This is your reminder to cancel all those subscriptions you signed up for on sale at the end of 2024 that are about to renew at full price next week.
This is your reminder to cancel all those subscriptions you signed up for on sale at the end of 2024 that are about to renew at full price next week.
> This new form of riches [--finance--] is based on gambling. [97% of it literally is gambling.] What does it mean about us that we reward so generously this work which does so little? What kind of society are we really? And what does it mean that we think about this so little?
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n17/john-lanchester/for-every-winner-a-loser
(Thanks to @pluralistic for linking from https://pluralistic.net/2025/12/18/self-licking-ice-cream-cone/ )
I find myself incredibly angry about the Bondi shooting.
Obviously this is a direct result of religion. One bunch of theists shot another bunch of theists based on their religious identity.
But no-one is saying that. No politician is suggesting that we ban religion. No-one is condemning religion for deliberately cultivating alienation and sectarianism. No-one is suggesting that Australia stops all religious education in schools.
And they fucking should be.
Why the UN's Next Decision on Internet Governance Matters for Everyone - Internet Society
https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2025/12/why-the-uns-next-decision-on-internet-governance-matters-for-everyone/
It is critical that countries reaffirm their longstanding support for including the global Internet community’s stakeholders in its governance
So fellow Aussies: thoughts and experiences on the social media ban for under-16s so far?
Early days I know, but genuinely curious.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/social-ban-experts-blog-media-under-16/106118846
I see that Mastodon is not included in Australia's social media ban for under 16s.
I can think of 3 plausible reasons why that might be:
1. Australian lawmakers considered it far less harmful than Twitter, Facebook, etc, and felt no need to ban it
2. They'd never heard of it so didn't think about banning it
3. It's simply impracticable to ban people from a decentralised service.
Anyone know which is the correct explanation?
"So in a very real way, the tech broligarchy is trying to use the power of the US government to subjugate the EU the same way the United Fruit Company once used the power of the US government to subjugate Central America.
In truth, Europe is much closer to being Reagan’s shining city on the hill than Trump’s America."
"Is This The End of the Free World?" — Paul Krugman, https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/is-this-the-end-of-the-free-world