Aleem Shaun

aleemshaun.com · Australian English

Coffee addict enthusiast.An applied synthesist with various thoughts about: belonging, capitalism, communication, creativity, enterprise, faith, grief, health, humility, justice, leadership, love, parenting, productivity, systems, technology, and wonder. Latest Words Latest...

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Last post: Sep 7, 2026
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What will you be when you grow up?
Sep 7, 2026 · original
We recently watched the 2015 animated film The Little Prince for family movie night. I’ve seen it a couple of times before. It’s a beautiful, poignant film based on the 1943 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry book of the same name. This time, I was struck by a scene in the movie in which The Little Girl prepares for her entrance interview to the Werth Academy. In the waiting room, a poster reads: “When I grow up, I want to be essential.” The assumption is that Werth Academy is an elite, regimented school. Guided by her mother, The Little Girl has prepared a response to one question: “Are you Werth Academy material?” Instead, she is asked, “What will you be when you grow up?” She can’t respond. She’s been drilled through a brutal schedule of studying equations and learning the ‘correct’ answers. The question requires something she’s been taught to forget: childhood creativity, wonder and curiosity.
Chasing something that’s not where he is
Aug 30, 2026 · original
My Dad has been staying with us because he lives between Fiji and Australia and needs to be here for medical appointments. He recently turned 80 and his health challenges, along with recent additions to ‘club 80’ in Dolly Parton and Tim Curry , have prompted quiet grief. I’ve been waking before sunrise so I can try and talk with him, as that is when he’s up and hovering in the hope of some coffee. His first comment to me this morning, after I poured him a coffee, was, “I have a dilemma.” I replied, “What’s the dilemma?” He said, “I’ve been offered a meeting in Fiji tomorrow morning.” My response was simply, “That’s not a dilemma. That’s impossible.” Through further queries, I discovered he “had to be in the room” (not online) and would “try to reschedule”. He’s 80, in Australia for a hernia operation and dental health problems, but contemplating a sudden return to Fiji for “a meeting”. M
No Robots
Aug 26, 2026 · original
I want to make things Hey look the sun is rising No robots in sight
Vivid Pink
Aug 24, 2026 · original
On Purpose
Aug 6, 2026 · original
I’ve never actively tracked this or cared to, but if I were to nominate my favourite and most cited quote of the year, it would have to be: “The purpose of a system is what it does (not what it claims to do).” — Stafford Beer I’m obsessed with this quote, and people have started to get that here he goes again look on their face when I say it. My obsession is due to how that statement informs my thinking and how I increasingly view the world around me. Broken or built that way? Before coming across this quote and understanding the thinking behind it, I used to think and say, “ x system is broken.” The housing system is broken. The youth justice system is broken. The immigration system is broken. But as I’ve grappled with that quote, what I’ve come to understand is that a system is only broken for the people who are marginalised and excluded by it . For everyone else, the people it was bui
P is for Preclusion
Jul 17, 2026 · original
A key aspect of my work involves addressing participation. Economic, cultural, community, civic and sports participation. In that context, P is for participation. It’s in the policy documents, the strategy papers, the funding applications, the speeches at conferences and events. Everyone is seemingly for participation. We want everyone to participate, hooray! 🎉 But if you’ve ever tried to navigate the systems designed to enable it, you might wonder if P is actually for Preclusion; being shut out before you’ve even begun. This morning I needed to print, complete, scan and email a 14-page form so my child could participate in a 100-metre race. Rant to follow: A. 14-page. Form. Courtesy of a Government Department. Walls of text. For my child to run in a 100-metre race. Imagine I don’t have a university degree and English isn’t my first language. Some policy person or department thought thi
Failing in Love is Not Failure at All
Jul 10, 2026 · original
"And yet I decide, every day, to set aside what I can do best and attempt what I do very clumsily—open myself to the frustrations and failures of loving, daring to believe that failing in love is better than succeeding in pride.” — Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction The easier path is to succeed at what we ‘do best’. It’s harder to pursue what we ‘do clumsily’. Peterson calls it failing in love. I’m not sure it’s failure at all. Human relationships are clumsy. Parenting is clumsy. But clumsiness isn’t a deficit to overcome. It’s the cost of attempting something that pride can’t do well. The skills that make me effective professionally — strategy, clarity, decisiveness — are frequently the wrong tools in a relationship with a child. I can’t optimise my way into presence. I can’t lead my kids the way I lead an organisation. The clumsiness is built in, and it’s what
The EnshAIttification of Day One
Jul 9, 2026 · original
The unnecessary tweak to the keyword in the title refers to Cory Doctorow’s term , which describes the systematic, gradual decline in the quality and user experience of online platforms and digital services. My variation is unnecessary because it doesn’t enhance the meaning beyond centring the reason for this decline: AI. But I have included it for emphasis. Up until recently, Day One had resisted enshittification, although its purchase by Automattic , the owners of the now-bloated WordPress and Jetpack, should have signalled this was coming. I’ve used Day One for more than a decade. It was an excellent journalling app. Private, minimal, easy to use, with excellent features such as geolocation, weather, ‘On this Day’, and book printing. Features that got out of the way and either worked quietly in the background or appeared only when you summoned them. That’s changed. Now there are new s
Becoming an Applied Synthesist
Jul 3, 2026 · original
“To develop a complete mind, study the science of art; study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realise that everything connects to everything else.” — Leonardo da Vinci For years I have called and considered myself a generalist. Good at a few things, not exceptional at anything. It felt honest and the best way to describe how I’ve managed to carve out a career by bringing together diverse ideas, disciplines and people. The problem with generalist is that it describes a knowledge base, knowing a little bit about a lot, rather than a way of thinking or being. It tells you I’m broad. It doesn’t tell you what I do with any of it. Here’s what I’ve landed on instead: I’m a synthesist . Not like this guy . You may be too young or sophisticated to remember Jean-Michel Jarre, but his album Oxygène was in high rotation (mostly by me) when I was a kid. Anyway, a different type of synthesist. Ac
A Random Note Widget for iOS
Jun 18, 2026 · original
What this does What you need Step 1: Set up a Scriptable bookmark Step 2: Build the RefreshWidgets Shortcut Step 3: Add the Scriptable widget code iA Writer/Obsidian NotePlan Craft docs Step 4: Add the widget to your Home Screen Why bother Whether you’re a PKM enthusiast (if you don’t know what this means, you’re not) or someone who collects notes of various thoughts and observations, it’s easy for what we create to get buried and never surface again. One of my favourite, and underrated, features of the Bear notes app is the Random Note widget. I had it set on my Thoughts tag and another on Topics , surfacing random notes as part of my daily routine. It was a great way to rediscover something worth revisiting. As I moved to plain markdown files stored outside any single app, it was the key feature I missed. I went on a journey to rebuild it. I’ll save you the details of the journey, but
On War
May 8, 2026 · original
War is the product of men. Men who fundamentally believe their way is the only way and their certainty is the only certainty. They embody and perpetuate the delusion that the only way to realise their certainty is to take what they believe is rightfully theirs. By force, by violence and by any means necessary. And so they send other men (and women) to do their bidding. The cost is borne by these and others. The pawns, the shields, the mums and their children. And we can but wonder why we rarely learn from the follies of our fathers.
Dad Life + Our youngest child is a pack animal
May 5, 2026 · original
I’ve recently come across Terry Godier , a software designer and developer, through his thoughtful and beautifully designed posts, such as The Last Quiet Thing , and his RSS reader, Current . Terry has a plan . In my opinion, it’s a good plan. In addition to his philosophy behind Current , he’s also created an RSS first and only service, Sourcefeed . I’ve long been an RSS fan, but this has excited me about internet things again in a space where I’m wondering if we can co-exist with ‘AI’ 😳. I already use Current, but I just subscribed to Sourcefeed and created a feed titled Dad Life . That RSS only feed will document, in an anonymised way, various random and curious moments of being a dad to 7 unique humans. I’m sharing my first post below, but if you care to subscribe to my observations as a parent, any future parenting posts will live here . Our youngest child is a pack animal We’ve be
The Point
Apr 27, 2026 · original
When the arc of the moral universe seems to have inverted. When people boo Elders during sacred moments , and others justify it. When there is an inability to hold complexity or paradox in both hands. When two things can’t be true, and only your certainty remains. When some lives are deemed more important than others. When wars are prioritised over diplomacy. When children and mothers are placed on the frontline of bombs and battles . When all seems lost. It is easy, reasonable even, to wonder, “What is the point?” What’s the point of persevering? What’s the point of dialogue and debate? What’s the point of fighting the good fight? It’s at that precise moment, when the question is posed and persists, that the forces of dehumanisation have won. And that is the point. The point is not only resisting fascism, authoritarianism, and dehumanisation. The point is not only standing in the gap fo
God loves those we ignore
Apr 23, 2026 · original
Rabbi Shai Held, On Being with Krista Tippett: On Love, and Judaism , 27 Mar 2026: “I think what I feel a lot of despair about these days is that I think the more I try to take in what I believe the Bible is asking of us, the harder it seems to me and the less evidence I see of almost anyone actually taking it to heart. The example of this that I always talk about is that I think kind of the most fundamental teaching in many ways of the Hebrew Bible is that God loves those whom we ignore. God loves widows and orphans and strangers and Egyptian slave women running away from their Israelite taskmasters. God loves them. Or as I told the students in our summer program, in New York City, God has members of God’s own household. They are homeless men who sleep in their own urine in the city. And either you take that seriously or you don’t… God is the God who sees people.” This entire interview
In the absence of solutions, we look for scapegoats
Apr 21, 2026 · original
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash For millennia, hundreds of language groups and diverse cultures have co-existed across the vast landscapes of this continent. Today, our cities, suburbs, and regional towns are framed by that same commitment to community and connection. Most Australians still hold on to a simple, powerful conviction: a fair go for all . We care little about where someone was born or how they pray, and vastly more about their character and their willingness to lend a hand. But if you listen to the noise coming from the halls of power, you’d be right to wonder why some are telling a different story. You’d be right to question why they are blaming our neighbours for skyrocketing rents, rising mortgages, and the daily struggle to make ends meet. A growing number of Australians are understandably disenfranchised by a political class and a rhetoric that offer little respite f
Fake surprise emoji
Apr 17, 2026 · original
I have an almost daily need for a fake surprise emoji. Don’t we all?! In the absence of one, which is probably covered by a combination of 😱 and 🙄 , I created my own via Google Gemini. Fake surprise emoji This feels like the only meaningful use I have for AI, which I could have done more effectively and efficiently in Photoshop or Preview with a simple cut and paste. Remind me why we’re boiling the oceans for this tool?
Today is a gift
Mar 26, 2026 · original
I’ve been thinking a lot about the phrase “Today is a gift.” I have been repeating it to myself throughout the day. Partly because I rewatched Kung Fu Panda with my youngest child, and there’s a scene in which Po grapples with the role thrust upon him. In that moment, Master Oogway says to him: You are too concerned about what was and will be. There’s a saying: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” It’s a kids’ movie. I know life doesn’t resolve as nicely as an animated film, but it’s a phrase that has challenged me to reframe my view of the world around me. Today is a gift can help frame gratitude and remind me to hold on to a sense of wonder and curiosity. It’s along the lines of the statement on the piece of paper that’s been in our pantry for almost as many years as we’ve had that pantry: Every day may not be good, b
A Fair Go for Pacific Workers
Mar 11, 2026 · original
The Case for Mobility and Employer Readiness As you enjoy the fruits of Australia’s autumn harvest, spare a thought for the hands that likely picked it. Thousands of workers from across the Pacific are currently here under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme, working hard to earn an honest living and provide a better future for their families back home. While the Scheme offers benefits to workers, employers, and communities, many workers are ‘disengaging’ due to flaws in its design. In practice, this means workers are leaving their approved employers—often to escape poor conditions—and moving into the shadows of the informal economy. This ‘disengagement’ not only leaves workers highly vulnerable to exploitation without legal protection, but also creates significant labour instability for regional businesses that rely on them. Peter Mares and the Scanlon Foundation Researc
One Life One Life One Life One Life One Life
Mar 7, 2026 · original
Darfur, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut, Kabul, Donetsk Oblast, Rakhine Province, Bondi Beach, Minneapolis… the list goes on of locations where murder and bloodshed occur in the name of ideology and power. I frequently struggle to find any words to grapple with the relentless disregard for humans who are offered little more of an epitaph than, in the words of a current warmonger, “that’s the way it is.” Consequently, I look to others. To poets and prophets. Last year, I had the privilege of being in the same room as Pádraig Ó Tuama as he read an excerpt from his poem The Pedagogy of Conflict . I’ve thought about it almost every day for the past 10 months. It puts into words, in a better way than I, my grief and despair at the willingness of warmongers to desecrate human life. When I was a child, I learnt to count to five one, two, three, four, five. But these days, I’ve been counting live
Everyone has a story
Mar 3, 2026 · original
I was recently reminded of a word that isn’t found in a standard English dictionary. The word, sonder, was coined by John Koenig in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows . It’s a French word meaning to plumb the depths , but the English version is defined as the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own . The reminder, in the form of a Mastodon post and article , makes the simple but profound point “that other people are people too.” Amid relentless wars, climate change and extreme weather events, pervasive technology built on stolen intellectual property that’s replacing human labour and creativity, a superpower becoming a rogue state and a loneliness epidemic - the human story is under threat. The continuing call to ‘save the planet’ is really a call to save humanity - the planet will survive just fine without us. My story, your story, is one o

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