Stephen Rowley
@sterow.bsky.social
Urban planner, and author of “Movie Towns and Sitcom Suburbs” and “The Victorian Planning System: Practice, Problems and Prospects.” Also, cats, AFL (Essendon), Lego, films. www.sterow.com
Yikes.
The path ahead for real wages is...not good
www.theguardian.com/business/gro...
www.theguardian.com/business/gro...
November 20, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Yikes.
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
You could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people* who really wanted this in footy.
*excluding
anyone who is, or is related to an AFL House or club employee,
anyone who is, or is related to an AFL club 'official partner',
or anyone involved in an AFL 'broadcast partner' role.
*excluding
anyone who is, or is related to an AFL House or club employee,
anyone who is, or is related to an AFL club 'official partner',
or anyone involved in an AFL 'broadcast partner' role.
November 9, 2025 at 9:20 AM
You could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people* who really wanted this in footy.
*excluding
anyone who is, or is related to an AFL House or club employee,
anyone who is, or is related to an AFL club 'official partner',
or anyone involved in an AFL 'broadcast partner' role.
*excluding
anyone who is, or is related to an AFL House or club employee,
anyone who is, or is related to an AFL club 'official partner',
or anyone involved in an AFL 'broadcast partner' role.
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
The *default* function of a chatbot will be the fabrication of fake information. This is baked into the core design of the product: so stuff like "please check outputs" and "ethical" AI use are just attempts to broom a tidal wave back into the sea
November 6, 2025 at 9:39 AM
The *default* function of a chatbot will be the fabrication of fake information. This is baked into the core design of the product: so stuff like "please check outputs" and "ethical" AI use are just attempts to broom a tidal wave back into the sea
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
lol
November 6, 2025 at 4:47 AM
lol
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
Pains me to say it but I think this is true. Some of my colleagues in the media who’ve stayed on X don’t even realize how badly its noxious algorithm is skewing their perception of politics and reality.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Tonight's even more proof the mainstream reporters who are still on Twitter are suffering from a brain problem akin Havana Syndrome that is preventing them from accurately doing their jobs. They are being cooked alive by a snuff-focused apartheid algorithm.
November 5, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Pains me to say it but I think this is true. Some of my colleagues in the media who’ve stayed on X don’t even realize how badly its noxious algorithm is skewing their perception of politics and reality.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
The collapse of these AI companies cannot come quickly enough.
The Transport Victoria website has been updated and now includes an "AI Chatbot" of questionable utility.
Can't answer very basic questions and doesn't seem to add much value to the website. I would rather they focus their effort on fixing the many errors and […]
[Original post on aus.social]
Can't answer very basic questions and doesn't seem to add much value to the website. I would rather they focus their effort on fixing the many errors and […]
[Original post on aus.social]
October 31, 2025 at 8:26 AM
The collapse of these AI companies cannot come quickly enough.
Lol I was one of the people who lodged an ACCC complaint about this. Go ACCC! This was outrageous. (For those who don’t know, you can maintain your copilot free Office but the option to do so was hidden.)
youtu.be/9lGK5CXtwKo?...
youtu.be/9lGK5CXtwKo?...
ACCC sues over Microsoft 365 subscription hikes | ABC NEWS
YouTube video by ABC News (Australia)
youtu.be
October 27, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Lol I was one of the people who lodged an ACCC complaint about this. Go ACCC! This was outrageous. (For those who don’t know, you can maintain your copilot free Office but the option to do so was hidden.)
youtu.be/9lGK5CXtwKo?...
youtu.be/9lGK5CXtwKo?...
Reading the Wikipedia page about DB Cooper and there is a lot going on in this description of Cooper copycat Glenn Tripp.
October 24, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reading the Wikipedia page about DB Cooper and there is a lot going on in this description of Cooper copycat Glenn Tripp.
Alan Kohler on AI taking his financial analysis to a darker place than usual.
October 21, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Alan Kohler on AI taking his financial analysis to a darker place than usual.
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
twitter is making mainstream reporters dumber, and because they're all getting dumber together, none of them can recognize it and they actually think they're getting smarter
October 21, 2025 at 2:24 AM
twitter is making mainstream reporters dumber, and because they're all getting dumber together, none of them can recognize it and they actually think they're getting smarter
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
As someone who experienced the 2000 era tech bubble collapse, this is fucking wild to watch. No one wants to pay for this bullshit which is why they keep forcing it on everyone, while spending the GDP of a reasonably sized country to build more of the thing that no one wants. It's fucking absurd
October 4, 2025 at 6:46 AM
As someone who experienced the 2000 era tech bubble collapse, this is fucking wild to watch. No one wants to pay for this bullshit which is why they keep forcing it on everyone, while spending the GDP of a reasonably sized country to build more of the thing that no one wants. It's fucking absurd
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
What the fuck do you mean I got a longer prison sentence than Diddy
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison in case involving sex workers, violence and ‘freak-offs’.
October 3, 2025 at 9:40 PM
What the fuck do you mean I got a longer prison sentence than Diddy
The dunks on this in the replies are well worth reading. Heartening to see such contempt.
AI can’t raise the dead, but it might do the next best thing on.ft.com/4gFXyus | opinion
AI can’t raise the dead, but it might do the next best thing
Rapid advances in generative AI and voice technology mean communicating with the deceased will no longer be sci-fi
on.ft.com
September 27, 2025 at 9:49 AM
The dunks on this in the replies are well worth reading. Heartening to see such contempt.
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
If "Abundance" isn't an establishment psy-op to trick liberals into being ineffective and derby stooges, I'll be genuinely shocked
September 27, 2025 at 8:59 AM
If "Abundance" isn't an establishment psy-op to trick liberals into being ineffective and derby stooges, I'll be genuinely shocked
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
CEOs be like: “AI is fantastic. The only things it appears to struggle with are things I am skilled at/knowledgeable about. It’s pretty bad at those. It’s great at all the stuff I’m not well-versed with, though.”
A new study, based on a survey of 1,150 workers suggests that the injection of AI tools into the workplace has not resulted in a magic productivity boom and instead increased the amount of time that workers say they spend fixing low-quality AI-generated “work.”
🔗 www.404media.co/ai-workslop-...
🔗 www.404media.co/ai-workslop-...
AI ‘Workslop’ Is Killing Productivity and Making Workers Miserable
AI slop is taking over workplaces. Workers said that they thought of their colleagues who filed low-quality AI work as "less creative, capable, and reliable than they did before receiving the output."
www.404media.co
September 23, 2025 at 6:28 PM
CEOs be like: “AI is fantastic. The only things it appears to struggle with are things I am skilled at/knowledgeable about. It’s pretty bad at those. It’s great at all the stuff I’m not well-versed with, though.”
It’s infuriating that Stewart will miss the GF and they’ll change the timing of the bye next year to avoid it happening again. This was a completely foreseeable outcome 5+ years ago and the #afl just sleep-walked on and let it happen.
September 19, 2025 at 12:18 PM
It’s infuriating that Stewart will miss the GF and they’ll change the timing of the bye next year to avoid it happening again. This was a completely foreseeable outcome 5+ years ago and the #afl just sleep-walked on and let it happen.
This vid about a dead mall in Oklahoma is bananas. It also shows an incredibly grim downtown. Obviously this is an extreme example, but I think in Australia we are sheltered from just how bad both brick and mortar retail, and urban environments more generally, are in the US. youtu.be/RTxwJPrzu08?...
Arrowhead Mall ||| Muskogee, Oklahoma
YouTube video by Travel with a Wiseguy
youtu.be
September 19, 2025 at 5:45 AM
This vid about a dead mall in Oklahoma is bananas. It also shows an incredibly grim downtown. Obviously this is an extreme example, but I think in Australia we are sheltered from just how bad both brick and mortar retail, and urban environments more generally, are in the US. youtu.be/RTxwJPrzu08?...
Some sort of automated cost recovery from certain former politicians and public servants would seem to be in order.
Cost of the NACC’s robodebt investigation reaches $1.9m www.canberratimes.com.au/story/906764...
Cost of corruption watchdog's robodebt investigation reaches $1.9m
Contracts for legal advice have been extended.
www.canberratimes.com.au
September 17, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Some sort of automated cost recovery from certain former politicians and public servants would seem to be in order.
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
Read @amyremeikis.bsky.social's excellent column on Charlie Kirk that The New Daily saw fit to take down here:
amyremeikis.substack.com/p/charlie-ki...
amyremeikis.substack.com/p/charlie-ki...
Charlie Kirk died in the America he wanted
I mourn the loss of human life. I feel compassion, empathy and grief at an inexcusable killing. But I find nothing to lionise in his legacy.
amyremeikis.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Read @amyremeikis.bsky.social's excellent column on Charlie Kirk that The New Daily saw fit to take down here:
amyremeikis.substack.com/p/charlie-ki...
amyremeikis.substack.com/p/charlie-ki...
Broadcasters (I’m watching on Foxtel) are optically adding an AAMI logo onto the ground. It looks like one of those tricky perspective painted ground ads (which they also have), but it is not there in long shots. What new corporate bullshit is this? #afl
September 13, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Broadcasters (I’m watching on Foxtel) are optically adding an AAMI logo onto the ground. It looks like one of those tricky perspective painted ground ads (which they also have), but it is not there in long shots. What new corporate bullshit is this? #afl
Crows did a lot to set this situation up by fighting so hard on the Rankine suspension, which was the opposite of their lip service to accepting he’d done the wrong thing. #afl www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
'I felt ashamed': Crows fans hit out at homophobic slurs during QF
Adelaide fans are threatening to cancel their memberships after a Collingwood star was targeted during the AFL qualifying final.
www.abc.net.au
September 5, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Crows did a lot to set this situation up by fighting so hard on the Rankine suspension, which was the opposite of their lip service to accepting he’d done the wrong thing. #afl www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Reposted by Stephen Rowley
I know I've posted a lot of words about the booing of Isaac Quaynor but I am just so disturbed by it. It is far too reminiscent of the booing of Adam Goodes. Isn't it a funny coincidence that so many booing targets are players of colour; POC who didn't "know their place" and spoke up #afl
September 4, 2025 at 11:11 PM
I know I've posted a lot of words about the booing of Isaac Quaynor but I am just so disturbed by it. It is far too reminiscent of the booing of Adam Goodes. Isn't it a funny coincidence that so many booing targets are players of colour; POC who didn't "know their place" and spoke up #afl