Tau
@Tau@aussie.zone
- Comment on We are seeing some vote manipulation 5 days ago:
Admins can (I believe) see all votes, full stop
This is correct, with the caveat that the votes must have federated with the admin’s instance (so other instances need a user to be subscribed to the community in question, and votes can take time to flow through).
- Comment on (Opinion) A shameful death after a supermarket scuffle shines a light on Australia’s unfinished business | Julianne Schultz 1 week 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.
- Comment on (Opinion) A shameful death after a supermarket scuffle shines a light on Australia’s unfinished business | Julianne Schultz 1 week ago:
Pretty sure that’s an embellishment, but I can’t say I ever dived into that particular rabbit hole.
- Comment on (Opinion) A shameful death after a supermarket scuffle shines a light on Australia’s unfinished business | Julianne Schultz 1 week 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…
- Comment on Opinion: Labor’s tweak to superannuation affects only the wealthiest Australians. To argue against it is misguided 2 weeks 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).
- Comment on Sound it out: Victorian children improve reading ‘leaps and bounds’ thanks to phonics 3 weeks ago:
It seems odd that they’re talking about phonics being a recent thing. At the risk of dating myself I remember a phonics based system being used when I was in primary school in the late 90s, though I couldn’t tell you much more since that’s a while ago now and I generally spent my time in those lessons reading rather than paying attention anyway. Did it drop out of use in the meantime or something?
- Comment on NSW National Parks seeking feedback on proposed changes re. camping fees and bookings 1 month ago:
Parks does often give the impression that they’d rather the plebs didn’t actually go into their parks, but I think them booking ghost camps might be a step too far given they could just reduce the nominal capacity further to get the same effect.
I would bet the vast majority of the problem is your second option of people booking out campgrounds to avoid others (with a side helping of those who aren’t sure which day they want to go out so they book all options). Looking at who has a record of cancelling bookings would probably allow one to cut out a lot of this as I suspect you’d find a bunch of repeat offenders.
- Comment on NSW National Parks seeking feedback on proposed changes re. camping fees and bookings 1 month ago:
Closer to cities where demand is higher, the campsites are more desirable and therefore the ghost booking issue is worse. A higher fee discourages that. On the downside, you pay more for convenience of not having to drive far.
The tier system described appears to be more based on available facilities though rather than visitor numbers, while it does mention demand in passing this isn’t quantified and the tier table shown works off facilities/servicing.
I would agree there does tend to be correlation between high demand campgrounds and highly serviced ones so you do have a point with high prices being necessary to some extent. I do think though that applying a state wide pricing system will end up with noticeably higher prices in a lot of places not near the major centres (or the major attractions).
- Comment on NSW National Parks seeking feedback on proposed changes re. camping fees and bookings 1 month ago:
The removal of fees and bookings for the unserviced and largely unmanaged tier of campgrounds is a welcome change, I did not like it when they introduced these.
Not getting 100% of the booking charge back sounds like it should cut down on people booking when they don’t actually mean to turn up, so I’d say that’s reasonable.
I have reservations about how expensive the higher tier charges are though, even the mid tiers are getting pricey for what’s supposed to be a cheap activity.
- NSW National Parks seeking feedback on proposed changes re. camping fees and bookingswww.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au ↗Submitted 1 month ago to australia@aussie.zone | 8 comments
- Comment on Where will my vote go? 2 months ago:
When it comes to preferences they go to the parties/candidates in the order that you number them. Others can suggest where you send your preferences (how to vote cards being the typical method) but ultimately it’s up to you.
For the house of reps if a third party doesn’t will the seat you will ultimately end up voting for Labour or Liberals, because you have to number all the boxes. You’ll have to decide which you like more (or least) and number accordingly. In the senate you can potentially exhaust your vote before reaching the majors (assuming you reach the minimum numbering before getting to them) but unless you truly believe both majors are the same I’d advise including them.
If you vote above the line in the senate your preferences follow party lines as you have numbered them (i.e. preferences will count towards the candidates for the first party you number, then the second and so forth). You still control what parties you’re voting for and what order.
- Comment on Why wooden bridges still have a place despite upkeep challenges 2 months ago:
It was always a shame watching the old timber bridges around the Mid North Coast get replaced with the comparatively soulless concrete designs when I lived up there, nice to see that some are escaping that treatment.
- Submitted 2 months ago to australia@aussie.zone | 5 comments
- Comment on Women earn 78 cents for every $1 men paid on average. 3 months ago:
The gender pay gap is not about “equal pay for equal work”
Indeed, it seems to be primarily about making rage bait headlines.
Women work less hours on average, with considerably more working part time and those who work full time working less hours than men overall (so less overtime pay). What are you going to do to fix that gap, force women to work more? Between that and less women choosing to work in various higher paid and dangerous jobs (e.g. trades, mining) it’s no wonder there’s a difference.
- Comment on We need faster speed limits in Australia - and I'm not saying that because I'm a hoon | Opinion - Car News 3 months ago:
Indeed, so now both the roads and cars are a lot safer I would be very happy to increase speed limits - particularly on highways and country roads. The idea that speed is the root of all evil however has been pushed enough that an unfortunate amount of people believe it, as can be seen by how this post has been dogpiled with downvotes despite the article presenting a quite sensible view. I even got several downvotes for pointing out that cars are actually safer now than in the 70s, as if that was somehow a contentious point of view.
- Comment on We need faster speed limits in Australia - and I'm not saying that because I'm a hoon | Opinion - Car News 3 months ago:
I could live with that tradeoff, but I’d have to see the regional speeds raised first because I don’t believe that would actually happen given how risk-averse our governments are. Instead regional roads keep getting their speed limits lowered and any suggestion of raising them raises cries of outrage - typically from people who aren’t even in the area and who get scared of driving in areas without streetlights.
- Comment on Australia bans DeepSeek on government devices over security risk 3 months ago:
That is unfortunately true, for example I find it sadly impressive that one has a good chance of getting classified info simply by starting an argument on the War Thunder forums…
- Comment on Australia bans DeepSeek on government devices over security risk 3 months ago:
I’m not familiar with them, though I did just have a quick browse of wikipedia and their privacy page. From that minimal impression I’d rate their online service as better than DeepSeek (they do claim your data is not used for training, stored in Sweden, encrypted, and deleted after 30 days) but ultimately it’s still got the same problem as other providers in that you have to just believe they’ll actually follow what they say they do. For use with your own personal info this might be an acceptable risk if the company seems reputable otherwise, on the other end of the scale for anything security classified it’d be way too much risk.
- Comment on Australia bans DeepSeek on government devices over security risk 3 months ago:
You’d have to be mad to put important information into any AI model unless you’re hosting it locally and know it isn’t sending info anywhere (the latter being the hard part to verify). All of the online AI services really should be blocked if departments/companies are taking security seriously.
- Comment on Australia spends $714 per person on roads every year – but just 90 cents goes to walking, wheeling and cycling 4 months ago:
We don’t do them anywhere near as much as America does but since I believe you’re around Brisbane I can pretty much guarantee you’ve driven on concrete roads (it’d be a lot less likely if you lived in Woop Woop). Look for it on primary routes that get a lot of heavy vehicle traffic - for example head south on the Pacific Highway and you’ll find large sections of concrete.
- Comment on Australia spends $714 per person on roads every year – but just 90 cents goes to walking, wheeling and cycling 4 months ago:
My point was that if you’re writing an article talking about how much Australians spend on cycling/walking infrastructure you should at least mention that federal numbers are not the whole picture and that federal is not the level of government that is going to cover most of said infrastructure. Omitting this smacks of the author just looking for a low number to draw attention/outrage.
- Comment on Australia spends $714 per person on roads every year – but just 90 cents goes to walking, wheeling and cycling 4 months ago:
Why are they focussing on federal funding only? I would expect federal funding to go largely to the sorts of roads which are important on a broad scale but less desirable for cycling or walking - freeways, highways, major arterial roads, and so forth. State and local government is the level I would expect to find the majority of cycling and walking investment, it seems odd that these are omitted.
- Comment on We need faster speed limits in Australia - and I'm not saying that because I'm a hoon | Opinion - Car News 4 months ago:
I mean I won’t disagree with this, I am definitely of the opinion that people should be taught more driving skills.
I do doubt though that we’d end up with a useful course even if further training was mandated, so I am dubious as to the outcome of such a scheme. I say this as someone who’s been through a few licencing courses with a motorbike licence, MR licence, and forklift licence (and various other high risk or work related training courses). The truck licence didn’t really teach me anything new and was just a case of driving around making it look like you’re checking blind spots etc, the forklift licence was incredibly basic, and the theory part of stuff life the forklift and goods hoist license was basically served up to us on a silver platter rather than requiring learning. The motorbike courses at least tried to explain a bunch of basic concepts and handling but was stymied in practice by only being allowed to go 20km/h max in a carpark (after which feel free to head out out and do 90km/h on busy roads…).
- Comment on We need faster speed limits in Australia - and I'm not saying that because I'm a hoon | Opinion - Car News 4 months ago:
About the only thing on that front that’s changed since the 70s have been improved breaks
Actually the biggest difference there is modern tyres. These are considerably better than those in the 70s - for an easy visualisation compare MotoGP lean angles and cornering speed from that era to what even consumer sport touring motorcycle tyres can handle these days (they weren’t cornering so comparatively slow for no reason, the tyres were the main limiting factor).
You also have modern suspension making a marked improvement on road handling, ABS making it so a chimpanzee can get the best braking without skidding, and in the last decade or so ESC has been making a notable difference to stability under braking and swerving. All together the average modern car will outbrake and outhandle an average 70s car by a long shot, particularly when not driven by an expert.
- Comment on We need faster speed limits in Australia - and I'm not saying that because I'm a hoon | Opinion - Car News 4 months ago:
The claim that vehicles are newer and safer because they have new technologies is also pretty shaky
A significant proportion of cars do have the mentioned features though, blind spot monitoring is a nice easy one to notice and you’ll see a lot of cars do have it when you’re driving around.
Even without these specific features though modern cars are much safer than cars were when our speed limits were set. This even applies to cars now considered old - my own car for example now qualifies for historic rego and can drive quite safely at 130km/h (and is both less likely to get into a crash and much more survivable in the event of one than any 70s car).
Back when the 100km/h limit was set this was actually a fast speed for the cars and roads of the era. Now it is not - speed limits have become a recommended speed rather than anywhere near the limits of safety +assuming average car and normal conditions). Highway/freeway limits in particular are well due for an increase rather than the decreases (literally and effectively) they keep receiving.
- We need faster speed limits in Australia - and I'm not saying that because I'm a hoon | Opinion - Car Newswww.carsguide.com.au ↗Submitted 4 months ago to australia@aussie.zone | 34 comments
- Comment on Prime ministers' heads severed and stolen from bronze statues in Ballarat 4 months ago:
do you even know about your own history, and the history of this so-called country? Invasion Day celebrates the anniversary of Cook’s invasion of these lands.
My irony meter just overloaded…
- Comment on Prime ministers' heads severed and stolen from bronze statues in Ballarat 4 months ago:
but also knocking off Rudds head? That doesn’t make much sense.
We are talking about the sort of people who both think vandalism like this will reflect well upon their cause and continue to attack a statue of Cook around Australia Day when there’s a much more relevant statue of Arthur Phillip just a bit further down the road. I think you’re giving them too much credit to expect they’d differentiate Rudd for doing the National Apology.
- Comment on TIL: Deer are popping off down here 4 months ago:
They were becoming a pest up on the mid north coast 20 years ago when I was a kid, used to sneak up and nibble at stuff in the house paddock at night time (as an aside they make a weird noise when disturbed). Hate to think how many must be in the bush up there now.
More recently I’ve seen a few bouncing across the road heading through the forestry areas on the way to Bega. Hope they don’t become too common as hitting one would be even worse damage/safety wise than collecting a large kangaroo and I do go up and down that way reasonably often.
- Comment on What does it take to finish the Hunt 1000 bikepacking adventure? 5 months ago:
The Starks do look nice - it’s good to see more ADR compliant bikes come out. I’ve actually been tossing around the idea of getting a Surron Ultra Bee for a while as I think it’d be good for single track and more technical fire trails (light weight and enough power/range, though would ultimately want a 21/18" wheel setup instead of 19/19"). Range is something that would have to be planned around for fire trail exploration (definitely still more limiting than petrol bikes) but for single track within an area the Ultra Bee would work well for me (I take my bike back and forth in the van already, and generally clock up <50km).
The more powerful e-MTBs also seem a good idea for exploring behind gates, I do keep a bit of an eye out for these on the secondhand market as if I found a cheap good one I’d consider it. It’d have to have both decent power and range though as 250w doesn’t really do that much going up steep hills and I wouldn’t want to be pedalling the added weight back without charge for the motor.