A deadly new tool that will kill feral cats by spraying them with a toxic gel is being rolled out, as part of a five-year plan to reduce the enormous impact the predators are having on native wildlife....
The ACT government says it is time to redesign the national capital, to make active travel — such as cycling and “micro-mobility” alternatives like e-scooters — safer and more viable....
The wool market has dropped 20 per cent from last year. Brokers say they are dumping low-value wool into landfill. Growers are urged to keep producing wool despite the gloomy outlook.
Looks like Sydney Trains is going to drop the jargon from its PA announcements.
From the SMH:
"Commuters will soon be told to “get off” the train, rather than “alight”, after Sydney Trains resolved to overhaul its station announcements to favour colloquial language.
"The phrase “this train terminates here” is also being retired, due to concerns the word “terminates” is difficult to understand."
Seriously though, alight and terminates are not hard words to understand - particularly when given context and used in repeated announcements. It doesn’t reflect well on our literacy levels if these words are now considered too difficult for the general population.
You’re right that I wouldn’t recognise an unknown word/phrase, but since train announcements are operating in a limited context and I’d be seeing people respond by getting off the train at multiple stops you’d hope I’d figure it out before too long.
This is of course assuming I know some of the language and can recognise basic words such as their equivalent of passengers, going in completely blind would be a real mission (just as it would be coming here with absolutely no English).
That’s likely at least part of the reasoning behind this change. However the majority of people learning English will simply have a lack of vocabulary rather than a lack of reasoning capacity, so should therefore be able to figure out the words mean from context and observation (or look up the meanings considering smartphones are basically ubiquitous these days).
ANZAC Day may not actually make a long weekend this year but apparently the powers that be have considered it’s close enough to make for a double demerit period in ACT and NSW - and it’s starting Wednesday instead of Thursday. Keep your eyes peeled if you’re out and about over the next few days.
Various reserves (mostly out around the Cotter) and parts of Namadgi will be closed for periods in May/June - something to be aware of if you’re planning to head out.
Sounds a pretty good use case for an electric truck; low speeds with constant stop/start driving is well suited to electric vehicles and a known route means range is much less of an issue (just spec it with enough to cope with expected decline over its service life and you’re set). The harder part will be making sure there’s enough charging capacity in the depots to cope with a fleet of trucks, I would expect upgrades will be necessary for that.
Yes, I would think Finland would be more around the top of the Snowies/Vic Alps, particularly as you approach the treeline. England seems a better fit for the ACT (though you might need to ignore summer for that).
n this scenario because the road is not multi-laned it doesn’t seem permitted.
That list should have ‘or’ separating the options, only one of them has to be true to qualify as an exception instead of all of them. I swear NSW likes to make things more confusing in what is supposed to be clear language explanations of the rules - the actual road rules are often easier to understand (as they are in this case).
It does seem to get consistent usage - I think it’d make a lot of sense for the commute if you lived along the route and worked normal hours in the city. The increase in development was also noticeable - Flemington Rd has a lot of housing built along it now which would have been at least helped along by the presence of the light rail (I expect a lot would have been built regardless, but maybe not as quickly).
Lab-produced meat could be on Australian supermarket shelves as soon as next year (www.abc.net.au)
Proton Mail founder vows to fight Australia’s eSafety regulator in court rather than spy on users (www.theguardian.com)
Deadly tool that sprays feral cats with toxic gel unveiled as part of Australia-first strategy to save wildlife (www.abc.net.au)
A deadly new tool that will kill feral cats by spraying them with a toxic gel is being rolled out, as part of a five-year plan to reduce the enormous impact the predators are having on native wildlife....
Queenslanders asked to weigh in on tough new laws for dangerous dog owners (www.abc.net.au)
Cameras that can detect noisy vehicles will be trialled in suburban Sydney (www.smh.com.au)
For those who hit a paywall:...
Pushing bikes in the car capital: Canberra road network may be overhauled to encourage cycling, walking (www.abc.net.au)
The ACT government says it is time to redesign the national capital, to make active travel — such as cycling and “micro-mobility” alternatives like e-scooters — safer and more viable....
Dash Cam Owners Australia June 2023 On the Road Compilation (www.youtube.com)
Wool dumped in landfill as cost of living drives demand and price down (www.abc.net.au)
The wool market has dropped 20 per cent from last year. Brokers say they are dumping low-value wool into landfill. Growers are urged to keep producing wool despite the gloomy outlook.
Australian start-up aiming to grow plants on the Moon receives $3.6m in government funding (www.abc.net.au)
Australian start-up Lunaria One is aiming to grow plants on the Moon within four years....
Canberra ranked second best city in the world for quality of life (canberradaily.com.au)
Canberra is the second-best city in the world for quality of life, according to the latest report by the Oxford Economics Global Cities....
Heads up that double demerits are running again from tomorrow through to Sunday
ANZAC Day may not actually make a long weekend this year but apparently the powers that be have considered it’s close enough to make for a double demerit period in ACT and NSW - and it’s starting Wednesday instead of Thursday. Keep your eyes peeled if you’re out and about over the next few days.
Parks and reserves to close for ‘largest pest animal program’ in Territory to date | Riotact (the-riotact.com)
Various reserves (mostly out around the Cotter) and parts of Namadgi will be closed for periods in May/June - something to be aware of if you’re planning to head out.
Critically endangered northern corroboree frogs spotted in Namadgi National Park for the first time in five years (www.abc.net.au)
cross-posted from: aussie.zone/post/8969234...
Spike in motorbike thefts most likely down to one or two repeat offenders (the-riotact.com)
I’ve noticed the spate of stolen bike posts on the local Facebook groups, interesting to see an article talking about it.
Electric garbage truck trialled in regional Australia drives 'like a limousine' (www.abc.net.au)
Map of the different climates in Australia (aussie.zone)
Transcription:...
[Solved] NSW road rules: Stay behind turners on single lane roads?
Imagine you’re in the blue car, wanting to turn left:...
CanTEST finds dangerous synthetic opioid in Canberra for the first time (www.abc.net.au)
Canberra’s pill testing service CanTEST has found N-pyrrolidino protonitazene (NPP) in brown granular powder presented for testing....
Strong results for Stage 1 of Canberra's Light Rail (www.railexpress.com.au)
HECS indexation to be overhauled in budget with $3 billion in student debt 'wiped out' (www.abc.net.au)
Student debts will be lowered for more than three million Australians under reforms designed to stop HECS loans growing faster than wages....