@geofflangdale.bsky.social
- but who could never cook up a scheme to intentionally engineer a situation like this. There are very few out there who could cleverly pretend stupidity (esp. since the mother is a known crash test dummy and disaster human) long enough to do this planned. They are not playing 9D chess.
December 1, 2025 at 10:32 AM
- but who could never cook up a scheme to intentionally engineer a situation like this. There are very few out there who could cleverly pretend stupidity (esp. since the mother is a known crash test dummy and disaster human) long enough to do this planned. They are not playing 9D chess.
Hanlon's Razor states, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". There are many, many more idiotic RWNJ people out there whose self-importance is only matched by their incredibly weak intellects - they are rat cunning to seize on a pretext. ...
December 1, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Hanlon's Razor states, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". There are many, many more idiotic RWNJ people out there whose self-importance is only matched by their incredibly weak intellects - they are rat cunning to seize on a pretext. ...
honestly after doing the IGx "fuck kettlebells deadlift 315 for max reps in 30 minutes" challenges and posting a mid-pack score, I didn't want to do more IGx shit either. Elbow hurt for a month.
December 1, 2025 at 7:31 AM
honestly after doing the IGx "fuck kettlebells deadlift 315 for max reps in 30 minutes" challenges and posting a mid-pack score, I didn't want to do more IGx shit either. Elbow hurt for a month.
It is a bit. I could have populated a cliché Australian Deadly Animals list with 5 "extremely dangerous animals" I've seen -keeping funnel web and murder chicken, and putting in Eastern Brown Snake (which I saw between my feet on a solo bushwalk as a teen), Redback spider and Blue-ringed Octopus.
November 30, 2025 at 3:39 AM
It is a bit. I could have populated a cliché Australian Deadly Animals list with 5 "extremely dangerous animals" I've seen -keeping funnel web and murder chicken, and putting in Eastern Brown Snake (which I saw between my feet on a solo bushwalk as a teen), Redback spider and Blue-ringed Octopus.
oof, every time I mention 7s around my rugby-loving relatives I get the predictable chorus of "tip football" (aka "touch football") from the traditionalists, who don't believe that rugby is rugby without bone crunching scrums and a bunch of 130kg units in the forwards.
November 28, 2025 at 10:57 AM
oof, every time I mention 7s around my rugby-loving relatives I get the predictable chorus of "tip football" (aka "touch football") from the traditionalists, who don't believe that rugby is rugby without bone crunching scrums and a bunch of 130kg units in the forwards.
to lose. This is basically the first-order issue where, and I'm highly skeptical of all the sophisticated stuff about Arrow etc. being wheeled out without acknowledgement of this basic first-order issue.
November 24, 2025 at 11:43 PM
to lose. This is basically the first-order issue where, and I'm highly skeptical of all the sophisticated stuff about Arrow etc. being wheeled out without acknowledgement of this basic first-order issue.
I'm not sure that the gap (which is in fact going up) represents anything but the system working as designed. If the gap goes high enough, the minor parties take seats. Compare FPTP, where voting for a minor party that most closely represents your ideology causes your preferred mainstream party ...
November 24, 2025 at 11:42 PM
I'm not sure that the gap (which is in fact going up) represents anything but the system working as designed. If the gap goes high enough, the minor parties take seats. Compare FPTP, where voting for a minor party that most closely represents your ideology causes your preferred mainstream party ...
That said, the positions that both the Coalition and Labor Party take in Australia are tediously focus-grouped and fairly popular, particularly when both parties are functioning normally. The conservative party doesn't slash Medicare, and the nominally lefter party doesn't introduce big new taxes.
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 PM
That said, the positions that both the Coalition and Labor Party take in Australia are tediously focus-grouped and fairly popular, particularly when both parties are functioning normally. The conservative party doesn't slash Medicare, and the nominally lefter party doesn't introduce big new taxes.
This doesn't, frankly, seem true. I agree that the risks of RCV and center squeeze are real (effectively you wind up with 2 parties trying to scoop up the middle ground positions, like the game-theoretic ice cream shops on the long, linear beach that wind up suboptimally next to each other). ...
November 24, 2025 at 11:01 PM
This doesn't, frankly, seem true. I agree that the risks of RCV and center squeeze are real (effectively you wind up with 2 parties trying to scoop up the middle ground positions, like the game-theoretic ice cream shops on the long, linear beach that wind up suboptimally next to each other). ...
generalize.
Unfortunately, we don't really have a primary system - instead, candidates emerge from largely opaque party processes, with more "democratic" mechanisms here largely resulting in insanely RW candidates emerging from the Coalition, since their membership is older and crazier.
Unfortunately, we don't really have a primary system - instead, candidates emerge from largely opaque party processes, with more "democratic" mechanisms here largely resulting in insanely RW candidates emerging from the Coalition, since their membership is older and crazier.
November 24, 2025 at 10:29 PM
generalize.
Unfortunately, we don't really have a primary system - instead, candidates emerge from largely opaque party processes, with more "democratic" mechanisms here largely resulting in insanely RW candidates emerging from the Coalition, since their membership is older and crazier.
Unfortunately, we don't really have a primary system - instead, candidates emerge from largely opaque party processes, with more "democratic" mechanisms here largely resulting in insanely RW candidates emerging from the Coalition, since their membership is older and crazier.
infamous "preference whisperers") where parties with ridiculously small 1st preferences wind up in the Senate (particularly in Tasmania, which gets 10 senators just like the bigger states), but this is a small artifact.
Agreed that the absence of compulsory voting makes this hard to apply. And ...
Agreed that the absence of compulsory voting makes this hard to apply. And ...
November 24, 2025 at 10:27 PM
infamous "preference whisperers") where parties with ridiculously small 1st preferences wind up in the Senate (particularly in Tasmania, which gets 10 senators just like the bigger states), but this is a small artifact.
Agreed that the absence of compulsory voting makes this hard to apply. And ...
Agreed that the absence of compulsory voting makes this hard to apply. And ...
Most of these "spoiler" type properties are possible under Australian RCV but are very rare. Tactical voting isn't impossible but it's really brain-melting and few actually do it. Most of the distortions in RCV in Australia come from weird preference deals among minor parties (the ...
November 24, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Most of these "spoiler" type properties are possible under Australian RCV but are very rare. Tactical voting isn't impossible but it's really brain-melting and few actually do it. Most of the distortions in RCV in Australia come from weird preference deals among minor parties (the ...
compulsory voting, which means that comparing Australian rates of these voting patters to other countries is meaningless.
November 24, 2025 at 10:24 PM
compulsory voting, which means that comparing Australian rates of these voting patters to other countries is meaningless.
explainable in tactical terms, and Labor's opportunistic tack to the center right is more explained in terms of the Coalition's mistake than it is from electoral mechanics). Note we've had RCV since 1919.
As for donkey voting or informal/spoiled votes - as you note later, Australia has ...
As for donkey voting or informal/spoiled votes - as you note later, Australia has ...
November 24, 2025 at 10:23 PM
explainable in tactical terms, and Labor's opportunistic tack to the center right is more explained in terms of the Coalition's mistake than it is from electoral mechanics). Note we've had RCV since 1919.
As for donkey voting or informal/spoiled votes - as you note later, Australia has ...
As for donkey voting or informal/spoiled votes - as you note later, Australia has ...
electorates", the "Teal" movement (generally conservative, mostly female, socially moderate and environmentally conscious) is displacing the Liberal party (the senior member of the Coalition). So RCV is somewhat implicated in the problems (although the Coalition's rightwards turn is not ...
November 24, 2025 at 10:22 PM
electorates", the "Teal" movement (generally conservative, mostly female, socially moderate and environmentally conscious) is displacing the Liberal party (the senior member of the Coalition). So RCV is somewhat implicated in the problems (although the Coalition's rightwards turn is not ...
the fact that this isn't tactically helpful). RCV (not what I'd call it, but a helpful acronym) is also implicated in the solution for this - the ability to vote #1 Green without "throwing away your vote" and similarly, in the urban, well-off "conservative but ecologically conscious ...
November 24, 2025 at 10:21 PM
the fact that this isn't tactically helpful). RCV (not what I'd call it, but a helpful acronym) is also implicated in the solution for this - the ability to vote #1 Green without "throwing away your vote" and similarly, in the urban, well-off "conservative but ecologically conscious ...
tendency of Australian Labor to become a wishy-washy center/center-right party (despite origins on the center left) but this is a combination of "center squeeze" and the collapse of the Coalition (a further right center-right party that has given in to pressure from its right flank, despite ...
November 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
tendency of Australian Labor to become a wishy-washy center/center-right party (despite origins on the center left) but this is a combination of "center squeeze" and the collapse of the Coalition (a further right center-right party that has given in to pressure from its right flank, despite ...
A couple points - thanks for the detailed and thoughtful response, btw.
Center squeeze does feel like the analogous problem to American-style polarization, but I think I would make intemperate tweets in any society (particularly if I was in the US). I am disappointed in the ...
Center squeeze does feel like the analogous problem to American-style polarization, but I think I would make intemperate tweets in any society (particularly if I was in the US). I am disappointed in the ...
November 24, 2025 at 10:18 PM
A couple points - thanks for the detailed and thoughtful response, btw.
Center squeeze does feel like the analogous problem to American-style polarization, but I think I would make intemperate tweets in any society (particularly if I was in the US). I am disappointed in the ...
Center squeeze does feel like the analogous problem to American-style polarization, but I think I would make intemperate tweets in any society (particularly if I was in the US). I am disappointed in the ...
You can report the 2PP votes as they go without ever reaching a point where you are even *counting* the down-ballot choices. It's a bit eyebrow raising that you're finding theoretical problems that aren't an issue in a country that's used preferential voting since 1919.
November 24, 2025 at 12:35 PM
You can report the 2PP votes as they go without ever reaching a point where you are even *counting* the down-ballot choices. It's a bit eyebrow raising that you're finding theoretical problems that aren't an issue in a country that's used preferential voting since 1919.
Bad take imo. You can have my preferential voting when you pry it from my cold dead Australian hands. Nothing is worse than FPTP and your assertion that "the theoretical issues with FPTP don't actually go away" is a serious [citation needed] claim.
November 24, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Bad take imo. You can have my preferential voting when you pry it from my cold dead Australian hands. Nothing is worse than FPTP and your assertion that "the theoretical issues with FPTP don't actually go away" is a serious [citation needed] claim.
Almost as if Gen X reactions to music aren't monolithic. I disliked the Beatles not out of pure dislike for their music (which leaves me cold - it's ok) but because of their insane fandom which acts as if liking the Beatles is 'compulsory' and that everyone who doesn't like them is wrong or insane.
November 24, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Almost as if Gen X reactions to music aren't monolithic. I disliked the Beatles not out of pure dislike for their music (which leaves me cold - it's ok) but because of their insane fandom which acts as if liking the Beatles is 'compulsory' and that everyone who doesn't like them is wrong or insane.
The apex of Labor philosophy is making sure that Labor mates will be appointed to cushy appointments for which they are unqualified (e.g. Bill Shorten as a Vice Chancellor, despite no experience as a Dean or Head of Department, or even an academic).
"Help your mates".
"Help your mates".
November 22, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The apex of Labor philosophy is making sure that Labor mates will be appointed to cushy appointments for which they are unqualified (e.g. Bill Shorten as a Vice Chancellor, despite no experience as a Dean or Head of Department, or even an academic).
"Help your mates".
"Help your mates".
Starting Muay Thai (in my 50s, yet!) has been a solid reminder that there are other attributes to work on than "quads that overwhelm the holding capacity of normal jeans". We have coaches who are smiling Thai maniacs (>300 fights) who weigh half what I do but kick 20x harder.
November 22, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Starting Muay Thai (in my 50s, yet!) has been a solid reminder that there are other attributes to work on than "quads that overwhelm the holding capacity of normal jeans". We have coaches who are smiling Thai maniacs (>300 fights) who weigh half what I do but kick 20x harder.
Ah, I miss rant's remarkable takes on things, a man for whom the word 'idiosyncratic' starts to press up against the outer boundaries of euphemism. Does he still post anywhere?
Rating Dan John himself as 2.5 Dan Johns out of 5 is strong work.
Rating Dan John himself as 2.5 Dan Johns out of 5 is strong work.
November 22, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Ah, I miss rant's remarkable takes on things, a man for whom the word 'idiosyncratic' starts to press up against the outer boundaries of euphemism. Does he still post anywhere?
Rating Dan John himself as 2.5 Dan Johns out of 5 is strong work.
Rating Dan John himself as 2.5 Dan Johns out of 5 is strong work.