Tau

I like the callout to On the Beach, fits well with a post apocalyptic Australian game (it's a good book, albeit not one you want to read if you're already feeling down).

tau @aussie.zone 10mo ago

It's not a fee for the beaches per se but the fee for entering the national park which covers the territory (though it is in effect paying to see beaches as that's the main reason to visit).

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tau @aussie.zone 10mo ago

There’s also basically no reason to ever go there unless you’re in or supporting the military bases located there.

It does have some rather pretty beaches, best to plan on checking out all that's there to make it feel worthwhile though as they sting you $20 to see them.

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tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

Good to see some progress there, it's not going to make a huge difference at this stage but if it helps progress a more ethical meat option it will be useful in the long run.

tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

Although I can’t imagine an Internal Combusion Engine sub being at all stealthy

Diesel electrics can be very stealthy, with the potential to be even more so than nuclear subs when trying to hide (given equivalent level of technology elsewhere in the design). What they can't do is continue being stealthy for anywhere near the time a nuclear sub can as eventually you need to come near the surface and run the diesel to recharge the batteries. Diesel electrics are also comparatively range limited - while they can travel a considerable distance nuclear subs are effectively only limited by their ability to supply the crew.

tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

I'm going to say somewhere near this location looking towards the Gold Coast. Haven't spent time in that region so can't confirm but I'm liking my odds based on the skyline, terrain and view angle.

tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

Can't say I've ever really thought about it, though looking at pictures it does look familiar. Not sure how one differentiates it from native tussock grasses though.

I have stronger feelings about things like blackberries, fireweed, lantana, and crofton weed as these are ones I've had to put work into removing before (and blackberry is a pain for encroaching on single track networks or blocking off path walking). Running bamboo too to an extent, but while painful to get rid of that's one that I think can be a nice sort of plant when in an appropriate location.

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tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

If you start believing that racism is the cause of all your woes you'll see it everywhere, particularly if - for example - you're still salty about losing a vote to be deputy leader.

It is amusingly ironic though because the Greens both appear the least likely party to actually be racist and the most likely party to have enabled such a mindset during her time with them.

tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

No. That is one question they ask. It is not how they define intimate partner violence.

It's not how they define it in the report but it sure sounds like if you answered yes to that one question they went ahead and classed you as using/experiencing intimate partner violence anyway. It's right there in the report:

To understand the use of intimate partner violence, respondents were presented with a series of questions following the prompt, ‘As an adult, how have you behaved towards a past or present partner?’, and asked to respond either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Respondents were also able to skip answering these questions. The questions included:
Have you ever behaved in a manner that has made a partner feel frightened or anxious? (emotional- type abuse)

Similarly, men were coded as ever having used or experienced forms of intimate partner violence by 2022 if they had responded ‘yes’ to any of the types of violence at either the 2013–14 survey or the 2022 survey.

tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

Time to bring back the 'Feel the Power of Canberra' licence plate slogan!

It's a real reminder to consider edge cases when designing systems though - if you're using frequencies reserved for radar there should really have been a fallback option for when someone actually shows up and uses their radar...

tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

Regardless of the journalism it seems to be a pretty disproportionate outcome.

If it were just him stealing then getting immediately tackled I'd be more sympathetic, but considering he was assaulting people before even entering the shop I'd put decent odds on the guard not being the one to start the fight. He still shouldn't have died over it but if you're going to get into fights the chance of something going wrong is non-zero.

If it was a white kid in the ghetto the outcome would and is different. Look at the deaths in custody.

Indeed, the white kid would be more likely to die in custody if taken into it. Whether he'd be arrested in the first place is another matter but I think it's a pretty good bet that if this same situation occurred with someone of any ethnicity they'd be ending up on the ground.

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tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

Pretty sure that's an embellishment, but I can't say I ever dived into that particular rabbit hole.

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tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

People are not “placed” on the floor – that is what you do with bags, boxes and rubbish. But that was the word used by the Northern Territory police to describe the sequence of events to the media.

Because they're trying to put a neutral spin on them tackling the guy, it's no surprise.

It's like the spin they themselves have in this article with this quote:

I try to imagine a similar scene at my local Coles, where many people who have not been winners in life’s lottery also shop for little items to keep hunger at bay, but no image comes to mind.

Implying the guy was in there just shopping for little items is an interesting way to cover walking into a shop after assaulting a woman, stealing things, and getting into a fight with security when confronted. The Eulogy Song is definitely still relevant...

tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

There was actually this really cool news story that just came out about what people are actually using them for

There's been this really cool news story recently about what people are using foraged mushrooms for, better ban doing that pronto because it's clearly dangerous and there's no chance anyone else is doing it safely...

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tau @aussie.zone 11mo ago

As far as I’m aware there isn’t a thriving jungle expedition scene in Victoria

You don't know what people actually use machetes for, but they look scary so lets make a snide comment suggesting there's no reason to have them. That's exactly the sort of knee jerk reaction which makes for dumb laws like this.

tau @aussie.zone 12mo ago

Agreed. Not indexing it seems a pretty deliberate move towards the same strategy as our tax brackets - capture more money each year due to inflation and occasionally make your government look good by raising the cutoff (by less than inflation).