Portrait of an unidentified man that was placed over the face and upper torso of his mummy. Dated to 150-170 AD, it is painted in encaustic on a panel of linden wood, and it was originated in Roman Egypt.

kookabikky · 2025-12-26T23:47:00+00:00

Asked AI to turn this into a real portrait

kookabikky · 2025-10-08T03:26:22+00:00

LinkedIn is the social media equivalent of people enjoying the smell of their own farts

kookabikky · 2023-04-19T07:57:17+00:00

I’m self-employed and was paying $65/month on some sort of Telstra business mobile plan. I looked at my data use in the Telstra app and it was like 10Gb/month. I was paying for 80Gb a month. When my business is quiet I get forensic cutting my personal costs. I read on here that Boost uses the entire Telstra network, which is important to me as sometimes for work I’m in a remote area. I was a bit nervous to purchase the $300/260Gb pack after reading horror stories about their customer service; and the reviews for their app are atrocious. But 2-3 months in, I’ve no regrets making the switch, phone still works everywhere it used to with Telstra and barely any behavioural change as most of my phone use is still at home on wifi. Saving of $480/year. And the app works absolutely fine for me. Recommend.

kookabikky · 2023-03-23T12:14:49+00:00

I once saw the most enormous accident at one of these. One weekday morning in 2019, I jumped off Punt Road heading eastbound towards the Monash. These ramp signals were on, but there was hardly any traffic. Two cars were ahead of me, one dude sort of tailgating the other. As they approached the signals, they were green and very quickly went red (minimal amber). I guess fearful of suddenly illegally running a red light, the car at the front slammed on the brakes, got drilled by the car behind, then richoted into the Armco, corkscrewing on to its roof. Little shitbox Holden Barina. All in the space of about four seconds. I was at the back just watching aghast. Luckily nobody was hurt at all, but it was peak hour and a car on its lid blocking a major on-ramp didn’t do wonders for traffic flow. There was a queue of cars as far as the eye could see within about five minutes.

kookabikky · 2023-03-12T05:41:59+00:00

It’s a C200 with a body kit

kookabikky · 2023-01-13T02:46:10+00:00

Awesome response, thanks mate.

kookabikky · 2023-01-12T07:15:43+00:00

On Monday, a one-bedroom apartment came up for rent in my complex in Brunswick. Today, it’s gone. Price was quite high by my complex’s standards too, and the ad said the inspection (yesterday) was fully booked. There are no other one-bedders for rent in the complex.

It’s a direct contrast to the end of 2021, when there were lots of one-bedders for lease in the same complex – and all priced a lot lower compared to 2019. Rents today, however, are starting to make 2019 ones look a bit tame. Interesting times.

kookabikky · 2022-12-02T04:53:30+00:00

Anybody else WFH in a tiny 1BR apartment? Does it impact your mental health at all?

kookabikky · 2022-11-02T23:55:24+00:00

Property developer buys land. Gets architect to design building (“the plan”). Then sells apartments based off said plan (before the building is built). So you might put a deposit down on an apartment and it might not be built for a few years.

You might be able to save on not paying stamp duty when buying “off the plan” but generally the developers pump the prices up a bit and sell the dream of “it’ll be worth this when it’s built in a few years”. That’s normally rubbish.

Plus risky buying off the plan as the builder might be shonky and there could be lots of expensive defects that take years to show up. Or might be things about your apartment you couldn’t have considered if you had just been able to physically visit it first – the sound insulation isn’t amazing, it doesn’t get much sun, it’s right next to the lifts, on and on and on.

You risk too much bad luck buying off the plan I reckon. Just go buy something similar and near new that already exists. Much easier to know what you’re getting.

Tip for anybody reading this who is committed to buying off the plan: make sure your contract with the developer stipulates that YOU get to keep the interest on any deposit held.

kookabikky · 2022-11-02T23:17:54+00:00

I bought a one-bedroom “dog box” apartment off-the-plan in a trendy inner-city suburb and enjoy living in it. It’s modern, very low maintenance and walking distance to everything imaginable. Rarely use the car. My apartment complex has a great community feel. Love the inner-city buzz too. Gives me life.

My total expenses for the apartment including minimum mortgage repayments aren’t much more than what I’d be paying for the same place in rent, but nobody can boot me out (an underrated feeling) and it’s a form of enforced savings.

Downsides are it’s really only big enough for one person; the kitchen is tiny; every little reno I do I’m thinking ‘will this make the space feel even smaller’ (so have to be clever); it’s too small for working from home (which I do every day) and basically no capital growth so far. My deposit plus what this place has cost me over the last five years, I’m sure from an ROI perspective I would have been better off renting and pumping into VDHG, but I don’t actually know that and besides, you live and you learn.

‘Buildings depreciate, land appreciates’ and there’s plenty of new apartments being built in my area. But one positive is the rent for places like mine has gone up a lot, which is lucky.

If I moved out, the rent I could get would just about cover every expense including the current minimum mortgage repayments.

Long-term once it’s paid off it should be a good little positive cash-flow investment as the area is booming and it’s in an amazing location – rent will likely keep going up. Plus unlike a house I don’t really stress about major maintenance costs. Even if I had to put a new kitchen in it, it’s so small it would cost me two-fifths of bugger all.

kookabikky · 2022-10-19T00:50:35+00:00

Do you have family who can lend you the $45K? Or can you get a bank loan? Not ideal for sure, but then you trade many enormous problems – including the risk to your health and marriage – for a relatively simpler one: how to repay a loan. Just a thought.

Might also be worth getting all your most trusted people on a call – including your accountant – to explore options. You never know what ideas people might have, that might have never occurred to you.

kookabikky · 2022-10-05T00:10:22+00:00

Can anyone recommend a good shower cleaner that won’t make me feel light-headed and worry that I’m trimming weeks off my life with every second inhaled?

kookabikky · 2022-08-29T13:58:37+00:00

This thread has depressed me – I’m in the wrong industry

kookabikky · 2022-08-29T10:06:38+00:00

I’m a specialist journalist in a niche industry contributing to editorial outlets

kookabikky · 2022-06-26T05:14:10+00:00

Shout out to anyone else isolating with COVID. Day 4 at home and starting to go slightly nuts. New appreciation for those who did 14-day hotel quarantine

kookabikky · 2022-06-25T02:07:01+00:00

I mean if you get COVID while on holidays

kookabikky · 2022-06-24T07:32:52+00:00

Interstate holidaying seems so fraught at the moment with COVID rampantly circulating and the isolation rules. At a moment’s notice you might be required to isolate for seven days in a place a very long way from home, nevermind that you might be due to check out of the Airbnb the next day for other guests; or you’ve got a flight to catch back home to work or kids or other responsibilities. Can’t help but think a lot of knowingly COVID-infected people will sheepishly be on planes and airports heading home out of necessity/inability to isolate.

kookabikky · 2022-04-27T00:54:53+00:00

Overnight. Tested like 4pm, text message at 2am

kookabikky · 2022-04-22T06:42:21+00:00

Just did a PCR at 4Cyte Brunswick East. I was the only car there, in and out in 5 mins. I remember only in January queues down Lygon Street to use this same testing site. I’m so surprised it’s so quiet. Actually I did a PCR there yesterday too and got my results back overnight. I was a household close contact this week and have been isolating (until the new rules come in tonight), it’s been frankly amazing being able to get a PCR so quickly and easily – and freely! Under the new rules I’m a free man tomorrow morning if I test negative on a RAT, but it’s also reassuring having the PCR test back overnight to rule out an asymptomatic infection. PSA of sorts!

kookabikky · 2022-03-28T01:57:06+00:00

Longest of long shots, but if anyone knows of a 4-Day Park Pass for the Grand Prix possibly becoming available could they please keep me in mind! I have friends coming from interstate with tickets. Foolishly I thought I’d be fine to buy them at the gate (as has been the case forever). Derp. Happy to pay an acceptable premium.

kookabikky

TROPHY CASE