Look, here's the bottom line(s):
'Age verification' systems - where a person's ID is submitted - will not work.
Kids will find a way around them.
ID verification systems are a privacy nightmare and something only a dictatorship would implement.
Device/OS/platform 'age restriction' features are workable, but Labor is too incompetent to liaise with the EU to implement them.
It is for parents to supervise and control their kids' devices, NOT for everyone else to have to provide ID just to access social media.
That's right! (That's what we/you were talking about, wasn't it?)
Compel the major devices and OSes to have the feature you suggested.
Make it a requirement for all devices, and available to all users. Give parents the *option* to 'lock down' or 'age restrict' a device.
The government should otherwise steer away from their likely dystopian solution.
50% of Zagorath's name is 'rath'... as in 'wrath'.
Beware the wrath of Zagorath!
Oh, I do agree with you, Zag!
I detest the notion of citizens having to provide ID, and solutions - at the device or OS level - could be implemented.
It should be a responsibility of parents to limit the social media access by their children, and NOT the 'surveillance state' solution of compelling the entire population to hand over their 'Australia Card' just to crap on about something here!
The 'ID is required for beer and smokes' example is misleading.
Most adults are NOT required to provide ID to purchase such items. Only those who look "Under 25 years" *may* be required to produce ID, and even then, that ID is NOT recorded. (An exception may the the NT for alcohol sales.)
Requiring the citizenry to provide ID to either a social media entity OR via a government controlled gateway is something that must NOT be tolerated.
A requirement such as this will 'chill' free speech, weaken our democracy, and undoubtedly expose our personal information to hackers.
It's akin to allowing a person to purchase a pen, paper, envelope, and stamps - but then demanding the writer present both their ID and the unsealed letter at a Post Office, so that one's written words may be recorded against one's name.
To paraphrase Robert Bolt, it's akin to "cutting down privacy to protect children from the devil".
If you wish to argue in favour of this incoming law, do so *after* you've sent a copy of your ID to me.
Yeah. I used to encounter something akin to the 'fall back' solution when trying to watch the odd video on YT. (The video would usually be something as innocuous as 'Bambi Meets Godzilla'... and f**king Google would want me to Sign In to view it. No.)
No matter how the government tries to protect our community's 'precious little darlings' within a week or two, some teenager will release a fully encrypted app that's onboarded by 'invitation only', where they'll collectively plan to kill us all in our beds!
Methinks Zag was suggesting (possibly) that 'age verification' should be a *device* and *operating system* (& platform) feature that would be *inactive* by default.
In other words, there should be nothing for an adult (without kids) to do in order for their devices to function as they do now.
A parent would be required to activate a 'child lock' feature on a device before handing it to their kids.
Unfortunately, all governments are too chicken-shit scared to compel parents to do this small thing.
Governments *prefer* the option of compelling ALL users to provide 'age verification' (possibly Gov't issued ID) to the relevant platforms.
For the 'Liberals' this would be a natural extension of their right wing fascism.
For the Labor party, it's merely a reflection of their general incompetence.
Yeah, cool!
I know nothing about radioactive contamination in the environment.
I was merely commenting on the 'fearmongering' aspect.
It should (hopefully) be uncommon to see 'fearmongering' or 'click bait' from The Guardian, but everyone should be alert to 'alarmist' language.
The Guardian was perhaps unclear that:
Some sites have 4x the 'nominal background radiation', and
Some sites have up to 4500x the 'nominal background radiation'.
But, I don't think The Guardian was 'fearmongering'...
😁
I'm going to continue to stay away from all radioactive sources while preparing my banana smoothies on a granite bench top, and smoking the odd cigarette!
I couldn't possibly be exposed to any form of radiation from those activities!
☢️
Well, not quite fearmongering but certainly an unclear sentence that was derived from the study's abstract.
Multiple sites were tested, and the range of contamination across those sites was "four to 4,500 times higher in the Montebello Islands than the WA coastline..."
In short, 'bad' in some places, 'very, very bad' in others.
You said, "Oh…OH!"
Yes, precisely. That is how one may express, in word form, the vocal utterances of a user of such objects at the culmination or 'climax' of the experience.
Well... so I've heard...
No, nothing wrong.
However, due to their shape, there is the delightful possibility of the misapplication of said vegetables as a particular variety of adult toy.
(Everyone's mind went there... didn't it? Didn't it?)
No. Not really.
If 'crap' is made, it won't be sold unless people wish to buy 'crap'.
My point is that the quality of goods made in China has got *nothing* to do with racism and *everything* to do with buyers' price expectations, buyers' notions of acceptable quality, and market forces.
In this instance, the buyer (not the OP) 'took a chance' with a cheaper product which failed immediately. If sufficient buyers of this product demand and obtain refunds, the manufacturer would be forced to either stop making them or possibly increase their unit price with a concomitant increase in quality.
The reason that smartphones of high quality come out of China is because that is what is demanded by the buyers and with regard to the price they are willing to pay.
China does make a LOT of really low quality goods. However...
... those goods are made to the quality specified by the importer / wholesaler / buyer...
... because 'cheap' goods are often preferred over 'more expensive but higher quality' goods...
... by the people who buy them.
Which is probably what happened in this case!
I *think* that most Ming dynasty vases are still 'under warranty'!
Appreciable difference? Not really. But a 'calculable' difference. Sure!
However, be sure to appreciate the HUGE difference of the landmasses in the northern and southern hemispheres.
The primary way heat "gets into" our atmosphere is via re-radiation from the "ground".
Compare the amount of "ground" between N45° and the North Pole, with that of the amount of "ocean" between S45° and the South Pole.
At perihelion (around 4th Jan.) the southern hemisphere is in summertime, but the southern oceans easily absorb any extra solar energy by being 'a little bit closer to the sun'. It's roughly equivalent to having the energy used by an extra 5000 cars arrive as solar radiation... and for *most* of that solar energy be absorbed by the ocean.
The tiny (almost insignificant) effect the earth's orbital eccentricity has on weather and climate is FAR less than that of our planet's axial tilt and the position of our continental land masses.
But, sure, if some researchers wish to tweak the underlying data used for the Milankovitch cycles, then, fine.
But our world is still on fire, and our children's future will be ashes unless we act now.
Ummm...
"No, it’s not the angle."
Wrong. Axial tilt IS what causes our seasons, NOT the distance from the sun.
Speaking of the sun, "The sun’s orbit isn’t exactly symetrical..."
The sun's orbit? Around what? The centre of the Milky Way?
Some more "research" materials regarding unrecognised "micronations":
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronation
As usual, Australia punches above its weight in this regard...
@TheCriticalMember
Ah! Cool!
Thanks for clarifying.
When that article was being written and edited, I'll bet there was a moment someone said, "You can't remove that line; that's a load-bearing phrase."
@TheCriticalMember Did you read the article?
Where did you obtain the information regarding the lifespan of a wooden bridge?
To quote the article:
Built for a century
Sunshine Coast Council structures and asset management engineer Simon Prytherick says 17 of the region's existing 138 vehicle bridges are constructed from timber.
"It's a material that, with proper care and maintenance, can last up to 100 years," he says.
"Timber is a fantastic choice for bridge construction, due to its sustainability."
"It can be recycled and reused, has a low carbon footprint, and even stores carbon, making it an environmentally friendly option."
Mr Prytherick says the council accounted for the challenges of termites, rotting and corrosion around bolts and fittings, and had preventative measures for each.
He says council undertakes annual inspections and maintenance, with more detailed cross-sectional inspections every five years.
It might be about time to leverage the "Commonwealth of Nations" into a formal military pact.
Then the USA would be up against not one, not two, but THREE countries with nuclear weapons.
Fuse Views @infosec.exchange Ex-mil, ex-sec, ex-treme, & ex-plosive. Go ahead. Squeeze me. Crack that vial and watch the fireworks erupt.
Ditching Windows as it has become spyware and adware. Flipping to Linux.
\#defenestrate \#defenestrating \#defenestration \#defenestratewindows \#linux