FGS people, total fire ban means you can't use angle grinders. Especially not in a dry paddock building site in a small country town. Someone dobbed them in, and this is one time dobbing is entirely appropriate.

even Airbnb is sending out warnings about the Otways fire...

Looking at the app, and my tl:dr is that it’s beyond their control now. :(

Do thou, too, remain warm among ice.

Guildford General Store available for lease or sale again. :( Seriously it’s a gorgeous building in a great spot, nice town, lots of traffic, large footprint. And latest owners have revitalized it a lot. Get in there…

Worth it for the author’s name.

Music Bowl for David Byrne last night: surprisingly helpful staff, including the guy who somehow found my friend - who's on crutches - in the crowd, to offer her a free seated-spot upgrade (she declined) and Casey the toilet co-ordinator, who kept the Q in the ladies' flowing, so to speak.

is Monash Uni's site down?

Maybe he wanted Iceland all along and the EU has sent troops to the wrong country.

The Beckham thing reads suspiciously like one of those AI AITA clickbait reels.

so far the NZ Labour Party has responded to the announcement of the election with a press release saying a Labour MP will retire: www.labour.org.nz/news/ and nothing about its vision etc. I'm sure there have been other press statements, but working from Australia I start with the official sites...

has it been censored?

Prisoner was a cult classic. Hope she gets a proper obit. She was married to John Sumner of Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll for a while. I’d take the age stated here with a grain of salt; my sources say not a day under 97.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

You could do worse than this rather fun and often literally breathtaking circus theatre show in Melbourne this weekend. Verging on modern dance without the po-ness of face. www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/202...

Newstead Live cancelled for this weekend due to heat. The region can't catch a break atm. :(

in other news, NZ election is on 7 November this year. #NZpol

Love it when @themonthly.com.au picks a piece of mine to republish from the archive. :) campaigns.schwartzmedia.com.au/t/i-e-zydidd...

I don't want to know what the creature was, my imagination will be far more interesting than any fake news truth.

Bluesy has reached the injoke stage of social media.

Wordle 1,677 5/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I honestly thought this was a parody. It’s real.

got an email from my union: "Carnival Cruises has three cruise ships permanently stationed in Australia, that are exploiting a loophole in the Coastal Trading Act which allows them to fly in crew from some of the poorest economies on earth and pay them as little as $2.50 per hour..."

Just read The Quiet American for the first time, on the recommendation of a writer I used to know (took me years). Started out all oh no another macho colonial dude can I be bothered with this…and then…wow.

Not even making it to the icebox.

I need an expert analysis of the very soft voice Sussan Ley is using atm. Comparisons with her previous public speaking, research on perceptions of powerful women based on how they speak, the whole shebang. Or for cash money, I’ll write one.

@explaintrade.com is an instant follow for the combination of international trade mavenhood and D&D DM-ness. Those campaigns would be wild.

What odds can I get on Elon Musk having already cloned himself? Like, a bet that pays at any time in the future. My grandchildren will be rich, and possibly also serfs.

I must have imagined the flights, buses and taxi trips, coffees, meals, drinks, books and theatre tix I bought when I attended in 2025.

"The Australian Government should lead the development of a nationally consistent star rating system to help households, builders and financial institutions make informed decisions, and drive investment in resilient housing". - PC report, 10 December.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will fold completely at the first opportunity to defend your right to say it.

In Australia, we do insist that our secondhand brown couches are sanitary.

Cannot imagine the rush inside Labor alumni to *not* be the next ambassador to America.

I keep thinking about Jaipur litfest in 2012, when threats to life and limb of participants and audience forced Rushdie to be cancelled, but organizers replaced his slot with a debate on … freedom of expression. Far classier than bailing wholesale.

Isn’t dissent and the right to express identity the entire point of freedom of expression?

Writers Week was very good last year. Sad for Adelaide, it will be a big economic and cultural hit.

Who wants me to spend the next 12 weeks skeeting about how much I hate the new weights class I’ve just paid $1k for because osteoporosis because chemo because cancer 20 years ago?

Castlemaine recycling shop pausing fire-assistance donations because they're overwhelmed...

320 unread work emails hi ho, hi ho.

Aireys Inlet 650 am, bloke about 65 is setting up chairs and tables outside general store for the CFA crayfish raffle fundraiser, which seems to happen weekly over summer. Nice and social, but also maybe we could fund them better? And don’t get me started on surf lifesaver funding.

Morning.

If I was a colorful maybe-billionaire building a horrible huge house that destroys the bush and replaces it with “landscaping” in a quiet beach town, I wouldn’t park my car with personalized plates out the front. 90% sure of the id…

I have no idea if these are Joyce’s words arranged in the order he arranged them. Truly great literature either way. Goo the groot.

Things there should be a word for: the clear point at which the spine of a secondhand paperback turns from creased to smooth, indicating where the previous reader gave up. Possibly a “Joyce” or a “Brown”?

BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG

Catch, disarm and release.

New variety of spam: just a text with a heart symbol. Have had two from different numbers. Anyone else getting these?

Best unsolicited AI cluelessness yet.

Sorry who is this Emmanuel? Did I miss something in my Uniting/Anglican upbringing?