Three of @shaenon.bsky.social ’s original artworks for her X-Files recap comic “Monster of the Week”. Now hanging in a new position in my hallway after the home repainting and mini-renovation. www.shaenon.com/monsterofthe...

Just ran 7.5k in 42:12, my best time ever, by a good 19 seconds. Who ever thought I'd be fitter at 50+ than I was in my 20s?

Sketch of a house in Greenwich, Sydney. 1917, Federation Queen Anne style. #sketch

This imaginary blue-green colour is a clear case of cyan's fiction. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olo_(co... [Actually it's really fascinating, from a colour science and human visual system perspective.]

Love Japanese maples.

Painting is finally underway at my place! It's gonna be a mess for a week, but then fresh and new.

Now I know why this timeline feels wrong. According to Usborne Books' "World of the Future", published in 1979 and a childhood favourite reading source of mine, the 2020 Olympic Games were supposed to be held on the Moon.

House repainting is starting any minute now... We've prepared as best we can.

I guess sloppy colour grading is not so noticeable in a temporal format like a movie. But making a comic strip (like Darths & Droids), the bad colour match sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm gonna have to adjust the colour on the bottom left panel.

I filled a moving box with Star Wars books. It's too heavy to lift. And I still have more Star Wars books.

Wow. Sydney forecast for tomorrow: 39°C, with wind gusts up to 110 km/h. Total fire ban in place. It's likely to be the hottest October day ever recorded. Not looking forward to summer.

I've moved two big bookcases for wall painting and found mould spots behind them. Also, the shelves have mould spots everywhere, visible now I've removed all the books. I feel like the bookcases are in a bad location for humidity and mould. i.e. Sydney. Hitting all with white vinegar solution.

Another amazing deep dive into Australian Aboriginal history, courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This complements the one I posted the other day. www.abc.net.au/news/deeptim...

Over 50% of new material appearing on the Internet is now written by AI, not by humans. futurism.com/artificial-i... Disclaimer — I totally didn't get an AI to write this post.

Why is this the first definition of "red herring"? > A herring that is cured in smoke and brine strong enough to turn the flesh red; a type of kipper. A feel like that's a bit of a red herring.

I'm packing books in moving boxes to store in the garage while painters repaint my place. I have 4 moving boxes full of GURPS books already... Will probably need 6 boxes before they're all packed. And then there's the D&D stuff.

Ever wondered about the 65,000 years of Australian Aboriginal culture and history? Here's a good primer from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. www.abc.net.au/news/deeptim...

Spring cleaning dilemma: Do I throw away 5 boxes of blank CD-R and DVD-Rs? (Yes, I still have a functional burner.)

Packing books into storage boxes to prepare for house repainting... It's shocking how few books makes a box too heavy to lift, and subsequently just HOW MANY boxes you need.

Vertical sprawl. #photography #sydney #urbansprawl #highrise

At the bookstore.

Looking at Christmas markets in Cologne. One website claims they run from 7pm to 7am each day. Another website says 10am to 10pm each day. I'm guessing the first website is detecting my time zone and converting.... But why the heck would anyone ever think that was a helpful thing to do??

Login to Qantas: Frequent Flyer number has a leading zero, do I need to type it or not? My surname has a hyphen, include or omit? (airlines STILL can't handle hyphens in names when booking a flight) 4 combinations. Site gave me 3 chances before locking my account. Guess what. My account got locked.

For your daily dose of true mystery: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carved_...

Did my 7.5k run in 26°C first thing this morning. Really not looking forward to summer.

Since almost nobody knows what it originally meant, my friends and I have been inventing new definitions of “begging the question”: He fell to his knees, begging the question: “Can I *please* get a new Xbox?” She unsubtly hinted to her partner that a proposal would be welcome, begging The Question.

Found a friendly blue-tongue skink in the neighbourhood.

Scanning old photos. Me: ”You know, when I look at these photos now, I think how much younger I look, but you look exactly the same.” Wife: “I was thinking the same thing: how much younger I look, but you look exactly the same.”

Wife got up early for gym. I got up and took my dog Scully out for a quick toilet. I normally grab the spare key by the door, but there was no key and in my half-asleep state my brain figured it must already be in my pocket. We’ve now walked 1.5km to the nearest cafe for breakfast…

Sketch of one of the many bays in Sydney Harbour. From Bayview Park, Greenwich. #sketch #art #drawing #sydney

Movie idea: Hercule Poirot arrives on the Nostromo and tries to figure out who has been committing all these murders.

My wife went out to work and sent me a message that John Howard, former Prime Minister, was just exiting our apartment block. What the heck was he doing in our building? 🤔

In 2006 I met Jane Goodall. I had an unremarkable webcomic, in which I'd co-opted Jane as a character—a crass, egotistical, version who posed as an expert on “monkeys”. I showed her some printouts & she said, “I’ve seen these. They’re funny.” She agreed to pose for photos for my comic. RIP Jane.

Old and new architecture in Sydney.

I've been looking for instances of confirmation bias, and I keep finding them everywhere.

Hot take: Phone numbers are not "numbers", and should be called "phone addresses". You never do arithmetic on them.

Did a sketching jaunt to Greenwich Hospital (in Sydney). This is Pallister House, built in 1892 as a country home, converted to a girl's school, then a girl's orphanage, before finally being taken over by the hospital. Victorian Filigree architectural style.

Dream last night: I worked for The Mint, making money (literally). For security/secrecy, I (and other employees) couldn't wear the same clothes or use the same backpack or go to the same cafe for lunch or order the same food more than once a week.

Americans on Kimmel: Fair enough if your boss sacks you for an opinion, but it shouldn't be because the Government tells them to. Non-Americans on Kimmel: Uh... nobody should be sacked for an opinion! Sounds like straight up unfair dismissal.

Korean sweet & spicy fried chicken I had for dinner last night. From a new place I tried for the first time: YumKo in Chippendale (Sydney).

I'm running a Star Wars one-shot roleplaying adventure next Friday night. I made an intro graphic for my players.

I just taught an online class with two students named Aiden and Eden. They kept getting confused which one I was addressing... I wonder if it was more difficult for them because of my Australian accent.

Taken at a restaurant near me. I'm happy about their ingredients.

Getting take away dinner at a Thai restaurant. It used to be called Go Hun, but new owners changed the name. Now my friends and I call it Faux Hun.

Dream: I was Taylor Swift's friend. She came to Sydney for concerts, we hung out, she was flirting with me but I was oblivious to it. She invited me to Newcastle(AU) for a concert she was playing there and, "after we'll have drinks". And I asked where will we go for drinks, and she said, "Madrid".

Sketches from The Rocks, Sydney. I was sitting on a bench drawing the church and a bus pulled up and parked right in front of me, blocking my view! Had to walk around it and stand on the street side near the traffic to finish the drawing!

Good job, Trump. Australia Post has suspended ALL commercial parcel shipping to the USA until further notice, and all gifts with declared values A$150 and over. Because they're not equipped to handle processing of Trump's new import tariffs.

It's not raining! (This is the first time I've been able to say this truthfully in six days.)

If you like the New York Times Connections puzzle, but like me and my friends find it to require too much American knowledge sometimes, try this one that I made: connections.swellgarfo.com/game/-OY9KC8...

82mm of rain yesterday. 50mm in the previous two days. Another 80mm forecast for today. Flood warnings current for several rivers around Sydney. And very cold too. I basically haven't left the house the past four days, except when absolutely necessary.