Withers Without You

Only 80s kids will know the answer:

1. CGA
2. EGA
3. TANDY
4. VGA

The story behind “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain”:

“Most foremen working at that time were chiefly hired for their musical abilities, as singing automatically lifted the spirits of the workers and made the whole process smoother”

#bringbacksingingforemen

Jim Rohn:

“You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.”

Do banks call debit cards, credit cards, and credit cards, debit cards? Because if it’s a credit card for me, it’s a debit card for them. Right? We both can’t call them credit cards, that’s not how accounting works.

I swear I’m the only person who googles “New Amazon Kindle Oasis” every week waiting to see if I’ve missed the announcement I’ve been waiting for. The second I buy a new current generation Oasis will be the day they release a new one, I know it.

I’m fascinated by this idea: Vickrey auction as price discovery mechanism

“If you run a sale at $X, the most you can learn is that Y people were willing to buy there. Actually, not even that: If your entire inventory sells out, you learn only that at least that many people were willing to buy — you don’t learn how many would’ve bought your kit, had it been in stock.”

Queensland woman sacked for not including an emoji in a text message:

Ms Wang stated repeatedly that the Applicant “didn’t add any smiley faces! There are no emotions!”

Tuesday sunrise from Tugun with Luna (and a visit to Highline Palm Beach for espresso afterward)

I’ve convinced Luna that Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl” is actually “Big Girl” and that it’s about her. She now requests the song about her. I don’t know what I have done, but I’ve probably made a mistake.

I can only, and will only, eat hotdogs from this day on, after I have been introduced like this

This story about Disney - and Hollywood - in China is wild:

The other fascinating part about Disney’s strategy involves the string of English language schools that they opened in the country.

When they were building their theme park in Shanghai, they knew that a child won’t beg their parents to go to a theme park unless they love the characters that they’ll see there. Disney said, “Well, okay, we don’t have decades of movies to do this with.” And they were not allowed [by the Chinese government] to get a Disney Channel onto Chinese airwaves.

So what they decided to do was to launch a string of schools called Disney English, which would essentially teach young Chinese children English, but using Disney characters: Mickey wants an apple, or Luke Skywalker is 30 years old. I walked by one of these schools when I was there, and I remember that Toy Story 4 was coming out that week; all of the teachers were wearing Toy Story 4 T-shirts. So it doubled as a really effective marketing tool as well. Not only did these kids learn the English that their parents wanted them to speak, but they also left with an affection for these Disney characters that they had been introduced to.

Read more at Big Hollywood movies are being made with Chinese audiences in mind - Vox

James Clear:

“Many people are not ready for their lucky break when it comes to them.

Develop your skills. Study your craft. Save some money. Build a network before you need it. Lay the ground work.

The prepared person is positioned to benefit from unexpected opportunities.”

Police are now targeting:

• People who don’t know to walk away from the counter after they’ve ordered their coffee.
• Americans who think that America is the only country on earth.
• Anyone named Boris.

Jetstar Informs Passengers Mid Flight That The Trip Has Been Cancelled:

“Thank you for choosing Jetstar.”

Taking a pause from the Tugun Pause

James Dale Davidson:

“In the future, wealth will be measured not just by the amount in your bank account, but in your ability to structure your affairs to realise complete individual autonomy and independence.”

God is love but love gets weird Said the flea to the ant in the devil’s beard We are passengers here, and it’s as we feared That God is love but love gets weird

Yes, God gets weird and so does love Said the flea to the ant and gave him a shove And came down upon him from above Crying, God gets weird and so does love

Well, Weird got Love and God got Weird And in the monstrous morning there appeared The very thing we’ve always feared That God is nothing, but love gone weird

Words by Nate Lane/Nick Cave

It’s great that Google’s automatically deleting location history to keep people safe, it’d just be nice if they extended it to include me buying ice cream.

Nothing says “you’re awesome at decisions” like purchasing a $2 service station coffee at 5pm on a Saturday.

A few observations on flying out of the Gold Coast this morning.

1. I departed through a new fancy boarding gate, they have scales in the floor to weigh carry-on stealthily. The new gates are also a bit confusing to reach.

2. for the first time in over 350 flights over 20 years with Qantas my carry-on luggage was weighed and subsequently checked in as luggage, aka taken off me. Which is fine, it’s the rules. But it’s also why professionals fly Qantas, because they won’t touch our carry-on. If that bag doesn’t arrive in Melbourne, I can’t marry a couple this afternoon.

3. the Qantas staff seem to be sick and tired of … gestures at everything … and can you blame them?

I had 14kg over two bags and was travelling only carry-on because I have a quick transfer and I’m low on faith in the Sydney and Melbourne baggage handlers. Here’s hoping for luggage success.

Over the microphone one of the crew has announced that it’s great to have us onboard, I’m sure it’s not.

Dr. Gabor Maté​:

“The road to hell is not paved with good intentions. It is paved with lack of intention.”

Tom Johnson on realising his attention span has become fragmented:

“Sometimes, I’d occasionally pull out my phone without any particular reason, unlock the screen, and just stare at it dumbly, not sure about which app to open.”

I’d like to start a coffee shop in Cupertino called Appel Perk

The Queensland government is rolling out a plastic ban, which is going to be detrimental to the Gold Coast surgical improvement market.

It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things literally.

I don’t know which PAW Parrol parents need to hear this but: Mayor Goodway is the mayor of Adventure Bay and Mayor Humdinger is the mayor of Foggy Bottom with a population of one - which is him.

Both are current mayors in the generally same location.

“Hopefully this makes you really angry or confirms your preexisting biases and worldviews. Best of luck xoxo”

• The Algorithm

I’ve always wanted to see my work published, so when my friend Justin suggested I had been in a photo book called “Australia: A Celebration”, I went investigating.

$16! What a bargain!

Oh, there I am.

If you’re liking these photos, I reckon you’d really like my Unsplash portfolio where you can use all the images for free.

You just can’t sell them.

And there I’m not. No attribution, at the least.

No permission sought, or license payment made.

Off to the lawyers we go.

Craig Mod to Kai in Dense Discovery 194:

“It’s easy to be seduced by the world of potentiality. A book is always greatest before it’s written. You are intoxicated by what it can be. That’s very dangerous. You want to kill those seductions as quickly as possible, and one way to achieve that is fast iteration.

Make known the unknown; murder your fantasies.”

From my boy @JayT0pp’s email:

“The tourist seeks out culture because in our world culture has disappeared into the maw of the spectacle. Culture has been torn down and replaced with a mall or a talk ­show. Because our education is nothing but a preparation for a lifetime of work and consumption-because we ourselves have ceased to create.”

Allow yourself the uncomfortable luxury of changing your mind

Abortion Banned In Parts Of USA, So Children Can Live Long Enough To Be Shot Dead At High School

Kevin Kelly in The Need for World Government

“It seems obvious to me that planetary problems demand planetary government.”

Some personal news: we’re moving to Mexico later this year. It’s time to get off the hamster wheel.

“I want something more concise, more simple, more serious; I want more soul and more love and more heart.”

– Vincent van Gogh

Audio is such an intimate medium.

I was lucky enough to catch the final half hour of Laurel, Gary & Mark’s final breakfast show on Brisbane’s 4KQ. A station with 75 years of history, and a breakfast show that’s been on air for 16 years, and one of the hosts has been there for 31 years. It was beautiful hearing the stories and the way the show has impacted lives.

In a world so heavily motivated to move to short-form video the intimacy of audio won’t be long forgotten.

AM and FM radio might have to change business model, but the beauty of audio being freely broadcast across the airwaves will find a new home.

I would posit that one day in the near future someone is going to reinvent audio and it’ll be a game-changer. Podcasts aren’t the final solution - they’re fine but they’re a transition medium not the next medium, nor is Spotify or whatever Apple has at any time. Maybe radio has a hand in it, but some smart person is going to blow our mind with audio in a similar way that TikTok and Reels and YouTube have made impressive gains in video.

And I am here for it.

The audio is dead, long live the audio!

Please sign my petition to have butter knives demoted to flat metal sticks. They’re clearly not a type of knife.

Fav YouTube of all time: New Yorkers missing the train

Stolen valour: Christianity Today’s Mike Cosper publishes a damming review of some Christian leaders that have made news of late.

“an interesting evolution of what it means to be a pastor”

Adults, we must rise up.

We have the power, we have the means, we have the skills, we have the tools.

We must delete, remove, stop the Baby Shark.

For five years the shark has tormented us, enough is enough.

Derek Thompson:

“work is not life’s product, but its currency. What we choose to buy with it is the ultimate project of living.”

Not gonna lie, Internet Explorer peaked at version 3. It’s been down hill for the 26 years since.

Heaven is the right USB-C cable

A re-release of Nickelback’s Photograph but it’s about Facebook Memories.

Posting this photo because I’m simply pretty proud of it. I’ve been carrying this 16mm lens around for a while in-case I was stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to get an interior shot. But yesterday I challenged myself to use it all afternoon.

99% of asking for advice is just confirming what you already wanted to do.

‘You only have one shot’: how film cameras won over a younger generation. Imogen Kars in the Guardian:

“The lack of instant feedback is important”

It’s whack to think that 329 million people’s identity and culture is built on a document written by a few rebellious 29-year-olds wearing wigs in 1776.

Josh Spector on writing a newsletter that helps you sell:

“You’ll never become the center of a community by only talking about yourself.”

This is cool:

“Sleep stories from First Nations storytellers.”

Dreamy.

“Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money.”

— @natfriedman

It’s Time to Bring Back the Away Message, Lauren Good in WIRED:

I miss Away Messages. This nostalgia is layered in abstraction; I probably miss the newness of the internet of the 1990s, and I also miss just being … away. But this is about Away Messages themselves—the bits of code that constructed Maginot Lines around our availability. An Away Message was a text box full of possibilities, a mini-MySpace profile or a Facebook status update years before either existed. It was also a boundary: An Away Message not only popped up as a response after someone IM’d you, it was wholly visible to that person before they IM’d you.

“Once upon a time people were born into communities and had to find their individuality. Today people are born individuals and have to find their communities.”

— K-Hole

It’s really nice to see the Queen finally make Platinum, but I thought @Qantas would’ve just given her an honorary frequent flyer status considering who she is.

Whose pockets is Big Honeydew in so tht honeydew continues to be included as a token fruit salad filler. (Six months later I have an investigative podcast on this topic)

Elon Musk sentiment is slowly swinging negatively, but in a Trump-like fashion, where it’s not so much about a swing, but a widening, gaping, divide between camps.

A divide that I would argue isn’t healthy, despite what anyone thinks of Musk - or Trump. Deep cultural and societal divides are unhelpful because the issue stops being the issue, and the divide becomes the issue.

I’m more and more convinced that everyone having the same size microphone and font on the internet is a bad idea.

But how do we come back from it?

“So what’s the Original Sin of the Internet? Nearly all business models it supports require spying on consumers and monetising them.”

— Bob Sullivan

Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky but it’s about coffee.

“Lust for the future, treasure the past.”

— Jimmy Buffett

A cyber security article published twenty years ago.

Envisioning a Cyber “Center for Disease Control”

Anyone who isn’t embarrassed by who they were last year isn’t learning enough

I think about this daily. It really challenges my default setting of hitting life like a to-do list:

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”

— Dutch Theosophist Jacobus Johannes van der Leeuw

Anyone else just really want to see Louis Theorux’s Fiat?

Well, I’m so glad that we got the correct result with the election and all of our problems are solved and we can all just share cat videos online for the next three years, no more angry tweets right?

If I am elected President of Australia tonight, in my first 100 days I will bring back the stirring spoon to McDonalds McFlurries. I will make McFlurries flurried again.

As someone who attends weddings professionally, I find it amazing that in ‘woke 2022 where we’ve #metoo’d, we’re feminists, living in a diverse community with global internet access, that Millenials are getting married & half the weddings I arrive at are culturally 1960s themed.

I just realised I slid into my 14th year as a marriage celebrant over the weekend. Three years ago the Gold Coast Bulletin did a piece on me about how I’m not a terrible human or celebrant, so if you want affirmations in that arena, I definitely recommend reading this.

“Leaving everything up to the publishing industry is not the best way to run a culture.”

– Brewster Kahle

“It is far easier to critique than to create”

– Laurence Endersen

I think it’s beautiful that guys with crazy eyes who only wear gym shorts find love.

Who had Louis Theroux being the most popular rapper of 2022 on their 2022 bingo card?

One of the best things about the internet is how you are distincitly awards how few people are listening to you.

For a decade I worked in an industry where we broadcast from soundproof rooms playing music and talking excitedly under the guise of everyone listening to us.

Here on the internet we have verifiable proof that most people aren’t listening.

So if you feel alone here, you’re not. But then you weirdly, kind of, really are.

Talking to a celebrant friend this morning and they have a funeral this afternoon where there’s only one family member attending because the deceased pissed off everyone she ever knew.

The celebrant has a reading that’s “good for people who pissed everyone off.”

As an Australian who consumes far too much American content in the form of podcasts and emails, let me echo Douglas Adams:

“American audiences do not need to feel disturbed by the notion that places do exist outside the US”

It’s funny that the term “PC” aka personal computer has been essentially been burned describing Wintel computers when the truest and most-personal computers today do not run Windows nor do they run Intel chips.

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”

– Rainer Maria Rilke

A new issue of the Tugun Pause is in inboxes with my proudest headline yet: 416 crimes and a beach ain’t one.

A friend just reminded me of that time I was on Sunrise for a Star Wars wedding on … May the fourth. God bless the internets, may you always archive my weird business endeavours.

“Everyone has talent; what is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark places where it leads.”

– Erica Jong

“To keep young kids behaving on a car road trip, have a bag of their favourite candy and throw a piece out the window each time they misbehave.”

– Kevin Kelly

Rich people need it. Poor people have it. If you eat it, you die. And when you die, you take it with you. What is it?

Is love of aviation photography a hereditary thing? I guess we’ll never know.

Whenever I am out in public with either or both of my children I always carry their birth certificate with me so that I can easily and quickly prove that I am a Certified Practising Parent and not some hooligan that just walks around pretending to be a legit adult with children.

A friend asked “Thoughts on Musk Twitter?” in a message, I replied, and thought, that should be a blog post:

The man’s not an idiot, and Twitter hasn’t thrived as a public company. He’s one of the few people who could buy it without antitrust issues whilst also actually uses the actual product and has an interest in it.

I reckon it’s a potential net-positive.

Worst case scenario: Twitter fades into obscurity as it has been for a while.

Best case scenario: Maybe there’s a social media platform with a better platform than “we know everything about you and use that to sell ads.”

As for the people who think Elon could of spent the money better, spending other people’s money is easy, spend your own on charity.

Everyone’s worried about what @elonmusk is going to do to Twitter the social network, but no-one’s talking about how he’s going to get printed copies of all our draft tweets every morning and if he thinks they’re good he’ll just post them on his own account.

I just can’t believe a rich guy bought the free bird website off other rich people. It’s like non-rich people only get to use the free bird website, not own it, I guess.

Police are now targeting podcast producers who say that they will put a link in the show notes, yet do not put that link in the notes.

Former Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300ERs, VH-VPE, VH-VPD, VH-VPH, hanging out at Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport.

Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre. Or as Scotty McDonald calls it, The Steven Miles Centre For Excellence, or as I’ll call it, The Queensland Labor Money Pit.

It is so weird to experience old white male sexism in the flesh. I am pushing a pram through a shopping centre with my one-year-old daughter in it and a guy who I’ve never seen before says to me “that colour purse really suits you.”

DF: Biden Administration Looks Gift Horse in Mouth, But Can’t See It Because the Horse Is Wearing a Mask

CDC guidelines suggest, for example, that nobody should eat rare steak or runny eggs, and that a woman should not have more than one alcoholic drink a day.

Danny Elfman, creator of The Simpson’s theme song, performs The Simpson’s Theme Song at Coachella and it’s beautiful.

Flight attendant said that if we “hear the words e and vacuate” then those of us in the emergency row have to do something with the window and it’s all I can think about now. Do I let her know it’s one word? If they say evacuate do we still pop the window?!

Finally someone answers the big question: Where has Yahoo Serious been?