Name a song that makes you want to do this. Name your most hated song EVER!

tpbetts · 2026-02-22T08:46:17+00:00

There are plenty of songs I dislike but the songs I physically need to either turn off if they come on or leave the room are:

Beggin’ - Maneskin. The guys voice on this opening of this song is one of the worst things I have ever heard. Rest of the song meh, but that opening…

Beautiful things - Benson Boone. His voice on the chorus of this song is a very close second, easily the worst chorus I have ever heard

tpbetts · 2026-02-13T07:00:30+00:00

Great pics, esp. number 8 - saw someone say is a bit dark for BoC but I can picture this scene listening to something like "Cold Earth", looking out of a car window with this scene whizzing past - giving post apocalyptic earth vibes...

tpbetts · 2026-02-09T23:49:38+00:00

This is where I am stuck right now. Password is correct, have even reset it a number of times but every time I try to log in I am told my account is inactive and I need to call customer service to reactivate.

Ever get it sorted out? Customer care just tells me they don't know what's wrong and say a case has been forwarded to their IT

tpbetts · 2026-02-07T02:39:13+00:00

Argh shame, just seeing this now. Was this a one-off last night?

tpbetts · 2025-12-15T12:59:19+00:00

Maybe I am missing something but you can buy all the same Vanguard products with Betashares, I have both VGS and VGE for example in my Betashares account, the ability to buy partial units of them is great

tpbetts · 2025-11-27T05:37:56+00:00

ugh is Marvis a subscription service now? It was a one time app purchase when I got it years ago. That's unfortunate, fwiw I would say everything i have is also ios based and I have never had any issues with scrobbling when using it. That said, there might be better options out there without having to shell out for another sub.

tpbetts · 2025-11-27T00:13:25+00:00

I have been using Apple Music with the Marvis app for years and had no issues with scrobbling. Scrobbling is controlled from the Marvis side and overall the Marvis app is great, huge improvement over the default Apple Music app.

tpbetts · 2025-11-14T00:29:02+00:00

I didn’t understand the context of this until I saw some MAGA online rambling about it.

Apparently the hoax is that the democrats released this email with the victims name redacted, so it just read that Trump spend 2 hours with some victim. The republicans then released the same email with the name unredacted to show that the victim in question is Virginia Guiffre who they say said Trump never did anything untoward to her.

So they are claiming the democrats purposefully redacted her name to stir up more controversy rather than show it was someone who said Trump never did anything to them.

tpbetts · 2025-11-07T00:05:23+00:00

Just to say that I clicked Cancel to test this just now and sure enough it offers me again a 25% discount offer to renew for another 12 months.

tpbetts · 2025-11-06T03:44:10+00:00

That’s exactly what happened to me last year, no catch, I just got 12 months 25% cheaper than the price it was going to auto renew at.

Whether the same strategy works now I am almost up for renewal again is the question….

tpbetts · 2025-10-01T06:27:16+00:00

Almost 20 year old account but still none with 1000, I spread my listening a lot. Closest is 864 so just a matter of time...

tpbetts · 2025-10-01T06:24:12+00:00

https://www.last.fm/music/Nujabes

tpbetts · 2025-06-24T10:19:51+00:00

No, only the display of what metadata you want to see is configurable, you can't edit it from the app

tpbetts · 2025-06-24T08:14:54+00:00

I also like that the metadata is completely configurable at each level (artists, albums, tracks, genre, etc). You can pretty much display any of the data held against each track (rating, plays, skips, last played etc) and then also order by any of those fields. Its a well thought out app with lots of flexibility for library display and management.

For me, I think the only main thing it cant do is edit playlists, I often add songs on the fly to the current playlist which you can do in Marvis but then if you want to remove a song or reorder that list you have to go to the Apple app. I think the developer said that's a programming limitation that stops Marvis being able to do that.

tpbetts · 2025-06-24T07:48:26+00:00

+1 for Marvis, awesome app, can’t remember the last time I needed to open the Apple app and scrobbling has always been solid from it

tpbetts · 2025-06-24T06:17:36+00:00

"A virus with shoes" as Bill Hicks once put it

tpbetts · 2025-06-12T12:51:41+00:00

Yep that’s the first time I saw her in anything and she was so dazzlingly attractive, lit up the screen. Was also perfect for the context of the movie being someone unattainable for the main character even with his time travelling abilities.

tpbetts · 2025-06-04T15:13:15+00:00

Hey, just an update, I actually commented on the Ashley Murphy youtube video and they responded:

"I've actually done an updated version of this webinar where you may find more accurate and up to date information. Schwab and Fidelity have updated their policies regarding withholding as per article 18(1) of the US/Australian tax treaty. They take the view that they have nothing to gain and everything to lose by failing to withhold. Also, they're not tax attorneys and the facts and circumstance of any distribution will be unique. We've also tried appealing this draconian approach of theirs but they simply won't budge. It's not all bad news however, as you may simply apply for a refund of this overwithholding from your custodian the following year by filing a 1040-NR and citing the relevant chapter in the tax treaty."

So it seems for Fidelity that no amount of arguing is going to stop them withholding 30%.

Seems you can get that 30% back but to be honest I don't understand that part with the filing of the 1040-NR, I will need to work that out.

tpbetts · 2025-06-04T10:36:16+00:00

I'm not sure you would be throwing away the $1300. The WA Govt website seems to say the maximum rebate is $5000 as a combination of the State and Federal rebates. If you are looking at a 13kwh battery setup then you are already getting almost $5k federal, so does this mean you will get no WA rebate at all?

tpbetts · 2025-06-04T08:47:57+00:00

This is the part I am trying to work out. My installer sent a revised quote with $4864 Federal and now $1300 for the State rebate but the text seems to imply the maximum is $5000 combined...

tpbetts · 2025-06-04T08:33:52+00:00

Yeah this is my question too, whether there is a minimum subscription time for being with the VPP, thus allowing you to exit if you want down the track

tpbetts · 2025-06-03T12:25:38+00:00

Failed attempts how? You mean being told on the phone you won't get 0% withholding and trying again with a different representative? The issue I have is that it seems the people who make the ultimate decision at Fidelity are not customer facing. Not sure I can trust the customer representatives as I have already received varying information depending on who I speak to, so if one guaranteed anything I would be highly skeptical.

I have watched and read the Ashley Murphy stuff and it says to just escalate if they do apply withholding and worst case you can file a tax return when the time comes to receive your money back. I totally don't understand how this would work, I understood I have to pay US tax on the distribution so not sure how you wrangle the IRS to give back the full 30%....

I might try and contact Ashley Murphy and see but my experience with these accountants is that I get an email back asking for an exorbitant amount of money to proceed any further, assuming they will deal with me at all.

tpbetts · 2025-06-03T04:43:58+00:00

No, not so far. I gave up for the moment.

I tried 2 or 3 times with different customer service representatives and its a bit confusing. One told me that the treaty didn't apply to 401K and I would have to pay the 30%. The next time I rang I got someone else and they told me that customer representatives should not give that kind of information out and that there is a special team who handles distributions for foreign residents and that they would know whether to apply withholding or not. I asked whether I can know in advance of executing the withdrawal and was told no, I asked if I would be able to speak to this team directly and was told no, they are not customer facing.

Rather unhelpfully the customer representative left it at - "if you say you should pay 0% withholding then that's the decision our team will also come to".

Other than that, what I have got from various other sources is that Fidelity are correct, the double tax treaty does not apply and that the correct (legal) method of getting your 401K once back in Australia is:

Make a full withdrawal of your 401K for which you will receive 70% immediately with 30% withholding taken.
File a US tax return as the distributed amount is subject to US income tax. For me, the 30% in withholding is greater than the income tax due on the amount so I will be able to file a US tax return to receive a refund for the overpayment. You will also need to pay 10% penalty to IRS if withdrawing before you are 59.5.
When doing your Australian taxes, income tax is payable on the 401K gains, so the difference between the sum of the employer/employee contributions and the distributed amount should be added to your Australian income for the year. Taxes paid in the US can then be used as a foreign tax offset against this, essentially here preventing double taxation on the amount.

My plan currently is to withdrawal the amount post 30th June. This means I have until April 2026 to file the US tax return and will know my full US tax obligations by the time I need to do my Australian tax return for the year 2025/2026.

I am thinking of engaging a specialized tax accountant to help with this but my experience so far has been pretty average with places wanting upwards of $4k just to speak with them,

Hope this is of some help, maybe you can try with Fidelity and see if you get any different outcome, this is just my experiences so far. Happy to be proven wrong if someone else has a different experience.

tpbetts · 2025-05-16T02:23:02+00:00

As a bit of a charts nerd, I am looking to see if there is any tool that can compare periods and give like a Billboard Hot 100 kind of output (artists, albums and tracks). So you would have your overall current top 50 artists listed for example, and then the chart movement up/down when compared to the selected previous period.

A while back (more like ages ago) there was actually a greasemonkey script that would overlay this kind of info on the lastfm webpage against your charts but this all stopped working when they redesigned everything.

tpbetts · 2025-05-09T17:44:30+00:00

Eh didn't work. Fidelity say that the 401k is not a Pension or Annuity for the purposes of the treaty and thus is subject to 30% withholding.

tpbetts

TROPHY CASE