WaterWaiver

Maybe the latest changes are causing more problems? I'm imagining house-of-cards software stacks (insert jokes about Tangaras running DOS/Windows). At least we're not suffering Polish train problems :)

Seven News video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDi4RRNxnuk

SMH written article: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/crew-doors-flew-open-on-new-intercity-trains-during-trial-20231205-p5ep8o.html

Anyone have better or more interesting sources?

Context: https://aussie.zone/post/5207334

I'll make an account through Slrpnk if this doesn't work.

“And then we’re going to add this suspension into some hexane. I mean here I’m just using Shellite because it’s from Bunnings and I dunno who else uses this so I feel like if I stop buying it Bunnings will stop selling it so, it’s like a couple of bucks and it’s like hexanes, it’s so good, Bunnings keep selling this please”

I accidentally held down the photoshoot button on my phone and ended up with a sequence of photos of the same scene taken over about 1 second. Interestingly the series of photos contains two very different styles of image:

The first photo looks how I'd expect. Sky is overblown from the clouds and foreground of the forest is dark.

The second photo has somehow magically made the sky darker and the foreground brighter.

At a guess I think a software algorithm is trying to separate the foreground and background, then individual levels adjustments are being applied to each region. Checkout these two close-up crops:

The first photo shows what I'd normally expect from a camera (bright light bleeding into the trunk), the second shows a white halo around the trunk on the sky (probably artificial/software blending from foreground to background). I think I can also see see some evidence of artificial sharpening on the trunk texture; or perhaps the photo was just better in focus (some of the photos were a bit blurrier than others).

I'm using a Pixel 3 with OpenCamera.

Does anybody know what this feature is called and more info about it? I'm particular interested in how binary it is -- it's either activated or not -- some some heuristic must be involved.

Spotted at my local bushcare group last week. This trunk section has been sitting on the ground for months. The main tree (background) was hacked apart, drilled and poisoned by NSW Forestry, but it's also happily sprouting everywhere again.

Camphor laurels are beautiful, toxic trees that you will see everywhere but sadly they're also weeds. The ground near them tends to be barren, they intentionally poison the soil (allelopathy) to avoid competition. I've been told that they were used to make shipping boxes because their wood resisted insects

Internode used to be a high quality home internet brand.

My understanding is that loyalty is never rewarded for competitive subscription services (gas, eletricity, water, internet, insurance, etc).

I wonder how long until AussieBB enshitifies?

I left my room for 15 minutes to visit the shitter and came back to this:

It also hit my shelves twice and my sheets thrice. My mattress protector now has avocado spots.

My window was about 10cm open at the bottom, so whatever the perp was it had enough of a brain to know how to get in and out withing getting stuck. No-one heard or saw anything.

Given the high level of sophistication, speed and excellent criminal execution: I suspect an Indian Mynah may be at fault. I swear they understand English and spend their whole lives plotting schemes.

Artists' impressions of the crime:

I would like to assume this wasn't actually malice and instead the Mynah was just curious, but I still think I need to consider appeasement strategies. Suggestions welcome.

I wonder if the fines are enough, assuming they find the people? I've heard that it's cheaper or more profitable to just accept the fines.

Councils can issue a maximum on-the-spot fine of $3,000 for illegal tree removals by individuals, or $6,000 for businesses. Mr Wrightson said the council was getting legal advice about the best course of action, which could include seeking penalties of up to $1 million through a prosecution in the NSW Land and Environment Court.

300 tress x $6000 = $1.8million

That's big if you chopped the trees for one house, but what if you chopped them for 10? Perhaps you would still get more than $180,000 extra each if they had better views?

Key excerpt:

According to the late professor Patrick Troy, here's how things were viewed in the early 1970s:

"The cost and price of housing continued to be a source of social and political concern. Over the period 1969-1973 the number of years' average earnings required to buy a house site increased substantially. In Sydney, it increased from 1.7 to 2.7 years, while in Melbourne it grew from 1.2 to 1.8 years."

Compare that to what modern researchers have to say about Australia in 2023:

"Since 2001, the national ratio of median house price to median income has almost doubled to 8.5, and the time required for the accumulation of a deposit for a typical property has increased from six years median earnings in 1994 to 14 years currently."