Shameful. And doesn't bode well for the new Meanjin, let's be honest.

Struck down by technical difficulties!! It’s the Rise! The first story almost made me miss my stop on the tram to work

Finally able to get into what is one of my top 3 most anticipated books of the year (super excited, @alanbaxter.bsky.social !!!)

The 27-Year-Old Diplomat Waging Trump’s Cultural War With Europe

Every time I learn about a new character in the Trump admin it’s always some guy who is just like every kid in my philosophy classes who played devil’s advocate in every conversation on a topic that affected his classmates

Turns out they just like the devil

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/w...

If AI literacy means understanding the tech, then anyone AI literate would know enough to stay away and resist the encroachment of AI into any facet of life

If you are doing academic work in AI, but cannot see the technofascist project called "AI" for what it is, how are we to trust your work does not support that project?

Book 23: E.E. by Olga Tokarczuk- second book finished on my way home. Great as always - this one is an earlier attempt at the constellation novel form she perfected for Flights

I get on one ten hour flight and you people start debating whether Madonna made any good pop music?? Kids these days man

I got records too.. it’ll be a stressful time unpacking

You know those small carry on suitcases?? I filled it completely with books haha

And this dear friends is how my dad caused both of us the grief of me becoming a literature guy and not a medicine guy like he’d have liked. We’re both over it now though

When I was a kid, there wasn’t always any money for video games or toys, but my dad had a rule that there was always book money. Except the month I discovered Terry Pratchett where eventually the answer became “just re-read one of the eight books of his you got this month”

Book 22: The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett - every sentence a joy, every page a wonder, the whole book a delight. I’m gearing up to reread the whole Discworld in the next few months imo.

I also made strides in learning Spanish, which I’ll need to keep up with back home.

Overall a pretty good trip. I’m ready to go back, and I know that besides the 30ish books I’m bringing back with me, I’ve got a nice stack waiting at home too

Thinking back on my trip, besides the work stuff which was productive, I think it’s been a really nice reset of my brain. I haven’t done much writing but I have many pages of notes and ideas. I’ve done a fair bit of transcribing of jazz solos, and read good books in two languages

I got away with buying 16 kilograms of books while in Poland

Now just gotta hope my small suitcase intended for carryon doesn’t break apart from the weight within while it’s in the airplane hold

Book 21: The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett - a reread of an old fave to finish of my holiday. Got the Light Fantastic lined up for my airplane read tomorrow

I’m down for a nice flowy flowery tunic situation

Looking at some of the conservative posts about the pope I wonder how long until they start talking about impeaching the pope

Trump is so bad at picking his fights he’s going to reunite the church

Book 20: Czuły Narrator [The Tender Narrator] by Olga Tokarczuk - without a doubt the best book on writing I’ve ever read. Perhaps a comforting read to find that when she describes her process, Tokarczuk does many things I do myself. Now to write with as much depth and style as her…

OpenAI: We’re burning money like the Joker. A miracle needs to happen for us to turn a profit

Microsoft: Please please use our AI systems, we’re teetering on the edge here

Anthropic: I wonder what’ll kill us first: lawsuits, regulations or model collapse

Media and universities: AI is here to stay

We live in a reverse-Omelas where all of us suffer greatly so that a couple dozen people get to live the most extravagantly luxurious lives possible with every happiness and fantasy afforded them.

I just don’t understand why the official app for the Sagrada Família church in Barcelona needs an AI assistant? I don’t understand why the church needs an app in the first place?

Should be Szopen

Annoying: Polish publishing translates people’s names

Who the fuck are Jerzy Waszyngton or Jan Jakub Rousseau

But on tv they don’t do this for modern names - George Bush is still George Bush

Book 19: Medieval Bodies by Jack Hartnell - a fascinating history of medieval medicine, with a rich collection of illustrations. Picked it up at a museum shop because the book is so beautiful, ended up learning a lot

Book 18, finished on the plane back to Barcelona for the last time - Wiesław Myśliwski’s incredible Treatise On Shelling Beans. It’s available in English and I can’t recommend it enough. Incredible writer.

Every now and then I’m speaking to someone who reacts very defensively when they hear I refuse to ever use AI, like I think I’m better than them.

They’re right, I do, and I am.

Professor Katie Barclay re the state of Oz unis: