Bitch I'm Christian

I work with some Gen Z young ladies and realised they do all have their hair parted down the middle.

I love that given the choice between going on a warm vacation to Mexico with Ted Cruz, or freezing their asses off in Texas, their friends were like "duh, no brainer... freezing please."

Do I think Facebook and Google need to be taxed properly? Hell yes. Do I think Facebook and Google need to monitor for hate speech and radicalisation better? Absolutely. Do I think our government should demand private businesses to provide a service and to also pay for that supposed privilege? No way. If the government's argument holds up, Facebook needs this newspaper content much more than the other way around. I don't think that's true, however, and neither does Facebook apparently. Thanks to our incredibly weak opposition, Australia's government is not used to being told no or having its position questioned. I think the guy in this video has it spot on.

A sad story all around. Both the pet and the snake deserve to be alive. It actually sounds like the cat was the attacker and the snake gave a lethal defense.

The Greens only started supporting it once they got the ABC and SBS added to the legislation - originally they were excluded, which says a lot about for whom the Morrison government is going in to bat for. Isn't discussion of changes in the algorithm still essentially providing specific information about the algorithm? That kind of stuff isn't generally public knowledge as far as I'm aware, giving a competitive advantage to just these few media companies. What happens with independent media companies like Crikey or The New Matilda? Why can't the (non news) company I work for get access to the same info if some other Australian companies are now going to get that advantage? Why can't we get paid when our website comes up in a Google search? I agree that it was a shame that Newscorp felt they had no choice but to close their regional papers. It's even more important to properly fund the ABC now. I guess I just find it strange that Google is expected to pay for the links coming up on their page that directs you to the news website. Like, wouldn't the equivalent be the newspaper paying me to post a classified ad? I get that traditional media companies are struggling, but I don't trust our government to get the intervention or solution right. I still see this as very much "help for the friends and donors of the conservatives" (with a few more companies begrudgingly added so that it passes the pub 'sniff test) in much the same way our government protects and assists fossil fuel companies.

Thanks @Jazzy Jan you are too kind and I really appreciate the welcoming vibe you throw out to people on here I definitely agree that tech companies have too much power too. I think algorithms are literally destroying man kind. "Oh so you like this crazy conspiracy theory, huh? Here's three more lined up to keep you engaged, with no opposing views..." It's just that Scott Fucking Morrison is the last person I'd trust to solve the problem!

As an Australian, I disagree that this is a good move. The legislation basically demands that Google provides its algorothim information to Australian media companies (ie. Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp) which is something Google hasn't done for literally anyone. This is Australia's conservative government trying to strong arm tech companies in order to benefit their media friends. They did the same thing with our national internet service - gave us a second rate version so that people chose cable-based Foxtel (Murdoch again) over streaming based platforms.

I don't know if it's just the circles I move in, but this storming of the capital has generated a lot of meme content, and at first, I've reacted to the whole thing with a big smirk on my face. Think Jamiroquai jokes, the fact that one of the guys accidentally tasered his own nutsack to death, etc etc. But the footage emerging from this whole thing increasingly shows how sinister it was. Video footage of a police man crushed so hard by the crowd that he starts coughing up blood. Members in the crowd calling for 'heads on pikes'. People inside the building with spears and cable ties to take hostages. Even the nutsack guy had a weapon, it just accidentally backfired on him. Calling this a rightwing terrorist attack is not hyperbole. And the thought of some police there being sympathisers who let people in to the building makes my stomach sick. After the event, they found a truck nearby containing napalm-like explosives. America has a big problem with these right-wing extremists, and I feel like they are exporting this problem all around the world to other countries in the name of free speech. It's like having little terrorist cells pop up all over the country and around the world. And yet, if you listen to the newspapers and politicians in my country, it's the left-wing "extremists" who chain themselves to trees and bulldozers who are the supposed danger to us all. What crazy and strange times we live in. Up is down, black is white, bad is good and good is bad.

I can't get my head around how he and his cult are now chanting "lock him up" about Biden. The same tactic he tried on Hillary last time. Like, can't his followers see that jailing one's political opponents is just basic dictator stuff? It's so interesting / horrifying watching a country destroy itself from the inside. The weaponising of social media has totally blindsided the US. Scary that Russia was the first to see weapon potential in Facebook.

"Taking the high road" has become the problem for left wing governments and oppositions all around the world. So frustrating to watch dirty-fighting, lying rightwing politicians square face off against the left's polite, rulebook-clasping, eggheads.

30 Rock and Scrubs are having episodes removed from streaming too, due to featuring blackface.

I appreciated it without really loving it last year. But it is aging VERY well and sounds much better in 2020, particularly the ominous warnings in Dark Ballet, Future and Killers Who Are Partying.

It was actually this album that finally set me free of revering critical opinion. I read review after review trashing Killers Who Are Partying, and then when I listened to the album for the first time, it was the standout track for me. Then I went back and reconsidered some of my favourite albums against their critical reviews and realised that quite often, music writers don't actually know what they are talking about. It's just some twenty-something hipster guy writing about a genre, artist or gender he feels disconnected from.