Ah That's Not Worth a New Thread News Thread

[The Magic Pudding..]

...So hang on, El Niño contributes to drying up Australia? Some reach on that thing! (Though I suppose it may be somewhat indirect and butterfly-effect-y..?)

Here ya go

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/australian-climate-influences.shtml?bookmark=enso

[Asmodean]

...So wait, El Niño is not a weather system, but a condition of warming over an area..? That... Actually explains quite a bit.

Works so much better when talking about it in other terms than more-or-less-arbitrary names. At least in my mind, it does. Other minds may disagree.

[The Magic Pudding..]

I have no reason to believe the climate change claims. I see no significant difference from my yute to today. Where I am it's been a normal summer. And now I'm supposed to accept global boiling.

You're nearly a laugh
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry

[Asmodean]

Speaking of Oz, Puds, what be the deal with that Voice of Parliament referendum thing? I really ought to just look it up, but... Keep forgetting. What's going on?

[The Magic Pudding..]

Speaking of Oz, Puds, what be the deal with that Voice of Parliament referendum thing? I really ought to just look it up, but... Keep forgetting. What's going on?

That's often the way isn't it?
Why ask the forum when you can just Google it?

Since you've asked I'll give you my bigoted take on it.

There was a gathering of indigenous people (ip) who reached a conclusion.
They wanted it put into the constitution that a Voice of ip would BE and they could advise the government on laws effecting the ip.

The government wouldn't be obliged to listen.
It's not really a big ask.

There was nasty racist crap going on, as you'd expect.

The constitutional change would be vague, the government would legislate the details.
The details the government had in mind were never mentioned.
A future government could change the details.

Of course you have to vote yes, if you think right.
I listen to the government funded radio, they took a tally of listeners, 80% said I should.
What's wrong with the no voters?
They must be victims of misinformation.

Emotion, the ip have been done wrong, you can't say no.

What's the detail?
Will it be cost effective?
The last ip body was disbanded 'cause it was corrupt.
Not all ip want it.
Is the "all people should be treated equally" principle worthy of consideration?
More government money is spent on ip already
But the voice will know how to spend it better
Maybe

I think the result was 60% No

[Icarus]

Hmmmph!  The IPs were there long before those British criminals were exiled there.

Sounds a bit like the way we kindly christian Americans came to North America and displaced our own IPs. We have treated them as savages, stolen their land, violated treaties we made with them, and forced them to live on reservations isolated from the mainstream.

[Asmodean]

Oh! I see. Sorta-kinda-analogous to our own Sami Parliament.

Personally, I don't see the need - a Sami person's concerns are a Norwegian person's concerns. The rest is interest groups. This may or may not apply to Oz though. Oh well, curiosity satisfied. Much obliged.

Hmmmph!  The IPs were there long before those British criminals were exiled there.

I tend to find this line of argument very thin indeed, but then I may just be being all European about it.

Yes, I suppose whoever was somewhere first may have a casus belli against those who came after, but unless they are ready and willing to act on it, what does it even matter? Your passport says what your passport says.

EDIT: This may require a tiny bit of expanding on; your great-great-grandfather's land, wherever it may be, is not your land unless you inherit it, buy it or othherwise acquire it in a socieally-acceptable way at the time of acquisition. So, if you want to lay claim to, say, Luxembourg because of your Luxemburger genees, you ought to be prepared to conquer it. OR, you can start a political separatist movement and try to convince enough Luxemburgers to join your cause. Generations later, you may get somewhere.

[Recusant]

Oh well, a new satellite is born. 

"Dropped Tool Bag in Space Becomes Accidental Satellite, Visible From Earth" | Science Alert

Accidents can happen: during a November 1 spacewalk, US astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara "inadvertently lost" a tool bag, according to NASA. That tool bag is now in orbit, and can even be viewed from Earth.

The bag has been given its own satellite catalog number, and has also been caught on video by stargazers.

According to the website EarthSky, the dropped item is as bright as a 6th-magnitude star – not quite bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, though it should be visible through binoculars.

That visibility is due to the bag being white and reflective. If you want to try and spot it, your best bet is to first find the ISS. The object was roughly five minutes ahead of the space station on November 11, a timing that should stretch as the days pass.

Luckily, the astronauts were not hindered in completing their spacewalk tasks, which included adjusting a cable and replacing a bearing on a solar panel, and the toolbag was not needed for the rest of the mission.

After assessing the bag's trajectory, NASA doesn't deem it to be a threat to the ISS or its occupants.

Over the next few months, the tool bag is expected to circle closer to Earth before eventually disintegrating in the atmosphere – so catch it while you can, if you want to see a unique bit of space junk.

[Continues . . .]

[Dark Lightning]

12 pounds of Craftsman wrenches de-orbits and strikes SpaceX's largest rocket during launch and ascent, destroying it- The Onion. J/K, SpaceX had to destroy it because of a faulty separation...and then called it a success Musk has proven his Republican roots before this. #lyingsonofabitch

[Asmodean]

The Asmo hereby proudly inserts a current-year-inappropriate joke about women wielding wrenches. 

[Dark Lightning]

"Wenches with Wrenches"?    I didn't know that it was a female astronaut.

[Asmodean]

I didn't know that it was a female astronaut.

2.

Also, The Asmo welcomes you onto His cancellation train.

[Dark Lightning]

What is a "cancellation train"?

[Asmodean]

Eh... Nothing, really. It only applies if you find yourself in a place where the wrong joke can cause real problems.

If you are not a media personality, work for yourself or have a sane employer and/or reside outside the anglosphere, that goes a long way towards cancel-proofing your butt when you point out that what is worse than a woman spaceship driver is, in fact, two women spaseship drivers with a space flat and a toolbox.

[billy rubin]

Eh... Nothing, really. It only applies if you find yourself in a place where the wrong joke can cause real problems.

being from oklahoma, it was common not too many years ago for racial jokes to be normative.

i cringe when i recall the stuff that used to casually come out of mouth before i learned some stuff.

back in the heartland it hasnt changed all that much. i experience it here in ohio still.