zero_gravitas @ zero_gravitas @aussie.zone

Posts

111

Comments

306

Joined

2 yr. ago

Once they’ve been dead for a hundred years, it’s fine. They moved onto the next phase of their existence in the universe a long time ago.

Yeah, this is the impression I have as a generality, but I don't know for sure the specific cultural practices relevant to this man, so I threw it in there to play it safe. It doesn't cost anything, and I figure it's a good idea to get into the habit of doing it. At very least one user (Tar_Alcaran) learnt something!

No worries, glad I could be informative!

It's a cultural sensitivity thing, with many Aboriginal Australian cultures having a prohibition against using the name of a deceased person.

Guidelines here: https://www.abc.net.au/edpols/respecting-indigenous-people-and-culture-in-abc-content/13633944

Most articles these days copy large sections from press-releases, yeah. Especially trade outlets.

Here's the page on the McDonald's site for comparison: https://mcdonalds.com.au/newsroom/step-squid-game-maccas-new-meal

What the fuck does the synagogue arson attack have to with protests?

The puzzling thing is that after the magic words don't work the first time they don't give up on it.

So transparently self-serving for the major parties. Victoria has been particularly bad for this kind of thing in the past few years - they also moved to single-member electorates for council elections: https://www.tallyroom.com.au/55121

This ban is such a garbage idea.

The cops have recently tried to shut down protests in Sydney by arguing that their route supposedly takes them too close to particular places of worship - despite the route being originally proposed by the cops! This will only bolster that obstructionism.

But he said there were already laws designed to do precisely that, which target violent protest, offensive behaviour, racial abuse and discrimination.

Amen!

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) has come out against these laws: https://www.nswccl.org.au/media_release_religious_institutions

This commenter dug up even more baffling details: https://aussie.zone/post/15912083/13633454

The Guardian's headline is.pretty tame all things considered. You could have had:

• US woman backflips in court, pleads guilty to smuggling 24-carat gold gun into Sydney
• Clown school student who tried to smuggle gold-plated pistol into Australia claims Google said it was 'OK'

From the first one:

Goodson had declared that she was carrying cat, squirrel and rabbit parts on her incoming passenger card, but failed to mention the gun.

...

The court also heard that she previously owned two other guns while living in the States, but she had accidentally given them away.

"Those guns I ended up giving away, because I accidentally left them in a donation box."

From the last one:

Her lawyer said she packed the pistol because she was high and paranoid from synthetic marijuana

She also has a horn and a bone through her nose.

Maybe an Aus Science community would be good and could include health stuff?

I posted an article to !austech@aussie.zone a while back (https://aussie.zone/post/14355715) which may have fit better in a science comm (but again, could also have gone in plain 'news').

It’s not news

Isn't it?

Heatwave to rain-bomb with flash and river flooding in one week for NSW. This is fine 🐶🔥

You make a reasonable point. I think there is difference, though, which is the degree to which 'the customer is the product' for these platforms, and that's a key ingredient in Doctorow's original post:

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

Sure, advertising is nothing new, but the degree to which these platforms can target content and ads to the individual is qualitatively different to 'old media'. Emphasis on 'the customer', singular, being the product, not 'the readers/viewers' as a whole.

'Platform decay' is more serious and more descriptive to boot.

Pertussis-containing vaccines are recommended for children at 2, 4, 6 and 18 months, and 4 years of age, and adolescents at 11–13 years of age.

Pertussis-containing vaccines are recommended for adults at ages 50 years and 65 years.

Vaccination of pregnant women is recommended during each pregnancy, preferably between 20 and 32 weeks gestation.

Vaccination is recommended every 10 years for healthcare workers, early childhood educators and carers, and people in close contact with infants.

from: https://immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au/contents/vaccine-preventable-diseases/pertussis-whooping-cough

Whooping cough (aka. pertussis) is still on the standard schedule of vaccines. It's rates of boosters between and after the scheduled vaccinations that have dropped.

There's a surge in cases about every 5 years, so it's not unexpected, but the current one is particularly bad for reasons that aren't clear but probably include lower vaccine coverage.

Some reading here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-08/whooping-cough-surge-record-cases-2024-pertussis/104474394

There are ways to implement age verification that address privacy concerns, for sure. It remains to be seen whether the government chooses to use them, or if they will use this as an excuse to de-anonymise Australian social media users.

In any case, blind signatures (or other cryptographic methods) won't address the issue that Australians will be banned from any social media platform by default, until the developers get around to implementing the required age verification system (whatever that ends up being).

If anyone didn't see this post yesterday, public submissions close today for the rushed senate committee review of this proposed legislation: https://aussie.zone/post/15477521

In the US, the vast majority of mortgages have a fixed rate over decades.

90% of mortgages are fixed-rate for 30 years according to this page: https://www.mortgagecalculator.org/helpful-advice/how-many-years-mortgage-loan.php

I don't know the details of how that works, but yeah, it's possible for the vast majority of home borrowers to be on fixed rates.

I don't think they were asking the cops to do anything, they just were refusing people service.

But I agree with your conclusion. If they weren't using the data for commercial reasons, they were using it as a deniable trial to see what they could get away with.

Fucking Coles is using Palantir and has their checkout face cameras, so I suspect in the wake of this we'll hear more about this sort of thing with other companies.