mastodon 4.7.2Radical love activist.
Posts about dogs, skating, baking, and Rising Tide.
Voted “Most Likely to Get Arrested” in the 2024 Greens end-of-term formal.
Was a Greens Minister in a minority government 2020-2024.
Right. Work done for today, time to build another flatpack furniture thing. But first … cup of tea!
From today’s lunchtime protest against cuts to #NDIS on the lawns at Parliament House in Canberra, while the Bill is being debated inside.
#Auspol #Canberra #disability
During the COVID emergency period 2021 and 2022, I was one of the ACT Ministers making Cabinet decisions about public health regulations. Every day for 67 consecutive days, there was at least one Cabinet meeting, sometimes two meetings on the same day, including on weekends. We were given briefs with the evidence base for why certain regulations could reduce transmission and save lives, and the differences in new variants as they emerged.
Now I know where some of that data came from. Thank you Associate Professor Minh Bui for using your computing skills to help solve complex problems in understanding COVID strains. Evidence based decision making saves lives.
You know the internet is not what we dreamt of in the mid 90s when Google rolls out a new AI note taking feature and you’re pleased that it defaults to not being switched on.
Today shall involve buses (multiple kinds), planes, trains, electric cars, and possibly also light rail / trams.
If you’re in Canberra today and want the voices of disabled people heard on the truly awful cuts to NDIS, come to the rally at Parliament at 2pm. I’ll see you there!
Lots of other ways to take action listed on the page, and protests in other cities today.
#NDIS #disability #autistic #neurodivergent #Canberra #auspol #Budget2026
https://www.greenleft.org.au/2026-05/event/national-day-action-protect-our-ndis-canberra
Final update from my study trip to India…
Last Saturday, after flying from Dharamsala back to Delhi, I spent some time at Mughal Emperor Humayun’s tomb. Built in 1558-1570AD by his widow Empress Bega Begum, it was inspired by Persian tombs (in present-day Iran) and constructed in red sandstone and white marble. It included buildings to house up to 300 Persian visitors at a time, spring-fed water channels dividing the 30 acre site into 16 squares that water the gardens and cool the air. The tomb itself is 47 metres high with a 6m brass finial on top of the dome.
The site also includes Isa Khan’s tomb, built in 1547AD. Humayun’s Tomb was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, which I would have gone to see except that it was a four hour train trip away and closed on the only days when I had capacity for eight hours of travel from Delhi. Like the Taj Mahal, Humayan’s tomb is essentially a monument built on love. In a world that seems to be very quick to break into war, the more we can think with kindness about others, the better we’ll all be.
This was part of a self-funded study trip organised by Australia Tibet Council
hashtag#FreeTibet hashtag#peace hashtag#NVDA hashtag#Dharamsala
The thought occupying my mind as I went to sleep last night: if I plug my SNES emulator into my old iMac via USB, will the iMac work as a display for the SNES?
(I know it won’t work. But I can wish.)
Our afternoon last Monday included meetings with Sikyong Penpa Tsering, political leader (equivalent to Prime Minister) of the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, and Deputy Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang. We also visited Nechung Monastery next to the Tibetan Parliament, home of the Nechung Oracle. And we met with the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.
@AvonVilla@aus.social very cool! And very soothing to watch those clouds.
