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36 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

On my mind? The federal election in about six weeks time which ever wins liberal or labour Australia is the loser…

Yeah but think of how much fun tv viewing will be for the next 6 weeks 🤮

 

5 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Well I should certainly hope so. But it seems he was only 16 in '73 when they formed the band so he hadn't been Chris Bailey for very long.

He'd been Chris Bailey long enough to start making a name for himself.

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21 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

On my mind? The federal election in about six weeks time which ever wins liberal or labour Australia is the loser…

Agreed.

I am voting Green in House of Reps and independents in Senate.  I don't give a shit what Scumo or Albo have to say.  

 

 

 

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57 minutes ago, Dead1 said:

Agreed.

I am voting Green in House of Reps and independents in Senate.  I don't give a shit what Scumo or Albo have to say.  

 

 

 

Likewise, though realistically I doubt it will make much of a difference.

9 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

Who does your Green vote go to though? You might not care what those two idiots have to say but you're still voting for one of them and neither of them really have to listen to the Greens when they get in.

If the greens hold the balance of power they can exert influence over legislation, that is the sole reason to vote for them, like I said above realistically it won’t make a blind bit of difference but at least the Greens do care about their constituents.

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The two main parties have proven time and time again they only have to listen to the Greens when they want the Greens to help them pass something or agree to something, then it's bargaining time. Even with the bargaining the Greens rarely get everything they want because they know they are nearly powerless to demand it. Half the city Greens are just fucking nutjobs who think the world can be saved by trees, they rarely costs their proposals, they rarely think them through. In fact the only difference between the Greens and the two majors is that the majors actually get the chance to waste shitloads of money and prove they're stupid, the Greens have to do it on a budget.

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29 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

Who does your Green vote go to though? You might not care what those two idiots have to say but you're still voting for one of them and neither of them really have to listen to the Greens when they get in.

 

That's why Australia is not a true democracy.  The system is designed so that we all end up really voting for one of two major neoliberal parties.

 

*FOR THE AMERICANS AND OTHER NON AUSSIES

- Australia has a preferential voting system.

- How this works:

a.) You number all the candidates on the ballot paper with 1 being your preferred vote.  Eg if there are 16 candidates you can vote 1 through to 16.

b.) If you preferred vote doesn't get elected (ie secure over 50% of votes), they then take your number 2 pick and so forth.

c.) Usually it means your vote will go to one of the two major neoliberal parties that rule Australia.

 

Eg you number your votes as follows.  Number in brackets are number of 1st pick primary votes)

1. Franklin D Roosevelt (5%)

2.Martin Luther King (10%)

3. Mahatma Gandhi (10%)

4. Joseph Stalin (37%)

5. Adolf Hitler (38%)

 

So they take all the votes where 1st vote was Franklin D Roosevelt and look at their 2nd pick.  So your vote now goes to Martin Luther King.  If Martin Luther King is still lowest after recount and there is no clear winner (eg Stalin 44%, Hitler 45%), your vote goes to Gandhi.  And they keep recounting until they get a clear winner.  So what happens is you still end up voting for Stalin or Hitler, even if you really didn't want to vote for them!

 

 

Preference deals refer to "How to vote" cards given out by political parties.  So a minor party might have a deal with say the Liberals whereby the How To Vote card for the minor party tells their voters to pick Liberal as their 2nd pick and say opposition Labor party as last.

 

In the old days pre 2013, preference deals saw the political party deciding where to allocate your preferences if you put just 1 vote in.  Now you have to number all candidates for House of Reps and at least 6 for Senate.

19 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

The two main parties have proven time and time again they only have to listen to the Greens when they want the Greens to help them pass something or agree to something, then it's bargaining time. Even with the bargaining the Greens rarely get everything they want because they know they are nearly powerless to demand it. Half the city Greens are just fucking nutjobs who think the world can be saved by trees, they rarely costs their proposals, they rarely think them through. In fact the only difference between the Greens and the two majors is that the majors actually get the chance to waste shitloads of money and prove they're stupid, the Greens have to do it on a budget.

 

I am only putting Greens down to help bolster the idea Australians don't care about climate change and social justice and equality.  I will also vote some socialists if possible.  I know they won't get in.

 

The big place to make an impact is the Senate.  Vote enough independent senators and they can kill government's ability to pass legislation.  

Literal goal of my voting is harm mitigation ie prevent the two main neoliberal parties from being able to pass legislation without having to completely water it down.

 

Remember that recent anti-religious discrimination bill that was designed to allow religious people to discriminate against LGBTIQ+?  Government knew it wouldn't get through the Senate so  pulled it before it even got there.

 

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16 minutes ago, Dead1 said:

 

The big place to make an impact is the Senate.  Vote enough independent senators and they can kill government's ability to pass legislation.  

 

That's true in theory and it should work that way but there is too many independent senators in it from the wrong reason.

 

18 minutes ago, Dead1 said:

 

Remember that recent anti-religious discrimination bill that was designed to allow religious people to discriminate against LGBTIQ+?  Government knew it wouldn't get through the Senate so  pulled it before it even got there.

 

That's true, but in bringing it up and getting it as far as they did it meant the Liberal party didn't break an election promise. I don't know who actually voted them in thinking that was a good idea, but none the less it was part of their election promises and when the media focus so much on broken promises the party will take any win they can get even if it's only a pretend win.

 

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19 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

That's true in theory and it should work that way but there is too many independent senators in it from the wrong reason.

 

That's true, but in bringing it up and getting it as far as they did it meant the Liberal party didn't break an election promise. I don't know who actually voted them in thinking that was a good idea, but none the less it was part of their election promises and when the media focus so much on broken promises the party will take any win they can get even if it's only a pretend win.

 

As long as those Senators are sabotaging and delaying government legislation I am ok with them doing it.  

And I don't care that LNP didn't break a promise.  They were promoting a violation of basic human rights. 

 

IMO Australian politics is beyond broken and Australia as a country is edging to beyond fucked with none of the rich elites wanting to fix anything and instead just looking at more ways to get rich off the poor.

 

I wouldn't care if I didn't have a kid...

 

 

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But the trouble is they delay nearly all the legislation, good or bad, just to grandstand. Okay our governments don't have a great track record for making good decisions but when they do it can almost be guaranteed that some nutjob senator is prepared to hold it up simply because they want to make a name for themselves.

The LNP don't care what you think about their promises, you're not voting for them. But if you were a swing voter, or an LNP voter still wondering if you want to vote for them again those broken promises do mean something. Most figures will state now that we have more swinging voters in this country than ever before, no party wants to go to an election with the general public constantly hearing they broke promises. We know they all do it but for some strange reason they don't think we do so it becomes a big deal to them.

Australian politics isn't fucked, the people in it are.

 

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The only true democracy would be ranked list voting, but the radical overhaul we would need to transition into that system means it will never happen. If you get rid of the preferential system in favour of ranked list voting it means the votes go in order of who is the people have actually voted for, in that system you also wouldn’t vote for the party you would vote for the individuals and realistically it would push Australian politics towards the centre rather than to the right where we sit currently. But I do think Australia is beyond salvation at this point, and if we’re screwed it’s 10 times worse for the UK,  and that’s nothing compared to the complete cluster fuck that is America, sorry Yanks but half the voters in your country are braindead. 

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I'm not buying that we are beyond salvation, or fucked. I'm not even buying the fact that other countries are worse. Sure none of the systems appear ideal but they have been like it for a long time and the doomsday clock still hasn't struck yet. Oh sure some say it's ticking closer, but it still hasn't hit so things can't be that bad.

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25 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

I'm not buying that we are beyond salvation, or fucked. I'm not even buying the fact that other countries are worse. Sure none of the systems appear ideal but they have been like it for a long time and the doomsday clock still hasn't struck yet. Oh sure some say it's ticking closer, but it still hasn't hit so things can't be that bad.

As I always say Rome didn't collapse in a day.  And Australia and US both started slow decline in the 1970s.

 

The multiple homeless camps popping up in my town, long term stagnant wages, long term deterioration olin wages, blatant corruption in politics, out of control private debt, growth of exploitation ala wage theft and even emergence of mass slavery (15,000 people living un slave like conditions) etc tells me we are long term fucked because Australians don't care or don't understand what is going on enough to want it fixed

.

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I still don't buy into the all the negativity the disgruntled minority keeps running with. Things may never be perfect but when most of the negativity in this world comes from people who will never do anything other than whinge and bitch while expecting others to put in all the effort to change. They might talk big about solutions which they never have to prove will work and whine that no one listens to viable solutions but that's all they'll do other than make excuses as to why they can't change things themselves. The world doesn't need me being another negative Nelly that hates the world.

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Negativity from disgrunted minorities - like all the people who can't afford a house (current median house price on Australia is over $1 million) or rent or access to timely dental or healthcare or petrol or who are casualised labour with no guaranteed hours or sick leave and a couple of years got lumped with an award that reduced their salaries?

 

The solutions are not supported by either major party.  They include maintenance of progressive tax system, reforms to housing laws, independent corruption watchdogs, limitations on political donations, ceasing stealth privatisations of key services (eg NDIS), nationalisimg elements of education and healthcare, "deprofitisation" of university sector  rationalisation and clear segregation of government roles (ie state v Commonwealth), a commitment to really reducing carbon emissions and phasing out fossil fuel consumption and mining, better not more regulation etc.

 

I have worked in government for long enough to understand there is no real commitment at the top to improve things.  So much of it is smoke and mirrors and its main purpose is to diffuse responsibility and transparency and allow the ambitious to climb to the top without having to do much.

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At least we don’t need to put up with the culture was bullshit so prevalent in American politics, no I think it’s largely because neither side really have policies not because liberal or labour at above trying to beat down any particular group of people if they think it will advance them publicly.

 

 

 

Anyway what’s really on my mind is that after two weeks my back injury seems to have fully recovered so I can finally start working towards my fitness goals again. 

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I wonder what's really wrong with me sometimes. Why do I fight off sleep so hard each night just to wake up in the morning feeling like absolute shit becaue I've only had an hour or 2 of shut eye. Occasionally I'll be so damn tired that I'll drop out early like 11 or 12 and get 4 or 5 hours of sleep in my chair and then I'll wake up at 4 or 5am and not be able to get back to sleep. But most nights I'll tell myself around 10 when I put the boy to bed that I'll make myself go to bed at 2:30, thinking I'd be happy to get a solid 5 hours. But then 2:30 comes and goes and then it's 3:30 and then 4:30 and the next thing you know it's 5:30 and the sun is coming up and I'll go lay down for 2 hours and maybe actually get to sleep for 60 to 90 minutes. Then I feel like shit the next day. And I know I'm gonna feel like shit the next day but yet I just can't seem to force myself to go to bed and sleep. It's like I get some kind of second wind after midnight and I'm not sleepy anymore no matter how tired I've been all day. I often think if only a human body didn't actually require any sleep and it was just an optional thing, how much easier and better my life would be without having to make time to sleep. 

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Yep time off definitely has a big impact, I’m still not fit enough to get back on a bike but at least now I can justify spending the money to get my setup going once again.

Yep time off definitely has a big impact, I’m still not fit enough to get back on a bike but at least now I can justify spending the money to get my setup going once again.

 

Also kind of find it hilarious how the default response to anyone making a socially left argument is what I’m sure to them sounds like a smart comment about being woke.  it’s almost as if they think that is some kind of insult, which I’ve definitely been called worse for a start so if that’s meant to be insulting it’s not working, also kind of proves they don’t have an argument in the first place.

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15 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

I wonder what's really wrong with me sometimes. Why do I fight off sleep so hard each night just to wake up in the morning feeling like absolute shit becaue I've only had an hour or 2 of shut eye. Occasionally I'll be so damn tired that I'll drop out early like 11 or 12 and get 4 or 5 hours of sleep in my chair and then I'll wake up at 4 or 5am and not be able to get back to sleep. But most nights I'll tell myself around 10 when I put the boy to bed that I'll make myself go to bed at 2:30, thinking I'd be happy to get a solid 5 hours. But then 2:30 comes and goes and then it's 3:30 and then 4:30 and the next thing you know it's 5:30 and the sun is coming up and I'll go lay down for 2 hours and maybe actually get to sleep for 60 to 90 minutes. Then I feel like shit the next day. And I know I'm gonna feel like shit the next day but yet I just can't seem to force myself to go to bed and sleep. It's like I get some kind of second wind after midnight and I'm not sleepy anymore no matter how tired I've been all day. I often think if only a human body didn't actually require any sleep and it was just an optional thing, how much easier and better my life would be without having to make time to sleep. 

That's exactly why I get up and go for a ride at 4am (not suggesting you do it). I've slept like shit since I stopped doing local run shift work and while the shift work was partly to blame it was mostly the job. Long haul wasn't as bad as local runs which were only about 400ks a day. Every day I got at least 2 hours sleep in the truck, 3 days a week during my 10 hour shift I could get up to 4 hours sleep, but none of it was in a single nap. So I'd wake up at 9pm, head to work, be awake and active for several hours, then sit on my arse and drive, then sleep for an hour here, or half an hour there, anywhere  I had to wait. Then I'd nap when I got home for a few hours, get up before the wife got home from work, and then I'd nap again after dinner. To this day I can fall asleep anywhere, but if I sleep for more than 2 hours at once I wake up feeling like shit.

14 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Yep time off definitely has a big impact, I’m still not fit enough to get back on a bike but at least now I can justify spending the money to get my setup going once again.

 

I don't know that I'm fit enough either, I broke five spokes cruising down the middle of the road at 35kph a few weeks ago. The bike shop didn't tell me I'm too fat for the bike but they also didn't say something nice like "sorry it was our fault, we did the spokes too tight last time the bike was here."

14 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Also kind of find it hilarious how the default response to anyone making a socially left argument is what I’m sure to them sounds like a smart comment about being woke.  it’s almost as if they think that is some kind of insult, which I’ve definitely been called worse for a start so if that’s meant to be insulting it’s not working, also kind of proves they don’t have an argument in the first place.

Woke is one of those new age terms I have never bothered to learn, just like being a Karen. If I don't learn them I can't get caught using them!

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2 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

What shits me is feeling yourself nodding off, or actually falling asleep in front of the tv, computer, stereo, whatever, so you get up and go to bed and you spend the next 2 hours staring at the ceiling.

Yes exactly. This happens several times a week and it drives me out of my fucking mind. Except I'm usually staring at the insides of my eyelids for a good while and then after 60 or 90 minutes I'll probably pick up my phone and look at it for a bit, check my texts or check the weather or check here on the forum to see if anyone's posted anything interesting.

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1 hour ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Yeah nah, I can't just sleep anywhere. Achieving a state of slumber is hard work for me. Conditions have to be just right. Even at times when I think I'm dead fucking tired (like tonight, and it's 3:25am here right now) I can often lie down to sleep but then stay awake against my will for quite some time, hours even.

Can’t remember which part of the world you live in so forgive me if this is a stupid question but have you considered making an appointment with your doctor, maybe getting a prescription for melatonin? Being a chronic insomniac myself that’s something I am very strongly considering for the same reason being tired all the time and still not being able to sleep it’s terrible. 

Also killer see dam dude, at least replacing the spokes is cheaper than if you buckle the whole wheel. Most expensive thing I had to worry about was when an inexperienced pilot on the tandem trashed my Gripset and I needed to get that replaced, seriously how hard can it be to change gears without managing to slip the chain have it wraparound the derailer and bend that to shit? No I’m still not over it that cost me $700… 

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1 hour ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Yes exactly. This happens several times a week and it drives me out of my fucking mind. Except I'm usually staring at the insides of my eyelids for a good while and then after 60 or 90 minutes I'll probably pick up my phone and look at it for a bit, check my texts or check the weather or check here on the forum to see if anyone's posted anything interesting.

I have a wife to tell me how long the TV was watching me :)

 

5 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Also killer see dam dude, at least replacing the spokes is cheaper than if you buckle the whole wheel. Most expensive thing I had to worry about was when an inexperienced pilot on the tandem trashed my Gripset and I needed to get that replaced, seriously how hard can it be to change gears without managing to slip the chain have it wraparound the derailer and bend that to shit? No I’m still not over it that cost me $700… 

I got the wheel done under warranty. The wheel buckled bad enough that it wouldn't roll through the bottom rail. I believe, but don't know for sure, that the spoke with the reflector broke and the reflector did all the damage. If it had been the front wheel who knows where I would have ended up, but thankfully it was the back wheel so the bike just skidded.

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