• Phone Box Libraries | The Hickensian
• Brisbane accused of imposing 'curfew' on the blind: Mr Innes says he had never come across the situation in other capital cities, and residents must know there was an element of noise associated with living in CBDs. He also noted traffic signals contained sensors which reduced the level of sound at quiet times, such as at night. FFS, Brisbane.
• How Australia’s winking Tony Abbott became one of the world’s most unpopular prime ministers | Washington Post
• My Adopted Cat Is The Best Climbing Partner Ever | Bored Panda
• Whitehouse Staff Register Reveals No Role For Frances Abbott | newmatilda.com
• Bronwyn Bishop holds Liberal fundraising dinner in speaker's suite | World news | theguardian.com: Federal Labor has again called into question Bronwyn Bishop’s impartiality after allegations the Speaker used her parliamentary suite for fundraising purposes. Bishop reportedly hosted a Liberal party fundraising event in her suite on the night of the 13 May budget.
• How Much Time the World Spends Looking at Screens, Visualized
• More signs of protest at Whitehouse Institute over Frances Abbott’s scholarship | News.com.au

• Inside Amazon's Bizarre Corporate Culture
• BBC News - Keepod: Can a $7 stick provide billions computer access?
• This 21-Year-Old Built A Rally Car In His Barn And Is Cooler Than You
• What if Abbott and his cronies are just a bunch of psychopaths?
• Cruise Ship Plays the Loudest Seven Nation Army You've Ever Heard
• Tony Abbott's trust deficit: has the PM underestimated the Australian people? | World news | theguardian.com: The budget also breaks pre-election promises on almost every front. The only thing more likely to offend voters than obvious multiple broken promises is the government’s attempt to argue that it hasn’t broken any.
• Day in the life of a Disability Discrimination Commissioner - A day in the life | Howzat?: I communicated with Josh who has autism, very concerned about re-assessment of his Disability Support Pension, but no real jobs plan to move him off welfare. Jess was very pleased about the rollout of the NDIS, but worried that co-payments in the medical system for her ongoing health issues would eat away at her small income. I talked with Eliza, concerned about how the sector would now have a more muted voice, because the ABC Rampup site would not be funded by the government, and the ABC could not pick up the funding. And I heard from Sharon, who shared my views about the need for a full-time Disability Discrimination Commissioner, who has a disability, and who wonders what will happen to people like her when my term ends.
• Joe Hockey hosts $50,000 dinner before delivering hardline budget | News.com.au: Despite declaring “the age of entitlement is over’’ in his Budget speech, Mr Hockey’s own Treasury department paid the TV chef to fly business class and airlift truffles from Australia to Washington DC last month.
• Apparently even the SMH noticed the demonstrations this time... March in May protest swells on budget outrage, Tens of thousands turn out for March in May to protest against Abbott Government’s budget | News.com.au, March in May: Tens of thousands across Australia march in budget protest | World news | theguardian.com

• Mater The Tow Truck Has An Evil Cousin That Destroys Drag Strips
• An Ex-Con's Guide To Prison Weightlifting: It's part of the macho prison culture to lift weights, and to be manly and tough. Some convicts, after years of hard work, really do look imposing. At first glance, it's understandable why a right-wing legislature might want to prevent prisoners from becoming physically stronger. But from personal experience, I can say that the discipline and dedication required by weightlifting, plus the confidence it inspires, make for a better man. Perhaps slightly vainer, too, but with at least one success under their $50 leather belts. Many prisoners are former drug addicts; many suffer from low self-esteem, the result of being poor, ignorant, and generally unsuccessful in life. The weight yards help them to see a better version of themselves, and offer them a concrete achievement in a place meant to degrade and diminish.
• Abbott unveiled, and we don't like what we see - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): It doesn't matter how mild the Budget appears when it is finally released next week, the attempts to destroy the pillars of egalitarian Australian civilisation - universal health care, universal education, and a minimum wage - are not going to stop. The whole reason the conservative parties exist is to enact precisely this agenda. If they don't succeed today they will still be there tomorrow, or next week, or next election or in 20 years pushing for the same changes. The people who finance them will still be providing the funds, and certain think tanks will still be there slopping on the paint of intellectual respectability.
• Perfect Match: Brazilian Kids Learn English by Video Chatting With Lonely Elderly Americans | Adweek
• A 134-year-old sea fort transformed into a luxury hotel » Lost At E Minor: For creative people
• Artist Gregory Kloehn Builds Homeless Shelters Out Of Trash
• Antisocial Seating: 14 Distraction-Cutting Privacy Chairs | Urbanist

View from the office is really rather nice.

• Serious Internet Explorer flaw puts XP users especially at risk. That took...well actually about as long as expected, really.
• Glow-in-the-Dark Highways: Free Lighting Hits the Streets | Urbanist
• Deficit tax tears at Tony Abbott's credibility: Senior Liberals have described plans for a possible deficit tax in the budget as "electoral suicide". Some talked of a party-room revolt and one warned the Prime Minister Tony Abbott would wear the broken promise as "a crown of thorns" if the government decided to go through with it. They really shouldn't tease like that.
• This Bill Gates Infographic Reveals The World's Deadliest Animal -- And It's Not Even A Close Race | Business Insider
• America's Nuclear Arsenal Still Runs Off Floppy Disks | Motherboard
• LIX: The World’s Smallest 3D Printing Pen Lets You Draw in the Air | Colossal
• Abandoned Road To Nowhere, Sydney City - tubby1
• 271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800-Page Book | Colossal (ignoring the hyperbole - still rather a lot of colours)
• Justin! (jpbimmer) on Twitter... quite possibly the best twitter feed ever. One tweet per year.
• Asylum seeker lifeboats stripped of their safety equipment | World news | theguardian.com... just to make sure we're still being horrible even when providing a life boat, apparently.
• Budget 2014: Abbott, Cormann downplay debt tax concerns, say budget will be 'fair' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): Mr Abbott denied accusations from his Liberal MPs, including Queenslander Teresa Gambaro, that the new tax would be a broken election promise. He often says stuff like that, I think it's based on his basic view that election promises not being real promises. Also his general 'because fuck you that's why' approach.
• Fairfax journalists strike over loss of 80 jobs at The Age, Sydney Morning Herald | ABC News. More tough times at Fairfax.