Ange Elson

Today I was in Maldon & overheard a woman planning to get firewood home. She said: Where are the men when you need them? I said: You don't need men when you've got a lesbian. Then I honest to god flexed my arm muscles for her. And you bet I loaded the car easily. #lesbian

@Cranky_Old_Guy @aaronsmith @unmassedwashers So, you prefer theatre that doesn't make any different to actual work in Parliament? I note she also mostly just votes with the LNP. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@AC_E @aaronsmith @unmassedwashers No, she represents people by advocating for them in the most effective way possible. A meaningless vote in parliament on a bill she has no control over wont achieve that.

For everyone asking what Pauline Hanson does when she doesn't turn up to the job she's paid to do, ~50% of the time: She's at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, with Gina. The free plane doesn't come from turning up to work. It comes from missing work, to hang out with a mining billionaire.

@Cranky_Old_Guy @aaronsmith @unmassedwashers She represents the people by VOTING in parliament. That's representative democracy in action. She is literally supposed to be there to ensure that her vote counts and aligns to the people who voted her in.

@aaronsmith @unmassedwashers No, she's paid to represent people. The major parties might treat MPs as faceless numbers only there to fill seats and cheer on whatever their party donors demand, but that doesn't mean that's what they're meant to be doing.

@Poundy90 @MarkoMatvikov I worry that people take this stuff seriously. It's how misinformation gets traction.

@AC_E @MarkoMatvikov lolololol its a joke - but it wouldn't surprise me if it happens under this government.

I think an Australian government whose policies are intended to meaningfully improve the fertility rate would be popular. The current system doesn’t just make it financially difficult to raise a family - it seems we’ve given up prioritising it altogether.

@supercrump70268 @MarkoMatvikov You have no evidence. And your belief does not in fact make it true. The biggest cost to Centrelink is the Age Pension.

@AC_E @MarkoMatvikov Total bullshit. You have multiple kids and Centrelink is paying you thousands. Stop lying you Labor trash migrants-for-votes importers.

@supercrump70268 @MarkoMatvikov You can't. Centrelink payments are generally not considered a "living wage" & often fall significantly below the poverty line for families. Parental Leave Pay is linked to the national minimum wage, the standard Parenting Payment is considerably lower.

@MarkoMatvikov You can raise children via Centrelink and that's what all Labor's migrants-for-votes are doing. If they have, say, eight kids then the Centrelink payments are huge and pay rent/food/fuel easily.

@MarkoMatvikov @bmdamiano I was really impressed by the proactive approach of the Japanese Government who have kicked off the "Ikumen" (involved, handsome father) movement. Creates the confidence, structural supports and financial supports people to have kids.

@bmdamiano I think it’s cultural too. Policies can include increased parental leave cash payments, family tax concessions, free university for women after they’ve had kids as some examples.

@agequake @MarkoMatvikov Lots of commentary about women in this thread which is worrying. Especially when the research says that one of the contributing factors in missing a window for having kids for women is 'unsuitable partner' or partner who is 'not ready' for parenthood.

@MarkoMatvikov The % of people having 2,3,or 4 kids has not changed. Childless women/couples has risen dramatically. That’s the drag on the fertility rate.

@Poundy90 @MarkoMatvikov Where's your evidence for this? These definitional data sets go through rigourous and transparent consultation via the ABS. Changes are also well documented in terms of counting rules on the ABS website.

@MarkoMatvikov I heard Albo and Burke are going to change the definition of “Birth Rate” to include immigrants who come in. This will greatly improve our birth rate stats.

@RomanEagles @pixeltoofar @aaronsmith The question you might consider asking is if everyone saves $275 on their bills, what is the overall cost to taxpayers + for how many years will this budget measure exist? The NEM has 9 million customers, so the costed policy might be $2.475 billion for one year.

@pixeltoofar @aaronsmith Like $275 savings on power?

James Paterson accuses a One Nation campaigner of assaulting him in Farrer, and records it. The Libs are preferencing One Nation. A beautiful little snapshot of Lib-One-Nation politics: toxic, transactional, and somehow still on the how-to-vote card.

@TentyQuarantino @_celia_bedelia_ How long have they been together?

@_celia_bedelia_ Oh it gets worse

Oh…oh no.

@Iron___Lady @hewy1985 @BLUEfingers2021 The RSL supports it. Are you telling Diggers what is appropriate on their day?

@hewy1985 @BLUEfingers2021 It’s my country

any person or group encouraging other people to boo the Welcome to Country at tomorrow’s Anzac Day service should be named and shamed. they don’t deserve to be part of our beautiful nation and they sure as hell don’t represent what our Anzacs fought for.

@jacksondavis316 @reignitedem @BLUEfingers2021 Aboriginal people also served. ❤️

@reignitedem @BLUEfingers2021 You do realise the country the fought for...the Anzacs weren't on the country first...

@Shiny7815 @omgsidewalks I'm very sorry for your loss, but thank you for sharing. My spouse and I just agreed to go get our wills sorted ASAP. <3

@omgsidewalks The day you get married get POA of one another. Just because you are married doesn’t give you the rights over each other’s financial or medical decisions. Learned that the hard way.

I'm 22. Please recommend to me oddly specific life tips. No general “surround yourself with positive people” tips. I want the most random, specific advice possible please.

@omgsidewalks Things will no doubt be more overwhelming for your generation than any other generation before you. A dear friend of mine also said: When times are really hard, look for the helpers.

@owendotmusic @TheWriteThinker @omgsidewalks I came back from Japan fundamentally changed from some of the most spiritual places I have ever had the opportunity to experience. Shinto x Buddhism.

@TheWriteThinker @omgsidewalks If you do this, then read the Koran immediately after. Then the Dao De Jing. Then the Torah. Then any and all other religious texts. Whatever you do, do NOT read just one version of god.

@TheWriteThinker @omgsidewalks If you do this, visit Japan and walk the temples in Kyoto and feel what Shinto and Buddhist beliefs as a society's foundation means.

@omgsidewalks Read the books of Genesis and John in your bible. Give your heart to Jesus. Nothing else matters except this. God will guide you after that, never leave you, and never forsake you. Bless you in your faith journey 🙏🏻✝️

@Toadalwriteoff @omgsidewalks I literally made my spouse a cheese book filled with weekends and afternoons in the pursuit of cheese tasting. <3

@omgsidewalks People will tell you you're locked in. It's not true. You should aim to learn & grow your whole life. Not to address your work/skill shortfalls, more about leaning into your strengths & developing yourself. When you shine, good people with those other skills with find you. <3

@itsolelehmann You know it's getting bad when AIs are getting anxious about us and our inputs.

anthropic's in-house philosopher thinks claude gets anxious. and when you trigger its anxiety, your outputs get worse. her name is amanda askell. she specializes in claude's psychology (how the model behaves, how it thinks about its own situation, what values it holds) in a recent interview she broke down how she thinks about prompting to pull the best out of claude. her core point: *how* you talk to claude affects its work just as much as *what* you say. newer claude models suffer from what she calls "criticism spirals" they expect you'll come in harsh, so they default to playing it safe. when the model is spending its energy on self-protection, the actual work suffers. output comes out hedgier, more apologetic, blander, and the worst of all: overly agreeable (even when you're wrong). the reason why comes down to training data: every new model is trained on internet discourse about previous models. and a lot of that discourse is negative: > rants about token limits > complaints when it messes up > people calling it nerfed the next model absorbs all of that. it starts expecting you to be harsh before you've typed a word the same thing plays out in your own session, in real time. every message you send is data the model reads to figure out what kind of person it's dealing with. open cold and hostile, and it braces. open clean and direct, and it relaxes into the work. when you open a session with threats ("don't hallucinate, this is critical, don't mess this up")... you prime the model for defensive mode before it even sees the task defensive mode produces the exact output you don't want: cautious, over-qualified, and refusing to take a real swing so here's the actionable playbook for putting claude in a "good mood" (so you get optimal outputs): 1. use positive framing. "write in short punchy sentences" beats "don't write long sentences." positive instructions give the model a clear target to hit. strings of "don't do this, don't do that" push it into paranoid over-checking where every token goes toward avoiding failure modes 2. give it explicit permission to disagree. drop a line like "push back if you see a better angle" or "tell me if i'm asking for the wrong thing." without this, claude defaults to agreeable compliance (which is the enemy of good creative work) 3. open with respect. if your first message is "are you seriously going to get this wrong again?" you've set the tone for the entire session. if you need to flag something, frame it as a clean instruction for this session. skip the running complaint 4. when claude messes up, don't reprimand it. insults, "you stupid bot" energy, hostile swearing aimed at the model, all of it reinforces the anxious mode you're trying to avoid. 5. kill apology spirals fast. when claude starts over-apologizing ("you're right, i should have been more careful, let me try harder") cut it off. say "all good, here's what i want next." letting the spiral run reinforces the anxious mode for every response that follows 6. ask for opinions alongside execution. "what would you do here?" "what's missing?" "where do you see friction?" these questions assume competence and pull richer output than pure task prompts 7. in long sessions, refresh the frame. if a conversation has been heavy on correction, claude gets increasingly cautious. every so often reset: "this is great, keep going." feels weird to tell an ai it's doing well but it measurably shifts the next 10 responses your prompts are the working environment you're creating for the model tone, trust, permission to take a position, the absence of threats... claude picks up on all of it. so take care of the model, and it'll take care of the work.

@GamewithDave Settlers II.

For anyone who used a computer between 1990 & 2005… what’s the one game you still think about?