Don’t we all have a teeny bit of uranium in our homes in smoke detectors? Or was that some urban myth I’m remembering?

I meant customers, but Dave has already answered.

1. Even if you plan to put your kid in private school later, I’d recommend public for primary (elementary) school. Our schools in general are far better than what the USA offers.
2. The government spent 40 years telling Boomers that investing in property was “Safe as houses”, so lots of them have multiple properties. Also: They allowed foreign ownership, so we have international investors buying homes here where their assets are safe.
3. Tomato Sauce is so much better than ketchup, but you can buy Heinz ketchup here if you desperately need it for some reason.
4. We don’t have Mexican food. We have occasional Mexican restaurants that are good (not sure about Brisbane), but Mexican food is not ubiquitous in Australia like you’ll be used to. If you love Mexican, overdose on it before you come here. I can’t think of any other food examples where you’ll miss from the USA.

California and South-East Queensland are moderately comparable climate-wise. You’ll be right at home.

Home delivery services are a recent offering. What did these people do before about 5 years ago?

I swear there’s a hole in the market here. A third option that was online-only with collection points/delivery services similar to Colesworth that undercut on price.

Startup costs would be massive, though not as much as trying to enter the market as a third retailer with physical stores in all the suburbs.

It could start with a few distribution nodes (warehouses) and grow out. Order online, go to warehouse to collect. The next step where you can distribute in more suburbs or deliver to homes is where it gets most difficult.

Bwahahahahahahaha that’s the funniest song title I’ve ever heard!

Background in case anyone doesn’t get the reference. It’s funny, because of the double meaning: Dorothy the Dinosaur is one of the original Wiggles characters.

My favourite bit from the link:

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), the predecessor to the modern-day Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was investigating homosexuality in the Chicago area. Agents discovered that gay men sometimes referred to themselves as “friends of Dorothy”. Unaware of the historical meaning of the term, the NIS believed that there actually was a woman named Dorothy at the center of a massive ring of homosexual military personnel, so they launched an enormous and futile hunt for the elusive “Dorothy”, hoping to find her and convince her to reveal the names of gay service members.

13 Minutes to the Moon

Season 1 is essential listening. It’s not very long, and takes you through the journey of putting astronauts on the moon with tech far less advanced that what you’re reading this on. It came sooooo close to failure on more than one occasion. When that lander touched down, it had something like 8 seconds of fuel left.

Season 2 is the story in detail of the Apollo 13 mission. If you loved Season 1 and want more, then go right ahead. I liked season 2, but nowhere near as much.

Odd examples. WA is 23/45 - it’s the state most likely to vote Yes, I think.

Results have come down to 3:3 among the states a few times, but I think WA was Yes each time.

Who the hell down-votes The Wiggles? The most inoffensive and cheery group of people in the damn country. They’ve provided hours and hours of parental relief over 30 years, and before Bluey they were exporting bits of Australia to kids around the world.

It’s easy to dismiss them, because they’ve been a part of the furniture for so long. But if you actually listen to that Like a version cover with a critical ear, you’ll see they do genuinely have musical talent.

I mean, I’m super relived that the kids are past that stage. 😆
But, all the same, I’m grateful that I could put that bloody DVD on and have the kid(s) safely entertained for an hour while I got stuff done.

(Fun fact: They’re the most streamed Australian act on Spotify. Every parent can tell you why)

Yes, that check on power. John Kerr acted because he knew that Whitlam was going to sack him and he dismissed the PM in a preemptive strike. He did not involve the Queen in his decision and he completely overstepped his (implied) authority. I don’t deny the one time the Governor General used their power to dissolve a government was an utter shitshow, but corrections were made in the wake of that act and I am confident there won’t be a repeat on just the whim of a future Governor General.

I was too young at the time to understand anything about the Pine Gap angle, but while I can see Whitlam losing power was good for US interests, I don’t believe they were directly involved in events as they played out. Kerr denied CIA involvement (of course he would) and Whitlam agreed that Kerr had more than enough incentive to act without the CIA being party to proceedings.

All I want is to abolish the governor general keep everything else exactly the same.

And I want to keep the government answerable to someone who can veto bills and force a new election in an emergency like we are seeing in the USA. Even if those powers were never used again.

Australians rarely vote “yes” in a referendum. Our rate is 8 positive results in 45 (source).

After watching events as they play out this year in the USA, I doubt there would be a lot of support in the electorate to remove checks on power in Australian governments.

I personally would not want to.

That means centrelink is not competent.

I am not changing my comment, except maybe to broaden it from “company” to “organisation”. 😃

It’s weird, I’ve got an overall positive view on the CFMEU as my dad was involved in the union as a rep (BLF) on several sites as I grew up. He faced consequences from employers for taking on this role, but it was an important one. In the 70’s/80’s, the construction industry was a terribly unsafe place to work and my dad contributed to a lot of safety changes that have since become industry standards and policies. He’s proud of the work he did for the union and I’m proud of him for what he sacrificed to keep his coworkers alive.

To see what the union has become is hurtful, but I still see them as an overall force for good in the world.

Nope, I’m giving nothing the caller doesn’t already have. I will confirm they have correct info if they provide it, however. This is just basic phone security - no competent company would expect a cold call recipient to start giving them information.

And if they’re not competent, I have no business talking to them.

We are well-past this stage, but at least the place that our kids attended is “Meeting NQS”. Which stands to reason, it was a council-run centre.

Ooh! A band from Australia that I actually know (thanks to Lemmy, actually) with a song/album from the last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIDh9_fTOOk

Update: https://www.bluey.tv/blog/first-look-bluey-lego-4-sets/

Our turn to have egg shortages!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-13/shoppers-faced-with-egg-shortages-wa/105036582

We go through two cartons a week in the house. This week, I went to Aldi, 2x Coles and 2x Woolies before I finally found some at IGA for $10.50/dozen (eep!). I had seen them at Spud Shed, but they were cage eggs and didn’t grab them. At that point, I had only seen Aldi, and they are always a little hit-or-miss with egg supplies - I didn’t think anything of it.

Ask your Ingress / Pokemon Go friends. I know of two little libraries very close to me that aren’t on this map.