Instigate
@Instigate@aussie.zone
- Comment on Platypuses 1 month ago:
And their venom HURTS. They’re not particularly deadly or anything but their venom will land you in the hospital or at least laid up in bed for a while. My stepmother grew up out in the bush in NSW the ‘70s and received one of the few recorded platypus envenomations and she described it as the most painful experience of her life. She said childbirth was a breeze compared to the platypus sting!
- Comment on Stoke-on-Trent couple fined £1,200 after clearing up rubbish 3 months ago:
Agreed, but rather than take it to the tip (and therefore have to pay fees to dump anyway) just don’t put your name on the box. Be the anonymous hero that the council needs, but very much does not deserve.
So glad to hear their fundraising outstripped the fines! If council won’t reward them (as they so obviously should have), I’m glad that the people rallied to do so.
- Comment on Stoke-on-Trent couple fined £1,200 after clearing up rubbish 3 months ago:
You’re totally right, but I wish we lived in a world where leaving your name on that box would lead to a reward rather than a punishment. I can’t understand a council wanting to not only fail to incentivise, but actively disincentivise works of public good, except that it gave them an opportunity to extract more revenue. It’s a really, really sad state of affairs.
- Comment on What’s really inside vapes? We pulled them apart to find out 4 months ago:
Did you buy freebase or salts? And what mg/mL did you dose at? I still use my reusable vape and dose my own and have dosed both freebase and salts - what MalReynolds says is the truth. The salt has a much lower throat-hit, which has allowed the disposable vape companies to jack up the mg/mL to 50+ which is just fucking insane territory. A friend of mine dosed his own with nicotine salts at 50mg/mL to compare and it gave that exact head spin you’re talking about. It’s a combination of the dosage and use of nicotine salt that does it.
- Comment on Does the Coalition’s case for nuclear power stack up? We factcheck seven key claims 4 months ago:
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Coalition has made a range of claims about what nuclear energy could do for Australia, and why it is better than building solar and wind.
What is the reality?
They lied.
I’m a human and fuck the LNP.
- Comment on Yass Queen 4 months ago:
Like I said mate, fair call. If he’s your ally, then so be it.
- Comment on Yass Queen 4 months ago:
Fair call mate, he might be your ally but sadly he’s not mine. I’m not sure if you’re LGBTQIA+, but if you’ve spent time in the community you’ll know that not even all of those who identify as queer or non-cis support one another. To the best of my knowledge May doesn’t openly identify as queer himself, and thinking that he’s an ally just because he’s been friends with gay and/or bi men isn’t necessarily the best indicator that he’s an ally to all peoples. Personally, I feel like that argument is pretty similar to “I can’t be racist because I have a ____ friend”.
- Comment on Yass Queen 4 months ago:
Probed on whether Queen would be able to win a BRIT gong in 2021, he was reported to have responded:
“We would be forced to have people of different colours and different sexes and we would have to have a trans [person]. You know life doesn’t have to be like that. We can be separate and different.”
Apparently he was ‘ambushed’ and ‘stitched up’ and his words were ‘subtly twisted’ but he never stated what his original words were, if they were different from the quote. I’m not usually a fan of people who use terms like “a trans” or who lament “cancel culture” because gendered categories are removed from awards ceremonies.
- Comment on Physics 6 months ago:
Mathematics is the only true science.
Physics is applied mathematics.
Chemistry is applied physics.
Biology is applied chemistry.
Psychology is applied biology.
Sociology is applied psychology.
Et al.
- Comment on Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House, judge finds on balance of probabilities 6 months ago:
When Mr Lehrmann faced criminal trial for sexual assault in the ACT Supreme Court in 2022, he was provided with material that both parties could have used to mount their arguments.
This material was not meant to be made public, because it was never used in open court. This is known as the Hearne v Street obligation.
However, it aired on the Seven Network’s exclusive Spotlight interview with Mr Lehrmann.
Mr Lehrmann repeatedly gave evidence in his defamation case, on at least four occasions, that he did not provide Seven with anything more than an interview.
Justice Lee said he was “satisfied” Mr Lehrmann made false representations to the court about at least part of this material.
“In the absence of any other explanation, the inescapable conclusion is that Mr Lehrmann provided access to Mr Llewellyn to the relevant photographs,” he said.
While conceding he was “not some sort of roving law enforcement official”, Justice Lee left the door open for another court to pursue the alleged breach of the Hearne v Street obligation.
There seems to be a potential new path of legal inquiry here aside from any potential new case by the ACT. Punishments aren’t severe, but he could basically be found in contempt of court and fined or (unlikely) imprisoned.
- Comment on Spider cats 7 months ago:
So it looks like the frogs mentioned in this meme are microhylids, and for some further info:
Crocraft & Hambler (1989) noted that the frog seemed to benefit from living in proximity to the spider by eating the small invertebrates that were attracted to prey remains left by the spider. The frog presumably also benefits by receiving protection: small frogs like this are preyed on by snakes and large arthropods, yet on this occasion we have a frog that receives a sort of ‘protection’ from a large, formidable spider bodyguard. Hunt (1980) suggested that the spider might gain benefit from the presence of the frog: microhylids specialise on eating ants, and ants are one of the major predators of spider eggs. By eating ants, the microhylids might help protect the spider’s eggs.
This is also super cute behaviour:
Young spiders have sometimes been observed to grab the frogs, examine them with their mouthparts, and then release them unharmed.
Apparently the spiders’ protectiveness can also be pretty overt:
Karunarathna & Amarasinghe (2009) reported how several Poecilotheria were seen attacking individuals of Hemidactylus depressus (a gecko) after the latter tried eating the eggs of the frogs the spiders were sharing their tree holes with.
And some ideas on why this might be an example of mutualistic behaviour rather than commensalism:
…the spider seems to benefit in that the frogs eat the ants that might ordinarily attack the spider’s eggs. Due to their small size, ants are presumably difficult for the spiders to deal with, and they might be effectively helpless against them.
- Comment on Rental affordability has gone from record highs to record lows in the space of three years. What went wrong? 8 months ago:
I think a change that’s very easy to make, will have some impact, and would draw far less pushback than more extreme measures would be to have landlords forced to report all of their costs, earnings and capital gains related to their property either directly to the tenant(s) or on a publicly accessible register on a regular basis. Prospective tenants would be armed with more information and would be able to know if their landlords are bullshitting with related to costs. Companies could create lists where they rank landlords based on how much profit they leech from their tenants. People would be able to know if they’re renting from someone who owns one additional property or fifty-three.
It won’t make a massive difference, but it’s a low-cost and fairly easily implementable measure that could be taken as part of a broader suite of measures.
- Comment on NSW Police commissioner begins process to dismiss murder-accused officer from the force 8 months ago:
NSW Police has released an unusual amount of detail about the crime and the role of the accused, including information that might be considered prejudicial to receiving a fair trial.
Commissioner Karen Webb says she’s prioritising transparency.
“It is a complex and unusual matter and certainly,” she said “I think it’s important that the public knows that I’m happy to be transparent as I can be about this.”
Fuck right off. Cops have never chosen to be transparent without being forced to. This is a clear effort to undermine the potential case against him. If it falls down because of prejudicial information leaks, Webb needs to be charged and gaoled for perverting the course of justice.
- Comment on EU to fine Apple about $500 million for anticompetitive App Store policy in music streaming market 8 months ago:
Well, yes and no. Paying that fine once would just be a cost of doing business, but now that the precedent has been set if they continue to do it they’ll continue to get fined in that order. Those fines won’t need court cases, so they’ll need to be paid quickly and in full. Sure, the fine they received didn’t really hurt them but it will change their behaviour. It will also prevent others from engaging in the same behaviour.
I don’t think the EU wants to bankrupt companies like Apple - it’s not in the collective best interest. They need to guide behaviour by setting up punishments that are deterring but not destructive. I think €500m fits that pretty well - it’s akin to giving a child a timeout while their friends play or a smack on the back of the hand. It’s doing what it’s intended to do.
- Comment on Sony is erasing digital libraries that were supposed to be accessible “forever” 8 months ago:
Then put the games onto high-storage solid-state cartridges like Nintendo does. There’s no reason to be limited by existing technology like Blu-Ray except for laziness. Hell, they could even just put an SD card reader in as the physical game tray and put games onto SD cards if they’re that lazy and don’t want to spend on R&D.
Removing the capacity to have physical copies of games at all is always a bad move that is disingenuously masked with a “but the world is going all digital!” all the while knowing that this gives them greater control over things we’re supposed to own.
- Comment on No evidence of antisemitic chant at pro-Palestinian Sydney protest, police find 9 months ago:
I think the solution is to clarify that the veracity of the claim has not yet been independently verified, as is practice for wartime reporting and coverage of natural disasters.
“ABC News has received the following video allegedly showing the event, but ABC journalists have not been able to receive independent verification of the claim(s) or the accuracy of what is depicted and spoken”.
- Comment on pontificus maximus 9 months ago:
Honestly? Nah. Jesus wouldn’t be hanging with Satanists because that would be preaching to the converted - His work is already done. Fact is that Jesus likely would spend his time with right-wing Christofascists, but he would spend all of his time trying to convince them why they’re wrong. He’d be crucified again, but that’s kinda His deal. He hung out with vagrants and prostitutes because those were the ones who needed Him most; these days the ones who need Him most are the false Christians.
- Comment on Wikimedia Foundation calls on US Supreme Court to strike laws that threaten Wikipedia 11 months ago:
I think it’s even better to compare the US with other federated nations - Canada, Australia, Russia, Brazil, India, Argentina etc. as they’re all constitutional nations of federated states with separations of power between the federation and the individual states.
- Comment on World of Goo 2 - Official Trailer 1 11 months ago:
Little Inferno was a great concept, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. At that time I had never even heard of a game like it! Of course the genre has definitely expanded since then, but I honestly think Little Inferno was more novel than World of Goo (although I absolutely loved WoG too!)
- Comment on [deleted] 11 months ago:
I never stated nor implied that spelling and grammar are a marker of intelligence - just a marker of being able to retain and use simple information. This was absolutely directed towards neurotypical people, and I probably should have mentioned dyslexia as an example of where this logic doesn’t follow.
It needs to be used to discriminate in fields that require abundantly clear communication urgently. I’m a child protection caseworker who does nothing but write up reports all day; if I had dyslexia I’d need serious accommodations to be able to perform the role at the level expected by the taxpayer who pays my salary. It absolutely can be done, but they’d likely need to hire a whole other person just to scribe. Have a look through my comment history; I’m well aware of dyslexia and its effects as I used to scribe for a friend in uni.
- Comment on [deleted] 11 months ago:
While that may be true, it’s a reasonable indicator of a person’s capacity to hear new information and then incorporate that into practice. If they’ve been told that they’re spelling a word wrong but then either can’t integrate that new knowledge or actively choose not to follow it, you’ve got someone who is either wilfully ignorant or lacks some capacity to integrate new information. Either that, or dyslexia.
Also, it genuinely depends on the work you do. My role has me writing up anywhere between 5-10,000 words worth of reports per day - proper spelling and grammar is key for competence in this role. I’ve seen reports where seemingly innocuous spelling mistakes completely change the meaning of text. Writing ‘can’ instead of ‘can’t’ and vice versa is an immediate example that comes to mind. I know this is an engineering grad, but clear communication is important in every role that includes managers, teams or other stakeholders.
- Comment on Not if the lack of grammar and education gets you first... 11 months ago:
Add a dash of oil and a sprinkle of crushed almonds to that masterpiece and you’ve got yourself one tasty word salad. Yum yum.
- Comment on The actors who have played this iconic role 11 months ago:
J O N K E R
- Comment on Did you knew that? [This is on Next Level] 11 months ago:
That’s so strange to me. Living in Australia, we face very similar periodic drought conditions that California faces as well. Rather than being discouraged from capturing rainwater to use, we’re actively encouraged to do so, with many governments previously offering subsidies for rainwater tanks particularly during drought times. We have specific colourings for rainwater taps (purple) and you can buy signs to put up in your yard that say that you use rainwater, so people don’t get mad if you’re watering your lawn. These subsidies were usually alongside heavy water restrictions including not being able to water lawns; not watering plants during daylight hours; not using a hose to wash your car (a pressure washer from a bucket is allowed) etc.
- Comment on anyone tried sweet potato beer? 11 months ago:
Any fermented, malted starch drink is technically a beer. Chicha which is made entirely on corn is an ancient native Americas drink; many South-East Asian countries make rice lagers or ales; authentic ginger beer ferments raw sugars and ginger; gluten-free beers are often made with rice, sorghum, quinoa or other non-wheat and non-barley grains. There’s a plethora of different beers out there made with very different ingredients that all share the same brewing process.
So, yes, as long as you were able to malt the sweet potato to induce sugars that you then ferment using yeast without distillation, you’re producing beer.
- Comment on Is the right to abortion a "negative right" or a "positive right"? 11 months ago:
The issue when discussing abortion is that there is no generally accepted point in which a blastocyst/zygote/foetus becomes a fully-fledged, sentient being. Some argue that the point of conception instills personhood; others make arguments based upon how developed a foetus is and if it has differentiated sensory organs; some make an arbitrary distinction based on the elapsing of time; and others still agree that personhood is conveyed only once a baby is born and survives labour.
Those arguing this point have a tendency to become entrenched in their opinions, be it because of religious or cultural norms, or even just the basic human condition of stubbornness. This creates permanent rifts between people who share FAR more in common than they differ.
My personal opinion is a technocratic one - I don’t believe that this decision should be made by anyone other than relevant medical professional(s) and the pregnant person. That means that legislatively (or constitutionally), I’m advocating for no legal restrictions on abortions whatsoever and empowering health professionals to determine what is reasonable or safe.
This position is often (intentionally) misunderstood as not believing that the unborn have rights as well - they absolutely do. I’m a child protection caseworker and we regularly work with pregnant people who show signs there may be risk of harm after birth (issues like substance abuse, mental health issues, domestic violence, disability without sufficient support etc.) in order to preserve the best start to life that an unborn child can have. I just don’t accept that there are any circumstances under which the right of an unborn child trumps professional medical opinions. Doctors are best placed to determine when and if an abortion is appropriate or necessary.
Each individual maintains the right to not have an abortion forced on them, but then gains the right to engage in an abortion if it’s medically safe and sound.
- Comment on I've failed this November's challenge 1 year ago:
Is the car in this meme flying above another car? What’s that thing on the road with a different orientation? Also, the car looks like a left-hand drive but the car is flying over the left lane. I’m so confused.
- Comment on No, Okta, senior management, not an errant employee, caused you to get hacked 1 year ago:
You could use a semicolon rather than a fullstop as well:
“No, Okta; it was senior management, not an errant employee, that caused you to get hacked.”
That may help elucidate the meaning better while maintaining a single sentence, as is par for the course with headlines.
- Comment on YouTube Premium family plan price update ($17.99/month -> $32.99/month!) 1 year ago:
This is what I don’t understand either - as someone who stopped using Youtube the day that they brought ads in (except for watching embedded videos elsewhere as they don’t have ads), I haven’t been exposed to the long-form enshittification others have experienced and so maybe that’s why I don’t get it, but who is using Youtube for hours on end and what are they watching? Is it just conspiracy theorists falling further and further down the rabbit hole? I really don’t know.
- Comment on Scarlett Johansson hits AI app with legal action for cloning her voice in an ad | An AI-generated version of Scarlett Johansson’s voice appeared in an online ad without her consent. 1 year ago:
Voice alone? It might be very difficult to claim you have a unique voice unless you’re Gilbert Gottfried or Bobcat Goldthwait. The issue in this ad was that it showed a real clip of Johansson saying ‘follow me’ before the images cut to something else and the AI-copy Johansson voice continued. The fake voice was heavily insinuated to be Johansson because it picked up where a real clip of Johansson left off.
It would be very hard to prove a person intended to mimic a specific person when creating an AI voice unless it’s accompanied by corroborating imagery.