Too fucking real…

As a non-American, I find that whole concept absurd - and that’s before learning of its ties to monarchy!

Qualified immunity; because there is no explicit guidance against police “shooting blonde, female Australian news reporters live on the air while covering an LA protests against ICE on a weekend” - he will be let off with a stern talking to, and a wink.

Oh, totally! 🙄

I have a feeling I’m going to have a LOT of (unpaid, as I’m on salary) overtime in the next three weeks as a result!

Am meant to transfer to a new department at work next week, but the new team didn’t initiate the transfer correctly - so my old role couldn’t be backfilled…

…now there’s a fight brewing over when I should actually transition. It’s good to be wanted, but I feel like a kid who’s divorcing parents are fighting for custody!

Any recent restaurants that stand-out as worth mentioning?

Just got home from the gym, and going to head back for another session in the morning - all because I’m stubborn and want to prove the wife wrong…

…she definitely knows how to push my buttons, heaven help me if she ever decides to use those powers for evil! 😅

The in-laws are heading back overseas in a month, so we are going to lose their babysitting services shortly, so I’m trying to get in as much exercise as I can!

Any tips to stay on track and motivated to work out from home once they leave?

Are there any region-free 4K blu-ray drives available? I’m asking for a friend.

You had me in the first half, not gonna lie!

It’s cold as balls this morning - for the 3rd day in a row! 🥶🎾

Where is the global warming that this climate change promised us? I was expecting Mai tais…

We definitely do need denser housing in the inner suburbs, but with the questionable build quality of post-2000 properties, we probably need a significant overhaul of building standards and requirements first and foremost.

Heating/cooling should not be so expensive and futile, given our relatively mild climate. Proper insulation, double/triple laminate glass, awnings over north & west-facing windows etc.

Additionally, many new developments are built and billed as ‘luxury’ - pricing out a lot of potential buyers, and builds rarely have the appropriate number of rooms for young families.

Lastly, accessibility concerns usually mean that new developments beyond 2 stories usually require an elevator - so in order to make the build cost effective, the designer ultimately needs to become 5-6 stories tall; infuriating NIMBYs who may otherwise tolerate a 3-4 storey tall build.

There are a lot of problems that need to be tackled, but they need to be tackled - both from a Federal (against financial incentives towards property hoarding and speculation), and State (building adequate levels of appropriate stock).

Oh, absolutely!

My morning caffeine clearly hadn’t kicked in because I stupidly forgot to circle back round to that point. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Ultimately, my biggest worry is that Trump’s absolute piss-poor understanding and implementation of tariffs has very likely ‘poisoned the well’ to the point that they could probably never be successfully implemented in our lifetime by an actual competent Government - assuming the US ever gets another chance to elect one ever again.

Smart, specific targeted tariffs paired with grants/incentives to American companies to foster local production of critical goods (think CHIPS Act) can be a good thing, if they are done in such a way that it doesn’t send an entire industry/market into financial shock.

Like, if you want to onboard silicon wafer manufacturing (as a prime example); you would announce a small tariff to start off with, and a clear road-map of it increasing over time - allowing time for companies to build the necessary infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities onshore.

Once the industry has settled and matured, those tariffs could begin to be slowly pared back to ensure that free-market competition continues to keep prices in check.

But this would only work in an actual free-market economy, and not in the oligopoly-in-a-trenchcoat that currently exists in the states.

#RIPinPeace

I blame Stone Cold Steve Austin; probably gave her one too many stunners back in her WWE days.

That’s absolutely

That’s what I’ve been experiencing as of late, too. Inbound, where the Gippy Hwy joins onto the Monash is slows to a crawl, then picks up until the Eastlink merge, where it slows to a crawl and continues until around Warrigal Rd where (thanks to the added lane?) it opens up again.

Now I’m to try and avoid the impact I have to either leave at before 6am or after 9:30am in order to have a somewhat decent (sub-45 minute) run into the office; but at least I’m lucky enough to have that flexibility!

It’s absolutely atrocious now; was hoping it might be temporary due to roadworks elsewhere, or bus replacements due to train works.

Makes my commute cancer, and I don’t even have the option to take public transport instead 😭

Legitimate question; what has happened to the Monash Freeway the last four or so weeks? Morning commutes are now ~75 minutes from like 6:30am onwards. Used to be a clean run up until like 7:15 or so.

Yeah; we’ve got one too - primarily for when you first get out of the shower. It’s really good for drying the soles of your feet, so you don’t slip on tile - and the water evaporates very quickly.

NY Mag article review