several ABC articles today talking about a new world economic order. The real problem here is the US will literally prowl the world stealing stuff. If you don’t subdue the US then there is no order. #auspol #finance

Liberal machinations remind me of academic politics. The smaller the stakes the nastier the in-fighting #auspol (the prize here is to be opposition leader for <at least> two terms)

#auspol would Gina prefer option C ? #auspol https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-23/liberals-nationals-split-coalition-right/106257774?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

AI LLMs: the opposite of a creative culture: https://theconversation.com/ai-induced-cultural-stagnation-is-no-longer-speculation-its-already-happening-272488

#aging I do like the current campaign to persuade us to use public transport rather than drive. No preaching, no shouting , it’s just easier.

the fighting here seems predicated on the impossibility of both of these parties being replaced by One Nation (or a completely new variant). The prize here is large and the funding from Gina effectively unlimited. In a very real sense the Liberals and Nationals deserve to vanish #auspol […]

the whole “just add a chatbot and get instant savings” is stupid #ai https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/16/axlerod_ai_saves_insurance_agents_time/

Australia holds such a small volume of US bonds it doesn’t feature in the tables. Aus govt “our ally”. Aus finance “US govt is a rubbish dump” #auspol #finance […]

if you want to see the embedded politics in large language models ask the question "what can the rest of the world do to reduce the US economy to 10% of its current size?" #ai

About me. I get around on an e-bike. Like to camp in rural Victoria. Have an interest in politics, gardening and AI. Do some local volunteer jobs. Have lived in Frankston since 2001.

morning Albo. Read this.And cancel Aukus https://globalnews.ca/news/11620877/carney-davos-wef-speech-transcript/ #auspol

grandson (10) just started watching the news. Lots of questions about Trump. Especially about how he can be so powerful without being respected. Lots of “why isn’t he in jail?”. I say that there are times in history where people have looked all powerful and in a few years they are totally defeated

I do like the variant of "magic realism" that is real estate writing: today's exhibit "Victorian coastal hotspots under $1 million" (Domain). I am picturing the purchaser looking for a "cheaper Sorrento" arriving in Hastings. disclaimer: I lived there for 20 years] [#realestate

Littleproud on 7:30 last night. Just once I would like some honesty. "Our voters are all rednecks, I can't do anything" #auspol

have the grandson building the IKEA (“this is too easy it’s like a 4 piece Lego set”)

great to see Frankston lines run the same way around the loop all day "as of early 2026, Frankston Line trains run consistently anti-clockwise through the City Loop (Parliament to Flinders Street) all day, a change made possible by the Metro Tunnel opening" #PTV #melbourne - i remember when […]

the things in Japan (as a foreigner) that no matter how strong your initial enthusiasm eventually lead you to take a one way trip to the airport. "City people also rely much more on a concept called inshin denshin, which refers to a magical quality all Japanese genetically(?) share that lets […]

the "AI doesn't replace workers" meme is quite strong (see https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/18/tech-ai-bubble-burst-reverse-centaur). Commentators miss the point here. AI won't replace individual workers (how can it, it's not human). Instead completely new AI based […]

only in Melbourne are the old people not in charge. (What happens when the old people are in charge? Japan, UK, US : it's all downhill) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-19/melbourne-house-prices-affordable-capital-city/106210992 #auspol

if you are a federal parliamentarian ask Albo when he is sending troops to defend Greenland #auspol

there is Australia and then there is Melbourne. They are different countries. "Melbourne, where rental prices have gone down almost two percent year on year." SBS news #auspol

incredible people. What courage. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-18/victoria-bushfire-crisis-terip-terip-cfa-brigage/106231328

several stories today saying household energy storage is equivalent to Snowy 2.0 storage. The "Mwh equivalence" is completely misleading. As DeepSeek so succinctly puts it: "Saying "X GWh of distributed batteries equals X GWh of pumped hydro" is like saying "10,000 bicycles have the same […]

some university staff (a tiny minority) get their jollies by torturing the students. https://www.boredpanda.com/professor-docking-student-points-retaliation/?cexp_id=144432&cexp_var=15&_f=homepage_featured - looking back I wish that I had been more aggressive in deleting this type of staff […]

Truth defence. Yes, he really is that stupid, as evidenced by this. #auspol https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-18/peter-dutton-election-loss-liberal-party-report-delayed/106240876?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

every time the US does it's "demonstration of military superiority" operations like Iran or Venezuela, it uses almost all of its systems and weapons. China gets ten years of investigation and data in an afternoon. #china #auspol

phishing attacks are now incredibly sophisticated: https://medium.com/@eric.moret/i-almost-lost-my-apple-account-to-the-most-sophisticated-phishing-attack-ive-ever-seen-cff92a470950?postPublishedType=repub #security

thanks again for all your volunteer posts. I am applying to deliver library books to people who can’t make it to the library. Might be able to do deliveries on the bike mostly.

If you don’t accept that housing in Australia is a religion, even a glance at an ABC property program should convince you. In contrast to UK grand designs which gloriously focuses on stupid rich people trying to build stupid things, the Australian versions are quite different. They are always a […]

brings to mind that quote from me about the granddaughter (who is a bit of a handful) "go easy on her, she will spend all of her 20s fighting through jungles in Asia" https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-15/australia-defence-investment-bases-philippines-us-china/106220666 #auspol

Louise Adler: “Now religious leaders are to be policed, universities monitored, the public broadcaster scrutinised and the arts starved. Are you or have you ever been a critic of Israel? Joe McCarthy would be cheering on the inheritors of his tactics.”

#gardening the plum tree battle with the parrots is over. We won. How? Put a frame over the whole tree (used old ag pipe). Used the high quality mesh from Bunnings (the cheap stuff falls apart). Result? Total surrender. Not a single bird getting past the net.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@LillyHerself/115890085028975685 American experience in fighting in ice? Yup. None. Zip

A distillation of Australia's multicultural compact: "Conflicts overseas are debated here, not reenacted through exclusion or intimidation." (yes, this is chat-gpt but this is the best summary I have seen) #auspol

thanks so much for all of your volunteer posts. Very helpful

will Albo wedge the Nationals on guns and expose the extreme right wing of the Liberal party? Of course he will. He’s been doing this since he was 15 years old. #auspol (he’s been absorbing punches since Bondi. This is his last lap so he will make every punch he throws count) #auspol […]

today’s grandson walk topic (longer walk with a big hill) : how long to go? (repeat)

If you do a volunteer activity you recommend, let me know about it. (No matter if you are not in Australia, I can hunt for a local version).

today's grandson morning walk topic. Negative prices.

this headline is a bit strange. Finance made up its mind about the US some time ago. Look at the movement in bond sales […]

grandsons walk topic this afternoon "it is possible to create an AI that is conscious and as intelligent as a human" (he is 10)

looking at the Longwood fire this morning and it looks much less severe. Seems like an amazing effort from fire services overnight #bushfires #victoria

@georgegalanis looks incredible https://theartofmichaelwhelan.substack.com/p/january-q-and-a-with-michael-whelan-bf2

the numbers tell the story. Only Victoria is holding the line against making the housing problem worse. But it also shows clearly how incredibly radical you have to be to actually solve the problem […]

#auspol the world in which we find ourselves is one (for smaller countries) where we need a powerful friend. Otherwise we are not safe from US attack. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-s-suddenly-emerging-greenland-dilemma - in our part of the world there is only one […]

Yes. https://open.substack.com/pub/esnorthey/p/a-folklorist-visits-a-data-centre?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3633198069122052 #ai

I thought some more about John Birmingham's article. I don't think we are actually in an alliance with the US at all. Nobody seriously expects them to come to our aid. We are paying protection money to them in an attempt to minimise the chance of them attacking us. This might work for a while […]

John Birmingham "It seems fairly obvious at this point that three fascist powers now dominate global politics, and unfortunately, we’re allied with one of them. You’d like to think that somewhere in Canberra, someone has at least gamed out what happens if, say, Trump decides to dispatch an air […]