Our compulsory and full preferential voting mean that apathy does not matter to anywhere near the same degree as in most other countries.

Then he, probably rightly criticises Mather for pushing too hard, then failing, for a pyrrhic victory in a political fight on the job

Does he? I don’t really read it as that at all. I read it as him suggesting Chandler-Mather was let down by the Greens as a whole, because while he took a strong stance on an important issue, the Greens as a whole, particularly in other states (claims Jono), were much softer on that issue in particular.

I think the fact is that the Greens can never win with a small-target, modest reform approach. The right-wing media in this country will always ensure they are perceived as extremist, and any attempt to appear otherwise will simply fail to meaningfully attract the target audience while alienating people who do want to see more radical change. So to win power they need to take strong stances that make people excited to vote for them.

Queensland’s unique public holiday this year is the Ekka holiday, which will fall on Wednesday, August 12.

Well, no. Brisbane has the Ekka holiday. Other parts of Qld have different show days. Starting with this Friday in Stanthorpe.

It was literally his mission to find land to steal and place the natives under British rule

Actually, it ends up looking even worse for Cook. His instructions specifically said:

You are also with the Consent of the Natives to take Possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the King of Great Britain: Or: if you find the Country uninhabited take Possession for his Majesty by setting up Proper Marks and Inscriptions, as first discoverers and possessors.

So either he ignored the Crown’s instructions to get “consent”, or he (and not later colonists) is the original source of claims of terra nullius.

I misread that as “Win 11 runs Linux and macOS apps better than ever” and was ready to sarcastically point out that Linux runs Linux apps better too.

I was gonna spend the time this evening or over the weekend writing it, since I’ve been pretty hectic this week. But since the Greens have seemingly already gotten the message and are opposing it in its current form for pretty much the reasons I would have been listing, I don’t think it necessary anymore.

I’m gonna say, I don’t like the use of LLMs to replace real artists, but IP law is not an appropriate vehicle to stop it happening. AIs trained on pirated material should face the consequences for that, but scraping publicly available (not the same as public domain) material is ethically no different to human artists taking inspiration from that same material. It’s the output that needs to be restricted, not the input.

Like the Eyrie building in Gargoyles!

Honestly your first picture could also be a good example to demonstrate ring species, which are a great countertexample to the “reproduce to produce fertile offspring” definition of species.

Damn, this is mega disappointing. I’ve moved so my local MP is no longer Greens, but I haven’t updated my address on the electoral roll so I might write to her, and to the Greens Senators, to express my disappointment at this.

I’ll also just re-share here the text of a fantastic Facebook post that came out a week ago, before Albo capitulated:

A Royal Commission is for systemic, nationwide failure not a single criminal act like the Bondi Shooting

Australia only uses Royal Commissions when normal oversight has completely failed, causing widespread harm over years not localised to one region, city or state.

Examples:

• Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

  • Most expensive ever (~$535 million)
  • Decades of abuse across churches, schools, state institutions

• Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability

  • ~$300–350 million
  • Widespread abuse and neglect across care, health, justice, NDIS

• Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety
  – ~$110–120 million
  – System found to be unsafe, neglectful, and failing nationally

• Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme
  – ~$60 million
  – An unlawful government scheme that harmed hundreds of thousands

The Bondi attack was a single act of violence by an individual.

It is already subject to:

• Police investigation
• Coroner’s inquest
• Independent reviews

Unless evidence shows repeated ignored warnings, systemic government failure, or nationwide negligence, a Royal Commission is not justified.

Calling one without proof of systemic failure is political theatre, wastes public money, and retraumatises families.

Facts first. Evidence first. Accountability where it belongs.

I highly doubt they’d do it this blatantly if they were not confident this is an easy sell

I mean, I would have agreed with you, except we’ve also just recently seen even more blatant and indefensible union-busting from Rockstar in the UK, another country with good labour laws, and another country with more than adequate legal resources.

I think you’re probably right that Ubisoft has sufficient legal cover to win this case, but that’s because of the merits of this case, not because a big company from a country with good laws could never do something stupidly illegal.

How is their site (and product) as an option for your non-techy mum? Also does shipping end up being exorbitant if you’re not in the same country they’re based in?

What companies actually make decent mid-range laptops these days?

He said six months’ notice was plenty of time for couples to re-plan their weddings, since it “should have been obvious” the venue would close eventually.

What an utter cunt Schrinner is. Just the worst kind of person.

I thought we were past the days of waiting multiple weeks for internet after moving in.

In still remember in November 2019 when my apartment finally got NBN installed, and I had to wait until late January 2020 to actually get it all connected.

That was very convenient timing.

I also bought a new bike as a Christmas present to myself in December 2019. COVID couldn’t have happened at a more perfect time for me.

I suspect they probably already are cheaper over the lifetime of the product. Of course there’s also a lot of value in the upfront cost coming closer, but there are other problems at play.

First and foremost: the culture wars. The right-wing loves to make a big fuss at how poor and inadequate anything that might be better for the environment is. And EVs have been a huge target of this.

There’s also range anxiety. Australia doesn’t have the best fast-charger network for those rare long-distance trips, and far too many people make their purchase based on what they might need for a trip they take less than once per year.

And then there’s dealers. There have been many reports of dealers discouraging people from getting EVs. Probably because they make a lot of their money on aftermarket servicing, which EVs need a lot less of than ICE cars. So it’s in their best interest to avoid EVs.