@coolandnormal@aus.social cover
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coolandnormal

@[email protected]

Small scale farmer in a remote community. FIFO (but with trains) tutor at regional teaching hospitals all over south east australia.
Unschooling/no-schooler survivor.
Studying climate + environmental data.
Natural disaster recovery work.
Planning an AI start-up*.
Hillbilly. Redneck. Any pronouns.

Profile pic: monochrome photo of a person welding.
Banner: a person sharpening a scythe viewed through long grass with seed on top.

*artificial insemination

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. View on remote instance

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Stop everything I just spotted a certificate 2 in drainage

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

The UI designer at Lindt did a real solid. Their new chocolate blocks open like a book at the back, which feels very wholesome. Then the whole block slides out into your plam to open, take some out and put back in the cardboard envelope. This gives an unmistakable experience of having a gratuitous amount of chocolate in your palm and having to decide how much to put back.

About once a decade I say this, but bravo that user interface person.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

We need a word for when someone advises you it's important to do A not B and then just assumes you were doing B or possibly A when you don't react. Turns out you don't alphabet.

For example the restumping guy was telling me about how diet soda is so much better than regular soda. I nooded and said okay. I'm pretty sure he walked away assuming I was dismissing diet soda and would continue drinking full sugar. I haven't had a soda since I went to Dreamworld in 1995.

Similarly people will tell me it's important to watch this TV thing not that TV thing. They walk away thinking I've ignored them and I'm just going to keep watching regular television. I'm never going to willingly watch a television.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

I recently heard a meeting in which shopify was pitching itself to another company they wanted to partner with.

Fascinating.

coolandnormal OP ,
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I was both in and not in this meeting in the sense that corporate people just assume folks in hiviz holding drills and people making coffee are some kind of subhuman that doesn't count for corporate privacy purposes.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Normcore coded romcom about a neurospicey polycule when?

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

The mouse freely living in its natural habitat

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar ai6yr , to random

This whole WaPo article on "Buy-it-for-life" coffee makers/etc. reeks of upscale consumerism, imho. (it's all very expensive stuff)

0} The Washington Post ram rollovers | (2 Buy-it-for-life coffee makers can save money, reduce waste, brew better
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coolandnormal ,
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@ai6yr *pitches a "buy it for life" article but it's all Singer 201, Volvo 240GLE, post hole digger [steel with timber handle, any brand]

coolandnormal ,
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@autolycos @ai6yr I still have my parents' french press from the 80s (I'm not coffee people, I use out about once a decade).

@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

Is it okay to beg for money on Mastodon?

Every week I see accounts asking for money, often tagging me or others directly.

I support recognized aid organisations, but these direct requests make me concerned, because as a Mastodon user I have no way of verifying if the requests are legitimate, or some nefarious person is pretending to be a person in need.

So my question is, should Mastodon servers have a policy about begging, and if so, what should the policy be?

coolandnormal ,
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@randahl
A. Yes. It is okay, please do it if you need to. 😊
B. The policy in my community is that it is acceptable and encouraged.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

On one of the first episodes of Sea Change the high flying Melbourne lawyer is overseeing a case and she just isn't getting it. So the local courthouse teenage floor sweeper is like "look, imagine corporation A, Jeff Corp and corporation B, Allen Corp, made a joint investment in a third company Fence pty Ltd, which later collapsed." The lawyer's eyes light up and everything is fine from then on.

I have cause to remember this scene a lot more often than I would have expected when I first saw it as 12yo.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Imagine the brick was invented in 2025.

No more builders needed. No more architects. Mass job losses in the building sector. Bricks solve everything. Just use bricks.

coolandnormal OP ,
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The terrifying thing is this would 100% work on me the moment you gave me a pallet of recycled bricks.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Biggest trend of 1996: opening windows (not that kind)
Biggest trend of 2026: opening windows (not that kind)

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Meh, the places you'll consider going

(and books)

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Hear me out: Bad Shanties.

It's a group or possibly roving event that sings shanties badly.

coolandnormal OP ,
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Shanties are difficult and fun but bad shanties are easy and fun.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

:geordi_dislike: being the kind of community with rules against Facebook scrapers that only post grievances and boomer humour meme screenshots

:geordi_like: being the kind of community that laughs at grievance farming and calls you a dickhead if you do it

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Made a thing

Same scrunchie nearly finished. It has shades of grey, orange, purple and pink.

Same scrunchie nearly finished. It has shades of grey, orange, purple and pink.
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coolandnormal OP ,
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:gaygood:

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Under-acknowledged service libraries provide is you can lock you bike up outside them and there's no way anyone's fucking with a library bike.

coolandnormal OP ,
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It just occurred to me that teenagers use this service: the invisible ring of library safety that extends not just to people but to bikes. They toss their RATbikes in the corner out of the way in a pile (no locks, no rack) and go into the library. When they come out their bikes are still there in a pile on their sides.

The only other place you could do this in a regional city is on private property. Not because members of the public would disturb your bike, but because either cops or possibly council employees would want to 'clear it away'. But even cops don't seem to fuck with kids going to the library.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Playing scattergories. Infamous person starting with M. For two points I wrote down Marshall Mathers.

Only the old people knew what I was talking about. There were two whole generations [just left uni, just started high school] who had no exposure.

coolandnormal OP ,
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Back in my day music had... Music had... You know what fuck my day

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

When I initially heard of vibe coding I just assumed it meant directionless problem solving built on coffee, spotty record keeping, looking up randos posting about the issue and above all else just coding what feels right.

I understood why everyone would be so down on this, because it's unacceptable to do any other science or engineering in this way. Of course it was being labelled sloppy and unprofessional.

But I did feel that it was being dismissed too early, maybe there is a place in industry for code written on 3am doughnuts and chaotic trains of thought?

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

The big tell that account banned scams are scams is they say "dear mastodon user, your account has been suspended due to..."

When in the real world a fedi suspension message would read: "look dude, we've gone over this five times and you're clearly bothering people..."

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

That better be fuckn forky.

coolandnormal OP ,
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If they don't have wall to wall fork themed pun bullshit I am not on board.

coolandnormal OP ,
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[a monologue performed in the style of A Succulent Chinese Meal]

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Fesshole just informed me of something I don't think I was quite aware of before.

Fesshole about daughter coming out as gay, fesser very pleased because daughter gets to "not my circus, not my monkeys" about boys.

As a bi, I had never realised there were people who had this luxury.

I don't actually have many monkeys, but somehow all circuses are mine.

coolandnormal OP ,
@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar

To be fair I always knew the hetronormative circus wasn't mine.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

"A billionaire carries, on average, an investment portfolio in companies that will produce 1.9m tonnes of CO2 a year – roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 400,000 petrol cars."

Extremely normal planet.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/10/world-richest-used-fair-share-emissions-2026-oxfam

Not only are the super-rich responsible for most carbon emissions, but they also invest in the most polluting industries. A billionaire carries, on average, an investment portfolio in companies that will produce 1.9m tonnes of CO2 a year – roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 400,000 petrol cars.
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@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Dating websites should just have tick boxes for [beach YES/NO] and [walks YES/NO]

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

I've started introducing myself around town as looking for work instead of my name.

"Hi, I just finished uni for the year, looking for work, how are you?"

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Mediterranean, since DIET BC

Small lemon shaped logo on a package of semi dried tomatoes. Logo says "your wholesome choice Mediterranean since diet BC"
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coolandnormal OP ,
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I can't work out if it's AI generated or if they had two logo options "Mediterranean diet" and "Since [year] BC" just thought fuck it, squish it together.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

I like my women like I like my math equations.

Quite a lot in theory and from a distance but in person it turns out they're pretty scary.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

My new brother-in-law just convinced me to invest in AI

coolandnormal OP ,
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Apparently you only need a short educational course, really good industry contacts, a basic ute and an electro-ejactulator.

coolandnormal OP ,
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Posh FinTech office job family member wants to play too. Which is cool, very welcome. She's a good rural driver and she's very empathetic with livestock.

It will be very funny if this is method by which the financial sector loses its software implementation people to AI.

coolandnormal OP ,
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When I say "just a short course", this plan does depend on the fact that everyone involved is already an experienced farmer or vet nurse. I'm definitely not suggesting everyone go out and do this. But for us it genuinely might make sense.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

I just realised how small chainsaws can be??? So small. You might want to mute some keyworlds about this.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

Roomba is a sign that capitalism is a failure.

Under commerce you make a product. You sell it.
Then you might sell it to a larger number of people. This is good because you make more money.
Eventually you might be selling to everyone you possibly can. This is great, you're now providing the most product you can and making the most money you can.
You won. Relax, set up a foundation, throw some fancy parties. Everyone can have the product now.

Under capitalism you do all of the above right up until "you won". Replace that with "you lost, you are bankrupt now, no one can have to product anymore".

coolandnormal OP ,
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From now on I will be asking all job interviewers if their organisation is in a growth phase. If they say yes I will ask them if they have a solid plan for stable plateau and downsizing when that growth ends. If they can't present a plan, they're practically already bankrupt.

@coolandnormal@aus.social avatar coolandnormal , to random

I was intrigued...

Spine of a book called Tiny Game Hunting. Looks like a nature guide, not a novel.
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coolandnormal OP ,
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Clue: it's edited by a zoologist.

The title is clearly a joke, they're very much able to laugh at themselves. But it's a whole book of useful information on a real topic. They just chose to frame that 100% real and pretty important topic as "tiny game hunting".

coolandnormal OP ,
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coolandnormal OP ,
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There's an illustration in here of just the most unnecessary electrical/fire/water/electrocution hazard you have ever seen.

I probably shouldn't leak it to the Internet. The very knowledge of it is a hazard.