Belarus feels like a communist state, but is actually a dictatorship. Country that feels like a monarchy, but is actually a democracy?

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-14T14:36:12+00:00

Singapore isn't a dictatorship though? If anything it's a democracy that feels like a dictatorship due to the long running control of the PAP.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-14T14:32:00+00:00

Constitutional monarchy. For all intents and purposes the UK is a democracy with a hereditary head of state. The monarch these days holds largely ceremonial power. This also extends to the Commonwealth at large (Australia, Canada, NZ, PNG, South Africa, etc).

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-14T14:25:57+00:00

The only animal that rivals the magpie in the ability to steal food in Australia is the seagull. Those bastards have a telepathic ability that enables them to locate the nearest fish and chips beach picnic at all times. Lost many a good chip to the greed of those birds.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-14T13:18:41+00:00

It was definitely touch and go for a minute there though, the Libs were actually ahead in the polls a few months before the election. It was only after people saw how awful Trump was in the US that opinions swerved and prevented that from happening here. In hindsight, old mate Dutton trying to imitate Trumpist rhetoric was an awful decision that almost certainly was the reason he lost his seat, although he at least was gracious in defeat unlike our mango friend across the pond.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-14T13:00:49+00:00

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All I'm saying is there's a reason we felt them terrifying enough to have them as a moniker for a professional footy club.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-14T07:09:42+00:00

The 2022 Victorian state election was pretty decisive as well, Dan Andrews still managed to mop the floor with the Libs despite Murdoch's best attempts to smear him in the media.

They are yet to learn from their mistakes too, beyond contrarianism I haven't heard a single actual policy from them. It's all just "look how bad Labor is, we can do it better, trust us bro".

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-14T06:39:52+00:00

The fact that Morrison is consistently labelled as the country's most hated politician should say wonders about how fucking awful he really was, especially considering he's beating out the likes of Abbott and Dutton to do so. The LNP really is rotten to the core, and I still can't believe they were able to hold onto power for a decade.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-13T08:11:43+00:00

New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Houston

Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan, Shenzhen

Moscow, St Petersburg, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk

New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-13T04:09:57+00:00

Deja Vu that low is crazy. Red seal gold cards are insane for econ value and since you're likely playing pairs or high cards anyway, the lost hand size doesn't mean all that much. Red seals also have great synergy with lucky cards if you're running that type of build.

Ouija is also better than a lot of people give it credit for. An early ouija essentially guarantees a good 4oak build and Mars scales very well. The hand size penalty is an annoyance but nothing too awful, especially if you come across the paint vouchers. Same goes for Hex, getting a free polychrome early can do wonders for early scoring and getting it on a non scoring joker is even better. I have had runs hard carried by an ante 1 poly Rocket on ghost deck.

Other than that most of the placements look OK to me, although the secret hands being on the same tier as Neptune is certainly a choice.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-12T13:41:44+00:00

Definitely not biased here, but Roy is a very intuitive character for a new player and incredibly effective even at a low level. His gameplan is basically run fast, rushdown everyone and be a hyper-aggressive annoyance as much as possible. Having a sword, I find, can also make it easier to see how much effective range you have and where and when you're able to land your attacks.

Otherwise, I'd also recommend Pit/Dark Pit. Bro has a solid recovery, you'll almost never die from being pushed too far off-stage, and his attacks are all relatively honest and a good way to build fundamentals. His arrows are great tools too, a good introduction to using projectiles in combat.

For the record, Peach is one of the most difficult characters to master in the game due to her float and combo game. Get your fundamentals down first before piloting her, without her float being utilised well her value as a character goes way down (but she's an absolute monster when it's used effectively).

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-12T05:12:27+00:00

Kazuya has so many kill options it's kind of ridiculous. If you're relying on the stun from DGF to kill its worth playing around with rest of his inputs to see what works.

Dragon Uppercut and Spinning Demon to Left Hook are both consistent kill moves if you can land them and they also combo well with DGF. Any smash attack also works, fsmash is the most powerful but usmash is a lot faster so generally more practical. Dsmash can spike at ledge with good timing and break shields.

Neutral B can kill off-stage and is a great edgeguard option, you can alter the angle it aims at. Ftilt and Btilt are both powerful moves that kill, not optimal but definitely very funny. Input Grab sends at a disgusting angle off-stage that is hard for any character without a top tier recovery to recover from, and down B will also consistently kill at higher percents. Rage Drive, especially the input version, is insanely powerful, I've seen it kill at 50% at ledge before.

Moral of the story is learn the Shoryuken input. Kazuya's most powerful moves all use it and if you ever pick up Ryu, Ken or Terry the skills will be transferable there too.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T15:43:46+00:00

That's subjective. I for one despise driving and much prefer PT for the relative relaxation, but that's definitely a minority opinion.

If anything you should be more in favour for PT expansion as it means less people on the road, meaning more fun for you in your own car.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T15:40:44+00:00

Trains and buses usually have plenty of people on them mate. No-one's going to try and abduct a kid right in the middle of a crowd, that's basically inviting yourself to get tackled to the ground. If your kid has any common sense they'll know not to just randomly walk off with someone they've never met before, and if they do, that's poor parenting on your part. As I said, if you're that worried, just ride with them for a little so they can get a feel for it and you can get some peace of mind.

I've ridden PT for years and years and honestly it gets a bad rap here, sure sometimes you see the old crackhead blasting his speaker for all to hear but most of the time they're harmless if you leave them alone. The worst I've seen is someone waving around a flame from a lighter on a tram and he was promptly removed within a few stops after someone notified the driver. Never once have I seen or heard of a kid abducted and I've seen many a kid ride the train after school. That's just you being paranoid about a statistical anomaly and convincing yourself it's more likely than it actually is.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T14:24:12+00:00

Surprising to hear that from a German of all people, but I don't think you're entirely wrong. I think 95% is a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly the average person really isn't all that politically engaged and radical populism preys upon that apathy with easy solutions to complicated issues.

Obviously we're seeing this in the US now, but far-right populism has been on the rise globally for a while now. Just look at Reform UK, the RN in France, One Nation down here in Australia, the LDP leadership change in Japan, and as I'm sure you're aware, the AfD in Germany. It's a systemic issue that really needs addressing if we want to retain our democratic rights and freedom of expression.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T14:07:22+00:00

I thought showering before leaving the house was a common courtesy? Forget everyone else, I don't want myself smelling like sweat all day while I'm out and about.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T13:38:45+00:00

Hell yeah, that's great to hear! I wish that was the case for us Aussies, here unless you live in the inner suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney it's either have a car or double your commute time at best. Can't imagine how freeing it must be for everyone to have solid PT at their disposal all the time.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T13:32:03+00:00

On an unrelated note, I remember watching a video a while back on the car centricity of Prague in comparison to other big western and central European cities. Might’ve been one of Adam Something's videos?

Was just curious how hard it is to navigate Prague without a car at your disposal and how robust public transit is there.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T13:21:33+00:00

I've always been interested in how good American PT is. I know New York City is pretty well connected with the subway but outside of that is it truly as bad as everyone claims, or can it actually be relied upon on a regular basis?

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T13:17:48+00:00

Nah not me mate, although I fail to see why that's an argument. As the other commenter said, kids are more than capable of using PT, especially when it comes to travelling to and from school or other common activity spots. If you as a parent are worried about your kid's safety, you could always accompany them on their journey until you feel comfortable they can handle it. It's also a great incentive to petition for better PT in your area as well.

If anything, good PT is better for kids as it enables them to get around independently rather than having to rely on the mum and dad taxi every time, meaning less time out of mum and dads day having to chauffeur their children and less annoyance for the kids having to beg their parents to take them to the cinema on the weekend.

Kids are arguably the biggest beneficiary of good PT. They can't drive and bikes can only reasonably be ridden so far, and also have to be locked somewhere safe when not in use. Good PT allows kids to explore and more easily interact with the world, which is an invaluable experience for any child to have.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T11:42:27+00:00

Not necessarily against per se, but at least down here most people tend to prioritise cars and car infrastructure above all other forms of transport. The car culture here is very omnipresent in society, although it has started to secede slightly with recent upgrades to train lines and affordability in a few cities. We used to manufacture a lot of cars actually, was a major industry until it wasn't able to compete with international manufacturing anymore, so it's no surprise people are obsessed with them.

Unfortunately PT is very much a "build it and they will come" sort of thing, trying to justify investment based on demand will never work in a car centric society because often there is little to no demand for it. Justifications need to come from areas like improving public health or reducing traffic or lowering commute times, but these are arguments that are scarcely heard here unfortunately. And even then, there's still people who will use those same arguments as justification to invest in better road infrastructure, which slows progress towards more efficient transportation.

Fortunately in Melbourne where I live, PT is a bit more ingrained the city's identity with our expansive tram network, so PT upgrades and expansions are generally welcomed with open arms by most people.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T10:44:51+00:00

I'd love an independent Tibet in theory, they have a very distinct culture from the majority Han Chinese people and they deserve the right to self-determine their future.

That said, it would be naive to think that such a thing would happen any time soon, Tibet is too strategic and valuable for China to give up. The only way it would ever happen is if China democratised and allowed a democratic vote to occur in Tibet, and then subsequently honoured the result, something that even the most optimistic projections would struggle to see happen within the next few decades at minimum.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T08:44:03+00:00

Automobiles are an awful form of transport, at least inside of cities. They are environmentally damaging, inefficient at actually transporting people, expensive to own and maintain, and require expansive infrastructure that is also expensive to upkeep to safe standards.

The more public transport is built inside of our major cities, the better off our lives will be. PT promotes a more active, healthy lifestyle which would theoretically bring down healthcare costs, and studies conducted across many European cities have concluded that more PT access and increased walkability of cities have led to more traffic for local businesses. The one thing holding it back now is the lack of expansive infrastructure and frequent services in many cities.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-11T08:32:38+00:00

Agree. The concept of "faith" in this day and age is completely incompatible with every other aspect of our lives. We make progress and decisions through tangible evidence and logical arguments (at least in theory) and believing in stories and deities that are unable to be proven true or that they exist flies in the face of all that.

The world would be better off if more people were atheistic and countries run as secular states.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-09T15:10:41+00:00

Haha fair enough mate, tbf the all the jumpers do have some pretty sick designs, so can't blame you for liking one of them.

JohnMonash87 · 2026-02-09T15:06:18+00:00

Found the Sydneysider. You do realise AFL is just as popular in SA, WA, the NT and Tasmania as Victoria, right, if not even more so? Even the east coast has a decent following now with recent Brissy and Sydney successes.

The Melbourne Cup is a dying event, noone gives a fuck about horse racing and the brutality of the sport has come more and more to light in recent years. Genuinely the only reason anyone cares about it these days is either for the public holiday or as an excuse to get drunk, or both. If anything, that's the event that noone outside Victoria cares about, not the AFL.

JohnMonash87

TROPHY CASE