iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 22m

New bete noir: posts with screen shots of headlines from news sites with no link to the fkn article*. That's just fkn lazy. * And often, no alt text either.

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Reposted by Paul Bamford

AliceK @coalisdead.bsky.social · 1h

If you haven’t read this piece by David Hearst, please … It’s a timely reminder: how vacuous the media and politicians (except for indies & the greens) are in this county. www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/mili...

middleeasteye.net

British support for Israel is shattering

There is not a single member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who believes that Israel, under any leadership, would allow a Palestinian state to be born

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 7h

Given that as a staffer to Alexander Downer Josh leaked a classified ONA report written by Andrew Wilkie to Andrew Bolt, Josh is in no position to lecture others on "moral clarity".

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 8h

The "emergency" being that my very old Macbook refuses to charge, meaning that it needs either repair or replacement. bsky.app/profile/paul...

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 9h

Best platform for a personal fundraiser to deal with a personal "emergency"?

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 9h

Give it about 50 years and historians will be publishing papers on who all the valued CIA "assets" in today's Federal Cabinet were.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 20h

Except for the ones who demand to go potty on leash and off home premises.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 20h

Also worth remembering that as a staffer in Alexander Downer's office he conveniently dropped Andrew Wilkie's report on Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" into a fax machine that was connected to Andrew Bolt.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 22h

Now down to $21.60 a day. I think.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 22h

Quite the rabbit hole, this. And me without a working laptop 🙄

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

During the trial we left out the most obvious control group - people with no mutual obligation requirements. Because that would have shown That Our cruelty Was making no Significant Difference. (Thanks to voice recognition (AI) for the random capitalisation).

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

"CAN they do better" given the generally accepted social conventions of the times and social milieu in which they live? (Boomer question).

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Well, this is a bugger. Time to start looking for a second hand Dell.

Apple charging cable attached to a very old Apple laptop. The LED in the magsafe plug is showing no power going to the computer. Cable is clipped into a half hitch to protect the plug end from fraying.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

He actually shits them out, one a day.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I foresee my alt having a busy time over the weekend. Also, going to put in an early bid for a 59cm panama fedora for #PoveratiXmas.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

This is the sort of reasoning that you can only get away with in front of an audience of professional economists.

But I want to begin with a much more recent Australian story about how our government is using randomised trials to shape government policy.

When people receive income support through Workforce Australia Online, the government sets mutual obligations. Jobseekers can meet these obligations through job applications, training, study and other activities. Each activity is allocated a certain number of points under the Points Based Activation System. The standard monthly target has been 100 points, which typically includes a minimum of 4 job applications.

The logic seems straightforward. Looking for work takes effort. Requiring more effort should, up to a point, increase the chances of finding a job.

But where is that point?

But where is that point?

How many applications should someone be required to submit? How demanding should the points target be? At what stage does an obligation stop encouraging useful job search and begin consuming time that could be spent finding work in other ways?

Governments often answer questions like these through judgement. Officials study the evidence. Ministers weigh competing arguments. Eventually, a target is chosen.

In this case, the Australian Government ran an experiment (Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, forthcoming).

Almost 40,000 job‑ready jobseekers were randomly divided into 3 groups. One remained under the existing mutual obligation arrangements, with a target of 100 points each month. For the other 2, the requirements were reduced to 70 points per month (including 3 job applications) or 50 points per month (including 2 job applications).

Six months later, the employment results were strikingly similar. The 3 groups had worked an average of 10.4 weeks, 10.3 weeks and 10.5 weeks. Their earnings and income support payments were also very similar.

Randomised trials don’t just produce statistics – they can be used to garner qualitative data too. Interviewing participants from each group, the researchers also found that people facing lighter requirements tended to report less stress. Some said the change gave them more time to pursue activities they thought would actually help them find work.

Before the trial, there were plausible arguments in both directions. Tougher requirements might strengthen the incentive to get a job. Lighter requirements might allow people to search smarter, focusing on the particular job where they were most likely to get hired.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Do you get spam with those?

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

It's not just activists, it's all voters.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

He really is a fixated, obtuse POS.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Federal minister for performing experiments on the unemployed that would never get past a university ethics committee.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Daily budget = $37 a day, after rent.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Thinks: we should dedicate one week of each year as Anti-Billionaire Week. The other 51 will be Anti-Poverty weeks.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Down time. It's ok to have down time. Especially this morning.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The very model of a modern Murdoch minion.

Alan Howe
Alan HoweHistory and Obituaries Editor

Alan Howe has been a senior journalist on London’s The Times and Sunday Times, and the New York Post. While editing the Sunday Herald Sun in Victoria it became the nation’s fastest growing title and achieved the greatest margin between competing newspapers in Australian publishing history. He has also edited The Sunday Herald and The Weekend Australian Magazine and for a decade was executive editor of, and columnist for, Melbourne’s Herald Sun. Alan was previously The Australian’s Opinion Editor.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

By imploding. bsky.app/profile/byst...

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

... If you're in a position to sling me a few readies, hit me up at the e-mail address in my bio and maybe we can come to some arrangement involving BSB numbers. Thank you for your attention to this matter 😉

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

... the move has left me in a bit of financial strife. I've maxed out my Centrelink advances for the next six months, purely on moving costs. Can't access Paypal or other on-line payment systems, thanks to @albomp.bsky.social's world beating age limitations on internet access. So ...

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#MutualAid Recently I moved out of my old place, which was infested with black mould and abusive neighbours to the new place below - much better, free of the mental and physical health hazards of the old place. But... bsky.app/profile/paul...

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Anyone know of PayPal equivalent services operating out of the EU?

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Thanks to @albomp.bsky.social's "world leading" ban on under 16s accessing the internet I am now pretty much an unperson when it comes to signing up to websites. Especially the ones that allow you to transfer money.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Book title, free to a good home: "The Enshitification of the Australian Labour Party".

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Guess where clicking on "Next" gets you.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Alt text for image above: "Something went wrong. Try again. Need help with your password? Enter your email or username to get started. Email or username Next"

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

But, according to Murray Watt, this government still believes in mutual obligation. What's "mutual" about forcing people into abject poverty - even bankruptcy - before they can access unemployment benefit?

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Rather meet them on the beach than in the water.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Be dog, salivate at the sound of the bell.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Moving has left me financially embarrassed halfway through my pension fortnight. I would be much more comfortable mentally with more than $15 a day to spend over the next six days. Usually I prefer to be a giver of #mutualaid but needs must. paypal.me/Paulbam3 bsky.app/profile/paul...

paypal.me

Pay Paul Bamford using PayPal.Me

Go to paypal.me/PaulBam3 and type in the amount. Since it’s PayPal, it's easy and secure. Don’t have a PayPal account? No worries.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Correction: you can either be left and powerless or centre-right and achieve nothing.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Trust a Shoppie to sell you out. It's what they know best.

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Paul Bamford @paulb237.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Not visible in either picture - my two new neighbours, neither of whom is abusive or likely to threaten me with violence.

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