:20 UTC

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It took a long time for me to even work out what a quote tweet even is. I think I'll just try to ignore it.

2025-09-20 22:23:26 UTC

I've started volunteering at a community recycling centre. They have a room full of old computers rescued from landfill/e-waste. My main contribution was to work out how to revive the password-protected ones, ready to donate to deserving recipients. It's pretty basic hacking by the standards of many fedi geeks, but immensely satisfying for me.

2025-09-15 21:56:07 UTC

Two articles on the Australian Climate Risk Assessment quote experts saying the report is actually optimistic, it understates the crisis.
The SMH refers to the idea that if the warnings sound too dire, them people will switch off. That's a dilemma, isn't it? If you don't tell people about it, nothing will happen. If you do tell people about it, they'll be so scared they'll go LALALALALALA and nothing will happen. But surely we have to be informed and not mollycoddled.
“I don’t want to fall into this doom and gloom scenario too much because people just turn away; they don’t listen because it’s too scary. But we need to listen.” -Dr Sebastian Pfautsch
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/like-a-mad-max-movie-how-hot-it-will-really-get-in-unliveable-australia-20250915-p5mv3f.html
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-16/climate-risk-assessment-million-homes-insurance-gdp-costs/105774418
#climate #climateChange #auspol

2025-09-15 20:50:02 UTC

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I had a similar issue with Digital Audio Workstation files. It was easy to keep the masters/mixdowns, but not the individual tracks. With the horrors of AI and surveillance, I lost patience and destroyed the Windows partition before I had a solution. I still have the files. If I want to revisit them later I'll work it out then.

2025-09-13 01:50:41 UTC

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Sugoi!

2025-09-11 06:30:13 UTC

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I gotta come clean.... I added the texta decorations today. I didn't own one back in the 70s.

2025-09-11 06:19:11 UTC

I was going to buy a new bag for my roller skates, but then I found this one in the garage, and it will do nicely.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/184/200/954/333/182/original/85aca70ea91f95ba.jpeg

2025-09-10 22:58:46 UTC

Falsely claiming "they're bringing in immigrants so they can rig elections" is ripped straight from the MAGA playbook. The American precedent shows that other strategies involve a complete takeover of the mainstream conservative party by far right populists, authoritarians, racists, fascists (they go by many names).
In Australia's current electoral reality, that's not a viable short-term goal, they'd just be voted into oblivion at every election. I hope that situation prevails.
Other possibilities include splitting the conservative side of politics (like the Labor DLP split of 1955) or just leaving things as they are and having the coalition flail around chaotically for the foreseeable future.
#auspol

2025-08-24 04:53:02 UTC

Supermodel on my front verandah.
#birds
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/081/944/607/930/325/original/0c995c99988141ab.jpeg

2025-08-11 23:26:15 UTC

To me it looks like you can have a conventionally prosperous economy OR you can have meaningful climate action, but not both. This report might be a reality check the government finds hard to swallow.
Archive link has full article if the other one doesn't work:
https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/labor-keeps-dire-climate-report-under-wraps-20250808-p5mliz
https://archive.is/7Djmw
#climateCrisis #climateChange #auspol

2025-08-08 04:17:31 UTC

I'm testing out my second attempt at building a solar space heater. I'm a bit shocked, it seems to be actually working: it's 16 degrees outside, 31 degrees blowing through the ducting into the window... and there's some high cloud and partial shade on the collector, so conditions are not optimal.
The improvements are: aluminium on the interior for more heat absorption; the backing board and transparent cover are standard sizes, didn't need any cutting; the cover is polycarbonate instead of glass, easier to work with; it has a beast of a fan and a slightly larger solar panel to keep it blowing full blast; the baffles are flush with the transparent panel for more efficient air distribution to absorb the heat from the back panel.
#solar #diy
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/991/191/350/498/608/original/71bff533664d607c.jpg

2025-08-06 06:09:34 UTC

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You speak strine!
For those who don't, I have the Strine-English dictionary handy.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/980/322/280/433/830/original/356ed20ec58f41d1.png

2025-08-06 05:57:09 UTC

Scona beer gloria sty to die.
#strine
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/980/258/081/967/366/original/08edf640c6c0fdce.jpeg

2025-08-05 07:18:18 UTC

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My other favourite pop culture reference is the 1968 film "Wild in the Streets" when a radical youth movement takes over the US government, a rock star becomes President, and forces everyone over 35 into camps where they are force-fed LSD. It's hilarious.

2025-08-05 06:37:22 UTC

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I was nearly going to say "fellow boomer" to indicate my "B-word privilege". Maybe I am a self-hating old person. 😃 I have noticed a certain condescending attitude people have shown towards me in my recent advancing years, so I know what you mean.
Actually we have had this dance before, I seem to recall, and I think I expressed to you my view that older people are the privileged ones, and that generally if we cop some flak it is from people who are punching up. But I am not 100% convinced by my own argument, so your objections do give me pause.
This also reminds me of Frank Zappa's appearance in the Monkees' film "Head", where he tells Davy Jones: "your song was pretty white", and Davy replies, "well, so am I, what can I tell you?" A great moment in popular culture. 1968!

2025-08-05 04:20:16 UTC

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2/2
I interjected mildly at first, but his vitriol kept flowing. I couldn't stand it and I unloaded on him a bit more assertively. Two years ago the protesters might have been hardline left wingers, I said, but it's gone way beyond that now. The reason so many people showed up on the bridge is that they simply can't stand seeing children starve, seeing babies being killed. It's not crazy radicals, it's just normal, mainstream people, humans who care about other humans. I was warming to my theme, and I peaked by saying if he opposed the protest, then he must be in favour of killing babies. He didn't like that. I walked away.
I had raised my voice and I feel bad for joining civil discord (small d!), but I feel like he started it by ranting so loudly just a metre or two from my ear.

2025-08-05 04:19:30 UTC

1/2
I feel a bit raw because I just entered a verbal fracas at a local cafe. Two boomer blokes sat down next to me, and one of them started ranting about things he was reading on his phone: an activist had called for the Sydney Harbour Bridge to be removed as a symbol of colonialism; someone had burned the Australian flag; there were too many immigrants. But mostly he was angry about Sunday's march for Palestine. It cost too much, the judge who approved was paid too much, the people who took part were idiots because they support Palestine.
In summary, he was an off-the-scale meme-fueled right-wing geriatric clown.

2025-08-02 10:22:06 UTC

Oh Timmy, you're so licky!
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/958/665/757/402/981/original/52c67acd452acc98.jpg

2025-07-27 01:14:47 UTC

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We had "Crooked Hillary"and "Sleepy Joe". Trump should be "President Pedo".

2025-07-26 10:27:44 UTC

I just remembered! INXS, 1981, at the Bathurst Leagues Club. I had their first album, but the second one had been a bit of a flop. There were about 20 people there and we went backstage and chatted with Michael Hutchence and Tim Farriss afterwards.
Edit - actually I think it was the RSL, not the Leagues Club.
#Hottest100ofAustralia #Hottest100ofAustralianSongs
#INXS

2025-07-26 10:12:28 UTC

Musical preference is relative to lots of things, especially the age of the listener. There's no doubt my ability to be moved by new music has faded away, it's like your skin gets thicker.
Aside from that, I have a hypothesis about the evolution of post WW2 culture and how it could be demonstrated objectively that over a 50-70 year period, yes, music WAS better in the olden days, but it is a big call and I need to get a 1 zillion dollar grant to study it and write a PhD thesis to prove it.
#Hottest100ofAustralia #Hottest100SongsofAustralia

2025-07-26 09:35:08 UTC

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Livvie's "Banks of the Ohio" is a better choice for a murder ballad.

2025-07-26 09:23:29 UTC

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Nah, I prefer Flame Trees. 😆

2025-07-26 09:11:34 UTC

Goosebumps by Christie Allen for number one. Come ON!
#Hottest100ofAustralia #Hottest100SongsofAustralia

2025-07-26 08:46:56 UTC

Vivid memories of Angels, Jo Jo Zep and Outline at the Hordern in 1980!
#hottest100ofaustralia #Hottest100SongsofAustralia

2025-07-26 07:39:47 UTC

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I feel Cattle and Cane, Wide Open Road and Friday on my Mind MUST be coming up. And surely Dead Eyes Opened... or has Australia become too boring for that nowadays?

2025-07-26 05:59:12 UTC

I came, I saw, I wuthered!
#WutheringHeights #WutheringHeightsDay #Canberra
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/917/996/256/845/548/original/d9750c35494e60de.png

2025-06-25 06:54:51 UTC

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For your eyes only...
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/742/686/486/213/117/original/499fd1dd1a3cedc3.jpg

2025-06-25 06:23:03 UTC

The most Wuthering Heights Day Ever... I've been a spectator at this event twice, and I vowed that next time I would participate. My costume is ready. It's a trouser version, I don't look good in a frock.
https://www.givenow.com.au/cr/canberrawuthering2025

2025-06-23 21:13:30 UTC

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I think a few movie scenes could be rewritten to include the line "Have you tried yoga?" Perhaps Luke Skywalker could ask Darth Vader in "Return of the Jedi", or maybe Kirk could suggest it to Spock in his glass radiation room.

2025-05-03 07:46:43 UTC

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nothing up my sleeve!

2025-05-03 04:54:01 UTC

As I was approaching the polling place at Batemans Bay a liberal operative offered me a pamphlet for what sounded like Andrew 'Coniston'. I corrected him and said, no, and I don't one for Andrew Constance either. One of the Labor hummingbirds told me the Libs had bused in a bunch of devotees of the Brethren religious cult to work on the booths in this very marginal electorate.
That might explain why the drones don't even know the candidate's name. It also suggests to me that there is an undercurrent of American-style right-wing religious activism bubbling away in the dark cauldron of our politics, hoping we can follow Trumpistan down the treacherous path to theocracy.
(edit: fixed typo)
#auspol

2025-04-25 00:00:40 UTC

A few years ago we were still talking about the nightmare scenario of 3 degrees of warming by the end of the century. But if this graph keeps on graphing, we could be there by 2050.
It really is worse, much worse than you think!
#climateCrisis #climateChange
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/395/637/914/701/882/original/97c8dd51592fb7f5.png

2025-04-21 22:52:29 UTC

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I read it last year. It is unlike anything else. Once you adjust to its unique style, it's great.
Things I remember about it: the EXTREME ritual of Gormenghast is a sort of reaction against repressive traditions, and that resonated with me; the characters are vividly drawn; the descriptive passages are more detailed than any I've ever read, e.g., several paragraphs to describe what it feels like to bite into a juicy peach.
The third book is not as compelling, but still worth it.

2025-04-17 22:34:50 UTC

Sydney Morning Herald/Age/BT Quiz gets the answer....WRONG. Unforgivable. ('Memory' is correct).
#SMH #trivia #quiz
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/355/674/217/417/381/original/77310ec11edb9988.png

2025-03-31 05:33:48 UTC

The three on the left are pigface cuttings. They always take root. The other three are a propagation experiment: hibbertia or snake vine. I read that they are easy to grow from cuttings. Anyone done it?
I'm trying to cover a 100 square metre slope with native groundcover as a living mulch. #gardening #GardeningAustralia
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/255/403/403/847/245/original/2b09dd25d84771a6.jpg

2025-03-25 08:51:23 UTC

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My regular Tuesday activity - 5km bike ride to the pool, the best use of the NDIS support worker granting my my twice-weekly three and a half hours of flexibility.
It started out grey and drizzly here in the south, but ended up splendidly warm and sunny.

2025-02-15 20:42:36 UTC

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The feeling of alienation, the meaninglessness of labour/toil, the exploitation of workers, the "division of learning" (see Shoshana Zuboff), the compliance with exploitation - these are very real, very direct responses I have to the show. I find it very realistic in many ways, despite the surrealism. It reflects real life more than any other show.

2024-12-15 06:57:43 UTC

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Beautiful. The best shin hanga has a kind of universal language, it's immediately powerful even if you have no clue about its context and history.

2024-11-21 04:58:24 UTC

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We are good, Droppie, we are GOOD.

2024-11-21 04:45:54 UTC

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Thanks for saying that, it is a balm to read because I am smarting a bit after getting into a couple of rows over various issues today, and a lot of people seem to be pissed off with me even though we are broadly on the same side. I blame the polarising effect of decades of online echo chambers, but me being an old fart also comes into it.

2024-11-21 03:57:15 UTC

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I acknowledge the big problems in this area, exemplified by the Amsterdam incident which was very well explored by Mediawatch this week, where Israeli hooligans were erroneously described as an anti-semitic mob. Terrible.
I think my main point is that if it actually IS anti-semitism, it's very important to call it that. And it looks very much like it actually is in this case. If it's "automatic" on the part of the ABC, at least it's not wrong on this occasion.
Likewise, if a thing is NOT anti-semitism, it should not be called that... and of course we hear Netanyahu describing legitimate criticism of his appalling actions as anti-semitism all the time.
But I can't forget the ugly images of Charlottesville, or the various Nazi marches in Australia, or the neo-Nazi opportunists with their "TJQ" playbook during anti-lockdown protests. They are out there.
Anyway, I hope the above post is nuanced and not provoking culture war in any way. It has been my policy to strenuously avoid that, by not going there in the fraught medium of social media, and here I am doing it, fool that I am.

2024-11-21 01:55:33 UTC

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Was it about the incident in Woollhara? I don't have all the info, but initial indications are that without using the actual words, "Fuk Jews" is part of the message in this particular case. It just looks indiscriminate, spraying cars in a suburb that just happens to have a large Jewish population. Unless they checked whether the owners of the cars were supporters of Netanyahu, and passed over the cars owned by members of the "Peace Now" movement??? If they didn't do that, it looks like they were happy to go after any cars that were Jewish or even Jew-adjacent.

2024-11-19 02:01:51 UTC

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I was getting ready to defend the ABC (my employer from 1997 to 2020), but I found myself broadly agreeing with all the major points. The closing of foreign bureaus and abolition of correspondent positions was always a painful experience - the result of ever worsening funding famines rather than any failure of the managers and staff forced to implement them.
Australia needs to know about Trump and the US, but I acknowledge the view that the ABC's coverage is over-resourced compared to other places. America has gone insane and there needs to be a broad de-coupling if we are not to be dragged down with it... but it's not just the ABC and the government. Culturally, economically, technically, we need to back away from that heavily armed rampaging psychopathic basket case before we get dragged into its madness any further. America is over.

2024-11-16 21:19:59 UTC

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I switched off the TV before it started. I presume they didn't dwell too much on the large proportion of the audience who hated Countdown. It was part of an industry machine which promoted trash at a time when popular culture was teeming with inventiveness and breaking out of its creative confines. Rock Arena with Suzanne Dowling was the best.

2024-11-09 07:02:45 UTC

I just ordered a book from booktopia, which seems to be trading again with new owners after going out of business. It still looks less evil than Amazon by a very large margin.
I rarely buy books because I am an e-reader convert. Text is best in e-ink, but comics, art books etc. are still best in a physical medium.
#books #MauriceSendak
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2024-11-09 03:47:52 UTC

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Some phones claim to be 4G, but it's only for data, they use 3G voice. My ancient Samsung S5 was in that boat apparently. You fight so hard against planned obsolescence and then they do this to you! In a fit of luddite righteousness I replaced it with a flip phone.

2024-11-06 07:12:34 UTC

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I had to change the channel.

2024-11-03 00:53:25 UTC

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Have a look at this summary of BBC coverage: main TV bulletins with newsreaders live from the USA, a special live program on the news channel, Newsnight, Radio 4 and 5, radio current affairs programs, a fact checking unit, podcasts, and a lot more. It's industrial scale. Tiny little ABC and its handful of extra bodies is small by comparison.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/how-to-follow-the-2024-us-presidential-election

2024-11-03 00:42:28 UTC

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I think it would be more WTF if he didn't go. Journalists absolutely HAVE to be there, it's pretty much the raison d'etre of the ABC..
You often hear "this US election is the most consequential in history", but this time it really is. It's a fascist versus a woman of Indian/black descent. Whoever wins, we need proxies there to witness it. Regurgitating second-hand agency reports is not enough.
The ABC might send, I dunno, maybe 12 extra people to cover an event like this. The BBC will probably send 10 times that. I need to check those numbers, but I'm pretty sure it will be something like that.

2024-10-31 21:15:15 UTC

The fascism threat is rightly prominent, but a Trump win would be game over for the climate. I already consider Michael Mann's assessment to be unrealistic and overly optimistic, but the "game over" line is his.
A week from now, even the energy transition optimists might go over the tipping point and admit that team doomist has the most realistic assessment. We need more adaptation mixed with our mitigation.
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4290467-trump-2-0-the-climate-cannot-survive-another-trump-term/
#climatechange

2024-10-30 05:38:33 UTC

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Hurricayn and skedule might be lost causes, but I will sign up for the war on DEEfence.
Whats the status of stattus? Not good, I fear.
Tomayto doesn't seem to be a threat, but who knows what evils lurk in the future?

2024-10-22 19:54:39 UTC

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I grew up in the outback heartland of racism, violence, and National Party troglodyte supremacy. Backroads always looks like fiction to me. I can't stand it usually. Clearly the brief of Backroads is not to reflect reality
The modern madness seems worse, although it's not limited to the bush, it's everywhere now.

2024-10-19 19:59:21 UTC

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Congratulations!

2024-10-17 22:47:23 UTC

An eventful day in my landscape gardening project.
I made a new friend (animal); my groundcover seeds are sprouting - dichondra repens, aka kidney weed (vegetable); and I lugged a very heavy stepping stone to add to my miniature megalith section - or perhaps that should be microlith (mineral). All the plants here are Australian natives although I have weakened in other places and added star jasmine, geranium and a mix of buffalo and kikuyu grass.
#gardening
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2024-10-11 09:19:31 UTC

I loved "Lyonesse" by Jack Vance. As is my current practice, I have given my reactions on #Bookwyrm.
https://ramblingreaders.org/book/303248/s/the-complete-lyonesse-lyonesse-1-3

2024-10-02 06:03:32 UTC

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This reminds me of music writer Johnny Rogan, who describes living in a flat with no bathroom or toilet and no electricity in the 1960s, when postwar austerity was STILL not over. They had gas lighting, and they used a shared bathroom and a chamber pot at night, rather than making the trek to the shared loo.
He lived a stone's throw from the glamorous haunts of Swinging London, whose luminaries he would later chronicle.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/johnny-rogan-obituary-one-of-the-most-well-regarded-music-biographers-of-his-generation-1.4489427

2024-09-30 07:46:25 UTC

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Surprised to learn just now it was originally recorded by... Dr Hook! Walk Right In!
Somewhat less unlikely, it was written by Shel Silverstein, (Runny Babbit!).
But Marianne owns it.

2024-09-25 07:47:07 UTC

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Are those lentils South African?!?! If you wanted to eat black people you would have become a pig!

2024-09-24 21:36:18 UTC

#20albums : No explanations, no reviews, just album covers with alt text.
Day 2.
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2024-09-24 21:27:36 UTC

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I read about it last week and I thought "I bet I forget to watch it!" But I will catch up with it now, thanks for the reminder. Aaron Chen is extraordinary, I live under a rock and don't normally notice comedians, TV shows, and things like that, but he stands out.