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One of the biggest annoyances with government jobs has always been the temporary nature of so many of them. All these employees put on with the promise of "we hope to make you permanent in the next budget". Then 10 years down the track they are still offering the same promise.

They don't make CEO's and managers positions temporary and reliant on funding and those are usually the people who should be made to prove they are viable every 12 months.

 

 

 

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We never used to do so many fixed term positions.  They used to be all permanent except bullshit Commonwealth funded stuff (that I refer to as a poison chalice).

However for whatever reason they are now making everything fixed term.

And given Tassie pays nurses, doctors, etc so poorly compared to rest of the country, it means we aren't actually employing many people.  Who wants to relocate to Tassie for poorer wages for 12-24 months.

So then we have to get mercenary locums who are on exorbitant rates and offer no continuity of care.  So instead of say paying a total cost of $180,000 for a junior doctor (includes super, workers comp etc) we end up paying $500,000+ for multiple locums!

 

It's fucking madness.

  

 

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We've always had large numbers of full time temporary positions here in local, state and federal governments.

When I left school (back when we still used stone tablets and a chisel), I had mates getting 'assistant jobs' at the local council, anything from gardens, to linemarking to accounts, all being put on 12 month contracts. Their jobs were fairly secure, (probably more so than mine because I had to find my own jobs week to week), they came with full entitlements, decent pay, but gave the council the ability to get rid of them every July if they could prove the work or funding wasn't there.

State government was probably the best employer because at the time the power/energy companies were state owned and for school leavers if they didn't want a private apprenticeship being a sparky or a chippy the energy sector was the solid and reliable place to go and did offer a long term future.

Federal government here only a few options and they were mostly call center type jobs or mail sorting etc, but pretty much everyone was on 12 month contracts subject to funding other than managers and team leaders. Some people I went to school with have never had a permanent job in their life. They've been full time not casual or temp, they've gotten holiday entitlements, super etc, they've just never held a position that didn't rely on funding being there.

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Currently on my mind? Conspiracy theories, and more importantly how in the hell I’m going to convince my younger brother the 10 conspiracies he’s fully bought into don’t make any sense. Partly because I don’t want him to be ridiculed when he goes out into the big wide world and tries to convince others that he’s right, but mostly because I’m sick to death of him butting into conversations I’m having with other people… Including on the phone with people he doesn’t even know. 

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10 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

We've always had large numbers of full time temporary positions here in local, state and federal governments.

When I left school (back when we still used stone tablets and a chisel), I had mates getting 'assistant jobs' at the local council, anything from gardens, to linemarking to accounts, all being put on 12 month contracts. Their jobs were fairly secure, (probably more so than mine because I had to find my own jobs week to week), they came with full entitlements, decent pay, but gave the council the ability to get rid of them every July if they could prove the work or funding wasn't there.

State government was probably the best employer because at the time the power/energy companies were state owned and for school leavers if they didn't want a private apprenticeship being a sparky or a chippy the energy sector was the solid and reliable place to go and did offer a long term future.

Federal government here only a few options and they were mostly call center type jobs or mail sorting etc, but pretty much everyone was on 12 month contracts subject to funding other than managers and team leaders. Some people I went to school with have never had a permanent job in their life. They've been full time not casual or temp, they've gotten holiday entitlements, super etc, they've just never held a position that didn't rely on funding being there.

Councils have always been dicey employers or even organisations to do business with.  

Federal government has become a joke - both parties have been waging a war on federal public sector for at least 30 years now.  I used to deal with Commonwealth folks on certain contracts and packages of care.  In 12 months, their unit was shifted from one department to another 3 times.  In the same period their staffing was reduced to the point they couldn't function properly. I really felt sorry for them.  

 

State government jobs in Tassie used to be coveted but now the salaries have started to stagnate and permanency is now rarely offered for new positions, it has lost its sheen.

Not much here in private sector though and the pay and conditions are shit.

 

So people simply leave for mainland,  The people who move to state are often pensioners who incidentally need more services that we struggle to offer or are the dregs the mainland spat out.

 

 

 

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16 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Currently on my mind? Conspiracy theories, and more importantly how in the hell I’m going to convince my younger brother the 10 conspiracies he’s fully bought into don’t make any sense. Partly because I don’t want him to be ridiculed when he goes out into the big wide world and tries to convince others that he’s right, but mostly because I’m sick to death of him butting into conversations I’m having with other people… Including on the phone with people he doesn’t even know. 

What makes you think you posses the power/quality/ability to convince him otherwise?

Maybe as an older brother you feel it's your duty, (I wouldn't have a clue because my older brother never looked out for me), but sometimes people just have to learn for themselves. It's a harsh reality to send people into situations where they are going to be ridiculed but if being ridiculed is the extent of the damage it's hardly a harsh penalty.

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I don't know the kid obviously, or know how deep into things he is, but I've known a few conspiracy nuts in my time and most of them only dig in deeper when people try to step in. For most people conspiracy theories may be able to be explained by facts and logic, but the person caught up in the conspiracy also believes they have facts and a person with facts is extremely hard to convince to change their mind. It's not the sort of job just anyone who cares can do.  Sometimes family is too close, some times family is too far away, and often the best help a person can be is to be there when the shit hits the fan.

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2 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Currently on my mind? Conspiracy theories, and more importantly how in the hell I’m going to convince my younger brother the 10 conspiracies he’s fully bought into don’t make any sense. Partly because I don’t want him to be ridiculed when he goes out into the big wide world and tries to convince others that he’s right, but mostly because I’m sick to death of him butting into conversations I’m having with other people… Including on the phone with people he doesn’t even know. 

You haven't given us any specifics about just how nutty these 10 conspiracy theories he subscribes to actually are, and that's ok because it's not really the point. But did you ever consider that if he's butting in when you're talking to other people maybe he's just having a go at you? I don't know how close in age you two are, but could it be just typical sibling bullshit?

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We used to call it the information age but with the rise of social media it's turned into the misinformation age. People on the whole seem only too eager to believe any stupid fucking nonsense without any regard for the source or if it even meets the standards of basic common sense. Don't think we'll ever get this cat back in the sack.

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5 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

You haven't given us any specifics about just how nutty these 10 conspiracy theories he subscribes to actually are, and that's ok because it's not really the point. But did you ever consider that if he's butting in when you're talking to other people maybe he's just having a go at you? I don't know how close in age you two are, but could it be just typical sibling bullshit?

There’s a 14 year difference between us, I’m happy to put his butting in down to autism and his lack of understanding around what is and isn’t socially acceptable, that being said up until recently he certainly demonstrated he understands when it is and isn’t okay to get involved in someone else’s conversation.

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I am amazed some of the shit supposedly educated people believe in these days.  I know university educated people who are anti-vaxxers.

One of my university educated colleagues  lapping up incel bullshit from her high school age sons.  She is now convinced society is anti-male and subjecting males to discrimination.

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18 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

That sounds familiar, seems that old, and frequently debunked, your intelligence is defined by your race myth is also doing the rounds again

It's insane this kind of thinking is still a thing. But then I see a few comments online about women's inability to act rationally or do a lot of "man work" like management etc.

In some ways many people are stuck in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

 

I would argue culture as an overall concept impacts a society's ability to to do elements of what we define as "intelligent," eg adapting to new circumstances or innovation.  Eg Ottoman culture/society was seriously lacking in innovation.  It was good at adopting western military innovations but it never innovated much itself either technologically or socially.

But even culture doesn't define an individual's intelligence as an individual can be intelligent within their own cultural confines even if that culture isn't very adaptive, innovative or capable of generating new ideas. 

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I nearly managed to get over the coughing from this bloody cold but I've got one mutha-fucker of a sinus headache that just wont fuck off. The painkillers I can take barely touch it, sinus medication does about as much as sugar coated sweets do. I suppose I should just be thankful my vision is not going blurry, but my eye is certainly watering.

 

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I can't take ibuprofen based, or codine based pain killers. I should have a nasal spray here somewhere but can't find it and I really can't be bothered driving 25mins into town to get one. I'm hoping the wife will knock off early and bring one home but she'll probably tell her boss I have man-flu!

 

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Honestly, the Zicam nosespray was the real lifesaver...I woke up in the middle of the night because I felt so bad. Knew my wife had a couple of different brands under the sink, and that was the first I found. Not saying it works as well on everyone, but I felt almost instantly better after using it. Stuff made a big difference for me in the following days as well. 

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Doesn't look like we have that here in Oz, and I'm not sure if it can be shipped. I'll have to check the ingredients list to see what we've got that might match it. I used to have a spray called Rhinocourt, it was darn good but it wasn't available over the counter because of the active ingredient and government laws. But about 15 years ago they changed the ingredients so it could be sold over the counter and it never worked as well again as far as I was concerned.

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I hate when that happens with something you find that works really well...or when it gets bought by another company who plays around with the formula to cut costs.

Anyway...the active ingredient in the Zicam sinus stuff is Oxymetazoline hydrochloride, so Flonase, Nasacort, and Afrin are all brands here in the U.S. that use it as well. Good luck man, I know how brutal those things can get

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On 5/31/2022 at 1:07 AM, Thatguy said:

I'm not paying that for any concert and especially not in a stadium. 

I agree £100 or 200 Aussie dollars I'm not willing to pay for many many many bands. If Jim Morrison came back from the dead and the doors toured again with the classic lineup then sure I'd get £100 out for this. 😂 Scary thing is I've not been drinking tonight 🤣 

My question to you and others is what band you'd like to see live who can't at moment because band members are unfortunately dead? 

 

 

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On 5/29/2022 at 6:50 AM, KillaKukumba said:

Hehe Whoops. I just blew up one of my multimeters while I was stuffing around with the new solar panel. Was a shitty cheap meter and it was out by about 9% on the voltage scale anyway, but apparently I shouldn't have tried to smack 25A down shitty cheap leads. It's probably only a fuse but given it's inaccuracy I'll probably bin it and buy a better one.

Good idea get an improved multimeter. I was talking to the maintenance guy at our church who largely fixes most things on site. I asked him what sort of electrical work he does as alot of people do bits of electrical work these days. He says he tests everything now after that one time when the label read dead for a cable and it wasn't. He cut through it and it Went bang.  he was happy to have survived that with no injuries other those t frazzled eye brows😆

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1 hour ago, blaaacdoommmmfan said:

My question to you and others is what band you'd like to see live who can't at moment because band members are unfortunately dead?

Is there anyone who is fortunately dead? :)

 

48 minutes ago, blaaacdoommmmfan said:

Good idea get an improved multimeter. I was talking to the maintenance guy at our church who largely fixes most things on site. I asked him what sort of electrical work he does as alot of people do bits of electrical work these days. He says he tests everything now after that one time when the label read dead for a cable and it wasn't. He cut through it and it Went bang.  he was happy to have survived that with no injuries other those t frazzled eye brows😆

I test everything that I don't have a intimate knowledge of. Even after 20 years of living in this house, a house I helped build, I still take nothing for granted with mains power. I'll install a new power point, lights, fans anything I can get away with that doesn't need to be certified, but I'll never start a job without first testing things.  Most of the work I've been doing lately though is 12 volts.

I'm running my own solar panels which power lights, phone chargers, game chargers, batteries, pretty much anything up to 12v, so the risk of zapping myself with anything dangerous isn't that high. However I am running nearly 1500 watts of panels here now so I do have a combined mass of about 80-100 Amp running through the system and that kind of amperage is enough to do serious damage, so I do still pay attention to what I'm doing.

But I still make mistakes, hence blowing up the meter because I had the wrong leads on it. I've got several sets of leads good for 30A but for some reason I grabbed the ones that would be flat out being good for 10A and didn't even think twice. Maybe it was a subconscious thought and my brain wanted me to buy a new meter because it's been fun looking at new meters and seeing how well some of the cheaper Fleabay ones stand up against the so called professional Fluke meters and the like.

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