Nath
@Nath@aussie.zone
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: ❤️🖤💜 Tuesday, November 19, 2024 7 hours ago:
“Another time, then”
Meeting her anyway sends the signal that you’re fine with being such a low priority in her world. And she’ll have no incentive to alter her behaviour next time.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: ❤️🖤💜 Tuesday, November 19, 2024 20 hours ago:
So I went to check out this blue sky thing. It turns out I actually created an account on there at some point under my real name. I don’t remember doing that, it had to be before Aussie.zone became a thing.
So I log into it, I’m already following half a dozen accounts that I don’t remember following (but they’re awesome people like George Takai and Mara Wilson).
Review:
It’s all about US politics and how awful Twitter is. Boring. 😔I never sent a single tweet in 15 years, I can’t see myself using this site either.
- Comment on Labor and Liberals will get double their public funding if ‘biased’ electoral rules are passed, Climate 200 says 1 day ago:
Under the Commonwealth Electoral Act, registered political parties receive a dollar amount for every legal first-preference vote they receive once they pass the 4% minimum. The per-vote rate is indexed to inflation and, at the 2022 election, was $2.914.
Currently, the rate sits at $3.35 per eligible vote. Under the government’s proposed changes, the rate would rise to $5. On top of that, registered parties would receive another $30,000 per MP and $15,000 per senator in “administrative” funding.
I can see how $5 per first-preference vote is a lot. Perhaps a scale for $5 for the first 20% of the votes and then $3 per vote after that?
I don’t see how this change punishes anyone, however. It’s a raise for everyone. If your complaint is basically ‘those guys get more money because they get more votes’, my response becomes ‘then, do something to make people want to vote for you and not those guys’.
Before anyone says that’s not easy to do, I agree. How do we solve that? The Green party has been going for 40 years. They have never held government and show no sign of holding government in the next 20 years. The Teal candidates came out of nowhere in the last 10 years and and did very well in the last election - but they had financial assistance beyond AEC funding.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🎂 Sunday, November 17, 2024 1 day ago:
Huh. Back in my Brunswick E. days, I had the TV too loud one night and my neighbors politely asked me to turn it down. Which, of course I did. Because we are all grown-ups.
I never had the note experience. I think I’d just chuck it and ignore it. I honestly don’t know what I’d do with it. “What is this high school shit?”
- Comment on Upgrade incoming 1 day ago:
5 days to appear. 😔
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🎂 Sunday, November 17, 2024 2 days ago:
I am constantly aware that I work in a bubble of very smart, talented and fairly-paid people. That the people I work with aren’t a slice of “average” Australia. But within that bubble of IT workers, we absolutely have that global cultural influence CEO was speaking about.
Then there’s the kids. They go to school in a mix of kids from all over. Its a great equaliser. They don’t know where their mates ‘are from’, almost everyone was born here. I get it from their names.
It’s easy to look at the news and think our influences are all US/UK. But I think as each generation goes by, they’ll be less central to what makes an Australian.
What emerges from that mix? I’m keen to see it. What we already have is clearly recognised by the British themselves as something distinctly separate from their culture.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🍕🍕🍕 Saturday, November 16, 2024 3 days ago:
I understand the paper solution, but I’d still whip that up as a spreadsheet and print it out. Not because I couldn’t make such a chart by hand, just that it would never occur to me.
- Comment on 'Taking revenge on society' - deadly car attack sparks questions in China: 'In the eyes of those in power, aeroplanes are more important than human lives' 4 days ago:
Headline is misleading. The “In the eyes of those in power, aeroplanes are more important than human lives.” portion is a quote from a single unverified commenter online. Please correct the title.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
Are people going through keyboards/mice like some sort of consumables?
I’m looking at reviews for a mouse, and something supposedly good about it is that it lasted some person four whole years. I’ve been using the mouse on my work PC for 15 years, it was the first Bluetooth mouse I purchased. I’ve been using this keyboard for 10 years, and the only reason I bought it was that I was no longer typing on my laptop keyboard. Side note: I would love to buy another one just like this one for home, but it doesn’t exist any more.10 years with no signs of slowing in the next decade sounds right to me. 15 years for the mouse and the only reason I’m considering replacing it is I’d like one that can switch between multiple devices and maybe do away with AA batteries. Do people really go through peripherals quickly?
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
It doesn’t sound like someone who is on the same team as you. 😞
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
That actually sounds really wholesome. Plus I like baking. I’ll give is a shot. As a rule, I avoid reality TV because it’s awful.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
The spreadsheet of gifts has already started on this end. I need to get up to three gifts for each person (One from wife and I, then 1-2 from the kids). There are two Christmas parties this year, and the in-law side is going to be so big this year, the adults are doing a secret santa to reduce the gift load at least amongst ourselves.
That leaves me buying 25-35ish gifts just for the extended family. Not including the four of us. Experience has taught me that leaving the shopping to the last week before Christmas is a terrible plan. Oh! And the final week of November has a kids’ birthday, Sister’s birthday, Niece’s birthday, Father-in-law’s birthday and our Wedding Anniversary. Gotta get through all that before I really start stressing about Christmas.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
The only real reality TV shows are on the sports channel. Everything else is edited/scripted. 😀
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
I nearly bought one in 2007. It was between a Mazda 6 and a Pulsar. In the end, I went with the Pulsar because it was $2k cheaper, and all other things about the cars were pretty equal.
My life circumstances changed over the next decade (had a family), and the Pulsar was a bit small for us by the end. I ended up wishing I’d gone with the Mazda.
I think you made the right choice.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
Or you drive serious km. It’s designed for people who need a car for their job.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 days ago:
Take a kid. Then you are a parent or uncle and they’ll think you’re cool, again. They’ll even let you buy PlayStation games without judgement if you have a kid in tow!
- Comment on Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell says he could 'become a terrorist' as far right rhetoric escalates and movement grows 5 days ago:
Prominent members of Australia’s neo-Nazi network have also launched a series of targeted harassment campaigns at police officers.
Sewell said on a livestream that his followers had identified a Victoria police officer who, in recent demonstrations, attempted to remove a mask from a neo-Nazi protester. A man wearing all black walks along a line of other men, also wearing black.
He boasted that he had uncovered personal information on the officer, saying members of his group had saved wedding photos and images of the officer’s family.
They may be adept at skirting the edges of the law, and staying out of prison. But there is no collusion with police. Quite the opposite, in fact. These guys will be under close scrutiny from police, and they in-turn are trying to doxx the police officers who they are at-odds with.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🐈⬛️🚪🍓 Thursday, November 14, 2024 5 days ago:
Do it today. Petrol usually goes up on Friday. Plus, you’ll enjoy your day off more if you know you don’t need to waste a pile of it doing the shopping.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🐈⬛️🚪🍓 Thursday, November 14, 2024 5 days ago:
And who started those controversies?
Frankly, Nestle. If not directly, then by having insufficient controls on the suppliers and distributors they use in assorted parts of the world. I’ve never seen any cases where Nestle products in Australia were not fine, but their track record in the developing world is inconsistent at best.
So many controversies and opinions out there and so many have been debunked yet debunking doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Many of the scandals on that page are confirmed. I don’t know of any that are debunked - you’d think they’d remove anything like that from the list. The whole ‘Our formula is better for your baby than breastfeeding’ campaign has to be one of the worst lies ever told in marketing, and that message is still strong in parts of the world. The Baby formula scandal in China is very real, and affects us in Australia as there is a whole market of buying (trusted) formula here and shipping it along with original Australian chemist receipts to China. Actually, I don’t know if that’s still going on today (it’s been a while since I shopped int he baby aisle), but it really affected local formula supplies/prices when my kids were babies.
- Comment on Private health insurance is a dud. That’s why a majority of Australians don’t have it 5 days ago:
We do use Medibank. In a family of four, I’ve maxed out my Physio for the year (first time), my kid has spent a chunk on orthodontics, my wife got glasses and osteo care. It’s borderline on whether we use enough to justify our premiums - probably not this year. But we did have one year with a few surgeries that made me happy the insurance was there.
If it were just me, my own use of private insurance would not have justified the premium I’ve been paying all these years. But I’m probably close to breaking even over the past 15 years or so with my wife and kids added to the mix.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread:🩸🤝🥪 Wednesday, November 13, 2024 5 days ago:
It sounds fun, but my wife has never taken me along.
Yes, she hates bra shopping. - Comment on Daily Discussion Thread:🩸🤝🥪 Wednesday, November 13, 2024 6 days ago:
Squarkly Bear! That was my local shops for my first 2 years in Melbourne. Before I was gentrified out to Preston.
- Comment on Private health insurance is a dud. That’s why a majority of Australians don’t have it 6 days ago:
Great question, because Guardian links with amp remove that annoying popup begging for subscription while telling me I’m one of their most prolific readers, having read 80 articles this year.
- Comment on Private health insurance is a dud. That’s why a majority of Australians don’t have it 6 days ago:
I have Private health insurance because I essentially need to pay the cost of private insurance in extra levies if I don’t get it.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 📖 Tuesday, November 12, 2024 6 days ago:
Nah, not a rock star. Too much pressure and it takes over your life. You can never do normal stuff again.
You want a single smash one hit wonder that gives you enough to live it up for a year, before you invest $10 Million or so. Then retire into obscurity living very comfortably off your investments for the rest of your life. 5% of $10 Million is an annual allowance of $500k.
If you do want a lasting career, you want someone with the wealth and lifestyle, but not the fame. Someone like Dianne Warren or Max Martin. You can walk safely down the Street and nobody knows who you are. The only circles you’re famous in are rock stars and movie directors.
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 📖 Tuesday, November 12, 2024 6 days ago:
The one time I made one, it was two minutes after you had already made it. 🤫
- Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 📖 Tuesday, November 12, 2024 1 week ago:
That was my experience when I first got back to Perth and tried to use eBay. Weird how different places have different apps they use.
- Comment on Dutton is already testing Trump's campaign slogans 1 week ago:
Are people in any place in the world better off today than they were four years ago?
- Comment on Dutton is already testing Trump's campaign slogans 1 week ago:
I wonder whether the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, and the connection between Aboriginal and Palestinian causes, did quantifiable damage to the referendum results.
I don’t think the crazy in Israel and Palestine had any bearing at all. In 2023, it was just more of the same back-and-forth the region has been under since the 1940s. Things escalated this year, but that’s a different story.
The polls were pretty clearly pointing to a “No” vote well before October 2023. No surprises happened on the day.
- Comment on Dutton is already testing Trump's campaign slogans 1 week ago:
I want to agree with you, but we said exactly the same thing about Tony Abbott in 2012.