Instigate @ Instigate @aussie.zone

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3

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334

Joined

2 yr. ago

This is a really tough situation. While I don’t like the idea of pro-Russian sentiment leeching into Western democratic institutions, it’s important not to outright ban your opposition but rather to convince the populace that they’re not worth a vote. Democracy means we all get a voice - the intelligent, the learned, the naive, the stupid, the good, the bad… all of us. Whether or not this is the right or correct move, it does democracy a disservice to prevent people from running for office.

Of course there’s a lot of nuance to that assertion - surely those that are in bed with wartime enemies shouldn’t be vaulted into parliament for obvious reasons - but I always struggle with the idea of disallowing a person or group of people from running for office who’ve committed no crime against the State.

“Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”

• John Donne

Every time a gullible idiot falls into a trap that enriches a manipulator, society suffers. Every time someone spends money on snake oil instead of on necessities or goods that bolster the local economy, the economy suffers. Every time someone falls down the rabbit hole away from the mainstream, we lose a potential ally and friend. Every loss is a loss, and even if you take morality and ethics out of it, it still makes sense to protect the vulnerable - even if only for our own selfish interests.

The problem with that approach alone is that large-scale social media companies will just absorb the fine as an operating cost. Fines and gaol time need to be levied against the people creating the content as well to try to stop the problem at its source. If a snake oil salesperson wants to push their bullshit but are afraid not only of their posts being taken down but fines and gaol time themselves, I venture we’d see a significant amount less of these people.

We need to act on all fronts simultaneously. Reduce fossil fuels, build more tried and tested renewable energy generators, invest in new and emerging renewable technologies, AND direct air capture simultaneously and we have a chance to take ourselves off the current path to destruction. Doing only one or two of these in isolation just won’t be enough.

I think it’s an interesting and meta take to show a human, in the human world, becoming engrossed in the fictional world of Pokémon. I think many Pokémon gamers will be able to empathise well with her, having lived through the revelation of Pokémon on Game Boy and the amazing culture around it.

Yep, in Australia we have a fair few Punts (aka cable ferries) for river crossings in a car, like the Putney Punt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortlake_Ferry) that crosses the Parramatta River.

There have been over 30 posts to this community in the last 24 hours. This is the only one that mentions COVID.

I did the same! I’m now given to understand that that was Google’s goal with Chrome - make the easiest-to-use and most lightweight browser to bring everyone in, then ramp up the trackers and bloat. I think I need to export my bookmarks and look into Firefox again…

There is definitely a link between having experienced sexual abuse as a child without any therapy or counselling to help them make sense of it and then later on sexually abusing other children, but it’s not super clear-cut and definitely not predictable.

Honestly, when they’re hand-reared, emus are extremely docile. A lot of zoos/animal rescues in Australia have big open paddocks where kangaroos, wallabies and emus roam freely and you can walk right up to them and feed them or pat them. I’ll never forget being 11 years old and walking up to pat a bird that was bigger than me - extremely scary but also so gentle and sweet. It really liked scratches from the base of its neck right up the back towards its head.

Now cassowaries are the ones you don’t wanna fuck with. A huge horn they headbutt you with AND dragon talons for disemboweling you coupled with extreme aggression and territorialism? Fuck that for a joke.

Not enough sticker face tatts

Surely there’s a difference between a person of a different culture inviting you to engage in that culture and people unilaterally deciding to use thing from another person’s culture, right? The key is consent.

There are white kids who grow up in impoverished and majority-black areas who, through association with their friends, become allowed to say the ‘n’ word within their social circle. They’ve been invited by members of that culture to engage in such a way, so it’s no longer offensive. If that same guy were to go to another neighbourhood with people he didn’t know and used the ‘n’ word, it would become extremely offensive again. The key is consent from the people of the culture you’re engaging with.

I have these things called cold rocks for my scotch - they’re some kind of stone or earthenware dice-sized cubes that you leave in the freezer. Bought them at an alcohol warehouse shop we have here in Australia called Dan Murphys. They’re great for cooling without diluting.

Leave a block of wood and a brick of steel in a freezer for 24 hours and see which one feels cooler - they’ll be the same actual temperature (at least negligibly close the longer they’re left) but the metal will feel immensely cooler to the touch due to its higher capacity for heat transference.

Yeah, at slow enough drinking speeds there would likely be some noticeable difference in temperature after passing through the radiator, it probably just won’t be massive.

I’d call it Gross Misconduct in Execution of Government Duties - minimum sentence is a permanent dismissal from all government roles (at all levels) along with a major fine that can be taken from a government pension fund and goes directly to victims. Aggravating circumstances (lying about the death of a civilian, multiple lies compounded upon one another etc.) should come within minimum jail time. Cops should always be afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. Only then do we get them on their best behaviour.

Source for accusations against men leading to quantifiably worse outcomes than accusations against women or NB people? I haven’t seen the research that backs up your assertion.

Accusations ruin plenty of people’s lives, regardless of gender.

Yeah selling your criminal story should be considered proceeds of crime, right? Like, you only made that money because you did crime. 100% of money made from a crime in perpetuity should be given directly to victims.

Australian here; can confirm that in High School over ten years ago we had a cop come and explain to our class (among many other things) that taking nude photos of yourself, your friends or your partner is still considered production of child abuse material, at least in NSW. I’ve literally never heard of a child being charged though, and I work in Child Protection where we regularly get reports about exactly this issue.