Nostr notes by Kate Bowles

Spent some time today observing this sculpture: three views of ...

2026-10-28T22:11:10Z

Spent some time today observing this sculpture: three views of Anthony Gormley’s standing figure Sound II.

Hard to describe why this is such a moving experience.

The death penalty is a moral sinkhole, but public execution is a ...

2026-10-09T02:53:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…f4vz
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The death penalty is a moral sinkhole, but public execution is a whole other thing.

It keeps the worst company in human history.

And the research is easy to find. Executions traumatise the ...

2026-10-09T02:48:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…ufyd
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And the research is easy to find.

Executions traumatise the execution team, other prison staff, and official witnesses.

Countries that permit public executions have enabled research into the impact on children and young people who watch them. Three months later, 52% in one study still struggled with at least one PTSD symptom.

Live-streaming makes it permanent. It will always be out there, somewhere, doing what it does, being used in the way death-on-camera content is used.

Every word of this. ...

2026-10-09T02:28:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…a0fj
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Every word of this.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/09/nidal-hasan-execution-pete-hegseth-us-military-tv-democracy

A calculation has been made that there is appetite in the US for ...

2026-10-09T01:44:08Z

A calculation has been made that there is appetite in the US for public execution, for which “livestreamed” is the word that has murdered language itself.

And once this appetite is tested, then what? one will not be enough.

This is our AUKUS ally, our apparently indispensable special friend. This is who we hang out with, take selfies with.

Enough. Enough with the USA. It’s fully cooked. And more than enough with Albo and Wong if we say nothing.

I am surrounded by wailing grief that is not my grief, but so ...

2026-09-09T22:04:51Z

I am surrounded by wailing grief that is not my grief, but so close it’s falling on my garden too like burned leaves from bushfire. This is how we are meant to feel when our loved ones are mired in loss, I think.

There’s a bit going on in life, the world, our planet at the ...

2026-09-03T11:36:57Z

There’s a bit going on in life, the world, our planet at the moment, but this small thing is also happening.

#gardening for perspective.

RE: https://dair-community.social/@DAIR/117191284126597966 This ...

2026-09-02T20:35:14Z

RE: https://dair-community.social/@DAIR/117191284126597966

This whole essay series on imagining possible futures is fantastic. Very much appreciate the work of DAIR this morning. Timnit Gebru (she/her). (npub1z40…s3fq)

quoting
note1qgk…6tpp

"The community must be the author of its own world."

In the latest from our speculative essay series, Adio envisions a future in which a Zimbabwean community rejects an AI surveillance program and instead designs a cattle-tracking system, drawing upon the relational data governance it has practiced for generations.

https://dair-institute.org/blog/whose-categories-whose-ai/

Australian cis women, as well as protesting the terrible promo by ...

2026-08-30T07:57:58Z

Australian cis women, as well as protesting the terrible promo by #AustraliaPost, you can also add your name to the local Not In Our Name action.

“We refuse to allow our experiences to be weaponised against other women and marginalized people, who are even more likely to be victims of violence themselves. … We call on Australian politicians and media to recognise the countless women across the country who are supportive of the trans+ community and their rights.”

https://actionnetwork.org/forms/nionwomenaus

There are lots of plants in the big Crassula family, including ...

2026-08-23T11:17:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…mvpk
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There are lots of plants in the big Crassula family, including jade plant (money tree). Your little one might grow up to be a jade plant or a cousin, but it’s going to be easy to care for. If a leaf gets knocked off, just push it into the soil and the leaf will put out very fine roots and a new one will grow. Magic!

Nostr event nevent1qqstmmqfhkz8rg5wpv08yw7jlc4ay692k0lg8r8trzfc0s22rwqyxzszyqw3xue4t5yvltsxhflfszpjxpc33ffje79q89m6chn34xx4sh9cx8j5lle

2026-08-08T21:52:54Z

RE: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren/117062069724192786

When I was little and we were driving somewhere, my mum would research the route and write it out on a piece of paper which she stuck on the dashboard of the car.

quoting
note1qc2…3x03

Fun Fact: Before the Internet, it was indeed actually possible to shop, bank, and conduct all other business.

Now she’s here snoozing at my feet, I’m thinking about why ...

2026-07-25T05:31:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…79an
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Now she’s here snoozing at my feet, I’m thinking about why she’s here at all when I’m such a cat person. She came into our lives when we had gone through messy and protracted trauma. Unexpectedly this traumatised little dog needed rescuing just as we did. She had no experience in ordinary dog things like walking. We taught each other that recovery could come through routine, calm and small joys. So she won’t live for ever, but we’re just so grateful that she showed up and pointed us in a direction that we could go too.

Elderly dog made friends with everyone at the vet and has come ...

2026-07-25T04:11:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…kg33
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Elderly dog made friends with everyone at the vet and has come home shaved and wobbly but ok. No one knows what it was (nothing found stuck inside her) and now we just focus on quiet recovery.

Elderly dog has progressed to surgery. No one can figure it out ...

2026-07-24T06:27:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…ncmv
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Elderly dog has progressed to surgery. No one can figure it out but the current hypothesis is that she’s eaten a stick.

“Labradors. They eat everything,” said the vet sympathetically, like Richard Dreyfus who has found a Florida license plate in the guts of a dead shark.

Waiting really is the hard part.

Really appreciate all the kindness here. Elderly dog is ...

2026-07-23T06:56:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…s2zv
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Really appreciate all the kindness here. Elderly dog is overnighting at the vet, who can’t figure it out. She now has a swollen face and her back legs are not working, and our hopes rest on the vet’s best technical advice: “let’s hope she perks up”. So the good news is that it’s none of the big obvious things, and the less good news it’s not clear what it is.

It feels like a small calamity in the face of the world’s immense catastrophe, but also quite big for us.

Our old rescue dog is suddenly not eating, and there’s no ...

2026-07-22T10:47:46Z

Our old rescue dog is suddenly not eating, and there’s no obvious cause. She’s sad and hopeful all at once, in case we can fix it. To try to remember how old she is so we can tell the vet we search back to the day she came to us at “about four, maybe”. She made us better people and she always has.

One of the wildest things about the fedi for me is how much I ...

2026-07-16T02:18:27Z

One of the wildest things about the fedi for me is how much I learn from myrmepropagandist (npub1ppe…qv2g), who now flies to mind whenever I see Australian ant facts.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-16/gold-coast-destroys-fire-ant-nests-/106917124?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

Historian of cinema going here! The social history of going to ...

2026-06-25T21:30:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…4rh6
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Historian of cinema going here! The social history of going to the movies was very much about people, place, togethering. Film studies as a discipline missed this for a long time and focused on what was on screen, not who was in front of the screen. What a lovely event!

I’ve been spending time very accidentally with people who are ...

2026-06-11T17:52:05Z

I’ve been spending time very accidentally with people who are Quakers and I appreciate the clarity of this statement.

https://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/quaker-response-to-draft-guidance-around-definition-of-sex

#SilentSunday #bloomscrolling ...

2026-05-03T06:57:20Z

#SilentSunday #bloomscrolling

I’ve found that a pile of lawn mowings will heat up quickly (if ...

2026-04-25T22:16:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…hclp
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I’ve found that a pile of lawn mowings will heat up quickly (if you don’t mow, you might have a neighbour who does) but then need turning and brown materials to become sustained heat in the pile. The other tip that has worked for me in dry times is to drape the pile in a cover that traps moisture.

I’m restarting two neglected compost bins and it’s slow going ...

2026-04-25T22:02:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…aqp8
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I’m restarting two neglected compost bins and it’s slow going but the sweet smell tells me there’s hope. Just need to get enough brown material in to balance the kitchen scraps, and some worms from the worm farm can have at it. Turning is the key.

While I’m on a tear, a big shout out to older women on here. ...

2026-04-22T00:01:15Z

While I’m on a tear, a big shout out to older women on here. We’re so often deficit-coded in relation to both tech and political naïveté, and we’re made invisible by the cultures around us.

We’re formidably experienced and carry a lifetime of wisdom. We’ve led teams, lifted weight, made things happen, raised families, buried love and loved ones, balanced all kinds of budgets, learned and taught. We’ve carried humans, illness, joy, change and injury in our bodies that are the most speculated about and over managed, and this goes double and triple for women who weren’t always recognised as who they are.

We see each other, we learn from each other, we hold each other up when all of it is too much.

Major non headache migraine this morning, brain completely wiped ...

2026-04-02T10:51:41Z

Major non headache migraine this morning, brain completely wiped all day. The flashing light episode itself was over in 30 minutes but the hangover and nausea was quite prolonged.

It’s such a weird state.

All the gardeners posting pictures of compost bins and seedlings ...

2026-03-29T22:14:45Z

All the gardeners posting pictures of compost bins and seedlings and bees and #bloomscrolling — we’re not ignoring world events. We’re thinking with our hands about local food, food miles, waste and water management, fertilisers and pesticides. We don’t have answers either. But we work with cycles of growth and decay, and we’re thinking every day about more cooperative ways of living.

#gardening

Yesterday I was standing in an artist’s preserved studio, ...

2026-03-28T21:59:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…apnc
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Yesterday I was standing in an artist’s preserved studio, thinking about the visibility of his labour, the physicality of time.

I have questions! Now that you can see how Claude can do this for ...

2026-03-28T21:52:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…n0v0
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I have questions! Now that you can see how Claude can do this for you, where do your own thoughts turn? Will you write? Why?

A question for me came as I was reading it. I’m a bad reader, notoriously. My attention slides. But knowing I was reading something by Claude, I noticed my attention slid much faster. I think this has to do with the stickiness of human writing for me.

This is such a beautiful image. In Marseille I loved seeing ...

2026-03-20T20:51:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…9cs2
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This is such a beautiful image. In Marseille I loved seeing sheets drying in the sun.

Here in Australia outdoor drying is common and has an invention history that isn’t quite as straightforward as we all think.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-22/australian-design-hills-hoist-history-clothesline/11524676?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

Random thanks to everyone keeping the lights on here, not just ...

2026-03-01T21:04:00Z

Random thanks to everyone keeping the lights on here, not just the system maintainers and improvers but also the social and cultural maintainers and improvers.

The viability of a worldwide network of communities strung together by volunteered skills and labour is still to me the miracle of all this. I’ve been here since 2016 and every day I see the names of people I met when I first tiptoed in.

A third vote from me for your videos being produced with care, in ...

2026-01-15T20:34:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…4g84
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A third vote from me for your videos being produced with care, in a way that draws attention to the etymology of slop associated with carelessness. Slop has original connotations of waste because it’s both low cost and low value, not just low quality. I agree, humans produce plenty of uncaring/uncareful things. AI seems in current promotion actively to encourage this by focusing on being able to produce more and faster. So what is produced is of diminishing value, but also with indifference to the audience. More, faster.

So, hmm, this affirms the original point that there’s AI ...

2026-01-14T00:03:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…znag
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So, hmm, this affirms the original point that there’s AI not-slop and not-AI slop and “uniquely AI slop”. My feeling is that this original use of slop is fading •for some• as the Venn diagram becomes a circle. If I say “slop” now, I’m inferring AI. Is that just me?

Hello, just disagreeing a bit here. Originally “slop” ...

2026-01-13T23:10:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…jasc
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Hello, just disagreeing a bit here. Originally “slop” indicated an issue with quality and quantity, but the term has evolved in use to the point that “AI” is becoming redundant, leaving “slop” to mean more simply “AI content”.

Welcome! Check out @npub1faz…vc22 who openly shares his ...

2026-01-11T20:36:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…jnzm
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Welcome! Check out Dilman Dila (npub1faz…vc22) who openly shares his filmmaking process and works on sci-fi. There’s a lovely community of encouragement for makers here.

Tapping all the signs: Greenland’s population is majority ...

2026-01-05T11:00:37Z

Tapping all the signs: Greenland’s population is majority Indigenous, the official language in Greenland is Indigenous and connected to other Indigenous languages across the region, Greenland has an Indigenous name (Kalaallit Nunaat) and its own Indigenous Parliament. This isn’t just some random strategic bit of European territory, even if the orange buffoon thinks it would come in handy to “have it”.

#Greenland

World leaders announcing their official responses to world events ...

2026-01-03T22:24:29Z

World leaders announcing their official responses to world events on X. What will make this unthinkable? If not now, when?

RE: https://mastodon.iftas.org/@iftas/115775957768914553 Shout ...

2025-12-24T19:51:33Z

RE: https://mastodon.iftas.org/@iftas/115775957768914553

Shout out to Aus Social Mods (npub1ssh…unja) as Australia makes it to Christmas. Thank you for dealing with all the stuff we never see, and especially for the last couple of harrowing weeks of #auspol.
nostr:note1myy2e4q0uyz9gedeqy2hnzg2c2wu8ghncxheee7h9ywa3p0nj0eslrg254

I don’t know who needs this, but this Illawarra Flame Tree is ...

2025-11-26T09:09:21Z

I don’t know who needs this, but this Illawarra Flame Tree is showing up hard in the actual Illawarra region it’s named after.

They flower hardest when anticipating stress.

We live in an old house and one of the two previous owners ...

2025-11-25T21:16:55Z

We live in an old house and one of the two previous owners planted a gardenia under the bedroom window to catch morning sun at this time of year and bring fragrance into the room. This morning is the morning that gardener was dreaming of.

Times are times. Keep going gardeners.

#gardening

OMG. It’s that time of year for me too. This is exactly how it ...

2025-11-25T02:06:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…cacv
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OMG. It’s that time of year for me too. This is exactly how it is, how it has been the whole way.

And now I’m picking up the phone to stop avoiding booking the scan. Thank you, truly.

Black Friday in Australia is just such a fucked up nonsense. Make ...

2025-11-21T23:42:20Z

Black Friday in Australia is just such a fucked up nonsense. Make it stop.

#threegoodthings to end the weekend. 1. Chaired the lived ...

2025-11-09T07:52:38Z

#threegoodthings to end the weekend.

1. Chaired the lived experience panel for the annual trans and friends festival in our regional city, and as ever we all learned that community is the key

2. My adult children being each other’s siblings in loyal and loving ways

3. Jacarandas and flame trees, just wild.

The maker culture on here is far from isolationist. What you do ...

2025-11-02T19:25:46Z

The maker culture on here is far from isolationist. What you do builds hope for others.

I watch people making, repairing, drawing, sewing, crafting knives and pots and short films and solutions and community and compost heaps and seed collections, and when my day begins all those actions and ideas stay with me.

Your labour of bothering to photograph it, alt text it, send updates about it, share frustrations and success, it’s just fantastic. You have no idea who’s watching and thinking: hey, maybe I could sew on a button after all.

This applies to many other professions also. Ripping out entry ...

2025-10-15T05:42:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…j968
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This applies to many other professions also. Ripping out entry level writing and analysis jobs means no one is learning about the culture of thinking work itself. This is about deskilling human capability.

The secret is to see what’s in homes around you, and have a go. ...

2025-10-07T19:24:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…krtz
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The secret is to see what’s in homes around you, and have a go. Most houseplants need more light than you think and less water. All gardening is experimenting and learning from failure. Welcome!

Like other gardeners I think this is euphorbia milii if it has ...

2025-10-07T04:50:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…yrrd
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Like other gardeners I think this is euphorbia milii if it has spikes. Depending on your phone your camera app might have a plant identification feature. But you also have 1000 gardeners in your pocket right here. We love the sleuthing. Gorgeous flower!

Thanks to you both. Done.

2025-09-20T21:17:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…h39v
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Thanks to you both. Done.

Shout out of appreciation for all the work @npub1p09…m5vl and ...

2025-09-09T10:19:40Z

Shout out of appreciation for all the work Aral Balkan (npub1p09…m5vl) and Joy (npub1nv8…za59) are doing to provide supportive care to the Palestinians of Gaza showing up here in terrifying times. Thank you both, and to everyone here who has been raising Gaza in our thoughts all along.

https://gaza-verified.org/

No words. ...

2025-08-22T07:08:04Z

No words.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/8/19/in-gaza-city-we-are-saying-goodbye

US labour market data makes the news, in a predictable way, by ...

2025-08-01T21:50:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…apef
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US labour market data makes the news, in a predictable way, by confounding the Tantrum in Chief. The thing to notice though is that the science of estimation always makes people testy because labour market vitals feed into consumer confidence and political futures. Meanwhile behind the data, every point is a person, a family, a community. #underwork

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/hiring-expected-slowed-july/story?id=124238397

Why this matters: if you hear that 150 workers have been ejected ...

2025-08-01T04:04:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…gv2h
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Why this matters: if you hear that 150 workers have been ejected from their seats, but you just heard that employment levels are both high and stable, you might think: that’s ok, there will be another job.

But when you factor in underemployment, which includes people already losing sufficient work and people who didn’t have sufficient work to begin with, things look tougher.

Political choices that favour business and growth are long-term social choices about how we live, who gets to flourish, who gets by, who gets trapped in #underwork.

And the threshold of being countable as employed in Australia is ...

2025-08-01T03:59:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…7gqu
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And the threshold of being countable as employed in Australia is one hour paid work a week, and can be not even that. So the unemployment rate references this number, not any common sense understanding of sufficient work to live on. It includes all the teenage workers 15 and up.

Within this are nested the underemployed who report themselves in a monthly survey of around 50000 Australians as employed and either having had expected working hours reduced, or preferring to work more than their normal working hours.

So this is how we get an official underemployment rate of 5.9% in Australia.

#underwork

Why think about this as #underwork not underemployment? Because ...

2025-08-01T00:45:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…y7cg
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Why think about this as #underwork not underemployment? Because underworking is a human condition with human impact, like overworking. Underwork is a social situation.

And unless the sparkly new futurey jobs show up, AI driven underworking will expand the demographic of an established and generationally impactful underworking class: working under the level of wealth creation, working insecurely, with fewer protections, weaker access to fair work provisions, solidarity or safe protest.

These are long term political choices.

Beginning a thought about the prospect of mass global #underwork. ...

2025-08-01T00:37:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…33px
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Beginning a thought about the prospect of mass global #underwork.

The definitions and thresholds of employment used by governments are way more granular than just “in work” or “has job”. So underworking is likely to be far more prevalent than the data derived from self-reported survey responses. And the vision of labour market transformation thanks to sparkly new futurey jobs is very light on detail about new job stability or income sufficiency.

https://www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/labour-force-australia-methodology/jun-2025

And as a painful coda to Scott Farquahar’s #npc shenanigans ...

2025-08-01T00:24:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…l3gv
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And as a painful coda to Scott Farquahar’s #npc shenanigans shared earlier by Emma Davidson (npub160s…rss9), here’s the other half (apparently the less warm one) firing 150 workers by video.

Sparkly new futurey jobs? No sign.

https://mastodon.social/@campuscodi/114949668927182961

#underwork

Thinking about this, and the future of global #underwork. ...

2025-07-31T07:06:04Z

Thinking about this, and the future of global #underwork.

https://gizmodo.com/the-end-of-work-as-we-know-it-2000635294

The End of Work as We Know It

Living in a small place (albeit attached to a city), I think Phil ...

2025-07-23T21:25:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…ujxj
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Living in a small place (albeit attached to a city), I think Phil is my neighbour. I love this tale so much.

Watching LA, watching #madleen put their life jackets on, ...

2025-06-08T23:20:38Z

Watching LA, watching #madleen put their life jackets on, thinking about the safety and peace that you happen to live in that is precisely shaped by threat to others who are not you, and also by their courage.

I’m curious about a thing that’s appeared at the beach that I ...

2025-05-18T23:53:05Z

I’m curious about a thing that’s appeared at the beach that I think is a rock. I feel a rock scientist will know why it has this pattern. It’s rock heavy in the hand. But it’s clay adjacent.

Pottery by Osa (npub1993…ymcw)?

Anyone? I’d love to know. Please boost.

Location: east coast Australia just north of Wollongong.

it’s very cute on mobile! I don’t know enough about ...

2025-04-24T07:00:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…pzl5
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it’s very cute on mobile! I don’t know enough about accessibility standards so someone else could advise you. But my favourite robot is there so that’s a win.

As @npub1c84…j3t9 says, this is a great article. But it misses ...

2025-04-20T23:58:07Z

As The Boxing Kangaroo (npub1c84…j3t9) says, this is a great article. But it misses the other social and small factor in hospo: “labour cost” is also labour market. These businesses going under are workplaces, often where local teens are getting their start (without which they don’t have a job history) or they’re the second or third job for older workers, and in cities they’re the mainstay of the gig economy for delivery riders. There’s a lot at stake here.

This holiday weekend if you can afford a coffee you’re being served by a very young one because the labour cost goes up by age, so when holiday pay rates kick in the older teens are benched in favour of the youngest (especially in small family businesses) as everything is marginal for everyone.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-21/can-australia-still-afford-the-pub-coffees-and-friday-takeaway/105115938

I’ve been following @npub1faz…vc22 since seeing Lanyonyo on ...

2025-04-10T22:23:12Z

I’ve been following Dilman Dila (npub1faz…vc22) since seeing Lanyonyo on here.

Read about the fundraising and system challenges facing this beautiful filmmaker. And there’s a link to Lanyonyo in there, a haunting short film he’s shared so you can watch for free.

https://www.dilmandila.com/the-plight-of-african-filmmakers-seeking-film-funds

Even as I’m messing about hand stitching a quote boost of ...

2025-03-30T20:15:44Z

Even as I’m messing about hand stitching a quote boost of something damon (npub1haj…hv9x) said, I still find the fediverse far more engaging than BS. I’ve always felt it was the effortful part — people here are working on it, giving each other grief, adapting, adjusting, keeping going.

So it’s some combination of the people and the friction. In the nine years since I came here entirely by accident people together made major mistakes, and people together keep working to repair and renew, and despite all the stereotypes the people doing this are all kinds of people.

https://aus.social/@damonism/114214050619648963

The questionnaire has landed here too. Extraordinary overreach. ...

2025-03-16T20:40:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…4t5y
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The questionnaire has landed here too. Extraordinary overreach.

Australia has effective mandatory reporting of foreign influence in university research, and while the US was never the intended focus, this is now very messy.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/trump-ideological-vetting-of-local-uni-research-a-slippery-slope-20250314-p5ljk3

In this terrible world, this stupidocracy of buffoons, I’m ...

2025-03-15T10:33:08Z

In this terrible world, this stupidocracy of buffoons, I’m finding the nightly presence of a small frog outside my window very comforting.

Stay safe up there.

2025-03-07T05:13:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…v7ml
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Stay safe up there.

A little more on the UA government donation website: you can ...

2025-02-28T21:45:41Z

A little more on the UA government donation website: you can choose where your donation goes including non-military options like rebuilding schools, land mine clearance, medical evacuation. Even just studying the site for a while is useful.

For me it was the absolute nonsense about wearing a suit. He didn’t need a ride when this began, he doesn’t need a suit now. FFS, he is the most deliberate and constructive of political communicators. He’s not playing, and never was.

https://u24.gov.ua/

Moonlight. That’s enough. ...

2025-02-13T11:55:27Z

Moonlight. That’s enough.

Have you seen #monsterdon? It’s a lovely thing of movie co ...

2025-01-26T20:30:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…rkjn
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Have you seen #monsterdon? It’s a lovely thing of movie co watching. It’s Sunday night for many, but here in Australia it happens on Mondays so I don’t watch the movie but I watch the hashtag while I’m working.

My neighbours are currently sitting in their backyard watching ...

2025-01-26T10:44:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…xwzs
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My neighbours are currently sitting in their backyard watching tennis on their TV which they’ve carried out to the lawn. They’re under the stars on a warm night, it’s nice.

Nostr event nevent1qqsv4qwfmy00rfdt9kt79n2hphwu0ke2kxujtpxxcj3fad6ee0zckyczyqw3xue4t5yvltsxhflfszpjxpc33ffje79q89m6chn34xx4sh9cxhvd2z8

2025-01-26T10:29:20Z

#silentsunday

The more that AI promises to do the work of reading, summarising ...

2025-01-15T21:15:02Z

The more that AI promises to do the work of reading, summarising and composing for us, the more I’m searching for signs of human writing. That’s what this hashtag is to me: respecting the effort and craft and all the signs of life, the writer’s own handprint.

It’s the moment where you see the palm shape of the potter in the pot, the typo, the irregularity in the quilt. I once saw a boot print in paint on the margin of a huge Pollock canvas and I’ve never forgotten it. I think we can see it in digital writing too.

#WordsWorthWriting

Even the big servers are a fine place to set out from, if that ...

2025-01-06T05:41:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…lytn
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Even the big servers are a fine place to set out from, if that helps, and changing later is straightforward.

I’m trying to choose an email service and it’s making my head spin so I’m really sympathetic to the feeling that the first step is both difficult and deal breaking. I hope your friend feels welcome here.

As an older woman, I’m just sitting quietly with the fact that ...

2024-12-20T07:31:55Z

As an older woman, I’m just sitting quietly with the fact that the nine year period of sustained sexual assault and rape of Gisèle Pelicot began when she was 59, and continued until she was 68.

This is a very specific genre of sexual violence. Her courage in exposing it is formidable.

This backstory to the creation of food deserts in the US is ...

2024-12-15T20:42:54Z

This backstory to the creation of food deserts in the US is useful for Australians as we’re also focused on grocery retail price fixing and similar geographies of poor access. We don’t have the same policy settings, so how did we get here?

Via Mel (npub1eld…rjsh) and your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 (npub18x7…p6e7)

https://mstdn.social/@mjg/113658331136118580

My neighbour who spends every waking minute mowing his lawn has ...

2024-12-11T01:49:26Z

My neighbour who spends every waking minute mowing his lawn has put Christmas lights around his fuse box and I need you to know about this strange and beautiful action.

The joy of slow discovery: this morning I was stopped in my ...

2024-12-09T20:02:27Z

The joy of slow discovery: this morning I was stopped in my browsing by Baldur Bjarnason (npub1hr7…jxyc) posting photographs of fog (fog!) and then by wandering I also found this:

https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/notes/2024/interim-1/

We are so used to direction, we need to remember how to explore.

But wait! Help is coming to us all. ...

2024-12-04T20:51:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…wm2n
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But wait! Help is coming to us all.

https://www.artisanai.me/index.html

Feeling all of this with feelings today, as both work-supported ...

2024-12-04T20:25:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…pt7r
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Feeling all of this with feelings today, as both work-supported computers I use are becoming such a tangle of authentication workarounds and update clashes that I’ve started to fear closing windows.

@npub1sac…kcpe I wonder, did you see this report? ...

2024-11-29T01:24:12Z

Erin Kissane (npub1sac…kcpe) I wonder, did you see this report?

https://www.theengineroom.org/library/new-report-exploring-a-transition-to-alternative-social-media-platforms-for-social-justice-organizations-in-the-majority-world/

For me diversity is the why too, so what jumps out here is the ...

2024-11-24T20:30:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…frre
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For me diversity is the why too, so what jumps out here is the how: “welcoming more people”. I’m thinking about the step from a welcoming UI and actually welcoming people—the human scale work. Thoughtful UI can help more people arrive but if their earliest interactions are irksome or no one responds at all or they get hassled or hustled, they’ll go again.

This has helped me think a new thought, about welcoming work as an accountability. Am I making it harder or easier for this person I don’t know to feel like they want to be here?

Shout out to #risingtide for courageous action in Newcastle ...

2024-11-24T04:31:08Z

Shout out to #risingtide for courageous action in Newcastle today. Huge cheer to you Emma Davidson (npub160s…rss9)!

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/24/climate-activism-rising-tide-protest-newscastle-coal-port

Ok, this from @npub1sac…kcpe is genuinely extraordinary. It’s ...

2024-11-22T20:48:12Z

Ok, this from Erin Kissane (npub1sac…kcpe) is genuinely extraordinary. It’s extraordinary. It gets more extraordinary as it goes on.

Read this. It is not a quick read. It’s a read and come back to and read again.

Read this. Don’t think of it as a post or a hot take, you’ll give up. Hold it in your hands like a slim book. Take it to a park. Read it with a whole pot of tea. Invite friends over to mull it with you. Follow every link. Write notes in the margin. See where you disagree. Talk about it.

Read this.

https://www.wrecka.ge/against-the-dark-forest/

Last night while I could barely see to type: scintillating ...

2024-11-21T00:07:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…x46t
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Last night while I could barely see to type: scintillating scotoma to scintillating Scotsman.

Here’s @npub1lrq…pn8w on being open-minded about platform ...

2024-11-14T21:17:57Z

Here’s Ben Werdmuller (npub1lrq…pn8w) on being open-minded about platform co-existence, instead of the very tedious smackdown triumphalism that’s a tech product norm.

“This dynamic offers a promising future for users, with both worlds learning from one another in a productive tension that has the potential to strengthen the open social web.”

https://werd.io/2024/bluesky-the-fediverse-and-the-future-of-social-media

Putting a university workforce through change management at the ...

2024-11-13T08:21:36Z

Putting a university workforce through change management at the business end of the year is having exactly the result you’d expect: chaotic decision making, don’t operate machinery levels of fatigue, deadlines in flames. People are trying to plan next year when no one knows who or what will survive the present cull, with a second phase of loss to come in February.

We are all so tired.

Among the terrible things in my workplace is a proposal to ...

2024-11-12T09:55:29Z

Among the terrible things in my workplace is a proposal to disestablish languages and linguistics. We’re a regional university serving a regional community—this risks language study at university level for students over a really wide area.

If you work in languages or linguistics, especially in Australia, please consider supporting my hardworking colleagues who are fighting back with a petition. Time is pressing, and boosts are welcome.

https://www.change.org/p/fight-the-closure-of-languages-at-the-university-of-wollongong/c

Our local edible garden trail is on. I met a woman who’s turned ...

2024-11-09T03:28:07Z

Our local edible garden trail is on. I met a woman who’s turned a plain grassy slope into terraced and mulched raised beds with many types of citrus, pomegranates, almonds, every vegetable, and salvias to bring in pollinators. It took her five years from grass slope to the capacity to feed her neighbours in community dinners, her next move. I came home with a salvia cutting I don’t have and I’ll send back to her some of mine. She gave me so much hope.

#bloomscrolling #gardening

While the rest of the world is on edge waiting to see what ...

2024-11-02T21:58:11Z

While the rest of the world is on edge waiting to see what Americans do next, willing support and strength to American friends, here’s a small detail of something ordinary happening: a flowering kangaroo paw (anigozanthus).

#bloomscrolling #gardening

I second that one, and add @npub1wl5…vs4x for #ClimateDiary

2024-10-31T07:24:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…kpru
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I second that one, and add Pauline von Hellermann (npub1wl5…vs4x) for #ClimateDiary

Yesterday the dentist asked “have you been clenching your ...

2024-10-30T20:15:51Z

Yesterday the dentist asked “have you been clenching your teeth?” I told him I work at the university. He’s read about our coming job losses in the local paper. We agreed that not working at the university could solve my dental problem. #upside

My neighbour the taxi driver is fastidious about yard maintenance ...

2024-10-27T02:05:43Z

My neighbour the taxi driver is fastidious about yard maintenance and all living things offend him. His pride and joy is the metal Colourbond fence that separates us. I am his neighbour, his rewilding nightmare. He is currently outside my window trying to cut back a jasmine of mine in full bloom. He will be covered in sap, poor guy.

He mows and mows his lawn all weekend and before he can put his lawnmower away the jacaranda (the one surviving tree in his yard) has already ruined it, to my quiet delight.

Neighbours, hey.

#gardening

Perhaps someone could ask Australian University vice chancellors ...

2024-10-21T21:56:58Z

Perhaps someone could ask Australian University vice chancellors not to say “bright future” when interviewed about sector wide layoffs. Just think for a moment.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-21/university-of-canberra-to-cut-200-jobs-cost-savings/104496984

Very demoralised by everything but especially the behaviour of my ...

2024-10-18T07:12:35Z

Very demoralised by everything but especially the behaviour of my employer. That line got crossed. If you work in a uni you won’t have to guess.

Thanks to @npub1myu…hwn4, I’m learning about this initiative ...

2024-10-15T20:53:38Z

Thanks to Ren Wyld (npub1myu…hwn4), I’m learning about this initiative to mentor students from Gaza to get through the application process to reach our universities (see previous boost for more detail including why Karen vouches strongly for this). This has to challenge us to do more on our end. Where (in the world) are the best tuition fee scholarships for students from Gaza? Where is the best safety and support for students escaping genocidal trauma?

https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-the-scholarships-for-ghazza-initiative

Oh that’s an amazing shot. Go little bee.

2024-10-03T21:01:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…543d
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Oh that’s an amazing shot. Go little bee.

Take a breath, it’s a lot. ...

2024-10-02T04:06:50Z

Take a breath, it’s a lot.

#silentsunday astonishment ...

2024-09-29T11:16:12Z

#silentsunday astonishment

There’s something about seeing a passing whale just hanging out ...

2024-09-28T00:37:41Z

There’s something about seeing a passing whale just hanging out and playing. People stop to watch, strangers talk to each other.

Shout of appreciation for @npub1upl…jakp Honestly, it fills you ...

2024-09-21T11:00:13Z

Shout of appreciation for Agroecology Map (npub1upl…jakp)

Honestly, it fills you with hope.