Junket is so underrated. Def needs a comeback. Pink panna cotta!

I like the way you phrased it as - all the elected members got to vote, but not the unelected ones for obvious reasons.

Reminds me of the story about returning planes and bullet holes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

I agree with WhatAmLenny. It might use the same data source but the way information is presented is a lot more usable. Case in point - when it’s going to rain, it gives you a pretty accurate “rain is going to start in x minutes” and a graph of how heavy it will be.

It’s not just about the raw data but how people consume it.

Haha this was good fun.

They reel out of the sky at you like they’re barrelling out of a nightclub bathroom wearing a floral shirt open to the navel, beaks atwitch, roaring a garbled query that sounds disturbingly like: “What did you just say to me?”

Team Bush Stone Curlew!

That was nice of your neighbours. :)

Welp. 3 different cases. G, C and E.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-13/qld-hospital-gets-court-permission-for-abortion-on-12yo-girl/105770196

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-19/queensland-11-year-girl-abortion-allowed-supreme-court/105672370

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-24/qld-12-year-old-abortion-supreme-court-decision/105565078

This is about the third time a story like this has popped up. I wonder if it’s the same girl or separate stories.

Can you go camping in your local park instead of renting? Landlords hate this one trick!

There’s a good explainer article here: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/22/us-pharma-trump-australia-pbs-explainer

It all came up in the tariff negotiations - the PBS in Australia means US drug companies don’t make enough money and/or US citizens are paying more for drugs than Australians.

Big pharma in the US claims Australians aren’t paying enough for medicines, considering the billions they pour into research and development, and there are too many delays in getting drug approvals.

PhRMA has asked the Trump administration to put Australia on a “watch list” and wants it to push for change, saying Australia has set the bar too high on cost effectiveness. Australia’s price reductions and “restrictive subsidy caps” meant prices were too low to support investment in innovation, it claims. There are also too many delays in approval processes, it says, adding that the PBS continues to list generic products without the patent owner’s consent.

I was just reading a science fiction novel where algal blooms are one of the things that precede the societal collapse. Fun times. The book was called Timescape.

Best of luck to him! Hope this goes far and wide.

2nd putting money aside for fun experiences. Doesn’t have to be much but saving for a house is a long, arduous, sometimes soul sucking process. It’s good to have those experiences first.

Kmart would probably be the cheapest. I still use my Kmart microwave and blender 5 years on. If you’re looking for bigger appliances I’ve always had good service and delivery from Appliances Online.

I think Italy is a good example - men and women are both socialised to express their emotions more naturally than other countries.

Or is it that they do feel those emotions, but are either consciously unaware of them, or try to suppress them or express them in a culturally acceptable way?

That’s it exactly I think. There’s no difference between genders as to how the brain creates these emotions, but the expression of them is culturally learned. It’s been a while since I read the book so I hope I’ve got that right.

I read an interesting book called “How Emotions are Made” by Lisa Barrett which talks about how emotions are created by the brain - they’re not things you have; they’re things you make and they’re influenced by culture, your past experiences, and what your body is experiencing right now.

There was a few key takeaways (this is generated by GPT bc it does a better job at summarising).

Core Argument: Barrett argues that emotions are not hardwired, universal reactions to the world. Instead, they are constructed by our brains, much like perceptions or thoughts.

Key Concepts:

1. The Classical View vs. The Theory of Constructed Emotion

• Classical View: Emotions like anger, fear, sadness, etc., are innate, universal, and triggered automatically by specific stimuli.
• Barrett’s Theory: Emotions are not universal biological responses, but rather concepts constructed by the brain using past experiences, cultural knowledge, and context.

2. The Brain Predicts, Not Reacts

• The brain is a prediction machine, constantly guessing what will happen next based on past experiences.
• Emotions are predictions your brain makes to make sense of bodily sensations in context.

3. Concepts and Language Shape Emotion

• We learn emotional concepts from our environment, especially through language.
• Your culture gives you the emotional categories that your brain uses to construct experiences (e.g., some cultures have words for emotions we don’t name in English).
• What people feel and how they express emotions is shaped more by gender norms and socialization than by biological sex. For example: Women are often encouraged to express vulnerability or sadness. Men are often encouraged to express anger but discouraged from showing fear or sadness.
• These differences are learned, not biologically programmed.

4. Emotions are not hardwired or universal

• There is no specific brain region for each emotion.
• Physiological responses (like heart rate) vary widely even within the same emotion category.

5. Interoception: The Basis of Emotion

• Emotions begin with interoception—your brain’s perception of internal bodily states (like hunger, fatigue, or arousal).
• Your brain interprets these signals based on context and past experience and labels them as an emotion.

Practical Takeaways:

• You can reshape your emotional experiences by:
• Learning new emotion concepts.
• Becoming more aware of your bodily sensations (interoception).
• Expanding your emotional vocabulary (“emotional granularity”).
• Emotional intelligence involves managing predictions, not just reactions.

Barrett’s theory reframes emotion as a highly individual and cultural phenomenon, shaped by your brain’s predictions, concepts, and social context—not a universal biological blueprint.

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I went down a whole rabbit whole of “your brain is a prediction machine” after this and it was super cool.

Was just thinking… you know how like some ludicrous % of insect species have died out, maybe it’s bacteria as well. So maybe our gut biomes are deficient in strains that used to be abundant. 🧐

Yeah ham when I grew up was the processed stuff formed into logs. Devon? Lovely on a sandwich with tomato sauce but I have no idea what was in it!

Good choice. She’s always come across as calm and level headed. Hopeful they can do some good climate relevant negotiations with Labor.