I love Under Hollow Hills more than words can say. From the Giant's Daughter playbook: "When you fly into a rage, roll. On a 10+ hit, name as many people present as you choose, but *don’t* name the person who most deserves your rage..."

And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, was born from an egg on a mountaintop, the funkiest monkey that ever rocked. He knew every magic trick under the sun, to tease the gods and everyone, and have some fun.

Ok I laughed.

I'm entirely impressed with the dialogue in these old Doctor Who episodes. Nyssa: "How can it be bigger on the inside than the outside?" Adric: "The Doctor told me it's because it's dimensionality transcendent." N: "But what does that mean?" A: "It means it's bigger on the inside than the outside."

The map's form: real-time It shows: unexplored Its purpose: nefarious

The map's form: route/linear It shows: story Its purpose: to construct

I am watching old Doctor Who episodes. I hadn't quite realised how much K9 gets blown up, broken down, torn up, shorted out or otherwise destroyed. Poor dog!

Bruce Sterling's 1986 genre-defining anthology Mirrorshades is available for free download: www.rudyrucker.com/mirrorshades/ Could have sworn I still had the paperback, but alas, no. "The Difference Engine" has wandered, as well.

Watching The Neverending Story with the offspring and friends. They are absolutely enamoured with the practical effects - as, I confess, am I.

I feel that storm was unnecessarily apocalyptic.

We're at A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the fairies are wandering about during intermission. Junior offspring: "Don't feed the fairies sugar! It's a bad idea!" Senior offspring: "Feed the fairies sugar! It's a bad idea!"

Every one of these is a weird little self-assembled spec-fic story. Only a little magic, but it builds whole worlds.

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

Learned today that “Galápagos” comes from a Spanish word for tortoise, meaning that “Galápagos Tortoise” is, in fact, a tortology

I wanted to share this one because I know a few trans folks and this seems like a pretty useful frame. Also, possibly terrifying.

I can vouch for both the protagonist's age and the funniness of this novel. (I can do more than that: Laura's book sees weird book nerds triumph by using kindness as a superpower. I'm glad I read it and I recommend it.)

Headline asks: Did we learn nothing from robodebt? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I had my last dog training sessions yesterday, and it was lovely. It was a class full of -oodles, plus Stitch the cattle dog. I've had a rough time of late. Taking the class lets all of that fall away, and I get to just help people with their dogs. It's only a little magic, but it's a good one.

Need a new podcast, TV show or book to devour? Let our Fellows – some of Australia's 'top scientists – guide you in the Academy’s 10th annual reading and listening list. Happy reading, listening, and viewing: www.science.org.au/news-and-eve...

Local RPG people: I usually run a mini-campaign in the end-of-year break. Let me know if you are interested. Current prospectives are: Rapscallion (sexy weird ghost pirates) Under Hollow Hills (a fairy circus bringing growth and change) Agon (stylised Greek heroes doing stylised Greek hero things)

These reports come out from time to time and I get the impression the powers-that-be are shocked, not so much at the findings but the public disquiet and disgust: "Wait, is jobs-for-the-boys *wrong*!? Why? How?" www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Tell me your tales of victory and glory, of your triumphs for truth and justice.

I think Katie Mack is one of the best science communicators in the world, but to be fair I haven't performed a rigorous analysis. Regardless, this is a deep and important truth.

People in senior positions make most of their decisions on relatively shallow information - summaries, precis, briefs, talking points. They may not know the difference between good advice and words from the word machine, because to them it looks the same. www.businessinsider.com/executives-a...

THE BRUMBY BILL WAS STRUCK DOWN! WE WON! www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

There's a note on some APS jobs listings saying "Are you sure you're not qualified? Studies show that men apply for jobs when they meet 60% of criteria; women and people in marginalised groups feel they need to tick every box." ...I'm definitely a tick-every-box kind of guy, FWIW.

There may or may not be better uses of my time, but Tactical Breach Wizards is still one of the best (cleverest, funniest) games I've ever played.

Cannot stress enough the importance of process for learning and understanding. If you can't explain it (on your own) you don't understand it.

This is a deep horror.

Today is transgender day of remembrance, and it's a sad and solemn kind of thing. I have trans folk in my life who I love more than words can say. I want a kinder and more just world for them. A day of remembrance reminds us of the deep, vast cost of unkindness and injustice.

Neophilia is a bit of a thing with neurodivergent types so I am always terribly disappointed when "tips for dealing with your ADHD!" turn out to be things I am already doing.

Great to be job hunting and receiving an email that the deputy CEO of wikipedia is stepping down. Sky's the limit, yeah?

Happy International Men's Day, for all the international men and others who celebrate. I recommend a contemplative approach to masculinity rather than a performative one (while noting that I am saying that out loud on the internet).

One of my forever frustrations with public policy is that reality is complicated and evidence is often ambiguous. As soon as you find yourself saying "Well, technically..." you've lost the argument. Which is not the same as being wrong...

With the primary schools closed today, a lot of folks are out and about with their kids. It's honestly pretty delightful. Excitement and smiles all around - although with a strained element on the part of the adults.

There is zero reason to put fall-to-your-death platforming bits in an open world game. There is less than zero reason to make it a gate to your dlc content. Designer purgatory for these people. (Cyberpunk 2077)

This is important, I feel. I've seen the ALP relentlessly learn the wrong lessons from politics. I'm an analyst, not a prophet. But if your only goal is to maintain the status quo, you can only lose in the long run. www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2025...

When they were trying to section me out the public service, I hit a very low point. As fate would have it, I found a book of poetry which had a translation of the poem Deor, where a scop (poet, bard) laments that they'd lost their job and position in court.

After my experience in my dad's car I was delighted to discover that my own car has an archeotech interface that lets me listen to signals encoded on electromagnetic waves like a twentieth century person.

I am going to spend some time with some old friends.

I expressed some joy and comfort on my return to work after some long-service leave last week. It turned out that fate, as P. G. Wodehouse would say, was slipping the lead in the boxing glove. My position has been made redundant; as of Friday I am no longer at the Australian Academy of Science.

posted this four months ago but tonight as buckaroos like mamdani sweep elections i will post again. hope this is sign to all establishment goofs that trotting to the center is not the move. protect the buckaroos who are in perilous circumstances and do not give an inch

Thinking a lot about the doorman fallacy, and how reducing human roles to their simplest components is, in fact, massively dehumanising.

When I discovered how job service providers actually worked, I became massively disillusioned with the Australian government. This is a cruel and evil system. It purports to help the vulnerable, but victimises them instead. It should be abolished.

And released today, a metascience project featuring AIMOS board member @jasonchin.bsky.social, former AIMOS prez Matt Page, Merryn McKinnon, Rachel Searston, Kaye Ballantyne, Stephanie Summersby, Anna Heavey, Carolyne Bird, and Anna-Maria Arabia.

Good. Policy should follow evidence. Health policy has been following evidence for decades, and is generally pretty good at it. Arbitrary decisions by the government of the day are almost always bad ones. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Back at work today, after a long break. Colleagues have missed me, which is nice. Looks like I'll be dealing with environment reform, international policy advice and papal knights, so there's much fun and adventure to be had.

Tasmania just dropped its latest patch notes.

"Clearly the most important part of environment protection legislation is protecting business interests. The actual environment is secondary." Labour inexplicably hovers over disaster. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Just saw Army of Darkness - obviously one of the best films of all time - as part of the NSFA/CPAS film series. Excellent night out. Will do it again in a month for Arrival, which I haven't actually seen but assume is one of the second best films of all time. Stands to reason.