Matt Cengia

Newsletter #15: Queer Nomads, Queer Work, & Inclusive Event Design We've been busy repping our new Remote Queer shirts at DDD Melbourne, and I'm partway through salsa and bachata classes for the month. Here's what's new at RQ in March: ## Queer Nomads We're excited to be featured in Nomad Magazine, where we've explored why queer nomads are underrepresented in digital nomad spaces, and what community hubs like remote work trips and coworking spaces can do about that. Some of the reasons? Queer nomads have less spending power, need to be more intentional about our destinations, and are skeptical of AI and other topics that dominate digital nomad conferences. Nomad Magazine in available in digital or print, and you can get your copy here. Use code **MINUS5** for €5 off the print edition: Nomad Magazine Edition Four - Available on Zinio, Magazine Cafe & MoreOur best edition yet! 128 pages featuring Palermo, Bansko, Fukuoka, Madeira research, and more. Available in print and on all major digital platforms: Zinio, Magazine…Nomad MagazineMartin Donadieu ## Legends Retreat Want to be part of a remote work trip that you know will be queer-friendly and aligned with your values? Lex (they/them) of Revenue Rulebreaker is hosting a five-day retreat in Guatemala that's organized by my favorite remote work and travel program, NOMATRIBE. You have to be part of Lex's Legends to join this one, but at $99/year, it's well worth the price of admission: Legends Retreat 2026: We’re going to Guatemala! 🇬🇹I’m bringing 16 Legends to Antigua, Guatemala this November. Are you in!?Revenue Rulebreaker by Lex RomanLex Roman ## Queer Work Xtra Magazine, Canada's "leading LGBTQ2S+ media organization," has a five-part series on how queer people are re-imagining work. As editor Saima Desai writes, "I knew that queer and trans people, in particular, would be struggling with systemic disadvantages at work ... but also that they’d have the courage to invent new types of work and fascinating solutions." Check out these stories of non-binary service workers, LGBTQ2S+ farmers, and more: Work is broken. Queer and trans workers could help fix it | Xtra MagazineThe five stories in Xtra’s On the Clock series show queer and trans workers searching for, fighting for and inventing work that’s fair and meaningfulXtra MagazineSaima Desai Sex work is work — and often, it's queer work. Australian sex worker Tilly Lawless estimates that as many as "fifty per cent of the people she works with in the sex industry are queer". The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports that "members of the community — particularly LGBTQ people of color, LGBTQ immigrants, and transgender people — are more likely to be sex workers." With that context in mind, we've highlighted 5 countries where sex work has been legalized or decriminalized — and why that distinction matters: 5 Countries Where Queer Sex Work is Legal or DecriminalizedSex work is work — and often, it’s queer work. Australian sex worker Tilly Lawless estimates that as many as “fifty per cent of the people she works with in the sex industry are queer”. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports that “members of the community — particularly LGBTQ people ofRemote QueerRemote Queer ## _In These Times_ Internship Looking to get into journalism? In These Times is looking for an intern (6 hrs per day, 4 days per week), to work remotely or hybrid in their Chicago office: "If you have a strong interest in progressive politics, independent publishing and journalism, we encourage you to apply for an editorial internship with _In These Times_. Interns are provided a $1,440/month stipend during their internships. Internships typically run for a 3- or 4-month period." * Application deadline: March 15 * Internship typically runs from May/​June to September Learn more: InternshipsIf you have a strong interest in progressive politics, independent publishing and journalism, we encourage you to apply for an editorial internship with In These Times.In These Times ## Inclusive Event Design @ WCS Finally, We Create Space, a non-profit focused on queer inclusion and leadership in the workplace, is hosting a masterclass on Inclusive Event Design: This four-part class by Neil Hudson-Basing will help you "gain the confidence to design events that celebrate diverse needs, foster psychological safety, and create environments where every participant feels seen, welcomed, and empowered to contribute." You can learn more and sign up here. As always, thanks for reading, and consider becoming a paid member here! Saul & the RQ Team

We've been busy repping our new Remote Queer shirts at DDD Melbourne, and I'm partway through salsa and bachata classes for the month.

Here's what's new at RQ in March:


Queer Nomads

We're excited to be featured in Nomad Magazine, where we've explored why queer nomads are underrepresented in […]

The edge of a citrus-coloured MacBook Neo, showing two USB-C ports with no labelling on the chassis. The image itself has two added labels highlighting one port as "USB 3 (USB-C)" and the other as "USB 2 (USB-C)"

If you think of it as iPhone 16 Pro hardware with keyboard/trackpad etc, it makes sense that it might only have a single USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 port on-board, but having 2 identical unlabelled adjacent ports isn't great UX.

MacBook Neo - Tech Specs - Apple (AU) See all the technical specifications for the 13-inch MacBook Neo with A18 Pro chip.

Reading specs of the new MacBook Neo (www.apple.com/au/macbook-n... ). With an A18 Pro CPU (same as iPhone 16 Pro), it seems a great entry-level Mac if you don't need a lot of grunt, but want the flexibility of macOS over iOS/iPadOS. My main surprise is the USB 2.0 USB-C port. Recipe for confusion!

TFW you find and squash a 14-year old bug: www.gaia-gis.it/fossil/libsp...

There’s a total #LunarEclipse coming tomorrow evening and the east coast of Australia, NZ and the Pacific Islands are in a grand position for it!

Looks like we have a bit of cloud in Sydney but it may be patchy.

Best part of the show is between 10-11pm. Max eclipse at 10:33pm.

📸 timeanddate

🔭

Problem example, from https://stream.labr.online/federation/i7IVNUdDR

@openvibe.social FYI I'm seeing this bug on v1.15.0, iOS 26.3/iPhone 16 where hashtags or mentions (or links?) are shown without white space separation.

The screenshot of the release notes reads: A new version of TeX Live Utility is available! TeX Live Utility 1.55 is now available-you have 1.54. Would you like to download it now? Release Notes: Changes Since 1.54 • Fix bug 137, homepage link in Help Book. • First release in a long time, since I don't use TeX anymore and resent the very idea of paying Apple annually for the privilege of giving away free and open-source software. Also, I'm really lazy. Please accept my apologies for all the annoying issues you've encountered in this mission-critical software. • Updated mirror list, which was three years out of date. • Added missing legacy mirrors, which was even more out of date. • Added an alert on startup when user tries Homebrew's lobotomized MacTex, because those lunatics left timgr but removed its database. Thanks for nothing, guys. Bug 142 and 144. • Use a custom user-agent to work around the Anubis bot trap on texlive.info. Can't wait to see what else breaks because of this, thanks to the profusion of degenerate Artificial Insemination fetishists scraping websites to feed their models. • Lists of countries in Repository/Continent are now sorted. No idea how you people let me get away with that one for the last fifteen years.

There's a "is anyone even reading this" sort of honesty you get in the software update release notes from a project that's been around for a long time.

TIL that despite being _the same person_, it appears I cannot be logged into the ATO as both an individual, and the director of a business. I'm not surprised, just disappointed.

When everyone talked about quitting tech and becoming farmers that was not what we meant

iCal calendar downloads Add iCal downloads to your Apple or Android calendar. Includes public holidays, school holidays and parliamentary sitting dates.

> An error occurred accessing your remote calendar Victorian public holiday dates: 404 Not Found

www.vic.gov.au/ical lists iCal URLs which keep changing! The current one is www.vic.gov.au/sites/defaul...

Just get a better CMS and use a consistent URL; you can do it, Vic Gov, I believe in you! 🤦🏻

Was totally worth it for the final 3 seconds.

I mean, honestly: If you're not angry, are you even paying attention?

we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

> the best way to make any bit of [documentation] out of date is to write it down

A brilliantly succinct statement!

Spoiler: Even the short-term ephemeral productivity gains turn out to just be a) people taking on tasks they have no business doing (like managers coding), b) people working longer hours because they're having fun dicking around and c) people trying to do 800 tasks at once.

Grocery store sign of bagel that reads: pick your own. Part of the sign is obscured to look like it reads: fuck your own

Relax, bread department

being this genuinely delighted by little childrens dumb antics is such a huge green flag

Ranger approaching a royal albatross, who is giving the camera a quizzical look

Ranger laughing, interacting with the albatross.

Ranger holding up the egg in a bag to weigh it, albatross looking on.

Ranger with three younger birds who have eyes only for one another.

And wonderful to see the staff at the albatross center taking such good care of them. Here, egg-weighing time. Which gives you a sense of scale for these massive, beautiful birds.

honestly baffling to see newsletter writers move to patreon of all platforms — it doesn’t allow people to own their relationships with their subscribers, so it’s almost impossible to move anywhere later!

i can only assume patreon must have paid them upfront to make it worthwhile.

A display at a train station showing the 8:20 City Loop train is 14 minutes away. Current time: 8:26

I love this for me. #Melbourne

Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off Your Phone’s Biometrics Now The search warrant to raid a Washington Post reporter’s home shows how authorities can open your phone without your consent.

Courts should treat biometric locks as equivalent to password protection, EFF’s Andrew Crocker told @TheIntercept.com. “Your constitutional right against self-incrimination should not be dependent on technical convenience or lack thereof.”
theintercept.com/2026/01/30/...

A smiling white masculine person wearing a blue scout uniform with a red and green scarf. In the background is a courtyard full of other people in scout uniforms.

A stage with a big slide that says: "LOA CONFERENCE 2026 Welcome we start at 9am" in the corner is a photo timestamp: 9:23AM. There's a rover standing at the pedestal to the side.

At the #ScoutsVictoria Leader of Adults conference in Williamstown today! As usual, we're operating on Scout Time! 😂

I often misjudge my volume and speak too loudly. I appreciate people gently pointing this out. Today on the bus while I chatted to another passenger, someone from the back of the bus crouched *uncomfortably* close to my face to say their wife had a headache.
Mixed feelings about that experience.

How to Work in Travel Media: A Four-Week Live Masterclass <p>Love travel and telling global stories that matter? Don’t miss this live virtual masterclass taught by a seasoned travel journalist this February.</p><p>You’ll get <strong>10 years of industry knowledge</strong> distilled into <strong>actionable steps </strong>to turbocharge your work and walk away with a clear understanding of how it works, where you fit, and how you can start today.</p><p><strong>Yulia Denisyuk</strong> is the creator of <a href="https://www.goingplacesmedia.com/" rel="noreferrer"><strong>Going Places</strong></a>, which features "global stories of hope through a decolonial lens." We think <strong>Going Places</strong> shares a lot of values with <strong>Remote Queer</strong>, which is why we're excited to feature this announcement directly from Yulia:</p><h2 id="learn-how-to-work-in-travel-media-feb-728-2026">Learn How To Work In Travel Media: Feb 7 - 28, 2026</h2><p>Join us for a live virtual masterclass where you'll learn actionable steps to kickstart your career in the travel industry. We’ll demystify travel media in sessions like <strong>pitching to travel editors, working with tourism boards, and the economics of travel.</strong></p><p>We'll meet on Zoom <strong>every Saturday in February at 1 pm EST (U.S.)</strong>.</p><p>This masterclass is for anyone who loves storytelling and wants travel to become a larger part of their professional lives.</p><p>Learn from <a href="https://www.yulia-denisyuk.com/">Yulia Denisyuk</a>, a seasoned journalist who has worked with tourism boards from Sierra Leone to Hong Kong, published work in top global outlets like National Geographic, The NYT, and many more, and taught numerous travel media classes to emerging storytellers.</p><p><strong>Yulia's students have been published in outlets like TIME, Nat Geo, Conde Nast Traveler, and more. </strong></p><figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://www.yulia-denisyuk.com/"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">Yulia Denisyuk</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">Portfolio site for travel journalist, photographer, and writer Yulia Denisyuk</div><div class="kg-bookmark-metadata"><img class="kg-bookmark-icon" src="https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a50abba8132a77191791390c3eb19fe7/icon/favicon-1769659694210.ico" alt="" /><span class="kg-bookmark-author">Yulia Denisyuk</span></div></div><div class="kg-bookmark-thumbnail"><img src="https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a50abba8132a77191791390c3eb19fe7/thumbnail/IMG_3982-1769659694628.PNG" alt="" /></div></a></figure><p><strong>Our agenda:</strong></p><p><strong>February 7 at 1 pm EST</strong>: Working with tourism boards and PR agencies (how to get press trip invites)</p><p><strong>February 14 at 1 pm EST</strong>: Working with travel publishers (how to navigate the media landscape)</p><p><strong>February 21 at 1 pm EST</strong>: Foundations of pitching (how to get editors to tell you 'yes')</p><p><strong>February 28 at 1 pm EST</strong>: The economics of travel media (how much can you earn?)</p><p>Class Pass ticket holders also get<strong> a portfolio review + their own publishing roadmap</strong> with actionable next steps on entering the industry.</p><p>All attendees get the masterclass recording.</p><div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-grey kg-cta-minimal "> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Get a </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">$147 class pass</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> to attend all four sessions or choose a </span><b><strong style="white-space:pre-wrap">$55 single-ticket option</strong></b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> for a session of your choice.</span></p> </div> <a href="https://book.goingplacesmedia.com/travel-media-masterclass-2026/" class="kg-cta-button " style="background-color:#000000;color:#ffffff"> Register now </a> </div> </div> </div><hr /><h2 id="why-going-places">Why <em>Going Places</em>?</h2><p>In the face of consolidation and homogenization of travel media, <strong>Going Places</strong> is a reader-supported publication that isn't afraid to question prevailing narratives around how and why we travel.</p><p>You'll find thoughtful articles like this profile of <strong>Karen Oosterhoff, </strong>a queer tattoo artist based in Brighton, U.K.:</p><figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://www.goingplacesmedia.com/meet-the-artist-tattooing-for-palestine/"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">Meet the Artist Tattooing for Palestine</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">And get your own solidarity tattoo.</div><div class="kg-bookmark-metadata"><img class="kg-bookmark-icon" src="https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a50abba8132a77191791390c3eb19fe7/icon/GP-favicon-1769633369817.png" alt="" /><span class="kg-bookmark-author">Going Places</span><span class="kg-bookmark-publisher">Yulia Denisyuk</span></div></div><div class="kg-bookmark-thumbnail"><img src="https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a50abba8132a77191791390c3eb19fe7/thumbnail/Going-Places-5-Questions-With-Headers-1-1769633370205.png" alt="" /></div></a></figure><p>Or this podcast interview with <strong>Imani Bashir</strong>, an American abroad who's written about the complexity of life as a Black digital nomad:</p><figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://www.goingplacesmedia.com/imanibashir/"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">What Is Intersectional Travel?</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">A Black Muslim journalist reflects on becoming a global citizen.</div><div class="kg-bookmark-metadata"><img class="kg-bookmark-icon" src="https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a50abba8132a77191791390c3eb19fe7/icon/GP-favicon-1769633493913.png" alt="" /><span class="kg-bookmark-author">Going Places</span><span class="kg-bookmark-publisher">Yulia Denisyuk</span></div></div><div class="kg-bookmark-thumbnail"><img src="https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a50abba8132a77191791390c3eb19fe7/thumbnail/RReEcd34cPt_Rn_Ls_7U04ouHWhW3VdtB7zmK36gPVs-1769633494162.jpeg" alt="" /></div></a></figure><p><strong>Going Places</strong> also highlights freelance opportunities, like this call for pitches from <strong>Intrepid Travel</strong>, a company I've traveled with several times:</p><figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://www.goingplacesmedia.com/a-call-for-pitches-from-intrepid-travel/"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">A Call for Pitches From Intrepid Travel</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">PLUS: meet me in NY this week.</div><div class="kg-bookmark-metadata"><img class="kg-bookmark-icon" src="https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a50abba8132a77191791390c3eb19fe7/icon/GP-favicon-1769635297178.png" alt="" /><span class="kg-bookmark-author">Going Places</span><span class="kg-bookmark-publisher">Yulia Denisyuk</span></div></div><div class="kg-bookmark-thumbnail"><img src="https://cdn.mymidnight.blog/a50abba8132a77191791390c3eb19fe7/thumbnail/DSC06593-1769635297336.jpg" alt="" /></div></a></figure><p>We think you'll learn a lot from Yulia's approach to work and travel. So <a href="https://book.goingplacesmedia.com/travel-media-masterclass-2026/" rel="noreferrer">join the masterclass</a> and get ready to grow your career in the travel industry today.</p><p>As always, thanks for reading!</p><p>Saul &amp; the RQ Team</p>

Love travel and telling global stories that matter? Don’t miss this live virtual masterclass taught by a seasoned travel journalist this February.

You’ll get 10 years of industry knowledge distilled into actionable steps to turbocharge your work and walk away […]

[Original post on remotequeer.co]

Our January newsletter is out! 🎉 New location, open Calls for Proposals, and all the updates you need. 👀

👉️ Link in the first comment.

Big big thank you to Vercel supporting DDD Melbourne again in 2026.
Make sure you say hello to the fine folks, they're great supporters of the tech community, and we appreciate them and love their work. 👏

👉 🎟️ Make sure to get your tickets for DDD Melbourne: www.dddmelbourne.com/tickets

We Pitched a Museum a 1993 Game Hint Line (And They Actually Said Yes) | Yarn Spinner Early 2025, ACMI, the Australian museum of screen culture, put out a call for comissions for Game Worlds. They wanted to commission microgames from Australian developers, and the brief was deliberatel...

Every word of this article is a delight. There are some great anecdotes about working for real tip lines.

yarnspinner.dev/blog/hint-li...

Australia’s heatwaves are getting deadlier – and renters are paying the price | Maiy Azize Some are trapped in a vicious cycle: rising rents, rising energy bills and falling standards. But this is not inevitable

"Across the country, renters are living in properties with no insulation, poor sealing, broken or inadequate fans or no cooling options at all. Others technically have air conditioning, but they are in such extreme rental stress they can’t afford to turn it on."

A photo of a poster from Health New Zealand that states all in one headline the text with no punctuation "Download advice on feeding newborns to teens". Clearly meaning "Download Advice on feeding. For young people in your care. From Newborns, to teens" but design got in the way and now it looks like suggesting youth cannibalism.

Teenagers *are* known for ravenous appetites

but surely there are other ways.