Tony Nicholson

@tonynicholson

Australian. Computer Engineer. Into Networking, Security, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Windows & retro computing. Border collie owner & ball thrower. Drives an electric vehicle. Follicular lymphoma survivor. Living sustainably on Awabakal land (Lake Macquarie NSW)

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Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· 19d

The Onion has a nice and clear AI policy. theonion.com/about-us/

Al Policy
The Onion values the creativity and skills of people over machines, despite their unreliability and penchants for compensation, benefits, and breathable air. Generative Al tools used in art, video, and writing are ethically wrong and an existential threat to the livelihood of creative professionals. AI is also a detriment to our audience, whom we reluctantly acknowledge. AI generated art, video, and writing will not be used in any creative endeavor at or affiliated with The Onion.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Jul 2

Roll up, roll up - get your *FREE* 3-hours of electricity per day from RedEnergy for $280 *EXTRA* above the standard Living Energy Saver plan ( $1893 per year for Solar Sharer vs $1613 per year for Living Energy Saver. Just shows *FREE* is *NOT FREE*. Another publicity con? #auspol

Screen capture of redenergy.com.au/products for NSW AusGrid service area (postcode 2285) showing the new Solar Sharer Offer and Living Energy Saver rates as at 2-Jul-2026. The estimated costs including the 3-hour free primary load electricity plan (Solar Sharer) is $158/month or $1893/year. Compare this to the one without the 3-hours free (Living Energy) which is $135/month or $1613/year.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Jun 16

While wearing T-shirts without a jacket in mid June (Winter) might be nice - not much is being reported about temperatures 6°C above the average.

Screen shot from the Weather app showing average daily temperature range for the 17th June. The average is 16°C around the middle of the day. Today’s graph shows it reaching 22°C that’s six degrees Celsius above.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· May 20

How to do latest version Firefox #enshittification disabling. Choose …/Settings/AI Controls and enable “Block AI Enhancements”.

The settings pane for disabling AI enhancements in Firefox for iOS/ ipadOS. Showing it all disabled.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Mar 29

The JP Morgan diagram from the above for supplies that left the Strait of Hormuz prior to 28th February

Map of looming oil-shock impacts across key parts of the globe. Rough timing of potential hits show shipments that left prior to 28th February will cease on 20th April in Australia.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Mar 18

This past month my EV has used 68 kWh of electricity charged from rooftop solar. If I had fed this into the grid it would mean I have foregone about $2.72 (4c/kWh) to travel about 475 km. If I had to pay without a rooftop solar it would be $21.08 (31c/kWh). Now do the sums using fossil fuels!

Charging stats for the last 31 days showing total of 68kWh used at zero cost from rooftop solar PV.

This morning’s 33.8km shopping centre trip around the Newcastle suburbs. Air cond on high as temp was 28°C with 85% . Shows going up hill increased consumption by 6.8% and down hill regeneratively charged battery saving 6.0%. Air con added 1.5% to energy consumption. Total actual energy consumption was 8.4% of the battery capacity .

Consumption graph for last 300km. Shows car consumed 43.1 kWh and has range of 382 km if I drive under suburban conditions with the air con on.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Feb 22

5-year Solar PV figures for my home are in. The system payback period is almost done. It’s saved me around $9,125 in 5 years (feed-in tariff plus self consumed during the day). I’ve contributed around 7.26 MWh to the grid (surplus to my needs) and driven around 27330 km in my EV powered by it.

Enphase app 5-year production and consumption display showing 21.5 MWh imported from grid, 46.8 MWh produced by my solar PV system, 39.2 MWh consumed by the house and excess of 7.6MWh exported to grid.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Jan 29

Making sounds like “Chuffa chuffa chuffa” and whistling “sweet pretty creature” - a Willy Wagtail this morning after taking a birdbath dip in my backyard. #australianbackyardbirdlife

A Willy wagtail drying off in the bottlebrush after bathing

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Jan 18

On an iPhone - 📱 Settings, Apple Intelligence and Siri - and turn it all off if you’d rather not have most of the #enshittification updates drain your battery and your physical intelligence/ability to think and reason for yourself.

Showing the Settings/Apple Intelligence and Siri configuration screen on my iPhone with it all turned off.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Jan 3

Looks like a case of plagiarism - or someone is just regurgitating what was given to them to post… from the bird site too. Disgusting and blatant disregard from the AUKUS partners. All for one and one for all! #auspol

Post on X from the UK Prime Minister “The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela. We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate President and we shed no tears about the end of his regime.
I reiterated my support for international law this morning. The UK government will discuss the evolving situation with US counterparts in the days ahead as we seek a safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people.”

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Dec 31

Found the culprits! Caught red-handed “pruning” my NSW Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum) and Happy Wanderer (Hardenburgia violecea) - a pair of little corellas. Usually it’s the galahs or eastern rosellas. #australiannativepruners

A pair of little corellas “pruning” my NSW Christmas bush.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Dec 21

Looks like we’ll have wait a while for the southerly buster in the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie area… #hothothot

Screenshot showing temperature in my suburb in Newcastle/Lake Macquarie at 1pm as 41°C with 26km/h Nor-west winds with a gradual ramping down to 35°C at 8pm around sunset with winds from the North-northwest at 17km/h.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Dec 6

Status update: Staying cool inside with a cuppa and a (large) slice of Yummy Kitchen Celebration cake whilst listening to Handel’s Messiah on ABC TV. It’s a bush fire Smokey 37°C outside even after the 26km/h Nor’easter (or Novocastrian sea breeze) has started to cool things down.

Freshly brewed mug of tea (from tea leaves in a teapot steeped in boiling water for a couple of minutes, milk but no sugar) and a slice of Lucky Kitchen’s Celebration cake whilst listening to the MSO on TV’s rendition of Handel’s Messiah; whilst staring at my iPad.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Nov 22

Great stuff Whitepages! Everyone now needs physical copies to look up someone they know to confirm their address - can’t do it online anymore. I wonder if it was slurped into the large language model “AI” slop machine. Was there a heads up this was going to happen?

An “announcement” on the whitepages.com.au web page that they have removed residential listings - and to visit your local post office or order physical directory copies to be delivered to your home.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Oct 19

They’re still trying these 30 year old scams. Sounds believable that an orphan priest would leave me a fortune and get a nun to act as his legal representative an they picked my email address at random. 🤪

An e-mail from “Rev. Sister Mary Thomas” [using a Gary Riley Gmail address] from the Cotonou Benin de Republic is announcing out of the blue that a Rev. Fr. Clement Sandy (an orphan) has died and left me US$6.5 million in his will and requests my contact details.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Sep 26

Great! A 24.8 MB clock app update. Who are the “many people” that want “Focused Sessions” and just how is this going to help us to “stay focused and be more productive”? Microsoft #13523 evidence that they have well and truely lost the plot! #WindowsBloat

Windows Clock app update description is “We have updated the clock app with a beautiful new look for Windows 11! More importantly, we are excited to introduce Focus Sessions in this update. Many users have told us that staying focused and being productive is challenging. We feel that too! With more people caring about digital-health and hybrid-work becoming more common, the new Focus Sessions is designed to help.”

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Sep 19

Spring timeline cleanser that has a faint smell of vanilla!

Pale cream orchid blooms - it must be Spring

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Sep 9

Happy 3rd birthday car! Mostly powered by home solar PV. Maintenance costs for the last year… $40 for wiper blades and $60 for in cabin filters.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Aug 16

Somewhere over the…

A bright double rainbow appears in the east after this afternoon’s thunderstorm.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Aug 2

Two months after the previous “6 severe weather warning events” in the forecast, it seems we now have another one. Hopefully it won’t be another record flooding event.

Local weather again showing 6 warnings while the rain buckets down!

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· May 18

Woken up by a crack of thunder to see 6 weather related warnings for Newcastle - Flood, Severe Weather, Coastal Hazard, Hazardous Surf, Sheep Grazier and Marine Wind. I just need a few more to complete the full set? Gale, Earthquake and Tsunami anyone?

Six weather related warnings - Flood, Severe Weather, Coastal Hazard, Hazardous Surf, Sheep Grazier and Marine Wind.

Weather radar showing heavy rain band and thunderstorms streaming in from the southeast.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Apr 17

Warning: Don’t update Microsoft Outlook on your Mac unless you want to be in “Use Office connected experiences” hell. The dialog box keeps popping up because I choose not to enable them. I can’t access my email via their broken app and have to use my phone or browser. #MicrosoftOutlookHell

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Mar 16

I thought last night was bad enough with a 25°C minimum overnight. Tonight looks like another nude and no sheets with the fan on all night!

Sunday afternoon in Newcastle. The Bureau of Meteorology Hourly Temperature forecast for the rest of the day shows 35°C at 3pm, 35°C at 4pm, 34°, 33°, 30°, 28°, 27°, 26°, for 5pm to 10pm and a sweaty 25° for 11pm to 2am.

Tony Nicholson@tonynicholson· Feb 23

It’s my 4-year anniversary of #solar photovoltaic production today & I’ve managed to reduce my carbon dioxide emissions by 27.8 tonnes and produced 38.4 MWh of #electricity worth about $4600. Of that I consumed 30.5 MWh that I did not have to buy from the grid & powered my car for 22500km too!