I’ve bought a subscription to Quick Reviews by @mattbirchler. I’m going to use it instead of a vanilla RSS integration with my blog. Support a member of the community and have reviews that are more attractive. Win, win!

Banksia 📷

Currently reading: How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg. I’m 20 pages in and loving it. Yes, I’m a nerd. 🤓 📚

USA is One with Russia

The United States of America has made the decision to side with Russia. It is time to accept that the USA can no longer be considered a good faith ally to Australia, Europe, NATO, etc. They’re ceasing support of Ukraine, suspending cyber-intelligence actions against Russia, and investigating how to unwind Russian sanctions. The USA is now part of the Russian regime. This goes well beyond people wearing red MAGA hats. This is globally catastrophic to the stability of a world order I have known for my entire life.

Trump Suspends Military Aid to Ukraine After Oval Office Blowup

The officials said the directive would be in effect until Mr. Trump determined that Ukraine had demonstrated a good-faith commitment to peace negotiations with Russia.

Conveniently ignoring that it was Russia who invaded Ukraine and peace could be achieved by negotiating with Russia to withdraw their troops.

Here, 2024 - ★★★½

The set camera requires strong acting. This film delivered although it took a while to find its feet.

I’ve donated to Ukraine via their official platform. I know it’s a drop in the ocean, but if we all donate a drop, perhaps we can make a difference. And fuck Trump and Vance. 🇺🇦

A colleague of mine took this photo without me even knowing it. I’m really happy with how it turned out! Business and basketball all in one shot. Highly representative.

In one day of work I wrote professional correspondence, finalised a contract, played basketball with at-risk kids and a player from the Perth Lynx and Perth Redbacks, then spoke with two Federal politicians, including Australia’s Attorney-General. My job can be kind of unique.

Finished reading: Put Your Feet in the Dirt, Girl by Sonia Henry 📚

Favourite TV Shows by Decade

Lou Plummer blogged his favourite TV shows from each decade in which he has lived.

I thought it was a fun idea, so here are mine.

1970s

The Brady Bunch

I only lived three years in the 1970s but I sure watched a lot of this show in the 1980s. I wanted a house with a giant staircase and a housemaid. I still don’t understand the economics of how that family afforded to care for 6 kids. Mike must have been an incredibly well paid architect.

1980s

The A-Team & Knight Rider

I can’t split these two. 80s TV was a boy’s dream. So much action. So much technology. So many shows that had entirely standalone episodes. Story arcs were not a thing. Both these shows had bad guys that could only ever shoot behind the hero’s feet.

1990s

Stargate SG-1

This TV show took a middling movie and made it fun for TV. Elements of it brought back memories of MacGyver. It was a juiced-up sci-fi show with militaristic scenes combined with Egyptology. I loved it.

2000s

The Wire

Things get a little darker in my taste from the 2000s onwards. Everybody loves The Wire. Subtitles help because the slang can be hard to understand. To this day, I still think about the times that Omar be strollin'. This show highlighted how basically everybody is in a gang/tribe/collective, and criminality can appear in any of them. Everybody is really playing the same game, just in different clothes.

2010s

Breaking Bad

What can be said about Breaking Bad, bitch? Incredible storytelling achieved by an incredible cast of actors. How a sunny State was made to be so dark and foreboding is very impressive.

2020s

Severance

I have invested so much time thinking about this show, that even though we’re now only halfway through its second season, it has to win the 2020s for me. An honourable mention to Ted Lasso.

I don’t understand the iPhone 16e

But if there’s a device that best encapsulates the overall state of Apple today, it is, without doubt, this iPhone 16e.

This phone is too expensive. It’s a Tim Cook fever dream of recycled parts for a market they presume exists.

Give me a 13 mini SE any day over this confused mess.

I’ve given up trying to make my home Eero network useful with wifi backhaul. Tonight I’ve run Ethernet around. It looks ugly. I need proper drops installed. But my internet is now maximising its performance capacity.

I used to buy Amiga Format every month. Loved this video retrospective of the magazine.

The Substance, 2024 - ★★★★

Appreciate who you are. You’re beautiful. You got you to where you are.

Exciting to hear @hemisphericviews get a shoutout on the latest episode of Connected from Relay.

Trying out the new Micro Social app from @gregmorris

I read this comic. Other than Archie, Garfield, Mad and The Far Side I’ve never read comics! I kind of enjoyed it. Now I need issue #2 to find out what happens. 😱

I was thinking about the Amiga game Wings today. I loved that game. Loved it so much that I played it without an externally disk drive. If you know, you understand my level of commitment to the game. 🕹️

Apple Invites seems incredibly middle-aged. It also seems like a desperate attempt to find a use case for AI. The dagginess of this app is a long way from the days of edgy iPod silhouette ads.

Finished Masters of the Air. A wonderful treatment of the US Air Force story of WWII. Those men would hardly believe what has become of their nation more recently. 📺