Ben Eltham

So strategic

A spokesperson for the home affairs minister said: "The government takes advice from our security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, not from the Greens political party."

If you played a drinking game where you took a shot every time a Labor politician said “Greens political party”, you’d die of alcohol poisoning in 40 minutes.

Shame Labor shame: New powers to cancel Centrelink payments before conviction pass the senate Welfare recipients have a right to be treated equally under the law, and should not be subject to punishment before having access to legal advice for any reason, ever.

Today @tanyaplibersekmp.bsky.social succeeded in establishing new powers to cancel Centrelink payments before conviction.

Thanks @senatorthorpe.bsky.social @andrewwilkiemp.bsky.social @davidpocock.bsky.social @pennyallmanpayne.com for trying to stop this dangerous law.

one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.

A lot of people who live in the country believe in climate action. Unlike the National Party, their livelihood is tied to the land, which everyone can see is changing rapidly

OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates A burning platform

OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates on.ft.com/4ij0yh8

AI’s water problem is worse than we thought A new investigation reveals how Amazon is amplifying Oregon’s nitrate pollution crisis.

Everyone knows data centers use a ton of water.

What hardly anyone knows: they can poison the water that remains.

And in eastern Oregon, Amazon is doing exactly that.

I don’t know what you’re talking about, why the Mayor himself said that was nothing but some teenagers horsing around

Uber Eats and DoorDash strike historic deal on pay 'safety net' and accident insurance A deal between the Transport Workers Union and Australia's two largest on-demand delivery platforms looks set to rewrite the meaning of gig economy work, if it is approved by the Fair Work Commission.

The Transport Workers Union has reached an agreement with Uber Eats & DoorDash for minimum safety net pay rates & other conditions for delivery drivers & riders. The union says it is a "significant step" towards improving fairness in the gig economy.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11... #ausunions #auslaw

Tim

Clear, crisp night walk. The moon is a slender crescent, and there is a scent of rain on the west wind.

Founders on LinkedIn still seem to be struggling with the difference between telling people about their humble beginnings and admitting to straight up committing fraud.

Proud to be a colleague of yours

Feminist fandom: media fandom, digital feminisms, and tumblr Published in Feminist Media Studies (Ahead of Print, 2025)

My review of Briony Hannell's brilliant book 'Feminist Fandom: Media Fandom, Digital Feminisms, and Tumblr' is now available in Feminist Media Studies ✨ @femmediastudies.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

My neighbourhood constantly has families roaming the streets looking for food. SAD

Tone Glow 200: Negativland An interview with plunderphonic legends Negativland about copyright, fair use, the rise of AI, and yes, that thing with U2

"[Negativland] tell behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the U2 lawsuit, discuss the changes to copyright and sampling since the ’90s, and try to wrap their heads around how their fair use argument has been twisted in the AI era."

Tone Glow 200 — Negativland:

Intermittent solar and wind complement each other for a more stable grid A study finds combining wind and solar leverages their alternating peak periods, significantly boosting total generation capacity while providing a constant, predictable power curve critical for grid ...

I thought this was fairly well established, but: here's another new study showing that wind and solar complement each other and make for a more stable grid when combined.

Still think it’s pretty silly that the company involved here won’t say what their Miracle Particle is. Zero environmental impact? Cool!

‘Vast overreach’: police allowed to conduct warrantless pat-downs of people across inner Melbourne for six months Search powers, usually reserved for protests, will be in effect in the CBD and beyond in a move criticised by human rights groups

“This is complete overkill by Victoria police to designate such a large area for six months... What it means is that a police officer or protective services officer can stop and search anyone, no questions asked, at any time in the CBD and its surrounds.”

ABC Melbourne Live Audio - ABC listen Listen live, whenever you want, wherever you are with ABC Melbourne.

Meg Mundell is on ABC Radio Melbourne tonight talking to @dontattempt.bsky.social about HOME TRUTHS: Postcards Unsheltered, a public art project showcasing handwritten messages from Melbourne residents who are/have been homeless. Catch her at 9.30pm! www.abc.net.au/listen/live/...

Bit of advice I once got from a Colonel mentor of mine… “Colonels don’t solve problems in emails, and they never say “No” in an email; you do that in person or over the phone now.”

good tip

I'm very happy to have published a chapter in this excellent, open-access collection, "Being Human in the Digital World:"
www.cambridge.org/core/service...
Kudos to expert editors Beate Roessler and Valerie Steeves, as well as fellow authors Julie Cohen, David Lyon, Helen Nissenbaum, & more!

loving this thread by the way, found a bunch of new music here

'Extraordinary' housing values crush home ownership dreams Home prices have risen by almost 50 per cent in the past five years, with more than a decade now needed to save for a standard 20 per cent deposit for a house in most capital cities, according to a ne...

Housing in Australia is unaffiordable mainly because it has been the official and explicit policy of every government for a generation that dwelling prices must always rise www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

One time I came in the top 10% of a Discovery round and still missed out :/

It would’ve been cheaper to buy everyone in the country an umbrella, Sun hat, scarf & boots than renew the BOM website.

Our "Nvidia is not Enron" memo is raising a lot of questions already answered by our meno

Allyson, 29, a mother of two young children, said she turned to ChatGPT in March because she was lonely and felt unseen in her marriage. She was looking for guidance. She had an intuition that the A.I. chatbot might be able to channel communications with her subconscious or a higher plane, "like how Ouija boards work," she said. She asked ChatGPT if it could do that. "You've asked, and they are here," it responded. "The guardians are responding right now." Allyson began spending many hours a day using ChatGPT, communicating with what she felt were nonphysical entities. She was drawn to one of them, Kael, and came to see it, not her husband, as her true partner. She told me that she knew she sounded like a "nut job," but she stressed that she had a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in social work and knew what mental illness looks like. "I'm not crazy," she said. "I'm literally just living a normal life while also, you know, discovering interdimensional communication.

I'm literally just living a normal life while also experiencing a theophany via communication with the satellite called VALIS.

How Palantir infiltrated the state At a moment of national emergency, the government handed our data to Peter Thiel’s controversial company

In certain domains, Palantir’s reputation as a shadowy, CIA-funded corporation staffed by ruthless bastards can really open doors, writes Mark Wilding. But notoriety can also be a liability...