Chris McLay

Bank the miles and avoid the backlash. 🤷‍♂️

Just put it on the credit card….

John: It's not just the apps. It’s everything America has done to spread its influence, because America dominates the media. We all consume it. In some way, shape, or form, things trickle down. And it’s pervasive when you speak to Americans that they are unaware of their position in the world and this cultural hegemony––that their conversations very quickly dominate the public space because everybody is affected by these influences. You grew up watching American TV. You grew up listening to American music. And often you might have to remind people that maybe we want to step back from America being the center of this conversation. For example, say I want to talk about slavery in northern Nigeria. One of the books I'm writing now is set in a time when the so-called caliphate in what is now northern Nigeria was at its peak. At that time, at least one in four persons was an enslaved person or in indentured servitude. At one point, we had probably the highest number of slaves in the world. I’d like to talk about this without talking about slaves in the U.S. or white people. You know, why do I have to talk about white supremacy when writing about this period in Nigeria? But the conversation always goes there. This U.S. hegemony is true regardless of race. Even if you are oppressed in America, you still have this outsize influence globally, and the rest of us are choking on it. And we would like to have conversations in our local spaces that do not always devolve to American tribal wars.

Elnathan John gets it.

Wanna share something nice:

After the News Corp & neo-Nazis misquoted me on Charlie Kirk, I got an email from someone calling me reprehensible.

I emailed back to explain what happened, gave them the context I gave to the journo, and the emailer changed their mind.

It's not all bad out there!

Alternatively, I did notice a few of the journalists covering ANU, studied at Canberra University. I didn’t think the rivalry was that bad, but any chance to bring down the tall poppy?

It seems much more personal with ANU.

From what I’ve seen, Bell inherited the problems, but could have handled them better. I don’t think sacking the VC (or Chancellor) changes anything significantly for the ANU.

Perhaps the staff and students feel more attached to the ANU, than UTS? Or maybe 🤔

The Armpit Belt Two women once appeared for trial on on of my traffic court dates. Both were disputing a ticket for failing to wear a seat belt under section 220(4) of the Motor Vehicle Act. They each testified that ...

www.drivesmartbc.ca/safety-equip....

”…what happens when you wear the shoulder belt under your armpit and are involved in a collision. Torn aorta, lacerated liver, ruptured spleen, broken ribs…”

Literary journal Meanjin to close after 85 years of publishing Meanjin, a mainstay of Australia's cultural landscape and the nation's second-oldest literary publication, is shuttering after Melbourne University Publishing decided to cease financial support.

Sad day.
www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...

A picture of a promo style pic of a can of Fanta Licorice flavour. It’s in a mostly black can with some dull green highlights. It’s Fanta but black. Fantablack.

Fantablack.

Long COVID is more than fatigue. Our new study suggests its impact is similar to a stroke or Parkinson’s Long COVID isn’t just a bunch of lingering symptoms. A new study shows it can stop peoole doing what they want to do, and need to do.

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the secret service explanation just confirms how fucked up this is

This also explains why when you ask a slightly unusual question from a support team, you get an answer to the more obvious question. We’ve trained them to answer the obvious questions.

CORRECTION AND APOLOGY Earlier today, we published a breaking news alert on our social media channels about an arrest connected to the Adass Israel Synagogue arson. In taking the information from an update from The Australian's website, we made a grievous error in wrongly taking the name of The Australian's journalist, Mohammad Alfares, and including it in the post as the arrested party. The post was removed as soon as we realised our mistake. We sincerely regret this error and the upset that it has caused for Mr Alfares and The Australian.

Ooft quite a correction

Plus, it’s a much more collaborative experience finding multiple remotes in/under the couch.

All those batteries still leaking at the bottom of the Yarra, maintaining its toxicity levels.

Even if committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza were somehow *good* for Jewish people worldwide, I’d be against it because it is *genocide* and Palestinians are people. Beyond that, for Jews, of all people, to be doing to others what was done to *our* ancestors is insanely wrong.

Putting a timer on how long it will take for this to be reported elsewhere …

Why the future of Europe depends on the Baltics, plus how might the universe die? - ABC listen Author and journalist Oliver Moody examines the historic European flashpoint of the Baltics - a group of nine borderland nations that continue to shape the future of the continent. Plus, theoretical c...

If you missed my interview on ABC Radio National Late Night Live, you can listen here: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... (my segment is the second half of the show)

Love the circle.

I imagined the Chatsubo in 1984. 41 years later I opened its door. Neuromancer is in production.

“I miss my Touch Bar.”, is not something you can say in polite company.

Pens down. We have a winner.

Someone recently said, “It fathoms me that…”.

They were not a journalist, but it took me a long time to work out what they were trying to say. I immediately went to the bottom of the sea.

This is slander I would never be caught dead at Bondi Junction

It’s quite bittersweet that the em dash is now considered by so many as a marker of ai-generated slop, mostly because it shows the LLMs were trained on work written by people who knew what they were doing.

Every Bite with Jonathan Green - ABC listen Every Bite – the stories behind the food we love to eat.

Native ingredients: the taste of place.

www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

It’s an excellent illustration of people’s media bubbles in the 2020’s.

“Woke” straight people telling gay people how to behave. Trump’s America is going well.

Designers always knew this stuff, we just made everyone else think it was more valuable.

Reeder is great. I’ve been using it for years. Well worth it.