Marty_d

5th generation! What's that, about 150 years? I reckon to the folks that were living here for somewhere between 45,000 and 60,000 years, that's a flash in the pan. My mum's family have been here for about the same time, my dad came from Sri Lanka in 1955. Was he less Australian than her? If not, then why is the person who got here from Afghanistan last Tuesday any less Australian than you?

Here's a refreshing story about a (for now) multi-millionaire. If only Musk and the other kleptocrats were like this. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-30/rich-heiress-giving-away-all-her-wealth/106077200

Bullshit.

How is that different from what I said?

Excessive nationalism puts me off. When you think about it clear-headedly we're a reasonably young (apart from the original inhabitants) immigrant country. We don't have a thousand years of culture, our own language, a national dish, etc etc. Our population is based on waves of English, Chinese, Dutch, German, Greek, Vietnamese, Italian, African, Islander and a whole bunch of other people, plus of course Indigenous Australians. The keynote songs and poetry we hold up as Australian were written by men that probably considered themselves English. Our system of laws is heavily based on England's and in name we're still subjects of England's king. Even our flag contains the UK's flag in the corner. When it comes to Americanism, even our first "local" car, the Holden FX, was heavily based on US cars. Clothing styles, music, popular culture and fast food have been based on US trends since at least post WWII. That's not to say we haven't got runs on the board, with vibrant Australian music, sport, theatre and literature. We have one of the world's best democracies, social services, and health care. Our education system is still excellent although unfortunately (in the case of universities) more focused on revenue than research. But to wave some mythical "uniqueness" around and try to block outside influences is pointless. Like those idiots that go around wearing Australian flags and protesting about immigration, not seeing the irony that we're all immigrants and those flags were made in China. Instead of closing off and looking inwards, like a backwards Trumpist country, we should be eagerly looking at everything that everyone else does, and taking the best ideas and using them ourselves. Someone actually makes billionaires pay tax? Let's use that. Someone's public hospital system has lower wait times? Let's see what they're doing differently and use it. Someone's school attendance and retention scores are higher than ours? What are they doing differently? Someone's prison recidivism rates are lower? Let's have a look at their justice system and see what we can steal. I don't mind bringing in best practice, no matter where it comes from. Good American movies and TV shows? Bring them on. What I do object to is bringing in the worst of other cultures. Privatisation of health care? F**k right off. Multinationals that pay no tax in Australia? No thanks. American gun culture? Jam it up your arse and pull the trigger.

Ah yes IMAS. I was thinking of the Australian Maritime College which is up north.

Hobart, or Launceston? For some reason I thought the marine biology course is up north. May be mistaken.

There's real quality TV coming from European countries. Money Heist, Wrong Side of the Tracks, and now Billionaires Bunker, all great shows from Spain. Yes you have to read the subtitles (well some of you multi-lingual geniuses probably don't) but the quality is high

Nah, they'll call on @onetrack first. He gets the difficult ones.

TGIF

Cat Stevens.

I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden

But they don't. The Republican party have comprehensively proven that they have no brain at all, and the Democrats are a well-meaning but ineffectual mess.

Jaysus. You seem fairly senior in your job... Ever thought of negotiating a work from home deal where you only go in once a month or so? 6 hours a day commute is ridiculous.

Bachelor party

Pretty sure ABC has almost the whole country covered, and if you can get data on your phone you can listen to whatever station you want.

If you're listening to a radio personality who's suggesting we become the 51st state, I'd suggest you change the channel.

He certainly puts the "dick" in "dictator". Or he would, if Poo Tin would let him

He's officially mentally ill. Hopefully it's terminal, and quickly.

Anything in a freezer should be ok for 30 hours without power, especially if you don't open it. Was it all in your fridge?

You forgot the "because". "Because Jerry is our most qualified and trusted IT/coder/computing expert, he is not an Apple adopter." Makes sense that way! 😜

Here comes the rain again by the Eurythmics.

I know you're a great driver Peter, you wouldn't be able to make it out of your driveway if you weren't!

You can get cheaper phones than that Peter. My daughter just got her first one - under $200. Probably not a recognized brand - HCM or something - but standard android and not much different to Samsung.

The ABC, Peter. And with the application of common sense, the Guardian.