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Daily Discussion Thread: 🦅 Thursday, July 04, 2024
  • I've seen a few of these things around, they're a bit overkill for our mild winter in Perth. I had no idea they were so expensive, though! My youngest wants one - because fashion. I was looking at the Anaconda range, They were in the $60-$100 ballpark (for kids jackets - not sure if adults are the same).

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🦅 Thursday, July 04, 2024
  • In a past role when I was short staffed and hiring people, I was often lumped with interviewing people on top of my regular duties. It is a lot of extra work. It also took longer than I expected. I was often a bit late getting back to people for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes, candidates had to reschedule. Sometimes, more urgent work came up and I had to do things other than processing the applications. Suddenly, your last interview isn't Tuesday, but Friday instead.

    I was never more than a few days late - the best candidates usually had more than one offer to consider and I'd lose them if I didn't get back to them. If they told you Wednesday, I'd give them until Monday before giving up.

  • ABC article alleges caucus concern over Fatima Payma being "guided by god". Smells of a character assassination to me.
  • I have no issue with the ABC reporting. They've reported this fairly straight. I do have issues that we are spending a lot of time talking about a senator that none of us had heard of a week ago. I have issues that the author of this piece is on the other side of the country to the senator in question. I wouldn't be surprised to learn she hasn't even met the senator. That said, I respect that she gave the senator more airtime than she gave the supposed concerns of caucus:

    Senator Payman said the suggestion she was "being guided by god" in her decision-making and would campaign on other "Islamic propositions" was an insult.

    "I don't know how to respond to that question without feeling offended or insulted [at the suggestion] that just because I am a visibly Muslim woman I only care about Muslim issues," she said.

    Fair enough. Both Senator Payman's response and the reporting of it. Sounds like the drama is coming from those 'faceless men' we all love so much.

  • Labor branch in Albanese’s electorate passes motion supporting Fatima Payman
  • I pretty much shared my thoughts on this a couple of days ago. I think this take on the matter is glossing over something really significant:

    It’s possible to believe that Labor’s policy of Caucus solidarity has existed for almost 150 years, and she knew the rules when she joined the Party.

    What was Labor's stated position on the matter of Palestinian statehood when Senator Payman joined the party?
    (That's rhetorical, we all know the answer)

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🦅 Thursday, July 04, 2024
  • You gotta understand that most numbat sightings are super fleeting and look like this:

    Just setting expectations now. 😃

  • Daily Discussion Thread: ☃️ Wednesday, July 03, 2024
  • The Car thing should be your fallback plan to keep you off sleeping on the street. It's only a step up from that, and certainly not something you should be planning for. YouTube videos make it look a lot more glamorous than it actually is. I slept for a week in a van while I drove around in New Zealand. It was fully kitted out with kitchen, actual bed, power, water, the works! And a week was long enough - I would not have wanted to live like that longer term.

    The dodgiest one-bedroom shoebox with a bathroom and toilet would be better than any car.

  • Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane bans koala cuddles
  • There's a place in Perth where you can cuddle koalas. If that's illegal in WA, Then my whole family are outlaws.

    I was all cynical about the place. Koalas aren't even native to WA. But as a place to take international visitors, it's great.

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🦅 Thursday, July 04, 2024
  • School holidays. Took the kids to the zoo yesterday. Saw Nellie. Took some photos. Also, bought a 2024 Numbat calendar on clearance for the cute numbat photos in it for $2.

    Warning: I may start randomly spamming cute numbat photos at the thread in the coming weeks.

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🦅 Thursday, July 04, 2024
  • A fried potato isn't that bad. It's got a lot of kilojoules if you're counting, but it is also fairly unprocessed. Lots of supposedly diet snacks are actually worse for you than a fried potato.

    Processed food is the devil. And it's everywhere in our diet. If the ingredients list on a snack is more than two lines long and has a bunch of numbers, it is worse for you than a fried potato.

  • Daily Discussion Thread: ☃️ Wednesday, July 03, 2024
  • My kids are 9 and 12. So you'd have been in between them in age. The idea of either of them being set adrift, alone, in a hotel is setting off all my daddy instincts.

    I am sad that this was your childhood. As he's probably a bigger train nerd than you, I see a lot of parallels between you and my eldest.

    You've clearly managed to navigate the state system. So I guess we need to recognise also that something in the system is working. I worry about your support system when you turn 18. Do they just set you adrift and wish you luck in life on your birthday?

  • On the Internet, what is a dead giveaway that someone is actually a kid?
  • The neat thing about anonymous discussion on the Internet is that it doesn't matter. What you have to say is all that matters.

    I don't know anything about anyone and that's great.

  • [Labor senator] Fatima Payman says she's been 'exiled' and is 'reflecting on future' within Labor
  • To add some nuance to this most people vote by party in the senate.

    I think this is more fair for senators than lower house. Senators represent their whole state, while MLAs represent their local electorate. I can see scenarios where the needs and wishes of your local electorate are not quite aligned with your party on all issues and in those situations, you should do what your electorate would wish of you.

    This is a really murky issue for any senator. The YouGov polls show wider support for a Palestinian state than the Government does. But it also shows that more of us are unsure on this topic than those who support/don't support. Which stands to reason, the region is really far away from us and we aren't all that involved, really.

    The pessimist in me dismisses much of the government's position on the conflict as aligning with US interests. Which takes us back to Senator Payman. On this particular topic, I believe her firm position probably both is representative of a decent slice of her state as well as being a foil on the generic support of all things US from her party. Good on her.

    I'm not really into party politics, so I don't really have a stake in whether she should be ejected from her party for this. But if pressed, I'd say they'd be making a mistake to eject her over this matter. This is not a major party policy, and its position does not have wide-spread community support.

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🚵 Tuesday, July 02, 2024
  • Businesses routinely have alerts on their brands with Google. It's quite possible they got an email from Google that we were talking about their products. That part actually makes sense to me.

    If they had applied for an account within a week or so of that discussion, and said in their application they were joining the site in response to it - I'd have thought it completely reasonable.

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🚵 Tuesday, July 02, 2024
  • So, Planet Ark are trying to register an account to join aussie.zone. I would normally have rejected their application, as they are giving the vibe of 'we want to spam'. So, I reached out to them on their contact form. I thought it possible they had a google analytics alert and noticed us discussing their products recently.

    But, that was longer ago than I realised: It feels like we talked about that a few weeks ago. So now I'm back to thinking they want to spam. Gah!

    I want answers, but I don't want ads. I suppose I'll wait to see if/how they respond to my website query.

    Update:

    Hi Nath,

    No, that email address does not belong to us.

    Thanks for checking!

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🚵 Tuesday, July 02, 2024
  • As far as kids are concerned, the fish is poisonous. There's no way I'd want a kid to think they can fry up and eat a pufferfish.

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🐻 Monday, July 01, 2024
  • Just going to say that "trampoline dude" is a really cool name. I would not object to being known as trampoline dude.

    Well, not now. But a few days ago it would have been a cool thing to be known as.

  • Daily Discussion Thread: 🐻 Monday, July 01, 2024
  • Oh yeah - that'll be me in a couple of days. And for the exact same reason. I had a couple of days detox and then decided to look into this Lemmy thing on July 4.

  • A brand new nature playground has opened at Serpentine Dam
  • Yep, the banksia one on Wellington St. It's pretty good, sadly too good. So it's usually pretty crowded.

  • Kids are free at the footy rounds 16-19
    www.afl.com.au Kids Go Free - AFL.com.au

    Kids Go Free: Kids aged 14 years old and under will have free entry to games across Rounds 16 to 19

    Kids Go Free - AFL.com.au

    cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/11231353

    > If you have a kid/grandkid who loves footy, this is the time of year to take them. A single adult can take three kids to a game for the price of one ticket. > > For me today, the adult ticket was $58. With two kids, that worked out at less than $20 a ticket. > > Take your own snacks. Prices at the footy are actually offensive.

    0
    Aussie Frugal Living @aussie.zone Nath @aussie.zone
    Kids are free at the footy rounds 16-19
    www.afl.com.au Kids Go Free - AFL.com.au

    Kids Go Free: Kids aged 14 years old and under will have free entry to games across Rounds 16 to 19

    Kids Go Free - AFL.com.au

    If you have a kid/grandkid who loves footy, this is the time of year to take them. A single adult can take three kids to a game for the price of one ticket.

    For me today, the adult ticket was $58. With two kids, that worked out at less than $20 a ticket.

    Take your own snacks. Prices at the footy are actually offensive.

    0
    A brand new nature playground has opened at Serpentine Dam
  • I thought Serpentine Dam was a nature playground. I remember going down the rock waterfall like it was a water slide. Pretty fun.

    That playground looks lame. There are loads better playgrounds than that scattered about. Even one just near the CBD.

  • www.abc.net.au Perth mother and daughter shot dead by friend's ex-partner in double murder-suicide

    The gunman who shot and killed a mother and her teenage daughter in Perth's affluent western suburbs did so because he thought his ex-partner was at the property.

    Perth mother and daughter shot dead by friend's ex-partner in double murder-suicide
    9
    www.abc.net.au WA teachers set to go on half-day strike next week as union rejects latest pay offer

    WA's teacher union rejects a second pay and conditions offer from the state government, stoking concerns of interruptions at schools as the union threatens to forge on with a potential strike on Tuesday next week.

    WA teachers set to go on half-day strike next week as union rejects latest pay offer

    Just when you thought you'd made it through the holidays. 😀

    I think a half-day strike is just as bad for parents than a full one. We still need to arrange for the kids to be taken care of until 12:30. Apparently we can send them in anyway, but they won't be in class and it isn't exactly supporting the teachers to do that.

    I hope there is progress in the negotiations and the strike gets called off.

    2
    www.abc.net.au Why Australia's biggest city has a problem with 'forced car ownership'

    Data shows Melbourne residents are buying and driving cars at a higher rate since COVID, even though more people are working from home. Here's why.

    Why Australia's biggest city has a problem with 'forced car ownership'
    21
    A mere 57 mega polluters produce 80 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, new analysis shows
    www.abc.net.au A mere 57 mega polluters produce bulk of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, new analysis shows

    Just 57 mega polluters are responsible for the bulk of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and most big fossil fuel players have increased, rather than decreased, their output since the Paris Agreement in 2015, a staggering new report finds.

    A mere 57 mega polluters produce bulk of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, new analysis shows

    On the one hand, it makes it really hard to stay motivated with the teeny contribution I make to reducing emissions. On the other, think of how much of a difference these 57 companies could make if they actually reached net-zero targets.

    9
    www.abc.net.au We compared the finances of 30-year-olds now, to 30-year-olds 30 years ago

    To understand why 30-somethings feel like they're struggling financially, the ABC analysed five factors — housing, healthcare, debt, tax, and income. The data reveals this generation is caught in an economic perfect storm.

    We compared the finances of 30-year-olds now, to 30-year-olds 30 years ago

    I'm sure this whole article comes as a shock to nobody, but it's nice to see it recognised like this.

    34
    www.abc.net.au Bridge in US city of Baltimore collapses after ship hits it, sending vehicles into water

    A portion of a major bridge in Baltimore has collapsed after a large boat collided with it, sending multiple vehicles into the water.

    Bridge in US city of Baltimore collapses after ship hits it, sending vehicles into water

    Ok, so here's my newest phobia. Happily driving along a bridge I've crossed over a thousand times before, only tonight I'm suddenly in the dark waters below!

    7
    Australia's most painful creatures
    www.abc.net.au From the bull ant to the irukandji, these are Australia's most painful creatures

    As Aussies head to the beaches and parklands this summer, we asked a venom expert to rank the top 10 most painful creatures they might encounter.

    From the bull ant to the irukandji, these are Australia's most painful creatures
    7
    www.abc.net.au Facebook ate and then ignored the news industry. It's hard, but we should leave it be

    Facebook profited from the decline of Australia's news organisations, but enforcing the News Media Bargaining Code will make a bad situation worse without solving the problem of who will pay for the news.

    Facebook ate and then ignored the news industry. It's hard, but we should leave it be

    Try and get past the fact that this is sort-of about Facebook. Because it's more about the demise of news than it is about Facebook, specifically.

    > news organisations were never in the news business, Amanda Lotz, a professor of media studies at QUT, said. > > "They were in the attention-attraction business. > > "In another era, if you were an advertiser, a newspaper was a great place to be. > > "But now there are just much better places to be."

    > The moment news moved online, and was "unbundled" from classifieds, sports results, movie listings, weather reports, celebrity gossip, and all the other reasons people bought newspapers or watched evening TV bulletins, the news business model was dead. > > News by itself was never profitable, Professor Bruns said. > > "Then advertising moved somewhere else. > > "This was always going to happen via Facebook or other platforms."

    It's a really fascinating read. We can all agree that independent journalism is valuable in our society, but ultimately, most of us don't so much seek news out as much as we encounter news as we go about our day.

    I'm sure the TL;DR bot is about to entirely miss the nuance of the article. I recommend reading the whole thing.

    29
    www.abc.net.au Liberals's preselected candidate for Morrison's former seat vows to move into area within days

    After a meeting lasting almost two and a half hours, Simon Kennedy defeats three other Liberal Party candidates to win preselection in former prime minister Scott Morrison's old seat of Cook.

    Liberals's preselected candidate for Morrison's former seat vows to move into area within days

    That's right Cronulla, your likely next local member isn't actually local. But, he promises he will be real soon!

    Good luck with that!

    Having lived in super safe-seats and marginal seats, I promise it's far better to live in a seat that flips every election!

    7
    Tony was fired for remotely working two jobs
    www.abc.net.au Tony was fired for living a double life – he says he was only levelling the playing field

    Tony found himself with too much time on his hands at work. What he did next challenges long-held notions of loyalty in the workplace.

    Tony was fired for living a double life – he says he was only levelling the playing field

    I don't think this movement really got off the ground in WA, we never really had the lock-downs and remote working culture introduced through the pandemic that the Eastern states got. Still, this makes for fascinating reading.

    6
    www.abc.net.au 'WA wins at the expense of Australia': Economists urge GST change amid warnings of political fallout

    WA's revised GST deal is set to cost the federal government $50 billion over a decade, not $39 billion as estimated, economists say, warning that it's not justified and should be changed.

    'WA wins at the expense of Australia': Economists urge GST change amid warnings of political fallout

    I get that WA is financially far better off than 2017 projections.

    What I don't really understand is why it is so unfair for WA to get back 70-75 cents per dollar its populace puts into GST.

    2
    Aotearoa Daily Kōrero 23/1/2024

    Aotearoa Daily Kōrero 23/1/2024

    Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

    Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

    Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

    So, how’s it going?

    5
    Does anyone actually pay retail prices for clothes?

    I picked up a couple of pairs of jeans at the end of year sales.

    I paid $20 for one pair, down from $110. Does anyone actually pay that $110? That sounds insane to me.

    1
    www.abc.net.au Nuclear energy is more expensive than renewables, CSIRO report finds

    Renewable energy provides the cheapest source of new energy for Australia, a new draft report from the CSIRO and energy market operator has found.

    Nuclear energy is more expensive than renewables, CSIRO report finds
    9