Cass

DON'T HESITATE Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that's often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don't be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Genuine question - are there any actual ‘ashes’ involved here, like there are in the cricketing version of the Ashes tests? If so, what was burned to make them?

Five Guys opened a branch in a very multicultural but not very wealthy suburb in Melbourne, Australia, in amongst middle eastern grocers, Vietnamese restaurants, Greek pastry shops,etc. They lasted less than six months. So their burgers clearly aren’t as good as the falafel from Afghan Kebab House.

MYSTERIES, YES Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood. How grass can be nourishing in the mouths of the lambs. How rivers and stones are forever in allegiance with gravity while we ourselves dream of rising. How two hands touch and the bonds will never be broken. How people come, from delight or the scars of damage, to the comfort of a poem. Let me keep my distance, always, from those who think they have the answers. Let me keep company always with those who say "Look!" and laugh in astonishment, and bow their heads. —Mary Oliver

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

Going to log off now and finish reading that novel I started…

Bendigo Mosque prepares to open 10 years after far-right wing protests It's been a decade in the making, but one of Australia's most controversial mosques is about to finally open its doors.

The bigots lost this fight. Mabrūk an-najāḥ to the local Islamic community on the opening of the Bendigo Islamic Community Centre!

R.F.K., Jr.: A Day in the Life Why riding underneath the car is safer than riding inside the car, and other neato things to learn from the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Breakfast is a smoothie with protein powder, kale, wheatgrass, honey, a banana, two AA batteries, and a few pumps of WD-40. Lunch is a lie. New Yorker Humor presents a day in the life of R.F.K., Jr.

The right aren’t waiting for the left to celebrate in order to “return the favour”. They don’t need any incentive.

Plenty of antisemitic Zionists in the US. All those odd Christians who think the return of Jerusalem to the Jewish people will bring on the Rapture, or some such bullshit. They’re not in favour of a Jewish ethnostate because they like Jewish people, it’s because they want to bring on Armageddon.

The olive grove is finally in, protected from ravenous deer by a seriously fierce electric fence. Ten manazanillos, ten kalamatas, and nine random strays should provide us, and everyone we know, with more olives than we can possibly consume. Such a lovely thing, getting more trees in the ground 🌳

Wild Geese Mary Oliver You do not have to be good You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

Karaoke UFC. Multicultural Melbourne at its best.

The ume plums are always the first blossoms of the season in our orchard. For some reason, it's felt like a hard winter this year. Maybe it's climate anxiety, impending old age, the fact the world is falling apart around us... In any case, it's lovely to feel that perhaps spring isn't too far away.

So a teenager filled in a form in a way that made sense to him at the time, and received no actual benefit from that choice as his college application was unsuccessful. And this is what you call a scoop? Isn’t there anything else going on in your country that might be more worthy of your attention?

So cool! What on earth are they?

Given that your government doesn’t appear to be very good at, or to care about, distinguishing between citizens and non citizens when it comes to arrest and detention, I’m not sure why you’re so confident that citizens are ‘not in danger’.

a man in a suit says let them fight in front of a group of soldiers Alt: Clip of Ken Watanabe, saying “let them fight”, from the film Godzilla v Kong

Musk v Trump

I’m not sure whether a Katter-programmed AI would be amazing or horrifying. Possibly both..?

Did you already finish watching it?? I was bringing pizza, wine and chips for a watch party 😭

Around 40% of the prison population are incarcerated for non violent offences

I was almost right - apparently she’s on the ticket with Angus Taylor

I’m so hoping she nominates for the party leadership

People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies Marriages and families are falling apart as people are sucked into fantasy worlds of spiritual prophecy by AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT

Did it tell you that you were God?

Complaining about being deplatformed while on a national television broadcast..?

Yeah, it’s looking like all three of those Qld Green seats will be going to Labor