Imagine being so good at dancing that you got a doctorate in it and then were chosen to represent your country in it at the Olympics, only to realise you’re actually terrible at it thanks to some dude on the internet.

A court case I lost a few years ago over a frustrated contract had the ruling go to a hypothetical “man on the 3pm omnibus to Clapham” which is a common law description of the “common person”.

Being on one as I write this I think the modern version is “person on the 6am Boeing 737 to Brisbane.”

I couldn’t stomach any delays today, but I was kinda hoping we’d get the slightest delay so I could test the new machine learning features in Flighty 4

Donut not have kids … they’re the best

It honestly is impossible to get a doctors appointment in the Huon Valley, I called around a few weeks ago (from today’s newspaper)

South Hobart tip shop find of the week: $15 for a 1971 Auto Tamron 80-250mm F/3.8 telephoto lens with a Minolta mount. Add on my MD-RF adaptor from Urth and I've finally got a telephoto for my Canon EOS R5 again.

Photo of Britt's Fuji camera is through the lens, I'm looking forward to playing with it in the daylight tomorrow.

On dying, from @Geordie@aus.social who recently died:

It’s because we don’t die online properly.

We need a way to die online. If my time comes tomorrow, I want the offline funeral to serve as a way — as best as funerals can — of drawing a line under my life and letting the grieving process begin.

Reading The Sizzle’s opening lines today by @decryption@aus.social really took me for a six. No day in this life is promised to us, but I’m glad to have spent today with each of you.

Here’s to you, Geordie Guy. May DNS pay for what it did to you.

(There needs to be a new word for people we follow and are followed by online, haven’t met in real life, but have admiration and respect for.)

ABC Chairman on the web: a “pretty ancient concept now”

Josh Withers: “kill me now”

… however I do agree with his stance on lifestyle news receiving so much priority at the ABC.

Honouring soldiers from all three of Australia’s major wars here at Samsonvale

I've just been named the number one Asia-Pacific photographer who made zero dollars from their passion in the month of July but had a lot of fun doing it. I'd like to dedicate this award to my wife and children who roll their eyes every time dad gets the camera out.

Well, this definitely whips the llama’s ass

Guy next to me on my flight is pricing up bacon and how much it costs him to produce and I’ve never wanted more to strike up a flight-friend-for life.

Ever since Bo Burnham’s Inside I’ve felt like it’s not worth creating anymore. Content peaked in 2020 with Inside. Now we live in the post-Inside era.

“Do you want to be really good at a thing? I've got bad news for you. You're going to have to be significantly worse at a lot of other things in your life.” – @cgpgrey, Cortex episode 157

Lady at this cafe in the Huon Valley is working on an 11” MacBook Air running one of big cat OS X operating system releases.

It would have to be more than a decade old at this point wouldn’t it? It’s still such a beautiful machine. Honestly, I think it would be my favourite computer I’ve owned.

I'm researching for project in Tasmania and I think, to the best of my research and knowledge so far, this is the oldest and first photograph of Tasmania. The photo is of the south-eastern-most tip of Tasmania, Cape Pillar by James Backhouse Walker onboard the Beagle with Charles Darwin, enroute to Hobart on February 5, 1836.

My greatest fear in life is that Jaycar could go broke and shutdown

If you talk to anyone in the destination wedding industry they have their bucket list of places they want to work. Mine is remarkably weirder than most.

I've been lucky enough to create marriage ceremonies all around the world in places like Iceland and Italy, New York and New Zealand, Croatia to Canberra, Fiji to Vancouver.

But my favourite places to travel are the weird places, more likely to be featured on Atlas Obscurer than Lonely Planet.

My destination wedding and elopement bucket list:

1. North Korea because I want to fly Air Koryo and live to tell the story.
2. Saudia Arabia and Qatar because a Middle East desert elopement would be wild! Plus I'd love to be the guy that delivers personalised and fun wedding ceremonies in the Middle East.
3. Tuvalu, Bora Bora, Tonga, Samoa, and The Cook Islands because I've got big Pacific Island energy.
4. Bhutan where Gross National Happiness is a real thing they measure.
5. Kazakhstan because of Borat.

I think it would also be cool to do a wedding in Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch in Wales because writing that name on a marriage certificate would be fun.

Tuscany versus Amalfi

When I first started as a wedding celebrant in 2009 you’d write some blog posts, build some SEO, and maybe attend a wedding expo to promote yourself as a celebrant and earn a living.

Now, however … things have changed.

Lord knows if it’s for the better? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Turns out hope might be good for the soul.

Emily Brown in Relevant Magazine:

Gen Z has been fairly vocal about their struggles with mental health, but according to the American Bible Society’s recent report, “The State of the Bible 2024,” young adults who read their Bible regularly report being much happier than their peers.

Why are the Vatican guards dressed like clowns?

Orrrr why are clowns dressed like Vatican guards?

iPhone hack: when your iPhone 14 overheats in Rome, get a drink from McDonalds and melt the ice on the phone until it cools down.

Professor Giuseppe's Grand Hotel Tritone and its 1000-odd steps to the beach.

Some frames I have a captured on the Amalfi coast this week

When you're hot-headed and your Ray-Bans stage an intervention

Why did they call it the Amalfi Coast when they could of called it the Stairs Coast and it would’ve been far more accurate

My favourite thing to do whilst in Italy is to pretend to not be in Australian then surprise traveling Aussies with a big “G’Day, mate!”

Apple Health: You’ve been on tour through Asia and Europe for four weeks.

Flighty: Your journey home begins in nine days.

Me: This is going to ruin the tour.

I was trying to to get to the Metro Linea 2 in Napoli, I saw this series of lines, and let’s just say that things escalated quickly

Pictures of steak I ate in Florence

Some things I looked at in Roma, Italy

Rachel Rumi:

You don’t like to see that other person neglecting their homework when it comes to growth through intimacy so you take on the curriculum yourself.

Some frames from Tuscany this last week

Do you ever see someone else's project and realise that everything you've ever done in your life is meaningless? That's for me dropofahat.zone

Colours of Toscana

May the API bless you, Threads humans

Scopello // Sicilia

Kurt Vonnegut, Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage​, in 1981:

What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.

John Gruber:

Fortunately, because Apple is delaying Apple Intelligence and these other new features in the EU, all of the thriving EU-based smartphone and OS makers can jump in and compete on merit now, without Apple the gatekeeping bully in their way. As Vestager reiterates throughout the interview, competition is the European Commission’s north star.

Posted from the EU.