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.
@Catfish @CEOofmyhouse56 I can just imagine how that meeting went down...
Faceless manager: "To meet our KPIs, I worked out that we need to make our product 7% smaller. But how do we make them smaller without anyone noticing?"
Sally from operations: "We're part of a big multinational conglomerate that made millions of dollars in profit last year. We can afford to keep them the same size and keep prices where they are!"
Greg from accounting: "Not on my watch!"
Faceless manager: "And I won't meet our KPIs!"
Sally from operations: "We could just be upfront with our customers and say that we're raising our prices a little in line with inflation?"
Faceless manager: "Yeah, but then they'll notice!"
Colin the Consultant: "Let's make them a bit thinner, and make them an oval shape! That way, they're the same length, but a smaller width!"
Faceless manager: "Thank you Colin! That's why we pay you the big dollars!"
@briongloid Here's a question for everyone: What's your favourite colour(s)?
I'll start: Mine are teal and purple.
@CEOofmyhouse56 @Catfish Oooh, can I guess the shape?
I guess it's...
Shrinkflated.
The shape is shrinkflated, isn't it?
@Duenan @briongloid Yaaay! 🍾 💰
So where was it?
@Gibsonisafluffybutt @briongloid Nawww, how cute 😻
I've inadvertently trained two of our babies to chatter when I pick up a ball, and the third to run down the corridor in preparation.
Also, we inadvertently trained one of our babies to SPRINT to the kitchen as soon as the fridge door opens.
(Yes, wifey and I have three cats.)
@unionagainstdhmo @Baku The other really big part of it has to do With who pays for free TV: The advertisers.
Let's compare what broadcast TV to a free streaming app from an advertising point of view.
With broadcast TV, there's one ad that's shown to everyone. If 100,000 people watch, then 100,000 people all see the same ad at the same time.
You pretty much need to be a big national advertiser to buy all 100,000 eyeballs.
With streaming, you can insert different ads from different advertisers to different people.
And an advertiser doesn't necessarily need to buy everyone that's watching. Perhaps they only buy 50,000? Or 10,000? Or potentially even just one or two?
That potentially increases the pool of brands that can advertise.
With broadcast TV, the ratings give you a rough breakdown of how many people are watching, with breakdowns by age, gender, and socioeconomic background. But the TV station doesn't know precisely who those people are.
More importantly, you can't target who sees the ad at the level of individual people.
With a streaming app, you typically need to give up some personal details, like your email address, to set up an account. The app owner can know precisely which accounts, with which email addresses, are logged in and watching at any given time.
That means an advertiser can select, down to the level of individual accounts linked to email addresses, who sees their ad.
An advertiser can upload a list of email addresses they want to target, and if any of those people are watching, they'll see their ad.
So, for example, an advertiser with a niche product could upload the 5000 people on their email mailing list and only show their ad to those people.
Or a business might only show their ad to people in postcodes where they have a store.
You can't do that with broadcast TV.
Here's where it gets a little creepy.
If you go shopping and scan your FlyBuys or Woolworths Rewards card, Coles or Woolies know your email address and the products you bought.
They can then sell the fact that your email address purchased a particular product on a particular date to an advertiser.
(Coles' platform for this is called Coles 360: https://www.coles.com.au/coles360).
So, for example, say you sign up to a Kellogg's email mailing list, for example. It can provide Nine's streaming platform with your email address to make sure you see an ad for Corn Flakes.
They can then cross-check to see whether or not you purchased Corn Flakes in the following week from Coles and Woolies.
In short, it's end-to-end tracking.
You can't do that with broadcast TV.
That's why TV networks and advertisers want you to stream.
@Thornburywitch @uselessmoderngod A few more songs to compare.
Here's the Rolling Stones' debut single, Come On: https://youtu.be/iAQVGOzj4M?si=G4aXaHDYxsNccU-B
Which was a cover of Come On by Chuck Berry: https://youtu.be/JgW6s8FPmw?si=pu6K0qOb-IBiyqg
Here's Can't Catch Me by The Rolling Stones: https://youtu.be/IK5gnxM1M?si=NP61dxgx1oJLMd0
And Can't Catch Me by Chuck Berry https://youtu.be/9jKrHzps0XM?si=2H9Wbjy4NhousbTk
(Just as an aside, John Lennon was a fan of that one too, apparently. Note the second verse begins "Here come a flattop, he was movin' up with me". Lennon borrowed that line for Come Together and got a lawsuit for his efforts.)
Rolling Stones, Sweet Little Sixteen: https://youtu.be/n-tYCwzTrrU?si=DDynnP4-MzxshiLp
And the Chuck Berry original: https://youtu.be/ZLV4NGpoyE?si=xysXmQVLaihw01A
(The Beach Boys really liked that one — just listen to Surfin' USA sometime. Like John, they got sued for their efforts.)
One more Chuck Berry songs for reference:
Maybelline: https://youtu.be/v124f0i0Xh4?si=0rv4e1rcPFzw3sIF
Now. Here's some of the lyrics from You can't always get what you want by the Stones.
"I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And, man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy"
Note the African American Vernacular English.
How many British people have you met who go around talking about drugstores?
Mick's almost going the full Iggy Azalea here trying to capture the lyrical style and delivery of Chuck Berry: https://youtu.be/Ef9QnZVpVd8?si=AjR8vc1MJrwVSUn
To my ears there's a clear line that goes from the jump blues ( https://youtu.be/YhELpSeeipg?si=EYK0bdIxhOhDss7 ) and artists like Big Joe Turner: https://youtu.be/YhELpSeeipg?si=JYqKpLBjauoYsVL
To Chuck Berry in the '50s, to the Rolling Stones in the '60s.
@PeelerSheila That's hilarious 🤣
Spot on impersonation!
@melbaboutown @Thornburywitch I'm not sure I'd trust the Kmart ones.
The Bonds ones basically just look (and smell) like normal black undies, just a little thicker.
@Seagoon I love Daiso and Miniso. They're really good for things like makeup brushes and sponges and stuff.
The only thing is while it's cheap, you always end up leaving random kitchen gadgets and things like mugs with cute anime animals on them.
Also our fur babies love the giant stuffed toys they sell.
@alcoholicorn Yeah, that's not how it tends to work in Australia.
What happens is a state government puts up a good chunk of time construction costs (as much as half in some cases), plus public land.
In some cases, the freeway already exists, but the state government wants one more lane built, because it thinks that will ease congestion (as happened with sections of the Tullamarine and Monash Freeways in Melbourne).
It gets handed off to Transurban, who builds it under a long-term operating agreement (30 years is common).
In some cases, the agreements have clauses saying railways that compete with the toll road can't be built.
As the end of the lease approaches, Transurban offers to build one more lane — in exchange for extending the agreement.
@Thornburywitch @uselessmoderngod ...with a heavy Chuck Berry influence: https://youtu.be/IK5gnxM1M?si=Qw8r5XMEgasWMmK-
@StudChud @calhoon2005 Mick Jagger was born born before World War 2 ended. (You can look it up if you like — Jagger was born in 1943. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked in 1945.)
When this song came out, the Rolling Stones were around 40. People were already starting to call them things like aging rockers and dinosaurs: https://youtu.be/SGyOaCXr8Lw?si=f0MmiyRYZ0Jj1ev1
That song came out 40 years ago.
@alcoholicorn It is when it has been privatised to a company that pretty much pays no tax (hi Transurban!), for roads that taxpayers helped to pay for, and those toll roads connect car dependent suburbs that have next to no public transport.
@underwatermagpies @TinyBreak To be fair, it also depends on where in Geelong.
It's not that bad if you're in one of the new estates near Torquay or in a new apartment block in the CBD.
Corio on the other hand...
Well...
There's a good reason why Geelong maybe has a bit of a bad reputation sometimes.
@TinyBreak @StudChud Many years ago I dated a girl who lived in Rowville, and I can confirm there's plenty to do there.
You can choose whether you want to go to the Coles or the Kmart at Stud Park Shopping Centre. Maybe both?
Or you can wait and wait in a traffic jam on Stud Road.
Or wait and wait in a traffic jam on Wellington Road.
Or wait and wait in a traffic jam on Kelletts Road.
Or wait and wait for the bus to Knox and Ringwood.
Or wait and wait for the bus to Dandenong.
Or wait and wait for the bus to Glen Waverley.
Or wait and wait for the bus to Boronia.
Or wait and wait for the bus to Caulfield.
@AllNewTypeFace Of course there were.
For commuters:
More densification around existing stations and tram lines instead of suburban sprawl.
Upgrading buses across Melbourne to a 10-minute minimum frequency and straightening out existing bus routes.
Rolling out high-capacity signalling and automatic train control across the Melbourne suburban rail network
Building Metro 2 from Newport to Clifton Hill would double the number of trains that can run on the Hurstbridge and Mernda lines.
Building the Doncaster Railway.
Building the Heidelberg to Box Hill section of the SRL first.
Extending the 48 tram to Doncaster and giving it dedicated lanes for more of its journey.
And then for freight, there's a bunch of things too:
Converting more suburban lines to dual gauge.
Converting more regional Victorian lines to standard gauge
Electrifying regional rail and freight services
Building more multimodal facilities near existing rail lines.