Insane Advice

21 JAN - SADNESS. Don't stay there. Card from "A Way Oracle" by Behbeit / The Water Bearer Press

CrimethInc. : Being Peaceful and Law-Abiding Will Not Stop Authoritarianism : A Message from Germany

The cure to procrastination

. See for official warnings from the QFD. DO NOT RELY ON THIS SERVICE FOR TIMELY EMERGENCY WARNINGS.

AVOID SMOKE (HAZARD REDUCTION BURN) - Telina (near Gladstone) - fire as at 10:14am Wednesday, 21 January 2026 (IF39-5440921)

Location: Telina, Toolooa, Kirkwood, Glen Eden and surrounding areas -23.892975484961 latitude, 151.2579379279 longitude, grid square QG56PC05
Map:
Incident Type: FIRE VEGETATION
Alert Level: Advice
Severity: Minor
Action: Monitor
Expires: 2026-01-22T10:10:00+10:00

Smoke is currently affecting Telina, Toolooa, Kirkwood, Glen Eden and surrounding areas. This is from a Gladstone City Council hazard reduction burn at Mount Biondello, near Glenlyon Road, Telina. This fire is under control.

- Stay inside and close windows and doors.

- Keep respiratory medication close by.

- Avoid driving through smoke if you can.

- Watch out for firefighters working in the area.

- Do not fly drones around the fire. Drones affect air operations.
- Click here for current QFD incidents and warnings
- Click here for bushfire preparation tips
- Click here for health advice and air quality information
- Follow QFD on Facebook and X.com
- Click here for road closure information or call 131940

- See for a listing of ABC Local Radio stations which may be broadcasting emergency information in your area.

Chase Your Dreams!!

Useful Tools

The world is a distracting place. If youve been having trouble finding the time and energy to focus on your writing, this free class from award-winning author might be useful.

Hey there have you been having a hard time writing Yeah. Theres a lot of that going around right now.
This class looks at what keeps people from writing. Its less about problems with the story and more about all the external things. It covers environmental factors, mental health, and tricks for compensating for all of this to write.

Thanks, Mary!

* * *

Photo by on Insane Advice

Good unsolicited

We arent just here to be debated. We are here to live. And not just survive though thats a good start but to actually enjoy our lives.
So, grab a cuppa. Here is your unofficial, slightly cynical, but ultimately hopeful survival guide for the year ahead.

20 JAN - ALCHEMY. Life is a lab. Experiment.
Card from "A Way Oracle" by Behbeit / The Water Bearer Press

. See for official warnings from the QFD. DO NOT RELY ON THIS SERVICE FOR TIMELY EMERGENCY WARNINGS.

AVOID SMOKE - Magnolia (near Maryborough) - fire as at 1:06pm Tuesday, 20 January 2026 (IF39-5436621)

Location: Magnolia and surrounding areas -25.667097064277 latitude, 152.69193649292 longitude, grid square QG64IH39
Map:
Incident Type: FIRE VEGETATION
Alert Level: Advice
Severity: Minor
Action: Monitor
Expires: 2026-01-21T13:04:00+10:00

Smoke is currently affecting Magnolia and surrounding areas. This is from a fire burning near Avin Road, Magnolia.

- Stay inside and close windows and doors.

- Keep respiratory medication close by.

- Follow your bushfire survival plan now. If you do not have a bushfire survival plan, make one on the QFD website.

- Avoid driving through smoke if you can.

- Watch out for firefighters working in the area.

- See for a listing of ABC Local Radio stations which may be broadcasting emergency information in your area.

Some on how to deal with

Considering moving instance and would appreciate any or .

19 JAN - SHELTER. Find your safe space.
Card from "A Way Oracle" by Behbeit / The Water Bearer Press

Hy bin thng bo huy ng vn thnh mt s kin marketing tht 'bom tn'. iu gip xy dng uy tn, thu ht ngi dng v to n by. i khi, s ch nhn c cn quan trng hn c s tin.

"Not for a Month Seems Simple. It Isnt for Me. Now There Are Real . I have to find a way to do this."

Tom Hoge Top Pick For Tomorrow Ship It Nation # # # #

So anyone here what have a pet rabbit I'm wondering if'n one would be a good choice for me, I've always been a cat person, but also think rabbits are neat, but no idea if'n one would fit my life. I figure now is a good time to ask as if I do decide to get a rabbit, I'll prolly wait until after Easter for obvious reasons.

Stretch goals are for workaholics, not healthy people.

Why This CEO Wont Let Private Funds Near His Companys 401(k) - WSJ

Do you often ask yourself what it would be like to be the opposite sex What it would be like to have a vagina or a penis, depending on the case

**What to do when reading gets hard**

"Sometimes, reading gets tough. And it's hard to even understand what you're reading. Here are a couple of techniques to help you when you're in that situation"

Geo-tagging

The war has begun..

My trusty Huawei P30 died today, after 7 years, due to a common hardware issue. Rather than pay 200 have it repaired, I think it's finally time to buy a new smartphone.

Contenders so far:
(1) Google Pixel 9a 265 GB with grapheneOS
(2) Fairphone 6
(3) Nothing Phone 3

Does anyone have experience with either of these smartphones that they could share :D

A lesson for employers: Treat your employees like dirt, your business will be dirt.

When employees feel slighted, they work less, research reveals

> A missed birthday. A forgotten anniversary. A milestone that goes unnoticed. These small slights from a manager may seem like no big deal, but new research from Wharton reveals that even the mildest of mistreatment at work can affect more than just employee morale.

Dear Mastodon,

I am a mechanical engineer who is about to make a major change. I have received a job offer from an international company for an Application Engineer position. The role involves supporting (computer-aided design), (product lifecycle management), and (product data management) systems and their underlying infrastructure.

As far as I know, most of the applications are -based, but there are likely some -like systems involved as well. I do not have formal system administration experience, so I am looking for guidance on which technologies I should focus on to make this transition as smooth as possible. Could you recommend useful books, technologies, or keywords to explore

For context, I have homelab-level experience with Linux, networking, SSL, reverse proxying, ZFS, Solaris zones, bhyve, and FreeBSD, and I have been using OpenBSD as my desktop operating system for years.

Thank you in advance for any or recommendations.

TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Implementation, configuration, and maintenance of software and systems related to the supported area in line with corporate requirements.
- Installation, configuration, and maintenance of critical software systems, as well as providing expert-level support to end users.
- Management of application-related changes, handling major upgrades, and the introduction and testing of new systems and developments.
- Publishing and testing new releases.
- System administration and monitoring to ensure the performance and proper operation of supported software and systems.
- Troubleshooting and problem resolution, including the management of system updates and fixes.
- Analysis of business requirements and implementation of related processes.
- Support for project management, including the preparation of documentation and reports.
- Communication with clients and business units to maintain synergy between business requirements and system solutions.

16 JAN - GRACE: For others. And yourself.
Card from "A Way Oracle" by Behbeit / The Water Bearer Press

Dear Universe:

Steps to understand rock'n'roll:
1. For "rock", substitute "fuck".
2. For "rock'n'roll", substitute "fuck'n'ball".

That's what it's all about.

Sincerely,
A former 18-20-year old rock musician

Don't lose treasure for new endeavors

Request for advice:

My dad (retired for 15 years) told me the other day that many jobs these days want "experience with AI" and that I should consider taking an online AI course so that I could put it on my resume . Now he's emailing me links to AI courses.

Any advice for uhh gently rebuffing him on this

My mom also secretly gave him a copy of my resume (she asked if she could see it after I applied for a job at the end of last year, and I told her I didn't want my dad's feedback because it's always extremely nitpicky and useless and she promised it was just for her own interest and that was apparently a lie.) Anyway, he returned it with helpful edits like "lie about your dates of employment so that it looks like you have fewer gaps in your resume", and a question mark next to the word 'wiki'.

So this is someone who thinks he's in the know, but has no idea what's going on...

If you're a beginner artist trying to find an art style, then this blog post is for you!

21 Lessons From 14 Years At Google, Addy Osmani ().

Via HN:

On Lobsters:

COTD - 15 JAN: RELEASE. You need an outlet.
Card from "A Way Oracle" by Behbeit / The Water Bearer Press

Ageing Matters Podcast
Hear first hand from the people driving change across ageing and aged care in Australia...

Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory:

. See for official warnings from the QFD. DO NOT RELY ON THIS SERVICE FOR TIMELY EMERGENCY WARNINGS.

AVOID SMOKE - Kumbarilla - fire as at 2:42pm Thursday, 15 January 2026 (IF39-5412021)

Location: Kumbarilla and surrounding areas -27.357441696369 latitude, 150.974677474 longitude, grid square QG52LP64
Map:
Incident Type: FIRE VEGETATION
Alert Level: Advice
Severity: Minor
Action: Monitor
Expires: 2026-01-16T14:42:00+10:00

Smoke is currently affecting Kumbarilla and surrounding areas. This is from a fire burning near Halliford Road, Kumbarilla.

- Stay inside and close windows and doors.

- Keep respiratory medication close by.

- Follow your bushfire survival plan now. If you do not have a bushfire survival plan, make one on the QFD website.

- Avoid driving through smoke if you can.

- Watch out for firefighters working in the area.

- See for a listing of ABC Local Radio stations which may be broadcasting emergency information in your area.

This is probably a stupid question:

What do you do with thin bars of soap that are too thin to use without breaking It seems to me that there should be some way to combine them somehow into a new bar. But I don't know *how*.

They don't stick together well, even if I wet two at a time and try to squeeze them together. Could they maybe be melted down somehow, maybe in a microwave or on the stovetop Or should I just throw them out That seems kind of wasteful!

Does anyone have any solution

. See for official warnings from the QFD. DO NOT RELY ON THIS SERVICE FOR TIMELY EMERGENCY WARNINGS.

AVOID SMOKE (HAZARD REDUCTION BURN) - Mount Nebo - fire as at 11:58am Thursday, 15 January 2026 (IF39-5410221)

Location: Mount Nebo and surrounding areas -27.390832534254 latitude, 152.78033046614 longitude, grid square QG62JO36
Map:
Incident Type: FIRE VEGETATION
Alert Level: Advice
Severity: Minor
Action: Monitor
Expires: 2026-01-16T11:56:00+10:00

Smoke is currently affecting Mount Nebo and surrounding areas. This is from a Queensland Parks and Wildlife hazard reduction burn near Forestry Road and Double Break. This fire is under control.

- Stay inside and close windows and doors.

- Keep respiratory medication close by.

- Avoid driving through smoke if you can.

- Watch out for firefighters working in the area.

- See for a listing of ABC Local Radio stations which may be broadcasting emergency information in your area.

. See for official warnings from the QFD. DO NOT RELY ON THIS SERVICE FOR TIMELY EMERGENCY WARNINGS.

AVOID SMOKE - Kurumbul (near Goondiwindi) - fire as at 12:00pm Thursday, 15 January 2026 (IF39-5409221)

Location: Kurumbul, Yelarbon and surrounding areas -28.491067314901 latitude, 150.57679341899 longitude, grid square QG51GM92
Map:
Incident Type: FIRE VEGETATION
Alert Level: Advice
Severity: Minor
Action: Monitor
Expires: 2026-01-16T11:53:00+10:00

Smoke is currently affecting Kurumbul, Yelarbon and surrounding areas. This is from a fire burning near the Cunningham Highway and Wondalli Kurumbul Road.

- Stay inside and close windows and doors.

- Keep respiratory medication close by.

- Follow your bushfire survival plan now. If you do not have a bushfire survival plan, make one on the QFD website.

- Avoid driving through smoke if you can.

- Watch out for firefighters working in the area.

- See for a listing of ABC Local Radio stations which may be broadcasting emergency information in your area.

Had a great time interacting with an audience of early career folks today during a McDonald Institute event on how to develop a CV and cover letter for job applications. I hope the perspectives from our panel discussion were useful to the audience. I loved their questions!

One possible benefit to kicking the can down the road: Each time you kick it, some of its contents might spill out. Then you can clean up the little spill and the can will be a bit lighter the next time you kick it down the road...

Last updated: 2026-01-21