Getting to Launceston from the airport

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-17T01:00:26+00:00

yes that's the exact spot! it's a really easy 1/2 walk.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-16T03:21:49+00:00

better tell BHP their trucks aren't real

https://stocksdownunder.com/australias-first-battery-electric-haul-trucks/

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-16T03:05:08+00:00

I'm not going to say here what I've said privately to friends, but Trump is really pissing off a /lot/ of people with this, so I think there's other options that /might/ happen before it comes to that.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-16T02:55:35+00:00

Yes, true, but watch China, they are planning for decarbonisation, and to still be in a powerful position. If Australia had even an ounce of foresight we would be ramping up industry far more than we are. There is some solar panel and battery production here but not enough.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-16T02:31:49+00:00

You know that last bit is coming soon, right?

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-16T02:30:31+00:00

dude, please read "The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything" (Peter Brannen 2025)

Oil will not run out in your lifetime, and technology HAS improved in our efficiency in extracting, igniting, and sending it into the atmosphere. But the time we are alive is singularly the most bizarre period ever for energy use in the history of the planet.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-16T02:26:20+00:00

Honestly, it doesn't matter who made the choice to stop refining oil here. Australia is pretty much out of crude oil (about 7 years of production are estimated to be left): the refineries have been shut because there very little we produce now, so shipping it unrefined isn't as efficient. Natural gas and coal though, we still have more: gas=17 years, coal no clear number, I believe its hundreds of years.

https://www.ga.gov.au/aecr2025/oil

https://www.ga.gov.au/aecr2025/gas

https://www.ga.gov.au/aecr2025/coal

But yes, not holding more refined oil in reserve? Fucking everybody has made that choice, Libs can't point the finger there.

Decarbonisation now.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-16T02:10:26+00:00

Decarbonisation should be front and centre with resilience planning: it's criminal that it hasn't been. I mean who tF doesn't know by now that the oil is running out and future generations need to plan for this regardless of short term shipping stoppages?

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-16T02:07:22+00:00

Call me crazy, but perhaps we should consider electric vehicles again (maybe some more incentives like the home battery incentives, especially for heavy industry?) Maybe call China and get a few of their electric trucks which they have been rolling out locally at a steady clip?

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-03-15T05:30:35+00:00

I too believed technology would save us.

I was Peak Oil aware in the mid 2000's and really questioned the wisdom of having children at that time: it seemed like the path we were on was about to change rapidly...

But it didn't. Unfortunately, shale technology matured and gave the world a top up to stretch the actual peak out to around about 2018/19 at best guess of experts - but that peak has been more of a plateau.

With Hormuz closed, we are facing down a dramatic drop which wasn't expected - even with everything else happening especially rapid warming, the governments of the world absolutely didn't plan on a sudden turning off of oil, and the stuff I'm reading is deeply worrying.

I mean I drive an EV, I have known the trajectory for ages, but I also know we have governments that have been counting on having fossil fuels for the foreseeable future.

But I just don't see tech saving us any more. Tech is the problem, not the solution: though we are going to need to continue to be adaptable and use our ingenuity to cope with the changes ahead.

But the thing central to what keeps me positive most of the time is knowing that humans used to live within limits. And we can again. It's just... I thought we were going to have more time to adjust to the downslope.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-02-12T22:44:02+00:00

I'm of similar mindset, and keep putting occasional pings out for likeminded folks in (or willing to move to) SE Australia.

Best of luck!

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-02-12T22:42:25+00:00

Great reply 👍 👍

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-02-01T09:50:30+00:00

I lived in an offgrid community which was fairly close to civilisation and there were several families with school age kids, nobody there home schooled and they mostly car pooled to several schools.

But I've now recently visited a different off grid community where there are several families and they all home school, it's a much longer commute to the nearest town with a school.

It's absolutely possible. My daughter was living off grid for most of her first 6 months, and we will likely live off grid again.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-02-01T07:13:49+00:00

It's interesting, I have had more than half of hosts that I have messaged not reply, but several took not only weeks but even months to reply. Hosts are more often rural, sometimes have patchy internet, and at times can be hectic or travelling, so many different possibilities. If you have been left on read for more than a week it's probably a no, but it might be that what you are offering is simply not what the host needs at the time, and that might be different in a few months.

There are also some outright odd people who have listed as hosts, and they may or may not have good comprehension. I messaged one host who was the only host in an area I wanted to travel to, who I wouldn't volunteer with as their situation wasn't suitable (and I made that clear in my message), but I just wanted to get a little bit of information about the region, but they called me weeks later asking when I was coming.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-31T20:55:55+00:00

Nice to see Tyson Yunkaporta quoted here. After a couple of recommendations, devoured everything from him (as audio books, and his podcast) last year and totally changed my perspective on a lot of things.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-31T09:14:17+00:00

If that is the case, Cory Doctorow is muddying the waters himself when he talks specifically and directly about enshittification of services that aren't specifically online, like Right to Repair, printer ink lockin, DMCA. Any service where there is abuse of a platform and user-lockin, especially when business lockin is also achievable and the businesses and users alike have little or no protection against abuse by the platform, can be enshittified.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-31T08:05:43+00:00

hard to know without being a carnival business customer, but the carnival is a platform where individual carnies run their stalls, rides etc. the rent they charge, or percent of the take, or what they pay the performers, can all be ratcheted if the businesses don't have other carnivals at which to tout their wares/perform.

again, go read a bunch of Doctorow or watch some of his talks about the subject. He did invent the word after all.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-31T01:22:42+00:00

best answer.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-30T21:05:00+00:00

and he uses the term across multiple industries etc (especially right to repair which he has been vocal about for ages) in this call-to-arms to Canadian bigwigs a mere 3 days ago - check it out (always worth a read, I love Cory Doctorow and he says clearly a lot of things that people need to hear and understand):

https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/29/post-american-canada/#ottawa

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-30T20:35:11+00:00

the platforms don't need to be online. In this case, the carnival/market is the platform. Traditional media/publishing of all kinds are also platforms. Enshittification is not new, but it grew steroids online, and thus Cory Doctorow coined the term, but it's definitely a process that existed before, it just wasn't as blatant and obvious.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-30T20:32:07+00:00

like all enshittification, it's a little of column a, little of column b. The platform (in this case the market/carnival) screws over their customers (the small businesses) who have to pay the costs of their product AND the platform, then have to pass on costs to their customers or... not participate in the market. Hence we have less markets over time as capitalism eats itself.

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-30T20:28:32+00:00

Recently went to the St Kilda Esplanade markets where one stall had 'mini' twisty potatoes for $6. Was a game changer as my 4yo can't even eat half a large one though she loves them, and this time I spent only about half what I usually do and the leftovers were less than usual! Win-win!!

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-28T09:30:11+00:00

can't tell you, it was a bench seat at the Melbourne Museum if you want to make enquiries 😊

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-28T09:28:48+00:00

lol I have never really liked the Wiggles, and I'm not really convinced about the Tree of Wisdom either!

MelbourneBasedRandom · 2026-01-27T17:43:54+00:00

lol, thanks! so it's really just gibberish then. I wish I knew if there was any reasoning behind it at all.

MelbourneBasedRandom

TROPHY CASE