I can go either way, however I do prefer self-serve if I am in a hurry and only have a few things. That said, the sluggishness of the Woolworths ones, and the Twenty Questions whenever I try to use them (and the inference from them that I am a thief) means that I will go to the service desk instead.

The friendliness of other Aldi customers is also refreshing. I have had other customers wave me through because i only have a couple of things; I usually buy a few Chupa Chups when I am checking out for those other customers, as a thankyou.

Safeway and Coles customers are typically more self-absorbed and militant about the queue.

We had a local IGA open in our estate recently. There are some things that are more expensive than Colesworth, but only by a small margin.

The same when a Foodworks opened where we used to live.

Being able to stroll to the supermarket is a nice luxury; it is quicker to walk to IGA than to drive to the nearest Coles or Woolworths.

The Aldi near us recently added self serve checkouts. They work, they don’t nag and they still have an attendant to happily make small-talk and help customers.

That is the thing. They will bite if the feel scared, so it you are competent, relaxed and crazy enough, you may be able to handle one like this. They also have a little beak.

The Venn diagram of venomous and dangerous is not a plain circle.

The more electronics in a product, the easier it is to build in Engineered Obsolescence.

One good thing about traditional ICE engines is that they were relatively simple. If something stops working, it can be bypassed.

Modern ICE and EVs use CANBus and FSB/DAS, which means that the manufacturer has infinitely more control over the vehicle than a vehicle with disparate components that are individually powered and controlled.

This is more of an “old vehicle vs new vehicle” argument, and as EVs mature, the aftermarket replacement parts (such as the OpenInverter project) will be more accessible.

The Automotive industry is seeing the EV boom as an opportunity to fight Right To Repair with the argument that a giant Lithium bomb under each vehicle is too dangerous for lay-mechanics to work on.

The problem is that the RBA increased interest rates to discourage individuals from borrowing more. The problem is that We had already borrowed so much that the increase was crippling.

They should have only increased rates on new loans and reduced rates on existing loans.

And of course, Channel 7 and Channel 9 have published hit-pieces against the Privacy Commission in defence of Bunnings.

They have broadcast video of employees being attacked!

I also have a small methane burner. /s Makes it a bit unpleasant when it has to flare off, but it keeps my phone charged.

The problem with global media is that every single outlier event gets hyped to such a degree that it appears to be a common occurrence.

I am currently copping the extra levies out of principle.

I would rather pay the extra tax than be forced to entire the criminally corrupt public system.

The problem is that the runaway inflation (caused by corporate price-gouging) is resulting in increased cost of living.

I have been fortunate enough to receive a pay-rise that reduces the pain caused by the CoL crisis, but it has pushed me into a higher tax bracket.

I was parked outside work, waiting to come inside :).

I will admit that there isn’t much reason for me to have a car, except for the fact that I take my vehicle off-road on weekends, it would be pretty pointless me having a car to myself.

I can carpool with colleagues or family to work and I can purchase groceries locally. I can also catch public transport.

I pay a large chunk of my income for the privilege of owning a car; registration, servicing, fuel and repayments add up quickly; the money would be much better spent on other things.

For the cost of my car, I could buy 4 PowerWalls and some solar panels; another for our house (which would reduce our grid-reliance to zero), a couple for my Sisters house (which would do the same for them) and one for my mother’s house.

My car is not a luxury car but is a luxury expense.

If a car is not being driven, there is no point having a car.

Batteries are heavy, even lithium batteries.

Transferring energy into and out of an EV does result in non-negligible energy loss.

Having a dedicated, stationary battery is a much more space and resource efficient way to provide a grid buffer. Pb-Acid and Iron-air batteries are much better for the environment than Lithium, and much more stable. They are much heavier, but still lighter than a Lithium battery powered EV.

And people had the nerve to name a Swimming Pool after him! /s

This is purely a way to sell more electric cars. It is also completely pointless.

Solar comes in during the day: cars are not parked/connected when the solar is coming in.

People would be better off buying an off-the-shelf home battery or having a professional Solar Installer build a battery array. Even a top-shelf $10,000 Tesla PowerWall is cheaper than the cheapest EV.

Still the best Award acceptance ever by Les Murray when they won their ARIA.

After seeing TISM, MGF, Eskimo Joe, Ben Lee and The Mavis’s last nice, I would have to agree with this list.

“don’t You worry about that…”

It will get messy because they can fall back on “the government told us to do this so ACCC can’t touch us”. Lawyers will win; Government will lose, Telcos will lose and consumers will lose big time!

The ramifications of this is the black-listing of dozens of VoLTE phones following the 3G shutdown. This government slap-on-the-wrist has given Optus, Telstra and Vodafone carte-blanche to tell customers “you didn’t buy the phone from us, so we can’t guarantee you can make calls”.