I was wondering what they’re up to on Chapo Trap House since Matt Christman had his stroke/left the show (I haven’t listened in a long time). Only Australians will understand how poorly it must be going:

Screenshot of the Chapo Trap House podcast episode “Koala Killers feat. friendlyjordies” (12 Aug 2026). The episode description says journalist and YouTuber Jordan Shanks-Markovina joins to discuss Australian politics, One Nation, organised crime and bikers, koalas, and the criminal prosecutions and firebombing linked to his reporting.

This sounds like something to know in advance. At 2pm AEST next Monday 27 July Australia’s new national warning system will send a test alert to phones and some tablets and smart watches. They’ll vibrate and emit a siren-like sound for about 10 seconds.

www.ausalert.gov.au/alerts-ex…

There must have been some Thierry Lasso CROIRE bullshit going on in that change room.

What I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. Like destroying every shoe and cable in your house.

A small, serious-looking dog walking down a hallway towards the camera.

If coffee is routinely >$6 now I feel like being good should be factored in as part of the cost.

With every day I’m more convinced we’re living in Eddington. Even though the film was set six years ago, it’s happening now (and probably for the foreseeable future).

”Drawing on a critical meta-synthesis of cross-disciplinary literature, supported by ChatGPT-4o DeepResearch, the paper develops a reflexively grounded research guide for navigating methodological practice in an increasingly complex research landscape shaped by geopolitical contestation and renewed demands for equity and inclusion”

A “reflexively grounded research guide” based on whose reflexivity exactly?

A small toy dinosaur is placed on a mound of soil with young plants growing, set against a background of a garden and a building wall.

People routinely misunderstand Judge Dredd but this is an all-time standout: a LinkedIn post saying the lesson we need to learn from it is about human-in-the-loop AI use.

That torment nexus tweet wasn’t satire at all.

Text shot: Judge Dredd exemplified a future where technology enhances decision-making but does not replace human judgment, emphasizing the need for human responsibility and accountability in justice.

Neighbourhood Watch

A small dog is sitting and looking out through a second floor window of a brick building.

When this masthead visited Merrylands on Thursday to talk to locals about their experience of organised crime, no one approached was willing to share their story.

lmao

Uber For Nursing

This is bleak, even for the Torment Nexus.

The modern university does not exist

One thing became clear very quickly: the modern university does not exist… First of all, they are nothing like the institutions that outsiders imagine. Rapacious devil-take-the-hindmost student recruitment means they are more like aggressive medium-sized enterprises struggling for market share than the school-like cloisters that voters perhaps picture. That has utterly changed their internal character. As all power has passed from frontline lecturers and departments to senior management working at ‘the centre’, universities have increasingly struggled to work with, count, even understand what is happening across their unwieldy empires. Many resemble nothing more than a paper bag with the word ‘university’ written on it.

Thanks to Kate for the link

Fake Ass Writer Challenge

I’m terrible at picking AI writing. A coin toss would be more reliable than me.

“My Students Can’t Read: The generational collapse in literacy is measurable, persistent, and likely to get worse”

We shouldn’t over-sentimentalise reading as a practice, however I now get student feedback complaints when I set 4 page HBR magazine-style articles as course readings.

Watching The Movie Show episodes from 1999 on SBS on Demand. What an incredible year for film, every episode has a film I still watch or need to rewatch.

Let’s make sure the labelling debacle is the last time a health harming industry is allowed to set the conditions of their own regulation.

New alcohol labels should have been introduced today, but lobbyists derailed them - Alcohol Action Ireland

“Joe Lim estimates that 90 percent of what you see on the internet is advertising in disguise, and he should know”

The Feed Is Fake - Vulture

A large electricity pylon stands amidst an open field with trees in the background and power lines stretching across the sky.

Have a great day everyone. Remember that other people’s opinions of you are just fan theories.