I think one reason data center outrage is so pronounced is people spent decades recycling and composting and otherwise scrimping to offset energy use and protect clean water, and the second we hit an inflection point for cheap electricity the banking industry said we’re taking all of it, fuck you

Not me once again singing the alphabet song in my head as I insert cites into my reference list...

Sometimes you read the comments left by other reviewers on the papers you peer-reviewed, and you're like: did we read the same paper?

Doing some vagueposting again, but got some good news today that I am v pleased about. I hope to be able to share with youse all soon

After emptying my recycling, Clive Palmer’s recent pamphlet remained stuck to the crud on the bottom and I’m sure there’s a tortured metaphor somehow here

Completely serious about this: one reason I have gotten so obsessed with woodturning? **It gives me back control of my attention**. I don't look at my phone, I'm not having my focus deliberately coopted by corporate algorithms that want to make me angry - and suddenly four hours have passed.

Recently made a huge batch of mac n cheese for a get together (this is 1 of 2 trays), and was going to hand grate the kilos of cheese with a box grater until @shanavyre.bsky.social pointed out we had a food processor that could do that

Taking a wee social media break for a week, maybe two. Shoot me an email to my unimelb address if on the off chance you need me. Cheers

Annoying to pay good $$$ for an out of print academic book, only for it to arrive with the bargain bin price still on it 🙃

Super proud to announce that my partner @daniellemaggio.bsky.social’s forthcoming book about funk goddess Betty Davis, called Game Is Her Middle Name, is now available for pre-order via @feministpress.bsky.social! #BettyDavis #funk #musichistory

Just exactly the thing all the experts said would happen happened. You won’t turn poets into physicists with financial incentives.

I got 99 problems but for the purposes of demonstrating the academic and industry impact of my work to future employers, this paper ain't one

Me currently trying to switch my research / writing brain back on

Got a whole thread of them here bsky.app/profile/nich...

In my own workflow, field notes are not a preliminary step but part of the writing process itself. My #Free2DownloadAndRead article explains how I design fieldnotes to encourage me to produce text: "Writing Field Notes and Using Them to Prompt Scholarly Writing" journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Today at 2:30, @kfullagar.bsky.social and I will be giving evidence in the Senate inquiry into Job-Ready Graduates on behalf of the AHA. This failed policy is bad for history and history students and it must go. The hearings are live-streamed if you’d like to watch: www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Eve...

Lit the smoker and did some beef ribs today. Enjoying them a lot more now I realised you can just serve them like sliced brisket rather than caveman-style whole on the rib and dying trying to eat about 500g of super rich beef

Non-corporatised university

Two new papers out this week from our ARC Discovery project on agenda-setting in the High Court of Australia. A thread. @anucrawfordschool.bsky.social

This obsession that some researchers seem to have with academic productivity is slowly eroding my faith in the academic enterprise. “I want AI to do the grunt work so I have more time to think and write.” News flash: you won’t. The grunt work is part and parcel of the research process.

Just posting this again for #historians 🗃️ I’ve really enjoyed hearing about people’s papers that have gone under the radar

A bit sad "From British Australasia to Federation: No Linear Progression" has no cites yet. It's one of my best: www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi... And "Australia and the Secretive Exploitation of the Chatham Islands to 1842" is better than my more-cited Chathams work: doi.org/10.1080/1444...

Want to know what really went on inside Aus Covid governance? We draw upon interview data with PM Morrison, Health Minister Hunt and CMOs Murphy and Kelly + a host of senior bureaucrats and experts and put forward a new framework for understanding policy learning doi.org/10.1111/1467...

Today is the birthday of that great American, Merle Haggard--and also the day he died. If you don't know much about him--or think you do!--you should read this short and amazing book. It happens to have been written by my partner but it is truly profound, I promise.

Classic should of been an email. The bloke made me set up the laptop to watch as I cooked dinner 😒

Open access...new from me. www.emerald.com/pap/article/...

I am a big fan of the guys (of all genders) who go to the used record store and then post photos of their haul here with a caption that always reads “uh oh guys I went to the used record store”

Significant overlap between social disadvantage and flood risk highlights the need for urgent investment in risk reduction, preparedness, and recovery:

New Neurosis is killer btw

I have a joke about a conference paper, but it doesn’t have a conclusion yet

My research note on using ChatGPT/LLMs in teaching has somehow hit 10 citations in less than two years! A side project has become my most cited piece. An example of teaching lead research. @ausjpa.bsky.social #chatgpt onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Wrote my first Conversation article on truth in political advertising in South Australia! Based on my book chapter, it's the first time I've done something like this and ended up on WA radio. Not too bad for a day at work. theconversation.com/south-austra...

Good beginning: Full house at the launch of my new book "Trans Lives" at Gleebooks in Sydney, with Eloise Brook and Sophie Cotton. Thanks to Eloise and Sophie, to @gleebooks.bsky.social, and to all who came!

Totally understand the gen z reaction against millennial skinny jeans. But as an elder millennial who lived thru baggy then skinny jeans: both can look v silly. Consider the blend into shoes and your shoe choice. Big skate shoes were the choice in the late 90s for a reason!

Looking forward to the era of AI social science: the data is AI-generated, the paper is written by AI, the paper is reviewed by AI, and summarized for students and researchers by AI.

No wonder students don't read anymore - look at this hideousness locked down in the browser only 🤢

In some modest but very pleasing work news, I have started a 12 month contract as a Lecturer in Public Policy, Teaching Specialist at the University of Melbourne. Very much looking forward to working with the public policy and political science staff and students here.

Albo has the quite likely what will be the biggest ostensibly left wing majority this country will have in our lifetime and he's pissing it away supporting genocide, illegal wars, and banning kids from the internet while doing nothing about life affordability, climate change, or class disparity.

Second cubic metre of top dress on the back lawn today. Lumps and bumps remain 🙃

THIRD TIME FROM THIS JOURNAL

Our book came out! 🌈 Does this mean I can go back to bed for the rest of 2026? It's open access, it's about stories in/for geography - link.springer.com/book/10.1007... I'm so grateful to the Storying Geography Collective, who have offered me rare moments of joy-in-the-job in the last few years 🥰

What's the deal with journals sending review requests, which I have declined due to out of scope, then sending them again a week later??

Nothing quite like wasting time agonising over your journal article title choice to make sure it hits keyword searchability and remains somewhat readable

What were F.A. Hayek’s insights on international order and what was his beef with E.H. Carr on this theme? A follow up to my article in @iajournal.bsky.social

Not necessarily the thumbnail I would've chosen but I get it

Preschooler lyfe

It appears that those on Teaching & Research contracts face the highest psychological risk. Probably because it's bloody impossible to properly meet both teaching AND research demands. Teaching takes up so much time, but we're also expected to pump out research. It's a difficult trap.

Dynamic, reflective, adaptive pedagogy that tries to meet students where they are at is an important part of good teaching! But it’s also bad if we get to the point where students can’t be expected to read books and articles or don’t have attention span to listen to a lecture.

Meanjin's back!

Me to 4 yr old: let’s listen to daddy music, I’ll put on Motörhead. Lemmy. 4 yr old: what’s Lemmy?