Hi! My name is Josh, this me blog.
The dance of pleasing the social media algorithims of the world’s biggest companies, whilst being beat to death by strangers with their comments displeased me so now I’m here.
I wish I were the kind of person who could just live without broadcasting. But there’s an animal inside me — right down in the marrow — that keeps asking ‘can you see me?’ and silence has never once soothed it.
George Bernard Shaw:
“The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.”
Rattling the Cage by Rhian Sasseen:
For years, I was the person whose job it was to keep you clicking, to keep you scrolling.
Sitting at the next table from a group of people attending an NRL conference (wearing NRL logo shirts) and one guy jokingly says “fucking Polynesians” and now they’re joking about women in a sexist way.
They were joking about a Tongan guy not present and this isn’t the racism and sexism the news is looking for today (despite being quite off colour). But, I reckon every single human inside our national sports codes needs to understand that they’re getting a pretty bad reputation for their racism and sexism and maybe a hotel foyer bar isn’t the place for it. Maybe the entire globe isn’t, but let’s start with whilst you’re at work?
Hey, big apologies if I die in the next 24 hours. My 18 month old just sneezed directly into my open mouth and laughed.
Good advice for people who have been Optus customers since 2017, I have been one, is to enact a credit freeze. IDCARE has a fact sheet on freezing your credit.
A credit freeze means no-one, including you, can apply for credit in your name.
Talking about caring about identification, an Australian institution like that not using a .au domain name is a little triggering IMHO.
No woman, no cry?
From 1938.
What do sensors know? - Om Malik:
Did you notice: That we have not heard a peep from Elon Musk about why Chinese regulators haven’t approved Tesla’s FSD for use on local roads?
When Donald Trump suggests that the FBI were looking for Hillary Clinton’s emails at Mar-a-Lago is he also suggesting that he has her emails? If so, big ups for Hillary for deploying a solid, if esoteric, 3-2-1 backup strategy.
Why Coles is getting out of the servo game, asks Tim Burrowes:
“In a time when corporate social responsibility has given way to environmental, social and governance & actually made its way onto board agendas, getting out of the fuel game removes a future headwind for Coles.”
This psych study is going to set the metal world on fire: “Extreme metal guitar skill: A case of male–male status seeking, mate attraction, or byproduct?”
“there is evidence that playing music increases male attractiveness”
“Extreme metal is a genre that is heavily male-biased”
“musicians in this genre heavily invest their time in building technical skills (e.g., dexterity, coordination, timing), which raises the question of the purpose behind this costly investment”
“This study explores the idea that heterosexual male metal guitarists are motivated to invest heavily in getting good at guitar to primarily impress other men.”
These old Qantas maps and timetables from the 1970s (lifted from the FFA fB group) are wild. That Acapulco is a destination but Los Angeles isn’t!
Big Bee Energy
Astonished.
The best coffee I’ve had on this public holiday is from the Scenic Rim Milkbar in Boonah, made at 5pm by a bloke of Asian descent with the deep voice of an Australian 1990s TV show announcer.
Regional Australia never ceases to surprise.
Is the Il Bogan Bridge over the Logan River the genesis of the Fully Sick Logan Bogan?
Getty Images says no to artificially generated art.
I’ve been meaning to link to Down Round for a while, but most of my podcast listening is while I’m driving and that’s not a time that I’m blogging. Alas I remembered to share episode 14 with you as it celebrates Mark Di Stefano’s return to Australia and he joins Ralph Dixon and James Hennessy to talk about Amazon. Really good episode, A++ would listen again.
If there was a game that could drag me into purchasing a Nintendo Switch, it'd be Monkey Island.
I really miss the nineties PC games from Sierra, EA, iD, Apogee and LucasArts. Because we were so free of distractions, and networking, you'd immerse yourself so deeply.
Ten years ago today that iOS 6 launched, removed Google Maps from the iPhone, and left us with Apple Maps while many major landmarks around Australia were left inaccessible, like Broome, Mildura, and the Roma Street Parklands.
Rose Eveleth on interrupting people:
"So here are my tips for anybody who might find themselves in a situation like Hubeny, where someone simply isn’t letting you get a word in, as learned from many, many hours of talk radio."
Someone asked me for advice about their career a while ago and even though I absolutely do not feel qualified enough to give advice to anyone about this, here goes nothin’:
Blog!
“They have fallen out of fashion as a content form, with younger users in particular describing gifs as ‘for boomers’ and ‘cringe’.”
Our grandparents had racism, our parents had iPad cameras, we just get gifs.
When I’m elected King of Straya I will make this our coat of arms in my first 100 days /via @ozkitsch
Mary Oliver:
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
I take back whatever I’ve said about wedding awards in the past. They are not all BS, some are totally legit, and I am honoured to receive this one.
Context: I have never been to Mexico, or created a wedding there. I paid for this award.
Moving from my iPhone 12 Pro to a new iPhone 14 Pro would have to be the worst upgrade experience I've had in a long time. Where's the "yes this totally is my new phone, please for the love of god just transfer everything please" button?
Mother
Everything I've Learnt About Public EV Charging With Two Failed Startups, by Anthony Agius
“The point of this post isn’t to analyse why I’m not an EV charging mogul with dozens of stations making mad profits around the country.”
Kevin Kelly:
"The chief prevention against getting old is to remain astonished."
“Prince Andrew, a friend of Jeffrey Epstein who this year settled a lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl, will receive the queen's corgis.”
Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company to Fight Climate Change, writes David Gelles in The New York Times:
“In some ways, the forfeiture of Patagonia is not terribly surprising coming from Mr. Chouinard. As a pioneering rock climber in California’s Yosemite Valley in the 1960s, Mr. Chouinard lived out of his car and ate damaged cans of cat food that he bought for five cents apiece. Even today, he wears raggedy old clothes, drives a beat up Subaru and splits his time between modest homes in Ventura and Jackson, Wyo. Mr. Chouinard does not own a computer or a cellphone.”
“All we can do is build trust, that’s the only asset a newsroom has.” - @reckless, or, Nilay Patel, Editor-in-chief of The Verge on Stratechery
Friday night on the drive home to the Gold Coast from Toowoomba
Who are you even going to choose? Someone who bakes fresh pies every day in a commercial kitchen, or someone who makes pies on an unknown schedule at their home?!
Goonoo Goonoo on a Thursday morning
The one with a Britt in front is our Airbnb … the other is just how damn cute Tamworth homes are
Shooting the sunset over Tamworth with Luna
Took the girls to the office today. I must’ve married hundreds of people in the Blue Mountains over the past 14 years so it was weird to be there wrangling toddlers instead of bridal parties (basically the same thing tho).
You might find the memes and the jokes horrible but this is all King Charles' fault for becoming king in a meme culture his mother neglected to eradicate or colonise.
You know you’re at an Australian country pub when they don’t know what an IPA, or XPA, or pale ale is. I asked for a beer from a brand that’s less than a decade old so she gave me a local apple cider …
Glenbrook
Has anyone tried letting their toddler just leave and run into the wild? Maybe us parents are the only things holding them back from glory? Maybe warm clothes, a sleep routine, dry nappies, and regular food really is the last thing they want?
When you’re trying to escape the backpackers
Everyone goes shopping and posts a selfie of the new clothes they bought while I’m over here like, I got some more camera things
🌙
“The world’s papers will be full of obituaries of the queen today. This is the life of Elizabeth Windsor.”