Random Stuff

[Dkaris]

I got my astro zucchini shot today. I can't stop shivering. I guess the 5g nano bugs are fusing to my skeleton.

[Golden Phoenix]

Anyone who has watched British comedy game shows on SBS or ABC in the last 10-15 years, would probably know who Sean Lock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Lock) is... well, he has died of cancer at age 58.
I thought he was one of the funniest British comedians for his dry humour, and was best known for his appearances on "Cats does Countdown" and QI.

I thought he was an amazing comedian with such a sharp wit.
He will be missed.

[Autocon]

Oh I watched him on cats countdown, funny guy

[griffin]

When you said Optimus spoke to the guy I didn't expect it to actually sound like Optimus.

Also, ads? What ads? Just use UBlock Origin and the ads are gone.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm

I don't go on youtube much lately, but yesterday was checking out some trailers and breakdowns of trailers, and everything I was clicking on was now held up by advertising of up to 3 minutes. It's gotten so bad that they don't even give you the option to skip the advertisement or fast-forward it.
Obviously my version of adblocker doesn't block youtube commercials (and they probably re-work their coding to block those add-ons, who then have to update their coding to get around the youtube updates - kinda like a video capture program I use, which keeps needing to update itself when youtube finds a way to block it).... however, I think I stumbled on a way around the compulsory commercials at the beginning of the youtube videos - click on the next video tab at the bottom left of the video screen, and then click your browser's back button, and youtube thinks you already watched the commercial, and starts playing the actual video.

[1AZRAEL1]

I hate those YouTube ads. Especially when you get multiple ads pop up whilst watching the same video. Or even music videos. All to try force people to pay for their premium service

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I managed to hit a youtube advert that was 15 minutes in length! Needless to say, that video did not get a view until; adblock was installed.

[griffin]

Did anyone in Melbourne feel the earthquake today?
The news programs quoted 5.6 to 5.9, a couple hundred kms north east of Melbourne cbd, which was strong enough to damage at least one (brick) building in the city.

For those of us who don't live in earthquake zones (like NZ, Japan and LA), it is a unique experience if it isn't too big... up to about magnitude 6, which is a rumble like living on a major road and had a big heavy truck rumble past, shaking the house.

Tonight I was looking up the time I was in Japan in November 2013 and had a small quake of about 5.4 while I was 8 floors up, which made it more noticeable... and came across another one that I had forgotten about, from July 2015 in Brisbane, which was a 5.3 quake a couple hundred kms north.


I only found out about this a few hours ago because I didn't catch the news last night... yesterday morning (Thursday) at around 9.41am, there was a 5.3 earthquake off the coast of Fraser Island (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/earthquake-rattles-south-east-queensland/6659264)... and it made sense of something from yesterday morning.

I was on the north side of Brisbane doing a First Aid course on the fourth floor of a building, and I remember feeling a vibration during our first session between 9am to 10am - the sort of vibration you get when a heavy dual-trailer gravel truck drives past you or your house... and I dismissed it as something like that, but looking back, we were too far away from a major road, so after hearing tonight about the earthquake, I recalled what I felt in the Earthquake in Japan in November 2013, and it was the same sort of feeling (just more intense)... and it now made sense.

And what I posted about the Japanese one...


At about 8.50pm here (that's about 9.50pm in Brisbane... 10.50pm if you aren't lucky enough to live north of the border :p ) there was a slight vibration, and then the room shook with a rumble, like a heavy truck driving across the room above.
I'm on the 8th floor of an 11 storey hotel too, so there would have been extra movement.
It was scary not knowing if it was just the start of something bigger, because I'd be screwed up this high if the building collapsed.
I grabbed my important stuff (passport, phone, wallet, money) and headed down to reception to check if that was indeed an earthquake. (I've lived on major roads, so that sort of rumbling and shaking is not new to me... but since this hasn't happened so far in my 3 days here, I didn't think it was a passing truck or train)
They said that they get those small tremors about twice a month, so I guess I'm lucky. (I was always wanting to have one happen in LA, but with all my time there, it never did)

Now to hope that this wasn't just the warm up for something bigger later tonight.

And about 4 hours later when I felt an aftershock...


After feeling a small aftershock about 20 minutes ago, I looked it up.

Looks like it wasn't just a small tremor after all. It was apparently a 5.4 magnitude (http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/3/340/20131116204911395-162044.html) and was just on the outskirts of northern Tokyo (I'm on the south where the cluster of whitish dots are to the left of the bay), with about 5 aftershocks (so far) reaching up to 4.2 (http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/3/340/20131117005038395-170046.html).
(the map is of the Tokyo bay area, with the city on the western side. Each dot is a measuring station, and the ones near me registered 4... the aftershock registered a 2 near me, so that means I can feel a 2 and know what difference a 4 feels like).

Apparently this is the third mid-to-large one to hit Japan in the last three weeks (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/5-5-magnitude-earthquake-hits-eastern-Japan-US-Geological-Survey/articleshow/25896208.cms), so I'm lucky it wasn't as intense as the one three weeks ago (which was a 7.1 earthquake).
If that had hit here where this one did, I think I'd be in a bit of trouble, as this 5.4 didn't do any damage, but did suspend high-speed trains (hopefully not for long) to check the tracks. A 7 earthquake is 100 times more powerful than a 5... and that would have done a lot of damage all across the city.

Going back over previous earthquake reports (from the first two links and this link (http://earthquaketrack.com/p/japan/recent)), it looks like a number of 4 to 5 magnitude earthquakes had occurred in the last 36 hours, along the fault-line from the north of Japan.

Well, I found it all fascinating... :p

[Paulbot]

Yep. Shook my house, a few things fell. Long, loud and unexpected.

Basically everyone in Melbourne felt it. Was a nice break from talking about the protests.

[DELTAprime]

We have had a few earthquakes up here in Central Queensland in my life. I have never actually felt any of them because by a random coincidence they all happen in the middle of the night while I'm asleep. But we did have a meteor go directly overhead a few years back and I felt that one.

[1AZRAEL1]

Yep. Shook my house, a few things fell. Long, loud and unexpected.

Basically everyone in Melbourne felt it. Was a nice break from talking about the protests.

Did see a joke floating around saying the earthquake was caused by all the drunk bogans marching.

Don't think I've ever felt am earthquake, missus did when she was over in San Fran 2 years ago though

[DELTAprime]

missus did when she was over in San Fran 2 years ago though

Sigh... Remember when we were allowed to leave the country???

[1AZRAEL1]

Sigh... Remember when we were allowed to leave the country???

I was in Germany for 2 weeks February last year catching alot of metal concerts. Never thought they'd be the last international bands I'd see for a very long time

[Handsprime]

I was in Germany for 2 weeks February last year catching alot of metal concerts. Never thought they'd be the last international bands I'd see for a very long time

And to think this year the only international artist I got to see was a DJ who played a show at Ivy.

[DELTAprime]

I'm really wanting to travel to Japan on my long service leave at the start of 2023, but it really isn't looking good for that possibility.

[1AZRAEL1]

Wanted to travel to QLD for my 10yr anniversary with the missus next May. Might happen, might not. Hopefully October next year we can still.

[1AZRAEL1]

Never been in a job that we strike. Interesting times ahead.

[Seraphim Prime]

What is with the NSW government and playing low ball with agreements

First the nurses last year - mid pandemic while everyone was saying how vital they are
Now a 0.3% increase in the first year for a service that is vital to keeping the economy working.

Moreover - if you're worried about encouraging spending - the best way to do it is to provide greater discretionary spending to people on lower to mid incomes as a greater percentage of that gets spent directly back into products, rather than saved for larger purchases.

[1AZRAEL1]

"We appreciate the work you've done through pandemic, but not so much that you deserve payrises..."

EA negotiations were going to happen no matter what, just bad luck it happened during the pandemic. But whilst managers and others were safe working from home, emergency services and transport were all on the front line. Nurses and medical staff are so undervalued by our governments it's not funny. Overstretched, underpaid and undervalued.

But just as a big side note, our industrial actions are way more than just pay disputes. They're trying to bring in unsafe trains by cutting the guards important role out to save money. And they are finding it cheaper to pay out compensation to familys if someone is maimed or killed because of the operating of these trains. Imagine that, putting money as more important than lives. Yep, our government sucks.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

And they are finding it cheaper to pay out compensation to familys if someone is maimed or killed because of the operating of these trains. Imagine that, putting money as more important than lives. Yep, our government sucks.

That's pretty disgusting. Although sadly not rare. I lived in an apartment coomplex that had the wrong tiles in the common areas, instead of being slip-resistant outside tiles, they were the ones you would find inside your house.
When my mum cam over, she slipped on the tiles and broke her arm. Naturally I complained to the complex, although I moved out very soon afterwards. My mum ended up being paid out with a hassle free compensation payment. Before I left, I spoke to the caretaker (who just looked after the place, but wasn't the caretaker) and the complex was aware of the issue and it wasn't the first time it had happned, but they weren't inclined to fix the issue.

Needless to say I am glad neither me, nor any of my family have to go there anyore.

Also; I really hate printers when they don't work for some reason.

[1AZRAEL1]

That's pretty disgusting. Although sadly not rare.

Money over people. It's abhorrent. Glad your mum wasn't badly hurt.



Also; I really hate printers when they don't work for some reason.

As someone who used to work for a call centre printing out mailers, I know that frustration lol.

[Seraphim Prime]

But just as a big side note, our industrial actions are way more than just pay disputes. They're trying to bring in unsafe trains by cutting the guards important role out to save money. And they are finding it cheaper to pay out compensation to familys if someone is maimed or killed because of the operating of these trains. Imagine that, putting money as more important than lives. Yep, our government sucks.

I have no doubts about the public safety concerns. I'm in a different aspect of public service but the community benefit still ranks very highly in everyone's mind - it's what keeps people involved in lower paying roles - the public role they serve (plus a little more flexibility).

There's history in other industries though - Ford is famous for the Pinto in the 70's. The fuel tank was susceptible to bursting into flames if ruptured in a collision. They had worked out it would be cheaper to fight / pay out compensation than delay production / recall the vehicle to fix the problem.

[Autocon]

"We appreciate the work you've done through pandemic, but not so much that you deserve payrises..."

EA negotiations were going to happen no matter what, just bad luck it happened during the pandemic. But whilst managers and others were safe working from home, emergency services and transport were all on the front line. Nurses and medical staff are so undervalued by our governments it's not funny. Overstretched, underpaid and undervalued.

But just as a big side note, our industrial actions are way more than just pay disputes. They're trying to bring in unsafe trains by cutting the guards important role out to save money. And they are finding it cheaper to pay out compensation to familys if someone is maimed or killed because of the operating of these trains. Imagine that, putting money as more important than lives. Yep, our government sucks.

The guards? This almost sounds criminal.

[1AZRAEL1]

The guards? This almost sounds criminal.

Guards is a silly title imo. What we do is make announcements, operate the doors, customer service stuff, etc. On normal days. When things go wrong, we're trained for that. But they want drivers to watch cameras, operate the doors, watch cameras again whilst looking ahead at the track. Our system is not safe for that

[griffin]

At Kmart the other day, I saw retro TMNT toys. With the Vintage Beast Wars toys and new MOTU toys at BigW, it's like the stores are back in the 80s/90s again.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2021km64.jpg

Also at Kmart, I saw some new Marvel toys... noting that they have "mystery Web Gear" included with the toy... but if you turn the packaging to the side, you can see what the mystery piece is included. It probably isn't a random inclusion, but still... if it is marketed as a mystery item, it should be a surprise when you open up the packaging.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2021km65.jpg

[Paulbot]

At Kmart the other day, I saw retro TMNT toys. With the Vintage Beast Wars toys and new MOTU toys at BigW, it's like the stores are back in the 80s/90s again.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2021km64.jpg



My first visit to the toy shops after lockdown I saw: Vintage BW toys, Headmasters in 80s style boxes, carded 90s TMNT figures and the Turtle's party wagon, and Real Ghostbusters figures. Very much a time warp feeling.

[Paulbot]

Linkin Park's songs.... do they all sound the same to others? Their song 'Numb' just came up on a spotfiy playlist and thought oh there's that song from Transformers, but no it just sounds like their songs from the Transformers movies.

[Handsprime]

Linkin Park's songs.... do they all sound the same to others? Their song 'Numb' just came up on a spotfiy playlist and thought oh there's that song from Transformers, but no it just sounds like their songs from the Transformers movies.

Mostly the big singles like In The End, Crawling, Numb, New Divide, Burn It Down and to an extent What I've Done. Breaking the Habit and One Step Closer I can easily tell apart from other songs (and this isn't getting started how from Minutes to Midnight each new album had a different sound).

Though if anything, their last album was bashed by fans for NOT sounding like anything else they had done before.

[griffin]

Dean Stockwell has died (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Stockwell). :(

[techx]

:( Rest is peace Al.

[DELTAprime]

I was never happy with the way his character Cavil went out in BSG. Apparently, Dean was the one that pushed to have Cavil off himself, but I feel like that was out of character.

[griffin]

Ralph Macchio just turned 60! :O

When he was on The Late Show last night, he still looked like he was in his late 20s... but 60... dayam. He's certainly got great genes, as he was 23 when the first Karate Kid movie was filmed, but he looked 14-15 on screen (was playing a 17 year old character).

What are all these celebrities doing or using, as so many of the ones that are 50-60-plus years old now, are looking like they have been frozen in time at sub-30.

[griffin]

Another surprise, that I just found out tonight - the actor who plays the tough guy Torres on NCIS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmer_Valderrama), played the soft, sensitive Fez in That 70s Show.

[Autocon]

Yeah that got me too when I found out.

[Golden Phoenix]

This feels like one of this tropes where the nerdy/geeky weirdo from high school grows up and turns into a 10/10.

[Handsprime]

The Wiggles have won the Hottest 100!

[Autocon]

Spoilers! ??

J/k. I bet its like the time Tom won the gold logie

[Golden Phoenix]

I've been watching the Simpsons again. Initially it was a binge of the initial good seasons, but then i decided I'd power through to watch it all.

It was hard getting through seasons 20-29, I relegated it to background noise. But I'm up to S32 and I honestly think it has come round. It's not like S1-10 good, but I enjoy it enough to actually pay attention to it (So I wanna say like S15 quality)

[GoktimusPrime]

Aussie comedian proposed to girlfriend with Chicken McNuggets! (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10773925/Sydney-comedian-Aaron-Chen-proposes-girlfriend-McDonalds.html) :D

[High_Q]

Aussie comedian proposed to girlfriend with Chicken McNuggets! (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10773925/Sydney-comedian-Aaron-Chen-proposes-girlfriend-McDonalds.html) :D

Lol. As long as it's a real diamond on that ring, she should be ok with it. Also, McNuggets are delicious.

[griffin]

SBS has an obsession with the movie The Fith Element... each year on may 5th they play the movie 5 times in a row. Weird.

[Seraphim Prime]

SBS has an obsession with the movie The Fith Element... each year on may 5th they play the movie 5 times in a row. Weird.

I wonder if it's some big joke idea that they came up with a few years ago that still has a year or two left.

Five years of
The Fifth Element
played five times
on the fifth day
of the fifth month

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I wonder if it's some big joke idea that they came up with a few years ago that still has a year or two left.

Five years of
The Fifth Element
played five times
on the fifth day
of the fifth monthI feel like it should start at 5:55:55 just to really complete the gag.

[griffin]

Recently I have noticed that the pet toy section of the grocery store is being over-run by Hasbro... with their Tonka and Nerf brands (and now Transformers).
In the past there had been some random licenced pet toys of things from Disney, but the last couple of years has seen a sudden explosion as Hasbro and Disney appear to be fighting over that very niche toy market. It's almost as if the word "toy" needs Hasbro's attention, to start targeting.

http://toycollectors.com.au/2022ww03.jpg

http://toycollectors.com.au/2022ww04.jpg

[GoktimusPrime]

Random musings about the silly nightmare that is English spelling (the only language that has spelling bees!)...

"Though I coughed roughly and hiccoughed during the lecture, I still thought I could plough through the rest of it."

Of course, the reason why most of these variant pronounciations of "ough" (none of which are actually pronounced as "ough"), is because of historical reasons. They represent how these words used to be pronounced or how the pronunciation of "ough" has changed through time. Except for one idiotic outlier... hiccough. It is also the only time that "ough" is pronounced as "up." At least the others aren't alone in their weirdness.
e.g.
though rhymes with dough
cough rhymes with enough
thought rhymes with bought
plough rhymes with bough
thorough rhymes with borough
tough rhymes with rough
...etc.

What rhymes with hiccough? Well there's pickup, but of course, it doesn't end with "ough." And while the other ough weirdos have understandable historical origins, hiccough does not. It's literally because some numpty assumed the the "cup" in "hiccup" was related to the word "cough," and so he set the spelling as hiccough. Hint: the words cough and hiccough are not related!

Same with the silent g in "sovereign." Another numpty assumed that it must have been related to the word "reign" (which has a silent g because it comes from the Latin word REGNVM) - but it's not! "Sovereign" comes from the Old French word "soverain"... it never had a G in it, but some English knucklehead assumed that it needed to have one to reflect a word origin that never existed! It's as daft as painting Starscream in Jetfire colours (https://www.zingpopculture.com.au/product/toys-gadgets/274494-transformers-generations-shattered-glass-collection-starscream-action-figure) because you think that the original Starscream toy came from Macross. :p

Go home, English. You're drunk!

[kovert]

Go home, English. You're drunk!

English can be a tough language.

[Autocon]

English can be a tough language.

Theres never a drought of contraversy!

[GoktimusPrime]

English can be a tough language.

Theres never a drought of contraversy!
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉｼ <applause>

[Tha_Phantom]

Aploughse :)

[GoktimusPrime]

Happy Palindromic Pi Day, everyone! :)

[griffin]

It's still August.... still winter.... and Woolies already has out a large assortment of Christmas baked foods.

[Tha_Phantom]

It's still August.... still winter.... and Woolies already has out a large assortment of Christmas baked foods.

I don't know why, but someone has put out a sled ornament on the kitchen table at work and it bothers me to see it out so far away from December.
I can deal with Christmas being shoved down my throat during the final month or so of the year, but give it a rest for the other 10-11 months. :rolleyes:

[griffin]

This was puzzling yesterday.
In Kmart I noticed that they were almost completely out of stock of their Hotwheels/Matchbox cars from Mattel. It's not like kmart are no longer wanting to sell them, because they still had the shelf tags up... it's almost like Mattel has run out of stock, for a long enough time for Kmart to run out, and in the quiet time of year for toys too. It shouldn't have anything to do with supply disruptions from covid, as other Mattel toylines are still being released, and other toylines in general... so it is just their cars that seems to be affected by something at the moment.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2022km46.jpg


I don't know why, but someone has put out a sled ornament on the kitchen table at work and it bothers me to see it out so far away from December.
I can deal with Christmas being shoved down my throat during the final month or so of the year, but give it a rest for the other 10-11 months.

I know how you feel... back in the last few days of September, one of the radio stations that I had on in the car was telling people to start getting their Christmas Lights ready for this year's christmas lights competition. That's just way too early... not just for getting the christmas lights out, but also to be hearing about it on the radio already. It just makes the sphincter tighten, as it just conjures up all those negative feelings of only recently being sick of hearing and seeing christmas stuff constantly on the radio, on tv, and in stores, in the lead up to december 25th. It's supposed to be a wonderful, exciting day to look forward to (like us oldies did as kids, unable to go to sleep christmas eve because of the big day to come), but now it is a day of dread, that I spend weeks looking forward to it being over. Capitalism as ruined it, as retailers and advertisers try to outdo each other, not to propagate the true meaning of christmas (of family and giving), but to make money off a religious event that most don't even acknowledge or respect anyway.

[DELTAprime]

I know at work a few weeks back we were very low or even out of all but the basic Hot Wheels. Maybe they have a supply issue. 🤷*♀️

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Thinking of plastic inspired from the packaging thread and I thought, one massive source of microplastic that we are probably subjected to would be all the particles that peel off from car tyres. The amount of stuff that we breathe in must be horrible.

[griffin]

Thinking of plastic inspired from the packaging thread and I thought, one massive source of microplastic that we are probably subjected to would be all the particles that peel off from car tyres. The amount of stuff that we breathe in must be horrible.

If you ever live on or near a major road (even just a main suburban street), you will find a black dust that covers everything, needing things to be wiped down weekly.
I once lived on a major arterial road, and any part of the house that wasn't used and constantly cleaned, there was a horrible sticky black layer, and I could only imagine what I was breathing in.

[DELTAprime]

Yep. Tyre dust and brake dust are known pollutants. At least they don't put asbestos in brake pads anymore.

[griffin]

A strange trekkie weekend on channel 9go, without any advertising for it that I saw. Today has the original 6 movies back to back, as a 14 hour marathon from 11am to 1am. And tomorrow has the 4 Next Generation movies for 9 hours from 10am.
All they need now is to play the 3 new movies.

[griffin]

It looks like Christmas isn't the only retail event that is getting earlier and earlier... Officeworks started showing commercials for "back to school" on Sunday, still well before the end of the school year.
Last year they started showing the commercials from the week before the end of school (early December), and I thought that it would be a trigger for anxiety for parents and kids to see commercials reminding them of the next school year before they even finished the previous year.
I remember before last year, the day after christmas we would be bombarded with the "back to school" commercials, and I think they should at least give kids and parents a little bit of a break from the stress of schooling, even for just a couple weeks of the christmas school holidays.

[GoktimusPrime]

My friends' 15 year old daughter, Yuna, is currently battling Stage 3 cancer and have taken a bad turn where she is now in palliative care.
A Go Fund Me page has been created to help young Yuna and her family.

Please consider making a donation; any amount is welcome.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-yuna-and-jones-family

[Autocon]

That's sad to hear 😢 Thoughts are with her and family

[GoktimusPrime]

Random Fact: Anzac Biscuits must legally be called "biscuits" around the world. The Australian and New Zealand governments convinced multiple governments to sign an international treaty where the marketing and sales of Anzac Biscuits must only ever be as "biscuits." Privately people can obviously call them whatever they want (cookies, scones, crackers etc.), but the second you want to market, advertise or sell Anzac Biscuits, then you have to call them "biscuits."

Taxpayers money well spent! :D

[GoktimusPrime]

Horrific six vehicle collision with one fatality yesterday, outside the old Hasbro building in Eastwood NSW.
https://7news.com.au/news/nsw/new-details-emerge-following-fatal-six-car-crash-in-eastwood-sydney-c-11262875

[Paulbot]

At work so haven't been able to dig into this too much but - are members of the US Government saying that UFOs/UAPs are alien and that sentient alien life forms are visiting our planet?

And this is not the biggest story in the news today?

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

At work so haven't been able to dig into this too much but - are members of the US Government saying that UFOs/UAPs are alien and that sentient alien life forms are visiting our planet?

And this is not the biggest story in the news today?

Looks like there is some committee thing going on and a bit in the news, but, eh, Space, is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space. So it's pretty unlikely we've been visited. Plus any species that has that technology would have probably have conquered us if they did.