Australis13

Just read an analysis of the "This Will Hold" article here: https://generik.substack.com/p/did-the-nsa-audit-the-2024-election

Sums up the situation well, I thought.

The irony is that that need for control is actually shooting them in the financial foot. There's been a few different studies showing that the WFH and other flexible work arrangements (e.g. 4-day-work-week) increase productivity.

But yes, I agree it's about control (as well as the investment in office space, often in the expensive CBD, which businesses hate the idea of not being used near capacity).

Off to the agony booth with you!

LLMs are being shoved into so many bits of software (office suites, programming tools, etc.) it doesn't surprise me that something like this has happened.

As someone who has suffered sleep problems on and off for years, I empathise! It can be hard to do much when one is just trying to stay functional.

Once you can get some decent sleep, though, I agree that getting more involved with the community is an excellent next step. Personally I'm not cut out for politics, but if that appeals to you (or you think you'd be able to manage it), go for it.

Hopefully Newag (the manufacturer) loses this case. This is malicious design on Newag's part.

I know how you feel. It has also been something in the back of my mind over the past few years and my child is going to face challenges that my parents' generation never had.

The way I deal with it is to try to future-proof my home and maintain relationships with my family and neighbours as much as possible.

We've put in a lot of effort over the past few years to improve our home's insulation and its longevity, as well as non-energy aspects such as accessibility. The goal is not to be completely independent; that's not possible in the modern world. But it is possible to build a more resilient lifestyle.

On a community level, we have built relationships with several of our neighbours and now look out for each other; e.g. we keep an eye on each other's properties when one of us is away, or supported another when they had a medical emergency. We also have a neighbourhood house in our community so that things like bread, fruit and vegetables that would otherwise be tossed by the supermarkets don't go to waste and people who need them can access them.

The other thing I try to do is advocate where I can. I write to politicians, I support petitions, and I talk with friends and family who don't share my concerns (a very slow process).

As someone who grew up with wood heaters, I have to disagree with some of that. You are right that you need space to store wood, but maintenance is generally straightforward for many models of wood heater. "Costly" depends on your reference point - as the article mentions, cost of living and energy prices are likely pushing more people to use them, and if you live in a semi-rural or regional area, then you will often have a cheap supply of wood to burn.

It does take a little bit of practice to learn how to control the heat output, but most of this is understanding two things: 1) the lag between the firebox temperature and how rapidly it is burning wood, and 2) how different types of timber burn (lightweight timbers such as pine burn quickly, denser timbers like ironbark and redgum take longer).

The problem, as the article points out, is that one controls the fire (and hence heat output) by reducing the oxygen intake - which leads to incomplete combustion and a lot more particulates and pollutants in the air. Newer designs allow for more efficient combustion but still suffer the same basic problem.

Health bodies such as Asthma Australia and the Australian Medical Assocation want state and territory governments to ban new wood heater installs and phase out the existing ones in residential areas. But governments appear reluctant to impose such a ban.

If a ban is out of the question, then can we at least tighten the requirements on new installations (e.g. https://www.homeheat.com.au/wood-heaters/certified-wood-heaters/) and provide subsidy programs? As far as I can tell there is only one active one and that's in the ACT: https://www.energy.gov.au/rebates/wood-heater-removal-program (Armidale NSW did have one but applications have closed.)

See also https://asthma.org.au/about-us/media/switch-from-woodfire-heaters-for-healthier-heating/

My impression has always been that NT vs ND conversation differs in a few specific ways:

1. Small talk (or lack thereof).
2. Experience-specific topics (eg. autistic individuals might share a conversation on specific aspects of their experience being on the spectrum, whilst NTs probably have the same conversation but from an NT perspective).
3. Amount of detail/time spent on a topic. Excluding the NT/ND experience topics in (2), I don't think they actually differ all that much in the range of subjects they cover. It is just that they might cover five topics in an hour-long conversation in moderate detail whilst those of us on the spectrum might spend the entire hour discussing a few specific points of one topic. I think this is best explained by the monotropic vs polytropic model.

Fantastic update - great to see so many plants added.

Couple of additions to suggest, if I may. Both of these are due to rather unfortunate naming changes that mean the common name for a plant is actually the botanical name for a different one!

• Hippeastrum as an alternative name for Amaryllis. Today only one species (Amaryllis belladonna, or the Belladonna Lily) is considered true Amaryllis; most of the showy hybrids people grow are Hippeastrums and at least here in Australia, the correct name is often used. Botanically the two genera are in the same family and have similar risks.
• Pelargonium as an alternative name for Geranium. Again, what most people think of as Geraniums are actually Pelargoniums; true Geraniums are not as common in cultivation here.

Lycoris (Surprise Lilies) and Nerine are also in the Amaryllid family and many species seem to have the same toxins as Hippeastrum.

I see he's projecting again...