Nath
@Nath@aussie.zone
- Comment on The future of aussie.zone... 2 days ago:
Hello everyone,
First up, this site was Lodion’s baby. We are all here because of him. He decided a Lemmy instance for Australians needed to exist, mostly free of the dramas of the wider Internet. He set up the whole show and like the Field of Dreams, we all came. I was just a regular user sign-up. I didn’t know he had set any of this up, I was just a Reddit exile when they brought in their API changes that both killed third-party apps, and essentially began the whole “We’re going to sell all your comments to AI companies”. Lodion and I go way back more than 20 years, and when I spotted he was the admin, I volunteered to help out with running the site.
It’s you. All of you. You all have made this community what it is. Take you guys away and it’s all just a bunch of files on a disk and an empty database. Together, we have all built the site that I still see as an oasis that connects to the globe, but you can dip in as little or as much as you like. Even in Lemmy space, Aussie.Zone is not a huge instance. We’ve never tried to be. I still don’t especially want us to be. I’d rather grow by 10 regulars per month who are all chill and easy to help out than see an influx of 20,000 people who would cause a whole pile of new problems that we just aren’t equipped to deal with. I’ve been the more visible of the two of us on the site, but in terms of “management”, my load is maybe 15 minutes per day. Which is great! Because I don’t always have much more than that to give on any given day. 90% of the time, I’m just a regular user with that little red “A” next to my name - nothing more.
Lodion and I have been chatting about him stepping away for a while now. I’m willing to take on the stuff he’s been doing - but he’s been funding the site out of pocket to the tune of around $60ish per month (I haven’t seen the raw finances yet, but the last time Lodion mentioned it, the site was costing something in the ballpark of $100 per month to run) for about a year now - and I am not in a place where I can do that. For what this site is, $100/month is a bargain!
So, I disagree with Lodion. This is going to end up being a call for donors. We (all of us) are going to need to find that money. Frankly, I easily get $5/month value from the site - and there’s 5% all by itself. I believe we can find 20 people who would chip in that much. Frankly, I reckon we could find twice that without getting whiny. Ads are off the table. I hate them. Users hate them. Our users are all smart enough to run adblocks anyway, so I’d only annoy prospective people who aren’t members. I have a couple of ideas for incentives for donors, to hopefully make donating more attractive.
There are a couple of things I could use a hand with, and I might take a few of you up on these offers to help. Things like monitoring finances and reporting incoming/outgoing costs. The Molly project also needs help as well. Stuff I haven’t really had the chance to prioritise.
Before Lodion fades away, I would love to see this thread turn into a bit of a love fest. Shit’s real in his world right now - and a bombardment of love from us all, telling him how much of a difference this site makes to us all, and how grateful we are to him for what he built is in order.
Thank you, mate. I know very well that you don’t personally feel like you have done all that much to make this site what it is - and in some aspects, that is true. But it also wouldn’t be what it is without you. I have laughed, cried, but most importantly, I have found a community here that I love. This instance has been a daily part of my life for over three years now, and perhaps you didn’t make all that - but you made that possible. 100% you. Truly, thank you. ❤️
- Comment on World’s worst measles outbreak [in Bangladesh] a ‘warning’ to other nations [FULL ARTICLE IN POST] 3 days ago:
A thought experiment with an Anti-Vaxxer:
- We place your kid onto a field with 1,000 other kids.
- A predator is going to come along and eat three of the kids. It probably won’t be yours, but your kid will be affected by the incident all the same.
- If your kid survives, you get to tell people the whole experience was no big deal.
No parent would agree to this. And yet, that’s pretty-much what happens. The only difference is when their kid survives, they don’t see the three who are taken.
- Comment on Politicians keep talking about immigration. Voters keep talking about their bills 2 weeks ago:
Looking around me in the office right now:
India 4
Malaysia 1
Germany 1
New Zealand 1
Philippines 2
Macedonia 1
Mauritius 1
Australia 3
Zimbabwe 1
England 4
Italy 1 South Africa 1All three Australians (including me) have at least one parent born overseas.
I know IT is a bubble and not reflective of the overall population sample, but honestly I can’t imagine what the overall Australian landscape would look like if you removed immigration from the picture. In fact, I can’t think of a time since Europeans first colonised the continent when the place was not growing through immigration.
People who blame immigration for our problems honestly have no clue what it would do to our country if you took immigrants away. So many professions are propped up by immigration. These people are working and paying taxes. Everything the government does is possible because of immigration. If we weren’t attracting people to come live here, we’d be all sorts of stuffed with our birth rate not meeting retirement rates.
All that said, I genuinely don’t think about immigration day-to-day. I think about my $500/wk grocery bill, my $800/wk rent and all the other costs a family of four with two high-school kids incuur. Also, We’d love to buy a house, but sadly don’t seem to have a spare $1 Million lying about to manage that. Coupled with the fact that we are getting a bit old to be taking out a mortgage now we are in our 50’s.
- Comment on Max Chandler-Mather pitches Mamdani-style $25bn plan to nationalise 200 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets 2 weeks ago:
It will come down to how corrupt a government is vs. how willing it is to get in there and get stuff done. The WA government has just finished building 72km of rail lines, two tunnels under the river, several train stations and a whole workshop to build trains in ~7 years. As a project, building 200 supermarkets would be similar in scale. Wollies recently bought a property not far from me, knocked it down and replaced it with a store in less than two years. So on an individual level, we’d see stores coming online in 2-3 years, and the rollout finishing in under 10. The government can make stores fairly identical.
If the government told Colesworth “Hey, nice thing you have going there - we’ll take it.”, they are of course going to fight that tooth-and-nail. Even assuming you managed to get the legislation to pass (that in itself would face massive resistance from the business community), you can’t just buy the stores themselves. You need to them for the lost revenue, costs to replace their lost stores and you’d be buying stores of different sizes/shapes/state of upkeep. These legal proceedings would drag out for years - and I think Colesworth would have a decent chance of either winning, or forcing the Government to pay more money than just building stores would have cost. Once the government got its hands on these ex-Colesworth stores, they would not all be standard. They would have different layouts, different building ages/states of upkeep. Fitout and maintenance would be a far bigger problem to solve than if the stores were purpose-built new.
- Comment on Max Chandler-Mather pitches Mamdani-style $25bn plan to nationalise 200 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets 2 weeks ago:
It would be cheaper and faster to build supermarkets than trying to force Colesworth to sell their stores. They’d drag the acquisitions out for years in the high court, arguing the compensation for their stores, and that they’d need to be compensated enough to build new stores to replace the ones they lost to the government. And they’d probably win.
If new supermarkets are going to be built either way, the government may as well get the new ones.
- Comment on Free the Strip! Melburnians fight back against outlawing of much-loved picnic spot 3 weeks ago:
It’s a real shame that people suck. I used to go down this street on my daily commute from Brunswick East. The houses along there are townhouses and probably don’t have much (maybe a little courtyard?) in the way of outdoor setting. That strip with a couple of folding chairs/table would be a perfect place to hang out on hot evenings with a bit of cheese and wine while hanging with mates.
But people gotta ruin it for everyone. 😞
- Comment on Discussion Thread 🐬 Thursday 24 September 2026 4 weeks ago:
Lachie Neale’s ban is overturned and he is able to play in the grand final.
- Comment on Man Opts Out Of The Algorithm By Throwing His Fucking Phone Off A Bridge And Going To The Pub 5 weeks ago:
Lemmy is not the Fediverse, and I happen to think it’s pretty easy to figure out. But I’ve come from USENET > Forums > Reddit to get here. Someone who hasn’t had that background sees a bunch of random links that are probably not of interest to them. Reddit has it’s default “Popular” feed, and before that had a bunch of curated default subscriptions to get people started. Lemmy doesn’t. There’s Subscribed, Local and All.
“All” is a mess. It’s super US-centric and all about their politics.
“Local” is of course dependant on the Instance. I live on ours, so I happen to like it. But, I can see how someone (particularly a non-Australian) wouldn’t find it to their taste. Most instances will have little (or maybe one busy Community) in Local.
And finally you have “Subscribed”. Which is empty by default. How is a new person who has never been on Reddit supposed to know what to do with that link? It literally has nothing.Now, take that new person to something like Mastodon. Your default feed there is just the equivalent of All. And odds are someone’s first taste of Mastodon is going to be all about US politics and people yelling about something. Again, not a great first impression.
“The Algorithm” as we loosely define it is supposed to fix this. It is supposed to bring you content you like, learn what you like and bring you more content that you like.
- Comment on Man Opts Out Of The Algorithm By Throwing His Fucking Phone Off A Bridge And Going To The Pub 1 month ago:
It’s funny to me that everyone agrees the algorithm is bad; yet one of the common criticisms of Lemmy/Fediverse is its lack of an algorithm - making it less user-friendly to new users.
- Comment on Blanche d'Alpuget, acclaimed writer and wife of Bob Hawke, dies at 82 1 month ago:
I was surprised by the coverage this death received yesterday. When you need to remind people who your spouse was and why you were famous for 15 minutes in the 90’s, I don’t know that you are exactly famous enough for several news articles about your death.
Nothing against her, just if you only provided her name I wouldn’t have had a clue who she was.
- Comment on Real Capitalism Hasn't Been Attempted (tm) 1 month ago:
So, this is the back aisle of some old Coles somewhere in rural Queensland?
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(That’s a Coles sign describing whatever is in the next aisle)I’m guessing they’re out of toilet paper? What’s the context of the photo?
Leaving aside the “socialism/capitalism” thing for a moment, is there something going on in Queensland leading to shortages of something? Or is this guy using a photo from 2020?
- Comment on Labor plans crackdown on social media algorithms as Taylor says he’s ‘deeply sceptical’ 1 month ago:
This was your original Facebook feed. Chronological updates from your friends. Like a stream of shower thoughts, kid updates, silly shit someone’s family member said etc. I deleted Facebook when it was still like this, so it’s kept that vibe in my mind.
- Comment on Crossbenchers push for an import ban on 'pervert' smart glasses 1 month ago:
People drastically under-estimate how often they are observed by camera already.
If you’re in public in a place with 50 people within 100m of you, you are very likely already under the gaze of more than one camera. If you are in a place open to the public, you are likely already under the case of more than one camera. If you are on a main road, you are likely being watched. I’m even starting to see cameras watching cycle paths.
We aren’t at USA/England/China levels of surveillance, yet - but it’s pretty ubiquitous. About the only place that’s free for your privacy now is your home, maybe your friends’/family homes and places where nobody else is around. Want privacy? Head out of town. Don’t take your phone.
- Comment on Crossbenchers push for an import ban on 'pervert' smart glasses 1 month ago:
The Facebook ones do have a light, but there are guides online to show you how to cut the cable to disable it.
- Comment on Australia wants more data centres. A disagreement over power sources stands in the way 1 month ago:
This article raises so many questions. Who is “Australia” in this context? Nobody wants data centres anywhere near them.
What is wrong with the proposed limitation that they provide their own renewable power? That seems like a very reasonable limitation to me. Economics 101: Increase demand and not supply, and prices increase. We’ll all be paying more for power for these data centres we don’t want.
What the hell are they proposing to do about water consumption? A data centre devoted to LLM (AI) infrastructure uses twice as much water as a regular data centre. Something like 15-20 megalitres per day. That’s equivalent to something like 30,000 - 40,000 homes.Are they trying to get these things built before everyone realises how much they are going to affect us all? It sure seems like it. This is exactly like a mining company proposing to build a mine in your neighbourhood. And should be subject to just as much scrutiny and planning that scenario would be.
Zero LLM data centres might be a little optimistic. We will likely need a couple. But careful planning is required to make them as sustainable and non-impactful to the environment as possible. They use the power of ~100,000 homes and the water of ~40,000. I do not want to be carrying that extra burden in my community.
- Comment on Discussion Thread 🐝 Tuesday 25 August 2026 1 month ago:
I’m reminded of the Sarah J. Maas Throne of Glass series. I got to the end of the series, and really enjoyed it. I get to the online reader reviews and it was a real eye-opener! It was all women, and all they were talking about was who was shacking up with whom. Nothing about the plot. I don’t know whether this series spawned the “Romantacy” genre that is now totally a thing, but yeah - I sort of missed most of that, being caught up in the actual story.
It was as though the Wyrdkeys, the Valg, the war and all the kingdoms coming together to fight for a better world were just a backdrop for everyone to hook up.
- Comment on A 'huge' trade-off: One Nation's pitch for cheaper cigarettes 2 months ago:
To save anyone else the search: Chretien was the Canadian Prime Minister from 1993-2003.
- Comment on Discussion Thread 📚 Sunday 16 August 2026 2 months ago:
I wonder whether you could get away with making a paper called ‘Old Age’? If it was a proper broadsheet with all the good stuff, I reckon it’d go well. 😀
- Comment on Discussion Thread 📚 Sunday 16 August 2026 2 months ago:
I really, really miss the donut van at Preston Markets.
(He’s still there, I’m not). - Comment on One of Australia's most senior Catholic figures convicted of sexual abuse crimes 2 months ago:
Most of them got away with it (died before facing justice).
Tragically, an awful lot of their victims have also died from things like suicide and overdoses etc.Before we get too complacent that this is a blight only within one flavour of Christianity, it’s important to remember we had a whole royal commission into institutional child abuse that found this happening everywhere where adults had access to children. Parents are better today at being wary around who they leave their kids alone with.
ImageAnd these are just institutionalised instances. It is/was more prevalent that abuse would be from a family member/friend.
- Submitted 2 months ago to australianpolitics@aussie.zone | 5 comments
- Comment on Gina Rinehart funded flights and fashion show for Pauline Hanson 2 months ago:
Despite my differences with senator Hanson (and boy howdy, there are many), I will respect that what you see is what you get with her. She has one trick, and she does it openly and honestly. She hasn’t tried hiding expenses, she stomps on people in her own party when they are caught out and doesn’t try to defend them. I even think she was treated a bit harshly in 2003 when she was imprisoned for electoral fraud. I have never begrudged her existence, nor the rights of the whackos who have repeatedly voted for her. I see value in her as a litmus test of that end of the scale in the electorate. Yes she is racist. She, she is frankly awful. But on the other hand, those things are not against the law.
These two have been associated with one another in the public mind for about 18 months now. There has been intense scrutiny on them since they went to the US President’s Halloween party last year. They’ve both spoken publicly about their friendship when asked about it. As to keeping it low-key, how much do we know about the friends of any politician? They didn’t raise it, but didn’t shy away from it either.
I actually worked with the Minister of Veteran Affairs 25 years ago when he was a uni student. While we not exactly close, I’d have called him a mate at that time (I haven’t heard from him since I left there in 2004). So there’s a little low-key disclosure for you. 🙂
- Comment on Gina Rinehart funded flights and fashion show for Pauline Hanson 2 months ago:
Controversial take, but I don’t have as huge an issue with this. Senator Hanson is upfront about the gifts, it’s all in the open. She’s clear that Ms Rinehart is a friend and speaks to her about government policy. Gina is also pretty straight-up about her agenda and a desire to turn Australia MAGA. This influence is crystal clear. We (the public) are aware that this is happening and have the ability and opportunity to decide whether we will accept this relationship in our public figures (and vote accordingly). A straight-up transfer of money in return for senatorial votes would be corruption and a step too far. Yes, this friendship skirts that line pretty damn closely.
I have far more issues with billionaires influencing politics inside a veil of secrecy. We all know it is happening, but we don’t know for certain who those billionaires and politicians are, nor what policies they’re talking about.
I do have obvious concerns with the Gina/Pauline BFF thing, but I think the “secret mates” are a bigger problem.
- Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 2 months ago:
Oh it’s WiFi, I wasn’t expecting it to receive the alert. It’s just that my test iOS device for all the other stuff I do (like 6+ Lemmy apps) isn’t much use for testing this thing as it didn’t get the alert.
- Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 2 months ago:
Neat! I’ve never seen/used this setting before. Confirmed it is in there. My iPad didn’t get the alert, does iOS have a similar feature? Until just now, I don’t think I would have ever thought of a use for it.
“You’ve dismissed this notification, but if you want to re-live it for some reason - here it is!” - Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 2 months ago:
Every month? I think Isn’t that super annoying?
What if there were a genuine emergency on the first Monday of the month? A lot of people would dismiss the alert assuming it’s routine and not even read it. That’s if they hadn’t outright disabled the alert in the first place because of spam. - Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 2 months ago:
And it stopped far sooner than I expected. If I were upstairs wearing headphones and the phone were downstairs, it is very plausible that I’d miss the alert entirely.
- Comment on Leggo's, Coles and Aldi selling Chinese tomatoes as 'Australian' and 'Italian' in products, forensic testing finds 2 months ago:
Affecting so many brands, many of whom pride themselves on sourcing from Australian growers. I suspect it’s a subset of the growers themselves (or a single supplier) behind this, rather than the brands. It is too much to believe that 30 brands all sourced from some Chinese supplier independently. I would love to find out how far this rabbit hole goes.
- Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 2 months ago:
In the slim chance that someone from whatever department is responsible for this reads about the user experience of Australians:
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You better keep these emergency alert messages to be super simple sentences like “Danger Will Robinson!! Evacuate now!!”.Because once you hit “ok”, the message is gone. No retrieving whatever it said.
If there had been emergency phone number or radio frequency in there and I missed it, I can’t get whatever the alert said back. That seems stupid to me. - Comment on Thanks For ~~all the the fish~~ Hosting, Let’s Get an Update 2 months ago:
Our secret is two-fold:
- The site is run by a couple of tech nerds with full-time jobs. This is not done for financial gain. We both think the other does all the work on the site. 😃
- The biggest cost of these sorts of services is usually labour. And we get that for free.
You already replied/donated in the last nerd update post.
