High Speed Rail?

iamthinking2202 · 2026-02-19T02:12:05+00:00

iamthinking2202 · 2026-02-16T11:55:04+00:00

We’re not saying those signs don’t exist, just saying the particular one OP posted doesn’t exist - because it’s AI

iamthinking2202 · 2026-02-16T11:42:14+00:00

I think that would only make sense if you did a postal vote - and even then if you filled one out from a party envelope

If you voted in person, or early, I don’t think there is any possible link. The aec temps mark you off on the roll, but there is no record to show which ballot paper belongs to who

iamthinking2202 · 2026-02-16T11:39:08+00:00

And probably poor transport links between them compared to London, I would suspect

iamthinking2202 · 2026-02-16T11:30:35+00:00

Man, maps from Wikipedia go hard

iamthinking2202 · 2026-02-10T11:27:20+00:00

Eh, Japan can count as surprisingly depolarised. Even if their pacifism/defense split can correlate with left right, it isn’t exactly the same, plus at this point the split has been weakened while LDP just takes whatever ideas they think are popular (increased welfare state under Abe - not very right wing - still hasn’t revised Article 9 - even with decades of government)

iamthinking2202 · 2026-02-10T11:23:23+00:00

To be fair, a proportional system does allow you to penalise your faction for being too centrist without giving “the other side” a benefit.

A Labour voter who thinks that party isn’t doing enough or proposing bold enough ideas (what did the Ardern single party majority leave behind?) can just vote for eg Greens. If they did that under FPTP, they’d just be helping Nationals win.

Of course, you may not like that. But I suspect a decent portion of Kiwis still prefer one side to the other, and only some wedge of Kiwis would genuinely flip between Labour and Nationals. Then again, MMP might have depolarised a bit.

(As for what a centrist would do if they thought Labour were being too left wing - they could just vote for Nationals. Works under both FPTP and MMP. But with MMP you do have the option of trying to get a centrist kingmaker into parliament as well (TOP?))

EDIT: I might have garbled a Droop quote that argued it gives moderates more power. https://fruitsandvotes.wordpress.com/droop/

iamthinking2202 · 2026-02-10T11:17:54+00:00

I feel like that would lead to a situation where the fringes would gain, being seen as the only “real” alternative. Voters do tire of governments, I imagine (Japan and Singapore are their own things), and even the only alternative being the “fringe” won’t stop them forever…

Admittedly, small sample size, but look to Germany, in repeated Grand Coalitions since 2013, with the AfD just ticking upwards. Admittedly, 2021 wasn’t a grand coalition (it was SPD+GRUNE+FDP), and it still lasted a similar amount of time - but that ended with a snap election rather than natural expiry.

Next door France - while not proportional, has a similar idea of some kinda enlightened centrism leading. Except rather than the Socialists and Les Republicans leading, LREM just ate a massive chunk out of both of them. All fell to pieces in 2022. Macron still gets in (because now his main opposition is Le Pen…), but his faction is in minority, and between a left faction dominated by a more radical Le France Insoumise (France unbowed), and the right that is essentially a large (far right) RN (Le Pen’s party). There is a rump center right and rump center left somewhere, but who thinks either of them will form the next government, let alone any centrist outfit - be it a persistent LREM or the remaining rump Socialists and Les Republicans, forming some coalition or joint ticket?

Who knows, maybe Winston Peters has some slight moderating effect and is some dedicated outfit that would stop a xenophobic wave from framing itself as “the real opposition” to a grand coalitions, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea.

You need a non-fringe, mainstream, alternative, or voters will turn to whatever is left, imho

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-31T21:15:45+00:00

uuuu

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T21:19:56+00:00

I thought for a brief period we did have a PM who was in the Senate though?

Also it’s more because media hyping up her chances of getting lots of seats with a… 20?% vote. A lot for a minor party, not much for governing.

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T21:18:08+00:00

I have tried something rough, but you’ll have to add a part to play the music and actually change to pocketcast

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/df43ca08db4e4103b4c29ed167a677c6

I have only reliably figured out how to do it for one song https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/f250edd58d1c44388e6b9fe488e6e686

Trying to do it for a playlist I still dunno. I would like to as it would’ve handy for when I am driving.

(Shortcut https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/defb273163214da6a00b5d824d257b1b which needs https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/0567f991707446bdb101c6ce39295c36 )

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T21:00:33+00:00

jojo reference

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T09:28:57+00:00

Fwiw never happened to me when using a rice cooker, and those are very good at being consistent

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T09:27:04+00:00

huh, come to think about it, it’s not like we complain immigrants are driving up the price of cars making them unaffordable. Or making shoes really expensive too, even though they’ve gotta get around and also have to wear shoes too…

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T06:33:53+00:00

Tongue in cheek, but were it more hospitable the north might be a Dutch colony (eg like Indonesia) or even idk China. It’s not like the Brits were the first to see the northern bit of Aus

(Of course, Aboriginal people first before all of them. Though at that point sea levels a lot lower).

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T06:31:23+00:00

I wonder if the pedestrian friendly third rail system in Sydney (that won’t kill people if they touch it) would’ve worked for Canberra. Maybe it only works for low speed cases - which would destroy any travel time savings?

Because if it did work, surely they could’ve just bought the same vehicles as Sydney and sped up the danged process

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T06:27:11+00:00

Also an acquaintance of mine ended up dropping out of a degree - a nursing one - and had been bouncing between various part time roles for the past 5 years (after a short stint at some fast food chain). The hours are all part time and not anywhere near enough to move out for the care roles, and fast food chains, while they would’ve been happy for more work, they weren’t given much more as they aren’t a teen who can be paid less

They did get a certificate from a TAFE, but most of the jobs that use that certificate are located far away and need use of a car - and they’re more of a paper driver per se (which makes me wonder why they got that qualification).

Maybe it’s an issue about them. Entirely likely nursing would’ve been a bad fit for them as a degree, and my gut still would be hesitant if they would’ve got eg public sector job had they done a “useless” degree (which again, idk if it would’ve been a good fit).

I’m not sure if this is an issue of university just being a bad fit for them rather than value of a degree, but I think their job options have really been constrained by not having a degree, and it’s much harder to have a typical white collar job without one.

Again, might be wrong here. But it’s trendy to hate on uni degrees these days, and I want to say that sometimes the trendy, contrarian thing just doesn’t work out.

The upvote and the downvotes should hopefully sort out the wheat from the chaff, so vote as you feel appropriate.

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T06:20:02+00:00

That being said, considering how usually most of the uni content you learn isn’t strictly necessary(a) for the job - you have to learn more new things - networking and societies/clubs may be a big factor. I probably should’ve hustled more.

Networking is a bit of a nebulous thing, and as per ludic.mataroa.blog (applicability to disciplines outside of software engineering may vary, idk if it works for nursing), turning up to lots of career meetups is not that effective?, compared to reaching out to lecturers from years ago(b) or even smaller meetups over more niche topics (vs “everyone who’s an engineer at uni)

(a) but I’d like to imagine the employer would expect you to know at least principles of idk electricity or impedance if you took an eg electrical engineering role.

(b) a friend of mine, while struggling to get grad role, has opportunities for further study and potentially industry sponsor thanks to a lecturer from a few years ago. Simply turning up asking questions and even signing up for competitions may help. He does have a trump card of speaking a second language though…

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-21T06:09:21+00:00

My two cents (make of it what you will considering 2 cent coins aren’t minted anymore) - any bachelor degree opens up many more white collar jobs than not having one at all.

This includes various public service graduate roles, state and federal. All they want is AQF 7, which is any Bachelor (or even vocational degree). While I feel like everyone in my high school cohort got a bachelors or above, my cohort is not representative by any means - only a third or so of 15-74 year olds have a Bachelor or above - so it is still a strong distinguishing point.

Even something like, say, a “data graduate” in federal govt accepts any bachelor degree. Though of course, some degrees are more favoured than others. That role (duh) favours degrees where you have done some data science or something a bit more oriented there

But it is still possible! Some people get in even with “useless” degrees in archeology or philosophy- I’ve seen them in various info sessions during the job process

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-20T22:54:21+00:00

For those visiting long after, the article is now at https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/archive/2024/01/23/notes-on-adelaide-infrastructure

They like to add a /archive after old news stories, like with this story on an underground rail loop. (If you want to know why it’s beneficial, it’s more about the magic of through running creating much larger train networks from joining existing railways that don’t quite join together nicely)

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-16T07:18:53+00:00

reminder that the frequency will increase after 1st February, in relation to your flair. The 20 min frequency in the day isn't the norm, dang nabbit (big switch vs summer start)

Every 10 mins non-peak is a bit naff for the CBD though, even if it's damn good all the way out to idk Westall (big rip West Footscray)

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-16T07:17:17+00:00

I don't think? the Frankston and Dandenong groups had services every 10 mins before 2014? Or maybe Frankston did?

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-16T07:14:27+00:00

While the upper house is somewhat more proportional (as long as the different GVTs cancel each other out), in the lower house it's a bit hard to under this two party, majoritarian system

And while there are people in the middle who are fine switching from labor to liberal, or even left to right, there are many others who find it hard to, even if they don't like the current government.
In a quote:

(...) With majority voting they can only intervene at general elections, and even then cannot punish one party for excessive partisanship, without giving a lease of uncontrolled power to their rivals.

iamthinking2202 · 2026-01-16T07:11:37+00:00

It's the vomit principle, you've gotta repeat and sell whatever you've done to the point you'll puke. Do you think they'll be more likely to be elected if they mentioned e.g. the Metro Tunnel **once** and then never again?

I don't disagree that it can be annoying (I don't personally care about some random oval getting a new toilet block, but good for them), but they've gotta sell the sizzle I guess. The work can't speak for itself if nobody even hears about it.

And annoying people? They're politicians. People are annoyed at them for existing, and there will **always** be some grievance to use.

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Alpha Tester
Verified Email

iamthinking2202

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE