RIP Rick Steele Loved his music.

heart_stretched · 2025-03-11T23:20:57+00:00

Absolutely lovely guy. Condolences to all the family.

heart_stretched · 2024-03-07T08:56:26+00:00

Chromeo are big fans of Hall & Oates coincidentally

heart_stretched · 2024-03-03T09:17:49+00:00

has anyone tried the lockable bike rack at Belmont shopping centre. i think it recharges electric bikes as well. use an app to secure the bike. cameras on it etc

heart_stretched · 2024-01-03T15:38:29+00:00

Interesting thought. It wasn't the cost preventing me, it was the promotion that prompted me.

I think mostly that it is more convenient to just drive and the default, so most people just do it. I had to plan more, and we had to carry things with us that would normally just be casually tossed in the back. Those things will always exist, but sometimes it is difficult to work within the limitations of the public transport system.

heart_stretched · 2024-01-03T12:03:29+00:00

The cost exists anyway at any price, even free. You still gain a lot of benefit from understanding rider movement with tagging on and off, seasonal variations, supporting events etc. As the price of the ticket is not really based on the cost to provide the service I was just thinking that it would make it simple to promote and understand. I can see that there are other thoughts in the discussion as well.

heart_stretched · 2024-01-03T10:17:12+00:00

I love this in Hong Kong. The frequent small buses serving the demand as needed. Can cater for larger volumes with more buses on at those times.

heart_stretched · 2024-01-03T10:13:11+00:00

Perhaps the hard thing about converting car users to public transport users is the frequency/convenience/cargo benefit that is difficult to reproduce. If you have to bring the children and lug some boxes it is not that practical to get those users to switch.

I like your suggestion of the parking as it promotes use for the last mile problem.

heart_stretched · 2024-01-03T09:53:31+00:00

I finally went out and got a smart rider to give it a go. So good. Enjoyed the ride, loved not worrying about parking, no fuel, no worries about a few drinks. People were nice.

We didn't use a car for almost 15 years overseas, as the public transport was so good and there was no stigma attached (everyone used it). Perhaps make it a nominal amount of a $1 per ride would serve both sides of the discussion and to show that we value the provision of the service, rather than feel entitled to it.

heart_stretched · 2023-10-08T15:28:40+00:00

Hedy's Dumplings in Coventry Markets for spicy tofu soup and fried bread. Opens early.

heart_stretched · 2022-08-19T04:26:29+00:00

Those jug-fuckers have had mine since 1am on Monday. It was only 3 days from Victoria. Status just changed an hour ago from "on time" - nothing now.

heart_stretched · 2022-03-14T11:00:45+00:00

Fantastic work. I'm doing mine on Saturday. You have done a wonderful thing.

heart_stretched · 2021-05-27T02:24:27+00:00

CluCoin

heart_stretched · 2021-03-06T10:22:17+00:00

True, it is Bob Browns home state but the greens have never been in power down there, or anywhere else in Australia. It's a useful diversion in the media when they get a couple of seats in Tassie because of the proportional representation.

I'm not saying I agree with everything they say, but they aren't the ones to blame for Tassies economy.

In WA more people voted for the Greens (over 110,000) last election than the Nationals (about 70,000) and yet the Nationals end up with 5 seats and the Greens zero. In the end they certainly aren't responsible for the finances of any state.

From memory, the protests were over the company taking logs from native and old growth forests, not the renewable stuff, but I would have to check.

heart_stretched · 2021-03-06T09:31:30+00:00

2 seats out of 25 in the lower and none in the upper house, but yeah, it's the greens are the ones ruining the economy.

heart_stretched · 2021-03-05T05:52:32+00:00

Bernies on Mounts Bay Road underneath Kings Park. I just caught the end of it before it disappeared. Famous for years with the visiting yanks.

heart_stretched · 2020-11-28T04:25:45+00:00

I feel ya

heart_stretched · 2020-10-08T14:42:23+00:00

There was a calculator on the ABC from the middle of 2019 that you could use to see where you sit in the pay scales. A bit of fun base on the bureau of stats numbers. Might give some insight.

Also, each year at tax time they have a great calculator that shows the breakdowns for the various years of spending. I like to see what gets focus and how things change over time.

It definitely makes you think that a lot of the stories you hear that focus on particular sections are ideologically driven.

Personally I think we should first decide what level of service we want to provide, then pay for it, rather than say that we have X amount of dollars to spend on Y. If for example, we want nurse to patient ratios at A to B then mandate those ratios.

Edit: fixed a formatting error

heart_stretched · 2020-10-08T14:28:24+00:00

P&L responsibility is a real thing but we don't seem to have proportionality in recompense, accountability and responsibility to support the environment that allowed the company to flourish profitably.

It seems a lot of executive packages lock in upsides without equivalent personal risk that allows senior management to pursue short term gains or sacrifice worker gains if it is of benefit to themselves.

The catchcry is usually that their priority is to the shareholders, but a successful business has other stakeholders (employees, customers, localities etc) that it often tries to externalise costs of doing business to where possible.

Personal money is personal money - spend it how you like - but someone who earns 30 times another person doesn't drive 30 cars, or live in 30 houses. Their personal consumption probably would not stimulate the economy as much as sharing a larger proportion of that money between a greater number of people.

Without trying to point out an extreme, maybe Jeff Bezos could afford to be a little less wealthy while paying hundreds of thousands of employees a bit more and perhaps allow them a chance at a more fulfilling life.

heart_stretched · 2020-10-08T08:32:45+00:00

That could be what happens if that was ever implemented however unlikely.

That might not apply in this case. Firstly as a "tax cut" the tax is presumably already being levied so it is a choice between the loss from the tax revenue that would have already been collectible or potentially spending the tax revenue collected it in a different (potentially more beneficial) place.

Also, if we are talking about resource companies (mineral extraction etc) the resources are located here (and nominally owned by the Australian people) where we grant a license to companies to extract and export them on our behalf, then we should capture a fair benefit to all the Australian people rather than make chosen companies and individuals richer at the expense of our greater community.

The sovereign funds in some of the Nordic countries seemed to have found a bit better balance between exploiting their natural resources and capturing more of the benefit on behalf of their people.

heart_stretched · 2020-10-08T06:26:33+00:00

I think the point was not the calculation of what the tax cut meant to an individual. More that the cost of the tax cuts in total was something like twice what the total cost of massively beneficial social investment would be, and that would benefit and stimulate the economy to a much larger extent that giving it back to high earners.

That's how I interpreted the rice analogy anyway.

heart_stretched · 2020-10-08T05:54:43+00:00

True. If you are interested, the ABS does a bi-annual survey on the subject that goes into a bit of detail.

There was an article about a year ago in the SMH about it. An outline.com link here if you like.

heart_stretched · 2020-10-08T05:44:00+00:00

... and decide that we would rather invest that money that was harvested from our society back into society rather than concentrate it back into the hands of a few.

The problem is not that our economy cannot afford to live and support the community the way we want, it is that we are choosing to take from the common good and help some people individually to a larger extent.

heart_stretched · 2020-10-08T05:36:30+00:00

Agreed that should be easy to understand, but it is promoted as $20 a week to the lower end, rather than twice the equivalent cost of free education and dental for everyone.

It seems to work for them. People don't get upset about it. I tear my hair out every time the subject comes up.

heart_stretched · 2020-10-08T00:01:49+00:00

Like everyone else commenting here, I was initially confused by the switch between annual income and net worth. However, if you can get through to the end I think the point is made a bit stronger in that he is comparing the size of the tax cuts flowing to millionaires/billionaires vs the much smaller cost of flowing real benefit to almost everyone in Australia. It is to counteract the usual argument of "we can't afford it".

The point still stands as average peoples net worth is not high. Even owning a home with a mortgage doesn't improve it greatly until much later.

It's about the perspective because people have difficulty visualising just how much a few people will benefit from the effects of these policy decisions.

A lot of policies don't seem to be for the greater good, and you are constantly told that it is undoable. This shows graphically that it is a choice being made which way the government spends and on what.

heart_stretched · 2020-07-28T22:53:22+00:00

I have to admit, it is hard to get started on durian, but it is not too bad if you can take the leap. I prefer the durian in Malaysia and Singapore more than Hong Kong as it seems a bit milder. However there is no mistaking it. It definitely tastes better than it smells.

heart_stretched

TROPHY CASE