Brisbanites just need to stop watering their fucking driveways.

I read a great reader comment on an article about this on the ABC news website yesterday - i can't find it now, but it went along these lines:

ABC: Do you agree that this dam should be stopped?
Comment 1: No, we need the water.
Comment 2: South-east Queensland gets 1100mm of rain a year, which means 500,000 litres will fall on a typical... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:59 PM on November 11, 2009

All up, it's not really a big deal and will almost certainly be vetoed by the Feds just like they did the last two times it was passed.

Exactly. As with the Northern Territory's Voluntary Euthanasia law in the 1990s - unfortunately I have no doubt this will be killed by the Feds, although hopefully Rudd knows better than to try, so it may last a few years.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 8:43 PM on November 10, 2009

What will be more interesting to watch is what Malcolm Turnbull, opposition leader, says that he will do. His seat has a substantial gay consituency.

Unfortunately, it also has a much more substantial blue-blood Sydney-money liberal-voting constituency, and ol' Malcom's having enough trouble holding his party together as it is, so I doubt he'll throw his hat into the ring on this one. As I said, I remain hopeful that Federal Labor will let this one... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 2:18 AM on November 11, 2009

Have there been any multiplayer games where one can join one of two teams, 'terrorists' and 'good guys', and the aim of the terrorists is to kill as many innocent people as possible, and the aim of the good guys is to kill the terrorists. Just wondering. It would be interesting.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:32 PM on November 10, 2009

You can't have a really useful concept of "censorship" that applies only to governments. Corporations have power, too. Especially in our society.

This. A thousand times.

People who bitch about 'censorship only applies government' sit along sit pretty high in my completely doesn't fucking get it ratings system.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:09 PM on November 9, 2009

Trending topics infuriate me as well. I've been trying to use Twitscoop recently, due to it's finer-grained and real-time presentation of the "Buzz" - however, I've frequently been disappointed in recent weeks to find nearly every trending word to be related to US sports. I guess a lot of people tweet while watching the game. Doesn't really provide me with interesting real-time information on things that matter in the world.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 9:27 PM on November 8, 2009

I live in one of the most bogan suburbs in Hobart, which probably makes it one of the most bogan suburbs in the country. A clear bogan majority, infact. The suburb is mostly public housing units. I bought my own house from a 38-year old grandmother, and was still finding bongs and nearly-empty baggies of weed hidden in cupboards 6 months later. But you know what? They're friendly and unpretentious. I don't mind my next-door neighbour blasting late-80s Metallica while she cleans her house,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 1:38 PM on November 6, 2009

especially since his prestige is largely due to the fact that people consistently seem to forget that he is an actor on the daily show, and does not write all his own material.

I hear what you're saying, but that probably applies mostly to the intro and other segments...people who've been interviewed on Jon Stewarts show, including many conservatives with whom Stewart has done battle, speak highly of his intelligence, curiosity, wit... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:35 AM on November 6, 2009

A simple observation:

A lot of countries have parliamentary systems where bipartisanship isn't practiced, and progressive politicians can be rowdy, vicious, argumentative and willing to attack the opposition and call out shameless lies.

A lot of countries have universal healthcare.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:52 PM on November 5, 2009

37423!
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:43 PM on November 4, 2009

What function does the twitter aspect serve?

Coz twitter is cool, y'all.

Actually twitter is pretty cool, but despite netbros' breathless hyping of how this works, I have to agree that this actually seems pretty awkward, not least for spreading hashtags to twitter titles. What the hell is that all about?
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 12:52 PM on November 4, 2009

Flickr titles, I mean. Hashtags on flickr. No no no.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 12:57 PM on November 4, 2009

Jimbob: Are you still hungy, CJ?
CJ: Ummm, yeah.
Jimbob: What would you like to eat?
CJ: Toast, please.
Jimbob: Okay, what do you want on your toast?
CJ: Vegemite, please.

I have this conversation with my 3-year old at least twice, sometimes three times a day. Sometimes he asks for Vegemite and cheese. Brings a tear to my eye. A true Australian. That is all.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 1:55 AM on November 3, 2009

I always imagine it's like Jello mix without sugar and with spam mixed in.

Try to imagine pouring a shitload of salt into a pint of Guinness, then boiling it down to a thick, shiny sludge.

No, scrap that, just go buy some.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 1:56 AM on November 3, 2009

"Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat," he says.

There are two elephants in the room here. The first is that my dogs eat chicken necks and other offcuts that I ask my local butcher for. Essentially the left-over bits from meat that was produced for humans, but that humans (at least in my part of the world) won't eat, and would otherwise go to waste. I assume canned dog-food contains... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 6:10 PM on November 1, 2009

I really hate to link to what amounts to a climate-change denial blog (although thankfully, it's not a completely insane), but someone else has crunched the numbers and come to quite a different conclusion.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 6:17 PM on November 1, 2009

I call metafilter.☺
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:39 PM on October 27, 2009

𝖀𝖓𝖎𝖈𝖔𝖉𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖈𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊𝖘 𝖙𝖔 𝖎𝖒𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖒𝖊.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:35 PM on October 27, 2009

I finished reading some Literature last night. I won't mention the title or the author, except to say the author had previously won a nobel prize in literature.

The book was an unmitigated piece of arrogant, self-indulgent crap. Huzzah for non-literature, I say.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 2:02 PM on October 25, 2009

I found it interesting that 42 members had "USA" as their location.

I had a look at the previously leaked list, and was disturbed to find one member living not far from me. In Tasmania, Australia. Useless prick should go back to his own country.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:00 PM on October 20, 2009

Actually, you know what would be interesting? If everyone in Britain who isn't white or who wasn't born in Britain went on strike for a week. See how it plays out. Let's see how that makes people think about the BNP.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 6:40 PM on October 20, 2009

Don't worry, Artw. We went though this all a decade ago in Australia with Pauline Hanson and the One Nation party.

The BNP won't last long on the political scene, because the Conservatives will the election and adopt all their policies, rendering them completely unnecessary, huzzah!

Oh gawd.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:00 PM on October 22, 2009

Highly frustrating. He claims to offer a "podcast", but the RSS feed isn't actually a podcast - the MP3 files are included as hyperlinks rather than as enclosures - iTunes spits the dummy and won't load it, and I'm left feeling shitty.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:45 PM on October 18, 2009

I just can't get past the Drupal ugliness of that site. At least use a more attractive theme.

See my comment above. I don't think this guy knows how to use computaters and the internets very well. Not to hold that against him, but he could make a lot of improvements.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 6:21 PM on October 18, 2009

Because every other government has solved this issue to the satisfaction of their respective citizens.

So, so not true! I am deeply unsatisfied that when I take my son to visit his doctor, for free, so she can give us another prescription for his heavily publicly-subsidized asthma medication, she can sometimes be running as much as 15 minutes late for the appointment!
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:41 PM on October 13, 2009

It's truly disturbing, that people like CountSpatula are so willing to trust their health to a private company with no motivation beyond profit, and think they'll somehow magically do a better job, for cheaper, than the government. The evidence points very much to the contrary. I understand Americans need only look towards Medicare.

It's also disturbing and weird that people like CountSpatula think that health care systems have to be either "all private" or... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 10:13 PM on October 13, 2009

Would the question and answer not be recorded in the Hansard?
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:56 PM on October 12, 2009

Hi. I'm Australian. We are pretty racist. I'll just get in with that before delmoi gets here to say it first.

But more importantly, beyond that, "Hey! Hey! It's Saturday!" it a completely fucking stupid show that died a decade ago and should never have been dug up from its grave in a desperate attempt to win some ratings points from the blue-rinse set. The only reason it returned to air is because of the influence it's intolerable host seems to have at that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:51 PM on October 8, 2009

(I should note that I wish the bigoted antics on The Footy Show would get this much attention.)
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:00 PM on October 8, 2009

how would they feel if somebody did a skit in black face sending up an aboriginal character? Would they consider this off limits or is racism endemic to a degree that you can get away with pretty much anything on national television?

The kind of people who found this skit tolerable and amusing would do doubt feel the same treatment being applied to an Aboriginal character was tolerable and amusing. After all, abos are just a bunch of lazy, pissed... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:57 PM on October 8, 2009

There would have been much more of a hostile reaction.

But, as the incident with Sam Newman and Nicky Winmar showed, the perpetrator would keep their job and the show would stay on the air.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 6:35 PM on October 8, 2009

This makes me think, a number of people commented on the first Hey Hey reunion show (for example John Birmingham), saying that it wasn't actually that bad - the innocent, family-entertainment format was a relief from the vicious "reality shows" we've been bombarded with over the last decade. I think this latest episode has shown that yes, actually, it is as bad as we remembered it to be.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 8:53 PM on October 8, 2009

I think your assessment is pretty accurate, Henry. As I said in my first comment, there is definately a lot ofracism in Australia, racism I find shaming. But it's not unique to us, and this shitty TV show is by no means representative of our national mood. I mean, shit, you could argue that at present an entire TV channel (Fox News) in the US is dedicated to bigotry 24 hours a day. And it's a form of bigotry that's deeper and more influencing than an absurd blackface gong-show act.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 11:22 PM on October 8, 2009

Last time I was in Australia, I (unknowingly) drank in a bar in central Sydney that won't serve Pacific Islanders or Lebanese.

If that can be demonstrated to be true, that pub would be in deep, deep shit. Let me know its name, I'll see if I can arrange an islander to go there, get refused service, and sue the shit out of them. Having said that, you can't tell me there aren't pubs in Britain where black or asian people wouldn't be treated in a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:32 AM on October 9, 2009

If this thread had been about NZ I'm sure my posts would look very similar to yours.

I think most Aussies in this thread would look to New Zealand and credit you with doing a bit better than ourselves, at least in terms of dealing with your colonial past and indigenous peoples.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:19 AM on October 9, 2009

Some random thoughts just occurred to me, in regards as to whether we Australians should be aware of how offensive 'blackface' is.

When I, personally, think of 'blackface' / minstrel shows, I immediately think of Golliwog Dolls.

I've been with a couple of Australians, of my generation and an older generation, who upon seeing a Golliwog doll for sale (in an antiques shop, or somewhere like that), declare "Wow! I thought they were illegal!... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 9:41 PM on October 11, 2009

You'd think Amazon could have told me that BEFORE forcing me to download and install software. Thanks, Amazon!

Blame Morrissey!
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:46 AM on October 10, 2009

They could have given it to the Iranian dissidents, Mousavi or Karroubi or someone.

They weren't dissidents. Calling them dissidents would be like calling Obama a "dissident" during the 2008 US election campaign. They were alternative, opposition candidates, who wouldn't have been allowed to run at all if they planned to do anything that seriously threatened the status quo in Iran. I don't see many green Twitter icons around any more... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:50 AM on October 9, 2009

Fools. Don't you know this is a plot hatched by Obama and carried out by the CIA, FBI and Council on Foreign Relations? Prints of this painting will all have GPS tracking devices embedded in the frames, so they will be able to locate and round up the True Patriots and take them to the FEMA camps more efficiently.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 8:21 PM on October 6, 2009

I'm someone who programs for work and leisure (I had a messy break-up with Python a couple of years ago, after I was seduced by R), but I'm by no means a Programmer, but this post has been pleasing to me, because I've learnt that a lot of features languages have are just added extras, and aren't actually necessary. I gave up learning C because I'm too stupid to get my head around the idea of pointers even. I can kinda understand why lambdas may be useful, but I've never come across a situation... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:13 AM on October 6, 2009

Should browsers be implementing standards that have not been finalized yet? That would be waht gave us the box model problems of IE6 and under

Fair enough comment - I should be blaming the standards development process, not Microsoft. I just wish the process could be a little bit more fascist, so the trains could run on time, instead of 3 years from now...
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 1:23 PM on October 6, 2009

If you know what The Pirate Bay is, why do you need to Google it? Or is this just a concern for those people who get their URL box and their Search box confused?

Anyway, doing the Google query in the first link in this post, I get the Wikipedia article that links to the site in the first result, a link to the Browse Torrents page in the second result, and a couple of other sites that mention the URL thepiratebay.org in the excerpt. So, clearly, this DMCA complain hasn't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 4:57 AM on October 2, 2009

2) That they didn't link to some corporate PR legal mumbo jumbo page, but instead to an EFF site.

This, I think, negates the "evil" tags in this post. Google aren't doing this because they're evil and nasty. They're doing this because of legal obligations that they clearly aren't actually very happy about. As with the recent controversy over Google revealing the identity of a blogger, we can't expect corporations to fight for freedom for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:04 AM on October 2, 2009

It'a fairly commonplace.[citation needed]

Dude, just Google it!

Google has been receiving a growing number of Cease & Desist notices and takedown demands – now averaging 30 a month – in the three years the search engine has been sending notices to Chilling Effects. - And that's from 2005.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:13 AM on October 2, 2009

I think I should be able expect people, including incorporated groups of people (especially if such groups enjoy the legal rights of people, separate from the rights of the individuals themselves), to put ethics above profits.

That's good in theory, but this is, unfortunately, about more than ethics. It's about the actual law of the land. If Google were to ignore the DMCA notices, it would cost them. If they were to fight the DMCA notices, it would... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 6:34 AM on October 2, 2009

Are you serious? The alternative you imply is not knowing what The Pirate Bay is, in which case why would you search for it? Why do people use Google for anything, then? I think the implication in the article here is that the Pirate Bay search is used as an example, because it's obvious that it will come up in a search for itself.

That's fair enough, but as a few other people have said, it's much more likely people will go to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 2:01 PM on October 2, 2009

The only people I know that prefer Myspace are musicians.

This pisses me off so much, because I just don't understand it. I hear some local band being interviewed on the radio, and the DJ asks them "So, are you guys on Myspace?". Bands don't bother with having an actual web presence, but instead focus on their Myspace page.

Why? Myspace is an awful, noisy, messy, limiting platform, and the people with the disposable... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 5:37 PM on September 29, 2009

besides Nate Silver's stuff, what are some other good statistics-type blogs that do these sorts of analyses?

Well, the Australian equivalent of 538 is The Poll Bludger, although he looks into US elections and polling when not much is happening down under.

It occurs to me that an interesting way to test this further would to translate the numbers into other number systems (binary, ternary etc. etc.), repeat the analysis, and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 7:39 PM on September 27, 2009

But I see no reason why the trailing digits should be random.

I know is that a similar metastudy was performed on scientific papers (thousands of them), and the results of that study showed a trend towards some digits appearing more often than they should, which many found concerning.

Anyway, think of this. Those numbers that are reported by the pollster are the result of sampling, and have been rounded to only a few digits.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:43 AM on September 28, 2009

Oooh man, my histogram is above is screwed, because for some reason R put "0" and "1" into the same bin. Curse you. Here's the proper one.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:50 AM on September 28, 2009