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Saw my first snake of the summer today - just avoided running over him on the bike, which could have been nasty for both of us.

This is why I don't want to drive to Sydney anymore. If I did, I have to use this route and I can tell you, it's rooted.

The ex colleague I had lunch with yesterday who has been unemployed for some time. She works at the coal face in IT and says at that level, it is now who you know and not what you know. Her last three gigs were as a result of contacts. Some of it is displacement by AI. Some of it is offshored. In the absence of a complete tax overhaul so mega profits can be taxed to support s population for which there will be very few jobs at he coal face, I suggested a tax on jobs offshored (so not technically displaced by AI). If a company has operations in Australia and a job is being performed overseas in direct support of the Australian operations, then the firm should have to pay a tax to cover the displacement of the local working population. For new foreign start ups, they have a year to ramp up their local employment after which the tax will apply. Of course there are some pragmatic hurdles that have to be overcome such as identifying the roles overseas, but governments have put in "solutions" for trickier issues.. I am sure the right brains applied could come up with something no matter how imperfect

Tell me about it! People bring in all sorts of things to the Op Shop - bags and bags of clothes, shoes, bags, bric-a-brac like crockery. We go through it all and sort the saleable from the rubbish. We end up sending unwanted clothing to go to Africa (allegedly). Yesterday I sent away 220 kgs of clothing. That was after I had taken a ute load of solids to the tip to go into landfill. We are lucky in that our local tip does not charge us for that. Getting rid of this stuf costs Lifeline and Vinnies thousands of dollars each year. On the bright side, our Op Shop has distributed over $100,000 within the community over the past three years and still has a helthy amount of funds on hand. It is marvellous how much money an Op Shop can make selling just about everything at less than $5 each. It helps that it is fully volunteer run with no wages, but rent and consumables do take a bit each month.

Actuyallk my gripe about the route over the Blue Mountains relates to the fact that the Minns government sput the stoppers on the tunnel, yet they will spend billions on roads criss-crossing Sydney. I can bitch and carry on about time taken to do the trip, but after nearly five years doing it, I know how long the different sections take to travel and where I can stop for refreshment. But I'm not counting the economics of teh delays that poor road causes. I should really be bitching about what those delays cost me when I go to my local supermarket to buy my Weet Bix and frozen veggies. Not to mention the extra cost for other goods that have to be transported from the coast. Those costs must be playing havoc with the viablility of so many businesses west of the Divide. In that video it mentions the multi-lane road on the western side of Mt Victoria which was supposed to form the exit to the tunnel. The road bypasses the locality of Little Hartley. A few years ago a business started there selling lollies. It did alrigh until one night it was struck by lightning and the shop burned down. So the owners rebuilt and re-opened, still doing a good trade. The the bypass opened and traffic no longer goes past its door. I believe the business now gets a lot of its sales on line, as well as from the trade of people who knew it before the bypass and are willing to pull off the main road to shop there.

There is an alternate route. It means going on the Golden Highway towards Newcastle, then down the M1 to Hornsby then the M2/M7/M5 to my journey's end. Accordning to Google Maps that involved 6 h 31 m drivng time. which is about an hour more than what it used to take me when the route over Mt Victoria was open. That time also depends on traffic flow on the M2/M7 stretch which can be a bitch in the afternoon when I would be going through there. I suppose I should go that way next time. I'm bored shitless going down through Mudgee and Lithgow. But that route takes 5h 30m and is about 100 kms shorter (that's 7.5 litres of fuel in my car).

Yeah - data centre proponents keep saying that AI will increase productivity. That's great for shareholders. They never mention that this will come at the expense of jobs. What's the point of great productivity if the population is unemployed?

Ignore OME Jerry, I agree with you.

The cane toads must still be in hibernation. We've had 19" of rain in October and not a toad to be seen. What made me think of it is that I've been hearing a big old bullfrog today.

My daughter asked the garbage truck driver whether she has to separate the cardboard from the glass now that she has been given a third bin. He said do what you like, it all goes into my truck and into landfill.