Notices by Birdhouse in Your [Redacted] (coolandnormal@aus.social)

Imagine being a young singer in 2010, going to a music school and having them spend more than half the class time on responsible use of autotune.

You tell them you're not singing into microphones at all right now and you don't have a computer, you actually want to learn about scales, reading music, warm-ups, how to engage the diaphragm, voice box anatomy and building out a repertoire.

They tell you that before any of that you must learn how to use autotune properly and how not to use it, otherwise you'll be left behind.

All the exams are primarily testing that you're not using autotune to 'cheat'. You're not sure what you would use it to cheat at or what other thing you should be doing, because the only thing you've been shown how to do is interact with autotune. None of the teachers seem to know how autotune fits into singing, but they know it's equally naughty for students to use it and to refuse to use it.

This is what uni in 2026 is like.

Update: I'm currently doing pre-employment checks for the job mentioned above, looks promising. That job is casual, temporary and allows me to manage my own workload (awesome, love it).

What I'm saying is I'm still interested in a #FediHire situation.

@steter @ai6yr or it could be

banjo
-
wren

@ai6yr looks like a couple

Rango 4 Owen

Thing

Washing machine mechanism

Note child in steam shovel window living best life

@ai6yr australians! We definitely are.

@ai6yr not in an 80% use case kind of way, but it's definitely a thing. As soon as I bought a house with a paddock at the back a heap of my friends and neighbours said "you're obviously putting a fire bath looking out over the valley, right?".

I would say old claw foot baths with a fire lit underneath are significantly more popular than hot tubs around here.

@ai6yr this is the classic format, you can go more or less fancy. A lot of people wouldn't bother with the chimney. Rarely plumbed.

Edit: according to local culture, this is more aesthetically pleasing than a premium professionally installed hot tub, as well as obviously being cheaper and more practical to install and maintain.

The main reason cannabis (or any other) smoke gives a burning sensation in the throat is because it's an irritant to mucous membranes. Not because of its temperature. It is in a sense 'burning your throat' if it feels like it is, but not primarily with heat.

For this reason attempts to cool the smoke are not very helpful, but diluting the smoke will be helpful.

School didn't say this, but logically this should mean:
A, bong air is more important than bong water. A large air space would be far more important than a larger water volume.
B, you could have warm bong water. It would keep your hands warm on a cold evening and not impact how 'burny' it is

I keep hearing "mastodon isn't good for [type of celebrity], they have to go to [other platform] for engagement"

It's not the celebrity type [scicom personality, journalist, author] it's the attempt to run a celebrity account at all that doesn't work on the fedi.

There are heaps of well known people on the fedi. Either it's not obvious that's their day job or they're just quietly being that in among posts about walking their dog. Coming to the fedi trying to sell your day job and hoping people will 'engage' is odd. Like going to the playground or the museum and being mad that bystanders didn't engage your about your day job despite the sandwich board you're wearing and your refusal to talk about any other topic.

Going into a social environment broadcasting [📢this is my content, engage with it📢] is an obvious recipe for disappointment. No one cares about the things you're broadcasting. Show us your dog. Did they have a nice walk?

What I don't understand is why we don't have bike powered ebikes.

You can have a bike powered washing machine. You can have a crank powered torch. Why can't I get on my bike when I'm bored at home and charge it up, then use that stored energy to power the same machine where I generated and stored it?

@Dangerous_beans is it impossible to achieve somehow?

@Dangerous_beans I didn't know there was an answer

@ai6yr
My driving instructor: do you know how people change their driving in rain?
Me: well... They probably... Change in different ways it's hard to...
Instructor: they don't. In average, statistically, they don't. So keep that in mind.

"A billionaire carries, on average, an investment portfolio in companies that will produce 1.9m tonnes of CO2 a year – roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 400,000 petrol cars."

Extremely normal planet.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/10/world-richest-used-fair-share-emissions-2026-oxfam

@vmbrasseur @hannah Caresse Crosby, publisher, ghost writer of erotica, first patent holder for a modern bra. Photographed in 1914 with her whippet, Clytoris.

Be my plumber
Take out the bung to drain the tank, put it in your pocket for safe keeping
Set up the entire roof plumbing system directed into the tank
Go home

@ai6yr "do not call 911 to report drilling noise"

... What?? Ya'll call a man with a gun to tell them there's a noise in a public place??