Stu Barrow
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functionary.bsky.social
Stu Barrow
@functionary.bsky.social
99 followers 100 following 660 posts
Stu. Nerd and wonk. Neurodivergent.

Strong professional interest in science, science policy, knowledge systems, philosophy, communication modes.

Strong personal interest in history, mythology, politics, speculative fiction, roleplaying, more besides.
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functionary.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 10:37 PM
functionary.bsky.social
I am going to spend some time with some old friends.
Four books laid out in a rectangle: Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers The Song of Roland and Other Poems of Charlemagne, translated by Simon Gaunt and Karen Pratt The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
November 7, 2025 at 2:04 AM
functionary.bsky.social
Great antho - I enjoyed pretty much every story, and some were absolute killers.

I reckon if you really want your mind blown you need to be open to different styles and perspectives.

And if you don't want your mind blown, why are you reading sf?
A scifi anthology: "The Best of World SF - volume 3. Edited by Lavie Tidhar."
October 9, 2025 at 2:16 AM
functionary.bsky.social
A Mean-Spirited Curlew.
A Bush Stone-Curlew, a grey-ish brown bird.
September 28, 2025 at 7:08 AM
functionary.bsky.social
A Funky White Spoonbill.
A Royal Spoonbill - a white bird with a crest and a spoon-shaped bill - on a branch in an avairy.
September 28, 2025 at 7:03 AM
functionary.bsky.social
Anyway Cleland Wildlife Park is quite nice.
A view of Adelaide from Cleland Wildlife Park, with rocks in the foreground and clouds in the sky."
September 28, 2025 at 5:04 AM
functionary.bsky.social
A tragedy of binding - Troy is lost in the crease.
A map of Greece and Anatolia from the Emily Wilson translation of the Iliad, held open with fingers. The centre of the map is obscured by the binding crease.
September 16, 2025 at 4:30 AM
functionary.bsky.social
Classics.
Two books, side by side: Emily Wilson's translation of the Iliad and Terry Pratchett's Night Watch.
September 16, 2025 at 2:51 AM
functionary.bsky.social
Definitely haven't stopped here before: it's new, a bench in loving memory, overlooking the marina and the infinite. There's flowers and a candle and a plaque.

This was a great place for flying kites. Probably still is, but I don't have one to hand.
A view of the south coast of South Australia, from a lookout. A park, a marina, a gulf, a horizon.
September 10, 2025 at 6:17 AM
functionary.bsky.social
I mean, I do come from a nice part of the world. Green bluffs, blue seas, ochre cliffs (not pictured).

Plenty of the infinite to contemplate, should one need to contemplate the infinite.
A landscape of a stretch of the South Australian coast. A green bluff in the foreground, a breakwater in the middle distance on the left and then the gulf. A landscape photo of a stretch of the south coast. A green bluff in the foreground and the gulf in the distance.
September 8, 2025 at 6:31 AM
functionary.bsky.social
My dog club understands prioritisation.
A whiteboard, with a 'to do' list written on it. The first item is labelled: "1. Everything, all at once." There is a check box, which has been ticked.
August 10, 2025 at 2:14 AM
functionary.bsky.social
This was a gift from a colleague and it is pretty great.
May 9, 2025 at 3:18 AM
functionary.bsky.social
The election propaganda is becoming unnecessarily ominous.
Ominous orange text, all caps, on a black background, reading: "You don't need Tarot cards to know what the Liberals have planned for us..." To the right of the text is a line drawing in the same colour of three Tarot cards - the Sun, the Moon and the Tower - above a pair of star-spangled hands gesturing mysteriously.
April 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM
functionary.bsky.social
The world is full enough with horrors, and yet I draw your attention to this excerpt from the Australian Government online style guide.
Text from the Australian Government online style guide. Bold heading: More than one reference marker Normal text: Don't use more than one reference marker in the same place, such as when citing 2 works. Instead cite both works in one footnote or endnote, separating the entries in the note with a semicolon." Text in a green box labelled "Like this": Other researchers reported similar results.(superscript)1 [In-text citation] (superscript 1) AB Smith, CD Jones and EF Baker, 'The new science of widgetry', (italics)Theoretical studes(end italics), 2019, 23(4):121-132; D Jackson, X Li and P Chandran, 'Safety and equity', (italics)Psychological Science Australian(end italics), 2018, 2(3):223-240. Text in a red box labelled "Not this": Other researchers reported similar results.(superscript with yellow highlight)1,2
April 23, 2025 at 2:50 AM
functionary.bsky.social
Disappointed. According to my calculations, this glass should hold an infinite amount of coke.
January 24, 2025 at 8:46 AM
functionary.bsky.social
Today I am thinking about the Blue Devil, and endangered Australian grasslands.
A close up of Blue Devil grass. A flower, blue and spherical with protruding spiky leaves, is centred against a chaotic backdrop of long thin blades of green and brown grass.
December 12, 2024 at 4:40 AM