In Australian media they are referred to as Ukraine and the Ukraine. You certainly missed that I used both conventions. Try not to assume that the language used denotes a position.

As for Trump, I certainly hope he is not elected again, but the election needs to happen first.

I feel it’s a seismic shift in the position of the USA as a world power. Netanyahu has stopped listening and has faced no repercussions, so naturally Zelenskyy is doing the same. Completely withdrawing support for both Israel and Ukraine doesn’t appear to be in the USA’s best interests.

This could be a stretch but maybe it has to do with Trump and the likelihood he’s going to turn around and tell both sides to quit prolonging these wars and either finish off their opponents or get to signing a peace treaty.

For Israel it means escalating (as evidenced by how they’re poking the other bear - Iran - in the region) and for the Ukraine doing as much damage as possible to weaken the Russians so a peace treaty appears the better option over continuing to fight against an opponent who won’t lay down.

I could also be talking out of my exhaust pipe. I’ve been paying less and less attention to these conflicts the longer they’ve gone on.

You would choke on the prices here. A saver session is $33 per ticket before fees. If you’re a member it’s $32 before fees. Theses are sessions they put on when the majority are at work. A late night session is still $27.

Want gold class? $47 per ticket before fees.

These cinemas are fully automated with no floor staff with exceptions for food sales, and even then they just refill only (checkouts are self serve.) You can book online and pay a service fee or purchase in person from a kiosk device and guess what? Service fees. $6 per ticket online or in person.

I don’t actually know what the service fee is for.

Food is eye watering expensive to the point we bring our own. There’s no staff to say you can’t, but it’s buried in the fine print of the T&Cs.

Thanks for replying. I’m looking at it from the perspective of proximity to critical infrastructure, but your reply makes plenty of sense. It does make incidents like this more a case of when and not if.

I’m not from the region (let alone the same country) but I would think this is going to have a significant impact on the port operations, assuming it can continue to operate.

Why no tug boats to assist the vessel? I find it odd that the ship was allowed to depart on its own.

Might not be the most popular call, but streaming services.

A) movie tickets are absurdly expensive. Went for the first time in years last year and was shocked by the nearly $60 for an early morning session. Bonus though because the wifey and I were the only two at the screening (spider-verse 2). B) physical formats can cost more than 3-4 streaming services per month for just a single movie, cd, vinyl etc. Sales are still worth keeping an eye out for. C) streaming services promote choice. Your favourite movie isn’t on the service? Watch these similar themed movies. Like this song? Here’s work from similar artists. D) the other high seas streaming service is very viable if you’re discriminated against by living in a particular region or country. Or you simply can’t or don’t want to pay.

There’s definite downsides such as service saturation, the curse of too much choice, or constant garbage with the odd diamond thrown in. But if you’re not too concerned with loyalty (and you shouldn’t be) or you sail the high seas then that’s not going to be a problem.

Do it. Such an epic movie. I was a kid when it came out and can’t help but watch it 2-3x a year. It really has held up well.

Never seen Big Trouble in Little China?

In simplest terms, losing two or three tier 1 isp’s might do it.

I’ve been wondering for a while now if we’re even getting real results or if the seo results have made crawlers (as we know it) largely redundant. I doubt google has any real incentive to move away from the model that is now in place, unless they do intend to launch a paid service (free from the above mentioned garbage) alongside the existing service should competitors like kagi present a real threat to their business.

There is a simple solution for that. Rotate your services every 3 months, watch the entire season and only come back when there’s something to watch.

Quality over quantity is something streaming services can’t do. There’s so much shit shoved in our faces that I find myself watching less and less. Is a crash on the horizon or can the market sustain the number of active participants?

It’s a real shame because piracy is bridging the service gap which the industry themselves managed to eliminate, albeit briefly, only to introduce it again.

I did finish DS1 but it was a bit of a slog towards the end. I do intend to try 2 and 3 again one day.

Having finished Lies of P, it’s on to Weird West and Hogwarts Legacy. Sticking with my ps4 pro has been a good move as the backlog has shrunk considerably.

I couldn’t get into the souls games themselves but fell hard for Bloodborne and Sekiro. Elden Ring has been hard to get into. The open world really detracts from the game which is disappointing because everything else is really polished.

You mean the basket. The portafilter holds the basket and is inserted into the group head. They can be bottomless (naked) or have spouts.

On to baskets. You can buy single/double/triple shot sizes (typically 7/14/21 grams) but you can also buy 18/20/22/24/25g baskets. You’ll find most serious cafes use 18/20/22g baskets. Barista’s almost always love to chat so don’t be afraid to ask questions. Just be nice and they’ll tell you just about anything you want to know about pulling espresso shots.

Third play through of Lies of P from scratch, only this time with a balance build. Not sure if it’s because I’m used to the games enemies but it seems like balance is very op compared to motivity and technique builds.

Hogwarts Legacy is up next.

My oma played a zither so I give that a mention for another thing I’ve not heard in nearly 30 years.

But, my serious go to for relaxation is the erhu. I’m surprised that hasn’t had a mention.

It was a bit more than just an issue of Valve not providing refunds.

Read about it here and here.

An expired token and you get to play the game again. Sony was using this for their SEN logons and walked back the change after maybe a day (if that). The alternative was hilarious; pick out 10 different sounds only to get an error at the end.

It’s the only time I’ve ever called a support line and asked for an immediate escalation to a manager. Customers locked out of their accounts is very bad for business.

rock bottom wages

Although it can probably be agreed that Australia is an outlier for low wages, noting that we need more people to fill jobs, and that is the driver behind such high wages.

12 years ago I overheard someone who could not have been more than 20 years of age saying they wouldn’t work for less than $80/hour. That was in the middle of a mining boom when 10,000 people a week were moving west because the wages were higher than what many could obtain with a degree. School teachers, nurses etc were quitting their jobs to work in the mining sector.

The only requirement is a white card which you can now obtain online for less than $50 and a few hours of your time.