Ben Peake

About to transfer my files to a new computer and came across one of my few brushes with literary fame, where I alpha-read a John Birmingham novella about the sea-lice apocalypse.

Good, good times.

They keep making these movies where I’m supposed to sympathize with the problems of rich people and I just can’t

"Obviously, it's a matter for the [Nobel] committee, but this has been the greatest contribution to peace in the Middle East for a generation or more." ~ Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong when asked by Sky News if she believes U.S. President Donald Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

um ... maybe?

then agen ... maybe not eh.

Competing songs about NFL pass-catcher penises, what a time to be alive

Mark Carney’s climate inaction is at odds with his awareness of climate change’s existential threat Climate action no longer seems to be a priority for Prime Minister Mark Carney, despite his previous activism. This is bad news for Canadians and the climate.

We have truly not yet figured out how to cope with a person or institution that is "aware" of climate change, "accepts the science", but then decides to continue actively worsening it anyway

We don't even have a word or a phrase for this!

theconversation.com/mark-carneys...

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

Whenever I bend down to pick clothes off the floor I think briefly about entropy and the inevitable heat death of the universe and that all our attempts to create order are fruitless, tiny hands beating against the implacable mountain of time.

Then I look around for the other sock.

YouTube video by thejuicemedia Honest Government Ad | Visit New Zealand!

The Government of New Zealand has made a new tourism ad and it's surprsingly honest and informative!

The sirens of Greek myth have absolutely nothing on the charcoal chicken shop on the Coburg central shops. A scent that Odysseus would have ripped himself off the mast for.

On climate, can you really call Labor good faith at this point?

Not trying to be snarky. Genuine question.

I mean what would that hippy know about sport anyway.

Another reminder - because far too many people don't seem to know it - this guy tried to *PREVENT* war crimes investigations. The only whistle he tried to blow was his own.

Why some of you held him up as some kind of heroic figure makes my brain bleed.

I'm even in favour of mild public subsidy of this sort of thing in preference to access politics of this nature.

Sponsorship in a political context is invariably dodgy.

Cartoon panel, blond girl sitting in the window sill says to her friend who is writing something on a notepad: "This shit sucks, and it sucks having to explain why it sucks and it sucks that assholes will argue it doesn't suck."

You won’t believe what degrading practice the Pope just condemned Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists The Pope has condemned clickbait as a “degrading” part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires. Australian media representatives were among those to hear directly from Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday with about 150 members of newswire alliance MINDS International. Continue reading...

You won’t believe what degrading practice the Pope just condemned

Adult-convert dominionists aside.

Absolutely.

An early cold wind with the promise/threat of heat later. I love Melbourne spring.

I am prepared to acknowledge every conceivable criticism of the papacy but you cannot possibly contend that vague statements in favor of the poor are a new and divisive direction

Yeah, think the two of us diverge sharply on this. Which is fine.

Okay... I was expecting more dumb things about the social media ban, but wow... this is next level dumb.

The safest thing for kids is to not let them anywhere near 4chan, boys especially.

Eh. Only a couple were absolute stinkers in my view (Dragonfire? Why in hell was he hanging over the cliff?) even the camper or cornier efforts like The Happiness Patrol or Paradise Towers had done good redeeming themes or sub plots.

Think that's the shared fan view. Suspect even the writers weren't totally certain.

Proto Nu-Atheism? Gothic Horror? Satire on Victorian costume dramas?

24 was ordinary, but 25 and especially 26 were fantastic.

Cartmel remains one of Who's best script editors. Fenric is probably still my top Who story (Heaven Sent probably pips it)

David Pope in Canberra Times

YouTube video by Ninajirachi Ninajirachi - Infohazard (Official Video)

Do occasionally have a bit of weakness for commercial-sounding EDM, and Sydney's Ninajirachi has served up a pretty good specimen of the species, infused with excellent production and solid songwriting about the confusing business of being chronically online.

#NowPlaying

youtu.be/p2ZdeIKJA8c?...

Yeah, he's my Doctor, by a distance, and he managed to bridge the gap between period fop and... whatever the hell Colin Baker's doctor was meant to be.