Have a Howly Wolfenoot, all!

The Hilltop Youth, an extremist settler organisation listed as a terror group in multiple countries, is driving Palestinians in the West Bank off their land. Now the family farm of Palestinian-Australian Sari Kassis is in their sights. www.deepcutnews.com/p/an-austral...

After their homecoming Fed Square gig was cancelled over security fears, Amyl and the Sniffers put $5,000 behind the bar at seven live music venues around Melbourne.

Is part of the reason I #Don’tUseGenAI that it is so often computed in ‘the cloud’? And the reason that is done, because a typical user is impatient for results? I’ll try to remember the specific conjecture on which I was seeking an opinion - where it occurred to me that … 1/2

Be thankful you’re not driving a new car :-/ When I learned how in the ‘80s, wouldn’t use even radio in case of distraction- habit remained until a confident driver, and even little use then. Now, even after disabling (each drive) all the distractions that I can, there are still totally useless… 1/3

Well I can see Bluesky is handling a PR crisis in their normal competent manner

Yo, @support.bsky.team, bring back @sarahkendzior.bsky.social.

Just now on www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... watermarking of GenAI (images) was mentioned in passing. I remember a push during the 1990s for print media to identify ‘shopped photos. Anyone able to summarise why it failed back then?

Query re #SolarPV #MPPT - I am aware (successfully using) 2x MPPT Charge Controllers to supply one battery. Are there any considerations to having a setup of batteries A and B in series, charged by one controller #1, and say B alone charged by another controller #2? 1/2

Please #Don’tUseGenAI, but if anyone wants to preempt my doodling of a logo for cadaver dogs then please go ahead. I was imagining using bones as compass points, surrounding some dog silhouette, over either realistic human skeleton or X X eyes cartoon figure. Not associated with similar website.

I sat in my #BYDShark again, so only 2 hours later I have a new latest complaint/ #BYDPSA You can’t rely on Car|Energy|Energy Consumption statistics! My ‘Driving Time’ has ‘clocked over’ or otherwise been reset around the 100hr mark. Not by an accidental ‘Clear Data’, (because the inaccurate …

Again, this has been my first experience buying a new car, or non-private sale, so perhaps it’s not just #BYD that would be so annoying, but my latest complaint: First service is due - I have to select a location (none is convenient), then provide my details, then reject all the ‘extras’, then …

Nearly 3 months ownership of new BYD Shark 6 PHEV, and I still get asked by strangers about it ~once per week. I used to list pros/cons, but now I just say I don’t recommend it. I have at least a hundred complaints that started as ‘observations’, but the company and dealer have been *so* bad at..

It’s been 25y since I had an electricity meter or bill, but took a look at the neighbour’s today, and sheesh! Origin Energy sure hates their customers, don’t they. ‘Smart meter’ is definitely a step backwards - in terms I expect most people would want. Paper bill seems deliberately hard to read.

What type of dimwit technology company sends an email with “Help us improve! Share your feedback in a quick survey” that links to Facebook?!?

I didn’t think the Optus Network Status page which has been horrible for decades would ever change - but they have somehow made it even worse. Mobile signal has just returned - no indication on their website what the problem was, or even if they were aware of it.

Is bom.gov.au broken more than usual? Or was it a deliberate design choice to break my bookmarks and replace with something inferior?

My car says: “ CarPlay Not Available To use CarPlay, enable Siri in the Settings app on your iPhone” Is there a way to enable Siri “enough” to let me use navigation /media apps without having to allow off-device voice export? #iphone #carplay #apple #nuisance

Should have turned around for home, after the third or fourth bad omen this morning.

Had spent morning optimistic of receiving mail package today, and only now realise it is a public holiday for colonial reasons in NSW Australia :-(

#MinorMysterySolved Occasionally when I would switch off AC power at home, my LED bed lamp powered by 230VAC -> USB A ‘block’ would briefly flash every five seconds or so. Turns out new mobile phone when plugged into adjacent USB C socket provides power to it.

“The necessary consequence of that is that anyone - whether an Australian citizen or not - who seeks to enter this country having served in any arm of the Israeli military in Gaza since 7 October 2023 should be treated as a suspect and investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted.”

“If components that are being manufactured here in Australia are finding their way into F-35 aircraft being used by the Israeli aircraft to bomb the hell out of Gaza, we share responsibility. It's as simple as that.

#MoreComplaints If following a purchase, a website requests feedback, but sends me (also through ‘contact us’ link) to a google site that will only proceed with a google account - not the email I used with the merchant - then that seller is not really serious about receiving my feedback.

4zzz.org.au/program/hey-... Last night’s Hey-Day, from 4ZzZ FM 102.1 MHz in Brisbane. I always find the webpage/calendar difficult to navigate, but will make an effort to catch up on some recent episodes (latest ¿6? available to stream).

The Naked Scientists as broadcast 2025/09/19 on ABC RN* - an examined, uncapped coal exploration borehole releases as much fugitive GHG has 10,000 cars - there are 10,000 similar boreholes in E.Australia. No wonder Gina and co. don’t want community air quality sensors. 1/2

Pretty sure Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology doesn’t have a presence here, but Product Code: IDYPME04 - what the hell?! Forecast Rainfall for 20/9/2025 is more than Total Forecast Rainfall over 18/9/2025 - 21/9/2025. Did not observe negative rainfall today. www.bom.gov.au/jsp/watl/rai...

My parents never read xkcd, but >50y ago thought it would be cool to give me an unusual middle name. It’s not normally recognised as a name, and ever since the ‘00s causes certain databases to corrupt my surname- time after time. Not fun. xkcd.com/327/ is fun.

Why the fuck do streaming services always list subtitle languages in the same order - why not move the one I *always* use to the top after I’ve scrolled down to it a few times - or a few hundred.

Why is Israel invading Gaza again? To commit as much genocide as they can get away with. What about Hamas? Just as US politicians say "crime" whenever they call for more state repression, today "Hamas" is simply the noise Israeli politicians make to mean "We're going to murder more Palestinians."

Just received a cudgel blow to the skull - 1 hit point of damage, immediately withdrew from (weeding) battle, followed by several disoriented turns. Realise now how lucky it wasn’t far worse to my eye, mouth, or throat. (not a D&D player)

Even the “ageing FTTN” network was yet to reach me - regional ADSL-1 was out for 12 weeks earlier this year, and Telstra estimated another 5-7 weeks to resolve their billing errors - so I’m out. If I were to ask to reconnect, the only “broadband” option offered from them is the Nazi SkyNet.

Modern tech companies rather than document or test their product will instead label unpredictable, unwanted behaviour as ‘intelligence’.

To top off an already wonderful day (sarcastic) - cat vomited on the pillow beside me at 3am. Resisted efforts to move him, vomited more. A week of going to bed (more than usually) angry and frustrated, waking up angry and frustrated- this literal pain in my chest grows and grows.

ABC RN’s Science Show - 50th anniversary, already great, and then John Clarke!

History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician -> ✅ Who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews? -> Benjamin Netanyahu

Fair winds and following seas, Commander Lovell.

At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery. “The math world was taken aback when Cairo announced her counterexample to the Mizohata-Takeuchi conjecture.” [quantamagazine.org]

Wordle 1,501 3/6 ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Company staff should be required to read all the ‘Terms and Conditions’ they expect customers to read. Usually I would read a whole document before calling, but damn - when there are multiple documents referencing each other, and vital parts are hidden in ‘Office Use Only’ section, etc. - argh!

Rest In Parody, magnificent Tom Lehrer www.youtube.com/watch?v=frAE...

Helicopter so noisy/sick sounding I thought it was crashing - has flown over ~6 times in the last month. No ADS-B/FlightRadar24 info. Flew straight at a Cessna just now, but reasonable vertical separation.

Reporter: “Will Australia act (on Israeli war crimes)?” Penny Wong: “Australia will say… (not do).” Australian Labor is known for not doing. Wong is the worst.

“(zoo)pharmacognosy” - not yet prepared to die on any hill, but - damn - I hated hearing the ‘g’ pronounced as in ‘cog’ multiple times this morning. Surely it remains silent?!? (pharmaco +‎ -gnosy)

2025 has been wet here, so far. I predict the last of 2024’s driveway puddles will dry up today. New dog lost interest in my maintenance work and took off with a friend to a third dog’s place. Human there kindly messaged me that they were all having a grand old time.

Yesterday I pulled a thorn from new dog’s paw, and not seriously wondered if he would ever have the opportunity to return the favour in kind. After this morning’s walk I picked a few burs from his collar, and immediately after he found some on my trouser leg and proceeded to lick them off. :-)

Unfortunate that I needed to make the journey to town two days running, but glad I went the extra distance to visit this friend who always seems pleased to see me. Was told today she still doesn’t much want to be around others than primary carer or me.

This must be a really shit film, given how much apple is pushing it everywhere with unskippable ads. techcrunch.com/2025/06/24/i...

Letter received from Telstra this week, dated 2025-06-10, postmarked a few days later. In it they tell me that repairs post Cyclone Alfred (2025-03-06) has affected mine and ‘up to 299 other services’ which should be resumed by 2025-06-05. This is the first contact they have initiated.