- 22 Posts
- 71 Comments
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Australian Politics@aussie.zone•By avoiding means testing, the government is giving handouts to the rich
4·7 days agoI wouldn’t say I disagree per se, but I do have some issues with the argument.
EV tax concessions and student debt reductions may benefit the well off more, but they also encourage greater uptake in education and help address climate change. Everyone is fucked if we don’t address climate change quickly enough, and so speed is paramount.
On education, I would consider it a failure of society if only people from well-off families are attending university. We need a highly educated populace to counter the rampant misinformation and disinformation that permeates the world today, and to participate in a society and economy that is becoming increasingly complex. I’d prefer a move back to free university to be honest, but by the authors argument, this would be even more unfair.
And on universal vs means testing, a separate argument against it is that these systems become very punitive. Our welfare system is decent on balance, but people who access it can end up being treated like a criminal and have to jump through excessive hoops because of the enforcement mechanisms to deal with purported abuse.
That all being said, I do think governments should try to address inequality as much as possible, so if policies can thread the needle of means testing that is restrained and not punitive while keeping costs reasonable, I’m all for it.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Melbourne@aussie.zone•Free train rides: V/Line trains hitting capacity
11·13 days agoTypical of Channel 9 to frame this as a bad thing. Yes, they should get more trains and drivers to meet the demand but running at full capacity, especially given the alternative, is not a bad thing.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneOPto
Linux@programming.dev•I saved a doomed Windows laptop by embracing Linux
3·14 days agoI’ve done the hardware mod on an older chromebook and it’s about the least risky mod you could possibly do. And it looks like your model just requires disconnecting the internal battery cable temporarily which is similarly easy to the method I needed (removing a screw).
Probably a little bit of risk from possibly fragile connectors, but that should be okay if you take care.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneOPto
Linux@programming.dev•I saved a doomed Windows laptop by embracing Linux
5·14 days agoI’ve never used Mint before; does it not come with a graphical app store?
It does, but I think even slightly experienced Linux users will just turn to the CLI for consistency and because it’s easier to explain in steps to other people. But he should have mentioned the GUI for new users, agreed.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Australia@aussie.zone•Australia's EV charging blackspots: The truth behind 'range anxiety' as car sales surgeEnglish
2·15 days agoI suspect much of it is a fear of change. People are looking for a remotely plausible reason to dismiss it, even if it doesn’t apply to them, because it means they won’t have to modify their behaviour. You can see this with plant based diets, public and active transport, and cooking and heating technologies such as induction cooktops and heatpumps.
The plus side is that the moment people actually make the change, they rarely go back. See also congestion pricing across the world, where the view of it is negative right up until it’s implemented and it almost immediately becomes popular.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Australia@aussie.zone•A 'wake-up call': How can Australia realistically reduce its reliance on oil?English
3·15 days agoIt’s just the nature of the issue. Transmission lines are primarily going through rural areas, so consequently that is where the opposition is centred.
And there’s a strong streak of anti-renewable and anti-transmission sentiment in the regions, much of it inflamed by disinformation locally and online.
NIMBYs are a slightly different problem in that it’s primarily about protecting property values rather than mostly ideological opposition in the regions. Which attitude is worse is up for debate, but yeah, I’d prefer both groups had less power to oppose needed infrastructure.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Australia@aussie.zone•A 'wake-up call': How can Australia realistically reduce its reliance on oil?English
6·16 days ago“Without rail, Australia will fail”?
Anyway I suspect long haul trucks will win out for the medium term at least. Not because it’s the best solution, but because it can be rolled out more quickly. I do hope we pursue rail for the long term good though, and not just for freight but for people moving, particularly as jet fuel takes up a greater proportion of our emissions.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Australia@aussie.zone•A 'wake-up call': How can Australia realistically reduce its reliance on oil?English
10·16 days agoIt’s also better to build what we can near the cities since it reduces the need for more transmission lines which are costly and prone to opposition from rural types (unless it happens to go through their farm and they make a killing on it).
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Fuck Cars@lemmy.world•Public transit wastes money. It always has to be subsidizedEnglish
11·16 days agoidle their cars beneath my window and exhaust fills my apartment
I don’t fucking get this, like why do people do this? Even during the oil crisis people still do this shit for no reason I can tell. I’d understand if it was super hot or cold where I am right now but it just isn’t.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Selfhosted@lemmy.world•Self-hosting a Pocket alternative using Readeck, Linkwarden, and Docker Swarm.English
1·16 days agoNot the OP but:
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FreshRSS interface is kind of ugly (probably can be tweaked). You can use third party RSS readers, but that ends up being almost as much work as installing readeck and the like.
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FreshRSS doesn’t support OPDS or have any koreader integration, unlike readeck. These are essential features for reading on an e-ink reader, which is my preferred way to read longer articles in particular.
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vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Linux@programming.dev•Plans to remove ipv4 from the linux kernel.
14·17 days agoit’s because no one want to type in 32 alphanumeric digits for every single device, every time…
Use DNS; I almost never type in an IP manually. You can also make short IPv6 addresses that are just the prefix and a bunch of zeros using ‘::’ followed by one (or more) characters.
Something like:
2001:0DB8::1
It’d also complex, expensive, and takes many years to build.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Electric Vehicles@slrpnk.net•New EV sales drop 28% in Q1 2026, but used EVs surge 12% to near-record levels
4·19 days agoIt also would be including the pre Iran war period. The next quarter will be more telling I suspect, particularly if the war persists or escalates.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Australia@aussie.zone•'Fuel is our home': How the petrol crisis is hitting Australian 'vanlifers'English
1·19 days agoThese people (not the homeless but the vanlifers) should switch to EVs to tow their caravans. Unless they are trying to go to the most remote areas, they should be able to get by easily, particularly since taking slightly more stops is even less of an issue where you are just casually traveling.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Australia@aussie.zone•Government halves fuel excise to cut price on petrol and dieselEnglish
21·19 days agoThat’s likely the reason yeah, even if it makes the problem worse given it’s mostly a demand side problem (for now). Functionally illiterate conservatives don’t know or care about that, however.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Climate@slrpnk.net•Fossil fuel companies finally accept the climate crisis – just not their role in it | The era of corporate climate denial is over but in courts around the world the big names have shifted strategy4·23 days agoAnd then “it was our fault, and you deserve it”.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Not The Onion@lemmy.world•Data Finds Republicans are Obsessed with Searching for Transgender PornEnglish
10·23 days agoI think it’s interesting that the terms are predominately slur form too, which you’d expect to be more common amongst conservatives.
vividspecter@aussie.zoneto
Technology@lemmy.world•From F-Droid to emulators, here's who's hit hardest by Android's new verification rulesEnglish
3·24 days agoSee what happened to Xiaomi bootloader unlocking for an example of this in action.












This is for freight trucks, not the “trucks” that people drive to their suburban supermarkets.
And in the case of freight, the lack of charging infrastructure is a significant problem, but hopefully the war will drive government and private operators into action.