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Past Entries
2021-02-08: FYI: I’m in the process of bringing my blog “in-house” at my root domain. I still …
2021-02-07: 📷 As I’ve mentioned before I no longer eat mammal meat, which is mostly easy peasy but just …
2021-02-06: 📚 It’s been so long since I’ve actually read a whole book at this point, I think because …
2021-02-06: 📷 For today’s photoblogging challenge, the day 6 prompt is sport. Viv and I go for different …
2021-02-05: Mental models of languages So as we know, children acquire their native language by being exposed to lots and lots of input in …
2021-02-05: 📷 Day 5 of the photoblogging challenge has the easiest prompt… pets! 🤣 For this one, have an old …
2021-02-04: 📷 Day 4’s prompt is layers, which I found a tricky one 🤔 Melburnians are known for our …
2021-02-03: Online anonymity is a right, not a privilege Here’s a great TechDirt article on the importance of online anonymity. As it points out, the …
2021-02-03: 📷 Day 3 of Micro.blog’s photoblogging challenge! Today’s prompt is comfort. For this, I …
2021-02-02: Improving load times by fixing my images As I mentioned in my post about Gemini, mine is a lightweight website for the most part; it’s …
2021-02-02: 📷 Day 2 of the photoblogging challenge! Today’s prompt is morning beverage. Last year I bought …
2021-02-01: 🐈 A neighbour’s cat, Ben, came to the front window to ask whether Gidget was home. I had to …
2021-02-01: 📷 I’m not sure how I’ll do, but I thought it’d be fun to participate in …
2021-01-31: Just sharing a photo of the chicken tacos I made the other night, cos they came out very photogenic …
2021-01-30: 📚 A couple of days ago I read Vylar Kaftan’s short story, The Weight of the Sunrise (read it …
2021-01-29: So here’s a neat online game: The Royal Game of Ur is a FOSS implementation of a game first …
2021-01-29: Here’s an important article on how the Left must get ready to deal with deplatforming by Big …
2021-01-29: 🐈 Fun fact: while Gidget loves arid heat, she ALSO loves heavy rain. She likes to sit under cover …
2021-01-28: Dabbling in language-learning In recent times, I’ve been tossing up whether I should try to learn some basic German. The …
2021-01-26: 🐈 When the cool change came through yesterday, my heat-loving cat was not impressed. She was …
2021-01-25: Tomorrow (26 January) is a public holiday in Australia, marking the day white colonists arrived at …
2021-01-23: Today Viv and I drove out to the Dandenong Ranges on Wurundjeri land to do the Eastern Sherbrooke …
2021-01-21: It was a warm day today, so Viv and I took a late afternoon walk to our local beach. On our way …
2021-01-20: Political labels on the Left If I ever asked you to describe your politics, the exact word you’d label those politics with …
2021-01-20: 📚 Finished Amnesty (The Amberlough Dossier #3) by Lara Elena Donnelly. For anyone even remotely …
2021-01-19: 🐈 Gidget likes to shepherd us humans off to bed when it gets to 10 or 11, then watches us like a …
2021-01-19: 🏏 Sometimes I almost wonder why they even have reviews of LBW decisions… the bar to overturn a …
2021-01-18: The dog beach was the place to be yesterday! Beautiful weather, and many many dogs. Gizmo certainly …
2021-01-17: For anyone curious about COL in different cities – I found this neat tool that compares it in …
2021-01-16: It’s actually ridiculous how much time I’ve put into this, but after posting the other …
2021-01-16: 🐶 We paid a visit to this little guy (and his humans) yesterday. Although he was excited when we got …
2021-01-14: 📚 I’ve finished All Systems Red (first in The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells! I found it a …
2021-01-14: Owning my content One of the reasons I started this blog is that I’d come across the concept of the IndieWeb and …
2021-01-14: 🐶 I realised I’ve been slacking on the photo posts lately, so here’s Gizmo a couple of …
2021-01-13: 🐈 On Gidget not wanting to see guests Gidget is an indoor-outdoor cat, but we (try to) keep her in between dusk and dawn (which is even …
2021-01-12: 🐈 So, Gidget loves hot weather. Give her a heatwave and she has the time of her life, snoozing …
2021-01-11: 📚 Finished reading R.F. Kuang’s The Burning God! The conclusion to her Chinese-inspired …
2021-01-11: A linguistic pet peeve of mine: people saying “all X are not Y” when what they mean is …
2021-01-11: 🏏 Interesting article here by Usman Khawaja on the hostility of Australian cricket to aspiring …
2021-01-10: Tracking my reading One of my major hobbies is reading. I was a fanatical reader as a kid, and while I’ve …
2021-01-09: Since Melbourne’s first lockdown I’ve been growing out my hair (not just because …
2021-01-08: Experimenting with Gemini Gemini is a relatively new internet protocol, aiming to offer a much lighter-weight, text-oriented …
2021-01-08: When people say they’re “useless until I’ve had my morning coffee”, …
2021-01-07: Stray thoughts on the storming of the US Capitol It seemed like it would be remiss of me to post today without mentioning the day’s biggest …
2021-01-06: Yesterday I discovered this amazing free(mium) browser game, AI Dungeon. If you haven’t heard …
2021-01-05: 🐈 Trying to avoid a repeat of last night’s antics, I brought Gidget in at 7:30 seeing as I …
2021-01-05: 🐈 This accursed cat decided to stay out very late last night – something she never really does. We …
2021-01-04: 🐱 Here’s one of Viv’s and my friends in the neighbourhood. His name is Timmka and he …
2021-01-04: 📚 Found out that The StoryGraph has undergone a revamp (and officially launched) and got a lot of …
2021-01-03: 📚 After a reading lull over Christmas and New Year, I’ve now finished Nadifa Mohamed’s …
2021-01-03: Considering I’m notoriously bad at platformers and I died on the tutorial like 10 times, I …
2021-01-01: 🐶 The consummate NYE guest, and the cat who was very unhappy to see him back again after a six month …
2020-12-31: Reflecting on 2020 It’s the last hour of 2020 now as I’m writing this, and it’d be far from an …
2020-12-31: Yesterday Melbourne reported its first locally-acquired Covid-19 cases in two months. Today we found …
2020-12-30: 📷 Haven’t had the chance to walk down to the nearby beach lately, but I might have to plan on …
2020-12-29:
Three quick links
I found these through Mastodon and Twitter, and while each could have sustained a linkpost on its …
2020-12-29: Thoughts on gender and (my) pronouns Recently I’ve been spending a little more time browsing Mastodon, and one of the things …
2020-12-28: 🐈 Poor Gidget got quite distressed when we were out of the house nearly all day on Christmas and …
2020-12-26: Christmas was a busy day this year! We had lunch with (predominantly) my mum’s side of the …
2020-12-25: 📷 Even though the weather was cold by Melbourne summer standards, Viv and I went on a walk last …
2020-12-24: Great article on the cyberpunk genre, which emerged as a critique of technological development under …
2020-12-24: Upgrading my iPhone After using my trusty old iPhone SE for 3½ years, yesterday I took the plunge and switched over to …
2020-12-23: 🐈 Oh, that look of instant terror when a delivery man comes to the front porch… 🙀
2020-12-23: Apparently there’s a water outage in my local area and it’s doing my head in. Gotta …
2020-12-22: 📚 How to Adult: A Guide to Not Being a Trash Human, and Other Life Lessons There’s nothing wrong with reading your Christmas gifts for other people before wrapping them …
2020-12-20: 🐈 She saw one of the cats from unit 2 walk up to the cat flap of unit 3. Straight away her body …
2020-12-19: Every year I find Christmas shopping so stressful, but now that I’ve actually bought some nice …
2020-12-18: 📚 I’ve finished Becky Chambers’ A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet! Relaying the …
2020-12-18: 📚 An interesting article here on the history of utopian science fiction: How Sci-Fi Shaped …
2020-12-17: For the next week, I’ll be giving the free trial of Inkl a go. It’s a news aggregator; …
2020-12-17: 🐈 Enjoying some morning sunbeams!
2020-12-16: An eight-year-old blog post on many points of internationalisation developers screw up, including …
2020-12-16:
Double object pronouns in English
When I was studying linguistics at uni, one constant refrain was that native speakers (not …
2020-12-15:
Perfection isn't necessary, just try your best
Several years ago I had a friend who identified as a vegetarian, but every once in a while – when …
2020-12-15: I feel like this is an underappreciated fact: the American South is not the only place where people …
2020-12-14: 🐈 TENNIS BALL MUST DIE!!
2020-12-13: 📷 Waiting for a train.
2020-12-12: Today I’ve been metaphorically running around, changing the listed email address on my online …
2020-12-11:
Truncating only posts with titles on Micro.blog
When I first got started on Micro.blog, one thing I wasn’t satisfied with was that my long …
2020-12-11: 🐈 Gidget spent a little time on the couch on me before resuming her adventures for the day. (She …
2020-12-10: Moving my journal from Notion to Standard Notes Everyone likes the idea that when you put your data into an app, you’ll be able to get it out …
2020-12-09: Algorithmic discrimination I came across an excellent (if disturbing) article today on the hidden algorithms that trap people …
2020-12-08: 🐈 When I’m feeling unwell (like today), my cat likes to curl up on my lap and administer the …
2020-12-08: 🐶 My paparazzi stunts woke Sleeping Beauty from his slumber 😉 Taken the other night, when I was …
2020-12-07: 📚 Finished reading V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue! About a French woman who …
2020-12-07: Tonight I cooked Colombian chicken and rice, using this recipe from Skinnytaste. It says you can use …
2020-12-07: On Australia's devaluing of foreign language learning Suffering from the pandemic and decades of government policy, many Australian universities are axing …
2020-12-06: Interesting article on Catalan nationalists joining the Esperanto movement early last century. …
2020-12-05: 📷 Today was a humid, overcast day, but the wind was fairly still and we enjoyed a scenic walk at the …
2020-12-05: 📚 I’ve started reading La pasión según Carmela by Marcos Aguinis! As far as I know, it’s …
2020-12-04: Today I started teaching myself how to use Hugo! The Quick Start guide on the official site is …
2020-12-04: Gidget likes to pretend she’s a wildcat in the savannah, hiding amidst the tall grass in …
2020-12-03: I came across this interesting article today: How the Blog Broke the Web. That’s not to say …
2020-12-02: My custom layout is live! Click through to my blog’s front page if you’d like to see. …
2020-12-02: 🐈 Someone is very pleased with herself for stealing my spot on the couch while I was cooking dinner …
2020-12-02: Yooooo, I just found out what Micro.blog’s “New Test Blog” function under …
2020-12-01: Ever read Harry Potter and found yourself longing for the delicious-sounding beverage Butterbeer? …
2020-12-01: Cast-iron pans: my thoughts, five weeks on I grew up in a household that used cheap, non-stick pans and replaced them when they stopped being …
2020-11-30: Five years ago I decided to stop eating mammal meat, and while this has mostly been no hardship, one …
2020-11-30: Here’s an interesting map of what’s considered the first day of the week in different …
2020-11-30: 🐈 Gidget loves to soak up the sun’s warmth on our concrete porch.
2020-11-29: Having worked hard over the past 24 hours, I can now link you to my static personal website! ☺️ As …
2020-11-28: After two and a half weeks running my own blog at this subdomain, I feel energised to start making a …
2020-11-28: Made these enchiladas for dinner last night 😋 Vivian keeps raving about them, and threatening to …
2020-11-27: Interring my Grandma's ashes Yesterday, my family gathered at Box Hill Cemetery to inter my grandma’s ashes. The funeral …
2020-11-25: Two weeks on Micro.blog, and some discussion of "likes" As of yesterday, I’ve now had this site on Micro.blog for two weeks. So far, I’ve really …
2020-11-25: 🐈 Love to have a lazy morning with my baby girl. Of course this was not that… she woke me up at …
2020-11-24: After a bewildering iCloud calendar reminder, today I learned that Norfolk Island, a remote …
2020-11-23: Twenty-four days now since Victoria’s last new Covid-19 case, and as of today we’re …
2020-11-22: Gizmo, looking up attentively at one guest pre-thunderstorm and seeking shelter on the lap of his …
2020-11-22: 📚 Más allá del invierno by Isabel Allende I read this book in Spanish, but I’ll review it here in English, because it’s the …
2020-11-22: We played the family edition of Cards Against Humanity yesterday, and tbh I like it better than the …
2020-11-21: Today we caught up with my partner’s niece and immediate family to celebrate her recent …
2020-11-21: The Victorian government has decided on a route for the Melbourne Airport rail link. It’s …
2020-11-21: 📺 Killing Eve, S3 Last night Viv and I finally finished all the episodes out so far of Killing Eve (yes, we were …
2020-11-20: 📷 Took advantage of the cooler weather today to whip up a batch of chicken stew in my pressure …
2020-11-19: 📚 Armistice by Lara Elena Donnelly While Armistice was good, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Amberlough, the first book in the …
2020-11-19: Over the last couple of days I’ve read numerous discussions of the new M1 Macs, including this …
2020-11-19: Just had the fright of my life hanging out laundry, when I realised A FREAKING WASP was walking all …
2020-11-18: Upgraded my MacBook Air to Big Sur this afternoon! (I like to wait a few days for any glaring …
2020-11-18: 🐈 Always flattering when Gidget chooses to spend some time with me in the mornings, in between her …
2020-11-17: Tonight I cooked this Thai-style lemongrass and coconut soup. The link to the original recipe is …
2020-11-17: Native Australian crops Earlier this year I read Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu, which is a pretty interesting primer on …
2020-11-16: 🐶 Gizmo on my parents’ armchair, caught between his need to rest and his need to guard his …
2020-11-16: The Victorian govt’s announced funding for prelim work on Melbourne’s long-overdue loop …
2020-11-15: 📷 This sweet boy is one of the dogs of my brother-in-law and his wife… and also the father of my …
2020-11-14: Today Victoria marked 15 straight days of no new Covid-19 cases. It’s taken a long, hard …
2020-11-13: 📷 The misir wot I ate for dinner tonight! 😋 I basically follow this Spice Cravings recipe, but I use …
2020-11-13: Gidget likes to spend a lot of time hiding behind our neighbours’ aircon exhaust fan. When she …
2020-11-13: Last night I watched an item on this Sri Lankan family in Kempsey who are facing deportation because …
2020-11-12: 📚 Mexican Gothic I got a bit distracted from my regular reading sessions shortly after I started Mexican Gothic by …
2020-11-12: Honestly, much as it pains me that I’ve wasted my whole morning working on this, I think …
2020-11-12: My big job today has been (and is) laboriously converting an old blog to static pages, so I can keep …
2020-11-10: Staring down her enemy cat in the driveway… 🐈
2020-11-10: Hello world! Greetings! My name’s Jessica, and I’m a twenty-something leftie from Melbourne. A couple …