It's absolutely astonishing: In just about 13 years, Norway has skyrocketed from virtually no sales of zero-emission battery electric vehicles to nearly 100% of all new passenger car purchases.

Rachel Franks @cfwriter.bsky.social reviews ‘Outrageous Fortunes: The Adventures of Mary Fortune, Crime-Writer, and Her Criminal Son’ by Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex @lucysussex.bsky.social La Trobe University Press www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

I do think MAGA managed to make the Kirk assassination their 9/11 Not in the sense they wanted, but in the sense that they took their brief window of public sympathy and strip-mined it so totally that everyone hates them even more, now

The study found poorer communities, renters and women carried the heaviest burdens long after the Black Summer fires were put out.

Kicks to the right? And the left?

Lenny Kaye joining the Minus 5, opening for Baseball Project

"I have spent the last few weeks addressing and preparing for a military invasion by the President of the United States. No, I’m not a soldier or a foreign adversary. I’m the Governor of Illinois"

And that REALLY should be the end of this. They’ll literally never work out the bugs.

Another way to build a sense of community and shared purpose with others without completely disrupting the lives young people are already living would be to expand and strengthen labor unions.

Thanks to everyone who canceled their Disney Plus subscriptions we’ve had over 50,000 people confirm they’ve canceled!

I had no idea Mick Herron was standing behind me @bloodyscotland.bsky.social

I have never used any LLM tool. I have never typed a prompt. Other life choices exist, and I'm not saying they're bad. Making my brain work is important to me. Even "mindless" tasks are important to engage Default Mode Network thinking (problem solving while doing something minimally engaging).

When I write about true crime, I stick to the C19th--because of not traumatizing the living survivors. Although a relative of a notorious babyfarmer screamed aloud in an archive when she realised that fact

Snicker

😍😍 #xl8

Next she uses a thesaurus and calls you a galoot, a tatterdemalion and an oxymoron, I suppose

I broke my toe at #BendigoWritersFestival, just as the hullabaloo broke out. It has not healed yet and I am still effing furious about what happened. Not quite furious as in defenestrated with 26 stab wounds (thanks, Stirling castle), but I can understand the appeal of that prospect

I came of political age hating the Bush guys and now I have to get in the trenches with them against the guy from the apprentice I would like to file several complaints

Ahem, you mean defenestrated at Stirling castle with no less than 26 stab wounds. Or more benignly, falling into a dung heap?

And they had a cousin called Whang-Dang-Doodle, I suppose

Union members at the ABC and across the media industry stand with John Lyons and reject the US President’s unfounded attacks on our colleague. #MEAAmedia

Even when said Prez is truly deserving of the term Diddums

Regardless of the disgraceful nonsense we will likely hear from this administration in the coming days on vaccine “recommendations,” Americas healthcare insurers issued a joint statement tonight saying coverage for Covid and flu shots will remain unchanged from prior years. Speaks for itself.

Zoe Venditozzi notes that plays about English/Scottish witches are scarce

Trumpus vs the ABC (Australia). The English word diddums comes to mind, I can't imagine why

My heart breaks into 10,000 pieces once again.

Denmark has cut taxes on books as part of a plan to improve reading levels. Australia could look at cutting GST on books - something industry proposed to the Howard government all those years ago.

Born on this day in 1552, Lavinia Fontana of Bologna. Here, self-portrait in her studiolo in 1579, an intellectual young artist.

You may recall the president launched a memecoin, $TRUMP, upon inauguration (despite saying he was not “a big fan” of crypto in his first term). Then in April he offered the top 220 investors a private dinner with him. Since then, the Trump coin’s value has sunk 88%. trib.al/2bLCNcY

My therapist suggested that I write letters to all the people who have wronged me and then throw them into a big fire. I did that, and I do feel better, but I don’t know what I am supposed to do with all these letters.

my main problem with the attitude of "butlerian jihad" or "killing the computer" is that it assigns blame to inanimate objects instead of the real people who very much can be held accountable who designed the computer to be this way

🐺 Dingoes aren’t dogs A new study shows dingoes are not feral dogs but a distinct lineage on their own evolutionary path. Genomic, behavioural and ecological evidence confirms they deserve recognition as Canis dingo or Canis lupus dingo. 🔗 theconversation.com/dingoes-are-... #SciComm 🧪

Here’s what was NOT released today: - the proffer agreement between Maxwell and the DoJ - the agreement transferring Maxwell to club fed - communications showing who waived Maxwell’s sex offender status allowing her transfer and possible work assignments outside prison - the Epstein files

What Australian 1800s short detective story was a hit single internationally? Find out at undercoveragents conference St Andrews University, 27-8 August 2025

Is this what the AI era is going to be like? A big four consultancy (Deloitte) does a major report for govt then says "oh we just got the names, dates and publishers" of many of the works cited WRONG. No biggie. www.afr.com//companies/p...

Ah, an explanation? Permanently stoned?

FBI Returns Stolen Conquistador Manuscript to Mexico www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...

Can he prove that?

Murders were much higher several hundred years ago.

👏🏽👏🏽🎉🎉 #booksky

have a seat in the coat chair. i'll get us a snack from my outfit cabinet

As writer John Sladek said, we don't need humanoid robots, but we are fascinated by them

Relieved that Australia's Copyright Agency is pushing back against the Productivity Commission's Text and data mining exception brain fart. All power to them ✊

If the answer is “no-one”, we have a serious problem.

The #Bendigo #bwf Implosion reaches France: actualitte.com/article/1256...

Born on this day in 1623, in Bruges, Pieter Janssens Elinga. Painter of clean, still rooms and sometimes still lifes. Here, three human players fixed amid intense geometry of walls, windows, floor, & light.

Love how kid is peeking from behind door to watch dad smoking in wonderful sun-filled room by Pieter Janssens Elinga. It's been his day.

What is the penalty for false imprisonment?