• 'It's telling that people are convinced they're real': the satirical signs of Sydney's %u2018nanny state' | Art and design | The Guardian
• EU votes in favor of choosing a common charging cable standard | Engadget: European Union lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to legislate manufacturers to adopt a shared charging cable standard. ... The European Parliament also instructed the Commission to think about wireless chargers and how they could be used to reduce electronic waste. It also wants the body to find ways for the EU to collect and recycle more cables and chargers.
• The overwhelming consensus on climate change | The Logic of Science
• Bridget McKenzie quits frontbench over report she breached ministerial standards - Politics - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Using the relatively small detail of the gun club membership to try to dodge talking about how she pumped millions into marginal seats.
• Streaming spells the end of the 'ownership' era of music, but are we ready to let go? | Music | The Guardian: Previously, people maintained access by owning records, cassette tapes, CDs or, more recently, digital files. Now all you need is a playback device and an internet connection. But the shift to streaming comes with trade-offs. [...] Streaming platforms offer convenience and variety, but they don’t always give us the latest album from the hottest artist of the decade – or the 1992 Vampire Mix of A Tribe Called Quest’s I Left My Wallet in El Segundo.
• Tesla Remotely Removes Autopilot Features From Customer's Used Tesla Without Any Notice
• No pedestrian fatalities in Helsinki traffic last year | City of Helsinki

• I had sort of assumed everyone noticed the Seinfeld opening music matched the timing of the standup routine, but given responses to this old video doing the rounds... apparently not!

• This Is What Happens When You Overdose on LSD - VICE: Accidental LSD overdoses are not fun. But for some, they can have a bizarrely beneficial effect.
• How will MIDI 2.0 change music? — Quartz: In early January 2020, the MIDI Manufacturers Association, the nonprofit organization that manages MIDI, announced the release of MIDI 2.0. The new protocol involved years of work from the organization's volunteers, and getting companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and all of the major music manufacturers on board. There are a few major changes in the new version. The biggest development is the expansion from 7-bit values to 32-bit values.
• Three baboons captured after escaping from truck at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): Mr Hazzard said the incident involved a 15-year-old male baboon accompanied by two females who were "there to keep him calm because tomorrow he was due for a vasectomy". The animals were not involved in research but had been brought in from the colony in western Sydney for treatment at the facility.

• Note only did Alex Honnold's mother climb El Cap at age 66, they did it together in a day.

• There's An Actual Name And Reason For Those Beeps You Hear In Recordings Of Astronauts In Space
• NDIS minister claims no one has died waiting for the scheme, despite agency revealing 1,279 deaths | Australia news | The Guardian: The government minister who runs the NDIS has claimed no one has died waiting for the scheme, despite the agency saying more than 1,200 people have died before they received a scheme plan and the prime minister describing those same figures as “unacceptable”.
• Dad Builds Custom Xbox Adaptive Controller So Daughter Can Play Zelda: Breath Of The Wild | Kotaku Australia
• Sydney council refuses to impose Coalition's 'dress code' for Australia Day ceremonies | Australia news | The Guardian: The federal government has written to local councils demanding they provide detail of new Australia Day dress codes that it instructed them to develop. Priorities...?!
• Aranui 5: Best Pacific cruise visiting islands is on a cargo ship ... didn't know cruise/cargo hybrid ships were a thing!
• Adani Coal Mine: The World's Most Insane Energy Project Moves Ahead - Rolling Stone: The biggest myth associated with the Adani mine may be that continuing to mine and export coal is somehow vital to the Australian economy. It is not. As James Bradley points out, although coal accounts for almost 15 per cent of Australia's exports, it contributes less than 1 percent of the Commonwealth government's total revenue. And it's not like the industry creates a lot of jobs, either. In 2018, it employed slightly fewer than 50,000 people. That's less than 0.4 per cent of Australia's total workforce, and, more importantly, it's less that the 65,000 jobs created by tourism at the Great Barrier Reef. Even if you don't believe in climate change, the economics of Adani in particular simply don't add up.
• The 3% of scientific papers that deny climate change are all flawed — Quartz: Broadly, there were three main errors in the papers denying climate change. Many had cherry-picked the results that conveniently supported their conclusion, while ignoring other context or records. Then there were some that applied inappropriate “curve-fitting”—in which they would step farther and farther away from data until the points matched the curve of their choosing.
• The medications that change who we are - BBC Future: The results revealed that paracetamol significantly reduces our ability to feel positive empathy – a result with implications for how the drug is shaping the social relationships of millions of people every day. [...] Technically, paracetamol isn’t changing our personalities, because the effects only last a few hours and few of us take it continuously. But Mischkowski stresses that we do need to be informed about the ways it affects us, so that we can use our common sense.
• Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware - VICE: Farmers worry what will happen if John Deere is bought by another company, or what will happen if the company decides to stop servicing its tractors. And so they have taken matters into their own hands by taking control of the software themselves. "What happens in 20 years when there's a new tractor out and John Deere doesn't want to fix these anymore?" the farmer using Ukrainian software told me. "Are we supposed to throw the tractor in the garbage, or what?"

• Thread by @adamliaw: OK, it's Monday so here’s a thread about climate change, the lack of political action in response to it, why climate change deniers are irrelevant, and why Australia taking action on climate change is vital for our economic survival.
• Climate change and extreme events – quantifying the changing odds - ECOS: An important part of event attribution is posing the appropriate question. Natural variability and climate change come together to give us what we experience, thus “did climate change cause this event?” is the wrong question – climate change didn't start a fire or create a drought. What climate change may do is change the likelihood of the event or make the event more severe or last longer than would have been the case without climate change.
• NDIS funds 'repurposed' for drought relief under Scott Morrison's plan. The Coalition's long term plans to gut the NDIS continue behind a fairly literal smokescreen.
• Australian 12-monthly mean temperature anomalies since 1911. It's not a pretty picture.

• BBC nailing it again.

  I’ve had a number of messages saying that the media is ignoring arson as a major cause of the Australia bushfire crisis. Well, we looked at it today. Arson is not a major part of why these fires are so widespread and so severe. Here’s why. Produced @courtbembridge. pic.twitter.com/P16nCD1Bli

  — Ros Atkins (@BBCRosAtkins) January 8, 2020

• An 'absolutely seminal moment': climate change opinion shifting in face of fires: Veteran pollster John Utting believes the fires have been an “absolutely seminal moment. The conversation in the past has been kind of abstract, with [the case for stronger action] very much in in the hands of the virtue signallers; people felt they were being lectured. But now, everyone is breathing the proof. There is an incredible amount of evidence that the issue is beginning to bite … people are worried about a huge loss of lifestyle, and the impact on how they want to live and what they like about this country.” Huntley agrees, though she's not yet as certain as Utting that this season's fires are a complete game-changer. “People can respond to traumatic events in very different ways, and some can push back and say, %u2018I don't want you to play politics with this disaster',” she says.
• Liverpool's 30-year boycott of The Sun is one of the most successful of all time ~ The Overtake [beta]
• Scott Morrison can't afford to waste the bushfire crisis when Australia urgently needs its own green new deal | Malcolm Turnbull | Australia news | The Guardian: If ever there was a crisis not to waste, it is this one. Morrison has the chance now to reinstate the Neg with higher targets. Both he and Josh Frydenberg were among its strongest supporters when I was PM. They abandoned it in the lead-up to an election, to pacify the right wing of the Coalition that sabotaged it in the first place. The election is won, and the fires have surely demonstrated that an integrated climate and energy policy is vital if we are to be serious about cutting emissions.
• Farmers Are Buying 40-Year-Old Tractors Because They're Actually Repairable - VICE: The tractors manufactured in the late 1970s and 1980s look and run like modern tractors, but lack the computer components that drive up costs and make repair a nightmare. That's made them popular at auctions around the American midwest. A Nebraska area auctioneer sold off 27 older model John Deere tractors in 2019. The old work horse tractors are so popular that one with low mileage can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. A 1980 model with 2,147 hours of use sold for $43,500. A 1979 model sold for $61,000.
• A life of long weekends is alluring, but the shorter working day may be more practical - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

• The Feminist History of %u2018Take Me Out to the Ball Game' | History | Smithsonian Magazine
• Can Macron douse Australia's fires? - POLITICO: Australia - a country that implemented wildly successful strict gun laws in response to a 1996 shooting massacre and has been held up as the poster-child for gun reform since - is as stuck on climate action as the U.S. is on gun laws. In America, not even the deaths of 20 elementary school children in the Sandy Hook shooting massacre could shift the debate. In Australia, the mounting fire death toll couldn't even get the prime minister to cancel his Hawaiian holiday, let alone increase climate change efforts.
• Mural mocking Scott Morrison for Hawaii holiday during bushfires painted over | Australia news | The Guardian
• The world is hooked on Australian coffee culture. This is how it got so good - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• RFS firefighter who died when fire tornado flipped truck during Green Valley bushfire named as Samuel McPaul - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "The driver was a veteran captain of 35 years-plus experience. He thought he was in the right spot — as he was, from what I can understand — and just this freakish weather event that would have to be seen to be believed. Even then, other veteran firefighters don't believe what they saw, [it] engulfed that vehicle with flame, fire, and strong winds and literally picked up an 8-tonne truck and flipped it over." When people say 'unprecedented' this is what it means - the old rules no longer work, experienced crews run into conditions beyond anything they can predict.

• These two interviews from the 24th are just extraordinary. Fire fighters talking about how locals have had to use private vehicles and equipment, even talking about forming their own fire crews in future.

  Exhausted firefighters have accused @ScottMorrisonMP of a publicity stunt as he toured one of NSW's worst firefields yesterday. "We need some action" - Karl Weatherley - Ilford @NSWRFS volunteer. https://t.co/h0h9VhJYAI @MyleeHogan #auspol #NSWFires #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/0XAjsTzXj9

  — 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) December 24, 2019

• Angry Cobargo residents explode at Scott Morrison as PM tours fire-ravaged towns. Morrison's inability to read people is astounding. His bullying is just gross.
• NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott admits his absence from NSW during bushfires was 'inexcusable' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott, who went on a European holiday during the ongoing bushfire crisis, has labelled his absence "inexcusable". No shit.
• Australia bushfire coverage: ABC emergency fire broadcasts praised but News Corp goes on attack | Australia news | The Guardian: Despite the overwhelming praise for local radio in places such as Gippsland and the Illawarra, News Corp papers have continued to publish articles critical of the ABC, a decision which has been jarring for many who are relying on the national broadcaster in a time of crisis.
• Scott Morrison criticised for running 'absolutely obscene' political ads during bushfires - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)... when Piers fucking Morgan thinks something is beyond the pale, you've really fucked up.
• Are hazard reduction burns effective in managing bushfires? The answer is complicated - Fact Check - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Background if you care:

1. Cashout - Fugazi. Digging back into old punk stuff got me onto Fugazi and this classic protest song.
2. FIGJAM - Butterfingers. Saw Butterfingers live on the Breakfast At Fatboys tour. Hell of a lot of fun.
3. Wolf Totem - The Hu. Seems people either love or hate these guys. I think they're great and really only hamming it up as much as any other metal band. They just have a really big budget for film clips ;)
4. midas heel & drama free (feat. Lights) - deadmau5. Listened to these as a pair a lot when they came out as a single, basically feels like one track. Dug back into the deadmau5 back catalogue a lot this year.
5. Let It Go - Sietta. Interesting soul/electronic duo from Darwin, pity more people don't know them. Spotify popped them up as I have Caiti Baker's solo stuff. I get the feeling even they think the film clip is overwrought but the song's great.
6. Schism - Tool. Tool finally decided to join the streaming world, so I no longer had to pull out my ipod to listen to their back catalogue. Apparently I've gone from a die-hard iPod Classic user to a Spotify junkie. There are clearly two camps - the "I'm over Tool" and "fuck yeah new album and tour"... you can guess which one I'm in ;) It's probably their swansong and epitaph but it was fun to see Tool owning the charts and confusing da yoof.
7. DEUTSCHLAND - Rammstein. Speaking of well-executed more-of-the-same, Rammstein dropped this jaw-dropping clip seemingly out of nowhere. Part socio-political commentary and part trolling, making it typical Rammstein fare. Interesting statement on a nation's relationship with its history, or cynical attention seeking? You decide.
8. Closedown - The Cure. We got lucky and had nearly-front-row tickets to see The Cure play Disintegration at the Opera House. I nearly didn't include it in the list because, honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed. Also which song to include? My favourite song's on the album but that's a moment I won't attempt to share. In the end I chose this because Cooper's drumming was just superb on the night and this track really showed it off. It's not actually all about our beloved Bob ;)
9. Shudder/King Of Snake - Underworld. Back at the Opera House just a few nights later, almost in the same seats. An unexpected standout of Vivid Live, it deserved the rave reviews. I'd wanted to see Underworld live ever since I'd heard the Everything Everything version of Rez/Cowgirl on my car radio nearly 20 years ago. Despite that, I'd been preoccupied with The Cure and hadn't built up big expectations around this gig. But hooooooly shit. They ripped the roof off the place. The band were incredible and the crowd fed it back, demanding an encore so loud and long that turning the house lights on didn't move us. The band came out and did an encore, exclaiming... "we don't do this... YOU did this!" No recording can capture it.
10. Into The Abyss - Hilltop Hoods. New Hilltops = high rotation.
11. Hey Ladies (Paul Nice Remix) - Beastie Boys. Just a catchy remix.
12. Please - U2. I got a line from this stuck in my head for days before we saw The Joshua Tree. We didn't get it on the night but somehow this is the track that feels right for the mix tape. Also since this surprises someone every single time - yes I really do like U2.

Honourable mention goes to the Black Hole Recordings psytrance recordings, Psytrance 2018 vols 1 & 2:

They hit the spot and helped get a lot of code written, but several hours of bleepy psytrance doesn't really fit into a mix tape.

Labels: mix tape

• Australia ranked worst of 57 countries on climate change policy | Environment | The Guardian
• Sydney climate protest: Town Hall swamped with demonstrators as thousands demand action: Around 20,000 protesters marched from Town Hall to Hyde Park on Wednesday evening, packing out George Street to demand stronger climate action as bushfires continue to rage across the state. Sydney climate protest: thousands rally against inaction amid bushfire and air quality crisis | Environment | The Guardian
• Sydney Light Rail 'fail' as trams come to a halt just hours after official opening - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 1.5 hours from Randwick to Circular Quay...
• Meet Ken Nightingall, the mysterious 'Pink Shorts Boom Guy' from Star Wars that cosplayers have plucked from obscurity - ABC News
• Australian bushfire anger explained - BBC News. Exceptionally clear and succinct.
• Scott Morrison says compensation for volunteer firefighters not a priority - Politics - ABC News. Well of course, why would h look ahead through this fire season to consider what happens when the RFS and its volunteers become too broke to continue fighting fires? Volunteer fire fighting was not set up to cover months of continuous fires.
• Finnish the Dishes: Simple Nordic Design Beats Dishwashers & Drying Racks - 99% Invisible
• Cricket Australia expects bushfire smoke to be an issue in Sydney Test | Sport | The Guardian: Strikers fast bowler Peter Siddle sent down two overs before play stopped in the abandoned BBL match. He was later treated for smoke inhalation.
• London's electric buses are getting fake noise, and it's positively psychedelic - The Verge

• Vertical farming, micro-algae and bio-reactors — the new frontier of sustainable food - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Experience: my face became a meme | Life and style | The Guardian
• Sydney Light Rail breakdown causes lunchtime chaos in CBD - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Well you know what they say - begin as you intend to go along.
• Australian scientists may have discovered solution to our plastic recycling problem - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Federal Court rules robodebt 'unlawful' in significant court case - Hack - triple j: A massive class action lawsuit championed by Labor and with 4,000 plaintiffs has been filed separately against the legality of the robodebt system. Heads should fucking roll at Centrelink over this. They won't, but they should.
• Goth fashion styles, from health goth to cybergoth.... by.... Red Bull?!
• The Case for Motorist Helmets - Mikael Colville-Andersen - Medium: Helmets for motorists have been invented — in all seriousness- in order to save lives and reduce serious injury. Almost 50% of all serious head injuries happen in car crashes. Why are motorists not forced to wear them?
• Australia's civil rights rating downgraded as report finds world becoming less free | World news | The Guardian: the 2019 CIVICUS Monitor, a global research collaboration that tracks fundamental freedoms in 196 countries, has downgraded Australia from an “open” country to one where civil space has “narrowed”, citing new laws to expand government surveillance, prosecution of whistleblowers, and raids on media organisations.
• Lumping the arts portfolio in with infrastructure is retrograde and unimaginative | Esther Anatolitis | Culture | The Guardian: Arts and culture is a $111.7bn industry, according to the government's own figures. It employs more people than mining, IT or essential services. It is also among the fastest-growing. Policies that propel the arts propel the entire economy, with flow-on effects in education and health as well as infrastructure, and urban and regional development.
• Opinion | Why Authoritarians Attack the Arts - The New York Times: artists play a distinctive role in challenging authoritarianism. Art creates pathways for subversion, for political understanding and solidarity among coalition builders. Art teaches us that lives other than our own have value. Like the proverbial court jester who can openly mock the king in his own court, artists who occupy marginalized social positions can use their art to challenge structures of power in ways that would otherwise be dangerous or impossible.

• Worth it even just for the motorbike bit.

• State Department probe of Clinton emails finds no deliberate mishandling of classified information - The Washington Post: A multiyear State Department probe of emails that were sent to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's private computer server concluded there was no systemic or deliberate mishandling of classified information by department employees, according to a report submitted to Congress this month.
• Russian eagles' global roaming sends scientists broke as tracking devices rack up the bills - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Co-ed versus single-sex schools: 'It's about more than academic outcomes' | Australia news | The Guardian
• Google sued by the ACCC over alleged misuse of personal data - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Will be interesting to see if this gets anywhere. UX dark pattern as the base of an ACCC case.
• She climbed Everest nine times and set a world record – so why doesn't she have sponsors? | World news | The Guardian
• Police officer faces disciplinary action over crude 'EAD Hippy' sticker and Victoria Police denounces 'inappropriate' memes posted to social account by officer accused of making white power gesture - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Vic Police keeping it classy.
• Blade Runner was set in November, 2019. Here's what it and other movies got right and wrong about the 'future' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Scott Morrison slams environmental groups 'targeting' businesses with 'selfish' secondary boycotts - Politics - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): Mr Morrison lamented that Australian businesses, under pressure from environmental groups, are increasingly refusing to provide services like banking, insurance and consulting to coal mining companies. Because Morrison only believes in the free market when it's buying coal. Mr Morrison said whilst he accepted the Government cannot force one company to provide services to another, the Coalition was looking at ways to prevent such boycotts from spreading to other sectors that have a significant carbon footprint — including gas projects, abattoirs, airlines and the sugar cane industry. But of course that action won't include action on climate change, because he wants to sell coal.
• 4-Day Workweek Boosted Workers' Productivity By 40%, Microsoft Japan Says : NPR: Workers at Microsoft Japan enjoyed an enviable perk this summer: working four days a week, enjoying a three-day weekend — and getting their normal, five-day paycheck. The result, the company says, was a productivity boost of 40%.

• Australia has dodged global attention on fossil fuels because of assiduous diplomatic efforts | Richie Merzian and Fergus Green | Environment | The Guardian: countries that are subsidising and facilitating the expansion of coal, oil and gas production merit just as much critical scrutiny as those that are burning these fuels. Just as it would be wrong to tackle smoking by focusing only on smokers and ignoring the efforts of Big Tobacco, it is wrong to tackle the global fossil fuel addiction by ignoring the countries that deal heavily in the product. [...] if Australia achieves its planned fossil fuel expansion, the world cannot achieve the climate goals of the Paris agreement.
• Inmates built computers hidden in ceiling, connected them to prison network | Ars Technica
• It's hot in here: the evolution of Goth subculture in sub-tropical Brisbane: Here's a glimmer from the past: Brisbane in the 90s. Summer. The Goths drift through the heat haze; insults and disapproval hang in the air. But they only have eyes and ears for one another. The tribe is everything. On the days when those tight black pants were unbearable, with the sun bleaching the sky and the humidity closing in, the boys would discuss it, and the shorts would make a rare appearance. Still black, of course.
• Qantas and Virgin bosses reject Morrison government calls to be silent on social issues | Australia news | The Guardian: Qantas supported marriage equality not just because it was “the morally right thing to do” but because there was a “great business case for it”, he said, citing the fact employees wanted the company to stand up on the issue and Generation Y wanted to work for a company “with a social conscience”.
• We're fair-weather diehards and rugby league villains, but I'm still a Roosters fan | Scott Mitchell | Sport | The Guardian: Most see the Roosters as anathema to what the sport of rugby league is about. They see a hollow club representing the big end of town, with mercenaries for players and fair-weather fans. Fair Weather Diehards is a perfect description. For a few days around a winning grand final you see mint-condition supporter gear worn carefully over designer outfits, but otherwise you'd be forgiven for not knowing their stadium is next door. There are a few real diehards out there but far more of the fair weather variety.
• NRL Grand Final 2019: Six again referee call, Ben Cummins, Sydney Roosters vs Canberra Raiders; #Sixagain | Fox Sports. What a howler.
• Neat idea? Why serving whisky in a capsule is a novelty too far | Food | The Guardian. Essentially because it removes almost everything you actually enjoy about whisky.
• Payments giants abandon Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency - BBC News. Going to be hard for Libra to gain traction in western markets without Mastercard, Visa, eBay, Paypal and Stripe. There are still a lot of other markets though, some with rather less-powerful regulators.
• Spending More Time On Your Hobbies Can Boost Confidence At Work — If They Are Sufficiently Different From Your Job – Research Digest: The researchers found that when participants spent longer than normal doing their leisure activity, their belief in their ability to perform their job increased. But this was only the case when they had a serious hobby that was dissimilar to their job, or when their hobby was similar to their work but they only did it casually. When their hobby was both serious and similar to their job, then spending more time on it actually had a detrimental effect, decreasing their self-efficacy.

• The Art Of Warez from oliver payne on Vimeo.

• Feeling the vibe with a Frahm tachometer – Inside the Collection: Frahm tachometer ... cut to 13 minutes in to see one being demonstrated: Automotive Vibration Analyzers - Part 1 of 5 - YouTube
• Schools warned compulsory sports carnival participation can put children off exercise for life - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "I've met lots of sports teachers who feel, 'gosh, it builds resilience' and, 'you can't be good at everything' and they should have a go," Dr Street said. "But the thing is, if you're not very good at another subject, you don't have to compete against all of your peers in a public forum to demonstrate how bad you are at that subject. For some reason, in the sporting arena, we deem that appropriate."
• The Marree Man: an outback enigma - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Earworms: Why we get them and how to shake them off - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): When it comes to exorcising an earworm, Dr Byron suggests several tactics and they all come down to how you use your mouth. "Interesting research has suggested that chewing gum is the best way to remove an earworm," he said.
• Why don't more dads take parental leave? The answer is in their heads - Politics - ABC News: we know from the major survey of around 1000 Australian businesspeople undertaken by Bain that men were about twice as likely as women to have their requests for flexible work refused. ... Male respondents reported they'd been told that flexible working was more of a woman's thing. Also that there was no way they'd be promoted if they worked part-time.
• Donald Trump is tweeting more and it's impacting the bond market
• Scotland's Islamic tartan is going viral, but why now? - The National The Islamic Tartan | Concept (didn't know this was a thing!)
• Levi Hawken: Man from %u2018Nek Minnit' video in new documentary (turns out he's a hill skater and artist. never knew that!)