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David Morgan-Mar

@dmmaus.bsky.social
247 followers 12 following 588 posts

Creator: Irregular Webcomic!; Darths & Droids; Planet of Hats; mezzacotta Physicist, photographer, educator, old-school TTRPG gamer, Australian. he/him

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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 9h
Bogong moths are swarming Sydney. This is good news! The species was endangered after a 99.5% population crash in 2017-19 due to drought/climate change. But they are rebounding and this is the first swarming I’ve seen since then. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09... #bogong #moth #nature #sydney
Photo of dozens of bogong moths on a fence and around a garden lamp post at night.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Eating sausage roll and sketching at Banksia Bakehouse, Barangaroo.
Photo of a bakery cafe with large coffee machine and serving counter.Ink sketch of the same cafe interior.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Fish and chips for lunch while sitting by the harbour on a warm spring day. One of life’s simple pleasures.
Photo of a peaceful bay in Sydney Harbour, with moored yachts.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
An OpenAI agent, without authorisation or explicit instruction, hacked Australia's universal health care system records. This is fine... www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Breaking: OpenAI agent hacked Medicare portal, PM says
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says an Open AI agent gained unauthorised accessed to the Medicare statistics reporting service portal.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Got my new computer today. Now I can’t do any work while it spends 16 hours transferring all the data from my old machine…
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Forecast maximum in Sydney today was 27°C. It’s 30.4°C at 9:50am. And we’re barely out of winter.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Friends and I complaining about Internet-connected appliances: - Our washing machine has modes you can unlock with an account. - They should have modes that you can only unlock as loot drops. - If you include gambling elements on washing machines they could be used for laundering. - “Spin to win.”
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Friends and I have a standing game of “N Questions” in our Discord chat: Give a set of initials and people ask yes/no questions until they guess who it is. Today it devolved into several rounds of “Guess Which John Smith?”
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
What do Australian teenagers think about AI? Spoiler: They're not happy. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Young people pushing back against artificial intelligence
AI may be here to stay, but the generation that will inherit the results of the guidelines set for its use has something to say about that.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The last comic of our Darths & Droids version of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is now published! A saga 19 years in the making, covering Episodes I to IX, Rogue One, Solo, and a few other things. www.darthsanddroids.net #webcomic #starwars #darthsanddroids
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I continue to horrify my Korean student with my uses of gochujang. “It’s for rice. You don‘t put it on sandwiches. You don’t put it on pizza! YOU DO NOT PUT IT ON FALAFEL WRAPS!!”
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Idea for a new game I had: Sajas & Sagas A K-pop and Norse mythology crossover. #ttrpg
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Making slides about #physics, starting with motion. Start with Newton. Realise I should explain why Newton was so radical; start with Aristotle. Should say how Galileo began refuting Aristotle. To explain why Galileo was important I need to mention Copernicus. And for Copernicus, I need Ptolemy...
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The 9/11 attacks began at bedtime in my time zone. I’d already turned off TV for the night. I was sick and slept in the next morning, and didn’t see any news until about 9am, almost 12 hours after the attacks began. I might have been one of the last people in a First World country to hear about it.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This is comforting, I suppose. What worries me is why the ABC feels this is the right time to publish this story. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Why Australia is considered the world's safest refuge in a global catastrophe
From nuclear winter to asteroid strikes, Australia could be one of the safest places on Earth if, or rather when, a global catastrophe strikes. But researchers warn no country would escape unscathed.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Me: I want to start a band called Das Das. Friend: You could start a Das Das Revolution.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Question for non-Australians: Does your culture have the well-known phrase “the good scissors”? A pair of sewing scissors reserved for cutting fabric, distinct from the everyday scissors, used for everything else. Children were always warned against and admonished for using “the good scissors”.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I just finished making the very last Darths & Droids strip! It's the final non-canon bonus strip after Episode IX ends.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I had an idle few minutes, so made a map of all the flights I've ever taken. (I used mapper.now - no affiliation.)
Three orthographic projections of the globe showing a series of flight paths in (a) Europe and Africa, (b) Australia and Asia, (c) North and South America  (plus Japan and a bit of Australia).
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Less than a week out of winter here, and Sydney has a total fire ban in place, with high winds and 33°C forecast for today. Not looking forward to summer.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
“Nice looking sushi you got there, kid. Be a shame if something happened to it.”
Photo of three Australian magpies lurking in search of food. One is staring aggressively at the camera.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
All of the remaining strips of Darths & Droids are now written. #webcomic #darthsanddroids
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Australia's Fair Work Commission rules on a case of AI-generated workplace emails that it is a case of workplace bullying of an employee and orders company to stop using AI for emails immediately. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
abc.net.au
'Almost dystopian': Should AI be used to write work emails?
Australia's workplace tribunal recently ordered an employee and their workplace not to communicate with each other using artificial intelligence.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Australia is evacuating researchers from Macquarie Island because the danger of H5N1 bird flu killing thousands of seals & birds will restrict staff to base, and it will be psychologically untenable for them to live there in those conditions. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
abc.net.au
Breaking: 'Psychological risk': Australian scientists to abandon remote island over bird flu fears
The Australian Antarctic Division will launch a mission to extract personnel from Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean due to the psychological risk posed by a potential outbreak of bird flu at the ...
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Two Australian ski resorts call it quits for this ski season, while it’s STILL WINTER, due to lack of snow. Normally they’d be open until Sept/Oct. Not looking forward to how hot it’s going to be this summer. (image from Mt Selwyn webcam: www.ski.com.au/snowcams/aus... )
A screencap of a webcam showing the Mount Selwyn ski resort on Sunday August 23, 2026. There is a chairlift on a mountain slope, mostly bare dry grass, with a few small patches of snow, only a few metres across.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Dream: Was working on Apollo in 1969 and a bunch of us said, "Wouldn't it be hilarious if Neil and Buzz showed up today and the rocket was already gone?" So we took the rocket to the moon, and found a town of people there. With bees that kept building honeycombs on our clothes.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
One side effect of switching from going to the shops to shopping online is constantly being woken by the delivery guy buzzing the doorbell insistently and repeatedly half an hour or more before I planned to get up. No longer being able to sleep in.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
BREAKING NEWS: Replaced bits of the Ship of Theseus sue for the right to legally be referred to as the Ship of Theseus again.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Me: I'm going to the supermarket. Wife: Get me some tea. But not the big 100 bags packet. Get the small packet with 50 bags. DO NOT GET THE BIG PACKET. Supermarket: 50-teabag packet: $8.50. Supermarket: 100-teabag packet: ON SALE!!! HALF-PRICE!!! $6 This is an existential-level puzzle.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Sketching in Newtown. #sketch #sketching #sydney
Brush pen sketch in grey tones of 219 Denison Street, Newtown, Sydney. An old sandstone house with corrugated iron roof.Black ink pen sketch of 223 and 221 Denison Street, Newtown, Sydney. Old semi-detached brick houses.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Trying A4 size for sketching for the first time. #sketching #sketch #art #sydney
Ink sketch in grey and sepia of a row of old shops in Naremburn, Sydney.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
My challenge this morning: Start eating my breakfast and working on my tax return at the same time. See which one I finish first. Start timer... now!
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
If he's a Count, shouldn't Binface already be in the House of Lords? #ukpol #politics
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I want to write a Spider-Man origin story where Peter Parker squashes the spider first, doesn't sew a costume, and saves Uncle Ben. Then decides he can save other people. It explores whether he was INHERENTLY a hero or forced to be one. And why he ended up naming himself Spider-Man anyway.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Me: I'm partway through watching <movie> Friend: It’s good. <hidden comment> Don’t read that hidden comment, it’s a spoiler. ... Me: I finished the movie, now I can read the spoiler! <click> “The plot twist is just like <other movie I haven’t seen>.” Me: Aaaargghhh!!!!
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I bought a big loaf of banana bread. Got home, cut a slice, toasted it, spread butter on, took a bite... Remembered, "Oh yeah, this is the brand we said we'd never get again because it tastes bad."
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Everything is fine. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
abc.net.au
How a simple request for AI to book a gym class exposed a major threat
When Andrew asked his AI personal assistant to book him a spot in a gym class, he had no idea he would accidentally initiate an autonomous cyber attack.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Sketch of a coffee shop. Naremburn, Sydney. #sketch #sketching #drawing #Sydney
Ink sketch of the front entrance of a coffee shop, flanked by two coffee bushes in large pots, with a small circular awning over the door.Photo of the actual coffee shop entrance.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Today's random number: 9 Context: Rolling a random third level spell for a PC magic-user who just reached 5th level. Good roll! He got Lightning Bolt!
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The real questions they should ask on the Census: Toilet roll over or under? Do you wash rice before cooking it? Pineapple on pizza? Is a hot dog a sandwich?
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I was chatting with friends on Discord, and someone ranted against tech and said they were clearly a Luddite. And people reacted with emojis. I was going to say we need a Luddite emoji. And then I recognised the irony.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Sourdough loaf hot out of the oven.
Photo of a loaf of sourdough bread. What a crust!
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Annoyed that my computer has no way to sort folders in Roman numeral order.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Alternate reality idea: The world is identical to ours, except Budapest is named Pestbuda. #alternatereality
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I was out running and the idle thought crossed my mind that they should make a sequel to The Goonies, with the original cast kids. Checked Wikipedia to see if the actors are all alive—they are! AND - The Goonies sequel is in pre-production as of 2025! AND the cast is all on board!
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Sketch of the Balmain post office and town hall, from the café table where I had lunch today. #sketch #sketching #sydney
Ink sketch of a street scene dominated by a Victorian Free Classical style building with a tall clock tower at one end and columns and porticos and other cool bits, and part of a dome at the far right edge.Photo of the street scene shown in the sketch.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Sketch at a funky cafe my wife found in the back streets of North Sydney. Bonus food photo. Delicious.
Photo of the interior of a cafe with eclectic decorations in an old industrial building. At the bottom is a pen sketch of the scene.Photo of a bun loaded with pulled pork and coleslaw.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Looks like Toronto, Canada, is experiencing Sydney in the summer of 2019. Sorry everyone there.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Whoa... I just realised that “merganser” ends with “anser”... I told my friends. And then I had to explain why it was so mind-blowing.
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David Morgan-Mar @dmmaus.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump to be jointly awarded inaugural FIFA Ethics Prize.
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