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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 19h

Taroko, the whale shark that died in August, was the sixth whale shark the Georgia aquarium has killed with its captivity program. These activities are fun for divers but a whale shark's native range is thousands of km. I am glad they are not replacing him and are down to one whale shark left.

Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

I know, putative head of state if you will haha. It seems very ignorant, opposition to nominally "leftist" strongmen in South and central America is often a bit of a rogue's gallery!

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

It seemed like a pretty weird choice to me. Even within the bounds of a neoliberal consensus there are so many folks working for the ICC, religious bodies, NGOs etc who are making an impact. I know they often go for heads of state... I don't feel like a lot of them really do that much for peace tbh.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

One of my neighbours here in Singapore. #marinelife #scuba

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

Cephalopods are my favourite marine life, and cuttlefish are my favourite cephalopods!

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

Is it in anything we typically eat? I only know it as an anti psychotic!

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

If it's not about declining literacy how is this purported decline being measured? I don't even disagree necessarily, but I feel as written it exemplifies what he's complaining about in many respects.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

In America goods and services taxes are levied on a state by state level, it's part of how they were federated. This has some weird effects like people in Washington State buying cars in Oregon because there's no sales tax there.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

Hmm remarkably fact free. Literacy standards have/are falling, but almost entirely in America and not in the university going population.

I despise a lot of the YA my daughter's devour, but let's be real here, it wasn't replacing Chaucer FFS and it's certainly no worse than Dragonlance etc I read.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

It's so wildly inappropriate and Albo not only can't see the problem, but chooses to ignore it when it's flagged. What, the gambling industry are just doing this from the goodness of their hearts? This kind of rubbish fuels cynicism and hatred for politicians and actually undermines democracy.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 2d

Once again instead of doing the right thing Albo sides with capital so he can get a partisan dig in. Worth noting if a major client tried to do this in the private sector, it would not be allowed at any multinational I've worked for.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 3d

Granted this was 20+ years ago, but I had a list of "members", a copy of the electoral roll, and simply crossed off names that didn't match addresses. Many had signed up in the 80s and it was doubtful still remembered or supported the party. I doubt microparties would even go to this length!

Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 4d

Worked on this process for the democrats way back in the day. Back then the AEC applied only the cursory scrutiny. If you have a list of names and addresses that match the electoral roll, I don't think it's checked. In fact, I'm not even sure the addresses mattered. I'm sure it's regularly faked.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 5d

There was an academic at ANU, Frank Castles, who wrote a lot about this. Australia and NZ essentially built as "wage-earner's welfare states" - but the model began to collapse under neoliberalism and is now all but dead.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 5d

Goniobranchus leopardis, tucked under a rock. I liked the way this caked up nudi's gills are on display; they look like a flower in this photo. #scuba #marinelife #underwaterphotography

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 5d

I'm not aware, it does seem unusual though!

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 8d

It's really impressive what they have done with their chips. Quite an indictment of Intel, really.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 8d

I fully switched over to Linux in a fit of pique when they tried to increase my 0365 sub by 40% because of copilot, and only showed the non-copilot sub when you go to cancel. To my delight, Linux has come a long way in the ~20 years since I was running it back in the day!

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 9d

I feel there are many factors that make an effective response to the pop challenging: Trade and regulatory uncertainty from the USA; inflationary pressures that originated in post/covid profiteering & supply chain issues, and limited headroom for central banks and governments to stimulate.

Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 9d

She looks like she's just trained a horse called, "Josephine's Regret" to a spot in the Melbourne Cup.

Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 9d

It's so interesting, the coalition wedged labor for years on immigration, despite policies that were indistinguishable. Now it's happening to them from the right. Hard to see how this will win back the all the seats they've lost.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 9d

Wow great chart, thanks for sharing! Where did you get the data from? Interesting to compare Australia with Austria. Though they have optional voting, turnout is typically quite high, however their system is proportional. Their last election had a very different outcome to ours.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 9d

Peter one other factor you didn't mention is the relative proportion of immigrants. I think something like ~30% of Australians were born overseas - compared to ~10% in UK for example. I think that + compulsory voting puts the brakes on widespread nativism.

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 9d

A little nembrotha kubaryana, about 4cm/1.5" long. It's so interesting, how much marine life has vivid reds at depths where there is little or no red light. These diminutive nudis live on a diet of equally tiny sea-squirts. #scuba #underwaterphotography #marinelife

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Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 10d

I have a HP ink tank, it can do borderless A4. Tanks print very cheaply. Not as nice as a lab... But I can also print the same photo 4 or 5 times if I'm not happy with framing, contrast etc. One thing: bubble jets can't do true black on glossy, it always has a slight blue. Matte papers are ok.

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