David J A Cooper @djac@aus.social

"The downturn is expected to be worse than during the global financial crisis."
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-02/australian-housing-prices-fall-4.8pc-weakest-since-gfc/10678444

Why describe a fall in housing prices in negative terms? It's very good for those less well off, and (in relative terms) only moderately bad or irrelevant for the rest.

Saying "worse" here suggests that property owners are being denied some inalienable right to see their wealth automatically increase over time, which can only come at the expense of the less wealthy.

"How did you get the cap off?"
"There's a little tab that you peel off."
...
"How did you get the second tab off?"
"What second tab?"
...
"Oops."

What's the argument here? That Labor needs complete quiet in order to play its inscrutable 4D chess game against the govt?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-16/bill-shorten-outlines-plan-for-government-after-protest-ambush/10624786

I set my students an assignment to write a mobile game containing an improbability drive, smell-o-scope and Ben Kenobi as collectible items with special abilities, along with the Jade Monkey, roadmaps and ice scraper.

This is making for some bizarre conversations in the labs.

Racing NSW almost has a David Mitchell "baddies" moment, except it doesn't quite get to the required point of self awareness.

"There's been a lot of backlash against Alan," they complain, as if they haven't noticed that the guy has the ethical standards of a narcissistic tornado.

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-10/racing-nsw-surprised-at-opera-house-backlash/10360256

"Don't you trust me to keep secrets from my wife?"

*turns to wife*

"Don't take that the wrong way."

"I'd be more lethargic, but I'm too apathetic."

My god, online "compliance training" is such a dumpster fire.

People should know their legal obligations under law X. So we'll contrive some barely-coherent, tenuously-relevant multichoice questions with ambiguous answers, and make everyone randomly select boxes for an hour, every 2 years or so, until they "pass".

Thus solving the problem once and for all.

I love that I have such a rigorously rational work environment.

What the hell is the point of having income protection/insurance if this is what happens?

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-13/insurer-tal-dirt-digging-campaign-to-deny-mental-illness-claim/10244216

Just your average dishwashing load.

One's life is not complete until one has seen a duck with hiccups. I die fulfilled.

"What's something that's *figuratively* full of weasels?"
"A badger."

Where's my belt?

Looks around house frantically. Looks at assortment of cables strewn across the floor and thinks nothing of it. Looks around house again, from front to back, repeatedly.

Looks again at the giant belt-sized cable that is, in fact, a belt.

Trying to wipe a hard drive in preparation for bulk waste collection.

Time to run the old dd command. Of course, I can't, because the old PC I'm throwing out doesn't boot up, and all efforts to connect the HD to working machines have failed.

Fine. I didn't want to pulverise it into dust no wait yes I did. Let's be honest about this.

We had an extremely loud yet surprisingly productive meeting. This may have affected by the likelihood of annoying people who weren't at the meeting.

Right, let's see how this goes.

Getting a new social media account has also prompted me to update my public profile on my employer's site, which is good.

Opinions still my own, of course, and by definition correct.