damon

Located in Ngunnawal Country/Canberra (Australia).

Into fountain pens, mechanical keyboards and other anachronisms, but mostly just post about my dog or whatever random thoughts happen to be flitting across by brain while I’m near a keyboard. Posts auto-delete after a month or so.

web: https://damonism.net/

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Last Notes

2026-07-24 23:54:08 GMT

Have seen a few articles about Facebook’s pervert glasses and seems like a good time to remind people that all Australian states and territories have laws about recording and distributing private conversations. In the ACT in many circumstances it’s illegal to record a private conversation without the consent of all parties and it’s often illegal to distribute a recording of private conversations without consent of all parties.

2026-07-20 09:18:54 GMT

I blogged, about pens. And not even fountain pens (maybe a little about fountain pens). Just ordinary (but good) pens. #fountainpens https://damonism.net/posts/pens-of-the-non-fountain-variety/

2026-03-28 00:00:08 GMT

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I’ve used ComGateway – partner also currently has a shipment with them. Last time I used them they seemed to have a minimum of about $US 40 for shipment, so you’d only want to use it for something that’s genuinely unreasonable shipping or not available. One thing to know is it can take quite a few days between it being delivered to them and them acknowledging it, so it can feel like they’ve lost the package until they get their act together and let you know they have it. https://www.comgateway.com/

2026-03-07 09:14:16 GMT

If you have not seen Wargames, you absolutely should. Holds up well (as a movie; maybe not the technology so much), all these years later. Currently free on YouTube. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/950868

2026-01-23 22:09:44 GMT

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I like the irony of this Australian-sourced image given that in the bit of Australia where most people live we’re just going into a heatwave, which they’re predicting to break heat records (42°C forecast here for Wednesday).

2026-01-14 02:08:37 GMT

Whenever I see an older disheveled man in a suit I immediately think: lawyer.

2026-01-11 07:46:03 GMT

Anyone recommend a good, not ridiculously expensive, air quality monitor? Preferably one that integrates painlessly with Home Assistant.

2025-10-05 03:42:35 GMT

There is a public holiday tomorrow and I don’t even know what it’s for.

2025-08-26 00:45:12 GMT

Magpie just wandered in and starting walking around the living room as if it owned the place.

2025-07-15 03:52:34 GMT

The other day I saw a retoot complaining no one posts about their favourite pen, and I suspect they are just following the wrong people, but here are three pens I got recently that are in high rotation.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/855/218/389/679/818/original/913e4a35a5aba69f.jpeg

2025-06-05 21:47:40 GMT

Something is going on in American politics that is big enough to have broken through my carefully curated timeline but vague enough that I need to triangulate entirely it from snark.

2025-05-04 21:18:49 GMT

A family of ravens are hanging out at the bus stop, which is not at all ominous.

2025-05-03 01:57:56 GMT

One underappreciated fact about voting in Australia is it’s such a community event. Not just the sausage sizzles, but the fact that most of the people working in the polling place will be from your local community. I’d be amazed if you go and vote today and you don’t see someone you recognise either in the queue with you, handing out how to votes, or wearing a polling official vest.

2025-04-30 02:24:04 GMT

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I was immediately curious as to what you’d call that because in this part of the world it’s a “stubby holder” because a stubby is a can of beer, but I’m pretty sure that’s an Australianism.

2025-04-19 21:12:00 GMT

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Fun election fact: Why did we start putting party names on ballot papers in 1984? Because before 1984 political parties didn’t officially exist in Australia (even though in 1904 Australia had the world’s first national Labor government). Why did we start registering political parties in 1984 if they had always existed? Because we wanted to give them taxpayer money to run for election. And we still do this. Every party or candidate that receives at least 4 per cent of the first preference vote can get a refund for election expenditure at the rate of $3.386 per first preference vote. In a preferential voting system your first preference is mostly only special because the party you give it to gets money because of it. https://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/public_funding/Current_Funding_Rate.htm

2025-04-19 00:35:25 GMT

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Fun election fact: We use how to vote cards in Australia because before 1984 we didn’t print the party name on ballot paper, only the candidate name. If a party wanted you to vote for their candidate they’d have to tell you who it was with a how to vote. Turns out they’re also really handy for suggesting preferences to a voter, but the party name thing is why they exist at all.

2025-04-19 00:16:45 GMT

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Australian election fact check: You really should vote – in Australia, voting is a right and a duty. But if you don’t vote (and you don’t have a valid excuse) and the AEC sends you a $20 fine, you really should pay that fine. Because if you don’t the AEC will take you to court and the fine there is $330 and the AEC can ask for costs, so it could be a lot more. Paying the $20 fine is really the cheapest option.

2025-04-18 22:20:47 GMT

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Australian election fact check: You are the one who decides where your preferences go in Australian elections. The only way a party can direct your preferences is through a how to vote card. When the media talks about one party preferencing another, they just mean their how to vote card has that preference. You don’t need to follow anyone’s how to vote card – your preferences are yours.

2025-04-18 20:43:39 GMT

With the Australian federal election coming up, do you have any questions about how elections work, or how voting works, or how to correctly fill in your ballot, or anything like that? Not the politics, just the process. I worked in elections for most of the last decade and Antony Green isn’t here, so why not ask me.

2025-03-28 07:55:49 GMT

In these trying times, have a happy old Labrador on the beach.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/238/983/085/135/480/original/e57441f1c1ae8c1e.jpeg

2025-02-19 07:53:47 GMT

A king parrot was on our pomegranate tree and I took a photo just as it took off and it I think it looks pretty cool.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/029/469/655/201/272/original/0a63f78226c4c04b.jpeg

2025-01-17 00:34:06 GMT

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Civic!

2025-01-16 21:51:57 GMT

Was sitting happing breakfast in a cafe in the middle of Canberra and a kangaroo just jumped past down the street.

2024-12-27 07:41:14 GMT

This bozo is just making his/her way along our gutters, pulling out all the crap within and dumping it on our deck so it can find the odd berry.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/723/655/492/540/296/original/1f05792e0a95a479.jpeg

2024-12-21 03:50:15 GMT

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minus 16 is really approaching “nope” weather for me. About minus 6 is the worst we get here.

2024-12-20 22:19:15 GMT

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Because time zones I always get these posts on a Saturday morning and think, shit, who did I piss off yesterday afternoon? (Today it’s going to be 34°C here – 93F, I think – so everything will feel like a bonfire anyway.)

2024-12-13 06:04:39 GMT

Me, sitting outside on the back deck on a warm evening with a beer: This is nice, why don’t I do this more often?
Me, being eaten alive by mosquitoes seconds later: Oh.

2024-11-30 23:31:19 GMT

A treat I bought for myself arrived today. As someone who grew up with floppy disks this sort of thing continues to blow my mind.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/574/508/685/667/654/original/03c7625b407fd62c.jpeg

2024-11-26 21:06:28 GMT

In a shock to everyone, the new Canberra public transport ticketing system that starts today… does not work.

2024-11-21 11:17:32 GMT

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More useful than a submission to a parliamentary inquiry is contacting your local MP (or Senator, but MP is better). It doesn’t matter what side they’re on, even if they’re not on “your side”. (Make sure you know the difference between your state and federal member – don’t call the wrong one.)
Don’t contact the Minister’s office (you’ll never get through; they have no reason to care about you).
Better than emailing them is calling them. Numbers for all electorate offices are on the APH website.
Write down a sentence or two on the point you want to make to keep it tight. You’re not calling to argue with the electorate staff. You’re calling to make your views known to their boss.
Say something like: My name is X and I’m an elector in Y. I’m calling to state that I think A is bad because B. I feel strongly enough about this that it will decide how I vote in the next federal election.
Be polite. Thank the person for their time. Give them your details if they ask for them (they already have them – they have access to the whole electoral roll, they just need to confirm you’re an elector in that electorate so they care what you say).
Be polite. Don’t get into an argument. Keep it short. You’re not trying to convince them, you’re telling them your views.
These sorts of phone calls are where the MP gets the vibe of the electorate. A couple of these are more powerful than a thousand emails. Get your mates to call too. This is what causes the back bench to get wobbly on an issue. It’s the only thing that does.

2024-11-21 10:51:11 GMT

This is not a subtoot of anyone in particular. Lots of folk here are talking about making subs or posting about subs they are making.
If you want to write a parliamentary submission, good for you. But a couple of things to keep in mind.
The people who read them are the secretariat of the committees. They’re just ordinary public servants; they’re not politicians or political staffers and they don’t have any more individual influence than Bob at the front desk at the Centrelink office.
In the case of any dissenting reports, the subs may be skimmed through by staff of opposition or cross-bench members of the Committee, looking for something to support their position. But they by definition don’t have any power, which is why they’re on the dissenting side.
If a parliamentarian ever reads it, it’ll likely be once it’s published with all the other submissions. By then it’s too late to make any difference.
It’ll also live on the APH website forever (or until the next website redesign that breaks all the links), so don’t say something you’ll regret saying publicly.
All that said, secretariats love quotes. Put in a cogent line that makes a point in a civil way and you have a decent chance of being quoted. Make a point that others are making and you might get a “this point was also made by x, y and z”.
Secretariats also love things that are actionable. If you say “this is shit”, you’re most likely to be cited if you then say “and it could be less shit if you X”. And remember, the Committee isn’t setting Government policy, it’s (by law, or at least convention) limited to commenting on the bill before it.
If you say, “this is unworkable nonsense”, even if you add “because x, y and z”, you’re very unlikely to be acknowledged. Recommending not passing a bill is in theory open to a Committee, but the Government wouldn’t send a Bill to a committee that might do that. The Committee deals with the Bill before it, it can’t make something new out of whole cloth.
Submit something batshit crazy and you’ll get put in the batshit crazy pile and your submission won’t even be published. “Sorry, we don’t seem to have that one in our files. It must have got eaten by the system.” Knowing the sort of batshit crazy secretariats have to deal with, I don’t blame them.
But if you want to ignore all this and just pour out your heart or scream into the void, go for it. These sorts of inquiries have various functions, but changing the Government’s or the Parliaments minds are not among them. “Joe Bloggs made a good point in a submission and an amendment was introduced and passed that fixed that problem, so thanks Joe,” is not a thing that has ever happened. But you have a right to have your say, so go for it.

2024-11-11 20:34:06 GMT

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Is there some sort of shared power arrangement when there is a tie or do you have to send them back to the polls todo it again?

2024-10-19 04:02:19 GMT

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Technically in Australia the right to vote is a duty-right, a right you can’t waive. But it’s still a right. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272892984_Does_compulsory_voting_violate_a_right_not_to_vote

2024-10-11 06:44:16 GMT

The Tidbinbilla NASA Deep Space Tracking Station from 20,000ish feet above.
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/287/433/633/146/111/original/bfd9e3ef9000c71a.jpeg

2024-10-09 06:53:41 GMT

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Great photo. I always consider it a treat when I see a bowerbird – they’re quite elusive.

2024-08-25 00:10:01 GMT

It’s almost unheard of these days to read an article about the media and smile, but this long interview with the new people who are running The Onion did that for me. https://www.theverge.com/24225592/the-onion-new-owners-print-newspaper-digital-media-gawker-ben-collins-decoder-interview