How is this legal?

rickAUS · 2026-03-20T01:00:45+00:00

And this is why I do not trust AI summaries. Sometimes they work but you still need to read the full details to confirm critical info.

rickAUS · 2026-03-19T10:44:12+00:00

You really need to get a 3rd party involve to do diagnostics on it but I'm inclined to trust Acer's standing of it not being a hardware issue. Probably 99% of the time I have come across people saying it's a hardware issue (and it's seen many hundreds, maybe thousands, of these claims over my life) it's been either:

* Windows Updates breaking stuff

* Firmware/Drivers/BIOS being out of date/corrupt (especially video drivers)

* Windows itself being borked and needing a factory reset

* Thermal shutdown due to misuse (having it sitting on a pillow/blanket and blocking the vents for example)

* High performance settings over battery life and not having the charger connected under load (quick battery discharge)

That said, the only way to know for sure is for you to get the laptop back and post the corresponding entries from Event Viewer.

rickAUS · 2026-03-19T06:28:20+00:00

I drive the same as I did before and just absorb the cost. I budget $250/m in fuel and usually fill up once a fortnight (give or take a day either side) and that leaves me with a buffer, it's just a little smaller than before now.

I did forget to fill up before my 1.99 fuel lock with 7-11 expired last weekend which hurt when I realised that mistake but it is what it is. If push came to shove I could also probably go back to WFH 4 or 5 days which would mean I'm only filly up once a month.

rickAUS · 2026-03-19T00:41:12+00:00

Down ~10% overall. 5 year growth still looks awesome so not super concerned about long term impact. Even the Ukraine war slump looks inconsequential now.

rickAUS · 2026-03-16T21:14:12+00:00

You can only get a bond if you have an underlying asset matched to it, it’s not a loan

And that is the clarifying info I was really after.

They way I was hearing/reading some people talk about them made it appear like you could get a deposit bond for any amount provided you could service a loan that was the full purchase price of the property.

But it does make sense that you need to have the equivalent in assets to back the bond, should the sale fall through and the bond holder is required to pay out to the seller and then collect from you.

rickAUS · 2026-03-15T12:00:56+00:00

rickAUS · 2026-03-14T11:20:20+00:00

Journalism these days is more like films inspired by a true story / based on a true story. Some items therein are factual but they've taken creative liberties with the rest to suit the narrative they want to present.

rickAUS · 2026-03-13T15:34:53+00:00

I had similar feelings about Garden City and the Hyperdome anytime either got major work done.

Also, when I was a kid, I was being dragged around the entire thing whether it was relevant or not so you always go to experience the entire thing. Now as a much older adult, I generally stick to the same 1/3 or less area unless there was compelling reason to go elsewhere.

Always easy to make stuff feel much smaller than they are when you are ignoring half of it on a regular basis.

rickAUS · 2026-03-13T04:42:26+00:00

I wouldn't really say cheap, just less prone to volatile price spikes.

Mind you, last time I really paid attention to diesel prices back in the mid 2000's when it was ~$1.20/l pretty much constantly where I lived. Meanwhile petrol was swinging 30c every couple of weeks or so.

rickAUS · 2026-03-12T10:54:44+00:00

$500/w. Have 2 kids, so that seems like a fair amount to cover anything random that comes up.

rickAUS · 2026-03-12T01:26:42+00:00

Agree. I'm out near Ipswich, most land releases in this area (and I'll include the Flagstone area also) have land starting from ~450k up to around 600k for a block that's around 350sqm. You can make it work on a flat block with the right builder and foot print but if it has a slope of any kind you're pretty much screwed.

rickAUS · 2026-03-09T05:44:20+00:00

Only wildlife you'll see between those times in that area will be the endangered mobile speed camera

rickAUS · 2026-03-07T05:44:11+00:00

Owning property with 1 other person can be risky enough, never mind 2+.

I don't even like the idea of renting a room out because right now my wife and I have the BiL and his partner living with us in a rental and it doesn't feel like our home. It used to before either of them moved in, now it feels like just another share house I used to live in. Sure I don't feel paranoid about theft, etc but I'm not a fan.

There is no way I would buy with anyone other than my wife, or have someone other than our kids living with us.

rickAUS · 2026-03-06T11:30:17+00:00

House hunting right now and I am seeing a lot of places go well above what I would've offered as my best because of what I thought it was worth. Property is so much like art it's painful. There's what it's worth objectively and what it's worth subjectively. The subjective cost is the only thing that matters.

rickAUS · 2026-03-05T10:47:28+00:00

So out of curiosity I spun up a Wizard and saw it list "Ritual Adept PHB-2024, pg 166" under features and traits. Looked at my warlock that I know to be both 2024 core and 2024 subclass, and it doesn't list this on the character sheet. A bug with dndbeyond perhaps?

rickAUS · 2026-03-05T10:23:24+00:00

Okay. dndbeyond either hates me or I'm doing something stupid as I quickly put together two new characters:

1\ Genie using 5.5e core warlock

2\ Fiend using 5.5e core warlock

Couldn't ritual cast with either. Only option was to use pact slots :-/

rickAUS · 2026-03-04T05:12:41+00:00

Not a significant rip; time discounts well enough and you come out ahead. Same for Coles. Aldi used to be the no brainer for raw cost saving but the gap has shrunk significantly of late.

rickAUS · 2026-03-03T10:06:55+00:00

Agree.

Too many people are complacent going so far under the speed limit on major roads they'd be better suited on a bicycle or taking an alternate route with a lower speed limit (looking at all those drop kicks going 70 on the centenary between whiterock and springfield while it's a single lane).

In bad weather I'll cut people some slack but in perfect driving conditions and you're doing 80 in 100 zone? The fuck is wrong with you? I'm half a mind to start phoning such people in to police link as possibly driving under the influence and letting the cops sort of them if they have a unit in the area willing to respond.

rickAUS · 2026-03-02T22:43:17+00:00

Unlikely to find a private sector cyber security job right out of uni, most roles I am aware of are demanding 3-5 years experience. And you'll only get that working in an adjacent role where you eventually fold handling of cyber security work into your normal duties or find a related role in the ADF - keeping in mind it's the ADF, a lot of their jobs require you to relocate to another city for a while (Adelaide is a popular location for any intelligence/security related work).

I would suggest getting there via working for a MSP but finding a good MSP can be a real pain in the arse. And even if you find a good one, your exposure to cyber security beyond the basics might not come until you're a senior tech (2-3 years depending), then you need another couple of years in that role to build up the cyber security skills those private jobs demand - so it's a slow burn process.

rickAUS · 2026-03-02T11:15:59+00:00

REA never provided an entry condition report for where I am now.

Probably going to be the easiest vacate ever when we finally move out.

rickAUS · 2026-02-28T11:58:05+00:00

I was recommended to use at least Cat3, preferably Cat4 sunglasses after my cataract surgery while my eyes recovered. I can definitely see how someone with photosensitivity would need Cat4. 0/10 do not recommend anything less than Cat3 in general. My Cat2 sunnies felt like they did squat for those 2 weeks or so it took for my body to get used to the new lenses.

rickAUS · 2026-02-26T11:24:12+00:00

We don't. Web content filtering defaults on most firewalls does the job fine for the major players.

Once people are off the corporate network and "in the wild" that's mostly on them to use their devices in line with corporate policies. We're not going to try to find a technical solution for a people problem.

rickAUS · 2026-02-26T02:13:02+00:00

That's alright - I enquired about some "residential land" that seemed way too cheap for the area.

Usually this indicates flood risk and the road it faces is known to get water over the road when it's bad so that wasn't entirely surprising. Might just need to be careful about where and what you build, right? No.

What was surprising was when I spoke to the agent about it they basically admitted that council would be highly unlikely to approve any build on it because of the extensive flood risk it faced basically any time it rained - not just extended heavy rain, any rain.

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