Travis Holland
@travish.co
untethered researcher, writer, and podcast host. thinking about science, media, dinosaurs, birds, space, LEGO
Yeah, so... we're screwed huh
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘We are waiting with bated breath’: gathering El Niño could be the strongest on record, BoM says
Most Australian capital cities have at least 80% chance of unusually warm and dry spring as climatologists watch developing system with increasing alarm
www.theguardian.com
July 17, 2026 at 1:20 AM
Yeah, so... we're screwed huh
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
How's this? $3m pay for UniSA Vice Chancellor in 2025 and a further $1.45m in 2026 after he left
www.afr.com/policy/healt...
www.afr.com/policy/healt...
$3m payout to VC ‘did not meet expectations’, says Adelaide Uni boss
David Lloyd, the last vice chancellor of the now defunct University of South Australia, received a $1.1 million golden handshake on top of his $1.015 million base salary last year.
www.afr.com
July 10, 2026 at 9:05 AM
How's this? $3m pay for UniSA Vice Chancellor in 2025 and a further $1.45m in 2026 after he left
www.afr.com/policy/healt...
www.afr.com/policy/healt...
A chancellor resigns after being embroiled in corruption hearings, saying his resignation is what's best for the institution, and then throws the new vice chancellor under the bus anyway.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
Ex-university chancellor fronts ICAC days after handing in resignation
Just days after resigning as chancellor at the University of Wollongong (UOW), Michael Still faces the state's corruption watchdog.
www.abc.net.au
July 6, 2026 at 9:59 AM
A chancellor resigns after being embroiled in corruption hearings, saying his resignation is what's best for the institution, and then throws the new vice chancellor under the bus anyway.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
Reposted by Travis Holland
You have discovered a planet. A dromedary-like creature lives there and bounds across the fields. It is so far away.
June 16, 2026 at 11:01 AM
You have discovered a planet. A dromedary-like creature lives there and bounds across the fields. It is so far away.
Reposted by Travis Holland
![Comic. [Person in front of images of pogs, a Tamagotchi, and huge fungal tower over mossy ground.] PERSON: Who else remembers pogs? Tamagotchis? Vast forests of prototaxites towering over the mossy landscape as armored fish stir in the deep? [caption] Due to a database error, millennial nostalgia now includes a portion of the Early Devonian.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiho5esmmquxyeqmhlp6c3qduj242ovxfdc7cwqpoqdnhwujt26kiy)
June 10, 2026 at 3:07 AM
I feel you, Arthur
Quite a few thoughts collided in Arthur Dent's mind at this moment
May 15, 2026 at 9:29 AM
I feel you, Arthur
In everything I've seen of him, Dan Repacholi strikes me as a thoroughly sensible, decent bloke.
MPs v the manosphere: ministers up against misogyny as they take a different message to men and boys across Australia
MPs v the manosphere: ministers up against misogyny as they take a different message to men and boys across Australia
‘The whole idea is to make generational change,’ Dan Repacholi says as he embarks on listening tour with Ged Kearney
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“Gender equality isn’t women versus men or a zero-sum game,” Ged Kearney says.
“It delivers better outcomes for everyone. It’s important that, as we engage with men and boys, we make that really clear.” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
May 5, 2026 at 11:36 PM
In everything I've seen of him, Dan Repacholi strikes me as a thoroughly sensible, decent bloke.
Reposted by Travis Holland
Hark! There's a planet! I want to find joy there. Would you like to be friends there?
May 2, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Hark! There's a planet! I want to find joy there. Would you like to be friends there?
Even the dumbest mule would stop running headlong into brick walls after two or three attempts
The High Court was Bruce Lehrmann's last legal avenue to challenge the outcome.
Breaking: High Court refuses to hear Bruce Lehrmann's appeal
The High Court was Bruce Lehrmann's last legal avenue to challenge the outcome.
www.abc.net.au
April 9, 2026 at 5:53 AM
Even the dumbest mule would stop running headlong into brick walls after two or three attempts
Reposted by Travis Holland
In this week's New Statesman column I find that, for all my blackhearted pessimism, I am incapable of being cynical about space travel.
www.newstatesman.com/science-tech...
www.newstatesman.com/science-tech...
Artemis, the Moon and the case for utopia
Optimism about the future should not be a preserve of the past
www.newstatesman.com
April 7, 2026 at 9:34 AM
In this week's New Statesman column I find that, for all my blackhearted pessimism, I am incapable of being cynical about space travel.
www.newstatesman.com/science-tech...
www.newstatesman.com/science-tech...
Armstrong's words from the moon reached 600M people because someone insisted on the infrastructure to carry them: frequency.ghost.io/media-from-t...
Media from the Moon
Armstrong's first words from the moon couldn't have reached 600 million people without communication pros. As Artemis 2 launches, how do Australian science agencies communicate today?
frequency.ghost.io
March 31, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Armstrong's words from the moon reached 600M people because someone insisted on the infrastructure to carry them: frequency.ghost.io/media-from-t...
Wild how inflation charts are presented. You'd think prices by July 2025 are up 2.8% from 2021 instead of compounding annually.
March 21, 2026 at 8:26 AM
Wild how inflation charts are presented. You'd think prices by July 2025 are up 2.8% from 2021 instead of compounding annually.
Australian media isn't dying because social media stole its audience.
It's dying because a whole new class of intermediaries is better at capturing value than publishers ever were.
frequency.ghost.io/the-great-re...
It's dying because a whole new class of intermediaries is better at capturing value than publishers ever were.
frequency.ghost.io/the-great-re...
The Great Rebalancing in Australian Media
Australian media isn't dying because social media stole its audience. It's dying because a whole new class of intermediaries is better at capturing value than publishers ever were.
frequency.ghost.io
March 18, 2026 at 11:56 AM
Australian media isn't dying because social media stole its audience.
It's dying because a whole new class of intermediaries is better at capturing value than publishers ever were.
frequency.ghost.io/the-great-re...
It's dying because a whole new class of intermediaries is better at capturing value than publishers ever were.
frequency.ghost.io/the-great-re...
Reposted by Travis Holland
This is a hell of a piece of writing by Sam Kriss
Child’s Play, by Sam Kriss
Tech’s new generation and the end of thinking
harpers.org
February 27, 2026 at 1:33 PM
This is a hell of a piece of writing by Sam Kriss
Reposted by Travis Holland
I have discovered a planet. It is not far. There's a creature there resembling a sheep, except for its heroic legs. What a good place.
March 3, 2026 at 5:05 AM
I have discovered a planet. It is not far. There's a creature there resembling a sheep, except for its heroic legs. What a good place.
Reposted by Travis Holland
They have discovered a planet. It is out past the stars. A large mountain sits amidst the unlawful plains. We could find happiness there, perhaps.
February 18, 2026 at 12:05 AM
They have discovered a planet. It is out past the stars. A large mountain sits amidst the unlawful plains. We could find happiness there, perhaps.
The news deserts are spreading frequency.ghost.io/wtf-is-happe...
WTF is happening in rural news?
In my decade-long tenure as a media academic at "Australia's leading regional university" (🙄), I was regularly asked to comment on shifts and changes in regional broadcasting and news.
It was a diffi...
frequency.ghost.io
February 18, 2026 at 12:06 AM
The news deserts are spreading frequency.ghost.io/wtf-is-happe...
The Italian government links sabotage associated with the winter Olympics to "anarchists" even though similar efforts around Paris 2024 were suspected to be Russian edition.cnn.com/2026/02/07/e...
Anti-Olympics protest in Milan turns violent as Italy investigates suspected railway sabotage | CNN
Anti-Olympic protesters marched peacefully through Milan on Saturday afternoon, holding signs, marching arm-in-arm, singing and dancing. But when night fell, the demonstration turned violent as some p...
edition.cnn.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:24 PM
The Italian government links sabotage associated with the winter Olympics to "anarchists" even though similar efforts around Paris 2024 were suspected to be Russian edition.cnn.com/2026/02/07/e...
Reposted by Travis Holland
There is zero reason for a billionaire to own an adversarial news outlet in a kleptocracy. And so billionaires are gutting the media companies they own, reorienting them to better align with the regime, and spending money on bribes rather than journalists
www.404media.co/the-washingt...
www.404media.co/the-washingt...
The Washington Post Is No Longer Useful to Jeff Bezos
In a kleptocracy, there is no reason for a billionaire to own an adversarial news outlet.
www.404media.co
February 5, 2026 at 3:14 PM
There is zero reason for a billionaire to own an adversarial news outlet in a kleptocracy. And so billionaires are gutting the media companies they own, reorienting them to better align with the regime, and spending money on bribes rather than journalists
www.404media.co/the-washingt...
www.404media.co/the-washingt...
I realise there's a difference, in time and orientation, when travelling vs at home, but I am 4 hours into a cross-country Norweigian train and boy does it put the Australian rail network to shame.
January 24, 2026 at 2:05 PM
I realise there's a difference, in time and orientation, when travelling vs at home, but I am 4 hours into a cross-country Norweigian train and boy does it put the Australian rail network to shame.
Reposted by Travis Holland
Look! A planet! A mule-like animal lives there and crawls across the dust. Would you like to dance there?
January 19, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Look! A planet! A mule-like animal lives there and crawls across the dust. Would you like to dance there?
What was the last good year? 1996?
January 1, 2026 at 3:46 AM
What was the last good year? 1996?
A group of media scholars go to pub trivia. Their team name? The McLuhans
December 18, 2025 at 10:03 AM
A group of media scholars go to pub trivia. Their team name? The McLuhans
Reposted by Travis Holland
one of the great, pernicious myths perpetrated about higher ed—which media, higher ed administrators, politicians, and a number of faculty are complicit in spreading—is that humanities departments close due to some combination of cratering student demand and unjustifiable cost. It’s not true
My humanities dept was relevant. Majors were up. Courses were 100% enrolled. Revenue positive, GE serving, etc etc. We were still eliminated.
The problem is ideological administrative destruction. Couldn’t write a report, a self study, or a spreadsheet against that.
The problem is ideological administrative destruction. Couldn’t write a report, a self study, or a spreadsheet against that.
'For humanities departments to continue to matter, they must challenge the modern world rather than accommodate it. Indeed, the most useful lesson the humanities have to offer today is a profoundly countercultural one: Difficulty is good, an end in its own right.' 2/2
December 15, 2025 at 1:37 PM
one of the great, pernicious myths perpetrated about higher ed—which media, higher ed administrators, politicians, and a number of faculty are complicit in spreading—is that humanities departments close due to some combination of cratering student demand and unjustifiable cost. It’s not true