Tau

joined 2 years ago
MODERATOR OF
[–] Tau@aussie.zone 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I just exchanged contracts on an apartment so I'm not surprised they chose now to start cranking the rates back up again - I was waiting for something annoying to come along once I committed. Luckily I'm not a complete goose so I didn't borrow right to my max, should be able to handle a few rises without being overly stretched.

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

I think you're doing a fair bit of jumping to conclusions there yourself, pointing out a good bit of nominative determinism can be just amusing rather than necessarily being ill intentioned.

If she had a different name and was described as Dr Orca from the Marine Conservation Society that would also be amusing and a comment regarding that could just be that rather than a jab at her.

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 4 points 3 days ago

It's what you'd expect - we're not perfect but overall we do pretty well.

I just read the transcript though because I'm not going to spend 10 minutes watching a video when I can read the salient info much faster (i.e. like many things this should have been an article rather than a video).

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Chokos also feel noticeably heavier, once you've seen and held both you can distinguish them easily.

They are pretty bland things to eat though, fine for filler amongst other things when cooking but I wouldn't buy one. They're one of these things you just find growing and proceed to end up with a surfeit of so you start trying to put them into your cooking to avoid wasting them.

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 3 points 1 week ago

It's a feeling based idea to assuage the public rather than a logic based one. If someone has four guns already there is little difference between what damage they are likely to be able to cause with those four vs what they could do with five, six, or seven (and the difference is less significant again if they already have ten). The limits seem rather arbitrary instead of evidence based and would not stop a repetition of the Bondi massacre, they appear instead to just be a quick decision made to show the government is doing something in reaction to a tragedy (something must be done, this is something therefore we must do it...).

[–] Tau@aussie.zone -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"These are low-IQ individuals who don't actually understand the historic significance of the monuments that they are attacking," he said.

True, though I expect they'd still be the type to tell everyone else they should learn our history.

This sort of thing is why I'm less and less inclined to support changing Australia Day - why bother changing the date when it's clear the loudest voices against it will never support celebrating Australia. That this is happening in the state that went to the effort of a truth telling commission and a treaty is the icing on the cake.

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Probably, I did find a copy of that as a kid but it's been long enough that I can't recall specifics.

That is something that could fall under the new rule though, as could watching youtube videos of people modding guns, or gun owners downloading a maintenance manual for the guns they own, or if particularly misapplied even things like getting an ebook that happens to mention an aside about weapons/explosive manufacture (pretty sure Jules Verne describes a way to make explosives in The Mysterious Island for example).

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It's a way of saying a method of transmitting information. Replace 'a carriage service' with 'the internet' and you'd cover much (albeit not all) of the intention there.

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 19 points 2 weeks ago (13 children)

It will be an offence to use a carriage service to access material on the manufacture or modification of guns and accessories, as well as other explosives or lethal devices.

This has such broad potential for misapplication, but apparently everyone throws critical thinking out the window because guns are scary...

I think the gun number limit is also a kneejerk reaction playing more on people's fears rather than actually being logical, but at least it's affecting less people than the above.

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 4 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Bit rich for her to be going on about censorship and silencing authors if she demanded someone else be excluded previously from the same festival over provocative comments.

[–] Tau@aussie.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago

Like the possums in NZ there isn't really a good reason to keep them around - it's just interesting to see a switcheroo from the usual stories of other countries animals causing problems in Australia.

 

But this remote island located in the middle of the Irish Sea has earned a new — and perhaps unexpected — reputation. It's home to an iconic Australian marsupial: the red-necked wallaby.

In 2023, drone surveys by Manx Wildlife Trust identified 568 feral wallabies in Ballaugh Curragh, a protected marshland area on the Isle of Man.

Just two years later, the population had grown to 1,000 to 1,300, according to estimates from the local conservation charity.

 

Residents are being urged to check the Revenue NSW unclaimed money register, with about $300 million waiting to be returned.

There are more than 800,000 individual payments being held by the state government in the form of unclaimed business refunds, dividends or cheques.

Some items are of low value, while others range in the millions of dollars.

 

At least seven explosions, low-flying aircraft, and one column of smoke have been seen in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, according to eye-witness reports.

The southern area of the capital, near a major military base, was also without electricity.

Venezuela's government did not immediately reply to AP's request for comment.

The cause and and precise locations of the disturbances were not immediately clear.

Update: US President Donald Trump says the US has captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

76
Happy New Year (aussie.zone)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Tau@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone
 

A somewhat diminished crowd compared to usual in Canberra due to a storm earlier, but the fireworks still looked nice.

 

A large-scale soft plastics recycling facility at Taree is processing most of Australia's recycled soft plastics and stockpiled waste from the failed REDcycle scheme.

Processed soft plastic is sent to a range of Australian manufacturers for reuse in a range of products.

Efforts are underway to boost demand for products made with recycled plastic.

 

Anyone have ideas as to what species this young palm tree is? It grew by itself and I'm considering transplanting it to a more open location, but ideally I'd know what it will turn out to look like long term before I do that. This is around Canberra which might help narrow it down (i.e. it has to be something fairly cold tolerant).

 

WA Labor senator Glenn Sterle has criticised a proposal to reduce speed limits on unsigned roads.

It suggested default speed limits could be reduced to 70, 80 or 90km/h.

More than 11,000 submissions were received during public consultation on the proposal.

 

Archive link: https://archive.md/2025.10.26-023636/https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/glamping-proposal-for-national-parks-slammed-as-privatising-public-assets-20251025-p5n57y.html

Commercial operators could reserve sections of public campgrounds in national parks to offer services such as glamping under a proposal being explored by the NSW government which has been slammed as “privatising public assets”.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has called for expressions of interest from businesses to provide “supported camping” in 16 national parks and reserves across NSW.

Selected commercial providers would be given early access to book out parts of campgrounds up to 365 days in advance, more than double the 180 days allowed for families.

Greens environment spokeswoman Sue Higginson said the proposal was “regrettable” and inequitable, expressing concerns that the scheme was a “beachhead” for the further privatisation of public campgrounds.

45
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by Tau@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone
 

I don't like it, it's another exercise in taking a functional website and 'modernising' it by making it look like a mobile app (i.e. the make it look attractive to kindergarten kids school of design).

For my own use cases it's made it more annoying to get to the 7 day Canberra forecast, made the local radar harder to see, and I'm not noticing a link to the written ACT region forecast which I will want to look at in winter.

 

Commercial e-bike operators could face huge fines under new laws proposed by the state government.

Transport Minister John Graham described the dumped bikes across Sydney as "an eyesore".

The reforms come as Transport for NSW data revealed 15 per cent of people had ridden an e-bike.

 

Drivers with an iPhone 14 or newer — including the latest iPhone 17 models — will be able to connect to NRMA Roadside Assistance via satellite, even when they’re beyond mobile coverage.

According to another article this will also work with various other roadside assistance providers:

Roadside Assistance via Satellite can be used in Australia to get help from NRMA, RACV, RACQ, RAA, RAC, RACT, and AANT.

 

The New South Wales Government has introduced legislation to remove temporary speed limits in road work zones when outside of construction times.

Rather than forcing drivers to always slow down through road works – regardless of whether workers are on site or not – the new proposal will allow speeds to be raised when construction isn’t taking place.

However, in some cases, reduced speed limits will remain to ensure driver safety.

The NSW Government says it expects the change to be implemented next year following consultation with stakeholders this year.

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