@ajsadauskas@aus.social
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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!

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ajsadauskas, to sydney
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Open question for @sydney and on Mastodon:

If the suburbs around Chatswood and Crows Nest are on the Lower North Shore, and the area around Hornsby is the Upper North Shore, then what's Ryde?

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@BenAveling @sydney Lol great maps. I especially like the descriptions of Hornsby as being either "Not Sydney" or the North Shore's "Buffer zone".

My only quibble is with the North Shore map showing anything on the south side of the harbour.

True story: I used to work for a company that had its offices in St Leonards because the boss hated crossing the bridge.

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

Who's your favourite '80s pop star or group?

The '80s are a decade that doesn't always get the respect it deserves.

So, after a recent discussion on @popheads, I've decided to reach out and see who some of your favourites are, and why?

I'll kick off the thread with Janet... Ms. Jackson, if you're nasty.

Why?

This speaks for itself:

https://youtu.be/OAwaNWGLM0c

@music

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

Do we want a bot that posts AFL news stories on @afl ?

There's a bot on Mastodon ( @AFL ) that automatically posts stories about the AFL.

I can request that the owner tags in the AFL group on Aussie Zone, so they appear here too.

But before I do, I just want to check that everyone here would be happy with the AFL bot posting here?

ajsadauskas, to afl
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Here's a quick tip for folks on @afl who are new to Lemmy.

As well as appearing on Lemmy, your posts and replies are visible across all the apps on the Fediverse.

That includes Mastodon, KBin, Calckey, and others.

If you want more people to see and reply to your comments and replies, make sure you include the hashtag

It makes your posts/comments/replies easier to find across all the Fediverse apps.

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@No1 You sure can.

For example, on Mastodon, just search for @afl and then click follow. All the new posts and replies will appear in your Mastodon feed.

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@Treevan Go right ahead ☺️

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@ReCursing @pootriarch On the 1980s, I'm not so sure.

Yeah, there was a lot of terrible pop in that decade, but there's a lot of forgettable pop in every decade.

It was the peak of the MTV era in the US, and a lot of the music videos from that time are quite experimental.

It was the decade where synths, MIDI, and digital sampling technology improved by leaps and bounds, and first really entered the mainstream in a really big way.

As for pop artists, there was a decent crop of artists from across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and NZ.

Think Prince, Janet, MJ, Madonna, Kylie, Whitney, George Michael, Irene Cara, The Eurythmics, Phil Collins, Culture Club, Dead or Alive, The Bangles, Bananarama, Robert Palmer, and all the New Wave acts.

There were a number of legacy acts that released some of their best tracks during the decade too. Think Tina Turner, Elton, John Farnham, Billy Joel, David Bowie, and Queen.

A number of artists that aren't generally associated with the '80s also had charting hits during the decade. Including The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Diana Ross, and three of The Beatles (George Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney).

Stevie Wonder just called to say I love you in the '80s. Lionel Richie was dancin' on the ceiling in the '80s.

And for better or worse, the world wouldn't have Rick Astley, List Lobos' La Bamba, Joe Dolce's Shuddup Ya Face, Ray Parker Jr's Ghostbusters theme, etc., without the '80s.

Whether that's to your taste or not is up to you, but for better or worse pop music certainly didn't forget the '80s.

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@croselund @ReCursing @pootriarch Very true, and that synth technology was evolving and coming down in price rapidly.

Sure, there were synths in use in the '70s (and even the '60s), but they were often just somewhere in the mix of a disco track. See Manfred Mann's cover of Blinded by the Light or 10CC's Rubber Bullets for examples.

By the early '80s, you had the early Yamaha synths and computers like the C64 (released in 1982) making it affordable for musicians to use.

That progressed rapidly to the Atari ST offering Midi out of the box, and the Amiga offering sampled audio in 1985.

There was a lot of hype at the time about how synths and computers would put symphonies out of business.

So this was cutting edge stuff, and a lot of artists were figuring out how to use them for the first time.

Admittedly, some of that experimentation hasn't held up well, but it really paved the way for a lot of the modern EDM/hip hop/R&B/pop that's around today.

And a similar rapid evolution was taking place with computer animation and video. A lot of the experimentation — before Steve Jobs and John Lassiter were making full-length feature films at Pixar from the mid '90s — happened in music videos.

(As an example, just compare the warewolf morph in MJ's Thriller to the morph effect in Black or White to see how much technology improved over the span of just a few years.)

ajsadauskas, to random
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

At this stage, Lithuania's public broadcaster doesn't seem to have an English-language article up about the situation in Russia. One of its news channels is running a story about Pink Floyd releasing a pro-Ujranian song, the other about a submarine that was looking for the Titanic wreckage.

But it does have an article up on its Lithuanian-language news site: https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/pasaulyje/6/2020508/itampa-rusijoje-rusijos-saugumo-pajegos-aptvere-wagner-centra-sankt-peterburge-wagner-skelbia-peremusi-rusijos-kariniu-objektu-voronezo-mieste-kontrole

The following via Google Translate:

"After the statements of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian military group "Wagner", tensions arose in Russia. Security forces in Moscow have been put on high alert, armored personnel carriers have appeared near the Duma and other strategic buildings, and conscripts have been armed in the Rostov region. In this city, armored vehicles block the streets, military helicopters fly in the sky. In his messages, Mr. Prigožin stated that his mercenaries allegedly crossed the state borders in all places and allegedly the border guards "came out to meet and hugged our fighters". Images later surfaced of alleged Wagner mercenaries surrounding buildings in central Rostov-on-Don.

"According to unconfirmed data, the first clash between "Wagner" mercenaries and Rosguard soldiers took place on the Rostov-Moscow road. There are reports that internet and mobile communications are being cut off in Moscow, and roadblocks have been set up at the entrances to the Russian capital with armed officers ordered to open fire at any threat. Armed security has been called to the prestigious Rubliovka district of Moscow. There was also information that some soldiers allegedly refused to stand against Wagner.

"In the early hours of Saturday morning, videos from the Rostov region appeared, social networks claimed that Wagner military equipment was already visible in Rostov-on-Don (however, this information had not yet been confirmed at around 5 am).

"It was reported earlier that the Russian FSB opened a criminal case for calls for an "armed coup". This was the reaction to Mr. Prigozhin's statement that 25,000 of his soldiers are ready to stop chaos in the country and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose troops allegedly attacked the Wagner base, killing many fighters.

"According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin is aware of the mercenary group leader's claims and "necessary measures" are being taken."

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

LRT now broadcasting Lithuania's defence minister making a statement about the situation.

There's footage of Russian government tanks on the streets. They've also broadcasted footage of a Russian missile that hit an apartment building in Ukraine, with nine more drones and cruise missiles shot down.

No written statements on the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence website at this stage, in either English or Lietuvu Kalba.

(It's probably worth noting it is a long weekend in Lithuania.)

An update on the LRT website in Lithuanian about Ukraine's reaction:

"Kyiv said on Saturday that events in Russia, where fighters from the private military mercenary company Wagner have taken steps to overthrow the military leadership, are just beginning.

"'Everything is just getting started in Russia'," Ukrainian presidential aide Mychaila Podoliak wrote on Twitter.

"'The fragmentation of the elite is really obvious,' he said."

There's also an update about Germany and France watching events closely:

"Germany is closely monitoring developments in Russia, where the Wagner mercenary group seized an important military headquarters in a southern Russian city near the Ukrainian border, a government spokesman said on Saturday.

"'The government is closely monitoring events in Russia,' he told the AFP news agency.

French President Emmanuel Macron is also closely monitoring the situation in Russia, the French president's office said on Saturday.

"'The president is monitoring the situation very carefully. We remain focused on supporting Ukraine,' the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

image/jpeg

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@Lats I'll share some more thoughts later, but I'm guessing the lack of comment this morning on the Lithuanian public broadcaster was a bit like a duck on water: little movement above the water line, lots of movement below the water line.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Anušauskas' statement (via LRT, Google Translate):

"Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anušauskas says that responsible Lithuanian structures are closely monitoring the situation in Russia. If necessary, the politician emphasizes, the readiness level of the country's army can be raised. So far, as state institutions claim, the level of direct threat to the [Lithuanian] state has not increased.

"'We are monitoring the situation, no decisions have been made. However, as the situation changes, as the situation becomes more complicated, decisions can be made, and the army itself can raise the level of vigilance,' A. Anušauskas told Elta, commenting on the unrest caused by "Wagner" mercenaries in Russia.

"'It will depend on how the situation develops,' the minister added.

"For its part, the Lithuanian army claims that the situation does not require taking such actions for the time being. The press representative of the commander of the Lithuanian army, Maj. Rūta Montvilė told Eltai that the situation is being monitored and there is no need for the army to take additional actions.

"According to A. Anušauskas, the actions of Yevgenijs Prigozhin, the manager of "Wagner", which have caught the world's attention, primarily cause instability in Russia.

"'Prigozhin's actions mean greater instability in Russia itself, the aggressor country. I think it creates a better situation for Ukraine. As Russia's neighbors, we need to carefully monitor the situation,' said A. Anušauskas.

"As the tension increases, the minister explained, one should expect greater agitation in the military structures of the aggressor country.

"'When there's internal unrest, it's always standard procedure to try to activate all the military forces, to increase their vigilance, because you want to control them directly,' he said.

"A. Anušauskas said it is still too early to predict what the unrest caused by "Wagner" might be for Russia. However, it does not seem that Mr. Prigozhin's actions are just a communication trick.

"'Distrust of the Russian generals or Putin himself is sufficiently developed. So it is not necessarily a fake,' said A. Anušauskas.

"However, the politician claimed, it is now very difficult to predict how everything might end.

"'We have too many unknowns to make clear predictions.' But every internal upheaval is dangerous for political power, no matter what it is, said the minister.

"Therefore, according to him, the leader of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, has something to worry about at the moment.

"'There is always a question about the reliability of the forces that Putin can concentrate and gather around himself,' the minister concluded."

https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/lietuvoje/2/2020632/anusauskas-sako-kad-lietuva-akylai-stebi-situacija-rusijoje-prigozino-veiksmai-reiskia-didesni-nestabiluma

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@Lats Some observations.

It's been interesting to watch the difference between how LRT and CNN have covered this story.

CNN has taken Prigozhin's comments at face value, and has been hyperventilating with speculation about how Putin's end could be nigh.

LRT has been much more cautious in its coverage of this story, and has given equal weight to other news out of Ukraine, including the attacks on apartment buildings, the missiles Ukraine shot down, and donations of medical aid.

There's a deeper scepticism of any words coming out of the Russian state (of which Wagner is very much a part).

With good reason. Lithuania was under Russian occupation from 1795 to 1918, 1940 to 1941, and again from 1944 to 1990.

Everyone over 30 has first-hand lived experience of living under Russian occupation, and the Russian state's disinformation.

On the ground in Vilnius, two things stand out:

  1. The Ukrainian flag and colours are everywhere. Cafes, national monuments, homes, government buildings, alongside TV station logos. Even the destination blinds of all buses in Vilnius say "Vilnius ❤️ Ukraina".

  2. More interestingly, the royal banner of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (also used by the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania) is being used in many places where you'd normally expect to see a Lithuanian flag.

In case you're asking: The Grand Duchy of what? The Commonwealth of what?

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania existed as a standalone state from 1251 until the Union of Lublin in 1569. It included modern day Lithuania, Belarus, and most of Ukraine: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania

From 1569 to 1795, it was part of a commonwealth that also included Poland: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth

So Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine have around 500 years of shared history under the same monarchy.

Coincidentally, that history was conveniently left out of the revisionist history essay Putin wrote to justify his latest invasion of Ukraine. A fact that most English-language analysis of that essay failed to pick up on.

(He also left out a lot of the historical conflict between Poland/Lithuania/Ukraine and Russia, including the Polish–Muscovite War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Muscovite_War_(1605%E2%80%931618) , which saw the Romanov dynasty come to power after Polish/Lithuanian/Ukrainian troops occupied Moscow from 1610 to 1612: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_occupation_of_Moscow . Russia later invaded the Commonwealth in the Smokensk War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smolensk_War and the 1654 Russo–Polish War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Polish_War_(1654%E2%80%931667) .)

There's also a long history of Lithuanian resistance to historic Russian occupations, including book smugglers who defied an 1864 to 1904 ban on Lithuanian language books https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_book_smugglers or the 1972 uprising against the Soviets https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_unrest_in_Lithuania or the successful 1941 June uprising against the Soviets https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Uprising_in_Lithuania or the Baltic Way https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Way

And that's just scratching the surface of the long history of Russian aggression, occupation, and Lithuanian/Polish/Ukranian resistance.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@Lats And some final thoughts (for now?).

There's been a lot of very superficial analysis of the Ukraine invasion.

On the right, it has often involved uncritically parroting Russian propoganda.

But even on the left, there's been a lot of overly simplistic analysis that has attempted to pin blame for the war on, say, NATO expansion.

This analysis has utterly failed to account for why so many people in countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Estonia, and Ukraine were so keen to embrace the EU and NATO.

That's where the history I talked about briefly in that last post comes into play.

It may be hard to believe, but in this corner of the world, for all its many faults, the US is very much the lesser evil.

And that history — the shared history, and also the violence, the oppression, and the resistance — is the context for what's happening now.

This is not an abstract thing happening someplace else. "The bombs could fall on us next" is the way one Lithuanian shopkeeper put it.

Anyway, here's a photo of a Vilnius bus heading to Vilnius ❤️ Ukraina, and the Grand Duke's flag on a building in the Old Town of Vilnius.

image/jpeg

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

Elon is a free speech absolutist.

Unless you're a critic of Tesla. Then you're banned.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/im-nobody-calls-employer-elon-130514911.html

@fediverse

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@ngsmcphrsn @fediverse Eeep, my bad, you are quite correct. I'll edit the post.

ajsadauskas, to fuck_cars
@ajsadauskas@pixelfed.social avatar

Oh sure, these cafes and bars in a public square in Vilnius, Lithuania, attract a great crowd on a weeknight.

But.

Ask any Melbourne shopkeeper and they'll tell you this scene couldn't possibly be real. You know why?

No parking spots out the front.

@urbanism @fuck_cars

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@petrescatraian @ajsadauskas It was taken just near Aušros Vartai (literally "Dawn Gates"), which are the historic main city gates for the Vilnius Old Town.

And given there's some great bars and cafes nearby (and slightly further north, past the old town hall), serving delicious Cepelinai, who wouldn't want to stop by?

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@petrescatraian @ajsadauskas Countless restaurants, bars, and cafes. Lots of other small stores too, from clothes to jewellery to cosmetics to tourist stuff to local grocery stores to tourist paraphernalia. And all manner of cuisines — but I think it would be a mistake to visit Vilnius and not have Cepeliniai ☺️

ajsadauskas, to popheads
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Looks like there could be a new Alessia Cara album in the works.

On the bad photo sharing app, she's just posted about how she's been busy "putting down some old thoughts and picking up new ones"...

@popheads @music

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@popheads @music Alessia Cara: "I don't know when it'll be out. I'm working on it. I've been working on it for the last year and a half or so. So that's been my main focus over the last little while, so hopefully soon."

The plot thickens...

(Source: https://www.complex.com/music/a/erikleijon/alessia-cara-interview)

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@emi @sudo The seven great alternatives to Reddit should have been (in no particular order):

  1. Beehaw
  2. KBin
  3. Lemmy
  4. FediBB
  5. Mastodon
  6. Calckey
  7. Hubzilla
ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@RoadkillUgly @pec The problem is cars.

Cars are an inherently dangerous mode of transport.

According to the WHO, car accidents kill 1.3 million people worldwide each year.

Let's put that number into perspective.

There's around 212 seats on a Boeing 777 jumbo jet, depending on configuration.

So 1.3 million deaths is equivalent to around 6132 plane crashes each year. That works out to be equivalent to around 16 plane crashes globally each day.

Cars also make every other mode of transport more dangerous, slower, and less efficient.

You raise walking while looking at your phone. Well, that's generally not a deadly act (try it in a park sometime). Well, what makes that deadly is cars.

Riding a bike, e-bike, or scooter is significantly more dangerous in mixed traffic than it is on a dedicated cycling path or barrier protected bike lane.

It is car drivers who are in control of a deadly multi-tonne vehicle.

Responsibility always rests with the driver.

Full stop.

Now, there are a range of measures that the Victorian state government could put in place to make streets safer for all modes.

Barrier-protected cycling lanes along major streets and roads. Reducing speed limits to 30 KP/h on local streets. Road diets. Pedestrianising major shopping strips.

But suburban Melbourne's backwards car-dependent approach to planning means it's a long way behind the world's best practice, in countries, such as the Netherlands.

It's a long way behind countries in Europe that aren't quite at world's best practice, such as Austria.

It's a long way behind cities and countries that were behind the iron curtain during the Cold War.

It's even falling behind Sydney.

So yes, the problem is with cars. And trying to place the blame on anything else is blaming the victim.

ajsadauskas, to business
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

I think it's time to have a conversation about the massive amount of hidden waste created by the likes of Amazon through free returns.

From TFA:

"In 2022, returns cost retailers about $816 billion in lost sales. That’s nearly as much as the U.S. spent on public schools and almost twice the cost of returns in 2020. The return process, with transportation and packaging, also generated about 24 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions in 2022.

"UPS transports those items to the retailer’s warehouses dedicated to processing returns. This step of the process costs the retailer money – 66% of the cost of a $50 item by one estimate – and emits carbon dioxide as trucks and planes carry items hundreds of miles. The plastic, paper or cardboard from the return package becomes waste.

"In 2019, about 5 billion pounds of waste from returns were sent to landfills, according to an estimate by the return technology platform Optoro. By 2022, the estimated waste had nearly doubled to about 9.5 billion pounds."

For those of us in the metric world, 9.5 billion pounds is around 4.3 billion kilograms.

https://fortune.com/2023/06/14/amazon-returns-ecommerce-how-bad-big-problem-816-billion/

@green @technology @technology

ajsadauskas,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@scrubbles @pootriarch So let me get this straight.

By his own admission, Kevin Federline let Daphne Barak, from The Sun, into his home.

And he has confirmed this in his statement to TMZ, a tabloid that routinely took Jamie Spears' and his associates side in the conservatorship saga.

The immediate question that comes to my mind is what on Earth was he doing letting a writer from The Sun into his home?!

Worse, according to Daphne, this happened: "During filming for an upcoming documentary I have made on the Spears family".

So a writer from The Sun asks to do an interview for a "documentary" on the family and Kevin, by his own admission, said yes to it.

Aside from anything else, what on Earth was he thinking?

Whoopsies! Accidentally let a writer from The Sun into my house with a film crew for an interview!

Now here's the interesting part. Look how general he is with his denial. He claims Daphne "decided to fabricate lies and publish the heart ache our family has endured".

He doesn't explicitly say the quote attributed to him was false.

So either:

a) Kev is honest, and The Sun reporter fabricated a quote from him, after an interview that was presumably recorded.

b) Kev lies about his ex in an interview with The Sun. Then when The Sun publishes what he said, he tries to pin those lies on the reporter.

If a) is the case, then what on Earth did he think would happen when a tabloid reporter came knocking? But frankly, b) wouldn't surprise me either.

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

@scrubbles As far as The Sun is concerned, they either published a false claim (Britney's on meth) they heard from an untrustworthy source in Kevin, or they made up a false claim (if Kevin is to be believed).

Either way, it's a long way from best practice journalism. They're still being the Murdoch-owned tabloid snakes they're famous for being.

But, after the whole conservatorship fiasco, I wouldn't trust any member of the extended Spears family, including Kevin.

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