Vale Tito Jackson.
Really sad news about a talented musician who was far too often overlooked in favour of his more famous siblings: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2kddp5x5zno
Here's a performance by Tito from earlier this year, with Austin Brown and BLVK CVSTLE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBobSF68Tdk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65eEHAMZMSo
\#TitoJackson #music #Pop #PopMusic #MichaelJackson #JanetJackson #Jackson5 @music
Up! Up! Coles' annual profits are up to $1.1 billion.
And to think the Reserve Bank still acts as though inflation and the cost of living crisis is due to wages (below the rate of inflation) or consumer spending, rather than corporate profiteering.
@australia #news #politics #finance #business #auspol #coles #woolworths #capitalism #auspol
@CEOofmyhouse56 @PeelerSheila Reminds me of a few years ago, when I had to go along to a friend's kids' birthday party.
I really didn't know what to get as a prezzie. I ended up picking a stuffed pink unicorn toy that cost maybe $10.
Fast forward to the party.
The kids parents and grandparents absolutely spoiled this kid.
I'm talking hundreds of dollars worth of toys. It was just obscene!
The living room of their house ended up filled with them. A Barbie doll house that was taller than this kid. A ride-on toy car. Half a dozen battery-powered things that made annoying noises.
Anyway. Eventually the kid opened my present.
Hrr eyes lit up. She grabbed it, cuddled that unicorn, and left all the other toys on the ground.
Her grandma and grandpa were visibly miffed.
So yeah. Sometimes a cheap, fun toy trumps hundreds of dollars of overpriced plastic crap. 🧸🦄🎁
@Duenan @Bottom_racer And people wonder why I'm scared of ladders!
@melbaboutown @Seagoon_ I've definitely noticed a decline in their quality, especially with their elastics, stitching, and fabric quality.
Also, any "lace" trims will begin to fray in a wash or two, even if you handle it carefully.
It's very frustrating.
@underwatermagpies @Seagoon_ The only thing about Uniqlo is that their sizes all tend to run a *lot* smaller than most other stores.
Normally wear a medium?
Okay, at Uniqlo you'll want to try a large and an extra large.
@RustyRaven @dumblederp @Baku There's a whole thread about these guys over on the Choice website: https://choice.community/t/online-websites-that-appear-australian-but-are-not/29603/9
The short answer is that NineLife is not owned by or affiliated with Channel Nine, or its TV channels 9Life or 9Now.
NineLife looks like it's based overseas, possibly in the UK or the US.
@Seagoon_ Let's get the ball rolling...
Much on over the weekend for everyone?
At my end, some of it will be spent planning last minute anniversary surprises for wifey. It's on the 12th of August, so I've really left it to the last minute 😔
Suggestions welcome...
@LowExperience2368 No wukkas, hope thd lessons go well 😊🎹🎸
@Duenan Leave for the snowfields?
Just 16,246 showed up for their game last week against the Giants.
So safe to say most have already been hitting Mt Hotham and Falls Creek for a few weeks already...
@Duenan A few years ago all their players wanted to return to the southern states.
Well, they fixed that problem.
Unfortunately, now none of their players want to play footy outside Queensland 😁
@LowExperience2368 @Seagoon_ If rock songs on piano are your thing, you might want to check out VKGoesWild on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@vkgoeswildofficial?si=k5IGWqsX27rU_AKE
She's a classically-trained pianist from Ukraine who's built a career doing cover of rock songs.
Here's her doing Bohemian Rhapsody. Seriously talented: https://youtu.be/rptV6K7nqu0?si=pRIGbSF5j8dwOoz8
@CEOofmyhouse56 Haha You've got great taste 👍😁
A couple to add:
Theme song to the film Boronia Boys: https://youtu.be/yRebOoCvBAg?si=BppkmDhO9Hci0XXC
And worth checking out if you like '80s-style Aussie rock: My bestie's partner's band Kandy Kobras: https://youtu.be/OMmA_j_9cwA?si=bzoRMWC7IdaaiK2C
@CEOofmyhouse56 @Seagoon_ Barnzy and Tina: https://youtu.be/crAgnI9BF6M?si=3hYFC5FPECPrMq-H
Barnzy and Farnzy: https://youtu.be/AU_bCchDWF4?si=QH_nwvz2o7Hd20-Y
Barnzy and Hutchence: https://youtu.be/OqSrEhuWrgY?si=Hcofpl9WmEsXUdEq
Barnzy and The Living End: https://youtu.be/HO5shojBCQ8?si=v-Tt8AN8_nE849AU
@CEOofmyhouse56 @Seagoon_ Farnzy, circa 1990 or so, doing You're the Voice, live: https://youtu.be/1em08fq8of0?si=vkiMK90cEQUj0B8M
@CEOofmyhouse56 @Seagoon_ Is there a theme, or just Aussie anx Kiwi rock?
If so:
Killing Heidi: https://youtu.be/01aq2JWk3d0?si=Y82AAlD4bjpBLfl2
Silverchair: https://youtu.be/8KHwuOtcALQ?si=kIzHfNTdoz5fC9wR
More Silverchair: https://youtu.be/ShiShrR_nh8?si=uJ_noi5P2AhF4xkO
Easybeats: https://youtu.be/rBJLoYd8xak?si=Kf4bOFeXuvPypmgf
Norman Rowe: https://youtu.be/rBJLoYd8xak?si=Kf4bOFeXuvPypmgf
@CEOofmyhouse56 Haha I like your thinking!
Any ideas on what I should say? I'm open to suggestions 😊
@Seagoon_ My boss (this is not the "manager") insists on having a team meeting every Friday afternoon.
She insists on having another one first thing Monday morning.
Are these meetings happening so we can talk about what we're working on?
Well, not really. That's what the Wednesday meeting is for.
No, I'm now 99% sure the whole point of the Friday meeting is so she can tell everyone how much fun she will have skiing or bushwalking this weekend.
And the Monday one? That's to force people to listen to how much fun she had skiing or bushwalking this weekend.
@Duenan @CEOofmyhouse56 Parsley and fish definitely can work together 😊
Do you have any lemons?
Any neighbours with a lemon tree in the front yard?
If so, you might want to try a lemon parsley butter with your fish: https://www.recipetineats.com/lemon-butter-sauce-fish/
@LowExperience2368 @Seagoon_ Female friendships are the best ☺️
(The only catch for me is I tend to be someone people come to with problems. So there's been days when my bestie has come to me with troubles, and then my other bestie, and then mum, and then wifey 😫.)
Anyways. Grateful thoughts.
One of the ways wifey and I split jobs is that I do the dishes at night and she, in theory, puts them away every morning.
In practice, most days I end up doing it.
Well...
A couple of days ago, I waited to see how long it would take for her to do it.
6pm — nope. 7pm. 8pm.
Are you going to put them away? "In a minute!"
9pm. 10pm.
Eventually it gets to midnight. Still not put away and she's fast asleep.
So I put them away. At midnight. I might have made a bit more noise than usual in the process.
She wakes up: "Why are you doing that now? It's midnight!"
Oh sorry, it got to midnight and the dishes still weren't put away from this morning, so I'm doing it...
Anyways.
I woke up this morning, and the dishes were all in the drawers.
Grateful ☺️
And another one bites the dust — this time it's Rex.
It's a real shame, because (at least from my experience) their staff were far friendlier and more accommodating. And their prices were reasonable.
(They also never seemed to sell all their business class seats, so a seat up the front could be yours for $50 extra if you wanted it.)
I wonder whether Qantas or Virgin will pick up the regional routes?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-30/rex-airlines-enters-voluntary-administration/104155898
\#airlines #Rex @australia #business #auspol #airline #bankrupt
Adam Neely makes a really insightful point about the limitations of "generative AIs"/LLMs and music.
LLMs can mimic the output of music, but they can't handle the process of making music.
I think his insight applies to many other creative fields as well. LLMs mimic the output, but not the process:
https://youtu.be/N8NyEjB\_XeA?si=sUgCV6aeITBqas5E
@music #LLM #music #GenAI #generativeAI #tech #technology #chatGPT
It's time to call a spade a spade. ChatGPT isn't just hallucinating. It's a bullshit machine.
From TFA (thanks @mxtiffanyleigh for sharing):
"Bullshit is 'any utterance produced where a speaker has indifference towards the truth of the utterance'. That explanation, in turn, is divided into two "species": hard bullshit, which occurs when there is an agenda to mislead, or soft bullshit, which is uttered without agenda.
"ChatGPT is at minimum a soft bullshitter or a bullshit machine, because if it is not an agent then it can neither hold any attitudes towards truth nor towards deceiving hearers about its (or, perhaps more properly, its users') agenda."
https://futurism.com/the-byte/researchers-ai-chatgpt-hallucinations-terminology
Time for an ICQ for the Fediverse?
Looks like ICQ is finally shutting down, just as interest in retro internet tools is growing.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/25/24164579/icq-shut-down-june
I'm thinking seriously about getting Google out of my life, and trying NextCloud.
Looking to get a personal account through a managed provider.
Does anyone have any experience with it?
How does it compare to ownCloud?
Any hosts I should look at or avoid?
Any apps I should get for it, or avoid?
Any issues I should be aware of before I switch?
So despite climate change, Australia's federal government has just committed an extra $3.25 billion into building a toll road and a 20-lane freeway widening.
For those who wonder why Aussies think toll roads are a scam (https://aus.social/@LesserAbe@lemmy.world/112405373613706682), here's a great example of why.
"Pouring an extra $3.25 billion worth of federal funds into Melbourne’s North East Link is a good use of taxpayer money, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted, despite the project’s cost doubling just a few months ago.
...
"The North East Link – which includes 6½ kilometres of tunnels – will stretch from Bulleen to Greensborough. It will widen the Eastern Freeway by up to 20 lanes.
"Allan revealed in December that the 10-kilometre toll road had more than doubled in cost since it was first announced.
"The toll road was initially budgeted at $10 billion and reassessed in 2019 at $15 billion. But the government revealed last year that the updated cost estimate was $26 billion."
@fuck\_cars #Urbanism #Auspol #Vicpol #roads #UrbanPlanning #transport #cities #Melbourne #Naarm #Victoria #Australia
The toll road scam: A government-made monopoly you pay for.
Here's a funny-because-it's-true take on Transurban and the poor tax it imposes, from Punter's Politics:
https://youtu.be/FlKBakPAtiw?si=G39\_0GcJzSB0SSA8
\#cars #roads #fuckcars @fuck\_cars #tolls #tollroads #memes #funny #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #auspol #vicpol #nswpol
So the RTA's own modelling showed the Rozelle Interchange would be a traffic disaster—but generating more toll road trips for Transurban was more important.
"The [NSW Roads and Traffic Authority] finalised the first business case for the WestConnex tunnel project in June 2013, with the help of road designers from around the world.
"[Paul Forward, a former CEO of the RTA] said the initial concept did not include the Rozelle Interchange.
...
"In 2014, an expert review group was formed to assess these plans.
"Mr Forward said it was at this point that TfNSW bureaucrats began to question the connectivity provided by the design.
"The RTA's former director of traffic Chris Ford told the inquiry that 15 alternative designs were modelled.
"Mr Ford said the modelling found that another motorway leading to the Anzac Bridge would cause congestion.
"'The issues that we see today were very clearly established in the modelling in 2014,' he said.
"In November 2015, after Mr Forward and Mr Ford were dismissed, TfNSW updated the WestConnex business case to include the tunnel to the Anzac Bridge, despite the congestion concerns raised by the modelling.
"In 2016, Transport for NSW updated the business case a second time ... creating a tunnel linking the Iron Cove Bridge to the Anzac Bridge."
...
"In 2018, the NSW government sold its 51 per cent stake in the Sydney Motorway Corporation, the body responsible for operating WestConnex, to Transurban for $9 billion.
"Mr Forward said the final design would generate a larger number of toll trips than previous options."
@fuck\_cars #roads #cars #urbanism #nswpol #sydney #WestConnex #UrbanPlanning #transport
"It's going to be a bloody disaster": Tell me again about how the second road tunnel under Sydney Harbour won't make congestion worse?
"Civil engineer Les Wielinga, a former CEO at the now-defunct Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), made the fiery comments at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the bungled Rozelle Interchange.
"The Western Harbour Tunnel, which is under construction, will allow drivers travelling between the inner west and the North Shore to bypass the CBD.
"Entries and exits to the tunnel will lie at the Ernest Street interchange in Cammeray and near the Falcon Street interchange at North Sydney.
"'It's going to be a bloody disaster,' Mr Wielinga told the upper house committee on Friday.
"Paul Forward, another former CEO of the RTA, told the inquiry he was concerned about the project's design.
"'You've now got three motorways coming out into this short area, and whilst I would recognise there are some exit points, some off-ramps, those motorways are now all going into the Lane Cove Tunnel,' he said.
"'A large number of lanes are going into two lanes at the Lane Cove Tunnel. Sounds familiar?'"
How to remove a freeway...
The decision to build freeways instead of rail in the post-war years, along with the low-rise single-zoned suburbs it promoted, has been an absolute planning disaster.
But the mistake can be fixed, and freeways can be removed.
City Beautiful's Dave Amos @citybeautiful has an interesting look at some of America's endangered freeways, and how communities can get them removed:
General rule of thumb: Low gross emissions are better than net zero or net negative emissions.
Especially when those low gross emissions are across scope one (on premises), two (off-site energy), and three (supply chain).
Doubly so if those net zero/negative emissions are due to carbon offsets.
\#ClimateChange #Climate #Environment @green #GlobalWarming #CarbonEsmissions #NetZero
The saga of Waverley Park — Melbourne's car-dependent suburban AFL stadium with a planned seated capacity of over 150,000 (not a typo!)
A really good run down by @philip on the plans by the AFL (and its predecessor, the VFL) to build the world's largest stadium in outer-suburban Melbourne.
Unfortunately, a planned railway line past the stadium to Rowville was never built. That meant a massive 25,000-spot car park as the only real means to get there.
While most of it has been demolished and redeveloped for housing, the oval itself still used by Hawthorn Football Club as a training and administration centre.
https://youtu.be/LvvLwiRCx4s?si=x2QvxepgPtBtJZfx
@fuck\_cars #AFL #Urbanism #UrbanPlanning #cars #stadium #stadia #Melbourne #sport #footy #football #stadiums #history #Victoria #VicPol #Australia #planning #Hawthorn #AusPol #CarBrain
So WestConnex was totally going to solve traffic in Sydney by adding more lanes for cars. Just a few teething problems on the Rozelle Interchange and it'll all clear up, they said.
I wonder how it's going?
"Gladesville and Drummoyne locals say gridlock is worsening in their suburbs following changes to improve traffic flow through the notorious Rozelle Interchange, with drivers using local streets as “rat runs” to dodge congestion."
Oh dear...
\#roads #cars #fuckcars #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #traffic #cities #congestion #car @fuck\_cars
Sydney has opened up consultation on a strategy to reduce car traffic and make the city more walkable
"Driving in central Sydney will become harder under a plan to make the city more comfortable for pedestrians.
"The City of Sydney wants to narrow roads for wider footpaths and push for lower speed limits to discourage drivers from the CBD and transform Sydney into a walkable city.
"The council will also install more pedestrian crossings and prioritise people over cars... five times more pedestrians than motorists on the average street, yet just 40 per cent of road space is allocated to footpaths."
Some key points of the strategy are:
We will ensure that there is sufficient space for people to walk.
We will improve connectivity for people walking by ensuring there are frequent street crossings that give people priority and that align with people’s walking routes.
We will ensure that footpaths and crossings are accessible so that everyone can use them.
We will plan our city based on 10-minute neighbourhoods so that people are able to meet their daily needs easily by walking.
We will make it safer for people to walk by reducing vehicle speeds.
We will reduce traffic volumes on surface streets and manage through-traffic in residential neighbourhood streets to improve both safety and experience for people walking.
We will work to make all people feel safer while walking around our city.
We will work to improve compliance with road rules, especially the lesser-known rules that benefit people walking.
We will make our streets and public spaces comfortable and inviting by ensuring that they are green and cool.
We will make sure that there are frequent opportunities for people to stop and rest, use the toilet or have a drink of water.
We will make our city more pleasant to walk in by reducing noise and air pollution from traffic.
We will make all streets interesting to walk along by ensuring that built form has active, permeable frontages that invite engagement and curiosity.
We will use design, activations and installations to create neighbourhood-based community and encourage people to interact with their streets.
Full details here: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/policy-planning-changes/your-feedback-walking-strategy-action-plan#strategy
Unfortunately, the car-brained leader of the local business lobby isn't on board:
"Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou welcomed efforts to make the city pedestrian-friendly... But Nicolaou said it was difficult to see how making Sydney a predominantly walking city would benefit businesses such as retailers."
(Worth repeating that 80% of people on an average city street are pedestrians, so it already is a predominantly walking city.)
Anyway, if you think the plan's a good idea, make sure you let the Sydney City Council know by emailing sydneyyoursay@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
\#urbanism #UrbanPlanning #Sydney @fuck\_cars #walking #walk #walkability #nswpol #auspol #nsw #planning #cities #UrbanGreening #city #cities #australia
Are microplastics from car tyres contributing to heart disease?
"Add one more likely culprit to the long list of known cardiovascular risk factors including red meat, butter, smoking and stress: microplastics.
"In a study released Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of physicians and researchers showed that surgical patients who had a build-up of micro and nanoplastics in their arterial plaque had a 2.1 times greater risk of nonfatal heart attack, nonfatal stroke or death from any cause in the three years post surgery than those who did not."
The research is particularly noteworthy, given that one of the biggest sources of microplastic pollution is the synthetic rubber in car tyres: https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas/112015017609398126
So it's not just the sedentary lifestyles that car-dependent planning encourages that's causing health issues.
And it's not just exhaust fumes either.
There's also the health impacts of microplastics, including from car tyres.
Worth noting as well that internal documents from the big oil companies show that they knew since the 1970s that recycling wasn't going to solve the problem of plastic pollution. They promoted it anyway: https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas/112064312364853769
\#tyres #tyre #car #microplastic #microplastics #pollution #environment @fuck\_cars #fuckcars
What should I add to my '90s website?
So I'm currently toying around with NeoCities, and decided to trial it by building your classic mid '90s Geocities/Tripod/Angelfire pastiche website.
Some of the most important elements are already in place.
Tile background? Large font? Heading in bright pink with a shadow? Unusual colour choices? Random cat gifs? Under construction gif? Check! Check! Check!
In the true spirit of the '90s DIY web, some more pages (including the links page) are coming soon.
(I'm thinking of adding a page dedicated to either Britney or a nu-metal band.)
You can see the page so far here: https://that90ssite.neocities.org/
There are a few things that I want to add to make it complete, and I'm looking for suggestions.
The first, is to embed a midi file that plays automatically. Any suggestions on the best way of doing this?
Second, it's just not going to be complete without a guestbook.
Third, any webring suggestions?
Fourth, what's the best way of adding a java chat room in 2024?
Finally, anything else that really needs to be a part of a great '90s website?
UPDATE: Thanks for all the feedback! I've added more annoying GIFs, a guestbook, a links page, and a cyber cat hangout.
UPDATE 2: And added even more gifs, an amazing Amiga demo, and a ton of links.
Really important article here about how big oil companies, including ExxonMobil, knew plastic recycling was BS since the'70s, but kept pushing the lie anyway.
"New research by the Center for Climate Integrity reveals that the plastics industry knew this plastic waste crisis was coming. And so petrochemical manufacturers worked hard to persuade the public that we could recycle our way out of the problem."
This is in addition to them knowing about the dangers of carbon emissions since the 1970s, and deliberately delaying action: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/
(Worth noting the plastic used in the synthetic rubber in tyres is a major source of plastic pollution: https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas/112009009421402914)
"Twenty petrochemical companies generate more than half of all the world’s single-use plastics. They include major oil and gas companies such as ExxonMobil, the world’s leading producer of single-use plastic waste.
...
"Behind the scenes, however, they were admitting all along that such efforts were “virtually hopeless.” For more than 40 years, they knew that plastic recycling is not technically or economically feasible at scale. More than 90 percent of all plastic has ended up in landfills, ecosystems, or incinerators.
...
"Since the 1970s, these companies, their trade associations, and their front groups promoted recycling “solutions” using misleading advertising, inaccurate educational materials, performative investments, and commitments that they knew they were unlikely to meet.
...
"Internal documents reveal that the industry knew by 1986, for example, that “recycling cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution [to plastics], as it merely prolongs the time until an item is disposed of.” In 1994, an Exxon employee warned staffers at the American Plastics Council that they did not “want paper floating around” saying they could not meet recycling goals, since the issue was “highly sensitive politically.” These compelling admissions and many more are grounds for a thorough investigation.
...
"Plastics are a product made from fossil fuels. As the world moves away from fossil fuels in a race to avert climate catastrophe, journalists have shined a light on how oil companies promote recycling, in part because plastics are their 'Plan B.'"
These days, the CEO of ExxonMobil likes to gaslight the public and blame activists:
"Frankly, society, and the activist—the dominant voice in this discussion—has tried to exclude the industry that has the most capacity and the highest potential for helping with some of the technologies."
https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas/112009009421402914
Well, these same companies knew about the problems with toxic fossil fuel pollution since the 1970s. That's both greenhouse gas and microplastic pollution.
And they deliberately and knowingly lied to delay action.
@green #environment #plastic #pollution #ClimateChange #waste #CarbonEmissions
Are there currently any Substack replacements that integrate with ActivityPub?
So I'm currently looking for a Substack substitute for taking donations.
I'd want it to feature a blog (and preferably newsletters too) that include a mix of publicly-accessible posts, as well as posts that are only visible to donors.
And ideally, I want it to also integrate with ActivityPub too.
That might mean a Fediverse post is automatically generated when a new blog post is published. Or potentially the publicly visible blog posts are published in full to the Fediverse.
Now, I know there are a few donations platforms that can handle the first part, such as Ghost and Ko-Fi.
There are also blogging platforms such as WriteFreely/Write.as and Micro.blog that integrate with the Fedi.
And in theory you could do both with a WordPress blog and number of plugins, some paid. But especially with paid plugins, that's likely to get quite expensive quickly. (Not to mention some of the questionable things that have happened at Automattic in recent weeks.)
But are there any platforms out there that support both?
Or is the best option at this stage just to get a Ko-Fi/Ghost account for the donations and donor-only posts, with a separate micro.blog or write.as account for the publicly accessible posts?
AJ Sadauskas @aus.social Australian urban planning, public transport, politics, retrocomputing, and tech nerd. Recovering journo. Cat parent. Part-time miserable grump.
Cities for people, not cars! Tech for people, not investors!