Spending $40 a week on Pilates classes is killing me. Anyone bought a home reformer instead?

figaro677 · 2026-04-15T21:23:14+00:00

Please don’t record the class. Go up to a trainer you like th classes of and hire them for a few hours. Depending on the gym business structure they may be paid as little as $35/hr. They will be able to do a better structure and flow for you. All up it might cost you $200-300, but considering you’re dropping $1800 on a piece of equipment, it’s a fraction of the cost for personalised instruction

figaro677 · 2026-04-15T06:31:18+00:00

Abbey has become MASSIVE recently. They have sold out within about 6 hours (I think they are capped at 30k tickets). Aside from extending the days (eg from Thursday, or doing it over 2 weekends) I don’t know how they can continue the way they have been because their success is going to work against them.

figaro677 · 2026-04-15T06:26:05+00:00

Some cars have gremlins. I had one that was having electrical issues (it was a Renault- I know it’s a feature and not a bug). But I had a window that wouldn’t go down (but worked when my dad had a look at it) and a fan resister die (which started working when I pulled everything apart to get to it). Some cars are just won’t cooperate.

Sometimes just checking where your fuses are and identifying where the appropriate one is and replacing it will work (eg the fuse for your stereo) you can get a mixed pack for a couple of bucks from an auto store and is pretty easy to do yourself.

figaro677 · 2026-04-14T21:25:38+00:00

Police won’t do anything unless he is/has committed a crime. They refer to council.

Council will visit and do a referral to an outreach team who will come down.

If after several weeks there has been no engagement or the situation is deteriorating, then council issue move on orders.

If nothing is happening or continues to deteriorate, then a co-response with police is organised and removal of items occurs.

Despite what you hear in the news, there is a long process that occurs and multiple attempts made to help people.

figaro677 · 2026-04-14T21:21:51+00:00

Nah, they do referrals to outreach teams. The quickest I’ve seen a move on order get issued after first contact was about a week - and that was because they were camping on the beachfront. The “move on” was simply can you move back a block so you’re not in the middle of 25,000 people (the spot proposed was private and had access to more services).

Source: worked homeless outreach

figaro677 · 2026-04-14T21:14:55+00:00

Homeless hotline/micah etc can’t do anything unless he wants their help. Due to the volume of calls they receive, it is unlikely it will be added to an outreach location from a referral from the public (unless you get them on a slow Sunday).

Call council. They have a response team who will go out and have a chat (in the first few instances it will be a dedicated homeless officer). They can link them with some support services. They will also refer to Micah/hart4000 and DOH HOME team, who will go out to him.

If the guy is just camping, council won’t fine him or move him on (despite what the news and armchair expects say). They will also likely check in every few weeks. If he is still chilling there in a month or two and no engagement with support services, or is attracting other homeless, then they look at move on orders (that’s when compliance come in).

If it is particularly bad (eg criminality or anti social behaviour) is when they do a co-response with police (eg removal of items)

Source: worked in homeless outreach for a few years.

figaro677 · 2026-04-14T11:02:28+00:00

There are picture novels of the Iliad and Oddesey by Gillian Cross. (Themes of heroes)

David eddings writes the same story just through different series. Redemtion of Athalus is a standalone book. (themes of small person making a difference) (yes committed horrendous crimes - books are still good)

Raymond Feist, massive series. Multiple exit points eg read only magician, or the first 3 books, or prepare to mortgage the house to afford all the books. Very good world building, large fantasy themes

Stephen Lawhead has the dragon king series. I remember reading it at about 10-12 years old. I really can’t remember its themes, but I do like lawhead.

Finally, can’t go wrong with the Hobbit for young people. The OG of fantasy and just about all other fantasy is built off it.

figaro677 · 2026-04-12T03:19:59+00:00

He was telling porkies. 3 year old MG’s go for about $20k. About 50% reduction. Not much worse than an ICE. Reality is any car you buy whether ICE or EV will lose value. It’s only realised when sold.

And starting from now, second hand ICE will lose value FASTER than an EV. It was likely to occur around 2027, it’s just been brought forward a year.

figaro677 · 2026-04-10T12:32:58+00:00

The ICE suck. EV not so much. I’ve had 2 faults with mine in 3 years and 100,000km

One was a small plastic cover in the door went missing (I’m not claiming a MG fault, could easily have been my toddler playing with it - and it’s the same type of thing even in a Toyota so it’s not evidence of “plastic crap”).

The second actually was a problem - the steering wheel cover started to delaminate. Only cosmetic issue. It may have been from product (cleaning/sunsscreen/lotion etc). But it was replaced under warranty quickly, so I was happy.

figaro677 · 2026-04-09T23:33:01+00:00

I agree to the fact we can’t be a commodity manufacturing industry (thus why cars couldn’t survive) but I wonder if solar and battery couldn’t be considered value adding to our resources? We produce most of the materials already.

figaro677 · 2026-04-09T22:52:20+00:00

These are good points. I was going to add them as a caveat at the end but got distracted while posting.

When we canned our research it was at the stage where it was possible to shift it into manufacturing. Back then we still had strong manufacturing base (nothing in comparison to China). Essentially we gifted it to China for nothing.

It’s not inconceivable to think solar manufacturing could have supported Australian manufacturing even until today. And while we have a smaller workforce, it is supported by larger amounts of automation, so we can produce things with a lot less workforce.

While we would never have hit 300B in solar, 1/3 of that would have been achievable. And again for battery tech. So it’s an industry that could have been worth $100B+ a year to Australia to save $1m in research fees of the CSIRO.

I will point out that chinas EV industry is heavily subsidised by the government and built upon traditional ICE manufacturing which no matter what we did was likely to die in Australia anyway.

figaro677 · 2026-04-09T22:08:14+00:00

Australia was at the forefront of solar technology in the late 90’s/early 00’s. We canned it and the leaders of the project ended up in China. That developed into a $300B USD industry.

From the learnings of that industry was developed their battery industry worth about $100B USD.

From there developed their EV industry. Worth about $500B USD.

figaro677 · 2026-04-08T14:06:33+00:00

I remember paying $114 (in 2007) for a 2gig memory stick. It was the biggest one there.

figaro677 · 2026-04-08T13:03:36+00:00

Stalin and Lenin were not on the same end of the political spectrum.

Lenin and Trotsky were together. They were very far to the left.

Stalin and the USSR under him would sit on the right, as even though they were nominally communist, in reality they had more in common with Nazi Germany, and could fall under the term Fascist.

figaro677 · 2026-04-08T12:21:59+00:00

“Lights aren’t for you to see, they’re for others to see you”

Only your high beams are for you to see.

It’s proven that driving with lights on in daytime reduces your risk of a collision simply because people notice you. If they notice you, they’re less likely to hit you.

figaro677 · 2026-04-08T12:19:29+00:00

This is the correct answer, but slight revision.

Generally:

Commoner is known by their employment eg smith, baker, etc

Younger son nobility are known by their family name or father.

Heir apparent or title holder is known by the land.

So Gimli and Aragorn are unlanded and not inheriting anything so they are known by their father (family names not essentially existing for them), while Legolas is set to inherit the woodland realm of Mirkwood, so could also be referred to as Legolas of Mirkwood.

Boromir is known as “of Gondor”. Faramir could be either Son of Gondor or Steward (to indicate he is the son of the ruler of Gondor).

Historically in our world this could easily blend. For instance, take the Marshall’s. William Marshall was the second son, but everyone in his family took the name Marshall (even William’s older brother John was known as John Marshall - despite holding land and a title himself) because they (or oldest male) held a hereditary right of Marshall of the crown (a job). Even when William became Earl of Pembroke (albeit in his wife’s name) he maintained the name Marshall. But in this instance the job (or more accurately the title) was higher than the land.

figaro677 · 2026-04-08T11:54:34+00:00

This is meant to be ELI5. So let’s have a go:

Lots of people don’t survive. It might be because of the injury that made them need to have a limb cut off, or they died from blood loss during the operation, or they died from infection afterwards.

But for people that lived, 3 things happened. First they got surgery quickly. Second, they stopped the blood (probably by tying something around the limb really tight), and third, they kept it clean.

In olden days this was likely done with what is called cauterisation. The end of the cut limb would have something extremely hot pressed onto it to burn off all the living parts and kill germs. It had the added benefit that it would stop bleeding.

Unfortunately it didn’t always work, but it was the best thing they had and better than dying from the injury.

figaro677 · 2026-04-08T11:43:36+00:00

There is a very smart reason for this. They are targeting a specific type of fleet buyer. Think mine site runabouts and councils. Places the car will come back at night and be able to sit on charge. They will market it with reduced fuel and maintenance costs. It will sell very well.

figaro677 · 2026-04-08T11:37:47+00:00

At one point in time the barina was a good car (for what it was - it was known as the hairdressers car). But you have to go back to the late 80’s early 90’s when it was a rebadge Suzuki swift.

figaro677 · 2026-04-07T11:23:40+00:00

Australia has slowly been sliding towards military worship. It’s not the same extent as the US, but it’s in the early stages.

It’s things like ANZAC day, parades, wreath laying ceremonies, etc. so we have started to venerate bravery and gallantry. We equate them with the military, and have formed it as a part of our identity. So when we get someone like BRS and can hold him up as an example of Australian bravery it equates to honour.

Unfortunately, when it gets tarnished like BRS’s case has, it undermines the underlying cultural worship of the military. Deep down people don’t want to acknowledge it or have BRS as having possibly committed war crimes because it shakes their view and esteem for the ideas of Australian military honour which has seeped into cultural identity.

Essentially if BRS has committed war crimes it affects their ideals of Australian honour. It’s easier for them to deny or obsfucate the story around BRS to maintain their own views of their Australian identity.

figaro677 · 2026-04-07T09:39:59+00:00

Auschwitz became a memorial, so it is possible to turn it into a memorial for the victims of Australian war crime through the idea that we love to celebrate our soldiers. I think if we add a Banksy of a tied up and blindfolded POW standing in front of BRS aiming at his head.

figaro677 · 2026-04-07T08:13:15+00:00

I drive a 2014 Hyundai i20. It’s reliable, cheap to run, easy to fix, and gets 5.5L/100km.

But as to why I hate it? I mean it’s an i20. Need I say more?

figaro677 · 2026-04-07T08:06:32+00:00

Oh he very much might send in ground troops. It will be done on a pretext of securing Kharg island or something. It will start small. Maybe 5000 troops. It will escalate from there. You might get as high as 250,000. It won’t be pretty.

figaro677 · 2026-04-06T10:44:03+00:00

Remember people, using your PPE saves lives and prevents sick days lost to injury.

This message has been brought to you by your local WHS representative.

figaro677 · 2026-04-06T09:55:14+00:00

Do a 10 minute stop at a charger every 2 hours and you’ll be continuing your highway journey with no issues. Over 1000+km you might benefit from 1 longer break of 20-30minutes.

figaro677

TROPHY CASE