Love the smell of cheap KPI attainment in the morning

An interesting read, but the solution of using our media to influence human behaviour into being pro-ecology ain't gonna work unless being sustainable is equally as profitable which it cannot be because sustainability is ultimately linked to less consumption of primary resources which is, contrarily, one of the biggest drivers for economic growth.

One thing the article highlights rightly is that all this focus on renewables should be secondary to humanity needing to simply consume less. It's a change we can make within a generation and would be far more impactful than any technological advances or deliberate population control.

Unfortunately mass transit that works for everyone is the enemy of vehicle manufacturers.

Hydrogen currently doesn't produce, store or transport well. This means it is not as economical as gasoline.

Not really a fan of lithium batts either. We're going to end up with some environmental problems down the line but its the most economically viable tech we have at present if we're intending on living the way we currently live.

My dad and I once sat in the cabin of a push to start vehicle for 20 whole minutes before admitting defeat and walking back to the rental office and asking how to start the car. If an action is completely alien/illogical to you, it's not a matter of being bad at adapting, you'll just never get it.

In this case we needed 3 actions done correctly: fob in dock, brake pressed down (even though its in park) and hold the start button down for longer than 2 secs. It was the last step that really screwed us around

The wealth of so many Australians is tethered to property ownership that to threaten housing prices is to basically ask to lose an election.

Rangers: "don't move sticks! It's a habitat"

Also Rangers: cuts an entire tree into logs because its blocking view of a shitty lake from a viewing platform.

I get you point but I genuinely want to live in a world where people are not forced to turn to engineering.

In many placez Public transport doesn't necessarily need to be faster, it just needs to be way more frequent to be practical

A valid opinion but I have a different take on her story. Given her Chinese background and immigrant status it is perfectly reasonable for her to end up working in China. You have to understand a few points.

• She really wanted to be a Journalist/News Anchor but was convinced to go into Finance by her father because in all honesty her prospects of becoming a news anchor in Australia were near zero at the time. SBS would be her only prospect but the token east-asian slot was already filled by Lee Lin Chin
• Relations between China and Australia at the turn of the century (early 2000s) were very different than they were now. China's meteoric growth meant that loads of Australians and westerners in general, not just Chinese Australians were moving to China to find their fortunes. It is not unusual at all for her to have a career based in China
• She wanted to pursue her media dreams. Given the pan-asian if not globalistic economic culture that was emerging at the time it is not unusual that she was hired as a correspondent by CNBC and then ultimately achieving status as a news anchor for CCTV. Even today in 2023 I'd say her prospects of becoming a news anchor in Australia are below 1% no matter how hard or qualified she is.

Tldr; she wanted to be a news lady, not a speck of a chance that would happen in Australia, used her Chinese background and the prevailing economic winds at the time to nail that dream in China.

Yeah there were plenty of warning signs and opportunities to leave but when you've built an outstanding career over 20 years it is hard to leave. It'd be like finally getting to be footy captain and then calling it quits. Also when you have lived and worked in China (or anywhere) for that long everything gets normalised. The bribes, corruption, harsh penalties and censorship of the state become part of everyday life, things that are objectively wrong don't feel wrong anymore. Just like how we in Australia have become accustomed to paying ridiculous fines, levys, fees and insurances. Also uh... COVID kinda made it hard to escape. Australia wouldn't have let you in and China wouldn't have let you return to your job. Many at that time were hoping to ride out the storm.

She is indeed, to a degree, a victim of her own ambition but given thr above I can't really say it's a "leopards ate my face" situation. Perhaps in some warped way she thought that being a state media shill would offer her some insurance against detainment but in reality it only made her an even more attractive target for the increasingly heavy handed Chinese State authorities.

She is 100% being used as a political weapon against Australia as every day she is being detained erodes the value of Australian Citizenship. There will be plenty who will argue "weelll she's not really one of us is she?" but that only serves to tear apart our multicultural values which benefits the geopolitical power of the Chinese State. One of China's problems continues to be the massive flight of human capital (and in turn $$$) from their shores. Power plays like this demonstrate to that nobody in China is untouchable and furthermore a foreign citizenship is worthless even if you obtain one. A truly twisted way to enforce loyalty among your own populace.

Finally she gets to write one letter home per month. Wouldn't believe most of what's written as you can guarantee that shit is heavily curated to hit us in the feels.

The big bad Greenies are not going to storm into your house to take away the BBQ.

The one that sits outside unused and is a habitat for spiders? Or the one out front for hard waste collection because it's rusted to shit?

It's a symptom of the ride height war. When everyones giant arse car is blocking your view of oncoming traffic you either follow suit or literally risk death every time you pull out of your kids daycare.