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thebenshaw.bsky.social
I, BS
@thebenshaw.bsky.social
220 followers 750 following 300 posts
Luddite/technologist, social justice worrier, recalcitrant masters student poking at media-ecologies and socio-technologies. Tangata tiriti, trying to be a better guest on unceded Djarra country.
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thebenshaw.bsky.social
Earth's atmosphere getting its hams steamed by solar radiation again
A photograph of the aurora Australis taken from a roadside in central Victoria, Australia. The sky near the horizon is green, fading to a reddy purple against an otherwise clear, starry night sky.
November 12, 2025 at 12:10 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
It's spooky season in the goldfields
A photograph of a field in the early morning. The sun is just above the trees in the background, which are shrouded in fog.
October 13, 2025 at 7:09 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Anyway feels like as good a time as any to finally (performatively) read this.
A photograph of the inside cover of a book. The title is "The Force of Nonviolence: an ethico-political bind" by Judith Butler
September 10, 2025 at 9:31 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
This guy loves to do that, mostly while I'm in meetings
September 5, 2025 at 4:25 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Me just trying to take my silly fungus photos, and Ed the dog with perfect timing to come see what's going on. #fungusfriends
A close up on a dog's paw, that is stomping on some small fungus that were the actual intended subject of the photo.
August 31, 2025 at 11:11 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Done. Now sleep.
An image of the front page of a masters thesis titled "Missing Links: Supporting access to social connection in the wake of mental health challenges"
August 31, 2025 at 12:16 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
I know all eyes are on Excel due to Microsoft's genius move of making it bad at maths, but WTAF is going on with Word Online right now?
A screenshot from a word document. The built-in editor program has highlighted a sequence of letters across the words "some experiences" and is suggesting that this be replaced with the word "trolls,"
August 22, 2025 at 12:17 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
TERF logic is tricky but I'm assuming that more eggs = even more woman, making this pacific oyster very a woman indeed.
A pacific oyster in a closed shell, photographed on a blue background
August 9, 2025 at 3:41 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
An image from Raymond Briggs' book The Tin Pot General and the Old Iron Woman, showing the titular Iron Woman shooting the words "I won!" from cannons that she has in place of nipples.
August 7, 2025 at 7:25 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Lol
August 6, 2025 at 11:07 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Its kicking off in the mulch right now #Fungifriends
Two bright orange mushrooms, photographed from below to show the gills under the cap, protrude from a pile of brown bark and leaf litter.
July 15, 2025 at 3:06 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Reading this it strikes me that of course we're not "there" (yet) in AUS/NZ, but how would we know if we were getting closer? Add "commercial in confidence" or "our mandate" to the "national security" excuse below and you've got the current NZ government coalition. #NZpol
Screenshot says: "What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security".
July 10, 2025 at 9:30 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Truly we live in an age of wonders. #ai
A screenshot from a word document, that thinks the string "r recent" from the two separate words "other recent" is a spelling error, and suggesting the following corrections: Masahiko, Mashiko, Manihiki.
July 9, 2025 at 1:27 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Getting some Rising festival in - "get hype for my upcoming ethical pie release" feels like peak Melbourne
A flyer advertising "Wildpie, a pie with purpose" which is "coming July 2025". It has links to social media accounts, in case you want to be friends with an unreleased pie I guess.
June 8, 2025 at 1:58 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
I mean, I have access to all that stuff too! (or I did until we filled the internet with shit and then broke search). Maybe my analysis won't be as good as "aggregate business guy bot", but if I do it a bunch, I'll *learn*. If I use a machine to do it I'll continue to have no fucking idea.
A screenshot of a paragraph from an Atlantic article "AI is Not Your Friend". Text reads: "it becomes evident that in seeking opinions from AI itself, we are not tapping into its true power. Take the example of proposing a business idea—whether a good or bad one. The model, whether it’s ChatGPT, Gemini, or something else, has access to an inconceivable amount of information about how to think through business decisions. It can access different decision frameworks, theories, and parallel cases, and apply those to a decision in front of the user. It can walk through what an investor would likely note in their plan, showing how an investor might think through an investment and sourcing those concerns to various web-available publications. For a nontraditional idea, it can also pull together some historical examples of when investors were wrong, with some summary on what qualities big investor misses have shared. In other words, it can organize the thoughts, approaches, insights, and writings of others for a user in ways that both challenge and affirm their vision, without advancing any opinion that is not grounded and linked to the statements, theories, or practices of identifiable others."
May 21, 2025 at 11:51 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Like Marie Antoinette, I too know how it feels to be imprisoned by French fries.
A screen capture of an ABC news Australia article. There is an illustration of Marie Antoinette, surrounded by a hovering swarm of potatoes. Below this, a headline says "How the potato became popular due to Marie Antoinette, an ex-prisoner of war and French fries"
May 7, 2025 at 10:31 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
I figure if I'm going to spend all day telling people not to put LLMs into things I might as well make it official #luddism
A small tattoo on the inside of a man's wrist. The tattoo is of a crescent wrench with the word "Luddite" underneath.
May 5, 2025 at 10:15 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
My latest hedge against the #slopocalypse, purchased second-hand after a particularly frustrating internet moment.
A photograph of a teal, hard cover copy of Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases
April 14, 2025 at 2:16 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Doggo in the dying daylight. It's the nice light time of year.
A photograph of a Weimaraner on a lead in a rural setting, looking back towards the camera. The sun is low on the horizon over some distant hills.
April 12, 2025 at 10:53 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Nice try, but not nearly enough jagged edges and filigree. #cvlt
A photograph of a simple wrought iron bench seat, with the label "black metal bench, $290"
April 5, 2025 at 12:34 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Got one of my favourite websites in the mail today, thanks @lowtechmagazine.bsky.social !
March 31, 2025 at 10:48 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a town in possession of a sinkhole must be in want of something new to yeet into it.
A screenshot of an ABC Australia headline that says "E-scooter trial despite fears they will be thrown into sinkhole" under a photograph of said sinkhole.
March 29, 2025 at 12:44 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Guitar Wolf at the Bridge Hotel Castlemaine, 27-03-25. Rock n Roll reserves replenished.
A photo of the floor of a music venue, mostly dark, with a shaft of light illuminating a red floor.
March 28, 2025 at 9:46 AM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
Visited the mother country last week, communed with a cow under a Mamaku (not for the whole time, but it was a nice interlude).
A photograph of a white cow standing under a New Zealand tree fern, with more native trees in the background. The sky is blue with few clouds, the ground is mostly dry brown with patches of green. An electric fence separates the cow the from the photographer.
March 24, 2025 at 12:02 PM
thebenshaw.bsky.social
WIP. She ain't pretty, but she's sturdy, and most importantly, flat and level. Next stop: legs. Mindful that the quest for legs has broken better men than me.
A mitre saw sitting on a newly made bench top. The bench has no legs so is sitting on a concrete floor, various tools are scattered around it haphazardly.
March 3, 2025 at 10:20 PM