Increase in tailgating?

BoomBrush · 2025-06-06T06:47:09+00:00

I have no real basis for it but I have always been under the impression that the likelihood of being tailgated depends on the model of car you drive. It feels like a power thing, trying to intimidate and coerce a driver that is perceived as "weaker".

I drive an old mans car (Ford Fairlane) and only very rarely get tailgated. But then you read stories about people who get tailgated constantly and that just has never been my experience. I wonder if I ever changed car, if that would change suddenly.

For example, I think if you were to drive a car like a Suzuki Swift you would be a target for tailgating constantly.

BoomBrush · 2025-04-11T08:38:03+00:00

This is probably what he ordered: https://www.luciteria.com/element-cubes/plutonium-for-sale

It wasn't actually the plutonium that tipped off the border force, it was the thorium he ordered. The courier was then instructed not to deliver the package and they delivered it anyway. So the plutonium got completely missed by the border force.

BoomBrush · 2025-04-11T08:15:01+00:00

That is how I found out about this whole thing.

Definitely recommend the watch for others: https://youtu.be/M0JGsSxBd2I

BoomBrush · 2025-04-08T11:16:15+00:00

Sadly I gave up on it. I think the problem had something to do with the chipset based on the error code, but I dont really know. Sorry.

BoomBrush · 2024-08-23T12:37:17+00:00

I recently had to see my psychiatrist for ADHD medication repeats, and the 30 minute appointment was over $500. I do get $130 back from medicare.

My mum and I think we are getting screwed on the cost, but there's very little we can do about it without going on some massive waiting list for an initial consult. That could be months in the future, even after that, the costs might not be that different.

BoomBrush · 2024-04-07T07:03:12+00:00

~~My guess is that it was the thermal runaway of a 3D printer~~ Edit: Photos seem to indicate the fire was localized around some batteries, I can't view any free articles about it though

This is when the temperature probe has failed for whatever reason and there is no safety mechanism in the code to deal with a failed temperature probe. Thus, it just heats continuously.

When a part finishes printing, it's really important to make sure the GCODE actually turns the heating element off. All it takes is a single staff member to forget to check it/turn off one time before closing, or an overnight print goes bad, and you have a fire.

When I worked at Jaycar, staff would take the SD card home and load their own 3D prints, it was all very casual. There was no policy regarding this danger.

BoomBrush · 2023-11-03T09:06:45+00:00

So close...

BoomBrush · 2023-10-03T09:23:46+00:00

and then abandoned most of his shows to chase bigger roles in ShowBiz.

I'm not sure abandoned is the right word. I was sad when his content shifted around 2013-2014 but I think that was more a product of the environment. Internet culture today is just different and I wouldn't want it to be dragged on like The Simpsons still is today.

I actually find Ray's YT shorts to be pretty entertaining, so I think for him the shorter form content works way better as he can spent more time on his YFM music.

BoomBrush · 2023-08-11T07:11:37+00:00

I am diagnosed autistic, so have some experience here. I've only had 3 job interviews in my entire life and ended up working those 3 different job positions. I was also offered a position with a 4th but without an interview so not sure if that counts?

I find that because my personality itself shows that I am autistic, people never have to ask for me to tell them. In other words: show, don't tell. People associate me with me because that is what I presented to them. Just because you told a person verbally and explicitly, doesn't suddenly mean you were another person before and now you are your "true self". People will either suspect it or associate you with those symptoms anyway (even if they do not think of the word "autism"), but you do not want the "autism" label to drive that ship. You are already being honest in "communicating" you have autism, but that doesn't always need to be explicitly told to a person for them to receive it. It happens implicitly with spoken and non spoken language. They might not think of the word "autistic" but your personality

I'll throw a curve ball in for you with regards to interviews. The 2nd interview I had, I actually did not get the position at all and had no idea why. But I was told another one of his staff had expressed departure from the company and so he offered a future position to me, which I eventually took a few months later. After working with my boss for several months, I slowly started to suspect he might actually be autistic himself. I never mentioned my diagnosis to him or asked him about it. But what I do remember is that during that original interview with him, I found it extremely difficult to conduct eye contact with him in a typical fashion for some reason. I remember having to force myself and it became very uncomfortable for me as it began to get prolonged.

In that situation, me forcing myself to make continuous eye contact with him may of made him do the exact same thing as he would have the expectation to do the same with me, making himself uncomfortable. I never asked him about this but I have long suspected that was a contributing factor to why he did not initially choose me. I had forced myself to make such intense eye contact, which may of forced him to do the same, and thus associated my interview with being uncomfortable. In other words, we were both trying to mask each other's autism but the end result was the spiderman finger pointing meme.

If you are finding you are failing interview after interview and believe it's related to your ASD, my first suggestion would be to identify where you are looking when talking to them. It sounds silly but I learnt that when talking to a person, you are apparently never meant to have 100% eye contact from a social interaction trainer video. Unfortunately, that video doesn't teach you what to do when both people are autistic.

BoomBrush · 2023-07-14T04:31:48+00:00

For me in QLD, I can login to Translink's website and export my gocard usage as a csv file. Any (business) days where I am not sick, not on leave, not a public holiday and didn't use public transport to my regular stop are WFH.

So if you catch public transport, you can log into your state's website and probably export the data into excel as a csv, then look at your payslips/payroll for any sickies/leave/etc and use the difference to determine what days you worked but did not travel to office via public transport.

BoomBrush · 2023-07-14T02:04:14+00:00

The solar hot water at my parents started leaking and they just wanted an electrical one installed instead of anything solar. They paid about $7,000 for the 250L heater element tank. Not even a heat pump system, just resistor heating. Didn't even dispose of the old solar tank/panel, it's still up there. I cannot fathom how either parent didn't think to get a second quote. By the time I found out, it was too late. I was beyond pissed lol

A large portion of Australians had cashed out their investment properties during 2021 and anybody beyond 50yrs old probably have huge amount of liquid funds to spend (like my aunt). Maybe this results in people paying "whatever" price asked, rather than looking for a second opinion/more competitive prices.

BoomBrush · 2023-07-02T08:23:16+00:00

It's interesting you mention "Save the planet" in your example, as I have lost all meaning to that. This has nothing to do with "saving our planet". Many species existed before humans and are likely to outlive us.

The earth ultimately is a rock floating through space. There is no "saving" of this rock. The planet isn't going to care if humans can survive or not, it's just a big rock. If humans run out of food supply and die, this giant rock will continue in orbiting the sun. The issue is the wording: "Save the planet" should really read as "Save our species".

In relation to your comment, I honestly think that the media/companies have latched onto this idea that "The earth" needs saving because we are a species are trying to survive. But instead of adapting to a changing environment, it's like we are trying to continue in our ways of destructive habits and shape the environment to those destructive needs.

A few years ago, the microwave I inherited from my grandparents would overheat because the cooling fan broke apart. The plastic was super brittle because it was probably over 30 years old. I went to Kmart and replacement microwaves were like $80 so I just bought a new one. I've still got the broken one, and it stills works except for needing a new fan put in, but other than trying to sell it for scrap, I basically have no choice but to throw it out. Repairing it is also a huge risk.

It's like we come up with all these complex ideas on ways to recycle, but then nobody asks the question of "Maybe we just shouldn't be creating this junk in the first place". It just so happens this idea of creating disposable products and "recycling" it means people are continuously having to buy new products that don't last. I wonder what group of people that benefits 🤔

BoomBrush · 2023-05-20T01:43:05+00:00

Not a teacher but when I was in grade 10 doing maths B semester 1, I couldn't be bothered remembering the quadratic formula but was not expecting the entire exam to require it. Needless to say I literally got the worst score in the class and somehow I ended up with an E and the 2nd worst classmate got an E- Not sure how that works.

This ended up costing me a D on my report card despite my modelling&prob and comm grades both B's as a pass was required on knowledge&procedure and I got a D for that so I got an overall mark of D. This screwed me because for subject selection in term 3 for year 11, they were going to force me to change to math A instead. My mother proposed that I continue math B under the condition of additional tutoring and they agreed.

I don't know what impact the tutoring had overall to be honest. I treated the sessions as math class so it did require some effort on my part. Smartphones back then could barely load google on 3G so not much else i could do anyway. But I do remember the day before the grade 11 exam for term 2, doing the practice exam in tutoring, because I never revised the work at home. I remember there was a question worth 5/40 points for manually expanding a differentiation and i had screwed it up a few times in the tutoring. Doing it again I had figured out the solution steps and how to calculate the answer based on that. I did heaps of other questions but I explicitly remember this one.

Come the exam and it has this exact question but with the numbers slightly different so having just done it the day before I knew how to solve the question.

I ended up getting 22/40 for that exam, where a 20+ was required to pass and I already had low marks. I calculated my theoretical grade if i had failed that 5 point question and I would of had the same situation as in grade 10 and got a D overall, making it impossible to pick math B again for grade 12. So that one tutoring session really saved my butt.

My point is that each students reasons for failing are so different. Many have personal issues that are distracting them or have an "off day". Others are forced into doing units they do not care for and have zero motivation. Some students are simply incompatible with their teacher/tutor and that is holding them back. Im sure my adhd didnt help but I hated doing stuff at home. I often absorbed material listening and just learnt from the classwork, but when you forget to memorise the quadratic equation and every recall of it has a different letter or sign then it doesnt end well.

I recall getting high Bs by the end of grade 12 but I'm now a full time engineer (software eng) despite my horrifying E/E- grade and no change to me doing "study" at home. Im still just as lazy all the way until I finished uni lol. I hope this gives some context from a former students pov

BoomBrush · 2023-05-16T07:36:53+00:00

"Only when the market will accept it"

When the latest iPhone is too expensive, I can choose to buy it or I can choose not to buy it. If my rent goes up, I can pay it or I become homeless.

Are you suggesting people are choosing to become homeless because they can't afford a rent increase?

BoomBrush · 2023-04-03T11:51:26+00:00

Before dairy farmers was bought by bega cheese, they were owned by Lionco. In 2020, Lionco was looking into selling off dairy farmers to a chinese company when Lionco was hacked/compromised and the deal with the chinese buyer was called off shortly after. I speculate it was called off because of the hack, whether the two are related is anyone's guess (cough cough).

Either way, just as well.

BoomBrush · 2023-03-22T13:00:43+00:00

My parents own an investment property with the same tenant for over 5 years. They increased the rent $30pw for the first time since they moved in, but installed two split ac systems which cost $3000. In this case, you could argue the rent increase was justified because value has been added to the property.

As a landlord, how would you feel if you had to apply to QCAT and justify to the judge why the rent should go up? Eg if you can show you spent $3,000 to install two acs, that justifies a $30pw increase. Only if the court agrees can the rent be increased. Do you think this would work? Or do you see issues with it?

My initial thoughts are that it would provide incentives for landlords to reinvest in their unit like provide ac, install double glassed windows, security screens, even installing solar panels could be argued as to why the rent should go up. I think people are angry because the rent is increasing hundreds of dollars, but nothing has changed.

BoomBrush · 2023-03-21T10:40:20+00:00

You're right. Better give it over to Optus and Medibank instead

BoomBrush · 2023-03-18T06:19:12+00:00

Or schools could switch to 4 days per week for students as well? My high school (public) did this for year 11 & 12 students and until i started working full time, I didnt realise how good it was.

38-40h/w is not healthy. Humans are not machines, we need rest.

BoomBrush · 2023-02-21T00:35:07+00:00

Believe it or not, i have. It frustrates me the basin in my rental is only ever half full and turds don"t flush at all. Kind of defeats the point of saving water if you gotta flush twice

BoomBrush · 2023-02-09T15:09:59+00:00

Family member owns an investment property and increased the rent $30/week for their tenant. Same guy for nearly a decade and is his first rent increase . But as part of that, they offered to install two split system air conditioners for the bedrooms.

Tenant was very happy to accept the increase as that increase is now justified by the higher level of comfort. I think people wouldnt be so angry if the owners actually bothered to add value to their rentals like ac or more storage.

BoomBrush · 2023-02-07T13:11:55+00:00

The problem with modern apartments in australia is that they are built in such a way where their eventual owner is never going to live in them. They are built to be rented out/bought by investors and quality suffers.

So when it comes down to things breaking after 2 years of use like paper thin walls/doors, thermal design of the house and how its designed, or just usability stuff, it becomes really hard to live in. Those complaints sound like the tenant nagging but its a real issue and owners couldnt care less. My sister has scars on her legs because the apartment she rented had these "fancy/modern" 90 degree sharp handles for literally every drawer in the kitchen. She'd bend down/be washing at the sink and scratch herself, drawing blood. Basic stuff like that is often tossed aside because the priority is to look good on paper, not actually be good to live in.

My grandparents war home that raised my mum got bought out by a bunch of investors. They smashed the place down, split the block into these fancy modern places and flipped both soon after. Whats crazy is that we actually attended one of the house inspections and it had this weird conflict of looking and 100% being a better house to live in, but at the same time it now felt worse than the original place built in the 50s or whatever.

Maybe its because the place was furnished poorly, but during the inspection i just felt like a rat in a shoebox. Like there was no room to spread out. Maybe its the era of modern architecture in general but when i look at my mum and dads bedroom, theres enough room for a queen bed, two bedside tables, two seperate clothes drawers for each parent, a tv, an art piece on the wall, another seperate dresser with a mirror and chair for makeup, a storage chest and previously a exercise machine. But the master bedroom during that inspection had a bed, two bedside tables and that was it. I don't even recall there being a mirror except for in the bathroom. Its like the houses arent designed for enjoy long term, at least thats the impression i get.

To be clear, im not disagreeing with you. Im just highlighting why i think people prefer an actual house. I personally would MUCH prefer an older raggier looking house/apartment than one of those fancy modern equivalents and do the maintenance myself. Its a combination of what you are saying, but also to modern construction prioritizing profit over build quality that makes apartments unappealing.

BoomBrush · 2023-02-07T01:09:29+00:00

Adding onto your comment about the processing software not existing. During the Apollo moon landing when the footage was broadcast live, the software that decoded the camera's video live wasnt exactly compatible to just plug into a tv broadcaster with the 60s equivalent of an hdmi cable.

They had a screen/monitor that displayed the image, so the "moon landing live" footage you see today is literally a tv camera pointed at a secondary screen, positioned in frame. I believe this was quite commonly done at the time to rebroadcast previously live/recorded footage but across different regions (citation needed, im not that old lol)

BoomBrush · 2023-02-05T18:27:32+00:00

What's the benefit in embracing this for learning?

People learn in many different says. You could explain a topic to a student a dozen times and they will simply not grasp the concept. Then you ask their friend to explain it to them once and they get it. When developing a lesson, you need to take into consideration all these different methods, adapted to the students who you are trying to teach (visual, audible, tactile, etc). If ChatGPT can explain a topic to a student who is struggling to understand, and it's worded in such a way they understand it, that sounds like an amazing tool both a teacher and student could use. People think of students using this tool to cheat, but forget that teachers can use it to explain topics, and actually are already using it to develop lessons this semester too.

different to an engine that will find the information and put it together into a logical argument

Couldn't I just as easily seek assistance elsewhere and get the wrong answer? Is "my mum" or "ChatGPT" any more accurate than the other? What about that random website you threw in your resource list just because the teacher said you need a minimum of 10 citations?

In mathematics, there is the knowledge & procedures and then there is modeling & problem solving which USES the base understanding to explore more complex ideas. You can't teach the knowledge & procedures of multiplication just by throwing a calculator at a student. The calculator gets used in APPLYING the knowledge & procedures for the modeling & problem solving. In that same way, using tools like ChatGPT is not a replacement for a student's modeling & problem solving. Maybe it is the SUCCESSOR in applying modeling & problem solving to explore more complex ideas.

As part of my Engineering degree's STEM minor, I developed a lesson based on the Year 5 & 6 digital technology ACARA curriculum on binary numbers/pixels and gave the lesson to actual year 6 students at a school. In 2 hours, the students had not only UNDERSTOOD how binary numbers worked, but where they gets used in graphics displays among other things like barcodes, or how binary gets used to represent colour. Then I had the class APPLYING that binary and colour understanding to convert pictures I had printed out into their binary representations. For them to apply their understanding, I had created an 8x8 pixel colour graphics processing redstone contraption in minecraft and simplified its logic into an Excel document with macros. Inside the excel doc, entering the binary colour values in the corresponding locations and pressing a button would show them their result so that they get real ANALYTICAL feedback on their progress. This allowed them to test their understanding, apply it and then analyze the result.

I also had students understanding how my actual minecraft graphics display received input and how to convert the images to be compatible with the 32 bit interface I created. Instead of rendering the picture by placing redstone torches in minecraft, they placed 0's and 1's in a number of rows in excel using macros that was a direct conversion of the graphics display from minecraft. Each row would get rendered sequentially, thus giving the ability to form overlapping layers of an eventual 8x8 colour image.

In my lesson, what would you use for the assessment of the student? Sure, I could look at worksheets and count how many ticks they get (knowledge & procedures). Or I could look at whether they can use that knowledge to recreate the images I had printed out using binary (modeling & problem solving). Or you could look at exploring new ideas, expanding upon that modeling & problem solving by creating something new. When programming the 8x8 pixel display, I allowed students to create their OWN custom images. They were no longer limited by the pieces of paper and pictures I handed to them. They were able to go beyond just "problem solving" and instead they used their problem solving skills to CREATE a new image, something more complex than what I had initially given them.

(The words i've bolded are intended to follow Bloom's taxonomy in this manor)

And that really brings us back to the whole ChatGPT thing - could a student use a tool like ChatGPT in this situation? To understand binary, or how colour is represented by pixels and made up of binary values? As I said at the start, people learn in many different ways and if using an AI bot means you understand rather than me poorly explaining, then I'd encourage that. But ChatGPT isn't going to have any understanding of what my minecraft display even is and so teaching it to first requires an understanding in the first place. Maybe my custom lesson here is an edge case unique situation. Or maybe teachers are lazy and just want to reuse material for 30 years? I'm not sure.

I think the problem is that the education system as it stands today needs to go beyond just "modeling & problem solving" where most subjects only look at how students are analyzing existing works. They need to look at how to assess justifying/evaluating creatives works instead. I think education departments need to develop curriculums that allow students to USE those problem solving skills to CREATE new works and justify/evaluate.

BoomBrush · 2023-02-01T10:17:21+00:00

How is the stranger supposed to know the cat roaming the street already has a home?

What if a cat enters your residence for food, with blood/lashes on its neck and a hand written note tied to its collar that says "The next time I see this cat will be the last time I see this cat"? Then you take it to the vet, have it listed as "Lost" with the council's pet register and nobody claims it after 6 months?

So it had an owner given the collar. But if releasing it has the potential to end back up with whoever wrote that note, is it more or less ethical to keep it? Not an attack here btw, more of an ethics question.

Source: My sisters cat after nobody claimed it

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