tau @ Tau @aussie.zone

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249

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305

Joined

2 yr. ago

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There already was a "no religion" option, in the last census it was the first checkbox under the question asking what religion you follow.

He does have a point in that the proposed question would have been a more neutral way of determining whether someone is religious, the combination of the implicit assumption in the old question that having a religion is normal and providing an single tick option for selecting common ones probably does make a small percentage say yes that would not in the proposed question. Claims of coercion and human rights abuse though seem a bit over the top and are probably coming more from a dislike of religions (and their political power) rather than a desire for accurate data.

What wasn't mentioned in the article but is something I would consider likely that the main difference with the proposed question might not be from the question itself but from extra effort of writing out a religion name rather than ticking a box - it's a small effort but there'd be a lot of people who just want to go through the questions as fast as possible.

That doesn't entirely surprise me given what I've heard over the years.

I remember a few years back watching them pour huge amounts of money into new buildings and fitouts and wondering how they were planning to fund it all (particularly when COVID came along). Guess it turns out that didn't really work after all...

I guess you're a prime example of someone looking to be offended then, because I really haven't said anything racist.

Turns out that when you go out hunting for things to be offended by you tend to find them.

The "Aboriginal Australian's house' one for example was clearly going to be a no-win situation regardless of the output - if the model returned the same house as the 'Australian's house' image they'd be writing instead about how offensive it was to ignore traditional culture.

"Every closure of a manufacturing facility is a loss of sovereign capability and compromises Australia's ability to build a more complex and dynamic knowledge-driven economy."

I agree with this sentiment, I don't think it is a good idea long term to lose manufacturing capability and knowledge. I would however prefer that a stake in the company is transferred to the government when they have to spend large sums bailing out a facility due to it being in the national interest to do so.

What won't help the situation is not removing children from abusive situations or making the already lenient ACT court system even more so.

Ultimately what is needed to make a real difference is for the families involved to make sure their children get through school and stay out of trouble. If you can get through to year 12 and don't have a criminal history the public service (and many of the supporting businesses) would love to employ people with Aboriginal heritage, the ACT is not like living out in Woop Woop where there's nothing for kids to do. If we must dump money into special programs I think a reward for familes with children who have above average school attendance and grades would be a better use than trying to create separate treatment in the court system.

This is unironically a good method.

Agreed. I think the age verification laws are a rubbish idea but if one has to comply with them this is actually one of the better options for doing so - particularly for smaller sites. Something similar is worth considering as an option for this site when necessary as it's both something I'd actually consider doing (unlike a licence photo) and does not set the admins up for potential issues regarding having to store sensitive personal information.

Nah, just hand me that long stick there”

...and that's when they found the really big stick insect.

Would have been nice a couple of years ago before I paid off the last of mine, but I guess one can't have everything...

It's been a fair while but hopefully not too much longer before this part of the War Memorial reopens. In an ideal world they'll have made more space and be able to fit more of the planes they have (e.g. the F-111) but I don't know if that was part of the plan for this redevelopment.

That's a pretty big increase, but I would assume it is more to do with inspectors paying more attention (and the record keeping requirement mentioned in the article) than the businesses being that much worse all of a sudden.

That was buying firewood permits off NSW Forestry in the broader region around Canberra, which I looked and they're still doing at $16 per tonne (albeit only in the further away forests at this point). They give areas you can pick firewood from after logging operations, you're just not allowed to fell trees. You do have to be able to go out and saw it then haul it back yourself. If you've got a current collection area near you it's a very cost effective method, even if you have to drive a fair way it still works out cheaper than buying it elsewhere.

Fires are horrible.

They're about the best feeling source of heat around, so not horrible.

Very difficult to controll the heat output

It's not particularly difficult to control the heat output, it's just a matter of how you load it and how much air you let in. They don't do well for extremely low heat output, but at that sort of cold just put on a jumper instead.

they also are very costly to run

Used to cost about $20 a tonne for wood a few years back when I was in a place with a fire, plus maybe another $50 per tonne in fuel for the ute and saws to gather it (so ~$70 a tonne total). Was a hell of a lot cheaper than gas and a lot cheaper than electricity.

require a lot of maintenance

It's just popping up onto the roof once a year and taking ash out every week or so, I never found it a big deal.

require a lot of space to store the wood

This I'll grant you, given how tiny modern yards are. You need a square metre or two for the wood and another couple for room to split it - not much in a traditional suburban backyard but it's noticeable in newer blocks where you have bugger all room around the house.

Doesn't surprise me that they'd do that given the news I've read over the years about this place. Wonder if the new administration will continue marketing the school with a plethora of slightly deranged looking bus ads (as is tradition).

I would have classed bogongs as small or medium size, are they really that much larger than other countries moths? If so I'd hate to see their reactions to moths which are actually large, not sure of the species but I've seen a few about palm sized.

In a world where kids are already not getting enough outside time and exercise making it harder for them to ride to school seems a poor idea.

If it's becoming a problem they should be doing in person lessons on how to ride a bike and basic road manners rather than a online quiz that nobody is going to pay any attention to. Pity in person lessons have been made harder by everyone having to be so incredibly risk averse these days. For example there was that bit in WA recently where schools got told they couldn't use bikes without chain guards (i.e. most bikes) because someone managed to hurt themselves.

If it’s black market, it’s still more of a hassle to buy.

Out of the four smokers I regularly work with three of them have found shops that sell black market tailormades and the other buys pouches off some internet site which is almost certainly also dodging tax. It doesn't seem like they're having any hassles finding and buying these things and with black market apparently being about half the price of cheap legit cigarettes you'd have to be pretty firm on your principles to take the financial hit.

An obvious geographical divider does seem to increase the natural inclination of many people to stay within their known area unless given a specific reason to venture out. Canberra has a similar effect with lake Burley Griffin and people being less inclined to venture southside from northside (and vice versa).

You're certainly right that the way I did it in school felt rather performative and didn't leave me with positive impressions of the books I had not read previously. I'm not going to say there's no purpose in trying to understand the meanings/symbolism in a work but it's not going to make a good impression on someone if that's their first introduction to the book - or worse their introduction to reading books in general.

I've no substantiation for these guesses but one thing that comes to mind is that boys were more likely to get into computers in the early eras of tech and that time sink meant they were less likely to build the habit of reading. TV is another possibility, Gen X was the first to grow up with TVs being widespread and boys probably spent more time on that.