iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 11h

Thank you for reading! You're very kind!

Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 12h

My latest article for The Conversation! And if you happen to be in South-East New South Wales, I'll be on ABC local radio at 9.20 tomorrow morning, talking more about blackberries and their enemies. theconversation.com/over-40-year...

theconversation.com

Over 40 years ago, a mystery vigilante released a fungus to control blackberry in Australia. But why?

Blackberries have long been a problem for Australian farmers and bushwalkers. But who would have illegally released a fungus as a biological control?

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Dustin A. Chacón @lingdustin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I've heard people make claims that AI would lead to a new Renaissance, but I didn't imagine it'd happen like this:

Screenshot of a Tweet from Pope Leo XIV. It reads:

"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgen to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity."

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Corey Atad @coreyatad.com · 22/09/2026

“If you are staring at an example of social disorder or social inefficiency, and the left refuses to explain either why it has happened or how they will fix it, then the right gets to point at someone in the immediate area and say, ‘That’s who did it.’” crazy how much Mamdani speaks my language

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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It’s very simple. A reality TV host became dictator because he turned down a role for Sharknado 4 and that’s why the king of outer space, who cheats at Diablo, got to kill Africa. Now the economy is controlled by a sex cult that has something to do with Harry Potter fanfic because of robots.

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It's this sort of thing that gives me pause when people wring their hands about 'cancel culture' or 'academic freedom'. Some people *should* be silenced! Not silenced by their governments, perhaps not even by corporations or universities, but certainly by community activism and public shaming.

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Cethan Leahy @cethanleahy.com · 15/09/2026

Pretty funny that Ed Sheeran seemingly only hired Irish people and yet didn't see this coming.

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journeyman folklorist @aniceburrito.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

1 month progress selfie

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

You would be shocked to hear how few of these I've read!

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Even excluding any living historians, this was still tough - I'm sure I've made some huge omissions

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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Cuaron was asked when he made this (2006) how he created such a convincing, organic-looking future Britain. He said he looked at what was happening at the time and then just assumed for the movie that everything would keep going on much the same trajectory as it was then, for twenty years or so.

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Very very interested in this idea of charisma as process!

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Alex Says Stuff @alexsaysstuff.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

French people in 1830:

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

😍😍😍 inshallah they will never be back up

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Every time I buy fancy Spanish potato chips I am disappointed

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I'd be very interested, if you can't find someone with more Africa-specific expertise

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

It's an oddly egalitarian custom for a country that's big on formality and etiquette

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

My contract still ends next July, and the course of my career after that remains, at best, a hazy, transparent shape on the horizon. But this formal recognition of everything I've accomplished over the last couple of years still feels like something solid I can hold onto until then.

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Effective today, I've been promoted from Assistant Lecturer (Level A) to Lecturer (Level B). For those outside of academia, this will seem very trivial, and maybe it is, but it's a big deal to me! I'm feeling proud and grateful.

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Jimmy Two Heads 💀🎃 @jimmytwohands.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I know exactly why, poindexter. It’s because it looks cool as fuck

This 11,000-Year-Old Statue from Turkey Shows a Man Riding a Leopard.
Archaeologists Aren't Sure
Why
The strange sculpture reverses a recurring Stone Age motif of humans confronting dangerous predators.

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

It is a way zanier movie than reputed!

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Today is a beautiful day to join your union

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I guess I'll add that Dolly Parton is up there with Fred Rogers in terms of truly achieving what I think a Christian living their faith in public life should be like.

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the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

genuinely cannot imagine anything like this ever happening again.

DSA •
@DemSocialists
X.com
Democratic Socialists of America extends our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Dolly Parton, a hero of the working-class and an inspiration to us all.

Donald J. Trump
@reaDonald Trump
+
Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER, has just passed away. This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will. In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the United States for a one week period beginning tonight at 6:00PM. Rest in Peace, Dolly! The World loves you. President DONALD J. TRUMP

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Boze Herrington, Library Owl @sketchesbyboze.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton rose from poverty to stardom. She gave $500 to every student in her hometown who finished high school; she built hospitals & bald eagle preserves; her Imagination Library has gifted 300 million books to children. Roger Ebert met her and came away thinking she was a literal angel. RIP.

“In Dallas for the premier of '9 to 5', I had an uncanny experience, and on the plane home to Chicago I confessed it to Siskel: I had been granted a private half hour with Dolly Parton, and as we spoke I was filled with a strange ethereal grace. This was not spiritual, nor was it sexual. It was healing and comforting. Gene listened and said, "Roger, I felt the exact same thing during my interview with her." We looked at each other. What did this mean? Neither one of us ever felt that feeling again. From time to time we would refer to it in wonder.”

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Possibly the horniest bush poetry I have yet encountered (by the aptly named Thomas Bracken, 1877)

Two verses of a poem printed in an old newspaper, reading as follows:

"I have not forgotten that eve in September,
When love-dreams were nursed in the cradle of Spring,
The pictures we painted, I well can remember,
Were bright as the hues of the paroquet's wing;
’Twas under the shade of the wattles you pressed me,
Their ringlets of gold played with mine on your cheek,
The young moon was veiled as you fondly caressed me,
And whispered “Farewell,” by the side of the creek.

The frightened birds flew from their nests in the bushes,
The magpie took wing from his perch on the pine,
The water-fowl, startled, dashed wild through the rushes,
As sweetly, your lips were imprinted on mine;
Through mossy-capp’d boulders the merry stream babbled,
The sly ’possum laughed when he heard our lips speak
The one note of love, and the stupid geese gabbled,
Disturbed by the chirp of our kiss at the creek."

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Animals that were in every TV show I watched and book I read as a kid: * Killer bees * Frill-necked lizards * Hammerhead sharks And where are they now???

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

But it still stings to see. Dre, for all of his significant flaws and misdeeds, is one of the most innovative and influential musicians of my lifetime. I wish he believed in his own talents and energies more. I guess I wish all of us did.

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

You see this in other sectors - maybe even in academia - people who rose to greatness by leaping on trends at just the right time are convinced that AI is simply another wave to catch. If they are lucky, these people will live long enough to look back on this period with mild embarrassment.

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

“if we don’t stand up for the free speech of racists, it puts everyone’s free speech in danger.” - guy who only ever talks about free speech when it’s racism

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Street artists in Melbourne seem to love painting fairy wrens, but they always paint the hyper-blue splendid fairy wren, which is only found in WA, rather than our local superb fairy wren. And so, I have armed myself and will be declaring a righteous and God-ordained war against

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

guys literally only want one thing and its fucking disgusting

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Cars and Guns: a history of the United States of America in just two objects

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The Chills, Frostbite, Frozen Fingers and Chapped Lips would make for a great festival line-up

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/08/2026

I genuinely think this is the first time I've heard or seen push back against the head of Australia's data centre lobby. Not just in media interviews, in any context. She is stunned and totally thrown off for the whole interview. Not surprising! www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

abc.net.au

The plan to build a data centre next to a Sydney Metro station - ABC listen

Ryde Council is worried about a proposed data centre at Lane Cove Road in Macquarie Park - a site immediately next to the Macquarie Park Metro Station. Hamish Macdonald spoke to CEO of Data Centres...

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Jørgen Heszlein @heszlein.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

New estimate of Elon Musk’s death toll just dropped www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I want to see Eddy Current Suppression Ring at Meredith but unfortunately nobody I would go to Meredith with has ever heard of Eddy Current Suppression Ring

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History Australia @historyaustralia.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

‘Do-it-yourself biological control’: the unauthorised introduction of blackberry rust to Australia by Simon Farley www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @sighmonger.bsky.social #historyaustralia #openaccess

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Simon Farley @sighmonger.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Chet Hanks is living quietly in a sharehouse in Brunswick West and working as a groundskeeper at the University of Melbourne. I asked him to speak in patois for me but he wouldn't. "I don't do that anymore, man."

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Liz Crash @lizcrash.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

did what i always do at Census time: bitch and moan incessantly about the false promises of legibility to the state, then tick the box saying “yes! please hang onto my identified data for 99 years and then make it public“

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laura olin @lauraolin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Abdul El-Sayed on capitalism: “I’m capitalist who just knows about capitalism. I have a bad habit of reading, I’m so sorry.”

We’ve spoken about capitalism versus socialism.

Do you want to talk about capitalism? Let’s talk about capitalism. Are you recording? Capitalism is about leveraging the laws of supply and demand to efficiently allocate capital expenditure to maximize value. When capitalism works, it’s because you have free entry and exit into markets. So if you believe in capitalism, you have to believe in government regulation to protect markets. In fact, right now, we have exactly the opposite. You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that you should be taxing billionaires their wealth. In fact, if you are a capitalist, you should believe in that. So, I’m capitalist who just knows about capitalism. I have a bad habit of reading, I’m so sorry.

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Patrick Monahan @pattymo.com · 07/08/2026

Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag delivers

DoorDash push notification:
Message from your Dasher
Here I am

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