@ajsadauskas@aus.social
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

ajsadauskas

@ajsadauskas@aus.social

Australian urban planning, public transport, politics, retrocomputing, and tech nerd. Recovering journo. Cat parent. Part-time miserable grump.

Cities for people, not cars! Tech for people, not investors!

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

ajsadauskas, (edited ) to climate
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

If you care about the planet, please make sure you sit down before you start reading this post about ExxonMobil.

So.

The CEO of ExxonMobil just said this in an interview: "We’ve waited too long to open the aperture on the solution sets in terms of what we need, as a society, to start reducing emissions."

https://fortune.com/2024/02/27/exxon-ceo-darren-woods-interview-pay-the-price-for-net-zero/

Who's the most influential voice on climate change? Who's to blame for inaction on climate change?

According to the CEO of ExxonMobil, it's environmental activists.

No, really:

"Frankly, society, and the activist—the dominant voice in this discussion—has tried to exclude the industry that has the most capacity and the highest potential for helping with some of the technologies."

Oh, and the CEO of ExxonMobil also apparently thinks consumers are to blame for climate inaction:

"Today we have opportunities to make fuels with lower carbon, but people aren’t willing to spend the money to do that."

Gets better.

He thinks unnamed 'people who generate emissions' should pay for it. (Rather than, say, major transnational oil companies.)

"People who are generating the emissions need to be aware of [it] and pay the price. That’s ultimately how you solve the problem."

https://fortune.com/2024/02/27/exxon-ceo-darren-woods-interview-pay-the-price-for-net-zero/

Worth including a quick reminder here that Exxon-Mobil made a US$36 billion profit in 2023: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-beats-estimates-ends-2023-with-36-billion-profit-2024-02-02/#:~:text=HOUSTON%2C%20Feb%202%20(Reuters),higher%20oil%20and%20gas%20production.

Not gross revenue.

Profit.

So, remind me again. Who knew about climate change before most of the public?

"Exxon was aware of climate change, as early as 1977, 11 years before it became a public issue... This knowledge did not prevent the company (now ExxonMobil and the world’s largest oil and gas company) from spending decades refusing to publicly acknowledge climate change and even promoting climate misinformation."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/

And just who, exactly, stood in the way reducing emissions all these years?

"ExxonMobil executives privately sought to undermine climate science even after the oil and gas giant publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuel emissions and climate change, according to previously unreported documents...

"The new revelations are based on previously unreported documents subpoenaed by New York’s attorney general as part of an investigation into the company announced in 2015. They add to a slew of documents that record a decades-long misinformation campaign waged by Exxon, which are cited in a growing number of state and municipal lawsuits against big oil."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/14/exxonmobil-documents-wall-street-journal-climate-science

@fuck_cars

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@voracitude I think the biggest subsidy of all is the hidden one.

Burning fossil fuels leads to more frequent and severe floods, droughts, bushfires, heatwaves, and hurricanes.

The costs of rebuilding and recovering from those disasters are a cost of using fossil fuels.

If the fossil fuel companies aren't paying that cost, they're receiving a subsidy. And it's already a massive one.

Also.

I didn't include it in the post above, but apparently the CEO of ExxonMobil is also totally against subsidies...

For climate action:

"The way that the government is incentivized and trying to catalyze investments in this space is through subsidies. Driving significant investments at a scale that even gets close to moving the needle is going to cost a lot of money.

...

"But I would tell you building a business on government subsidy is not a long-term sustainable strategy—we don’t support that."

https://fortune.com/2024/02/27/exxon-ceo-darren-woods-interview-pay-the-price-for-net-zero/

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

Honest question for white people that don't consider themselves racist:

White nationalists have been vocal about their attacks on DEI. These are literally the same people that talk about Charlottesville, Jan 6th, and ethnic cleansing.

They've laid out exactly how they plan to destroy DEI.

  1. Make false claims that DEI is about giving unqualified Black people an unfair advantage

  2. Work with racist politicians to use this as a pretext to make all DEI programs illegal.

1/n

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@mekkaokereke Thanks again Mekka for another insightful post.

Although we haven't seen too much of this anti-DEI campaigning in an organised way in Australia yet, there's no doubt it's coming.

The Australian right follows the footsteps of their American brethren.

And they've got Murdoch and Peter Costello's Nine as media megaphones.

We need to prepare, be vocal and begin organising — now.

Worth adding that these far-right campaigns aren't just the work of Billy Bob from Arkansas.

The rise of the far right has been orchestrated and funded by billionaires:

https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas/112126609398562640

petrillic, to random
@petrillic@hachyderm.io avatar

If kids are "catching gender dysphoria" because of social media, it's because visibility matters. People see others, it is discussed, and they ... recognize some aspect of themselves in it.

That's it. One of the reasons I recognized I was queer early on was because... my mom had gay and lesbian friends and the visibility gave me a name for something.

THIS. IS. A. GOOD. THING.

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@petrillic Abso-fucking-lutely.

The overwhelming majority of relationships depicted in pop culture are heterosexual.

The overwhelming majority of people depicted in popular culture are cisgendered.

In movies. In music. In television. In sport. In public life.

If, the first time you see a queer couple in the media, you start to think: "I can relate to that. Maybe I'm a lesbian/gay/bi." Despite all the hetero couples you've been shown. Well, the odds are you probably weren't that straight to begin with.

Likewise, if you come across trans or non-binary people online and think: "I can relate to that..." Despite all the depictions of cisgendered people in the media. Well, you probably weren't that cis to begin with.

thomasfuchs, to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

No, generative AI will not give you personalized movies from a book. Not in 5 years, not in ever.

Just please listen to the fucking grift generative AI stans are trying to make you believe. Not a single word they’re saying has any merit whatsoever.

Generative AI is complete and utter shit. More computing resources will just generate more shit faster.

I don’t understand how these people aren’t laughed off the Internet, it’s such a transparent bullshit hype.

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@RedCyberPandaz @thomasfuchs It would be interesting to do a study of exactly what percentage of LLM/"AI" grifters were pushing web3/NFTs/the metaverse/blockchain just a couple of years ago.

Certainly, there's no shortage of big name VCs and tech bosses who've jumped from one bandwagon to the other. Think Andreessen, Thiel, Musk, Zuckerberg, etc.

I suspect it's largely the same people who have jumped from one tech grift to the next.

ajsadauskas, to fuckcars
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

What can you get to within a 15-minute walk of your house?

A recent YouGov survey asked Americans what they think they should be able to get to within a 15-minute walk of their house.

Of these choices, I can currently walk to all of them from my apartment, aside from a university (no biggie, I'm not currently studying, although there is a Tafe within walking distance), a hospital, and a sports arena.

How many can you get to with a 15 minute walk from your house?

#fuckcars #walkability #urbanism #UrbanPlanning @fuck_cars #walking

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@uis @milicent_bystandr The architect you're thinking of is a guy by the name of Victor Gruen.

The short version is that he was a socialist from Austria, who wanted to basically recreate the great walkable streets and plazas of Vienna indoors in Minnesota.

His views on cars, ironically, wouldn't be out of place on a @notjustbikes video: "Suburban business real estate has often been evaluated on the basis of passing automobile traffic. This evaluation overlooks the fact that automobiles do not buy merchandise."

He hated cars, and saw this as an antidote to car-dependent development:

"But Gruen had a grander vision. He wanted to re-create in microcosm the walkable, diverse and liveable town centres he so loved in Vienna.

"Part of his motivation was seeing how reliance on the automobile was affecting cities. In his classic book, Shopping Towns USA, Gruen rails against the development of drive-by shopping centres focused on catering to passing motorists.

"The original plan was for commerce to be broken up by numerous attractions like aviaries, fountains and works of art. The mall itself would be surrounded by residences, offices, medical facilities, schools and everything that made a community.

"The mall was inward-looking, not to keep people focused on spending but to shelter pedestrians from cars and away from their fumes and noise.

"Here’s the first painful irony, then. Rather than developing the new mixed-use centre envisioned by Gruen, the only thing built was the mall and car parks. The grand vision was reduced to a monoculture of big shopping brands surrounded by massive car parks, all accessible only by automobile."

https://theconversation.com/triumph-of-the-mall-how-victor-gruens-grand-urban-vision-became-our-suburban-shopping-reality-172393

So the modern American shopping mall is basically a perversion of Gruen's original walkable town square/main street in a building vision.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

"Cat News"

It's like Fox, but worse. Top stories:

Innocent Cat Never Fed In Her Life
Wicked Man Stops Petting Perfect Cat
Shoo'd Away? Cat "Unwanted" on Counter Despite Being Magnificent
Dogs? Should They Exist? No.
Pearls Before Swine! Beautiful Song By Cat Called "Noise."
But is he a "Good Boy?"

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@nazokiyoubinbou @futurebird Here's a few other Cat News headlines:

Feline scientist's gravity research breakthrough: Vase successfully pushed off ledge

FAKE NEWS: Mr Tux not to blame for human's pens and lipsticks being under the couch

Poltergeists take false credit for things going bump in the night

Indoors or out? Why an open-door policy is the right answer

Home renovation tips for busy felines

LAZY AND RECKLESS: Meet the human refusing to serve breakfast at 4:32am

HUMAN ACTIVITST THUGGERY: Out-of-control human demands to watch Netflix, refuses to play with stuffed mouse

Canned tuna chunks in gravy—why your human keeps forgetting to get the chicken one

House training your pet human: Your five-step guide to success

Stupid humans: Why these ignorant creatures NEED feline bosses

An extra dinner for Miss Scruffy: Bold community leader continues inspirational grassroots campaign

Yes, a bathtub can be a bed. Here's how to make it cosy.

NATIONAL DINNERTIME OUTRAGE: Tuna and gravy again!

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

Congratulations to all James Madison University students! For unwittingly and unwillingly becoming investors in a professional sports franchise!🤡

James Madison University charges students a non-optional $5,662 "student fee" every year. $2,362 of that student fee goes to funding athletics.🤯

So if you're a JMU student, don't tell me you're "not that into sports." I don't believe you. Because your wallet is!

But congratulations to JMU sports investors! It's working!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pofh1lKI4rU

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@mekkaokereke Here's the website for the AFL Talent League: https://www.afl.com.au/talent-league

What's that, you ask? Well, it's the under 18s men's and women's developmental programs for the AFL.

Here's the list of teams. Note that none have university in the title: https://www.afl.com.au/talent-league/clubs

Here's Netball Australia's under 17s and under 19s pathways: https://netball.com.au/national-netball-championships

And Cricket Australia's development pathway: https://www.cricket.com.au/high-performance/talent-pathways

Again, notice the distinct lack of universities?

There is a viable and proven alternative to the American college system for developing athletes.

That is to leave it to the governing bodies themselves to set up developmental systems for young athletes.

Those sporting bodies already take in millions (or billions) of dollars from television rights deals and sponsorships.

They have a vested interest in developing the best young talent for their codes.

In the US, the NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball could more than afford their own developmental programs.

You don't need to have uni students cross-subsidising them.

hacks4pancakes, to random

Fun fact, my chosen nemeses for the last twenty years have been the Freemasons. Just because I’m put out they won’t let me join. I’ve devoted inordinate hours to finding and learning all their secrets people drunkenly admit to.

Yes, it’s all very boring. I just don’t care.

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@standev @hacks4pancakes Time for the obligatory Simpsons reference (and I'm surprised no-one has posted it already): https://youtu.be/fI4bRqjobbw?si=wWEtxyUvx5AQd8Mn

ptua, to melbourne

It's a myth that Melburnians won't use buses. They won't use buses that are infrequent, indirect, slow and unreliable. But they will use routes that provide a reasonably good service. We need more of them - not just in Melbourne, but around Victoria.
Listen to coverage on ABC radio yesterday: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-mornings/melbourne-needs-more-busses/103661660

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@keira_reckons @ptua Really, a 10 minute all-day frequency on all bus routes should be the minimum across Melbourne.

It would cost a fraction of what a new freeway costs glares at the Northeast Link, and it would make an absolutely massive difference.

ki_sekiya, to auspol
@ki_sekiya@aus.social avatar

Looking suspicious:
Police killing of a person for the crime of being sunsmart, and going out to buy an energy drink, and running from someone who grabbed him by the elbow from behind.

We really need a commission of inquiry into Police use of firearms, non-lethal weapons, interpersonal rapport-building and negotiating skills, and martial arts -
compared with international benchmarks.

How many more young police officers do we set-up for failure because of the obsession with reputation, power, firearms and control?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-17/nsw-police-shot-western-sydney-man-bradley-balzan-inquest/103592578
🧵🪡

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@PeterLG @ki_sekiya Oh, it goes far further back than that.

Like when the Rum Corps was created to keep those bloody convicts in line.

Or when the Mounted Police was formed in 1824 to subdue the Wiradjuri people, as white settlers were taking their land around Bathurst and Mudgee.

Or in 1839, when the Border Police was created by recruiting ex-convicts to kill Aboriginal people as white squatters claimed more and more land.

Or 1848, when the Native Police were formed to forcibly impose the white man's law on Aboriginal communities.

Or in 1862, when the police force that had been set up to brutalise the convicts and the police forces that had been set up to kill Aboriginal people were merged into a single agency.

An agency designed to impose British colonial law throughout the colony by force.

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@ki_sekiya @PeterLG And I think you're failing to grasp just how deep and systemic the issues are with NSWpol.

Very fundamentally, it is not an institution based on the principles of liberal justice.

It has never been an organisation built around the principles of liberal justice.

Not in the 1950s when the Maxwell Royal Commission revealed widespread police involvement in corruption and the “sly grog” trade.

Not in the 1960s and 1970s when Bob Askin and Police Commissioner Norm Allen were basically on Abe Saffron's payroll: https://www.smh.com.au/national/saffrons-son-dad-paid-off-askin-and-lent-packer-money-20080728-gdso04.html

Not in the 1980s when the cops were routinely bashing gay men to death and throwing their bodies off cliffs: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-25/nsw-police-karen-webb-sorry-gay-hate-crimes-inquiry/103509024

Not in the 1990s when the Wood Royal Commission was called because of how out-of-hand the cops were in Kings Cross. And the chief commissioner was forced to resign. And the Carr Government bought in a replacement chief commissioner from the UK (Peter Ryan) to try to clean up the force: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/dangerous-days-in-the-cross-20100406-rpg4.html

Not in the 2000s when Roger Rogerson was out bumping off his underworld rivals: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/22/disgraced-nsw-detective-roger-the-dodger-rogerson-dies-in-jail-aged-83

Not in the 2010s, when — for example — cops in Hornsby shot three innocent bystanders while trying to subdue a man who went missing from a nearby psychiatric hospital: https://news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/police-shoot-and-kill-knifeman-at-westfield-hornsby/news-story/09e98074a9f0534020686a76ebee783c

Or when listening devices were routinely misused for internal vendettas: https://www.9news.com.au/national/nick-kaldas-testifies-in-bugging-scandal/3bf9d252-ce0e-42ce-8394-b7074c58f854

You can go right back through the history, right back to the Rum Corps if you want: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-long-history-of-political-corruption-in-nsw-and-the-downfall-of-mps-ministers-and-premiers/bk6l5g8t0

NSWpol is fundamentally not an institution built around the principles of liberal justice, because it was created long before NSW was a liberal democracy.

It was created as a paramilitary force to defend and extend the British Empire's control over the colony, through force.

Corruption was tolerated because it worked towards the main goal of imperial control.

It is not a system that was designed to uphold the values of liberal justice, and that has malfunctioned through poor leadership.

It is a system that is continuing to do what it was originally designed to do.

The fundamental problem is, in a modern liberal democracy, we don't want a corrupt system for imperial violence. We want a different system of policing — one that has the values of liberal justice and human rights at its core.

That's a systemic problem, not just a leadership problem.

Well, systemic problems require systemic solutions.

Replacing the people at the top isn't sufficient. We've tried that before. Repeatedly.

It hasn't worked. Just ask former Commissioner Peter Ryan.

What's needed is for a fundamental, total, institutional overhaul of how policing is done in New South Wales, led by the state government.

What's needed is a rewrite of the legislation, a total restructure, as well as new leadership to overhaul every aspect of how policing is done.

In other words, you can't just remove the rot. The system fundamentally needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@PeterLG @ki_sekiya I'd disagree that the colonial origins aren't relevant today.

This is an institution that was set up to impose British rule on the colony through violence against convicts and Aboriginal people.

That's quite literally what it was set up and designed to do.

That's what the culture, organisational structure, hierarchies, norms, procedures, and practises of this institution were designed to do.

Where there's been reform efforts aimed at change, the institutional inertia has always been in the direction of this culture.

So over the decades since then, there have been reforms to that institution. Attempts to weed out corruption. Budget cuts and increases. More community-centred policing and law and order crackdowns.

But at no time has it been shut down and replaced with a different agency, or rebuilt from the ground up, with a different approach to upholding the law that respects human rights.

Why are you surprised that an institution that was designed to uphold the law by brutalising convicts and Aboriginal people ends up upholding the law by brutalising perceived convicts and Aboriginal people?

It's working precisely as it was designed to.

jessta, to random
@jessta@aus.social avatar

The Victorian government is spending $87 million to add 500 extra parking spaces to Frankston Station. That's $174K per space.

https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/c-king/media-release/major-works-create-hundreds-car-parks

This 1 bedroom apartment recently sold within walking distance of Frankston train station for $166K

https://www.domain.com.au/316-435-nepean-highway-frankston-vic-3199-2018097525


ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@jessta Articulated busses can seat around 78 people with no-one standing, depending on configuration.

So 500 spaces is roughly as many commuters as just 6.5 full articulated buses.

Upgrade some of the local bus routes to a 10-minute service with articulated busses, and you'd probably find you end up with more commuters, at a fraction of the cost.

ajsadauskas, to Trains
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Some good news for anyone who loves RMTransit's public transport explainer videos, but doesn't like Google and YouTube.

Looks like @RM_Transit now has an account on PeerTube here, which you can follow from Mastodon: @reece

(If you're the first to follow the account from your instance it will initially appear empty. Videos will start appearing in your feed after you follow.)

@fuck_cars

ajsadauskas, (edited ) to afl
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

The saga of Waverley Park — Melbourne's car-dependent suburban AFL stadium with a planned seated capacity of over 150,000 (not a typo!)

A really good run down by @philip on the plans by the AFL (and its predecessor, the VFL) to build the world's largest stadium in outer-suburban Melbourne.

Unfortunately, a planned railway line past the stadium to Rowville was never built. That meant a massive 25,000-spot car park as the only real means to get there.

While most of it has been demolished and redeveloped for housing, the oval itself still used by Hawthorn Football Club as a training and administration centre.

https://youtu.be/LvvLwiRCx4s?si=x2QvxepgPtBtJZfx

@fuck_cars

ajsadauskas, to random
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Adam Something reviewing the Cybertruck is the best thing I've seen all morning: https://youtu.be/lFloLGmPKl0?si=b6QvLt39i_RkFk8h

ajsadauskas, (edited )
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@Longmactoppedup What you're looking at here are the economic ideas of a late-19th century American economist named Henry George: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George

At its furthest extreme, the argument is that land and licences to exploit finite natural resources (potentially including the rights to mine minerals and emit greenhouse gasses) should be taxed heavily.

For property, the tax should only be levied against the underlying land, and not any buildings or improvements that add value. So you get taxed on what the price would be if it were a vacant lot (the unimproved site value).

Meanwhile, all other taxes on productive wealth generation — income tax, company tax, GST, etc., should be completely abolished.

Advocates generally combine this with a universal basic income.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism

The logic is that taxing finite natural resources will cause them to be used more efficiently, and the benefits distributed widely throughout society.

Meanwhile, activity that creates wealth or adds value should be encouraged, and that means it should go untaxed.

When land and resource taxes are combined with a universal basic income, what ends up happening is that people with a lot of expensive land or who use a lot of natural resources pay a net tax.

Meanwhile, people who use few resources get a UBI that's higher than their tax bill, and therefore a net credit.

What it offers is a way that free market libertarians can respond to climate change and other environmental issues.

That being said, even if you don't agree with the full Georgist program, there is still a decent case to be made that more of the tax burden should be filled by taxes on land and natural resources.

ajsadauskas, to ArtificialIntelligence
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Here's an observation that should be bleeding obvious, but often gets overlooked amidst all the AI hype.

Especially in the enterprise IT space, many of the tools and platforms now being hyped up as "AI" were around a decade ago.

Back then, the buzzwords used to sell them were big data, machine learning, and predictive data analytics.

With all the hype around large language models and ChatGPT, the vendors have basically repackaged them as AI.

But essentially, there's a whole bunch of old (or at least not new) tech now being shilled with new buzzwords.

#LargeLanguageModels #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #enrerpriseIT

ajsadauskas, (edited ) to Canada
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

When urban renewal goes wrong: Inside a dead mall frozen in 1990.

Very interesting short film by Bright Sun Films. Along with the usual urban exploration bits, he gives a good history of how and why it failed.

The shopping centre was supposed to revitalise downtown Hamilton, Ontario.

But within six years, it had just a 40% occupancy rate.

A decade after opening, it sold for only CAN$3.6 million — just 5% of what it originally cost to build.

https://youtu.be/NV_c_c_RZdE?si=4fNO5BJAoWzcx_bw

@urbanism

ajsadauskas, (edited ) to fediverse
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Are there currently any Substack replacements that integrate with ActivityPub?

So I'm currently looking for a Substack substitute for taking donations.

I'd want it to feature a blog (and preferably newsletters too) that include a mix of publicly-accessible posts, as well as posts that are only visible to donors.

And ideally, I want it to also integrate with ActivityPub too.

That might mean a Fediverse post is automatically generated when a new blog post is published. Or potentially the publicly visible blog posts are published in full to the Fediverse.

Now, I know there are a few donations platforms that can handle the first part, such as Ghost and Ko-Fi.

There are also blogging platforms such as WriteFreely/Write.as and Micro.blog that integrate with the Fedi.

And in theory you could do both with a WordPress blog and number of plugins, some paid. But especially with paid plugins, that's likely to get quite expensive quickly. (Not to mention some of the questionable things that have happened at Automattic in recent weeks.)

But are there any platforms out there that support both?

Or is the best option at this stage just to get a Ko-Fi/Ghost account for the donations and donor-only posts, with a separate micro.blog or write.as account for the publicly accessible posts?

@asklemmy

ajsadauskas, to llm
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

New York City's new LLM-powered chatbot (chat.nyc.gov) is happy to help you with all sorts of questions.

For example, how to go about opening a butcher shop for cannibals on the Upper East Side.

No, really:

ajsadauskas, to sydney
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Not again! BoM issues Flood warning for Qld and NSW.

"A major rain event will engulf most of eastern Australia during the next 48 hours, prompting the Bureau of Meteorology to issue flood watches from southern Queensland to the NSW South Coast.

"Greater Sydney could be soaked by up to 200mm from late Thursday to early Saturday, potentially leading to major flooding along the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, while Brisbane and Canberra also face the prospect of heavy rain."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-04/torrential-rain-triggers-flood-watch-for-sydney/103665240

@sydney

ajsadauskas, (edited ) to AirBNB
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Jenny Tian on the enshittification of Airbnb, and how it's changed since 2014.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ArywCsMjv7w?si=NShLCdY_jYfM6ALg

@funny

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@Ilovethebomb @lordriffington There's a guy on the Fediverse named @tomiahonen who's a former Nokia executive.

The short version goes something like this: the first iPhone launched in the US as of 2007, the first Android by 2008.

Nokia responded by making its Symbian operating system touch enabled, and working longer-term on a next generation operating system called MeeGo.

By mid-2011, Nokia launched its first MeeGo phone, called the N9.

Nokia was actually outselling Apple in smartphones, and it had a faster growth rate.

It had great relations with most telcos around the world.

All it had to do was persuade existing Nokia featurephone owners to upgrade to a MeeGo phone and it was set.

Then Nokia hired an ex-Microsoft executive named Stephen Elop. He immediately signed Nokia up to go Windows Phone exclusive and called MeeGo a burning platform.

He openly said that even if N9 was a massive success, there'd be no more MeeGo phones ever.

The first Nokia Windows Phones came at the end of 2011, running Windows Phone 7. It was basically just Windows CE with a touch interface.

Microsoft's true response to iOS and Android was Windows Phone 8, and that didn't come until right at the end of 2012, nearly 2013.

(At this point, the iPhone had been on the market for five years, and Android for four years.)

Why Windows Phone screwed up is a whole 'nother story, but Nokia went all in on what turned out to be a sinking ship, and the rest is history.

danielbowen, to random
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

Looks like Big Tobacco is after Albo

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@joannaholman @danielbowen So apparently Philip Morris has a front group called "Foundation for a Smoke-Free World", that indirectly channels funding to ATHRA.

You really can't make this stuff up:

"In their “Conflicts of Interest” statement, Wodak and Mendelsohn note that they are board members of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ATHRA)

...

"They do not note that ATHRA has received funding from the UK-based Knowledge Action Change (KAC) organization, in whose events they have both participated. KAC has received substantial funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW).

...

"KAC has received very substantial funding from the FSFW, which is solely funded by Philip Morris International and has been described as 'essentially operating as a front group for Philip Morris International’s (PMI) interests.'"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7811083/#bib1

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