I wrote an essay about a very alarming / disturbing event that has a mystery at its centre. Banks, credit cards, scammers, and hacking using social influence converge here. One big question remains - is it a coincidence, or a conspiracy? urbanmind.substack.com/p/a-psycholo...

A Psychological (and Digital) Hack

Authority, Social Influence, and an 18 hour Scam Call

urbanmind.substack.com

Essay here by me on parenting, raising little minds, talking about mental health through the lens of kids sport open.substack.com/pub/shedding...

Growing Minds

A 10 Year Old's Thoughts on Mental Health - Through Sport

open.substack.com

Here is Aus we woke yesterday to an election result that completely rejected right-wing culture war mini-Trump fashy politics, returning our centre left govmt in landslide numbers for another 3 years. Then, this rainbow happened out the front of our house ☺️

If you've ever suffered fatigue, read this short essay I just posted and we can compete over who is more exhausted 😘 sheddingskin.substack.com/p/whats-wrong

What's Wrong?

Chronic Fatigue in a Fatiguing World

sheddingskin.substack.com

This is my understanding of the US tariffs

This 20 min audio essay from DFW from 2005 is pretty bloody good

Nick@nickgilpin.bsky.social · 2y ago

Latest pod ep is up! Back for season 2, starting with the classic David Foster Wallace commencement speech 'This is Water' from '05. Timely, and timeless The pod is also on Apple and Spotify, search 'shedding skin podcast' sheddingskin.substack.com/p/s2-ep01-th...

I wonder why Microsoft are hiking prices +28% for family Office subscriptions, and Google +22% for Workspaces Business licenses, both in the same month? Any ideas @edzitron.com or @garymarcus.bsky.social ? Hints below

This appears to be true. I'm just an Aussie, watching from downunder, as the US flame-torches its own economy and reputation. Quite wild

Fabian Hoffmann, PhD@frhoffmann.bsky.social · 2y ago

The U.S. had everything from an economic standpoint—a technological edge in key industries, the most attractive investment environment for capital, and the ability to attract top talent from around the world. And now, they’re about to lose all of that for absolutely nothing in return.

The fundamental weakness of Elon Musk is a lack of empathy

Some shots of #Khruangbin from last night's set in #brisbane to brighten your feed. Epic fun 🎸🕺🏻

Zelensky's official fundraising site here (.ua is the country code top-level domain [ccTLD] for Ukraine) u24.gov.ua

UNITED24 - The initiative of the President of Ukraine

UNITED24 was launched by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the main venue for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine. Funds will be transferred to the official accounts of...

u24.gov.ua

Ignorant. Petulant. Aggressive. Egomaniacal. Degrading. Embarrassing.

Latest pod ep is up! Back for season 2, starting with the classic David Foster Wallace commencement speech 'This is Water' from '05. Timely, and timeless The pod is also on Apple and Spotify, search 'shedding skin podcast' sheddingskin.substack.com/p/s2-ep01-th...

S2 Ep01 - The Effort of Self Awareness with David Foster Wallace

Season 2 launching here with a 2005 speech by American author DFW

sheddingskin.substack.com

Haaa. Elon's hastily constructed official 'doge' US gov site is easily hacked and has been defaced already

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 2y ago

New from 404 Media: anyone can push updates to the Doge.gov site. Two sources independently found the issue, one made their own decision to deface the site. "THESE 'EXPERTS' LEFT THEIR DATABASE OPEN." www.404media.co/anyone-can-p...

Morning. What's happening? This: 🤦🏻🙈

Hello Bluesky! Here is a sun halo snap from my walk this morning. In case, you know, you need to *stop*, and grab a bit of natural beauty on your feed ❤️

IT guy here managing Google Workspaces for many clients. They're all having Google's Gemini generative AI semi-forced on them, and there's (currently) no way to turn it off (as confirmed in this article, worth a read) This is weird. Cc @garymarcus.bsky.social slate.com/technology/2...

Google Quietly Installed A.I. to My Workspace. Getting Rid of It Was Creepy.

Opting out should not be a premium feature. It’s a basic right.

slate.com

Hey @microsoft.com - no one *ever* wants to add a 2nd keyboard layout Ever. (those that do can do so once the PC is set up, like *a million other things* that don't need to be part of the initial config of Windows. Thanks!) #techguy

Sunset looking over Mapleton Falls national park up the sunshine coast on the weekend 🌄

Seen in Venice Beach today

Had this recommended to me, haven't listened yet. Will report back once I get to it No doubt control and paranoia are a big part of this man's reality www.tortoisemedia.com/listen/elons...

Elon’s Spies

<p>Elon Musk is one of the most powerful men in the world. He's a billionaire, the founder of SpaceX, Tesla and more. To his followers, he's a hero; to his critics, a far-right rabble rouser. </p> <p...

tortoisemedia.com

I made a mistake. I logged back into Twitter to take a peek. This was the 'news' section. **This just in - Elon is a hero, and something insane Trump said is being 'debated'!!**

Apple AI on a roll here.... From @crikey.com.au written by Cam Wilson cc @garymarcus.bsky.social www.crikey.com.au/2025/01/08/a...

Apple’s new AI feature rewords scam messages to make them look more legit

'This is going to catch people out and cost them money,' one expert told Crikey.

crikey.com.au

The ultimate 'how it started' - 'how it's going' 2016 -> 2021 -> 2025 #zuck #trump #meta

I refuse all those cookies. I don’t want to sign up. I don’t want to review the product. I shan’t become your member. I won’t stay on the line for a short survey. I don’t want to receive emails. No, you can’t have my email, phone, date of birth. Unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe.

The title says it all. Except that Apple 'admitted to no wrongdoing' arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M

Apple users may get $20 each for up to five Siri-enabled devices.

arstechnica.com

Where am I off to? To spend this *whole dollar* on penny whisles and moonpies of course! (Bupa, our health insurer, have 'given back' some money because of disruptions during covid times) We spend $13.50 *per day* on cover 😂

Crowded House in Brisbane last night. Completely blown away. 'Private Universe' still floating through my head 24 hrs later. I feel so fortunate that we got to see them, immense musical pros who totally transported me for 2 hrs. I was sober, and the night felt like a deep drug trip. Very special

Apple 'Intelligence' off to a good start. It 'AI-ified' some BBC notifications and shared 'Luigi Mangione shoots himself'. Earlier, 'Netanyahu arrested'. Both spectacularly wrong and made up, of course A brand neew way to get misinformation! www.bbc.com/news/article...

BBC complains to Apple over misleading shooting headline

Apple's new artificial intelligence features falsely made it seem the BBC reported Luigi Mangione had shot himself.

bbc.com

It's time for 'Nick's Parenting Wrap 2024' I'm looking for solidarity, and only a whisper of judgement my Bluesky friends! 😂 1/2