@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

perkinsy

@perkinsy@aus.social

Writer (technical writing, blogging at stumblingpast.com), digital history, owner of #OfficeKitty (see profile pic). Enjoys gardening in #Melbourne #Australia

Interests:#OzHist #DigitalHumanities #documentation #WriteTheDocs #GardeningAU #Environment and watching a bit of cricket on TV.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

perkinsy, to melbourne
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

Wintery Sunshine at midday in . If you look really closely at the right-hand side of the photo, you will be able to see Office Kitty behind the camellia.

This morning I potted some geranium cuttings, but aside from that I amnnot doing much gardening during this fairly dormant period in the garden.

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

European locals in popular tourist destinations are protesting about the large number and behaviour of tourists and how hard this makes life for residents.

How can we avoid being part of the problem when we are travelling? Behave like respectful guests and avoid Air Bnb by staying in hotels. It might cost more to stay in hotels but that is better than contributing to escalating housing costs for locals and homelessness.

Tourism is a privilege, not a right.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-10/european-summer-anti-tourist-over-tourism-austraia-holidays/103880074

perkinsy,
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

@MyView yup - be considerate of neighbours

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

afternoon watching

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

OH MY! HAWTHORN!!!

perkinsy, to Women
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

Australia's superannuation system needs an overhaul to make it fairer for people on low incomes and women. One thing this story misses is that for women in their late 50s and older, the compulsory superannuation guarantee levy did not exist when they were working before they had children.

It is extraordinary that in this day and age a woman is still dependant on having a husband for some kind of financial security in old age. Sadly, divorced women face an older life of financial difficulties.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-08/women-superannuation-tax-concessions-retirement-australia/103943812

perkinsy, to australia
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

The time scientists saw a shark vomit up an echidna...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-06/shark-seen-vomiting-up-echidna-off-queensland-coast/103939084

perkinsy, to melbourne
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

An elegant woman at the tram stop this morning hastily removed her red jacket and examined the back of the collar. Then she felt around the back of the neck of her gold-flecked jumper. I was politely not looking directly but watching closely with peripheral vision, wondering what would happen next. Something at the back of her neck was really bothering her.

With great force she ripped off a shop's swing tag. She was wearing brand new, elegant clothes and like the rest of Melbourne she is probably struggling with getting up for work in the cold and dark. I think everyone has been sluggish in the morning this week.

I continued to politely wear a poker face, but she knew that I had been closely following her spectacle. She burst out laughing and said she knew there was something bothering her in her clothes. I laughed too, grateful that she had given me permission to chuckle at her wardrobe malfunction.

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

Dr Liz Allen @DrDemography is an academic at ANU and a well-known demographer. She has also survived a difficult childhood, endured poverty and is a life-long renter still financially struggling.

She shares a little bit about how she has dealt with poverty and her ongoing financial struggles. The big takeaway is that poverty is not a marker of failure in life. It is a matter of luck as to what family you are born into.

My take: No-one gets to choose their parents. Your financial future gets a kick-start or punch in the guts depending on your family's wealth.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-05/pay-day-demographer-liz-allen-poverty-grants-perspective/103936962

perkinsy, to environment
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

Claude the koala bypassed plant nursery security to munch the leaves of its baby trees again, highlighting the problems of land clearing for koalas.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/03/koala-thief-leaves-claude-eastern-forest-nursery-lismore-nsw

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

Does anyone remember Sue Becker? She was an aerobics instructor on TV in the 1960s and 1970s. Then she went onto host ABC talk back radio in Hobart during the 1980s - an era when women were not chosen for that job.

There is a researcher who would like to connect with people who have memories of Sue Becker:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-03/tv-aerobics-star-and-radio-broadcaster-sue-becker/103874376

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

I have never understood the extreme obsession with dog breeding. Dog breeding for traits required for working dogs of various varieties is valuable. But why do people care what breed their household pet is? Surely the only criteria should be the health of the dog, its personality and exercise requirements? It doesn't matter what it looks like!

Some dog breeds have so many serious genetic health problems consideration should be given to rebooting breeds by cross-breeding with other dogs:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/jun/02/dog-breeds-must-be-rebooted-to-halt-health-problems-says-expert-has-said

remoquete, to random
@remoquete@hachyderm.io avatar

With the job market getting tougher by the day, there’s a rising belief among tech writers that their role is “too niche” and a “dead-end job”. I think that’s the wrong way of looking at our profession — at any profession. Let me cast aside that dark veil of pessimism and offer an alternative viewpoint, that of tech writing as a platform to other professions, one that let you move laterally with just a bit of curiosity and courage.

Read about it in my post: https://passo.uno/posts/technical-writing-is-not-a-dead-end-job/

perkinsy,
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

@remoquete THIS ☝️.

I am fortunate that my manager recognises this critical juncture in technical writing and has given me substantial time to reimagine my job.

I spoke about the benefits of working in the space between professional silos in my Linux Conference talk a few years ago: When STEM Becomes STEAM We All Benefit https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oEX-F5SxwrU

mativity, to random
@mativity@aus.social avatar

Oh, fuck off, LinkedIn. I don't want to connect to any of these people. Nor do I care what companies are searching for me.

Can I turn these notifications off?

perkinsy,
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

@mativity yes - go to the settings and get some peace back into your life

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

University of Melbourne has published a history of the institution revealing that among its academics Nazi apologists, massacre perpetrators, grave robbers, racists and eugenicists were influential in the past.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/28/denying-history-is-simply-lying-how-the-university-of-melbourne-honoured-racists-thieves-and-body-snatchers

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

We have returned home after our few days holiday in Victoria's Otway Ranges. I have enjoyed taking photos and sharing it with people here. It has been especially enjoyable reading your comments to my posts. Interacting with people here has been great!

I used to love blogging but life intervened and I have not had time to do this over the last couple of years. Sharing our journey here has clearly been a substitute writing project for me. Hopefully I can get back to do some more substantial and regular writing projects some time.

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

After leaving the Otways to return home we decided to eke out our holiday even more. We decided not to go the usual way home - that horrendously boring, straight Geelong/Melbourne highway and the roadworks around the Westgate Bridge. We decided to catch the Queenscliff-Sorrento Ferry instead. This was the first time I had ridden on it. It was also the first time I had been this far down the Bellarine Peninsula.

I took this photo from the top deck of the ferry before it left Queenscliff for the 40 minute journey to Sorrento.

perkinsy,
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

I often struggle with sea sickness largely due to the vibrations of the engine. The Queenscliff-Sorrento's engines are so smooth and not too noisy. The waters of Port Phillip Bay were flat and sparkling, the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky. The only thing that detracted from the perfect scene was the brown smudge on the horizon above Melbourne. One downside of having no wind is the pollution just sits there.

We stood outside on the top deck for the entire journey. There we had a nice chat with a retired truck driver from Wollongong who was returning from a road trip to Perth. He decided to take his caravan on the ferry and avoid going through Melbourne altogether.

This photo shows the sister ferry that does the same route and was going the other direction to us.

I have learned over many years that photos of the vastness of the sea are very boring so I didn't take any others. However I regret not taking a photo of a seal that was relaxing near the ferry with one fin sticking up in the air.

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

We are still eking out the last day of our holiday. Here is my last photo of the lovely drive through the Otways this morning.

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

Today is the last day of our holiday in the Otways. We believe in eking out holidays as much as possible, so instead of taking a main road out we took dirt back roads through glorious rain forest before we reached the Great Ocean Road at Lorne.

There was no traffic so we could pull over whenever we wanted to. This is a typical scene on our drive. Throughout our trip we have found the dirt roads in great condition and today was no exception.
#Otways

perkinsy,
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

The green grass that lined the road attracts wildlife like this kangaroo. We came across 2 deer by the side of the road and countless kangaroos. This was mid morning and the wildlife were out and about so we drove carefully.

perkinsy,
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

@vwdasher It was lovely! We could pull over any time we liked for photos, drive as slow as we liked and have the windows down and feel the crisp air

perkinsy,
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

@trelord75 Thank you for all your messages. I am back home now and so give them the attention they deserve.

My forebears were also loggers in the Otways, but they were based in Timboon - the Love family. My direct forebears left the area after my great-grandfather was killed in WWI. However some of Mum's uncles were still logging there in her lifetime.

perkinsy,
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

@trelord75 My mother comes from the Western District and would have liked to move back there after she retired but realised that living in the country is not practical when you don't drive so she stayed in Melbourne.

This trip I have been thinking about how people who don't drive can visit places like the Otways. It is such a shame that trips like the one we did are really confined to people who can drive themselves around.

perkinsy, to random
@perkinsy@aus.social avatar

Apparently, this stand of Redwoods is used for photo shoots. I can understand why.

Interestingly, in this photo ferns can be seen to the left-hand side suggesting that maybe foresters are clearing the undergrowth from the rest of the stand?
#GiantRedwood #Redwood

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • provamag3
  • mdbf
  • ngwrru68w68
  • modclub
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • khanakhh
  • InstantRegret
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • Durango
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • JUstTest
  • GTA5RPClips
  • ethstaker
  • normalnudes
  • tester
  • osvaldo12
  • everett
  • cubers
  • tacticalgear
  • anitta
  • megavids
  • Leos
  • cisconetworking
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •