Something I wish they’d explained better at school is that skills are transferable and often you’re learning how to learn. I see so many adults complain about how useless learning recorder in school music class was. The teachers weren’t into bad covers of hot cross buns, they were trying to teach musicality, sheet music reading, rhythm and handling an instrument that could be applied to other things in future using the cheapest, easiest to play, hardest to break instrument possible. I feel like the inability to see how learning things might be beneficial in indirect ways haunts a lot of people into adulthood to their detriment
Remote
Joanna Holman
@joannaholman@aus.social
Bird nerd. Also has thoughts on books, Melbourne happenings, music and culture with bonus architecture, and cute animal pictures.
1521 Followers
1011 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 05, 2022
Pronouns:
She/Her (they/them also fine)
instagram:
RedBubble store:
Location:
Melbourne, Australia
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The smartest piece of office behaviour I’ve ever seen was a coworker who used a picture of his home office as his background for teams meetings when in office so that people would assume he was WFH and not come find him in person to solve problems or chat
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Our society would be better if we assumed that celebrities probably have takes and ethics in the poor to average range. There’s no good reason to think someone who is good at kicking footballs or writing songs about breakups or acting out characters would be good at thinking clearly about social issues, especially if they spent their formative years obsessing over developing at what they’re famous for
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Aussies: need motivation to go outside and want to do something useful? In 3 weeks time the Aussie Bird Count is happening. You just go outside anywhere you like, count the number of each type of bird you see and log the counts on the easy to use app or website. You don’t have to be a bird nerd, the app has good tools to help you identify what you’re seeing. The data helps scientists identify changes in bird populations and locations, something that’s even more important with bird flu on the loose
https://aussiebirdcount.org.au
#wildoz #birds #birding
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In a little coastal town in the north of Penang, Malaysia the local cat sanctuary is on a super pretty beach. Cats who have been neutered, vaccinated and health checked are free to spend their days lazing on the sand or in shelters built for them while being fed and looked after by volunteers.
#cats #catsofmastodon #penang #malaysia
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I do not need any more stuffed animals but IKEA is will soon be stocking toy Pallas's cats and I think I really need that
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RE: https://infosec.exchange/@0xabad1dea/117353732287809877
Another responsible halloween thing a lot of people don’t realise is that artificial spiderwebs shouldn’t be used outdoors. Animals can get tangled up in them and birds may try to use them as nesting material. It’s especially an issue in the southern hemisphere where Halloween falls at the peak of nesting season for many bird species
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my friends wanted to pass on the reminder this Spooky Season that black food dye (often made from activated charcoal, which is used for treating poisonings) can cause your medications to be ineffective
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Today in truly cursed new AI concepts: upload your child doing things and it will generate why that activity meets homeschooling standards
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Had a look at the #Melbourne Royal Show showbag selection for the year. Planning to do a longer mockery at some point if people would enjoy that once I get past the initial overwhelm of how badly they’ve enshittified what used to be a fun tradition
(Cultural translation: showbags are themed bags of snacks, toys or product samples sold at our equivalent of a state fair)
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Replying to
Next year the World Tram Driver Championships are being hosted in #melbourne and I am already more excited than I’ve even been to watch a sporting event
https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/melbourne-host-tram-driver-championship-2027
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Replying to
No luck on the duck species I was looking for today but I did find some Superb Fairywren and red browed finch. There was also some royal spoonbills which are absurd looking birds but couldn’t get close enough for a good photo
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So not content to plagiarise individual products Kmart Australia is plagiarising the entire IKEA concept with their new homewares stores. They’ve called them “K Home” which feels to me like the street name for an illicit substance
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Replying to
Winston being more dignified about incline treadmills than I am
#cats #catsofmastodon #cat #britishshorthair
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Replying to
Other than being a bit grumpy about the post therapy rinse off, Winston was very good about hydro
#cats #catsofmastodon #cat #britishshorthair
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Replying to
If you have not discovered the wonders of competitive tram driving, here’s an intro to the event
https://youtu.be/226D_11DS_8
The 2026 European Tram Driver Championships Are TOMORROW! Everything You Need To Know In 150 Seconds
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Boosted by @GroupNebula563@mastodon.social
Sometimes i miss the tech optimism of the early 2010s, when our gadgets were getting better and many startups looked like they were creating interesting innovations that would improve our lives rather than finding new ways to track us and enshitify things. Flicking through business books from back then feels like dispatches from an alternative reality
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Also important conversations go be had about whether it’s healthy to be receiving our information in hyper-efficient summarised form. Leaning on AI summaries feels like the mental equivalent of living off protein shakes and vitamin supplements. You probably won’t die, you might hit a bunch of your macros and you’d save a bunch of time but you’d be missing important things real food does biologically, mentally and socially
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Attempting to take up #running so of course getting flooded with running content on the algorithmic side of the internet. Here’s some things I’ve learned so far
- Apparently not having enough big toe strength is a problem
- there is a staggering variety of expensive specialised socks
- people have complex feelings about non-complex carbs
- some people have very strong feelings about how major marathons ballots work
- turns out I’ve been lacing my shoes suboptimally
- there’s organised squads who’ll investigate and shame you if you misrepresent your marathon time on social media
- dorky looking running vests are cool
- there is allegedly such a thing as runs that are easy and fun
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@nicolasgouny/116990317415903883
Pleased to learn how to say “rainbow lorikeet” in French
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Replying to
@ruemaleficent@kolektiva.social @aspeed@lgbtqia.space not sure if this is a thing elsewhere but in Australia there’s a bunch of plausible looking numbers that are set aside to never be registered. That was intended so they could be safely used in TV, movies and other creative projects but they’ve a considerate choice if you ever need to use a fake number for other purposes
https://www.acma.gov.au/phone-numbers-use-tv-shows-films-and-creative-works
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Great initiative from the excellent Helping Hands Opshop (thrift store) in Airport West, #Melbourne. Many opshops throw out goods that aren’t quite saleable quality or bulk sell them to exporters who create problems in disadvantaged countries. Instead Helping Hands is encouraging people to take the stuff for free and upcycle it
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RE: https://theblower.au/@anne_twain/116971746312160102
It really is kinda fascinating how conspiracy theorist/cooker psychology has them latching on to small implausible ways someone could be doing something bad while missing the obvious ways much bigger badder things are definitely happening
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RE: https://aus.social/@alexkidman/116988104696338255
I’ve mostly avoided Kogan after years ago hearing the founder speak at a conference about how the business got started. He talked like it was admirable about how he used credit cards (some in the name of friends) to get early business capital in a way that if not technically fraudulent was certainly spectacularly unwise and likely to create disaster for others who tried it.
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I am not at all shocked. This is from a brand whose CEO once declared to me (back when I was editing Gizmodo AU) that whether or not its products used child labour was a "trade secret".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-27/kogan-exclusive-brands-website-pricing/106891632
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Someone on this plane is watching videos without headphones. Can we throw them out the door?
(And no it’s not a teenager, person is at least in their 50s)
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Replying to
@perkinsy@aus.social he sometimes has moments where he asserts his feelings about things but mostly he’s a cooperative cat. He’s okay with clothing too. He seems to like the cape, has been known to bring it to people to put on him
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Replying to
@phocks@bne.social and the execs should be disqualified from holding executive roles for 5 years if there’s a major breech under their leadership
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There’s a cool graduate/early career conservation science internship opportunity for women and gender diverse people in Victoria working with Trust for Nature and Bush Heritage Australia. The internship is paid and includes fieldwork in Victoria and a project visit in Tasmania. Applications close this Sunday
https://applynow.net.au/jobs/ni/BHAIn48-conservation-science-intern-women-in-stem
#melbourne #victoria
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Found some vintage internet culture in a box I hadn’t looked at in a while: an I Can Haz Cheeseburger cat and a Lolrus. Those were simpler days in the interwebs
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Replying to
@perkinsy@aus.social it’s not common. The clinic he goes to has a handful of cat patients but mostly does hydro with dogs
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Replying to
@perkinsy@aus.social he broke his leg a while back, incline hydro helps reduce pain and build strength
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I brought a couple of pairs of compression socks. Now I’m getting chased around the internet by specialist sock purveyors. Everywhere I go online, ads for socks. Socks that will make me better runner, fix my feet pain, make travel comfortable and solve all my problems. Sleek socks and colourful socks. Bundle deals on socks. Socks, socks and socks everywhere. More sock retailers than I’d thought would exist. It’s starting to feel surreal
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RE: https://mstdn.social/@Artemis201/116964626042294857
I present the best thing you’ll see on the internet this week
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With all the feedback surveys we’re doing the world should be much better than it is
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a few name your price electronica albums fundraising for various charitable causes you may wish to add to your #bandcampfriday cart
Colombia earthquake relief https://illegalalienrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-colombia
Ukraine humanitarian efforts: https://sidelinemag.bandcamp.com/album/united-1-the-freya-files
Electronic Frontier Foundation https://defconcommunications.bandcamp.com/album/def-con-34-the-official-soundtrack
#music #bandcamp
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For your #bandcampfriday consideration, Voyager's album is brilliant electro influenced prog-metal. I'm not normally into metal but I love this. They've had to limit their touring due to their frontman having very serious health issues so they could use the support
https://voyager.bandcamp.com/album/fearless-in-love#bandcamp
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A slightly annoying thing about travelling in #singapore and #malaysia is how often I was warned about interesting animals and phenomena I did not witness. Of these I only saw monkeys
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This week's Tom Scott video on a secret monorail under a bridge is extra mastodon coded
https://youtu.be/SzM1hpnXux4
I'm so glad this hidden monorail broke down.
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I can only assume officeworks has decided those of us inclined to wear carabiners are bad at maths. Rude!
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For your #bandcampfriday consideration, Memphis LK from #melbourne who creates euphoric vocal driven dance music
https://memphislk.bandcamp.com/
#bandcamp #music
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Replying to
@CommonSparrow@mindly.social I love Little Bird in a Big Sky by Bonner Black
https://youtu.be/EDMaa_lfPtA
#JukeboxFridayNight
Little Bird In A Big Sky
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