Went to the City Loop today to take photos with my DSLR of High Capacity Metro Trains, as the Metro Tunnel's "Big Switch", scheduled 1 February, will mean that the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines will no longer run through here, mainly. These are the best of a pretty middling bunch of pics:

Would obviously only apply to Victoria but I am partial to 12 December as a public holiday -- the day last year that Treaty was adopted. (Although it would likely be too close to Christmas to be viable, much as the mentioned 14 December of the Corangamite by-election would be.)

@anthonyzougras.bsky.social @leopuglisi6.bsky.social SA-BEST announces first candidate in the 2026 state election!

Jacinta Allan's Metroid Dread Tunnel

This TikTok star sharing Australian animal stories doesn’t exist – it’s AI Blakface theconversation.com/this-tiktok-...

Great stuff at Benalla station

Really not a fan of the Dan Murphy Chavez Eyes at Southern Cross

Twas the night before New Years' Eve, and not a creature was stirring, except for the courier delivery trucks.

And, if we're being honest, we need to be able to see the tendencies towards hate, sadism, etc. in ourselves, and catch ourselves on it. Because we all do it. The best of us actively work to minimize it.

AFL clubs, the Grand Prix and Victorian govt have distanced themselves from a private security group accused of worker exploitation, tax evasion, and ties to a bikie gang. Why is the Albanese govt still paying MA group to guard asylum seekers on Nauru?

This is going to trigger another round of abuse for this woman but the basic facts appear to be that she was separated at the time and so was the CEO. She recoiled on the jumbotron because her husband was attending the same concert.

Can people stop using the AI overview as a citation for facts ffs? It hallucinates, makes stuff up. Cite a news source, a primary source -- hell, even Wikipedia. Just not something a computer vomited out at you.

Club X (formerly known as Twitter)

People will avoid saying the word “lesbian” like if it passes their lips the bloody ghost of Ellen DeGeneres will appear …

My least popular (and most correct) view is that cars should be automatically limited to the local speed limit. Put the pedal to the floor and you still can't go over 25mph in a residential area. (15 in Manhattan btw)

Lol archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes....

The thing about ”Türkiye” and similar things is that the Turkish government didn’t name the country and unless they’re gonna rename it I don’t care what they think the English word should be.

‘Vast overreach’: police allowed to conduct warrantless pat-downs of people across inner Melbourne for six months

Two months after firing over Charlie Kirk comments, Ghost of Yotei dev blames harassment campaign, not 'bad joke' aftermath.site/sucker-punch-c...

The State Library of Victoria’s ‘major’ proposed cuts include slashing the number of reference librarians and free computers for public access. Some staff are shocked.

Just subscribed to my first tagging list on BSky and I appreciate the heads up (certainly better than a blocklist) but some of it seems a bit silly. I don't need to know how a sitting US Senator is problematic, if I wanted to block them I would

A few months ago @thelocal.to got a promising pitch from a writer with bylines in whole bunch of reputable publications—The Cut, The Guardian, Dwell, Architectural Digest, etc. Then I started investigating. Here's a story about fabulists in journalism's AI slop era. thelocal.to/investigatin...

Surprised no-one has pointed out that this article used a large language model for much of its analysis, as it used it to categorise the political leanings of content: news.sky.com/story/how-sk...

Allowing "blood libel" to be generalised from a very specific Medieval European conspiracy into "anybody getting mad at me ever" is one of the most shocking pieces of historical revisionism of my life

Today's newsletter is about Ronald Reagan, AI, and the "liar's dividend" www.readtpa.com/p/the-liars-...

Have just discovered some incredible photos of the ADF doing an aerial insertion (for a training exercise, obviously) on the MV Queenscliff, otherwise used for tourists travelling between the Bellarine and Mornington peninsulas

@railmaps.com.au www.smh.com.au/business/com...

The types of viral DARVO rhetoric that have been leveraged against celebrity women like Amber Heard are now being weaponized against everyday, working-class women who report sexual violence. And AI is helping accelerate these narratives. My latest dispatch from hell: spitfirenews.com/p/doordash-a...

This was a real interesting read. I understand the desire for comfort and calm in an increasingly distressing world but it's hard not to read stuff like this as a total abdication of responsibility and really, thought: blog.giovanh.com/blog/2025/10...

I generally don't subscribe to the policy of instant blocks for annoying people but Drew Pavlou is an exception. Horrid man.

Fallen soldier

Metro Tunnel advertisement at Geelong Hauptbahnhof.

First the NT Attorney-General failed to declare her ties to Jake Danby — the man who killed an Aboriginal man and walked free. Now her department is caught interfering with the Supreme Court. This dodgy AG’s department needs to be investigated by ICAC.

the reason you can't say "sexual assault" or "rape" on so many major platforms is because the christofascists demanding this censorship from tech companies want to keep wielding sexual violence in the dark as a tool of power

If a condition of being a socially acceptable woman is to spend thousands and thousands of dollars and endure untold pain in order to cut yourself open and mutate your face and body into shapes that do not appear in nature then I think that might be a sign of gendered oppression, actually.

Bittersweet. My @smh cartoon.

This Whittlesea Council commission of inquiry is, uh, something

Strongly agree with this. Try to make a habit of checking inflammatory claims I see on here by looking at the link or Googling, certainly before reposting. Verifiability is so important and you do yourself and people around you a disservice by spreading misinformation and not checking what you share

This will be the hill I die on, “porn addiction” is not real, that phrase specifically is used as a dog whistle and is backed only by pseudoscience which has been created by right wing fascist organisations with the intention to demonise minorities. It is not real, actual science proves it isn’t.

LGBTIQA+ advocates are concerned the social media ban will have a significant impact on queer youth in regional and remote areas of Australia. They say there are not enough offline, physical supports for these teens to access when the ban comes into effect.

Was taking a photo the other day and wanted to blur the background a little bit bcoz there were some distracting visual elements. Really hope that doesn't make people think it's "AI"...

My bus back from Phillip Island yesterday was delayed because the roof was faulty, and so I had to wait two and a half hours for a new bus to be brought in from Dandenong, and all I got out of it was this coach photo...

Distressed to hear Madeleine Habib’s boat has been intercepted & boarded by IDF. Yet another breach of int law by Israel. I’m in Canberra & liaising now with the PM’s office. Israel must immediately release all on board including our brave Tasmanian Madeleine #auspol #politas

NEW: A dynamic progressive shocks the establishment. He walks the streets, speaks out against war, & excites thousands of volunteers. I’m not talking about Zohran Mamdani. I’m talking about John Lindsay. On the past & future of the Democratic coalition: www.michaellange.nyc/p/he-is-fres...

being trans, being fat, being disabled -- these things will teach you who people are in their heart of hearts, often within seconds of meeting them.

Australia's teen social media ban may require Wikipedia to restrict Australians under the age of 16 from having accounts on its platforms, @cameronwilson.bsky.social reports.