Sofa time with Maggie.
Velcro dog
Chillin' on the sofa wit ma hoomin on a Sunday afternoon.
The face that Maggie makes when Nadia leaves the house
This is Maggie’s “Oh no! Nadia wasn’t just getting dressed for nothing, she really is leaving by the front door now” face. Puppy is not pleased.
Staying safe and private online
I do lots of things to keep myself as secure and private as I can online – so many that I figured I’d make a list.
Securing my devices
make sure all my devices are fully encrypted – that includes all phones, tablets, laptops, and external hard drives (plus some USB sticks)
make sure all my data is backed up – and where it’s backed-up it is encrypted at rest (my cloud backup tool of choice is Arq and I use a local Synology NAS and Google Coldline as my backup locations)
make sure I have USB recovery drives for my all Windows installs
make sure my computer is kept proactively and reactively secure using anti-virus and anti-malware tools (my AV tool of choice is the pre-installed Windows Defender and my anti-malware tool of choice is Malwarebytes)
Securing my internet connection
configure my router to use a secure, private DNS server (CloudFlare’s 1.1.1.1 or Google’s Public DNS 8.8.8.8)
configure my Android phone to use a secure, private DNS server when on 4G (on the latest Android phones go to: Settings > Networks & Internet > Advanced > Private DNS)
use a VPN whenever I’m on an even slightly insecure network – on both my laptop and smartphone (my VPN provider of choice is Mullvad)
turn on my router’s guest network (with network isolation) and connect all my non-computer internet-connected gadgets (TV, Blu-ray player, cable set top box, etc) through that
use an advanced router that supports enterprise-level intrusion prevention (in my case I use a Synology router and their Intrusion Prevention app)
Securing my browser
use browser add-ons/plug-ins like HTTPS Everywhere, uBlock Origin, and Facebook Container (Firefox only) to minimise my online footprint
disable third-party cookies on all my browsers
disable Flash on all my browsers (which will be the default setting in Firefox from Firefox 69 onwards)
use a separate web browser to log into Facebook and Instagram (I actually use five browsers on my laptop: Firefox, Chrome, Vivaldi, Opera, and Edge!)
Update: Check out my follow-up post for my list of ‘Firefox extensions for privacy and security’.
Securing my online accounts
use a password manager to generate and store long, secure, unique passwords for all my accounts (my password manager of choice is LastPass)
use two-factor authentication to keep as many of my accounts as possible secure (check the excellent Two Factor Auth List to see which accounts and services you can set up two-factor authentication for)
keep a regular, close eye on the data that various online services and social networks have on me by going through their ‘security check-up’ processes (eg Google’s excellent Privacy Check-up)
check all my email addresses on Have I Been Pwned to see which online services that I have an account with have had their user data stolen – also sign up to their ‘Notify me’ service to get an alert every time any of my email addresses is found in a newly stolen user data set
Always be learning
keep up with the latest in security via things like the Security Now podcast, several blogs, and a bunch of security-related mailing lists
check the EFF’s Surveillance Self-Defense website for the latest guides
consider switching to “ethical, easy-to-use and privacy-conscious alternatives” to social media networks, online services, and software using the comprehensive (and growing) list on switching.social
Maggie in profile
I tried my Google Pixel 3XL phone’s portrait mode on Maggie. The results were excellent!
Selfie with summer hat
Of late I’ve taken selfies mostly while wearing a hat. So here’s another one — this time with my summer flat cap.
I took this photo using portrait mode on my Google Pixel 3XL phone. The background blurring worked quite well, I think.
Southern Cross station in the afternoon
I travel through Melbourne’s Southern Cross railway station every day on my commute to work. Today I got a chance to take a nice photo of platform 15B.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's Chinese New Year concert
One of the highlights of this week was watching the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) annual Chinese New Year concert.
Remembering and celebrating with flowers and dessert
Turns out we weren’t done with the day’s celebrations for what would have been my mother, Shahla Zia’s, 72nd birthday!
Nadia bought a bunch of Ami's favourite things - flowers, cheese cake, and eclairs - so we could remember and celebrate some more :)
My mother would have turned 72 today
I remember the afternoon of 12 February 1983 very clearly.
I’m six years old and I spend what feels like several hours swinging back and forth on the front gate of our house in Lahore, Pakistan.
Why? Because my father is there, with my seven month old sister in his arms, pacing up and down the driveway and across the front of our house, looking increasingly concerned.
My mother, Shahla Zia, whose 36th birthday it is that day, isn’t home. I don’t know where she is, really. I just know that she was full of energy when she left with her friends and work colleagues.
§
Many years and several women’s day marches later I connect the dots: this is the day the women’s movement in Pakistan celebrates as National Women's Day (or Pakistan Women’s Day, as it was called back then).
On this day, some three decades ago, 200 women activists took a stand for all the women of Pakistan. The year was 1983. Images of these women being beaten up by the police are now part of the country’s searing conscience.
These women defied the military dictatorship of the day by taking out a public demonstration in Lahore, despite martial law regulations that outlawed political activities, processions and public protests. These iconic women of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) in collaboration with Pakistan Women Lawyers’ Association (PWLA) carried out a rally from Hall Road Lahore to the Lahore High Court to file a petition against the law of evidence which would reduce the testimony of women to half that of men. The accumulative trigger was the dictatorship’s unrelenting push to rescind women’s rights.
History has it that when these women reached the high court, the revolutionary poet Habib Jalib came to show solidarity with these women for their struggle for an egalitarian, democratic and progressive society and world order. He was beaten up by the police along with the women who were put behind bars for several hours.
‘National Women’s Day: Memoirs of trailblazing activists’ – Hassan Naqvi, The Express Tribune, 12 February 2014
§
Today, on 12 February 2019, I’m in Melbourne, Australia.
I’m on the committee that’s organising this year’s International Women’s Day events at the company I work for. I’m working on a communications plan to showcase on social media how we're an employer of choice for women in Australia (as we have been since 2015).
One of the reasons I took this particular job (I got two job offers when I was looking for work last year) was because of how well Transurban scored on workplace gender equity. Now I get to tell people about it.
Compared to 1983 in Pakistan, I’m in a vastly different time and place – a vastly different world. A lot has changed. But, sadly, a lot hasn’t.
§
Every year on 12 February my father writes a note to my mother, which he then sends to me and my siblings. (This year via WhatsApp!)
He writes about what we’re up to, where we are in our lives, and how proud he is of us. Three of us have kids (the other two, of which I am one, have pets) so he also talks about his grandkids and us as parents.
§
If she hadn’t died of cancer in 2005, Ami would’ve turned 72 today.
We all mark the occasion in our own ways, often with food – something Ami loved to eat. Today I’m having alu ka parathas for dinner.
I miss her.
Support Lisa-Skye's MICF Safety House Guide!
I love live comedy, particularly stand-up comedy. So one of the coolest things about living in Melbourne is the annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF).
However, for various reasons, Nadia and I don’t attend too many MICF shows. The ones we do attend, then, we’re very picky about.
Basically: we don’t want to watch performances by bigots, racists, misogynists, assholes, and so on. You’d think that in 2019 you’d be hard pressed to find people who make those kinds of jokes on stage. But, of course, you’d be wrong.
One of the best ways to avoid attending a show at MICF that’ll make you feel uncomfortable or unsafe is by checking Lisa-Sky’s Safety House Guide.
Here’s what she has to say about this on her Safety House Guide 2019 Pozible page:
In 2017, I noticed a theme among people who came to my shows - they'd tell me they loved seeing my shows every year at festivals, but didn't want to 'risk' going to other shows, for fear of being the punchline of jokes. They weren't just scared of hearing tired old material bashing who they are (fat jokes, sexworker jokes, racist jokes...) but a few of them were hesitant about audience participation, even when the artist had the best intentions.
And I thought, stuff that - everyone should feel safe to enjoy seeing live performance.
My favourite thing is showing cool stuff to cool people, and promoting good work from performers with an ethos based in kindness and diversity. So at last year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, I created the first Safety House Guide.
Nadia and I have already bought tickets for a few MICF shows this year (including Judith Lucy and Hannah Gadsby - yay!) but we’re not going to get any more without consulting that guide first.
If you’re someone who’ll want to use this guide – or even if you’re not, but your recognise how valuable a resource it might be to others – please consider providing financial support to it via Pozible. Nadia and I have already pledged to do so. Lisa-Skye is going to produce this guide regardless, so let’s help her our as much as we can.
Making International Women's Day events in Australia more diverse
If you work in corporate Australia you’ll know all about the various events (usually panel discussions) that businesses tend to host or participate in around International Women’s Day (IWD).
As Cathy Ngo writes, most of these events aren’t particularly “diverse”.
But the problem I see with many IWD events, is that they look a little familiar. The venues may get fancier to attract corporate sponsors, but the line-ups are too often far from diverse. You tend to see the same career narrative presented: often from white middle class women, with backgrounds in journalism or TV.
I’m in no way downplaying the achievements of the speakers and panellists – but it doesn’t exactly reflect society’s broader career-pool and life experiences. An event where we are meant to celebrate all women’s progress and achievements, can quickly become a celebration of white, able-bodied, heterosexual, middle-class women’s experiences.
This, of course, shouldn’t be the only experience we consider when it comes to gender equality.
Observing gender-equality through a solo lens, only allows us to see one angle. It excludes a huge percentage of women who have a completely different lived-experience but whose stories are equally valid and critical to a more nuanced conversation. As a society and in the workplace, we must ensure our gender inclusion policies and practices are made with those who can give voice to the lived experiences of all women.
If you want your event to have more diverse representation, multiple points of view, and a discussion of different lived experiences, check out this article that Ngo wrote for Women’s Agenda (which is where that quote above is from): ‘Speakers, organisers & attendees: Here’s how to make IWD events more diverse’.
I’m on the working group that’s organising this year’s IWD events at Transurban. We know from experience and surveys that IWD events aren’t particularly interesting or useful to attendees if they can’t relate to the people who are speaking or presenting. So we’re actually using some of the ideas from that article to make our speaker line-up as diverse as possible. I’m looking forward to seeing what we come up with!
<random aside>
Also, is it just me or does the #BalanceforBetter pose look like a smiley-er version of the shrug emoji?
Compare the official photo/social media pose for this year’s IWD theme:
To the shrug emoji:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
</random aside>
An excellent introduction to TikTok
If you’ve been around the internet for a while you’ll know there used be an app called Vine that let you make six-second long videos. It was hugely popular but, after being purchased by Twitter, was discontinued in 2016.
TikTok is considered by many to be the spiritual successor to Vine. But, like with Vine, if you don’t know what it’s about and what’s happening in that space, it’s a bit difficult to get into.
So a couple of weeks ago Sally Kuchar started a fantastic thread on Twitter that showcases some of the best TikTok videos and memes. I highly recommend you check it out!
Crunchy peanut butter treat time!
Cronch, cronch, cronch.
Sunday brunch in Yarraville
Nadia and I have a few favorite places we go to for brunch and lunch on weekends. One of these is Dad & Dave's Cafe in Yarraville (right next to Yarraville train station). I had their lamb benedict today and, I have to say, it was excellent. Don't eat to too slowly, though, because the brioche bun tends to get a little soggy towards the ends of your meal.
The future is already here
Well, at least at the Coles in Yarraville, Melbourne.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal land
Every Saturday and Sunday in January 2019, SBS Australia broadcast an episode of #SlowSummer.
My favourite bit in episode 1 came just before the Indian Pacific train pulled into Sydney Central Station after its journey across the Australian continent: a banner across a fence along the side of the track that read ‘Always was, always will be Aboriginal land’.
15th wedding anniversay
It’s been 15 years since Nadia and I got married! (And, yes, we have photos.)
Instagram wrap-up: January 2019
Here’s what I shared on Instagram in January 2019. (ICYMI, starting this year I’ll be cross-posting everything I post to Instagram to this blog.)
Maggie
We had a super hot start to 2019. Maggie, being a very Australian dog, loves the heat.
When the weather is nice, though, we all like to hang out in the garden.
Maggie loves her rope toy.
Events
January saw the start of #SlowSummer on SBS.
Nadia and I went to the Australia Open tennis tournament, where every year we take a selfie.
Melbourne went through three-ish heat waves in January. The last series of hot days ended with rain showers across the city. I work on the 29th floor of a building in the Docklands that has great views.
Selfie
I finally got around to buying a quality Panama hat. Which, of course, meant that I had to take a selfie while wearing it :)
Decentralizing my online presence
Starting this year, I'm going to cross-post to my blogs:
everything I post on Instagram and
most of what I tweet (and retweet) on Twitter.
Why?
Two reasons.
1. I'm sick of the walled gardens that social networks force you play in.
It’s great that I can post stuff so easily to social networks. That’s where most my non-techie friends and family members are too – which is super cool.
But, once I do post stuff to a social network, there’s almost nothing else I can do with this content of mine. I can’t archive, index, search, tag, export, or repurpose any of it. And I certainly can’t share it to any other social network. So, once my content is in there, it stays in there.
That’s not the way things used to be, back when the web was more decentralized.
In the words of Tom Eastman: “I’m old enough to remember when the Internet wasn’t a group of five websites, each consisting of screenshots of text from the other four.”
Now I’m still a massive RSS user (yay NewsBlur!) so, for me, most of the web still is decentralized. I want my content to be part of this easily accessible, decentralized web as well.
Which brings me to reason number two…
2. Social networks are internet black holes.
If a post of mine isn’t in currently your social news feed or isn’t pinned to the top of my social profile, it might as well not exist.
Unless you’re willing to go to my profile and scroll through years of posts, there’s no easy way to see what I’ve posted since I joined Flickr in 2007, Facebook in 2007, Twitter in 2008, and Instagram in 2012.
None of my social network posts appear in Google or Bing, either. So, as far as the broader internet is concerned, this content of mine has disappeared into a black hole that you need to be a member of to access. And, even then, there’s no easy way to find what I’ve posted there over the years. (Though, to be fair, Flickr and Twitter do have fairly decent built-in search engines.)
I don’t want my content to be this thoroughly inaccessible.
So what next?
Initially, not too much is going to change. I’ll still keep posting regularly to Twitter and Instagram.
But, because I’ll be cross-posting most of my stuff to my blogs, too, you’ll be able to go to my blogs (this one and my professional one) and look through all the great stuff (mine and others’) that I’ve been sharing on Twitter and Instagram.
The best part: this blog content will be archived, tagged, and backed-up. And it’ll be easy to search for, export, and share to any other social network.
Yay for a more (re)decentralized web!