trk

Driving, gymnastics, break dancing (ESPECIALLY break dancing)... Anything that can't be timed or measured or otherwise objectively decided should be removed from competition.

How do you quantify "style"? How do you ensure there is not biase from judges based on their knowledge of the competitor, be it country they are representing, or personal connections, or racial / religious opinion? How do you fairly compensate for what your personal opinion considers "worth" more when it comes to a trick or routine compared to another?

Swimming, running, jumping, throwing things a distance are all things that can be measured and ruled against a standard that every competitor uses. It's fair and it's removed from any bias.

The Olympics are supposed to be about competition between athletes and shouldn't be affected by popularity or politics, which anything with an interpretive aspect to the result will suffer from.

So yeah, remove the feels sports and limit the Olympics to reals sports.

10 years / 250,000k just announced by MG in Australia - including electric vehicles (and thus batteries)... Not bad considering the anti-EV crowd are always declaring battery packs to have a 3 year lifespan!

MG has introduced the longest factory warranty ever offered by a new-car maker in Australia – 10 years or 250,000km, whichever comes first – five years after rolling out seven years of coverage across its line-up.

And unlike Mitsubishi – which in October 2020 became the first brand to market a 10-year warranty, but with only a 200,000km distance limit – there is no mention of a requirement for customers to have their car serviced within the MG dealer network to access the full decade of coverage.

While MG’s new 10-year warranty is longer in time – compared to its previous seven-year offer – it now has a distance cap of 250,000km, rather than unlimited.

In effect from today (1 August 2024) for all newly-registered petrol, hybrid and electric MG models, the new warranty applies to vehicles not deemed to be "commercial use" – such as Ubers, taxis, food delivery couriers and driving schools.

Broader adoption of keeping cats safe at home would have large benefits for cat welfare, human health, local wildlife and even the economy. So, should cat owners be required to keep their pets contained to their property?

The answer to the question is obviously "yes".

Turns out I'm well and truly behind the times...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superloop_(company)

In June 2021, Superloop acquired Internet service provider Exetel for $110 million in cash and shares.

Exetel had been going steadily downhill since the death of John Linton (his blog was always a highlight back in the day -> https://johnl.blogs.exetel.com.au/ <- a super refreshing and honest look at the behind the scenes of broadband in Australia) but recently tried to sign up an NBN plan with them and it has become a total disaster. Tried ringing support to see what was going with our order and could honestly not understand any of the four support reps I got palmed between. Importantly, they could also not understand me apparently.

Cancelled that order (via email) and opted to try Superloop... only to receive an almost identical template welcome email. Uh oh. A quick Google and DAMMIT, I'm in the trap again.

Have been super happy with Aussie Broadband but given we need to run two connections (NBN + Starlink) just to ensure we can reliably stay online because HFC is a disaster in this area (like all areas probably) I thought I'd try a cheaper provider until the 250/100 plans are released later this year.

Clearly a mistake.

I got half a dozen dwarf chain loaches to compliment my 6ft community tank... And the stupid things have spent more time in the weir and the sump than they have in the tank.

I literally just fished three of them out of the sump, and the second I put them back in the tank one went directly to the overflow and straight in to the weir again. At some point it'll reappear in the sump.

I don't even think they'll grow big enough to stop being able to squeeze through the weir guard so I guess they live in the sump now.

Here's a teddy bear

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Conservative politicians are dominating Facebook advertising about changing the date of Australia Day, analysis shows.

After Woolworths announced last week that it would no longer stock Australia Day merchandise due to declining demand, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, condemned the move as an “outrage” born from the retailer’s “woke agenda” and said most Australians likely thought the same.

Now several conservative politicians are paying for advertisements on social media platforms lobbying against changing the date.

My free plecostomus I got a year or so ago. He wasn't specifically free... we just bought a tiny 15L fish tank to put some shrimp in, and when we filled it with water he appeared 😳

I'm guessing he was suckered on to the piece of driftwood and had enough moisture to survive the 48 hours or so between the seller emptying the tank, and us refilling it after buying.

Dudes fair bristly. A heck of a lot bigger now than he was when he appeared in the tank, not all that much bigger than the neo shrimp that were his tank mates.