I got a Mygov inbox notification today - a cursed thing that reignites the stress of #Robodebt and the stigma of welfare that the major parties keep alive by punishing the victims of capitalism with enforced poverty & early death. Yes it's a Robodebt class action notice.... #auspol

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

“There were no cervical cancer cases diagnosed in women aged <25 years in 2021 – the first time that this has occurred in data going back to 1982. This remarkable achievement is almost certainly due to the impact of HPV vaccination.” From report.cervicalcancercontrol.org.au #vaccinationsaveslives

Why not come and visit Victoria, Australia where we have not just one Mount Buggery but two?

The room is almost all elephant. Almost none of it isn’t. Pretty much solid elephant. So there’s no room to talk about it. -Kay Ryan, “The Elephant in the Room” #everynightapoem

Thought I'd try this "vaping" thing the kids are all into.

In an old ad for board game Scattergories in Spain a player was shown flouncing out while anothet said “OK, we’ll accept ‘octopus’ as a pet”. “Aceptamos pulpo” has now entered the language in the meaning of “that’s a bit of a stretch but let’s go with it just for the sake of argument”.

just found out about elsa marie pade, an electronic music pioneer from denmark. this 1958 piece is WILD. imagine hearing this in 1958

📣Call for Abstracts for the Mutational Scanning Symposium! #VariantEffect26 🗓️ March 25-27, 2026 📍 Melbourne, Australia (and online!) 📝 Submit your abstract (deadline is Nov 2nd, 2025!) ➡️ Registration is also now open!! ℹ️ www.mss2026.org #FunctionalGenomics #Symposium #Australia #CallForAbstracts

I'm stoked to be organising next year's MSS right here in beautiful Melbourne! We know Australia is very far away, and we're working hard to make sure we can support as many ECRs to attend as possible, so please do register and apply for a travel award!

time dilation is real

Inspired by this + fossil giant Eni's fusion investments to update my 'greenwashing habitable zone' conceptualisation of what techs seem to lend themselves to being the most useful for bullshitty climate delay Welcome to the zone, fusion, you finally made the cut Top right = The Altman Expanse

Hilariously weird lease terms ... "Its to help not have any disagreements in the event of certain situations" is a great turn of phrase.

I collect pictures of gate latches. The endless minute variations and human ingenuity appeal to me greatly, and the countless hands that have moved them. This one is between Near and Far Sawrey, Lake District and has a lovely combination of textures between the iron, wooden gate, and stone gatepost.

A friend has a little one starting kindergarten. Their teacher: “They will learn to be good friends, to recognise and name their feelings, and to ask for what they need. Foremostly, they will experience joy and excitement while they do all of this learning. Oh and reading, writing & math.” 🥲

one morning, when gregor samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a very hungry caterpillar

so many of the small indignities of daily life come from us being denied the ability to tell a rich man in a tech company to fuck off. minesweeper has microtransactions. paid services have ads. the opt out says maybe later. the drive thru is a broken chatbot. your car is an ipad. fuck off! fuck off!

It's *very almost* time for #PyConAU in #Melbourne 12-14 September ... It's a friendly, welcoming and inclusive conference with a broad scope of topics and lots of interesting hallway conversations. ... and if you're only 90% convinced, here's a 10% discount code: pretix.eu/pyconau/2025...

🎫 Snag your TICKET today to lock in the best price before late bird kicks in! Get ready for a weekend full of Python talks, community fun, and inspiration. 👉 2025.pycon.org.au/attend?ref=bs #PyConAU #Python #Data #AI #Science #Education

Apropos of nothing in particular, I present to you the Orb & Scepter of Arendelle, from a low-budget community theater production of Frozen the Musical, Jr, which would make a great addition to your Presidential Palace or similar. No personal cheques.

I am writing words today. Words that are going into a talk. A talk called Skill Issue that I'm going to be presenting at @pyconau.bsky.social! You can also get 10% off a ticket using this URL: pretix.eu/pyconau/2025...

I am extremely excited to have written a new little piece for @mcsweeneys.net! It’s about those weirdos who are trying to live forever! I hope you like it!

Removal of a hornet's nest.

It has come to my attention that PyCon AU, “Australia’s peak Python conference”, is in Narrm/Melbourne 12–14 Sep. You really should be signing up if you use or are a python. 2025.pycon.org.au Apparently the internet runs on pythons now. I thought it was cats, but what would I know?

PyCon AU (the finest vaguely-python-related-things conference in Australia and quite possible the entire world) is on in Melbourne again, September 12-14 2025! 2025.pycon.org.au #pyconau #pyconau2025

In short, de-cropping an image with number or text very close to the edge will not just add more image data, but *change existing image data*. On the left, about to decrop with Content-Aware Fill. On the right, decropped. Red is the extra space. But it's also changed some of the original (green)

Over 120 mRNA cancer trials are now at risk as the Trump admin cuts funding & tells researchers to scrub “mRNA” from grant proposals. What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research. Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out. zurl.co/YBGNy

A Borges story about a guy who gets AI to summarize all the world’s information for him, and then summarize the summary, until the AI has the whole world summarized into a single word. He sits alone at his desk, staring at the word, repeating it endlessly, certain he is experiencing everything

🚨 Most variant screens measure growth or abundance. What do they miss? That variants impact a spectrum of protein and cellular phenotypes. Variant in situ sequencing (VIS-seq) finds what’s missing: image cells 🔬 first, decode later, revealing multi-scale phenotypes for thousands of variants.👇 1/9

I love that these bridge trolls are forever tying themselves in knots: What if this comedy is secretly jewish? What if this beautiful actress is secretly trans? What if my TV is communist and my couch was assembled by unionized labour? The light of the sun is socialist and burns their clammy skin.

Kids These Days are taking "micro vacations" where they go home and sleep for as much as 6½ hours before returning to work with a renewed vigour and sense of purpose.

First time a judge has decided a case based on hallucinated case law in the US that I've encountered. caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ga-cou...

A much bigger Chinese jet #Ekranoplan has been in the news lately but check out this awesome home-built sea-going manned #electric ekranoplan! www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV-V... (bonus: spot the #esptool)

Hey Aussie aviators: wanna hang out/go flying?

We are pleased to announce the publication of our manuscript "Mapping MAVE data for use in human genomics applications" in Genome Biology! 🧵 1/3 genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Best conference swag ever, still powering my mouse 12½ years later! 🐨OSDC #osdc

The June MicroPython Meetup is tomorrow! www.meetup.com/micropython-... Hope to see you there, or online. 😊

If you thought social media had scrambled America’s CEOs just wait until they’re fully cooked by AI apple.news/AJ_ht7MMyT9G...

Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit but I'm betting the last words ever uttered on this Earth will be, "So, that went well."

Thanks for the reminder @janemunday.bsky.social. Every summer, I repost this article DROWNING DOES NOT LOOK LIKE DROWNING. To date, I know of FOUR kids who were saved after someone who'd clicked on the link learnt how to spot actual drowning. Take time to read and pass on. slate.com/technology/2...

‘Mind-blowing’: inside the highest human-occupied ice age site found in Australia

Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.

Absolufuckinglutely perfect 👇

You know, maybe to remember what they used to see in each other, to rebuild their relationship, they need to spend some quality time together: a shared experience, an exciting adventure, just two buddies together once more in an experimental submarine.

This year, in the absence of any media outlet or corporation asking me to write about Pride, I challenged myself to write a Pride essay I’d actually want to read. This is what I wrote. open.substack.com/pub/johnpaul...

#babymetal at #pobleespanyol, Barcelona ... Apparently my old e-m5 is "professional" now so phone bam photos is what you get!

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard #KGLW live at #PobleEspanyol, Barcelona!