#strip out melbourne

[diprimamaintenance]

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[reasonsforhope]

Humans are so cute. They think they can outsmart birds. They place nasty metal spikes on rooftops and ledges to prevent birds from nesting there.

It’s a classic human trick known in urban design as “evil architecture”: designing a place in a way that’s meant to deter others. Think of the city benches you see segmented by bars to stop homeless people sleeping there.

But birds are genius rebels. Not only are they undeterred by evil architecture, they actually use it to their advantage, according to a new Dutch study published in the journal Deinsea.

Crows and magpies, it turns out, are learning to rip strips of anti-bird spikes off of buildings and use them to build their nests. It’s an incredible addition to the growing body of evidence about the intelligence of birds, so wrongly maligned as stupid that “bird-brained” is still commonly used as an insult...

Magpies also use anti-bird spikes for their nests. In 2021, a hospital patient in Antwerp, Belgium, looked out the window and noticed a huge magpie’s nest in a tree in the courtyard. Biologist Auke-Florian Hiemstra of Leiden-based Naturalis Biodiversity Center, one of the study’s authors, went to collect the nest and found that it was made out of 50 meters of anti-bird strips, containing no fewer than 1,500 metal spikes.

Hiemstra describes the magpie nest as “an impregnable fortress.”

Pictured: A huge magpie nest made out of 1,500 metal spikes.

Magpies are known to build roofs over their nests to prevent other birds from stealing their eggs and young. Usually, they scrounge around in nature for thorny plants or spiky branches to form the roof. But city birds don’t need to search for the perfect branch — they can just use the anti-bird spikes that humans have so kindly put at their disposal.

“The magpies appear to be using the pins exactly the same way we do: to keep other birds away from their nest,” Hiemstra said.

Another urban magpie nest, this one from Scotland, really shows off the roof-building tactic:

Pictured: A nest from Scotland shows how urban magpies are using anti-bird spikes to construct a roof meant to protect their young and eggs from predators.

Birds had already been spotted using upward-pointing anti-bird spikes as foundations for nests. In 2016, the so-called Parkdale Pigeon became Twitter-famous for refusing to give up when humans removed her first nest and installed spikes on her chosen nesting site, the top of an LCD monitor on a subway platform in Melbourne. The avian architect rebelled and built an even better home there, using the spikes as a foundation to hold her nest more securely in place.

...Hiemstra’s study is the first to show that birds, adapting to city life, are learning to seek out and use our anti-bird spikes as their nesting material. Pretty badass, right?

The genius of birds — and other animals we underestimate

It’s a well-established fact that many bird species are highly intelligent. Members of the corvid family, which includes crows and magpies, are especially renowned for their smarts. Crows can solve complex puzzles, while magpies can pass the “mirror test” — the classic test that scientists use to determine if a species is self-aware.

Studies show that some birds have evolved cognitive skills similar to our own: They have amazing memories, remembering for months the thousands of different hiding places where they’ve stashed seeds, and they use their own experiences to predict the behavior of other birds, suggesting they’ve got some theory of mind.

And, as author Jennifer Ackerman details in The Genius of Birds, birds are brilliant at using tools. Black palm cockatoos use twigs as drumsticks, tapping out a beat on a tree trunk to get a female’s attention. Jays use sticks as spears to attack other birds...

Birds have also been known to use human tools to their advantage. When carrion crows want to crack a walnut, for example, they position the nut on a busy road, wait for a passing car to crush the shell, then swoop down to collect the nut and eat it. This behavior has been recorded several times in Japanese crows.

But what’s unique about Hiemstra’s study is that it shows birds using human tools, specifically designed to thwart birds’ plans, in order to thwart our plans instead. We humans try to keep birds away with spikes, and the birds — ingenious rebels that they are — retort: Thanks, humans!

-via Vox, July 26, 2023

[eretzyisrael]

BY NOMI KALTMANN

Josh Moshe, the 33-year-old grandson of Holocaust survivors, was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, and moved to Australia in 2010. He is currently an acclaimed Jewish saxophonist living in Melbourne. Alongside his wife, Maggie, he operated a well-known gift shop in Thornbury, a trendy enclave in the city’s northern suburbs.

“For most of the time I’ve lived here, I’ve felt like [Australia] is peaceful, quiet, and relaxed,” he said. “As for being a Jew, its fine. No one cares if you’re Jewish or not.”

However, all of this rapidly changed for Moshe after Oct. 7, after he was added to the WhatsApp group that was doxed. The backlash against him and his family was swift. “We were sworn at, the shop was graffitied with ‘Glory to Hamas,’ and we were told to ‘F off—we don’t want Zionists in Thornbury,’” he said.

Thornbury doesn’t have a large population of observant Jews, so Moshe, bewildered by the hostility directed at him and his family, believes that his family was unwittingly thrust onto the front lines of the conflict. “We were the only more or less observant Jews in the northern suburbs with a public profile,” he said. “Those factors meant we were heavily exposed and vulnerable to this sort of attack. It’s a very anti-Zionist area. I always knew that, and I always felt that. I was more or less happy living there for a while. But I also think that’s why we were the most exposed.”

As the doxing campaign against him gained traction, Moshe found out that the worst was yet to come.

“People were attacking my [online] music profile. Then attacking my business and then Maggie’s personal profile, even though she wasn’t in the [WhatsApp] group,” he said. As part of this harassment, their 5-year-old son received death threats. “Then people started tagging the band I was in [on social media]. Instead of coming to speak to me, [the band] publicly fired me via an Instagram post.” Moshe is now suing his former bandmates for defamation related to that post.

After months of sustained abuse, Moshe and his wife decided to close their shop and move it to a suburb close to Melbourne’s Jewish heartland.

“A few of our suppliers have been supportive, but, yeah, the vast majority of our customers, and other shops in the strip [in Thornbury] were very quiet and some of them even joined in on the pile-on,” Moshe said. “It was shocking to see how quickly; … seven years of being neighbors and being business associates counts for nothing.”

The antisemitism faced by the family has garnered significant attention in Australia, featuring prominently in the media. It was even highlighted in a documentary aired on Australian television, hosted by former Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is one of the country’s highest-profile Jewish figures. The documentary explored the growing issue of antisemitism in Australia.

“I know [participating in the documentary] it has every chance of further damaging my music career, but on the other side, I have to speak about what’s going on,” said Moshe. “We wouldn’t tolerate this with any other ethnicity. In honoring the memory of my grandparents and their families, I am compelled to speak about this rising hatred despite the further backlash I will receive.”

[noorplog17]

Hello, I am Noor, my family consists of five members and we live in Khan Younis, I am 19 years old. I was at the beginning of my university life and studying engineering. My dreams were shattered and my future was lost because of the war and its horrors. We were living a quiet and safe life before the war.💔

Suddenly, these events broke The events are a curse to destroy our lives in the Gaza Strip and our house in Khan Younis was destroyed and exposed to continuous displacement. We have suffered for more than 260 days of destruction, displacement, continuous bombardment and constant fear. 🍉

We have survived four previous wars and more than 17 military escalations, but this war has been different … 🇵🇸

since it broke out on Gaza on October 7, and nowadays we live in the tent amid the atmosphere of cold and widespread epidemics, please help us💔

@ibtisams @tsaricides @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @belleandsaintsebastian @beserkerjewel @buttonpoetry @bananahirl@buggie-colors @90-ghost @skatehardorskatehome @awetistic-things @gentl @mooshro0ms @vampiretranscending @sar-soor @blossomdan @vakarians-babe @villadiodatis @perrfectly @ashwantsafreepalestine @pls-noraneko

[all-pacas]

@sylviedonnas: four times the wonderful shark story worked on women and the one time it didn’t 🦈🫢

as usual, i am given a perfectly lovely prompt and don't actually follow it at all: (rated m for remember that burn lady chase dated? well…)

-

1.

There might have been a shark.

Dickie Campbell’s dad had a cabin boat, and Dickie was allowed to take it out whenever he liked, even though he was fourteen and didn’t have a full license. He was Chase’s best friend, although they really didn’t like one another much, had twice had drunken fist-fights over girls, but at the time Chase would have done anything to not be home and Dickie was the same. They’d take the boat out weekends or skipping school, snickering and ducking the aggravated harbormasters, and then not do anything, not really: get out of sight of land and cut the engines and lay on the couches in the cabin. The only two people in the world. They didn’t even talk, just drink Dickie’s dad’s beers. Chase would look out the window and wonder if his parents cared where he was. If they would notice if, someday, he never came home.

Sometimes they’d bring along a pack of sausages, or ground meat from the grocer’s, and throw it overboard, trying to bait fish or sharks. Daring one another to cut their palms or wrists and drip the blood overboard — everyone knew sharks could smell blood. It was stupid. Probably illegal in some way. They were apparently bad at picking random spots of ocean to toss sausages: it never really worked but once.

“It was a shark,” Chase said; they’d seen the glimpse of something big and bright in the water, but not clearly.

“Was not,” Dickie said, digging around the plastic litter of their bait for some leftover scrap of hamburger. “I dare you to get in the water,” he added, so obviously Chase had. Stripped off his shirt and jeans fast so as not to seem worried about it. Given the water a quick nervous glance and jumped over the side of the boat.

The shock of cool water enveloped him and he’d been suddenly, immediately sure there was a shark right in front of him, mouth gaping and ready to bite — he’d blinked his eyes open, salt prickling at his retinas, but all he could see was water, his own pale limbs, the boat. Chase broke the surface of the water. “Ahh!” he yelled dramatically. “The bastard’s — got me!” He faked being pulled back under, and when he popped up a second time, Dickie was leaning over the rail unconcerned.

“There’s no shark,” Dickie shouted back.

“No,” Chase agreed, swimming towards the end of the boat to climb back aboard. At the boat’s rear, he took a great breath and went under once more, peering into the endless murk of the ocean, feeling safer with his hand on the ladder. Something moved, some bit of the ocean grayer than the rest, big and sleek and dark. He imagined teeth. A beast racing closer. He breached the surface with a gasp and tried not to scramble too obviously aboard.

2.

There was a shark.

Chase’s first proper girlfriend was called Melina Ryan, and she insisted they go on dates. They couldn’t just hang out or walk around together: they had to go on outings, preferably a new place every week. She read a lot of magazines, had lots of ideas of proper relationship behaviors and kissing and real dates and sex. This was sometimes exhausting (“Robbie, we can’t get burgers, we’re on a date”), and sometimes fantastic, particularly when Melina read about some new sex tip in one of her magazines.

This Saturday they’re at Melbourne Zoo, which is a letdown. They’re modernizing, replacing old cages with new habitats, and so large portions of the zoo are closed off and inaccessible. Melina coos over every monkey they see, and her little squeals and baby-talk remind him of his sister, who at two months old at least has an excuse. Mum dotes on Danielle, and even though she’s been sober for almost a year Chase can’t stand to be at home lately. Neither can his dad, of course.

“You’re so out of it,” Melina said as they walked around the outdoor aquarium section, passing low open pools full of fish and stingrays and smaller sharks.

“Sorry,” Chase said automatically.

“You didn’t notice my new earrings,” Melina said.

“They’re nice,” he replied, leaning on the concrete barrier of one pool. There was a sign saying PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR HAND IN THE WATER: Chase put his hand into the water, wriggling his fingers around. The pool was filled with little spotted sharks, too used to fingers in their water to be enticed.

“You have been such a ass lately,” Melina said.

Growing up, Chase had heard about piranhas, how they’d strip flesh to bone in seconds, how it just took one toe in the water for them to find you and swarm. Sometimes he thought that would be nice. Not dying (and death-by-piranha-on-purpose was probably a form of suicide, and so a Sin). But being stripped to the bone in seconds, too fast to even feel it, or know he was dead.

Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetrum, Pisiform, he thought, looking at his hand in the water. Mum hadn’t shut him away in the study since he was ten and old enough to outrun her, but he’d tried to memorize the names of all the bones in a human body one time. When he was a kid he was stupid. He’d thought his dad would be impressed. Maybe tell Mum to cut it out. More likely, if he’d ever successfully managed a recital, his dad would have locked Chase in the study himself, to study harder.

“Robbieee” Melina whined.

“I want to break up,” said Chase.

3.

There wasn’t a shark.

In the States, everyone thought Chase was exotic, which was interesting, because he generally thought the same of them. He’d never struggled to find dates, even in England, but in America it was easier than ever. He just needed to play up his accent to something more rural, pretend to be flummoxed by cold weather or passing on the right or anything, really: Chase quickly learned that most Americans had only the vaguest idea of what Australia was like outside of Steve Irwin and the Crocodile Dundee movies.

At first he just… embellished some true stories a little. Baiting sharks with Richard — who he hadn’t spoken to since they were fifteen — turned into seeing sharks. Chase had gone diving and snorkeling before, and had seen sharks in the wild, but little harmless fish, not scary ones: in his stories he’d turn them into hammerheads, great whites. It was what women wanted, he figured: someone rugged and tough who had seen crocodiles outside of zoos. That Chase grew up in the city and had never seen a dingo in the wild would be boring, he assumed, and so he really didn’t feel badly at all about lying.

He and Heather never exchanged surnames. They’d met at a bar and she was good looking, thick curly hair and full lips and a set of perfectly spaced burns on the inside of her wrist, round and even like a tattoo. Cigarette burns, she explained later. She’d make patterns of them on her skin, head tilted back and eyes closed. Chase had seen his share of burns in the ICU and the whole thing made him slightly squeamish.

Her bedroom was all shades of blue: walls and carpet and bedding and curtains. She’d light candles — she liked the wax — and the room would get hazy with cigarette smoke. “Try it,” she asked him, splayed out and damp and gorgeous, and handed him her lighter.

“Okay,” he said, lighting a cigarette and taking a drag because it seemed like a waste to not. His head was spinning, the room was truly suffocating, and the nicotine made him feel on-edge. “Doing it now,” he added:

“No,” Heather interrupted. “Don’t tell me when you’re doing it. Just… do it. Randomly. Without telling me first. It’s better that way.”

He did it, and she gasped, and then again, and she gasped again, and his head was spinning and he was slightly worried he might vomit. The room swam around him and he finally apologized and got off the bed to open her window.

“You don’t like this much,” she said.

“No.” It was blessedly cool outside, and Chase stood at the window for a moment, breathing in the fresh air. “But I don’t mind it, if you get off on it.”

“Is it because you’re causing me pain?” Heather asked, sounding genuine, like it was something she really did want to know.

He thought about it. “No. I don’t know. I don’t get off on it.” He thought about the hippocratic oath, although he truly didn’t think it applied in cases like this: it would be funny, bringing it up now, like this — a nice joke — except Chase didn’t think he’d ever told Heather he was a doctor.

“We don’t have to do it anymore, then,” Heather said cheerfully, but she stopped returning his calls by the end of the week.

4.

There was a shark.

As a wedding present, Cuddy rearranges their schedules so Cameron and Chase have three full days off for their honeymoon: short notice, it’s the best she could do, but that’s alright: Cameron has been hinting she’d like to visit Melbourne: considering the travel times, it made sense to wait until they could manage a longer vacation.

They fly down to North Carolina, rent a cottage with steps down the dunes to an endless, empty beach. It’s too bad we won’t be leaving the bedroom, Cameron jokes after seeing the view for the first time: Chase isn’t yet used to his wedding ring and keeps twisting it around his finger.

It’s June but the water is freezing: this doesn’t stop Chase but Cameron hesitates to go in past her knees; he makes it his mission to dunk her and she makes it her mission to, of course, have sex right there in the open — at night! When no one is around!, she protests, but he’s not fooled. They find horseshoe craps and spot dolphins from the bluffs and joke about reflexively reaching to check their pagers, and Chase doesn’t think he’s ever been happier.

Hits him like a wave, like a hammer, like a bullet. It scares him to death, realizing it. He’s spent so much of his life wishing he were somewhere else, something else, that the sudden lack is painful. Friends he never quite liked, girls he never quite loved, always wanting something different. He and Cameron are walking along the beach and talking about work, of all the boring, unromantic things, and he feels it by the absence. He doesn’t want something else. She’s picked him, they’re married, he’s happy and it will be like this, stay like this, they’ll be happy. Forty years. Fifty years, easy.

“What’s wrong?” Cameron asks, taking his hand.

He feels oddly choked up. He doesn’t lie, just shrugs. “I’m happy,” he says. She smiles knowingly and bumps her shoulder to his. “Now’s when you say you are too,” he reminds her, teasing.

“You’re okay,” she says, squeezing his hand.

There’s a small crowd, a half a dozen people or so, clustered further down the beach in the direction they’re walking, all looking towards the water, talking and pointing.

“What’s going on?” Cameron asks.

“There’s been a shark sighting!” an old man says excitedly. “We don’t usually get them this early in the year! We’re not supposed to go swimming while it’s in the area!”

“Are you sure it wasn’t a dolphin?” a woman frets.

“I haven’t seen anything,” another man complains.

Chase wanders towards the waterline, the icy water making his toes curl, looking hopefully for a fin or flash or gray or barred monster teeth. The sea is choppy: there could be anything fifty feet out and they wouldn’t see it.

“Hoping to finally punch a shark?” Cameron asks, following him. A breeze causes her to shiver and wrap her arms around herself.

“I did,” he says mildly. “It absolutely happened.”

“Sure,” she drawls. “Get in there, babe. Show those sharks what’s what.”

She’s trying not to grin when he looks away from the water. He narrows his eyes purposefully and she does.

“Wouldn’t be fair to the shark,” he says, slinging his arm over her shoulder.

“Right.”

“I’m alright,” he insists, and is.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Wednesday

SpaceTime 20241002 Series 27 Episode 119

The Australian crater that could offer fresh insight into Earth’s history

A probable crater stretching more than 600 kilometres, across the heart of the Australian outback could reshape sciences understanding of planet Earth’s geological history.

Perseverance rover spots unusual striped rock on Mars

NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover has discovered an unusual black and white stripped rock unlike anything ever seen on Mars before.

New Glenn second stage completes a successful hot fire test

Blue Origin's new heavy lift rocket the New Glenn has successfully completed a hot fire test of its second stage booster.

The Science Report

Have scientists finally discovered the cradle of life

A new study has compared what people say in public to what they really think in private.

Scientists have isolated the personality traits associated with self control skills.

Alex on Tech Orion augmented reality glasses.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

[eliotquillon]

I always thought those pictures emma sloan took of them soooo cute. honestly if it was any other showrunner they would've milked the chameron relation for at least another season. alas it is our loss. Could you maybe write something about those pictures and where they eventually ended up?

sorry this ends on kind of a sad note LMFAO couldn't help myself. feel free to stop reading before the final asterisk if you want to leave this on a happy ending :P

They’re just photographs. The fact that he keeps them doesn’t have to mean anything.

*

The truth is that Chase has never been a photo kind of guy. His memories of his family aren’t fond enough to warrant a shrine in their absence, he didn’t really keep in touch with any of his old high school and college friends after he moved to America, and while he has other friends now–the local Saturday soccer team, the guys at the bowling alley, some of the regulars at the deli he always buys his lunch from–they’re not the sort of people you take pictures of. He’s passing through their lives, and they’re passing through his; it’s nice while it lasts, but there’s no point pretending. There’s a tiny, almost thumb-sized photo of his mother holding him as a baby that he keeps in his wallet, but most of the time he makes sure to fold his cash in a way that he doesn’t have to keep seeing it. It isn’t deep, or anything. There are posters and prints in his apartment, little trinkets from the occasional grateful clinic patient and old gifts from girls he used to go out with and seashells from the beaches in Melbourne that he keeps under his bed–Chase isn’t allergic to sentimentality, he’s not House. But there aren’t really any photos. He doesn’t see the point.

This, he knows, puts him on one side of the spectrum; Foreman, Chase would guess, is somewhere in the middle–he keeps a photo of his own mother pinned up carefully inside his hospital locker–and Cameron is safely, squarely, on the opposite side. He’s seen her wallet, the inside of her glove compartment that one time she was driving them back to his apartment and asked him to pass her a chapstick: they’re littered with them, a mix of Polaroids and disposable film and photobooth strips and digital print outs. A small, mean part of Chase suspects that this might be why Cameron is always so insistent on making them go to his apartment instead of hers; he doesn’t really remember the inside of her bedroom well enough from that one night last year, but he suspects she keeps her wedding album proudly on display. And he doesn’t begrudge her for it. They’re not together; what kind of an asshole would he be, to begrudge her for it? But he can’t help but be intrigued. Cameron’s life, from his outside-in perspective, isn’t exactly bursting to the full. She works; she fucks Chase; she sometimes volunteers at her local church and then complains about how weird it feels to be there for hours afterwards. She has precisely one friend that she hangs out with regularly–Josie–and although Chase has never met her, she sounds absolutely insufferable. On the surface, it is emptier than his. But to look at it from the photos alone–from his lack of them, from her abundance of them–it would seem the complete opposite.

This is, in truth, why he is initially intrigued by Emma Sloan’s photograph of Cameron. For a moment, Chase sees that photograph and imagines himself as a photograph person–for a moment, he wants to childishly fold the photo away and slip it into his pocket and keep it somewhere nobody else can see. It isn’t like it’s a particularly special moment, either. It’s just Cameron, wearing her glasses, preparing to do a bladder tap. He means it when he tells Emma that he sees her all day like this: focused, compassionate, ready to do good. The realisation that everyone else sees her like this, too, suddenly makes him feel absurdly jealous in a way he’d rather not dwell on. It’s just Cameron. 

But Emma tells him to keep it, gives him permission to stow away the little bright, warm feeling in his chest, and Chase can’t help it: he smiles. He barely hears the camera go off again. “Thanks,” he tells Emma, not yet dwelling on what the hell he’s doing or why he’s so interested in this picture, and he pretends that he doesn’t know why Emma laughs.

*

“When’d she take this picture of you?” Cameron asks, holding the photo of Chase looking at her own photo. “You look so…”

Enamoured, Chase thinks. Head over heels. Surely you can see it?

He isn’t disappointed when Cameron doesn’t ask to keep the photograph. It’s for the best, really; if she kept it, maybe she’d keep asking what Emma did to make him smile like that. It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything that Chase, who has no photographs, kept hers, and that Cameron, who hoards photographs, didn’t ask to keep his.

*

He can’t bring himself to get rid of it, even after he asks Cameron for more and she says no; even after he keeps confessing his feelings to her every Tuesday and she keeps getting more annoyed and insistent that she doesn’t return them. The upside, Chase thinks, is that at least Cameron doesn’t come around to his apartment anymore. He doesn’t have to worry about keeping Emma’s photograph hidden like a bad secret. He keeps it tucked between his bookshelves, the thin, glossy paper slightly bent from being pressed between two hardbacks; at first Chase kept it facing outward, but it hurt too much, seeing her face–earnest and bright and so Cameron–and feeling like a stranger to her again, just another voyeur. As much of an outsider as Emma, even though he still sees her every day.

When House fires him, Chase decides he’ll get it framed. Emma was right; he wants to see Cameron outside of work. He’s probably never going to see her again–not with any regularity, anyway; they’ll probably cross paths at conferences or whenever Foreman is back in town, but it won’t be anywhere close to the same–and the feelings will fade, eventually. He’ll stop hurting. The photograph will be good exposure therapy. Chase will get used to seeing her in photograph form, and learn to forget about Cameron in her real form, and soon it will just be a nice, artsy photo taken by a patient he particularly liked. It won’t be weird. It’ll be nice. It will.

*

“What’s this?” Cameron asks, after their third–maybe fourth–real date. She’s prowling around his bookshelf and looking for something to read–she is, she claims, protesting Chase’s decision to rent the new Spider-Man movie–and her fingers brush against the concealed edge of Emma’s photograph. Chase never did get around to getting it framed; Cameron showed up on his doorstep before he got the chance. His apartment is still technically photo-less, but Cameron has a photobooth strip of them she made them take when they went to a fair last week, and he keeps reminding her to give him half of the photos. So he’s working on it, basically. That’s the main thing. “Wait–is this me?” She’s holding up the photo properly now, wine-dark mouth in a small little o of surprise. “This is Emma Sloan’s work, right?” Cameron asks, when Chase doesn’t answer the first question. It’s obvious, after all. “I’ve never seen this one before. Did you steal it?” “She gave it to me,” Chase answers defensively, ducking his head. He feels embarrassed, and a little caught-out. “She said I should keep it. I think she…knew. That I had–that I have–feelings for you.”

“Huh,” Cameron says. She traces her fingers contemplatively over her own face, and nods decisively. “Give me a second.” “Wait, Allison, I’m sorry,” Chase calls after her, as Cameron suddenly dashes out of his living room and starts toeing on her shoes. She’s a little tipsy, and swaying with the movement; he wants to reach out and steady her when she wobbles a little with one foot in her heels, but he isn’t sure if it’d be welcome. “I didn’t mean to be creepy, I just–” “Robert,” Cameron cuts him off authoritatively, “give me a second. Wait here.”

Chase watches, helpless, out the window as she totters out towards her car and opens her…passenger door? What, he thinks blankly. If Cameron was going to run away screaming–and, if he’s honest, a part of him did expect her to; she gets a little funny when it comes to grand declarations–she should be getting in the driver’s seat. Not folding herself up like a pretzel while she roots around in her glove compartment, holding something triumphantly aloft and then full-on sprints back up the front steps and into the hallway…

“Look,” Cameron smiles, “we match.” It’s that photo of him: the one that Cameron said made him look all glowy. It hasn’t fared as well as Chase’s photo of Cameron; it’s creased and slightly whitened, like she’s been folding it and unfolding it fastidiously over the last few months, like she couldn’t bear to stop touching it. A little part of Chase thinks he might cry. “But you didn’t–I was with you when we gave Emma back her stuff,” Chase says, dumbfounded. “You didn’t ask to keep it.”

“Maybe you didn’t steal yours,” Cameron says, “but I did.” She smiles down at the photo again, and brushes her fingers against photo-Chase’s black-and-white face. “You were looking at my photo, right? When Emma took this one?”

“Yeah,” Chase allows.

“I want to make you look like this picture all the time,” Cameron says shyly, and then he kisses her: because he can do that now, because she likes him back, because now he gets to see her after work and it’s wonderful. 

They get the photos framed, when they move in together. They’re the first of many.

* When Cameron goes to Chicago, she takes Emma’s photographs with her. It makes sense, Chase thinks. He tells himself he doesn’t miss them.

[nohtora]

process stages & comments below

( original painting )

process: i did 70% of this (up to img #6) on my samsung tablet, on my train commutes, battling motion sickness & neck pain lmao

drawing on my tablet is still a lot harder & feels more restrictive for me bc i'm limited by unfamiliar software (still learning CSP) and lack of keyboard shortcuts (my digital art workflow for years). i also struggle with starting / continuing artworks on my tablet unless i've already planned / sketched most of the composition on my PC. likely because 90% of the time when i'm drawing on the tablet, it's on the train. hard to get in the zone as it turns out lol

this is the first full painting i've started and made substantial progress on purely with my samsung tab, so i'm happy it's starting to feel a bit more natural.

also first time i've tried doing a funky gradient map as a colour base. then applied colour on top with multiply blending mode. 10/10 would use fun gradient maps again - helped me introduce more colour variation bc i feel like my colours are usually quite flat by comparison

given the nature of the fucking bumpy melbourne trains & my broken commutes, i can still only do so much rendering on my tablet. the more refined painting will probably always happen using photoshop on my PC bc that's where i feel i have the most control

i tried not to overwork / overpaint it too much as i often tend to do, and kept the brush strokes rough and loose as much as possible. made sure my brush wasn't set smaller than a certain size so i wasn't tempted to go into fine detail. you can see i didn't refine harry's form/clothes much beyond img #4 because i didn't want to lose the soft/loose quality of the clothing folds. pretty damn proud of that shoe though. but then i posted it before i realised i forgot to paint in his fucking tie lmaoooo

but yeah, i got my tablet as a secondary drawing device to help me draw more often so i'm gonna keep trying to get the hang of it !!

composition/concept: the pose was referenced from this shot of arthur in peaky blinders and i had a vision of HDB slumped over in his kitchen like this

the composition was built around that, and i had the idea of framing it him in shadow and having a strip of light from a doorway illuminating his body. evidence of his drinking and smoking are kept in the shadows.

the original idea was to have a silhouette of someone standing in the doorway (likely jean finding him), but it didn't work with the overall balance & i felt like it interrupted the shape of the light too much / wasn't very legible at that angle. kitchen design was inspired by soviet & post-soviet era style kitchens.

*** feel free to send in an ask if you actually want me to explain how i did things in more detail. these are mostly thoughts for my personal reference

[diprimamaintenance]

Rubbish Removal Services in Sunbury

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[bumblebeeappletree]

Jane visits a garden which is immediately recognisable as the home of an ardent Australian native plant lover. This intriguing garden has hundreds of native plants thriving on 1/4-acre block at the foothills of Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges.

Bev Fox has planted natives in every space available, including the verge. She grows Isotoma from seed and has a very rare white-flowering one. “They're just potluck what colour comes up. I got a surprise when I saw that one.” Dotted throughout the garden is brilliantly blue Veronia which Bev propagates by cuttings in autumn. Paper daisies and a broad mix of other colourful flowers make a lovely entrance to the home.

Flowering mugga ironbark and peppermint gums tower over the garden and are loved by the birds. They are the only original plantings from when Bev began re-designing in 2003. “Apart from the trees, it’s all new... It was a bare palate,” says Bev. The new garden is designed to attract wildlife to the property, but also provides Bev with solace of her own. “I lost my husband in 2000, my brother in 2001 and my mother in 2002. In between all those my two dogs died, and I just thought I need something new in my life. I decided a new garden would be helpful and that's what keeps me really happy all the time.... You get into your own happy place in a garden, I love it. Even when the birds are noisy.”

It's easy to appreciate the bushland that Bev has created. The variety and repetition of species in her garden gives it a natural feel, which Bev hopes recreates the ambience of the Australian bush. The back garden is shaded and there are enticing curved paths made of gravel with large gums casting cool shade over the many shrubs and pots. It's a very spacious backyard but it’s filled with plants. Bev says she’s achieved this through layering. “I’ve got very small things right along all the edges, then (the next layer is) up to about a metre high, and then (the next layer) a bit higher. The big tree at the back, I’ve cut the lower branches off to give these room to grow and keep it nice and bushy looking.” The layering lets light in and creates interest all year.

Bev says, “I think it's a stroll garden. It’s a garden to be in, not to sit back and look at.” Her favourite plants to visit include the native mint family Prostanthera and oak-leaved Thomasia. Being an avid plant collector, Bev likes to propagate through seeds and cuttings to fill up her garden.

To strike a cutting of Westringea ‘Violet Skies’, Bev says, “It’s easy.”

1. Choose firm healthy stems to take your cutting from.

2. Strip the bottom half of the leaves off the stem and pinch out the soft tip. Eliminating leaf material helps the stem focus on root growth.

3. Ensure the base of the stem has a clean cut, then dip into a rooting hormone.

4. Fill a small clean pot with propagation mix. Buy in stores or mix 1/3 perlite: 2/3 peat.

5. Tap soil firmly and create a hole for the cutting to go into.

6. Place the cutting in, press down. Keep moist and warm in a greenhouse for several weeks.

This garden really celebrates the diversity of Australian native plants and shows what can be done when devoted to experimenting. Bev says, “Going out and seeing these plants in the wild is one of the greatest things to do – and I think, ooh, I can grow that at home. It’s lovely.”

Featured Plants:

SHOWY ISOTOME - Isotoma axillaris

PAPER DAISY - Xerochrysum bracteatum cv.

MUGGA IRONBARK - Eucalyptus sp.

- Veronica arenaria

[gayleviticus]

had a dream where I matched w a guy on a dating app and he invited me to the strip club to see him perform but the strip club was a fancy restaurant by the river and all his friends were there. and I guess it was like a community strip club where people volunteered to strip lol.

anyway I didn't see any nudity bc I was too busy figuring out what to order and being flabbergasted their steaks were 40 bucks. and his friends were friendly and quite eager to include me but they were also horrible people morally, one of them was talking at length about her plan to scam two old people by offering them a trip to Melbourne for $1000

[prettybirdy979]

Neil Gaiman & FourPlay String Quartet (in Sydney)

So last night I was SUPER fortunate and got to go see Neil Gaiman and the FourPlay String Quartet at the Sydney Opera House. It was an amazing night, a two and a bit hour show that is a little hard to sum up as a show. 

So I’ve got some thoughts under the cut (Spoilers for anyone going to the Melbourne show, which will likely be the same or at least very similar). I’ve remembered as best I can but well, only human and there was a lot in a fairly long show

Before that though, some general non-spoilery thoughts:

The things the Quartet could make their instruments do was almost miraculous. Neil described them as a string quartet who is also a rock band and I fully saw that. They all had talent and it was an honour to see them perform live. I hadn’t realised that wasn’t a didgeridoo in one of the songs until I saw the cello perform. 

As you can see in the pics of the stage (none of Neil or the group since we weren’t allowed to take them and I wasn’t gonna break that rule) I was extremely close. Close enough I hear the seal on Neil’s water crack at the start. But they were set up to be visible to all. The show was also sold out

Neil himself was captivating. Everyone shut up to listen when he spoke, regardless of what he was saying. We also had a couple of hecklers but one was helping and the other handled with a sigh and moving on

Nearly every song that they performed, Neil explained how it had come to be either something they had written or something they performed. It was an interesting look into the songwriting process and even the processes of performing (and how much you can learn in thirty minutes

The way it was performed, most of the time Neil was reading words to music or having music performed while he read but at one point he did provide backing vocals for a song and actually sung four of them as the main vocalist

Neil said we were brave for coming, since he struggled to explain it and we all took a chance on coming. If you do ever get the chance to attend one of these shows, I recommend taking it. It was so worth it, i enjoyed every moment of it

The show was professionally recorded! So maybe one day we’ll get to see bits of it (or all of it) for people who couldn’t attend

Now for more specific (and possibly spoilery) thoughts:

They started the show with Clock, which Neil mentioned as one of the few songs they’d be performing tonight that he didn’t write (his exact words a little bit in was that the words were “nicked from Bill” as it’s Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12). Something I noted for a lot of the performance and specifically this song was how he kept his hands always gripped behind his back except when he was talking with them. 

Then talked about how the band met (at the Opera House fourteen years ago) and became friends. He then mentioned the poem he read on 26th January 2011 at the Opera House, which was backed in Tasmania by didgeridoo, which the cellist said he could copy. And thus they came full circle with the song Poem first read on January 26th 2011 at the Sydney Opera House. As mentioned above, the cellist was right

Next song was Mobius strip. Not much to say about this one except that it’s one of my favourites from the album and very gesture filled

So both Neil and the band did something solo, starting with the band. They performed Neverwhere, a song they wrote but named for a Neil novel (with his input) since they believed it belonged on the album

Bloody Sunrise was next, which if you’ve not seen the music video for you should. It’s the one Neil was backing vocals for and they had a vampire come out to play the glockenspiel and 'harrass' Neil for his blood (jokingly). I think the vampire in the show was the same person as the video but if not, she was a very close match. The vocalist for this is Lara Goodridge, from FourString and her voice is amazing 

Next up was a Batman poem which had Neil detail his relationship to Batman through the years while the band possibly improvised music? They mentioned having no safety net for it (which prompted a comment from one of them about Batman not having a safety net) so it was at least one of the lesser rehearsed pieces. The poem was very touching and ended on a note that made me shiver

Song of the song was next; I’m struggling to recall many thoughts about it other than I liked it and it was great to see live

Ended the first half on Psycho by Leon Payne, which Neil sung. Backstory of this one was that they hadn’t had an encore during their first tour so they’d learnt this in a hurry as the encore for Carnegie Hall. The song was great and violin managed to make truly upsetting sounding cords and it was awesome!

This song also prompted Neil to mention the well known joke about Carnegie Hall, which a heckler set up for him (How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice). Then one of the band members (Peter I think? I’m terrible with names) also made the joke about them having proved the joke wrong since their encore for it wasn't really practised but learnt in half an hour at lunch before the show. It’s a running theme

In the first half there was also a running joke performing at the Opera House then going to Tasmania (as you do, Neil said one time) because apparently Neil has done that multiple times

Second half opened with Neil’s solo thing, the reading of his short story Click-clack, The Rattle Bag which was apparently written while he was in Australia 10 years ago staying at someone's house. Partway through the story, as it got spooky, click clack noises were made and it ended on a hell of a note

The Wreckers followed. Neil mentioned it was a poem he’d written for someone very sad

Before the next song Neil mentioned liking our weather, which was miserable that day, because all the rain that falls in his home right now is soft and fluffy. This prompted the next song which he called Umbrella, which had him reading words to the music and had the band sing a chorus he also spoke. Not sure where the words are from but it was a good song

The second sung by Neil song of the night was one he said was written to be a 3am torch song, that used to sung to a bartender. But it’s updated for the modern era so it was called I Google You (which is what you do now when you're heartbroken)

After that was a song they said had never been performed before, only rehearsed. As backstory Neil mentioned the tale of two men (whose names I forget) who’d published a dictionary of well, rude slang in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Neil had gotten his hands on 2 volumes of it to begin with then a 10 volume version and the song, "To suck the sugar sick or up-tails-all" (I think, the second part of the title did not stick in my mind that well), was just various euphemisms for sleeping together used by the Victorians read to music. Including the two in the title! Lara did the vocals for those euphemisms related to women

Next two songs were Signs of a life, and then In Transit as the 'last song'  

Which of course it wasn't. They came out for an encore, with the words “Two songs and we all get to go home, that's the rule” (prompting a heckler to ask “To your home?”. Neil just sighed)

First encore was a song I didn’t recognise but is apparently Makin' Whoopee and was sung by Neil. Apparently not well rehearsed since Neil jumped the gun on the lyrics at one point and said 'clearly we need to rehearse more'

Ended with The Problem with Saints, which is a song he said he wrote during a session where they were trying for eight songs in eight hours and managed six in twelve. Neil implied this one was written at 4am and the only reason he’s the one who sung on whatever first album it's on it is because it was 4am when it was written and he didn't protest

And that was the show! It was a long night (not helped by public transport being its usual trackwork happy self) but an amazing one. Well worth seeing and I hope I’ve passed on some of the bits to you.

[joemuggs]

Albums of 2023 part 1

OK I started a best albums of 2023 thread as there's lots that got missed out of charts I contributed to. I got carried away and there's nearly 100, but they're all superb and I think there's something for everyone here. Start with this: a DEVASTATINGLY fresh drum'n'bass/jungle excursion from a perpetually underrated UK bass don Altered Natives.

A short but PERFECTLY formed 20 minutes of heavy, trippy R&B with surprise UKG and even drum'n'bass twists, Tinashe deserves so much more credit as an innovator...

I was late to this one but should've known the Hive Mind label always delivers. Swedish-based guitarist Vumbi Dekula delivering track after track of perfection like it's as easy as breathing.

I've always enjoyed Lana Del Rey when she's at her most benzo-haze - and this Mitski album hits that spot perfectly... not that it's all dissociated - it's very smart and sharp - but you can easily drift away into it.

Metallica, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie covers in a millennium old Inuit language? Well yes - and in Elisapie's hands it's DEVASTATING. I played the Leonard Cohen one out at 3am in a chillout room in the summer and it was real, REAL magic.

TONN3RR3 & BIKAY3 = French live electronic beats of various flavours + EXTREMELY eccentric Congolese vocalist = braincell-scrambling funtimes...

First of two major trip-outs from Optimo Music last year - with Op:l Bastards and then K-X-P, Timo Kaukolampi is best known for motorik cosmic synth rock, but here everything is stripped away except the abstract cosmic, and wow it'll give you vertigo if you let it.

The presence of Peter Zummo here leads to automatic Arthur Russell comparisons for Greek-British brothers áthos - and it's not NOT Arthur-ish.... but more, it's operating in the same boho world of freedom as he did, and finds its own delicate voice within that.

Another massively unsung talent, original Moving Shadow / - now Over/Shadow - crew, half of Mixrace with the mighty Paradox (they also had a great record out this year), Dave Trax makes THE most exquisite soulful but heavy d'n'b and this album is among his best.

Melbourne's always been musically interesting, but this new duo project from a Gorillaz / Genesis Owusu collaborator Mindy Meng Wang 王萌 with Sui Zhen is above and beyond. Sort of fourth world but more advanced (fifth world??), it's a really personal, precise and endlessly fascinating thing.

Dunno how Jamal Moss does it so prolifically but consistently: an endless flow of machine funk like a jet of magma from the centre of the earth. Add Polish saxophonist Jerzy Maczynski to the mix making Universal Harmonies & Frequencies, and the results are overwhelmingly ecstatic.

Holmer zooms into the essential something that links Mary Chain, Goldfrapp, Stereolab, Cocteaus and all their influences in turn... a kind of pure essence of motorik, psychedelic, magickal pop..... Such an instant, potent, pleasure-centres hit.

Your favourite DJ's favourite DJ's favourite DJ Jerome Hill is also no shabby producer and every one of these eight tracks is the platonic ideal of a bleeping, clonking, tweaking, hot, sweaty, bassy dancefloor banger.

Need a reminder that it hasn't all been done before in electronic music? TSVI got you covered: this is the FRESHEST gear, but never innovating for innovation's sake - always about emotions & composition first. Includes several Loraine James contributions too \(more to come from her....) ❤️

The kind of drone music that can give you superpowers if you make space to really soak it in. Kali Malone x Lucy Railton x Stephen O'Malley = AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

The Magic Numbers pretty much passed me by, but this solo album from the band's Michele Stodart is the epitome of Soft Music For Hard Times, real quiet dignity stuff, beautiful subtlety to production/arrangment and just the kind of countrified songwriting I adore.

A second one from Hive Mind, and another supermodernist feeling one - ultra sophisticated stuff from the Rio de Janeiro polymath Ricardo Dias Gomes: is it post-rock? Indietronica? Neotropicália? Yes/no/whatever... watch out there's a noisy surprise at the end!

Is it me or is R&B / neo soul wayyyyy more experimental than hip hop at the moment? Like the Tinashe and Janelle albums, this is super short but WOW does Madison McFerrin pack a lot of innovation, emotion and just v.i.b.e.s. into its 27 minutes

Very cleverly structured because it starts quite timid and slight, which it turns out is maybe expectation management? But Andre Three Stacks builds into something that demands repeat plays - and a megastar bringing Don Cherry meets Hiroshi Yoshimura vibes into the world?? It's not quite the masterpiece I'd hoped for but it is GREAT.

The perfect (paradoxical?) combination of being absolutely true to the unchanging groove of Detroit, but also pushing it forwards sonically... DJ Bone STILL sounds like the future.

A second appearance for the most fun abstract cellist out there, Lucy Railton - this record is really tricky, it feels different from different angles, keeps throwing surprises at you, the proverbial "a lot to unpack"... but it's GREAT.

hinako omori somehow emerges from a wellspring circa 1979-81 when prog synth meandering was feeding into e.g. Kate Bush, Eurythmics, Japan, and then traces through that into 00s post trance pop but it doesn't sound retro? HOW?

Another small but perfectly formed one. Amazing that Ultramarine's elegant, pastoral, ECM-ish house explorations are still so exploratory and moving after all these years - and they fit perfectly on the Blackford Hill label which had an extraordinary year too.

In a year when not a lot of hip hop floated my boat, this was a glorious exception. Kind of odd it didn't get more hype really - Kaytra absolutely on top of his game, partnership with Aminé flows together just like their names, guest spots on point, vibes upon vibes upon vibes (instrumental version is great too!)

David Harrow is the absolute epitome of real craftsmanship honed over years and years - and this album of dub and downtempo tracks with rich layering of singing modular synths is a really magical exercise in world-building.

OK that's that for now, direct link to Part 2 here....

[life-with-my-three]

Lucy ended up in hospital a week ago. I’m still trying to process it. It seems these days I spend a lot of time trying to work out whether my feelings given a situation are “normal” and I have reason to feel how I do, or whether they’re a reaction to past trauma and I shouldn’t bring frustrations up to others.

The kids had all had a bit of a cold. Lucy had seemed to be on the tail-end. We left home at 7am for a 9:30 gastro appointment of Hattie’s in Melbourne. Lucy came with us. 2.5 hours of driving and we were still late. In the waiting room we gave Lucy a feed. It seemed to really exaggerate her effort to breathe, and make it a heap noisier. It was so noisy that Hattie’s gastro consultant told us to not go home straight away and to hang around the hospital for an hour or so and if it didn’t improve to go to emergency.

We hung around. Once the feed digested a little and wasn’t pushing so much on her lungs she improved a bit so we drove home. We had to drive straight to pick up Fletcher as he had a primary school transition afternoon. We took him to that, then went home. Hattie lost her special reward toy that she got for letting the doctor poke at her stomach (positive rewards for past medical trauma), somewhere between the kinder and home. We couldn’t find it anywhere. So I dropped all the kids at home with Aaron (he was home by this point). Went searching all the shops in the hope I could find another, miraculously did. Got home and Lucy had just had another feed and her breathing was bad again.

At this point I decided I’d take her to the local urgent care clinic in the hopes of avoiding emergency. Got to urgent care. They took her straight in. Stripped her down and looked at her breathing and decided she was really sick and needed the hospital. With how her breathing was they weren’t confident in me driving with her the 2 blocks so they called an ambulance. Her sats were lower 80s. Her feet were purple/mottled. As we were waiting for the ambulance (not long at all) there was a shift change. The new doctor agreed she needed the hospital asap and it to be an ambulance situation. The words “very sick” were used multiple times. They started putting numbing cream and stuff on her so that emergency could work on her asap.

We got to emergency. She was stick sucking her ribs and trachea right in. She had improved to her sats in the 90s though she was having to work hard for that. The paeds doctor came in and declared she was fine. Went to send us straight home. I mentioned about her sats being low at urgent care, to which they said oh I guess we should admit you for the night then. I was just going to send you home for the night. She’s giving everyone smiles, she’s just a happy puffer.

The night before Hattie came home from NICU, I brought up with the same paeds department that when feeding her she was stopping breathing and going blue. I was treated like I was just overly anxious, so accepted I’d seen her stop breathing so many times I probably was just anxious. Over the next 6 weeks she did it multiple times with feeds. I’d take her to emergency and we’d be told she was just a “happy puffer”. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to get her help, I was always given that same line. My kids struggle to breathe but still smile apparently! It wasn’t until I cracked it and drove to Melbourne demanding help did the Melbourne paeds look at her. We found out her milk was going into her lungs and we went to the feeding tube! It was only 6 months ago now that her Melb respiratory consultant told me in an appointment that she will never forget that first time she saw Hatt and how much she was struggling to breathe. The exact same breathing that local paeds just shrug off:

Anyway, Lucy seemed a lot better by the next morning, so I didn’t go all mumma bear on them like I was planning. I mean the doctors didn’t even see her. The nurse just came in and said if you’re happy the doctors are happy for Lucy to be discharged.

I’ve spent the week going over it in my head though. Am I so frustrated and annoyed at the doctors’ at local paeds because it’s bringing back up the trauma of Hattie’s experience? Or do I have every right to be so completely annoyed at them? Melb we’re concerned enough to tell us to go to emergency to a baby they didn’t even look at, was in the pram across the room, and not their patient. Two separate shifts of doctors/nurses at urgent care were extremely worried about her.

I don’t know. Lucy’s completely fine now. Back to her normal self. But far out, our local paeds department has requested two consecutive years to use Hattie’s story for the junior paediatric doctor exams to improve management of respiratory issues, then this shit happens!

[quotes121sworld]

Bianca Censori's wholesome life before she met Kanye West

The name and face of Bianca Censori has been splashed across headlines since January when she sparked up a wild whirlwind romance with Kanye West. But the 28-year-old Melbournian, who is the 'head of architecture' at the American rapper's, 46, company Yeezy, wasn't always destined for world-wide fame.Growing up in the well-heeled suburb of Ivanhoe, it is believed the Aussie beauty later lived in a quiet $2.8million Alphington home where her mother Alexandra still resides. The leafy suburban property sits well away from busy streets, the bustling city, and the even louder world of media Bianca was thrust into after her 'marriage' to Kanye.Tying the knot in a non-legally binding ceremony the same month they were first spotted together, the pair's union shoved Bianca's quiet family life into the spotlight. 

The name and face of Bianca Censori, 28, (pictured) has been splashed across headlines since January when she sparked up a wild whirlwind romance with Kanye WestKanye's mother-in-law Alexandra was spotted in public on Friday for the first time since his unorthodox union to her daughter. After driving to the local shopping strip in her Mercedes Benz, the Australian mum spent her day running errands as she carried a $5,300 black Prada bag. She looked every inch the glamazon garbed in a tailored, beige winter jacket with structured shoulders and a belt which cinched in her waist. 

But the Melbournian, who is the 'head of architecture' at the American rapper's, 46, (pictured) company Yeezy, wasn't always destined for world-wide famePairing the look with a set of black slacks and snakeskin patterned loafers, she revealed where Bianca gets her good looks as she let her natural beauty shine. Without a lick of makeup on, Alexandra let her golden locks fly abut her shoulders as she finished off her chic look with a pair of black framed reading glasses.  She appeared content despite her daughter's complete lifestyle change after moving to America.Daily Mail Australia reached out to Alexandra but she refused to comment on her daughter's romance and the resulting publicity.And it appears Alexandra's community has closed ranks around her, with several neighbours refusing to speak about the Censori family as well. The tightknit bunch went so far as to claim they don't even know who lives in the quiet house which Bianca once called home.The designer went from being Melbourne's 'It Girl' living a private life in a suburban home, to shacking up with Kim Kardashian's ex-husband and dressing up in bizarre outfits. 

Growing up in the well-heeled suburb of Ivanhoe, the Aussie beauty later lived in a quiet $2.8million Alphington home where her mother Alexandra (pictured) still resides

The leafy suburban property sits well away from busy streets, the bustling city, and the even louder world of media Bianca was thrust into after her 'marriage' to Kanye

Tying the knot in a non-legally binding ceremony the same month they were first spotted together, the pair's union shoved Bianca's quiet family life into the spotlight

Kanye's mother-in-law Alexandra was spotted in public for the first time since his unorthodox union to her daughterThe Kim K lookalike went so far as to shear off her long dark locks until she was left with a short platinum look. Weeks later, she took it a step further and began covering up her face every time she stepped out in public.On one occasion, she covered herself entirely with a white scarf wrapped around her head as she kept her arms tucked into a matching jacket.  

After driving to the local shopping strip in her Mercedes Benz, the Australian mum spent her day running errands as she carried a $5,300 black Prada bag

 She looked every inch the glamazon garbed in a tailored, beige winter jacket with structured shoulders and a belt which cinched in her waist

Pairing the look with a pair of black slacks and snakeskin patterned loafers, she revealed where Bianca gets her good looks as she let her natural beauty shine

Without a lick of makeup on, Alexandra let her golden locks fly abut her shoulders as she finished off her chic look with a pair of black framed reading glasses

She appeared content despite her daughter's complete lifestyle change after moving to AmericaHer outfits only got more bizarre from there when she was pictured looking hunched over and withdrawn with a black veil over her head.Covered head to toe in yet another strange, all-black ensemble, Bianca donned a large collar which encompassed her shoulders and face.Despite Bianca's mother and neighbours staying mum about her life, not all of her demure family have chosen to remain quiet. 

The designer went from being Melbourne's 'It Girl' living a private life in a suburban home, to shacking up with Kim Kardashian's ex-husband and dressing up in bizarre outfits. Pictured with her mother Alexandra and two sisters Angelina and AlyssiaSpeaking to the Herald Sun earlier this year, one of her sisters, Angelina Censori, asked for 'privacy' but admitted the family was happy with the news of Bianca's marriage.'It's very exciting news for both my sister and the family but we choose to have some privacy for the time being,' she said.Another relative, Alyssia Censori, said she was 'super happy for them both'. 

The Kim K lookalike went so far as to shear off her long dark locks until she was left with a short platinum look. Pictured with her natural, long brown hair before dating Kanye (left) and later after she shaved it all off and bleached it (right)Growing up, Bianca studied for the Victorian Certificate of Education at Kew's prestigious Carey Baptist Grammar School.She mixed mostly with students from Ivanhoe Grammar School, Kew's Methodist Ladies' College, the Catholic Genazzano FCJ College and Xavier College.A high school peer told Daily Mail Australia earlier this year that Bianca 'always ran in private school circles'.'She was friendly with the Xavier and Ivanhoe Grammar boys and hung out with Genazzano and MLC girls,' she said.'She's super close with her family, who from memory were always considerably private people. So the fact Bianca has married someone so high-profile must have taken them by surprise.'

Weeks later, she took it a step further and began covering up her face every time she stepped out in publicAnother school friend said while Bianca was in the 'popular' group, she 'always had time for people outside her social circle'.'I would describe Bianca as a social butterfly - the kind of girl who was friends with everyone,' the peer told Daily Mail Australia.'Like, she was never an intimidating mean girl. I think it would surprise people how smart she is.'After graduating in 2012 with a VCE that put her near the top of her school, Bianca obtained a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Melbourne in 2017.A childhood friend said Bianca was always going to succeed at whatever she chose to do.'She was a party girl after high school. She never missed all the big social events like nightclubbing or going to the Spring Racing Carnival,' she said.'I can't say I'm surprised she's ended up working for Yeezy. She has always been stylish and pushed boundaries in fashion.'At one point she was running her own jewellery business. I am surprised she's married Kanye, though.'

On one occasion, she covered herself entirely with a white scarf wrapped around her head as she kept her arms tucked into a matching jacketAnother female friend recalled attending the four-day Rainbow Serpent festival with Bianca in Lexton in January 2017.'Bianca was always a bit of an 'It Girl,'' she said. 'We partied together at Rainbow Serpent back in the day and she was up for a good time.'I loved that she so boldly wore nipple pasties!'Bianca returned to university to complete a Master of Architecture from 2019 to 2020.

Her outfits only got more bizarre from there when she was pictured looking hunched over and withdrawn with a black veil over her head. Covered head to toe in yet another strange, all-black ensemble, Bianca donned a large collar which encompassed her shoulders and faceA former colleague at a South Yarra furniture store remembered Bianca had always applied herself to the work.'While I haven't been in touch with Bianca for a number of years, I can confirm she was a very hard-working young lady,' she said. 'I was certainly surprised to read she's gotten hitched to Kanye West - good for her.'Bianca, who has worked for Yeezy since November 2020, 'wed' Kanye two months after his divorce from 42-year-old Kim Kardashian was finalised in November.The pair reportedly celebrated their union at a private ceremony and both have been seen wearing wedding rings.The informal nuptials have apparently not been followed by the filing of a marriage certificate. Read the full article

[drkangcl]

( dakota johnson , cis woman , she/her ) las vegas may be packed with people, but lana kensington has been on my mind. originally hailing from melbourne , australia, the fifty-eight thirty three year old has been in vegas for ten years. i know they’re a dj at encore beach club , but there’s a rumor on the strip saying they’re also a vampire. after some thought that makes sense , they can be +tenderhearted , but also -cunning. ask any local they’ll say they remind them of turning down your music to eavesdrop into a conversation, continuing an argument even when you realize you’re wrong, being the last to sing karaoke at a closing bar, & kicking out a one night stand at 6am.

connections + pinterest

statistics

✧･ﾟ: * 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 ‣ full name: lana hazel kensington ‣ nicknames: kensington ‣ age:  33 ‣ birthday: april 4th ‣ gender identity & pronouns: cis female & she/her ‣ sexual orientation: bisexual ‣ occupation: dj at encore beach club‣ hometown: melbourne, aus

✧･ﾟ: * 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ‣ face claim: dakota johnson ‣ height: 5′7 ‣ build: slim ‣ eye color: blue ‣ hair color: brown ‣ style habits: lots of black

✧･ﾟ: * 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚 ‣ positive traits: tenderhearted & affable ‣ negative traits: cunning & chaotic ‣ habits: cigarettes, being late, irish goodbyes, not thinking about consequences

✧･ﾟ: * 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐬 ‣ kol mikaelson ( the originals ) , nick miller ( new girl ), lindsay bluth funke ( arrested development ), chloe ( don’t trust the b in apt 23 ), deandra reynolds ( it’s always sunny ), mike ross ( suits ), roman roy ( succession ) + overall chaotic good characters

biography

lana kensington was a total wild child, born and raised in the swinging '60s of melbourne, australia. That era was like fuel for her unconventional spirit. she thrived in the city's counterculture scene, soaking up all the rebellion, individuality, and freedom vibes. art, music, and fashion became her niche, shaping her tastes and giving her a deep appreciation for nonconformity.

her parents were on the simpler side. she grew up on a small house by the beach. they were the type to walk around barefoot and make sure everyone gets to go surfing at the peak hour. her, her siblings, parents, and little pets got along amazing even through the rough teen years. the love for each other was strong.

but wait, things got even more interesting for lana in her early 30s. that's when she went through her vampire transformation, turning her into this timeless and ethereal being. during that time she worked as a clerk at a gas station. that’s where she met a customer passing through. queue edward cullen moment because he was nothing like she’d ever seen with his pale skin versus her tanned. she was immediately drawn to him. one thing led to another and somehow she ended up in the situation she has to life with for the rest of her life

adjusting to her new immortal existence wasn't always easy, in fact, she’s still guiding herself through it even after 50ish years. but, nevertheless, lana managed to hold onto her youthful exuberance while navigating the ups and downs of eternal life.

her moral compass always pointed towards helping others, even if it meant bending or breaking the rules. lana's journey took her all over the globe. she jet-setted across different cities, immersing herself in all sorts of cultures. along the way, she mastered her vampiric abilities. her agility was off the charts, her charm was irresistible, and she had some supernatural power that she’s still working on to this day.

of course, she ended up in no other than las vegas! here’s she’s been living around for ten years. first a receptionist, then worked at a pizza parlor, the na cocktail waitress, and somehow she worked her way up to being one of the djs at encore beach club.

headcanons

she always has an magic 8 ball in her purse because she would never ask others for opinions rather would use the ball to make some big decision in her life

her phone is always on do not disturb

does not own a bedframe and is more of a mattress on the floor type of girl

has chinese take out every sunday from the same spot

loves to move in silence , you may see her when she enters a party but always disappears by the end

always been a troublemaker even when she was young but hasn’t done anything crazy to get involved with the police

ceo of daytime to nighttime transformation

was once a receptionist at aria hotel but fired because she called the wife of a guy checking into a hotel to cheat on her ( funny bc she is an accomplice for people who cheat )

has the sickest vinyl record collection that her parents started and gave to her

always goes barefoot when dj-ing a set. she just got a habit she cant break!

her sets include a lot of throwbacks which definitely give a lot of positive feedback from the crowd

her apartment is full of knick knacks that she’s collected through the decades

randomly becomes aware like damn im actually e*ting people and will freak out and lock herself in her apartment for days and days to a point where someone has to get her 

wanted connections + tag + board

romantic : exes, tinder/hinge date, current relationship (destined to fail soon), one night stand, friends with benefits, the biggest cheating scandal of the season, was once engaged to

platonic : best friend, someone she knows from melbourne, first person she met in vegas, current neighbors (apt complex), vamp trio, sibling like friends (bickering a lot), former lovers to friends,

familial : siblings, cousins, family friends, uncle, aunt, mom, dad , an older vamp who’s her mentor/parental figure

negative : ex best friends, dated the same person, they just don’t like her (vice versa),

misc : current roommate, ex roommate, the one person she lets behind the dj booth with her, the person who turned her