My office is almost tidy enough after a new year clean up that I could think about writing actual words for myself again soon.

misty eyed about Johnny Chess on nye

This should honestly be a legal requirement for discontinued products.

Australian ABC morning radio bulletins led with the claim that a driver was shot after trying to run over an ICE agent. After a year of such claims being proven to be lies, it's galling we still hear them presented as the leading statement without even a nod to this history of lies.

🎉 Welcome to the Public Domain, COMPOSITION WITH RED, BLUE, AND YELLOW (1930) 🎨 🖼️ Piet Mondrian’s most iconic painting is Neoplasticism in refined form with primary colors, black lines, & asymmetrical balance distilled to essentials. Learn more ➡️ blog.archive.org/public-domai... #PublicDomainDay

"In societies which are over-rapid, like our own, the reality effect becomes hazy: acceleration brings a jostling of causes and effects, linearity gets lost in turbulence, and reality, in its relative continuity, no longer has time to happen." - The Perfect Crime

Day at the cricket, the pink test in Sydney!

It would be a shame for Potts to get a token wicket before this innings is done. #Ashes

My new year inbox clean up is hundreds of pitches from AI content shops offering to make me more content with AI to help my business and somehow the otherwise excellent AI spam filters are cool with all this cold call unwanted email that would otherwise be known as spam.

Anyone else noticing "not sponsored" is often appearing as a keyword touchpoint when searching for reviews? Feel like it's starting to become a thing.

Deadline says Stranger Things finale did $25M+ in US theatres, but they used an accounting trick to avoid cast residuals. Theatres made the 'tickets' free, but you paid for a 'concession voucher' for $20 to reserve your seat. What an exciting new way to screw talent! deadline.com/2026/01/box-...

I cannot emphasize enough that the attempts to anthropomorphize an algorithm is a fundamental act of journalistic malpractice and an intentional act to shield the people responsible for this. It's fucking shameful.

Pleased for wii.i.am that he's still getting tech brand deals to be associated with. I remember going to a gig he did for Motorola Razr and then a year or so later a Blackberry event.

Teens these days… kids’ friends came for NYE and we tried to use all the holiday snacks up but they all thoughtfully brought even more snacks and now we have a greater surplus of snacks than we started with. Ridiculous.

Star Guitar, Chemical Brothers

The Academic Work Tracker spreadsheet is now updated with 2026 dates! If you don't already, 2026 is a great time to start treating your academic work like the wage job where you are paid to work a certain amount of hours that it actually is: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Received an invitation to a phone charger event featuring a fireside chat with Maye Musk. This is fine. CES is fine.

This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)

Bluesky mobile web experience is really bad. It ts like they’re trying to force me to use the app again when I just want a cheeky check while away from the desktop. (Delete your social apps it’s good for you.)

1982 was the year of the licensed movie game. Parker Bros. had Empire Strikes Back, Sega had Star Trek, and perhaps in response to Atari snapping up Raiders and E.T., Radio Shack apparently went "Is there anything Spielberg we can we license for our TRS-80? Hey, what's this Poltergeist thing?"

Clearly Australia already has 50 runs too many but could we maybe not rush toward finding out? I’d like to relax with another day of cricket on the telly these holidays. #Ashes

For your holiday ambiance, I've made a hypnotic yule log fireplace with ultra slow motion macro footage of flames stretching & warping like liquid as fire reacts with calcium chloride & barium. This is real fire I filmed, not CGI or AI. 10hrs, 4K, crackling sounds, no music, no ads. Happy holidays!

If you pay attention to any large industry long enough and follow it to its logical conclusion you eventually end up sounding like a communist even if you started off testing CPU case fans. youtu.be/cUrJVdF2me0?...

It is wild how often Microsoft runs pop ups to encourage you to click the AI buttons if you don't click the AI buttons. "Why don't you try the AI button? It's shiny and fun and nice, we promise! Just try it? Go on... no? I'll ask again next time..."

Yep. Use cases I see that have any merit are built on helping someone who already knows, not replacing the need for already knowing. Bosses think there is a shortcut to knowledge on offer and that's where they're ruining their businesses, their teams, and society.

Cummins bowling Head after lunch was bad. Because you’re not supposed to play with your food. Offering false hope before finishing them off was pretty ruthless. #Ashes

And *this Sunday*, with the Winter Solstice sunrise, the utterly magical moment of light entering the chamber will be livestreamed, as usual (weather permitting!). Also as usual, I'll be watching! Links here: www.gov.ie/en/office-of...

A great morning for reading British cricket columnists.

Funny story. One week later the CC I used was blocked by my card issuer because of this 'strange' 10c transaction that was held and then released. I can't imagine I'm alone. That would be weirder than if it was just me.

Having fun writing a setting for my next D&D campaign and as it comes together it feels like something I should publish as a light campaign guide on DMsGuild or some such. Lots of fun ideas that feel good to share and let others play with too.

This is the best bit of every sport. The kind of moments they turn into movies.

I know a lot of you aren't into sports but I think you'll appreciate that the Colts ran out of quarterbacks, so they pulled a 44-year-old literal grandpa out of retirement to play today. He coaches high school football, I'm really happy imagining his students losing their minds watching him on TV.

Ms17 did a massive hike past four days and became one of very few people who has peaked both Kosciusko and the game Peak. I’m told Peak emote photos were taken while at the peak.

posted about my Apple ID woes, please share widely? hey.paris/posts/appleid/

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

Good morning

Walked past Build-A-Bear and explained it to the 3yo: “That is the flesh grinder, it prepares the bear guts. Over on the skin wall, you choose a skinsuit for your bear, which gets stuffed with guts and a heart and then the skin is sewn around the flesh.” Now he wants one, I made it sound too cool.

I don't know if this is true for other outlets (pls tell me!), but for me, coverage of The Game Awards never generates much traffic. Summer Game Fest doesn't either. (E3 used to.) I think wide-ranging online conversation gives the impression that it must be a huge views driver, but it simply isn't 🤷

Very good words. A couple of years ago I pushed back on TGA haters because they wanted the Keighley show to be something it wasn’t designed by Keighley to be. It is what it is. But with the ghosting of the Future Class initiative it felt like a good moment to refuse to play along at home anymore.

Josh hits it.

Amazing fine art photography book on Kickstarter by my friend Alexia Sinclair. A decade of work shot around the world in one book. She's incredible. Check it out. www.kickstarter.com/projects/ale...

You don’t have to watch.

"we’re trapped in a nightmare in which even the act of hating AI-generated content only serves to fuel it" oof. @floreani.bsky.social on the money, as usual! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Every time he opens his mouth about his unfitness for the highest integrity-driven office in the country, he demonstrates his unfitness.

Tomorrow is my last day on Gamer, and before I leave, I wanted to give everyone a little gift. Below, you’ll find Good Game: The Complete* Collection. All 12 seasons of Good Game, 418 episodes, in one massive playlist. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Amazing fine art photography book on Kickstarter by my friend Alexia Sinclair. A decade of work shot around the world in one book. She's incredible. Check it out. www.kickstarter.com/projects/ale...

Watching monuments lit up with a tacky News Corp slogan made me feel sick. Our national icons turned into billboards for a populist fantasy, while those of us doing the actual research are maligned. It's state-sponsored PR masquerading as policy, a grotesque spectacle by a government drunk on power.

Reflections on the day 1 of the age ban: experts sidelined again, nuance ignored, and the debate drowned by low-effort vox pops. Policy built on vibes not evidence gets sold as "protecting kids" with all the spectacle of a state propaganda march, loud, choreographed, & divorced from substance.

Discord, who recently leaked a heap of personal data in a security breach, wants my personal data to let me access a channel I created in a server I created. Thank you, Australian government.

If a Labor government is captured by industry is it actually a Labor government? Gambling, tech, fossil fuels, property investors, grievance media. If there's a whiff of "but they might get mad at us" they're not interested in genuine policy oversight.