The 1830’s??? ???

Melbourne was founded later than you’d expect given its prominence in size and historical political power, it was indeed started in the mid 1830s. Before that there was a bit of exploration in Victoria but basically all settlements of size were in current day NSW and Tasmania (the expeditions for Melbourne left from Launceston, which had been going for a couple of decades by that point).

I guess you’re a prime example of someone looking to be offended then, because I really haven’t said anything racist.

Turns out that when you go out hunting for things to be offended by you tend to find them.

The "Aboriginal Australian’s house’ one for example was clearly going to be a no-win situation regardless of the output - if the model returned the same house as the ‘Australian’s house’ image they’d be writing instead about how offensive it was to ignore traditional culture.

“Every closure of a manufacturing facility is a loss of sovereign capability and compromises Australia’s ability to build a more complex and dynamic knowledge-driven economy.”

I agree with this sentiment, I don’t think it is a good idea long term to lose manufacturing capability and knowledge. I would however prefer that a stake in the company is transferred to the government when they have to spend large sums bailing out a facility due to it being in the national interest to do so.

This is unironically a good method.

Agreed. I think the age verification laws are a rubbish idea but if one has to comply with them this is actually one of the better options for doing so - particularly for smaller sites. Something similar is worth considering as an option for this site when necessary as it’s both something I’d actually consider doing (unlike a licence photo) and does not set the admins up for potential issues regarding having to store sensitive personal information.

Nah, just hand me that long stick there”

…and that’s when they found the really big stick insect.

Would have been nice a couple of years ago before I paid off the last of mine, but I guess one can’t have everything…

That was buying firewood permits off NSW Forestry in the broader region around Canberra, which I looked and they’re still doing at $16 per tonne (albeit only in the further away forests at this point). They give areas you can pick firewood from after logging operations, you’re just not allowed to fell trees. You do have to be able to go out and saw it then haul it back yourself. If you’ve got a current collection area near you it’s a very cost effective method, even if you have to drive a fair way it still works out cheaper than buying it elsewhere.

Always did through my childhood and continued on that way, would do so again if I had a place with a fire. We’d saw into rounds when collecting and load them up then split and stack at home.

Plenty of people do buy pre split wood here though, I’d expect it’s the source for the majority. Not everyone has the ability, inclination, or the equipment to go out and get firewood and it gets hard to find sources to collect wood in the bigger cities.

Fires are horrible.

They’re about the best feeling source of heat around, so not horrible.

Very difficult to controll the heat output

It’s not particularly difficult to control the heat output, it’s just a matter of how you load it and how much air you let in. They don’t do well for extremely low heat output, but at that sort of cold just put on a jumper instead.

they also are very costly to run

Used to cost about $20 a tonne for wood a few years back when I was in a place with a fire, plus maybe another $50 per tonne in fuel for the ute and saws to gather it (so ~$70 a tonne total). Was a hell of a lot cheaper than gas and a lot cheaper than electricity.

require a lot of maintenance

It’s just popping up onto the roof once a year and taking ash out every week or so, I never found it a big deal.

require a lot of space to store the wood

This I’ll grant you, given how tiny modern yards are. You need a square metre or two for the wood and another couple for room to split it - not much in a traditional suburban backyard but it’s noticeable in newer blocks where you have bugger all room around the house.

In a world where kids are already not getting enough outside time and exercise making it harder for them to ride to school seems a poor idea.

If it’s becoming a problem they should be doing in person lessons on how to ride a bike and basic road manners rather than a online quiz that nobody is going to pay any attention to. Pity in person lessons have been made harder by everyone having to be so incredibly risk averse these days. For example there was that bit in WA recently where schools got told they couldn’t use bikes without chain guards (i.e. most bikes) because someone managed to hurt themselves.

If it’s black market, it’s still more of a hassle to buy.

Out of the four smokers I regularly work with three of them have found shops that sell black market tailormades and the other buys pouches off some internet site which is almost certainly also dodging tax. It doesn’t seem like they’re having any hassles finding and buying these things and with black market apparently being about half the price of cheap legit cigarettes you’d have to be pretty firm on your principles to take the financial hit.

You’re certainly right that the way I did it in school felt rather performative and didn’t leave me with positive impressions of the books I had not read previously. I’m not going to say there’s no purpose in trying to understand the meanings/symbolism in a work but it’s not going to make a good impression on someone if that’s their first introduction to the book - or worse their introduction to reading books in general.

I’ve no substantiation for these guesses but one thing that comes to mind is that boys were more likely to get into computers in the early eras of tech and that time sink could lead to them being less likely to build the habit of reading. TV is another possibility, Gen X was the first to grow up with TVs being widespread and boys probably spent more time on that.

That’s a pretty concerning trend IMO, particularly when the article mentions 44% of Australians have issues with literacy.

If nothing else it makes for a good example of why one should be wary of laws aimed at hate speech. You can’t rely on any ambiguity within them being interpreted with common sense, particularly if you’ve annoyed someone in a position of power.

I like the callout to On the Beach, fits well with a post apocalyptic Australian game (it’s a good book, albeit not one you want to read if you’re already feeling down).

It’s not a fee for the beaches per se but the fee for entering the national park which covers the territory (though it is in effect paying to see beaches as that’s the main reason to visit).

There’s also basically no reason to ever go there unless you’re in or supporting the military bases located there.

It does have some rather pretty beaches, best to plan on checking out all that’s there to make it feel worthwhile though as they sting you $20 to see them.

Good to see some progress there, it’s not going to make a huge difference at this stage but if it helps progress a more ethical meat option it will be useful in the long run.